Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. To go ahead, it's 3 o'clock and call to order the Urban County Council work session of June 7, 2022. And first off is public comment for issues on the agenda. and I'll ask someone back there to take a look at the sign-in sheet and see if we have anyone signed in. No? Okay, thank you. We do have a docket. If I could have a motion to approve the docket. Moved, approved. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger and then Council Member Plowman seconded. Are there any motions to add, subtract, change the docket? If you have any, please log in. All right, all those in favor of approving the docket, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. I'll entertain a motion to approve the Council Work Session May 31st. Table of motions, please. Second. Councilmember Sheehan and then second by Councilmember Reynolds. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Next is budget amendments. Could I have a motion? Second. Thank you, Councilmember Ploman and Councilmember Sheehan seconds. If you have a question about a budget amendment, please log in. Councilmember Fred Brown. Thank you mayor. Item, let's see second item on the page journal 134868 has the million dollar transfer to the general fund for the disc golf project. Has that already been processed through the budget? It has been hasn't it monica and what funds did that come through arpa funds or what funds did that come through uh council member i will defer to budgeting for the funding yeah that source i was just i just wanted a little bit of clarification so this came from the arpa meeting but it was voted on to come out of budget stabilization okay so that's already a separate vote out of out of that one correct we approved okay that's fine Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have questions about budget amendments? All right. All those in favor of approving, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Could I have a motion to approve new business, please? Second. Council Member Sheehan moved. Council Member Lamb seconded. If you have questions, please log in. Council Member Maloney. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. My question is, it's really not a quick comment on D. And Monica, while you come up, I've had some friends of mine that in other counties have gotten the opera money. And they've been sending out their beds on projects. And for instance, they had one building they were going to build, the budget they thought was going to be a million point five, came back three million dollars. As I look at this bathroom and all that, and we are doing a lot of opera money, are we having the same problem yet? That we're bending out and it's coming way more than we thought it would be? Because it seems like every other county that I've talked to are having this problem. And if we're not, I don't want to know what your secret is, but do you have, have you all had these problems yet? So, Council Member, thank you for the question. It's a great question, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. We have some projects that come in overbid. We have others that come back under. For instance, we just had a roof project that had five roofs in it, and it came back under budget. We had woodland originally was funded at $350,000, but even during the pandemic, we realized that those costs were going to be inflationary. So that project ended up needing another $150,000, which the council approved some time ago. So we see a bit of a mixed bag. We know that with the increasing price of asphalt, that that has been challenging for some of our paving projects and sport court projects. And as gas continues to go up in transportation, everything is affected from food to supplies to anything. So that's why I'm just wondering, has it hit us yet? In some cases it has hit, and in some cases we've been lucky. But I think at the end of the day, as gas continues to go up, I think you all need to be prepared. Some of these projects that you all bid out are going to be coming in way under what the other bids come out. So just because I've got that from the other counties that they're having that major problem. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. I had a question on item L about the horse mania. When I looked in the packet, I don't know if this is for Director Martin or Commissioner Albright, but when I looked on the packet at page 26, it said that the property where the horses would be placed was shown on an enclosed exhibit and there was no enclosed exhibit. want to know where those would be placed thank you council members for pointing that out that was something that was probably added late so we'll have to get you a list I believe Hillary has some general information about locations that she can share right now okay thank you yes so there's actually a hundred and sixty horses going out but for the city right away or just right away in general and city park properties there's about 55 horses that are going to be placed and so attached to the legisart file there's a lot of images so i can email those to you and email you a summary of the just the list of addresses oh thank you i appreciate that okay that's all thank you council member fred brown thank you mayor my question is on item c authorization to execute a contract with WISER strategies. I guess just concerned about the cost of $360,000 and what we were getting there and with an option. It looks like we're going to be doing that for the next three years. What are we spending $360,000 on in that particular area? And is this coming out of general fund dollars or is it going to come out of water quality? A portion of it comes out of water quality. $40,51, there's $150,000 that is allocated for stormwater advertising. And then there is $150,000 coming from Fund 1115 related to recycling right and leaf pickup in the fall. And then there is $60,000 that's going to come out of MPO for Safe Streets advertisements. So is this a lot of media, TV, and radio? Radio, TV, advertisements on streaming services, and billboards. Okay, all right. I just wanted a little clarification on that. It seems like an awful lot of money, but I guess we're trying to promote something. Yes. Okay. So the funds from 4051 are a little more than the prior contract. it was 125,000 a year waste management funds is actually a decrease of 10,000 and then the NPO's an increase of 10,000. Councilmember Ellinger. Thank you mayor. Mine is a follow-up to number D for the the Woodland part but I'm not sure if it's going to be Monica or somebody just deal I have a general question about the ARPA money and I don't think Jennifer's here but who would be the person I could talk to about that because didn't we build in when we did the projects that we had a construction part of that that if there would be contingency? Ashley. Thank you, Council Member, for your question. We did build in a contingency of $3 million. We have spent part of that at this moment and I don't have the balance with me today, But we can provide that to you. Thank you. Yeah, if you could just get that to us, please. And then we still have, I guess, besides that, we still have what, about 1.5 left in ARPA that we hadn't spent yet? We do. We do have a balance in the ARPA fund as well that has not been allocated at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Anyone else have questions on new business? All right, all those in favor of approving, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. We'll start with continuing business and presentations. First is neighborhood development funds. Moved to approve. Thank you. Second by Council Member Plumman. Are there any questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? Mayor, we have an amendment. I'm sorry, do you have? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Okay, well, we'll go with that. Council Member James Brown. All right, thank you, Mayor. I move to amend the NDF list to add Neighborhood Development Fund allocations of $250 to Pearls of Wisdom, Inc., $500 to Movement Continuum, Inc., in care of Pam Miller Arts Center, $500 to the Lexington Striders, Inc., and $250 to Bryan Station Alumni Foundation. So move. Sir. Council Member Bledsoe seconds. Is there any discussion? Questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. So you slipped in there right at the end of the voting. Got to be quick here, you know. So is there anything else about neighborhood development funds? All right. All those in favor of approving as amended, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. Thank you. That passes. Next is Council Member Fred Brown with the Environmental Quality and Public Works report. Thank you. Environmental, this is a report out summary of our May 3, 2022 meeting. Meeting was called to order at 1.01 p.m. The first item on the agenda was approval of the March 1 committee summary. There were no additions or corrections to the summary, and it was approved without dissent. Next, we had the annual pavement management plan presented by Commissioner Albright. She reviewed a few changes for the fiscal year 23 plan, and she spoke about the mayor's proposed budget, which includes $13 million for paving. Future plans include completion of quality review for the 2021 data survey, establishing permanent performance goals, planning for the next data survey cycle, and reconvening the paving subcommittee. No action was taken on this item. The next item was the crosswalks. Commissioner Albright reviewed two options, decorative crosswalks and crosswalk art. All costs associated with application, design, installation, and maintenance of these additions would be the responsibility of the sponsor. If approved, Lexington government would assist the applicant with finding contractors capable of performing the work. Motion by Councilmember Bledsoe to approve the aesthetic crosswalk guidelines. Second by Councilmember McCurran. Motion passed without dissent. On behalf of the committee, I so move to bring this forward. Second. Councilmember Bledsoe seconds. Any questions, comments? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next, we had a presentation on the Sevierville Waste Digesters, which came out of a council field trip to Sevierville, Tennessee, to tour their solid waste facility. The facility is a nonprofit joint venture between Sevier County and the cities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg. They receive 100,000 tons of waste and sludge per year, which is less than half of Lexington's volume. The waste is mixed with floods and pushed into five large waste digesters where it sits for three days It takes approximately four weeks for the screening process to turn the waste into compost and then it is provided to the public free of charge After some discussion committee agreed that it would be a good step forward to hire a consultant to consider a process like this for Lexington A motion by Councilmember McCurron to request the administration to issue an RFP to hire a consultant to study Lexington's waste stream and opportunities to develop a digester program at a cost not to exceed $250,000. This was seconded by Councilmember Malone. And on behalf of the committee, move. Second by Councilmember McCurron. Are there any questions, discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Our last item was an update of CNG conversion and use, which was presented by John Seed, Director of Facilities and Fleet Management. He said the data collected in the past 36 months provides good insight and advantages to having CNG units. Since examination of key performance indicators show CNG to be the, and that's natural gas, way to be the most viable option it is highly recommended to continue the current policy of purchasing CNG units for the foreseeable future while examining other alternative fuel technologies for fleet no action was taken on this item the meeting was adjourned at 2 30 and that concludes my report thank you thank you very much councilmember Brown does anyone have any further questions for councilmember Brown all right we'll go ahead then with our presentation and this is the downtown Lexington management district fiscal year 23 budget and we have mr. Jim Frazier here to lead us through that welcome good afternoon all thank you very much for having me here always look forward to this this is our 2022 2023 downtown Lexington management district budget what we did per request of Mr. Atkins, which I thought was a great idea, we put in front of you all what we have spent year to date for last fiscal year, our budgeted amendment, and the actual. So you have something to compare it with, if you would, going forward. And I draw your attention to the top line. The $480,000 we think is a pretty good firm number. It's based upon what we collect from the property taxes, as you all well know. I've talked to David O'Neill many a time, and so we think that number is pretty steadfast wish it was higher but that's what we're going to work with and from there you can see where our expenditures go our largest line item is obviously the block by block folks I call them the purple shirt folks on the street David Warren and his guys do a great job on all the aspects of being ambassadors on our street and the that's a $330,000 a year commitment just for the one contract we've also have a contract with them for $30,000 for additional security. And I know you all have discussed security ad nauseum in here, but for us, we have an additional line item proposed for next year of $30,000 to match this year's $30,000. That's two additional ambassadors at key peak times downtown in the center of the area, sometimes around Tandy Park, but not always. They kind of rove at night and sometimes in early morning. We've had issues in the morning sometimes. So those, so I'm basic, we have $360,000 committed to block by block for the next year. And as you know, we had a contract this particular year with you all. You all matched the $30,000 grant you gave us for security for the Tandy Park area. We do not have that slated for next year's budget. We, quite frankly, just can't afford it. We have it slated for this year, and it will run through Breeders' Cup. And as you probably remember, I'll refresh your memory. We do Tandy Park on Wednesday through Saturday night from 9 to midnight. And then we do the parking authority does a 12 midnight to 4 a.m. shift to guards over at their Vic Square garage, which is where we've had some issues, you all know. So two different pots of money, but the one that comes before you all, the management district, you all were generous enough to give us $30,000. and we matched it so that 60,000 will add two additional, and they're off-duty officers for Sheriff Witt. That's who runs that program. They do a great job. So that plus the ambassadors, we feel has brought some added security to the downtown core for the folks who come down and enjoy our nightlife. I will also point out to you that our downtown improvement grants of 25,000 and our lighting grants of 18,500 are kind of our signature programs. We put the money back on the street. The folks pay their taxes and they want to see what they get the money for. So the patrons, the merchants have been very gracious and innovative in how they've gotten their exteriors lit up, cleaned up. We put all kinds of signs out there trying to show we get credit for the work done, but I think the downtown looks better. I honestly do. I walk it a lot. I know you all work here and do the same thing, but it's cleaner and it's safer and I think it's ever been despite all what we're dealing with in the world today so i'm very proud of the efforts of the board and i hope you enjoy my little editorial analysis at the bottom of the budget very tight budget so as if you all couldn't read that i'm sure you did but just in case you didn't see it we have a whopping 1100 left over if everything works right so do you all have any questions of me if you have questions please log in council member lamb thank you and thank you mr frazier for this i I actually was interested in looking at this because I have noticed the change and for the better. And I have to say that the, of course, purple is my favorite color. Mine, too. That's why you picked it. Well, it's a compassionate color. I think it's a kind color. But the people in Purple Shirts, because I don't know what their title is, they're ambassadors. They're ambassadors. We call them ambassadors. The ambassadors that I always run into are just phenomenal. They're always friendly, and I just think they represent Lexington very well, and I appreciate that. I noticed, though, that your management services, you're reducing it by 20,000, and I was going from 50 to 30, and I was like, ooh, how does that? I mean. Well, I've changed. The board voted about a month ago to change vendors. vendors. We have been using downtown Lexington partnership. Some of you are more intimately involved with me than others and so we are we decided not to go that direction again so we have hired Carla Blanton of Blanton Consulting Company. She does work for Visit Lex, Hope Center, Salvation Army, the town branch. So very well versed in communication, marketing in downtown which is what I think this organization desperately needs. I think we're we do great work but I honestly believe that we're a well-kept secret so we tried dlp and it's nothing wrong with our dlp partners we're still invested in each other's downtown experience but we just felt for the money we wanted to go a different direction that's 20 more thousand dollars i could put on the street right right so that was why we changed well i mean and anytime you can you know do something and still get a good product i mean that's important so that's the plan especially with the very tight budget right the the other thing um the state of downtown uh it was uh i think it's item 6450 it's for four thousand dollars uh i was just curious what that what that is for please that's a great question that was debated quite a bit uh what that is that is the management district's contribution to the upcoming state of downtown annual event that we hold actually dlp puts it on republic Bank as a presenting sponsor. We talked about that, but it is, it represents the downtown, what's going on downtown, which the management district is a part of. I personally had concerns about spending $4,000, but quite frankly, it gives the management district some more visibility. It gives me a chance at the podium, so I can say a few words, so people know that their tax dollars are in fact doing some of these things we've already talked about. But that is an annual event that they put on and I guess for now we're going to commit to be a participant and be on the stage with them so that's what that 4,000 is for. Okay well thank you for that and then the last question is the block by block services you just mentioned that that's your ambassadors. How many ambassadors do you all have? All together we have 12 but they rotate in different times. David Warren our the supervisor kind of schedules all the shifts but we have we start at five o'clock in the morning because we've had issues with some of the employees walking from the Vick Square garage to the old courthouse. So we have a couple there in the morning for escorts, and then we bring them in and rotate them on the weekends, especially in the evenings. We'll bring in a few more forces. It's just a matter of trying to flood the place with bodies. So they're not all here eight hours a day, obviously. We couldn't afford that. But they do stagger at them enough to where we get the peak hours covered. Well, 12 is a small number, actually. I'm impressed. And I will tell you, and I've talked to a couple of the council members about this, I think what we're going to move to, all the ambassadors are going to undergo Narcan training. So they're all going to be carrying their own ability, because we witness this on the street sometimes before the police do. Overdoses, we had one the other day over by Triangle. So I think you're going to see a little more active, proactive presence for the purple shirts, as I call them, the ambassadors. And also, they're all outfitted now with information cards. So you were talking about that the people come, talk to you. They now pass out cards to visitors where things are, sites they might want to go see. Visit Lex works heavily with us, enabled us to kind of enhance the communication for both sectors. You know, I mean, I say this. I've got 29 seconds. It might be something to look into that your ambassadors have crisis intervention training. You know, in my personal opinion, I think, and professional, that the more resources that we have available to ourselves when we are dealing with the public in whatever fashion and form, the more information, I just know that our police officers are trained in that, and I think it's really important. So that might be something that you might check into. We actually discussed that with Council Member Brown and Vice Mayor Kay. We had a meeting a couple months ago, and we talked about that exact thing because they're right there with them, and they know all these people by name, most of them, so I think you're right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Frazier, for your service. You've served endlessly in a variety of roles to serve the downtown, and we really appreciate it. I know when we voted to do this project a couple years ago, we wondered would we see the investment that property owners intended or that downtown people intended. And I think you can. I mean, I no doubt in the last two years have seen when you walk how beautiful it is and how intentional I think you're making it safe, lighting, improvements with flowers. I mean, just small beautification efforts make a big difference. And I'm just curious, so on the line item for block by block, how much of that is capital? Or is it mostly capital? It's labor. It's all labor? It is all labor. Other than the, there's a $4,100 entry down where it says supplies and equipment. That's my mule, you know, the thing we drive around. That's my monthly, that's my yearly payment for that, actually. It's in block by block, owns it. I didn't want the liability for the management district, so we reimburse them. But that $360,000 is literally all labor. It's all labor. So the improvements for the improvement grants downtown, those are the ones you're giving out to other businesses. Right, we'll match. We'll give them up to $10,000, which is a pretty large grant. But for us to give them $10,000, they're leveraging $60,000 and $70,000 of their own money. So we kind of take those monies and make it much more than it really would be just from us. And, again, it's all exterior with regard to the improvement grants, not inside. And, of course, the lighting grant is separate. We did the tubes, the walkways. I'm real proud of those. I think those are phenomenal. So all the lights that we put up I think really have enhanced the experience for everybody downtown. Oh, I think so too. I think lighting is critical and I think that the part that we just approved, I think will also help immensely some of the safety and that feeling of it being bright. And then I'm just curious, how much, are you seeing a challenge with employment hiring people, keeping them on for your ambassadors? I know we're seeing that. I'm just curious if you're feeling it too. Absolutely. I mean, especially, even though this is off message, We've had to take the parking authority and literally double the rates we pay folks to keep them. We just can't because they can make more money at McDonald's than what they were making with us earlier. With regard to the block-by-block, that's why this contract is inched up each year because we're paying folks more. And quite frankly, we can't afford to lose the people we have. They know the constituents. They know the streets. They know their routes. And so we're pretty liberal when it comes to that. I'd rather pay them and keep them than have to go look. so we try to but that does you can see how much it takes of our budget it does you know we if we could have i've tried to talk david o'neill into raising the property values even more but which people are real popular right now see i'm not running i'm not running i am not on the ballot so i could say that you know but you're on the record that's right i'll never seek office but anyway so uh but that's the problem which is we have a finite amount of money it does and it's important i think to come from our lambs point when you see the same people you feel comfortable around them and I think they know the people that had certain issues and know how to intercede a little more carefully maybe than others because they know who they are and I think it's really important the more conventions we're hosting now that the convention center is picking back up and you're seeing more of people from outside walking around knowing that they have someone safe they can talk to and ask questions I think is really important. They've always been exceptionally kind so I applaud your efforts and I wish you had different challenges ahead of you. I'll say that. Thank you. Thank you Mayor. Thank you. Councilman Member Plumman. Thank you Mr. Frazier for all your commitment and work for downtown and also to your board. I was just going to make a comment. I attended the State of Downtown this year and I had not attended. You probably didn't have it last year, did you? It's coming up. It's later on this month. The first they had the annual meeting of the DLP, which we did not participate in because that's a separate organization. But that's coming up at the end of this month. Well, I thought that. It'll be at Live Lex. Okay. So please come down. You can see me talking. the luncheon that we went to not so long ago. I thought that was well done. And really learned a lot about the organization and the impact. So whatever you do on that one, keep doing it. And then the other question I had, you have listed here under special projects, art, new opportunities. There's an increase on the downtown art project. Can you go into a little bit more detail on what that project is and why it's increased? Yeah, the art, we have an art committee which I chair and I know nothing about art. But the reason I chair because there's a lot of artists on it. And so I kind of keep everybody in line so we all don't start fussing and fighting with each other. But so the art is just getting off the ground and we have a new protocol in place. We kind of mirrored it off LexArts. So applications are made through committees. We will vet them and then recommend or approval or disapproval for the board to vote on. It's new. The only thing we've really gotten into, we're helping move John Henry downtown over by the Lexington Civic Center. the center corporation made an application to us and so we kind of moved some funds around to help them be able to bring that we like that's a big huge statement we want to make for our downtown we're glad to be part of it but the I wish we had more money for the art fund because it's public art we have a criteria of ice mayor Kay helped us work on our criteria so it needs to be visible in an area of course has to be within the district yet remember we're gonna have a certain geomander district that's kind of awkward looking so we can't go outside it so but it really is cured the visibility and statement and enjoyment so it's a tough criteria to meet and right now most of our applications uh have been for things that we just don't think we get the bang for our buck and because dollars are so tight we really look at them closely i'm excited about the art projects i wish wish we had more money to spend for them be honest with you well but you did increase it so that we did that's the idea we have some good people on there and and council member lagree's on there so she helps greatly and so i think we got a little a lot of good folks that want to do something i'm looking forward to the opportunity yeah okay great thank you thank you mayor thank you councilmember maloney thank you mr frazier i echo what council member blessed said i was here when we did the management and remember a lot of people on here thinking it wasn't going to work it has worked i want to commend you for that but i also want to commend you for the parking authority what you've done to that and it's It's amazing how you mix the two together. My question is to the sheriff. How do you all have a relationship? I know that the sheriff is supposed to help a little bit with them, or is that with the police, or is that also with you guys, the downtown safety? The safety is all. We have had contracts now off and on for a couple of years with the sheriff's office, and so those are part-time contracts with both this organization and the parking authority. but what we did in addition to that, we went on and got two more extra ambassadors for certain times of the evening on certain days to add to kind of enhance the people presence. We have found, and I know you all know this better than I do, the more folks you have around of law enforcement authority, whether they're in purple shirts or in uniforms, it acts as a deterrent. And it's two different kind of problems, and you all know this. The early problem at the dinner folks, they're getting accosted at the dinner table. They're trying to have a drink at the bar and people come into them. That's the nine to midnight problem. After midnight, as my mother said, nothing good happens after midnight. Older I get it gets earlier and earlier. But so 12 to 4 are the people coming out of the bars. And they've had too much to drink and fights break out. And Sheriff Witt herself did a rest for me last Saturday night at the garage at 2 a.m. She couldn't find somebody to cover the shift. But that's why I'm so pro-Cathy because she'd come out there and do it herself. And so I think we've made a difference. I'm not going to say we can't have a problem tonight. I mean, we could. It's just the way it is. But we're trying. And you all are putting more force down there for us, and that's helpful. Because I know you're stretched thin too, but we see a lot of police presence down there, which is great. So between all of us, it takes a village. We think we're making some inroads, at least we think. I do appreciate what you've done. Thank you. Anyone else? Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Commissioner, for the presentation and the work that you do with the downtown management district. And thank you for your advocacy. I know when you reached out to Vice Mayor Kaye, myself, and Council Member Lugree in regards to the safety concerns, I think Sally Hamilton and the Mayor did a great job of finding funds that you all could match to address the safety concerns because it's important, especially right now. And I think a lot of my fellow council members have shared some of my concerns and questions in regards to the future of the management district. And I think one of them is the training, the additional training that we can potentially give those ambassadors because they are right in the middle of everything and touch those people on a daily basis. So thank you for that. So if there's no other comments, I will make a motion to place on the docket for June 9, 2022, Council meeting a resolution approving the FY2023 budget for the downtown Lexington Management District. I further move to schedule the required public hearing related to this approval at the regularly scheduled Council meeting on Thursday, June 23, 2022 at 6 p.m. So move. Second. Council Member Bledsoe seconds. Are there questions or comments about the motion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Great job. Now, Council Member, we're ready for council reports and first up is Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I want to get on early because we have some senior interns that are here and I wanted to recognize them before they left. So if you don't mind standing up and waving, then we appreciate it. Thank you. I didn't want them to have to stay for the whole meeting, but we have 40 interns this year. This is our 36th anniversary for the senior intern program. We'll have about 150 alumni come out Friday. I want to thank the council, the mayor, and all the administration that have really worked hard this week to really make it a great program. They learn a lot about the city government, we learn from them, and it's just a win-win for everybody. So thank you all for participating and thank you for staying around here and listening to our meeting. Thank you. Councilmember McCurn. Thank you, Mayor. This weekend on Saturday, June 11th at 7.30 p.m. We'll be at Bluegrass Airport, will be the honor flight. We're welcoming home 134 women for the Operation Heroes. And if anybody from the public would like to come out and show them their support, this will be the first female, all female honor flights. And I hope to see everybody there. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I have just a few things. One, I just wanted to also follow up with Director Conrad and the Parks Department. I do think the downtown looks really nice. And the trees and the flowers that they're doing, it's beautiful. And I just wanted to say thank you because I think it's a lot of effort and it's really noticeable. So thank you to them. Two, since we passed the crosswalk policies, just to follow up a little bit on the budget, Commissioner Albright and I will meet with Superintendent Liggins and come up with a plan so that we're not all meeting with him first and have a good idea of what the school system sounds like they're interested in talking about. And then we'll come back to you all with a plan so that we can move forward with picking your school that you would like to do some crosswalk enhancements with this fall. And thank you all for your support in that effort. And then lastly, this Saturday is the Southland Street Fair. I could not be more excited to have it back and open. It'll be from 3 to 8. There are a ton of bands on the hour that will be speaking. I'll just mention a few. Blue Eagle Band, Big Chill, the Rough Customers, Divine Karama, and the Johnson Brothers. And if you plan on coming, just text me or meet me at 4 o'clock. I'll be introducing the band at 4 o'clock. And if you would like to be recognized at the street fair, just let me know and meet me a little bit before 4. in front of the grandstand. And those are a few vendors that have had to cancel. So if you're still interested in participating, we have some opportunities. Otherwise, it should be a great community festival. Thank you. Good. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you. At this past Saturday, Truckapalooza took place. And I just really want to thank Environmental Quality and Public Works the fire department for being out there and having over 20 trucks for local kids and families to enjoy. It was a wonderful event. There were a ton of people. My son really enjoyed it and he's getting so big he climbed up into all of them. But he loved learning about how street lights are and about the little robot that checks water and goes under the ground. And so he had a lot of fun and I saw a lot of families enjoying it. So thank you for doing that. I think it was a wonderful free event. And then this Saturday, there's going to be a work day in Oxford Circle there to try to work on plantings and weeding and watering the beds that are in the median. And that's a project by the Carnivali Neighborhood Association that they've been working on for this past year to beautify that area. that's from 8 to 12 so I hope people will come out thank you thank you there were actually a few adults who got up and honked the horns too truth be told councilmember lamb thank you mayor and what I want to let me just first I wanted to specifically thank councilmembers LaGree councilmember Plowman and councilmember Ellinger last Tuesday they were willing to help with my budget request as I found out on the way to the committee of the whole meeting that i had to instead take my mother to see her doctor in the louisville firm for a medical emergency in eight years i've never missed a budget committee of the whole meeting you never dream of working so hard to shepherd items to the final ask all to find out that you can't make that final pitch i also want to thank council member bledsoe and council member james brown you you came to the came to the aid and made motions on the fly and i appreciate that on my behalf I listened to the entire meeting, no surprise to anybody here. I listened to it to hear the comments and questions and felt that since the Arboretum Visitor Center will be coming back up in October, there's an opportunity for clarification. There were lots of questions that were asked and I felt so bad because I wasn't here to advocate for it. So I'm going to take that opportunity today. I also did appreciate the Vice Mayor who offered a clarification and for those who supported the initial ask. I really do appreciate it. But as I heard a few council members express their concerns with this ask and because the University of Kentucky wasn't here asking for these funds nor willing to put up matching funds, it really bothered me. And so I wanted to make sure my colleagues understood that the University of Kentucky Physical Plant Division has allocated over six million dollars and and the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, over $4.3 million, to the operating funds of the Arboretum. I have served in the capacity as co-chair of the Arboretum Advisory Board on behalf of Mayor Gorton and LFUCG, and yes, we have a collaborative agreement with UK for the 100-acre Arboretum, thus the reason I was making this request. Now, I wanted to share with you an actual quote out of the amended agreement that was just passed in 2014, and I quote, this subsection 5, as permitted by budget conditions and subject to budget review and approval processes. And now, mind you, this is the agreement that was approved between UK and LFUCG, and the council members at the time in 2014 voted on this, as did they subsequent amended agreements, collaborative agreements. As permitted by the budget conditions and subject to budget review and approval process of each party, the LFUCG and university, will continue to contribute to Arboretum operations and will share in future costs for operations and maintenance, which may be provided through in-kind services or through funding from time to time, which I think is really important for us to remember that focus, I'm hoping, in October. And as Council Member Legree pointed out at the Committee of the Whole, the Arboretum had raised $1.58 million toward the $3 million Visitor Center Expansion Project Goal, which is really good, but it's not enough to start shovel ready. I was also afforded the information that the University of Kentucky fund few, if any, building projects they expect the funds to be raised. We began this partnership in 1987 with the third amended agreement just in recent years in 2014, and we, LFUCG, have allocated over $1.6 million to the Arboretum during that time, And it was my hope that my colleagues could see the value of LEFCG contributing yet again for such a wonderful cause for the entire community, as well as our visitors here from all over the world. I hope that the October Fund Balance discussion, we can consider the additional $300,000 for our community as a whole. And I thank you all for supporting the opportunity to discuss this again in October. I really do appreciate it. I also wanted to thank my colleagues for their support for the Lexington History Museum. that I appreciated the additional language also for the reporting I really did appreciate that so that we can keep keep in the know as this project progresses and since I didn't get to speak last Tuesday I wanted to take this opportunity to chime in because you know me I can't not do that it's advocating for the Arboretum I felt was my role and I appreciated that the mayor had put in two hundred thousand dollars in her budget but as co-chair for the arboretum advisory board that's why i was doing that and for the importance of all of our community members thank you very much thank you councilmember sheehan thank you mayor um colleagues i need to place an item in general government and social services committee this is for the office of homelessness prevention and intervention to give us their annual update this annual update is required by ordinance and gives them the opportunity to provide us with information on spending and trends and data so i'm going to make the motion now to place that item into committee so moved second by council member reynolds any discussion all those in favor please say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes did you have anything else okay councilmember plowman thank you mayor i have a few items here this weekend is kind of is a first for heartland neighborhood they're going to have a heartland garden tour this saturday and this will be all outside in terms you're going to be looking at 12 different homes there'll be pools water features scenic landscape landscape gardens and um i think i just mentioned a dozen homes um you can buy tickets that day at the clubhouse it begins at 11 45 and what's really nice i think this is a really, really special is that this is the first time, but what this is for is the Heartland neighbor, Britt O'Brien, who was a center college student, had a diving accident and was paralyzed. And so this is to help the family get through with everything they're going through. So I thought that was special and wanted to mention that. On another note, Athens Schoolhouse Antique Show is this weekend. This is a monthly event that takes place out on Athens Walnut Pike. A lot of antiques and also masks are required. But if you haven't gone out, it's out in the middle of a really beautiful area and lots of thousands of square feet with antiques. And then the last item I have, and it's kind of exciting because now that we have a proposed park next to the Kentucky River, we have a Kentucky River Clean Sweep Saturday, which is a week from this Saturday. And it's going to be cleaning up the litter and the trash from the 12 miles of the Kentucky River that touches Fayette County. You do have to pre-register, and the best way to do is to go to the website, lexingtonkentucky.gov, and go to the events for June the 18th. And if you don't have a kayak or a rowboat or a canoe, we will provide, the city will provide you one. So that's a fun day to spend on the Kentucky River and get used to it as we move forward in our plans to have a park down there. all mayor thank you thank you councilmember James Brown thank you mayor there's a couple of updates one of them sorry one of them being there was an exciting day today at Northside Branch Library they opened a food pantry the north the library proper and then also I'm gone completely blank God's pantry. God's pantry. Hopefully they're not watching and if they're not watching, don't tell them. God's pantry partnered for a food pantry in Northside Library. What they said today at the press conference, they talked about the need and the partnership. But then they also talked about one of the resources and that was the Winburn Community Partners Group. That actually gave them a lot of feedback about things that they needed for the pantry. So it's pretty impressive what they've put in today. Because normally when you go to a food pantry, you think of something that looks subpar. It actually looks like a grocery store aisle with fresh fruit and vegetables, which is impressive. And then also a freezer component. So congratulations to them and that partnership. And then also tomorrow night, it's Winburn Public Safety Day. Officer Maravchek had started this initiative a few years ago and it has grown to include our public safety partners. And it's actually a real great event that helps us to continue to build relationships with our public safety sector and partners and also the neighborhood and the resources that are there in that community. I was going to talk about my day Saturday and all the running around that I did Saturday across town with all the positive things, but that all kind of got derailed due to the violence that we have all seen on the news and heard about in our community. So it started off as a good day and then turned out to be a bad day. First, let me give my condolences to the families that have experienced the violence and the lost over the last few months weeks last couple years it's a shame uh... what's going on right now and i will say that in my role on council and i think in all of our roles we we allocate money we allocate resources and we set policy and we have done that we will continue to do that Another thing is we have and will continue to be supportive of our police department. Chief Weathers, his officers, the sheriff's officers, everybody that's in law enforcement. And they have a role to play, and I'm confident that they will continue to do what they're doing to address these issues with what they have to do. But the community also has a role as well. You've got to be concerned about other people. You've got to be concerned about people that are impacted by this violence. You have to speak up when you know something. You have to cooperate. You have to share information in order for this thing to work. I was in church Sunday, and the Reverend Gaines, I go to consolidate it. The message that he said is he took ownership as a faith leader in the faith community and acknowledge the role that they play and that they can do more and committed to do more. I think we all in this community have to do that because it's going to take all of us to address the issue. There are continuing efforts to strengthen families, strengthen communities, making sure that we get the resources out there and the opportunities are there to address the neighborhoods, the communities, the people that are engaged in this violence, and all the components that go into it. There's no simple answer. There's no easy way to address it. But to sit here and not acknowledge it, I just didn't feel was authentic. I don't always know the right thing to say. I think we all don't know the right things to say, especially on these hard topics. I think we just have to address them, just be flat out. and to be straight up. And I'll say, you know, I'm committed to continue to working with people that want to address these issues. After the incident on Saturday, my phone started blowing up. I started getting phone calls from community members, from retired police officers, from neighbors, family members that are sick of it. And they're willing to do whatever they have to take to try to address this. I know I've said that over and over again, but everybody has a role to play in this. And our city is special. I was driving downtown after, and I'm sorry, man, I know I'm over time. But I was driving downtown Saturday night kind of reflecting on my day, kind of reflecting on the incident. And I had the window down, and I heard somebody walking and said that I love this city. This city is great. I don't know if it's just tonight, but this city is great. And I was thinking we just had one of the worst tragedies I can think of earlier that day on a certain part of town. And then we had somebody walking downtown who I guess is a visitor. And they were excited about the things that we were doing in Lexington. And I think we just need to have that everywhere and got to continue to work to do that. I feel like I said a lot. I talked long and didn't have any answers. But I just felt like it needed to be said and that the balance needed to be acknowledged and that we've got to continue and make commitments, personal commitments, to addressing these issues and working with everybody else that is willing to. So thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmembers. Well said. Councilmember Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I want to follow up with next month is Suicide Month, and I see there's some programs going out there for 988. that's across the country and I wonder are we working with the state to push for that because it has affected me personally and I know people that affect their lives personally because I think everyone sitting around as horseshoes had someone or knows someone that has committed suicide and in the last three years numbers have been terrifying from the pandemic and what's going on and i think this is a crisis but that 988 seemed to be working in other places and i'm i know it hasn't hit kentucky yet but sometimes luskington need to take a lead on something when we did the 9-1-1 i think we kind of jumped up a little bit on that a long time ago we took the lead on that and everybody started following and 3-1-1 i mean we do do a lot of things before anybody else does and we do it right we did the seat belt we've done the smoking ban but to me this is a very serious crisis suicide and it affects everybody around this horseshoe affects everybody in this community and and if there's a chance that we can somehow tap into that and be aggressive and take the lead on that i would ask that you you ask your folks from social service to any way that we from the police because I know they affected by everybody's affected by it so hopefully if we can somehow figure out how we can take the lead on this 988 I would love to see it happen I would be in favor helping any way to do it because we can't I don't want to wait on the state and nothing against the state leaders but we're gonna give good one hopefully next year but we've got to be a little bit more aggressive and take the lead on some things and this is it affect this city drastically and I know personally friends of mine who have died this year from suicide and I think if it's 988 would have been there I think we could have saved some of these people so hopefully we can think out of the box on that councilmember Maloney we're already working with the state on this to see how we can incorporate it into our local efforts because we want that here as soon as we can get it. So we've already made those contacts and we're already working on that. We, if I might take a moment to answer a little bit more, we have already met initially with some of our mental health and domestic violence partners to look at what we can do locally for a coalition here. We don't have that kind of big coalition of providers and folks who are the experts at this, and we think it could help our community. And so we've already had our first kind of get together and kind of looked at the state of Lexington in terms of the mental health issues the domestic violence and so we're going to be uh following through on this big this is these are big issues but we know that they're very important and they're important related to the violence that's going on here so we were already in the process and i really like that you brought that up because i think it's going to be really good the the number for folks to call yep thank you councilmember clover thank you mayor uh i wasn't intending to say something but i just want to thank councilmember james brown for the heartfelt comments about violence i know we all get these emails we get these calls we get these texts and we all care deeply about it community's been brought up a lot about the community's involvement and what what they can do to help and i think that in our positions of leadership we need to make sure that we can be that bridge to help the community act we can't just ask them to act on their own you know we need to be that bridge for them in the position of leadership and i think that's mostly what council member james brown was talking about when he referenced his his reverend in their faith community it's just wherever we are people in leadership need to help our community stand up and and take some action against this violence because it will take all of us together so thank you for your comments i do have something on a lighter note hopefully a lighter note um i know there's a lot going on this saturday but this saturday in my district at the whitaker family ymca we're having our annual family fun day which is affectionately termed the hawaii y-o uh this year so that's on saturday between two and five we're going to have um field sport competitions three legged races sack races things you did when you were a kid there'll be inflatables there'll be um food trucks and and a whole lot more so again it's about bringing community together it's about making sure that we can all feel more connected so hopefully if you get a chance when you're not busy with all of the amazing things we have going on this weekend stop by the whitaker family ymca in hamburg and i hope to see you there thank you thank you council member fred brown thank you mayor i've got a few things here um if you would i think i've got some pictures or slides here we go that's the first one cops and bobbers uh we had this saturday at gainsway pond fishing pond and this is put in just hold that picture right there for a minute this was put on by the police department and they've done this this is I believe about the fifth year they've done this and I want to thank Councilmember Baxter and Councilmember Ellinger and Councilmember James Brown who came out and you don't see a whole lot of people behind this particular picture and I don't know if I've got any other pictures about the group is there a group picture in there anywhere no that's later okay anyway this is this fella what's his name james uh nico this is james's big brother or little brother that he brought out and we fished there james and i was fishing there on that banister for a little while and we kept trying and trying And then James went up to get his hot dogs, and I stayed down there, and that was his first fish he's ever caught. And I'm telling you, if you haven't been there, and you haven't, you know, and I'm a fisherman, but there was a lot of kids, smaller than Nico, that caught their first fish. And, you know, it just, you know, it really is pleasing to see that happen and the excitement and the picture taking. So I took his picture so I could give it to James. But anyway, that was that picture there on the cops. And what we had there was I think they said since there were about 400 community members, citizens participated. You don't see that numbers there, but there was a lot of kids there that really enjoyed that day. And there is some positive things happening in Lexington and some things that I'm commenting on in my district. And that was one of them. And I want to thank, there were several police officers there. Commander Harris out of the East Sector kind of was in charge of that. And then we had, I've got Officer Nally, he's my neighborhood representative, and he was there, and he reports back on that. But had a lot of sponsors there, and it was a great day for that. What's my next picture there you got? There we go, Gainesway Festival. I want to announce that. The date and time is this Saturday, June 11th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The location is a parking lot at Tates Creek Golf Course and Aquatic Center. And this is put on by, I think the Partners for Youth are putting this on. And there's a lot of partners involved in this. But this is the annual Festival of Neighbors. So this is something that everybody's invited to. But we're hoping we'll have a lot of neighborhood groups there. and positive action for the families coming to the center and being involved. And this is what we want to do as a community. We want to bring people together, and this is another source. And I know everybody's busy this time of year, and we've got several functions going on. But listen, people, if you can get out to these, whether it's my district or whatever, or get out and mingle and greet people and help the kitties. What else have I got up there? Got one other thing? Oh, I've got, oh, that's trees. Okay, I've got two things. That tree's Lexington. And I think everybody's done this, but we planted that tree in Gainesway Park a couple of weeks ago, and that was the best picture that came out of there because that's my granddaughter. And we named it Josie's Tree. So that was particularly a good item. And the trees, as you can see, the trees board and were people out there. We had several people out there. And so we did get a tree planted. The other thing, the last thing I've got is I've got an 8th District meeting coming at Gainesway Community Center at 3460 Campus Way. That's Monday night at six o'clock. We haven't been able to have a district meeting in my district for about three years because of COVID and everything. So I wanted to announce that we are having an eight district meeting and we'll have some city officials there and we want to address some of the concerns and just acknowledge what's going on in the district and just let people know what's out there and answer questions. So that's all I had. I'm lengthy this time around, but those are some positive things, and I think I want to leave you all with that. Thank you. That's great. A lot going on. Any other council reports? All right. Thank you very much. Could I have a motion to approve the mayor's report? So do. Council Member Plowman and Council Member Sheehan seconds. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That passes. And I wanted to just take a quick moment to say a word about a special person whose funeral mass was this morning. And Council Member Maloney was there. Kay Sargent, who runs our sister cities. her partner of 31 years Jerry Monahan passed and he was a terrific person and he was instrumental in the beginnings of the red mile management he managed many race courses across the country and had a bit of Irish in him so he was always a a very fun gentleman with a grand sense of humor. And at his funeral mass this morning, the bagpipes welcomed us as we entered the cathedral. And everyone who spoke about him had such really wonderful, fond memories. And it was really a tribute to him and the kind of person he was. He He was a great people person. And so I just wanted to say a word about Jerry because he also on Sister Cities events would carry all of Kay's bags. He was a real trooper that way. So anyway, just to think about him. With that, I'll ask if there's anyone signed up for public comment for issues not on the agenda. No? okay thank you all right is there a motion to adjourn thank you thank you all those in favor say aye aye anyone opposed we are adjourned thank you very much