Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh my God, look at that. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. Welcome, everyone. It's 6 o'clock, and I'd like to go ahead and call the council meeting of November 3rd, 2022, to order. And first up is the roll call. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay? Here. Mr. Kloiber? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Lamb? Here. Ms. Legree? Here. Mr. McCurn? Mr. Maloney? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Plowman? Here. Ms. Reynolds? Here. Ms. Sheehan? Here. Mr. Worley? Okay. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Mr. Fred Brown? Here. And Mr. James Brown? Here. Thank you. We have a quorum. We have two presentations and a bit of a change, and I think, oh, I'm sorry. We have our invocation. I jumped right ahead. We are blessed tonight to have Micah Gaines, worship pastor at Consolidated Baptist, who's going to offer our invocation. Welcome. Let's pray. God, in Jesus' name, how we thank you for this day. God, we thank you for the opportunity and the privilege of prayer on this Thursday evening. God, even now, you know what lies ahead of us tonight. So even now, God, we ask, like the prophet Nehemiah said, God, won't you please strengthen our hands? Allow us to do justice, love, mercy, and walk humbly before you and your people and do your business in an excellent way. God, be with us, stand by us, keep us in your care. And we seal this prayer in your son's holy name with the whole room. Say amen and amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Gaines. And I believe Council Member James Brown would like to say a word before you go. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Reverend Dr. Gaines, for coming and sharing with us today. I just wanted to give Micah a shout out. I know this year has been a busy year for him. And just want to wish him the best. You got married recently. You got a baby on the way recently. It's here. It's born. It's here. He's got a newborn. Just received his doctorate. And then he's also got a new pastoral appointment in Detroit, Michigan. So he's going to be leaving us soon. No. I just want to thank you for your service to the community. And I know the congregation is proud of you at Consolidated. I know your parents are proud, and I know this community is proud of you. So thank you for all you're doing. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations on all of that. Thank you. Now we're ready for presentations, and we have a slight change, and I believe Council Member Bledsoe is going to make the motion about the Dunbar team. Thank you, we are very excited to host Dunbar High School's boys soccer team, but we want to host them when they're feeling better than they are today. So we're going to wait, so I'd like to make a motion to move the presentation date until November 17th. Second. All right, I heard Councilmember Plumman. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. We hope they feel better very soon. Yes, absolutely. And so we have one presentation tonight. Thank you. The Lexington Fire Ladies. All right, welcome. I am very honored to be joined tonight by world champions. Woo hoo. Lexington Firefighters, Sarah McGill, when I call your name, give a wave to the council. Sarah McGill, Chelsea Brown, Aaron Lucas, and Michelle Spanier, who as a team have been called the Lexington Fire Ladies, won a world championship in the female fire relay at the Firefighter Challenge, a globally recognized program and event that showcases the physical challenges faced by today's firefighters and EMS professionals. These ladies defeated an all-star team from Europe. That is pretty incredible. We're very proud of you. We are so lucky to have these courageous women serving our city every day. and we can't thank them enough for everything they do for our residents. So I'm going to read a proclamation. Chief Wells is here with us and he'll say a few words and then any of the team who want to speak and then we have a video. We have the full thing tonight, so you get to watch yourself. I think you've seen it before, haven't you? All right, so let's read the proclamation. Whereas firefighters Chelsea Brown, Aaron Lucas, Sarah McGill, and Michelle Spanier make up the Lexington Fire Ladies, and whereas in international competition the Lexington Fire Ladies won the 2022 Firefighter Challenge female relay finals and defeated the European All-Stars, And whereas these brave women protect the lives of Lexington residents every day, and we are so grateful for their service to our community, and whereas Lexington residents are very proud of this team of women for their many accomplishments, now therefore I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare November 3rd, 2022 Lexington Fire Ladies Day. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Strong, smart. Now, Chief Wells, would you like to say a few words? Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council, for letting me help recognize these individuals. So I want to take just a moment to recognize the entire challenge team. Some of them are here. The men and women of this team did a phenomenal job. They travel to competitions, they cover their own expenses, and they represent this community and our organization tremendously. They are truly ambassadors for our city and our department, and we're very proud of them. Now let's talk about the ladies. the city of lexington and in particular this government has a tremendous history of intelligent strong capable women in positions of leadership look no further than our mayor many of our council members our cao our cio commissioners of environmental quality and public works social services finance and law numerous division directors and let's not forget my predecessor as fire chief. It should come as no surprise then that the women of the Lexington Fire Department Firefighter Challenge Team now have the medals to prove what we kind of knew all along. They are the best in the world. So congratulations. All right. Would any of the team members like to speak? Now's your chance. Yes. We just want to say thank you for all the support and encouragement. It's pretty amazing as we go to competitions all over the country. The messages, calls, texts, things on social media that we get, it doesn't go unnoticed, and it's very much appreciated. This team and what we do with it is something we're very passionate about, passionate about our department and the city. So it's nice to get out and spread the word about Lexington throughout the country. So thank you very much for all that you guys do for us. We really do appreciate it. Thank you. All right. So thank you very much. We're going to watch a short video, and then we'll take a picture with the council. Okay? Boy, oh boy, oh boy. Oh, my God. Lexington Fire ladies on that red side. Here we go. Let's go. Good balls. Big balls. Let's go. European All-Stars is Beata Siderska, Melanie Schoenwald, world record holder and world champion May Tomerbold, Bianca Schof-Egger and Marie Schumann going up against the Lexington Fire Ladies, Sarah McGill Chelsea Brown, Aaron Lucas and Michelle Spanier oh my goodness I can't take this anymore Facebook I hope you're still watching I hope you are still watching because you're seeing world records being broken you are seeing teams push themselves to the absolute limit right now oh this is too much fun this is too much fun I'm loving this. I'm really, really loving this. Let's go now. Looking solid here. Lexington Fire ladies giving off to Mighty Mouse. Look at Mighty Mouse go. We call her Mighty Mouse. You can't call her that. You better call her by her name, Erin Lucas. Look at Erin go. Look at those legs. Look at that leg drive. Erin Lucas. These ladies are trying to get that world championship. They are trying to get the world championship right now. The Lexington Fire Ladies, will they be able to beat the European All-Stars? These ladies have been pushing hard. Biotta Svodeska, she's going to go get her. She's trying to go get her. Will she be able to get her? Oh, my goodness. What a race. What a race right now. Lexington Fire Ladies. Lexington Fire Ladies crossing that line. 143.51. Right behind them are the European All-Stars. Oh yeah, oh yeah, Lexington ladies. Oh yeah, Lexington ladies. Great, great job to the Lexington Fire ladies winning that first place world championship. You want to know a nice tidbit of information? This is their first year. That's a first year team, those Lexington Fire ladies. That's their first year. That's a first year team. How about that? Their first year, their world champs. Light work. Just a little bit of light work. nicely done to the Lexington fire ladies how about that Perfect. A couple more seconds. Perfect. Thank you all. All right, now we're ready for second reading of ordinances. Number one, an ordinance amending Article 23A-9B and 23A-9D of the zoning ordinance for hotels and motels in the community center CC zone. Number two, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington Fair urban county government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and reappropriating funds fiscal year 2023, Schedule number 16. Number three, an ordinance creating Article 5 of Section 7 of the Code of Ordinances, Section 7-44 to 7-48, pertaining to the budget amendments exceptions, reporting fiscal year transition and grants, repealing Ordinance No. 97-2022 pertaining to the grant budget, transfers all effective upon passage of Council. And number four, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington, Fayette, Urban County Government for various appropriations as initially approved on October 25, 2022, and appropriating and reappropriating funds Schedule No. 18. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion? Motion approved. Second. Council member Ellinger moved. Vice mayor Kay seconded. And when you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice mayor Kay? Yes. Mr. Koiber? Yes. Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Legree? Yes. Mr. McCurn? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Maloney? Yes. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Ms. Baxter? Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? And Mr. James Brown? Yes. All right, thank you. Those all pass, and when you're ready for first reading of ordinances, get away. Number five, an ordinance meting certain of the budgets of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and reappropriating funds, fiscal year 2023, Schedule number 17. And number six, an ordinance meting certain of the budgets of the Lexington Fayette County Government for Council Appropriations for the ADA Improvement Plan from the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, state and local recovery funds as preliminarily approved on November 1st, 2022, and appropriating and reappropriating funds fiscal year 2023, Schedule number 20. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any walk-ons? All right, any motions? Let's see. I guess those are both budgets, so no suspensions. All right. When you're ready, go ahead with second reading of resolutions, please. Number one, a resolution authorizing the Division of Fire and Emergency Services to purchase maintenance service for a striker stretchers from striker, a sole source provider, authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement with Stryker related to the procurement at a cost not to exceed $47,579. Number two, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute the standard service agreement with the University of Kentucky, Kentucky Transportation Center for snowplow route optimization services at a cost not to exceed $120,000. Number three, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Lexington Fayette urban county government to accept a federal award in the amount of $616,704 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from the congressional directive spending projects under the Consolidated Appropriation Act 2022 for the barrier-free re-entry and recovery initiative, B-Free, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government to the expenditure of funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number four, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a modification to an agreement with the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Division of Emergency Management, extending the period of performance through September 30, 2023 under the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, CSEPP, for fiscal year 2020. Number five, a resolution authorizing the payment of federal funds received from the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Division of Emergency Management through the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, CSEPP, in a sum not to exceed $242,967 in fiscal year 2022 to Management Registry, Inc., formerly known as Omnisource Integrated Supply, LLC, to fund CSEPP, support staff, and further authorizing the mayor to execute any necessary agreements and including amendments thereto with the Management Registry, Inc., formerly known as Omnisource Integrated Supply, LLC, related to the use of these funds. Number six, the resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, DOJ, under the Edward Brin Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, fiscal year 2023, which grant funds are on the amount of $144,461 in federal funds for the purchase of equipment and technology investments for the Division of Police, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds, and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number seven, a resolution ratifying the permanent classified civil service appointments of Carrie Kelly, Administrative Specialist, Grade 513N, 20.797 Hourly, in the Division of Police, effective November 9, 2022. Lindsay Medley, Social Worker Senior, Grade 517E, $1,950.164, Bi-Weekly, in the Division of Aging and Disability Services, effective October 11, 2022. Richard Shee, Administrative Specialist, Grade 513N, 19.572 Hourly, in the Division of Planning, effective October 11, 2022. Number eight, a resolution authorizing the Division of Water Quality on behalf of the urban county government to purchase supervisory control and data acquisition scada scitech historian support services for the town branch and west hickman wastewater treatment plants and pump stations from the advantage industrial automation inc a sole source provider and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement with advantage industrial automation inc related to the procurement at a cost note to exceed $35,145. number nine a resolution authorizing and direct the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute resident project agreements awarded pursuant to rfp number 47-2022 with vision Engineering LLC and Prime AE Group Inc. for resident project representative services to assist in the completion of remedial measures plan RMP projects required by the consent decree with future work awarded and funds budgeted on a project basis. Number 10, a resolution authorizing and directly to the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with Building Eye Inc. for the renewal of a data visualization application relating to the Acela software platform for the division of computer services at a cost not to exceed $37,230 subject to a 5% annual increases. Number 11, a resolution authorizing and directly to the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a partial release of easement, releasing a portion of flood hazard area and drainage easement on the property located at 3212 Sweetwater Court. And number 12, a resolution amending section 4.104A4 of Appendix A, rules and procedures of Lexington Fayette Urban County Council to add budget adjustments and renumber other affected items and repealing part 6 budget and section 4.601 budget amendments of the council rules in its entirety, all effective upon passage of council. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Second. Council Member Baxter moved and Council Member Plumman seconded. When you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Mr. Ellinger. Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kaye. Yes. Mr. Koiber. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Lamb. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Legree. Yes. Mr. McCurn. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Maloney. Yes. Ms. Plumman. Yes. Ms. Reynolds. Yes. Ms. Sheehan. Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. And Mr. James Brown? Yes. Thank you. All right, those all pass, and now we're ready for first reading of resolutions. Number 13, a resolution authorizing a direct to the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to restore a monarch habitat at Lakeside Golf Course for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Number 14, a resolution of the Lexington-Fay Urban County Government approving the execution and delivery by Clark County Fiscal Court of its Clark County Fiscal Court Healthcare Revenue Bonds Series 2022 Kentucky Easter Seal Society, Inc. Project in an amount not to exceed $10 million, the bonds, and the use of these proceeds thereof to assist Kentucky Easter Seal Society, Inc., the Corporation A, to pay off that certain loan with Central Bank and Trust Company, the proceeds of which were used to make certain capital improvements to the corporation's property located at 1900 Richmond Road, Lexington, Kentucky, 40502, property B, to finance the cost of making capital improvements to the corporation's property, and C, to pay the cost of issuance. Number 15, a resolution authorizing and direct the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with GrayShift LLC for software to examine electronic evidence. Number 16, a resolution authorizing and direct the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an addendum to the information system agreement executed pursuant to resolution number 495-2015 and related documents with systems and software ink to upgrade an N-Questa system for the division of revenue at an additional cost estimated not to exceed $691,174 in fiscal year 2023. Number 17, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute the annual MOU with the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services for continuation of the paramedicine program. Number 18, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement awarded pursuant to RFP number 56-2022 with Hazen & Sawyer PSC for sanitary sewer remedial measures program management consulting services at a cost not to exceed $900,000 in fiscal year 2023. Number 19, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to donate a 2005 Ford Explorer to the Neon Volunteer Fire Department. Number 20, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a five-year agreement with Oracle America, Inc., a sole source provider for the Division of Computer Services to purchase ongoing software and maintenance services for people's soft financials and human capital management modules at a cost not to exceed $147,528.86 for fiscal year 2023 with future years subject to 5% annual increases in the appropriation of sufficient funds and authorizing the chief information officer or her designee on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary documents for the continuation of maintenance services. Number 21 a resolution authorizing the division of waste management to purchase parts and services for the marathon baler from municipal equipment a sole source provider and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement with municipal equipment related to the procurement. Number 22 a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a planned renewal agreement and any other necessary documents with Humana for Medicare Advantage plan for police and fire retirement for the period beginning January 1st, 2023 through December 31st, 2023. Number 23, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept an award for $175,000 in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, COPS, under the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act grant program for fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2022 for the expansion of the wellness unit in the division of police, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban County Government to the expenditure of funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget for this grant. Number 24, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute modifications to the agreement with the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security in the partnership with the State Board of Elections, SBE, for the purchase, installation, and servicing of cradle-point devices to protect the security of elections. Number 25, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to accept an additional grant of $134,713 in federal funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, authorizing the mayor to execute any necessary agreements or amendments with subrecipients related to the use of these funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. And number 26, a resolution authorizing the Department of Law to institute condemnation proceedings in the Fayette Circuit Court to acquire right-of-way and temporary construction easements upon portions of the property located at 1376 Silver Springs Drive for Citation Boulevard Phase 3A Project. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any walk-ons? All right. What about suspensions of the rules? Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I'd like to suspend the rules and give second reading to number 15. This is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Gray Schiff. So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Councilmember McCurn seconded. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And, Mayor, I'd also like to suspend the rules and give second reading to number 19. This is also a resolution to accept the donation of a Ford Explorer. So moved. Thank you. Or to donate a Ford Explorer. To donate a Ford Explorer. Yes, ma'am. Second. Who seconded? Council Member Plowman. All right. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? Motion passes. Any other walk-ons? I mean, excuse me, suspensions. All right. So we have 15 and 19. When you're ready, if you'll give those second reading, please. Number 15. A resolution authorizing a direct to the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with Grayshift LLC for software to examine electronic evidence. And number 19, a resolution authorizing a direct to the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to donate a 2005 Ford Explorer to the Neon Volunteer Fire Department. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger and I heard a second from Council Member Baxter. And when you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay? Mr. Kloiber? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Legree? Yes. Mr. McKern? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Maloney? Yes. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. And Mr. James Brown? Yes. Thank you. Those all passed. There are no fire or police disciplines tonight, so it's time for announcements, council members, if you'll log in. Council Member Lamb? Thank you, Mayor. I have two things, actually. One that's just work-related and the other is fun, so I'm going to start with the work-related. Colleagues, I have handed out tonight, tried to make sure that everybody knows about this. My apologies for the late notice. We all know that we have a council's capital project expenditure policy that we follow. It's so rare that we have those funds that it's not something that's been brought, it's not something that we use frequently. But I would like to make the motion of intent to amend the council's capital project expenditure policy to add the exact same language from our council NDF, guidelines in process so that the administration and council corps staff have the clarification for the existing $150,000 fund balance and I'll read the language that I am going to my intent to amend the policy. In an election year any council member leaving office or facing opposition may only utilize 50 percent of their overall budget including MDF funds but we'll have that Sorry, it's including Council's capital project expenditure policy funds. The remaining 50% will be replenished after the election for use by the successful candidate. And I hope that everybody will, I've tried to talk to everybody as quickly as I could, but the administration and the Council of course staff just need this clarification. So that means that in all that the $150,000 from the fund balance discussion last week, that we have the ability to spend $75 through this calendar year, and then after January 1, the other $75 will be able to be spent. And I would like to ask my colleagues for support in this and for the motion to approve that. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Council Member LaGree seconds. If you have discussion, will you raise your hand, please? No. No discussion. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you all so much for your support in that. I was doing this for our council administrator. Now, the fun thing that I get to announce, I know, and I've just got a few minutes here, but back in 2015 when I first came on council, Commissioner then, Jeffrey, came up to me and he said, Would you walk on a motion to take the tennis courts at Kirk Levington and transition them to pickleball courts? And I didn't know what pickleball courts were. And so I have learned very quickly the importance of pickleball courts in our community. And so I am so proud that through lots of wonderful efforts that tomorrow night at Kirk Levington Park, we are going to light up the pickleball courts so that they can play tournaments and play games after dark. So if you are so inclined and you want to come and see the courts in the beautiful lighted situation, 6 o'clock tomorrow night, the mayor and I are going to flip the switch, I suppose one might say. And I'm just overjoyed to be able to have the opportunity to see this to its end. And I know that they are excited, and the word has spread amongst the pickleballers in Lexington today. And, I mean, tomorrow night's going to be a fun night. So bring your pickleball paddle, too. Thank you. I know you've worked really hard on that. Thank you. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to make a note. Under resolutions for first reading, item number 14, this is the Clark County Fiscal Court Health Care Revenue Bonds item for the Easter Seals property on Richmond Road. We have a scheduled public hearing for that item on November 17th. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Baxter. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to let everybody know that the Clemens Heights Neighborhood Association is having a park cleanup event this Saturday from 2 to 4 in Waverly Park. They will be removing invasive trees and mulching and planting new trees. And they have asked if anybody comes to bring tools, floppers, shovels, garden gloves, etc. to participate. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Worley. Thank you, Mayor. I have an item, but just as a housekeeping matter, Madam Clerk, I know you registered all of my votes, but my screen had me listed as absent the whole time. Just want to make sure for the record it's clear on that. You'll be in the minutes. Thanks for noticing I was here and asking for my opinion on the matters of the day. um so uh the other item i wanted to talk about a couple weeks ago the herald leader had an article about the honestly staggering number of residential rental properties in lexington that are outside investor owned um and obviously that creates a significant affordability issue um and a rental hike issue and that is preventing folks that live in those neighborhoods and those particular homes from otherwise having an opportunity to try and own those homes. And I've thought a long time about how you approach something like that. For a lot of that, it's market-driven. You can't stop people from coming and buying property for investment purposes, and nor as a community do we necessarily want to stop investment in our community. But then I saw an NPR article this morning that inspired me out of Cincinnati. So the city of Cincinnati had the same problem and then they encouraged through the port development authority to start trying to buy available land and even at times outbid outside investors when land would come available and then turn that land into a program where they would try to stabilize the rents and then help those who lived there become homeowners so your landlord became the city or its development authority designee. And I thought that was a fantastic idea, and it would take a lot of money, and it would take a lot of creativity, but I think since we've recognized a similar situation here, and we have a neighbor just barely an hour over 75 that we could talk to about how they did it, I think that's something that we should do here. So, I'd like to place in the Planning and Public Safety Committee the creation of a program for the city or its quasi-municipal entity or development authority designee to acquire outside investor-owned or otherwise available residential property, and to stabilize rent for current renters, and to develop financial literacy, credit worthiness training, and down payment assistance to allow current renters to become homeowners. So moved. Council Member McCurron, did I hear you second? Any discussion? If you'll raise your hand if you have discussion. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Council Member Worley, for talking about this because it's really important. Just to clarify, so you're suggesting that we would talk in committee about the possibility of the city buying, acquiring land, and building affordable housing on the land? Well, there could be an opportunity to build new affordable housing. What Cincinnati is doing right now that is innovative is allowing people to stay in their current home. by buying the available land that's otherwise owned by investors, landlords, helping folks through if they have code enforcement issues or things like that, but then ultimately helping them become more financially literate and creditworthy so that you can try to stabilize that rent or get them to own that home. So there may be a situation, and there are older programs that some of you all have been in government a long time, would know about acquiring land into the city, renting it back to people after you build it, renew it. Those are old programs, and they're still valid. But in this particular program, it's helping people stay in the home they've already chosen and ultimately trying to own it. And I think so there's a lot of opportunity there. So the city, in essence, would become the landlord of these rental properties and then offer the opportunity of the renters to buy it. That's right. And in Cincinnati, the city proper doesn't do it. The city's port development authority, so a quasi-municipal organization like we have several, that could operate that. But that is still basically the city. That's a very interesting idea. Okay, well, thank you for bringing it forward. It will be something to explore for sure. Thank you. Any other discussion? I have a question. Council Member Maloney? I just want to follow up. I think that's a good idea. It's kind of like the parking garage authority. And, you know, we can put a group together and they can get low interest rate bond rating if they buy certain properties. And to me, that's something we've been pushing for a while. And I appreciate you bringing that in there. I support this. Thank you. Any other discussion of the motion? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Anything else? No, ma'am. All right, Councilmember Legree. Thank you, Mayor. I know many of you all are aware that Breeders' Cup is going on and that the Tandy Park takeover is happening. And you may have seen the email that Ms. Lyons sent about some of the festivities downtown. Just as a reminder, from now and all the way through Saturday, we're going to have a lot going on downtown and some of the streets will be blocked off as a result. But that makes it so that more people may walk around, which is a really positive thing. We're going to have arts and art carts featured downtown, which is very exciting in addition to live music, food, and all kinds of fun. And you all may have already seen the very dynamic projections up on the old courthouse. So this is a pretty special series of events and a very accessible part of this event just to see everything going on in Tandy Park. So I just wanted to encourage people after this meeting or in the next couple of days to go downtown and check it out. There are a lot of people out and about and a lot of local artists to support. So thank you to Ms. Lyons for sharing that with us. And just on a second note, I know I didn't speak to the motion, but Council Member Worley, I'd love to talk to you more about your idea. And I'm on the board of the land trust and there's some interesting kind of coalitions that may be able to be built along with what you've shared. So thank you for bringing that forward. Mayor, that's it for now. Thank you very much. All right, thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. Just one quick save the date. The firefighting fraternal or firefighters kicked off their tour drive today. And as you know, they provide Christmas presents for about 2,000 children in Fayette County. And it's a wonderful program. But we do a traditional tree lighting at Station 12. And we're doing that December 2nd at 530. We'll have the Lafayette Choir and the Lafayette Orchestra there to play. It's a fantastic event. So you are all welcome to join us as we light the Christmas tree on Southland Drive at Station 12. And you can also sign up to provide presents. You can bring them to a fire station. You can bring them on that night. But you can also go onto Amazon. You can scan a code, and it will send presents directly to them, which is a really neat thing. We tested it last year at the tree lighting and raised over 100 gifts that night, just from people scanning in quickly and providing. So that Amazon wish list is on the Firefighter Facebook page, as well as their website. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else have an announcement? All right. Thank you very much. We have one person signed up for public comment, and it's time for public comment. Dottie Bean. And if you'll state your name and council district for the record, please. You'll have three minutes. Hey, my name is Dottie Bean, council district 8. I came tonight to comment on something, and I heard something that dovetails right with what I'm concerned about. We read with great interest a recent account of the Hope VI project at Bluegrass Asphendale, and now have a good idea of what's happened to affordable housing in Lexington. In the account, it was stated that the 900 units in that complex were replaced with only 400 houses, townhouses, and apartments. We have many, many questions about that project and would like to ask this council to bring Housing Director Austin Sims here to answer some of them. We would like to know, one, how much money was spent on that project. It was one of the largest ever approved federal, state, local, and private and school tax dollars. As you all know, there is a school there that was built with taxpayer money. It's almost finished, and now they say they're ready to put up some affordable housing and apartments on the remaining land. It's less than needed, and since they have waited such a long time to do this, everything has gone up in cost, and there will be only a few units built. We want to know the process by which Sims and others used to determine how many people were brought back to live in that neighborhood, which is what they were promised they would be the first to be allowed to come back and buy those homes. And how others were selected to take advantage of the housing put up there with a lot of taxpayer dollars. We want also to know if there were any profits involved in selling those homes and apartments and who made them. We want to know how many of the original residents of Bluegrass Aspendale are living there today and how many times those properties have changed hands. We want a complete and timely accounting in public of the way this project was handled and of all who were involved in it. It's particularly timely since Councilman Worley has brought up his project that we take a look at what may have gone wrong in this project so we don't repeat that. This truly was an opportunity to provide the poor with adequate housing and affordable housing, and we know many of them cannot afford to live there. Thank you very much. I have no one else signed up for public comments, so it's time for a motion to adjourn. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you very much. We are adjourned.