# Council Work Session - March 1, 2022 > Auto-transcribed civic record · March 1, 2022 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5535 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5535?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2022-03-01 - **Last revised**: March 1, 2022 - **Length**: 5,688 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council convened on March 1, 2022, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 200 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507, with Mayor Linda Gorton presiding. The council addressed 10 agenda items during the session, covering a range of municipal business including zoning matters, budget amendments, and administrative approvals. The council took 8 formal votes throughout the meeting, approving several key items including requested rezonings and docket approval, budget amendments, new business items, and the mayor's report. The meeting also included informational segments for continuing business and presentations, as well as council reports from members. Two public comment periods were scheduled on the agenda - one for issues related to agenda items and another for issues not on the agenda - though no public comments were recorded during either session. The meeting concluded with a formal adjournment motion that was approved by the council. ## Attendance The following members were present at the March 1, 2022 meeting: **Present:** • Kay • Moloney • Ellinger • J. Brown • McCurn • LeGris • Lamb • Sheehan • Kloiber • F. Brown • Baxter • Bledsoe • Reynolds • Plomin **Absent:** • Worley No members arrived late to the meeting. A total of 14 members were present and 1 member was absent. ## Votes and Decisions The Council conducted eight votes during the March 1, 2022 meeting, with all but one passing unanimously. **February 17, 2022 Council Meeting Docket Approval** Motion by Ellinger, seconded by Kay. Passed unanimously 14-0. All 14 council members (Kay, Moloney, Ellinger, J. Brown, McCurn, LeGris, Lamb, Sheehan, Kloiber, F. Brown, Baxter, Bledsoe, Reynolds, and Plomin) voted in favor. **February 8, 2022 Work Session Summary Approval** Motion by Sheehan, seconded by Plomin. Passed unanimously 14-0 with all members voting in favor. **Budget Amendments Approval** Motion by Kay, seconded by Reynolds. Passed unanimously 14-0 with all members voting in favor. **New Business Amendment** Motion by Plomin, seconded by McCurn to remove item F from new business and place it into the General Government & Social Services Committee. This was the only non-unanimous vote of the meeting, passing 13-1 on a roll call vote. Reynolds cast the sole dissenting vote, while the other 13 members voted in favor. **New Business Approval (As Amended)** Motion by Plomin, seconded by Sheehan. Following the amendment, the new business items passed unanimously 14-0. **Neighborhood Development Funds Approval** Motion by Ellinger, seconded by McCurn. Passed unanimously 14-0 with all members voting in favor. **Mayor's Report Approval** Motion by Lamb, seconded by Ellinger. Passed unanimously 14-0 with all members voting in favor. **Adjournment** Motion by Baxter, seconded by Sheehan. Passed unanimously 14-0 with all members voting in favor. All 14 council members were present and voting throughout the meeting. No transcript timestamps were available for these votes. ## Budget and Financial Actions The council addressed nine financial items totaling over $2.6 million in expenditures, grants, and agreements during the March 1, 2022 meeting. **Purchases and Contracts** The council authorized establishing Cummins Sales and Service as a sole source vendor for fire apparatus replacement parts and repairs, with spending authority up to $80,000 (Resolution 0200-22). Additionally, they approved a no-cost Site Specific Agreement with the Jessamine South Elkhorn Water District and Ball Homes, LLC, to provide sanitary sewer conveyance and treatment capacity (Resolution 0202-22). A significant labor agreement was authorized with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 2785, representing Lieutenants and Captains in the Division of Community Corrections, valued at $275,000 (Resolution 0218-22). **Infrastructure Grants** Two Class B Infrastructure Incentive Grants for stormwater quality projects were approved. Colt Engineering, Inc. d/b/a Thoroughbred Engineering received authorization for $178,675 (Resolution 0204-22), while Lexington Center Corporation was awarded $299,874 for similar projects (Resolution 0205-22). **Federal and State Funding** The council authorized acceptance of $640,000 in federal funds for the design phase of the Liberty Road Improvements Project (Resolution 0206-22) and approved submitting applications for $866,976 in FY 2023 Transportation Planning Activities funding (Resolution 0208-22). **Emergency Services Technology** Two grant applications to the Kentucky 911 Services Board were authorized: $298,787.11 for updating Solacom Internet Protocol Selective Routers (Resolution 0209-22) and $5,616 for Guardian Messenger services (Resolution 0211-22). These financial actions demonstrate the council's focus on infrastructure improvements, emergency services enhancement, and strategic partnerships to support municipal operations and community development. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda During the March 1, 2022 meeting, the governing body opened the floor for public comments specifically related to items listed on the meeting agenda. This agenda item provided an opportunity for community members to address the board or council regarding matters scheduled for discussion or action during the session. No specific speakers or comments were recorded in the available meeting documentation for this public comment period. The item was designated as informational in nature, indicating that it served as a formal opportunity for public input rather than requiring any specific action or decision from the governing body. This type of public comment period is typically structured to allow residents and stakeholders to share their perspectives, concerns, or support regarding agenda items before official deliberation begins. The format helps ensure transparency and public participation in the governmental decision-making process. The outcome of this agenda item was informational, meaning the governing body received any public input provided without taking formal action in response to the comments during this portion of the meeting. ## Requested Rezonings/ Docket Approval The council considered approval of the docket for the February 17, 2022 Council meeting during this agenda item. The discussion involved key speakers Ellinger and Kay, who addressed the proposed docket contents. The council ultimately approved the docket as presented. No specific details about the contents of the docket, concerns raised during discussion, or the nature of any debate were available in the meeting materials. The approval allows the items included in the February 17, 2022 docket to proceed through the council's review process according to standard procedures. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps were not available for this agenda item.* ## Approval of Summary The council considered approval of the summary from the February 8, 2022 Work Session. Council members Sheehan and Plomin participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The council voted to approve the summary of the February 8, 2022 Work Session without any recorded objections or significant debate. This represents standard procedural business where the council formally accepts the written record of their previous meeting discussions and decisions. The approval allows the February 8, 2022 Work Session summary to become part of the official municipal record. Work session summaries typically capture key discussion points, decisions made, and action items from less formal council meetings where detailed planning and policy discussions occur. **Outcome:** Approved ## Budget Amendments The council considered and approved various budget amendments during the meeting. The discussion was led by key speakers Kay and Reynolds, though specific details about the nature of the amendments or the amounts involved were not provided in the available meeting materials. The agenda item was presented as a resolution requiring council action. While the specific content of the budget amendments was not detailed in the extracted information, the council ultimately voted to approve the proposed changes. **Outcome:** The budget amendments were approved by the council. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps, amendment details, and discussion points were not available in the provided meeting materials for this agenda item.* ## New Business The council addressed new business items during this portion of the meeting. The discussion involved several key speakers including Council members Plomin, Sheehan, and McCurn. During the deliberations, the council made amendments to the new business items under consideration. As part of the discussion, one specific item was moved to the General Government & Social Services Committee for further review and consideration. Following the discussion and amendments, the council voted to approve the new business items as amended. The approval represents the successful completion of this agenda item, with the understanding that the item referred to committee will be addressed through that separate process. The specific details of the individual new business items, the nature of the amendments made, and the rationale for moving one item to committee were not detailed in the available meeting materials. ## Continuing Business/ Presentations During this portion of the meeting, the council addressed ongoing business matters and received committee updates. The discussion centered on two main topics: neighborhood development funds and a committee report. Council members Ellinger, McCurn, and J. Brown served as the primary speakers during this segment. The conversation included discussion of neighborhood development funds, though specific details about funding amounts, eligible projects, or allocation criteria were not detailed in the available materials. Additionally, the council received a summary report from the Environmental Quality & Public Works Committee meeting. J. Brown appeared to provide this committee update, though the specific contents of the committee's recent activities and any recommendations were not specified in the source materials. This agenda item was informational in nature, with no formal votes or decisions recorded. The presentations served to keep council members informed about ongoing initiatives and committee work rather than requiring immediate action or policy decisions. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps were not available for this agenda item, so readers should refer to the full meeting video for the complete discussion of these topics.* ## Council Reports Council members provided reports on various topics during this agenda item. However, the specific details of what was discussed, which council members presented reports, and the content of their presentations are not available in the provided materials. This was an informational agenda item where no formal action was taken by the council. *Note: Detailed information about the specific reports presented and their content was not available in the source materials provided.* ## Mayor's Report The Mayor's Report was presented during the March 1, 2022 meeting and received approval from the council. The presentation involved key speakers Mayor Lamb and Councilmember Ellinger, though specific details of the report's contents were not provided in the available meeting materials. Following the presentation, the council voted to approve the Mayor's Report without recorded objections or significant debate. **Outcome:** Approved *Note: Specific transcript timestamps and detailed content of the Mayor's Report were not available in the provided meeting materials.* ## Public Comment - Issues Not on Agenda The meeting included a designated period for public comments on issues not listed on the agenda. This agenda item provided an opportunity for community members to address the governing body on matters of public concern outside of the scheduled discussion topics. No specific speakers, topics, or comments were documented in the available meeting materials for this public comment period. The item was designated as informational in nature, meaning no formal action was taken by the governing body in response to any comments that may have been received. This type of public comment period is a standard component of government meetings, allowing for community input and ensuring public participation in the governmental process. The absence of documented comments may indicate either that no members of the public spoke during this portion of the meeting, or that specific details of the comments were not captured in the available summary materials. The outcome was recorded as informational, consistent with the typical handling of general public comment periods where the governing body receives input but does not take immediate action on items raised during this portion of the meeting. ## Adjournment The meeting was brought to a close with a motion to adjourn. The key speakers involved in the adjournment process were Baxter and Sheehan. The adjournment motion was approved, formally ending the meeting proceedings. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps are not available for this agenda item.* --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of February 17, 2022 Council meeting docket - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of February 8, 2022 Work Session summary - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of new business (as amended) - **Motion** — passed (13-1): Amend new business, removing item F and placing it into the General Government & Social Services Committee - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of neighborhood development funds - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Approval of Mayor's report - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Adjournment --- ## Full transcript The Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We will get started in a moment. as soon as we have a quorum. 2022 Urban County Council Work Session. And the first item on our agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda. And there's no one signed up. So we have no docket today. And the first item then that we'll attend to is if I could have a motion to approve the March 1st work session minutes. Move approval. Second. Thank you, Vice Mayor and Council Member Ellinger. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. There are no budget amendments. So next up is new business. Could I have a motion? Thank you. Council Member Sheehan and Council Member Baxter seconded. And, Council Members, if you have questions, please go ahead and log in now. This is new business. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. My question is about item A. Director Conrad, welcome. How are you doing, Director? Is this, do we have a timeline for the manufacturing and the installation of this permanent art piece, permanent art pieces that I may get? Council member, we are relying on lights arts for this installation. I know that they have been fundraising and have certainly been going through the approval process. So I don't have an exact timeline, but I'll be happy to see if I can find it. Okay. So they're going to coordinate with the artists and all that. They're going to do all those aspects of it. That's correct. And I didn't look through, but the $30,000, that isn't that money that the first district office allocated several years ago towards it. Okay. Thank you. Okay, okay. All right, thank you for that. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Are there any other questions about new business? All right, all those in favor of approving, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right, those items pass. Next is neighborhood development funds. Could I have a motion to approve? Thank you, Council Member Sheehan, and then second by Council Member Reynolds. Are there any questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And at this point, I'd like to call on Council Member Susan Lamb for the January 11th General Gov and Social Services report. Might be just winging it here shortly. Sorry. Okay, the General Government Social Services Committee, January 11, 2022, summary of motions. We called the meeting to order at 101, and the approval of the November 9, 2021 Committee Summary was the first item by Vice Mayor Kaye, and seconded by Council Member Plowman and passed without dissent. And the second item was the summer youth job training. uh council member james brown introduced the item and the summer youth job training programs director stephanie hung and director uh brianna brianna personally uh for gave the presentation the director hung spoke about the history of the program since 2007 the summary youth job training program work group was created in 2019 and partners for youth was launched when when it was launched. Partners for Youth took over the business recruitment of the program. The program was suspended during 2021 and 2020 because of COVID, the pandemic, and Director Hung also gave an overview of the program's annual process. Director Pursley discussed the evaluation of the program. She shared the feedback from the work sites specifically. Partners for Youth has also worked on shifting the language of the program from the vocational to career interest to help encourage a variety of worksite categories. There have also been multiple programmatic improvements made for this summer. The program will run six weeks and the youth will be paid $15 per hour, which is funded by LFUCG. The total budget for the summer youth job training program for FY23 is $611,310. There's an expansion plan that will include 12 training sessions on workforce skills. The expansion plan also includes $30,000 of ARPA funds to reach 300 additional youth. The budget for the summer youth job training program for FY24 is similar to the FY23 at $611,310 and the expansion plan is the same for as FY23. Director Hong explained the total program fund for FY23 and 24 is $1.2 million with $960,000 from ARPA and $262,620 from the general fund. This will prepare 600 youth for the workforce and an additional 600 youth with the job skills training. In the future, Summer Youth Job Training Program would like to have more community collaborative efforts. Councilmember Plowman asked how a student is paired with a work site and Summer Youth job training program helps pair the students with a work site that reaches that matches their interests and Fayette County Public Schools is now an active partner and participant in the program where previously Fayette County Public Schools only distributed the information. Council Member Reynolds wanted additional information about internet accessibility. Dr. Hong shared that all of the students have Chromebooks and the schools gave give hot spots to their students. In addition to the Summer Youth Job Training Program is working with the schools to determine which students are lower income and higher risk to pinpoint students who would benefit from this program. The Councilmember James Brown asked what additional support and resources Summer Youth Job Training Partners and Partners for Youth were receiving. Director Hong shared that there is a new program specialist and provides additional capacity to the programs. Councilmember James Brown said that as the program focuses on older youth, It provides an opportunity to work with younger students. Then the third item was the division and program review. Councilmember Lamb introduced the division and program review process. Each committee will take on two areas or divisions to review. One area has been confirmed, and that is government communications. The process is intended to review current programs and divisions to share information, successes, shortcomings, and necessary improvements. Council Member Lamb emphasized that this is to be a positive process for people to learn about these areas. The second selection will be brought to the committee in March. And then the last item was items referred to committee. We removed, Council Member Reynolds approved to remove item number 12, which was internal audit of HR to ensure women are paid equal to men. It was seconded by Council Member Sheehan. It was passed without dissent. and Councilmember Reynolds indicated that she wanted the presentation on item 8, language access and LFUCG to occur at the March meeting. And Councilmember James Brown made a motion to remove item number 3, summer youth job training programs. It was seconded by Councilmember Plowman and was passed without dissent. And then a motion to adjourn by Councilmember Plowman, seconded by Vice Mayor Kaye, and that passed without dissent. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Councilmember Lamb? All right, thank you. Next, I'd like to welcome to the podium Brandy Peacher, who's going to give the presentation the overview of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Welcome. The past five years I've been able to work side by side with our local departments, with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and FHWA, all different levels throughout the use of our Tiger Funds and other funding entities to help support Town Branch Commons. So I'm happy to take that experience and put it forth toward this infrastructure bill as we move forward. So if you don't mind putting up the slides, Chris. Thank you. Next slide. So today I'll overview the bipartisan infrastructure law, also known as Bill, and also has a second name, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA. So as many of you know, that was passed on November 15th of last year by President Biden. And this is a historic once in a generation investment to our economy and to our infrastructure across the country. There will be $1.2 trillion of infrastructure funds that are being put out into our economy. $550 billion of that are new funds for new programs, and $650 billion of that is a continuation of core programs that already existed through previous legislation, like the Tiger Grant, which is now known as RAISE. There are several others that will be funded in addition to that. Next slide. So the types of investments that will be supported by this bill, you see on the screen several of those. It's generally those that are related to broadband, transportation, ports. It's also our better streets and roads and bridges and environmental components. So we will see them distribute funds over the next five years through this bill. And so what that means is we will have year after year rounds of competitive grant opportunities from discretionary funds through this bill, as well as formula funds that are distributed to states and local MPOs to utilize on their existing plans and implementation efforts and direct spending from the federal government. However, you might hear people say this bill will have a 20-year impact on our cities and on our country. Well, that's true. While they will use the next five years to award those funds or distribute those, we will see the implementation and expenditures exceed the 10-year mark, 15-year mark, as they are finally expended over the course of those projects being constructed. Many of the projects that cities around the country will be looking to implement will try to achieve the goals that were set forth with the bipartisan infrastructure law. And those are to address climate change, environmental sustainability, economic development, quality of life, and addressing the needs of areas of persistent poverty and historically disadvantaged communities. Next slide. So how we will approach this. Oh, yes, that one. Funds are distributed, as I said, through formula, through competitive grants, and through direct spending. And it's distributed across the board in these various categories. As you can see, a big chunk of that is transportation, followed by water and broadband, a lot of power and energy as well, and resiliency is a big component of this as well. So we will apply for competitive opportunities while working hand-in-hand with our MPO and our state transportation cabinet and other cabinets at the state level to ensure that funds are distributed to projects worthwhile here in Lexington. Next slide. So let's look at it year by year. We're now in 2022. It was just announced in November. So what do we do now? It's amazing how just in February, they announced the first rollout of funds from this infrastructure bill. And that was with the RAISE grant yet again. They just had a call for submittals last fall. We were not awarded one, but guess what? We're ready to resubmit because we did a lot of legwork then. But that's our plan for this year as we're trying to get our legs underneath us and we're trying to understand where do we want to invest this infrastructure money, we're going to take projects that were previously submitted and we'll reapply for those. We're ready with those. They need just minor adjustments. We'll also work, the MPO, of course, has formula funds that will be increased by approximately 30% across the board and at the state level. And so using the transportation improvement plan that they already have and that's approved, going ahead and implementing those as well already in the plan as they are. However, we do have a great opportunity to look more broadly here. And we have an opportunity to say, what can we do that will make an impact with this money for years to come? And so we want to, next slide, take this year to simultaneously look at a strategic plan. So while we are competitive, while we apply for the grants, because we don't want to sit back and wait. We want to be competitive this year. Let's do that, but let's take this time in parallel to create a strategic plan for our infrastructural investments. And that strategic plan will help guide us over the next four years of this infrastructure law for all of our competitive grants. So how will we do that? I hope to conduct a capital needs assessment first. We've already started meeting with our various departments and divisions to ask them what's already on the books, what plans have been created, what public input has already been received that has informed those plans, and let's not recreate the wheel. Let's lean on documents and policies we already have. Let's now grab those, assess them as one big group of projects. That way we can map them. We can see where there are opportunities to leverage various funding sources and geographic locations so we can have efficiencies in how these projects roll out. This is very similar to a typical capital improvements process, but we just have not had that in place for many years. So this is a way for us to scratch the surface and do that with this infrastructure effort here in the short term. I want to meet with each one of you here in the short term as well to understand what's important to you in your district. Because as we look at identifying what's already in water qualities plans, transportation, parks and rec, and others, you all have a sense of the more comprehensive view, how all those work together. So I look forward to meeting with you to have those discussions. Also then, after we gather all the information, look at a gap analysis. So, as I said, we'll see where there's efficiencies with those projects overlapping, but we'll identify how those projects then align with the goals of the infrastructure bill. We already talked about those. And in particular, I want to raise awareness to where the projects are that will specifically support the areas of persistent poverty. That is a big component of this infrastructure bill. So as we do that, we'll develop a series of criteria, a way for us to score projects, a way for us to prioritize those across the county, not district by district, not downtown versus suburban, but all as one package. So I look forward to developing that as well. All of this will not be done in a vacuum. I want to make sure that we work with you. We create an advisory committee that includes internal and external stakeholders and hope that all of this will occur over the next eight months or so to inform our next year's efforts. Now, I do want to point out one thing. This is not ARPA. This is not money that just comes to us and we get to determine where it goes. We have to compete for this money. So we have to ensure that we have truly assessed, we've looked at all the data, and we have the findings and the backing to support our initiatives. But also, we have to be prepared with providing a local funding match. And so many of these will require a minimum of 20% match. So that's really going to start to sting a little bit if we're not prepared for it. So that's one reason why we also want this strategic plan. We can look out over the next five years and identify where we want to plan to spend money as we plan for implementation. Next slide. So this is simple. Just to reiterate what we already talked about. This year we'll apply competitively for what's already out there for projects that are in the works who meet the criteria of those various programs. And we'll also create that strategic plan. That strategic plan will guide our competitive applications over the next five years while also continuing to work with the MPO and the state's cabinets to implement plans that are already in place. Next slide. So I think we all know the road to success is not necessarily one that is already laid out for us. There's going to be lots of twists and turns and we'll figure it out together. But it's going to be up to us, our community, to decide how we can best utilize these funds. The federal government has made it available to us, and it is historic action. But it's up to us to act upon that. And so to effectively capitalize on this program and to be most competitive for those funds that we need to go after, that's why it requires this organization here at the front end and across our departments, across our districts and with our community partners. And granted, we will constantly be in contact with our state, regional, and federal offices for the various projects. Next slide. So, as I mentioned earlier, this is very similar to a capital improvements process. And Lexington has a capital budgeting, but we don't necessarily have a planning effort, a strategic investment planning effort in place to inform that budgeting. So I've been talking with the Department of Finance, and we've been strategizing on ways we can implement a more formalized CIP moving ahead. And so as I look in parallel with finance, I will look at the more competitive, large-scale infrastructure projects through this infrastructure bill effort over the next year. And we can use this as a pilot for what a CIP could look like moving ahead. how we collect the data, how we work across our various silos of work to ensure that we're ready to explore our entire city's portfolio projects as one comprehensive plan. So I will leave it at that. I think I've hit upon most of the details. There's a lot more to it. I'm happy to sit down with you and go through every page of 436 pages of the infrastructure bill if you'd like. But I appreciate your time today and look forward to working with you, and I'm happy to take questions. Thank you very much, Brandy. Council members, our government has been talking about a capital improvement plan for at least 25 years, and all great cities have a capital improvement plan, so we're really excited about this. It's going to be a giant effort, but it's way past time, so thank you for your efforts. and we do have some questions. First is Councilmember Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. In this particular, the grants, if I understand, we have to apply for individual grants or would it be a comprehensive grant with all of our capital projects in there? I wish that sounds a lot easier. No, it will be, there will be a number of programs that are released. And I'm glad you asked because because I failed to mention this, as all of this money is being released, the programs that were already existing, like RAISE, through the Department of Transportation, they'll come quickly. They already have the processes, they already have the staff, and that's why we saw it come out in February. But a lot of programs still need to develop those policies and how to apply and what the criteria will be. And we're not sure when they will release those. Some of the broadband ones, we expect to come out in May. Some of the other projects, it could be fall of this year. So we might be surprised. It might be just a couple weeks' notice, and they'll say, hey, this funding opportunity is available to you. And that's another reason why a strategic plan allows us to know, okay, we've got these 10 projects that align with these goals. Let's choose the right one to apply for. It will be an individual project application for each competitive grant. And so what we need to do is probably get some type of priority order? That's right. That's right. But yeah, and that's exactly what I hope to do at the end of this strategic plan. Planning is already involved in that through the MPO. So what do we do? We've already got information on a lot of capital items as far as transportation, infrastructure. Are we going to be able to use that back and forth with our planning division? 100%. Okay. We have a lot of expertise, as you've just said, here within city government. And I'm not trying to recreate any other planning efforts. It's just taking those of transportation, those of water quality, those of broadband, different disciplines and aligning them together so that we can understand where the biggest impact will be if we were to implement several of those at one time. So is there an actual cap on what we could request for the city, or do we have to go through the state when we're getting these funds? It will vary. So the formula funds are already defined. Those will be given to the MPO. And so Chris Avelia and his staff can respond to that. Dedicated funds are going to the state. Then they will determine what will be available through competitive grant applications again or other formula programs they have. But I'm looking specifically, in addition to that, the federal competitive grant opportunities. And those will be individually announced, and we'll have to apply individually for those. So we've got personnel in place right now that we can hit the ground running on this. I think, well, we have a lot of folks who are prepared to work with us on this. And, yes, I've already talked. We need division of planning. We need the MPO. We need those staff to participate in this effort. But I think it's going to take a lot more effort to apply than we realize. For instance, when we submitted a RAISE grant last fall, the Transportation Cabinet provided the funding of $50,000 to pay for our consultant to pull that application together. And these are big lifts for some of these grants. In particular, like RAISE, you could request up to $25 million in that one program. and then you have to put in your 20% minimum match. That's minimum. To be competitive, you need more than that in lots of cases. Some of the programs, Council Member, will be smaller than that for $100,000. It just depends on what the program is, and it comes out of different departments within the federal level. Mayor, this is something we need to get right on top of. You and I talked about this 20-some years ago. It's time to act. And it's great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Brandy. For the percent, are we, and I guess maybe this is a question for you, Mayor, or both, I'm assuming that we're going to put away some money in the budget as a reserve fund for match funds for the infrastructure project bucket. I think that's a great idea. So maybe I'll just toss it out as an idea. I think we were talking about that during the ARPA funds of maybe reserving some of those funds so that we would have the capacity. when funds are available, we can match them and not be looking for every little pocket of money and pulling it together, that we have a dedicated funding source for it. And then I wasn't here 25 years ago, but I was here four years ago. And we talked about a CIP plan and council and the administration being a part of that plan together. And we never quite got it off the ground because of, I think, COVID and other things. But having either the chair of the budget committee, the vice mayor, the at-large people on that committee, I think is really important for the continuation and conversation between this body and your body and making sure that we're on the same page year-round. And I believe we talked about that. I know we've talked about the BFED committee several times. So I'm very excited that we're actually going to have a pilot option. And I won't be able to participate very long, but I think it would be great. Thank you. That's wonderful. And, I mean, my sense is that it's a difficult thing to pull off, crafting a really good CIP. And that's, you know, it's hard work. And so for many administrations, it was just there were other priorities, I think. So we're determined this time, right? That's right. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I mean, I look at this as an opportunity for being on the MPO for all these years. And you go back to what you said 25 years ago. There are projects that are still in there that should be funded. But the problem is we only get so much money every year. And that's why these projects have moved on, everything from Wood Hill on New Circle Road, the Sales Road. All these great projects have been put in there for many years and it cost a lot of money. This is a golden opportunity if we do it right to use those kind of big projects. I don't want to go out there. We already have projects in the NPO. We know that it's going to be in the five year plan that will be in the budget that we can fund. But these are projects that are in 25 years that everybody in this round of horseshoe has a problem that needs to be done. And I'm hopefully that we take those priorities in this kind of money. We still go on the track with the NPO that we normally do every year. But this goes back and I just hope we go the right direction. That we use those, because I mean you got the Wood Hills, you got the Sales Road, We've had 25 different studies and also Liberty Road. I think it's the number one biggest problem on New Circle Road and Liberty Road. But it's going to cost us too much money that we won't be able to fix this. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I hope my colleagues, we still go on with the regular MPO that we have for five year plans. This is unique. We need to step up to the big times and try to see which one of those projects make it party. So hopefully, I'm glad to hear this. Thank you. You're right in the same line of thinking I am. We got the NPO plan implemented. Let's look at the big things. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions for Brandy? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Next is council reports. Council Member Baxter. championship win by our UK women. Super exciting. It's their first in 40 years. So congratulations to them. I just also wanted to encourage everybody to let the women in your life know what they mean to you and let them know how they've inspired your life. So it's also a good opportunity to visit our stand monument downtown, which is our first statue honoring Lexington women, our women in general. So thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Kloiber. Thank you, Mayor. Over the past few months, I've been having a lot of discussions with our horse farm and agricultural community about the city programs that directly support conservation of these valuable and iconic green spaces. Through these conversations, there's been a lot of agreement that the more people understand and interact with these amazing resources, the more support we can have to continue in our efforts to preserve them. So for that reason, And amongst others, I would like to place into the Planning and Public Safety Committee a review of potential enhancements to the PDR program to allow for public access on these PDR lands. So moved. Second. Council Member Ellinger seconds. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Anything else? All right, Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. I, too, want to place an item in my General Government Social Services Committee, an update on the aging and disability services within our Social Services Department. And we will, I believe, we're going to try to have that in April, I think. So I would like to place that item in committee, and I so move. Second. Okay, Council Member Baxter seconded. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Council Member Legree. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to share with my colleagues and anybody watching an initiative that one of my constituents shared with me over the weekend that she's organizing. It's a rally to encourage voting, and I think we can all agree that voting is important. and it's put together by a group of community members. It's on Wednesday, March 16th from 11.45 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. in the Rotunda at the State Capitol in Frankfurt. And their goal is to encourage participation in our representative government by expanding voting options and sharing information so that people know more about voting. So I just wanted everybody to know about that. And one thing that she shared, which I really appreciated, is that even though we may not all agree on who to vote for, the act of voting is the most unifying event in our country. And so I encourage you to come out if you can. One other thing, and this is in downtown Lexington. I think you all are all aware that this coming Saturday, March 12th, is our st patrick's day festival and parade and so it begins at at ten forty five a.m. with the blessing of the keg and and last all afternoon and i'm sure for some in into the evening uh... so i hope that if you can come out for the parade and you well and it'll be a really fun afternoon hopefully the weather will hold it may snow uh... soon enough but You can wear green and be dressed warmly at the same time. That's it, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. It's my understanding that the decision will be made about Thursday morning as to whether the parade and everything goes forward. You know, we have a rather, our weather report for Friday night is not so good. If you've been watching, so stay tuned. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. In relationship to what's going on in the city, we have got the girls Sweet 16 this week, starting tomorrow. And we've got the boys Sweet 16, which will be Wednesday week. And I will invite everybody to, if you can't get out and see the activity, that we be mindful of the traffic. And the fact that we will have a lot of out of towners, so We want to be on our best behavior as far as welcoming everyone in this community because this is a big event for us and for the community. The other thing I wanted to address was I'll show this, and I think most council members have a list of district residential roads for their district. If you haven't got this, you can get it from the Commissioner Albright's office. And what it is is it's each street in your district that will have a rating and have a cost related to it. And there's also a map that's comparative to it. And if you haven't got the map, you can request one. And the reason I bring that up is that I wish to put in committee, the Environmental Quality Committee, for May 3rd. We're going to have an update from Commissioner Albright about the pavement management that we have. Pavement management system, she wants to address that. And I wanted to piggyback some information related to where we're at as far as the rating program. Because what it does is when you get these lists, you might be looking at them as far as the rating. up to zero to 20 is one group and another group is 20 to 40 and those are the roads that most of us are concentrating on. I am and I think you'll be enlightened as to how much money we might need per district when we look at that. But anyway, I want to bring that forward and I request that we put that in committee for May 3rd. Okay, is there a second? Second. Thank you. Councilmember McCurran any questions all those in favor say aye anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you very much Councilmember Lamb I just have a quick question based on what councilmember Brown was just talking about it are these the new is that did this as a study done is this the new are these the new numbers Commissioner I'll speak to that Thank you, Council Member Lamb for that question. It will be with the new numbers. They are finishing, finalizing the report right now. They did the analysis or the data collection back in November and they are doing some quality control on the data right now. So we do expect by spring to have the new maps with new data. That's awesome. Well, thank you very much. I'm not requesting, this is not the new listing. This is the old rating. That's right. What you have today is the old number. We won't have the new rating. We will have the new numbers in the very near future. Yeah. Any other council reports? All right. Next up is there's no mayor's report. Public comment for issues not on the agenda. Anyone signed in? No. All right. Could I have a motion to adjourn? We'll adjourn. Thank you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Thank you. And we are adjourned.