# Urban County Council - December 6, 2022 > Auto-transcribed civic record · December 6, 2022 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5702 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5702?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2022-12-06 - **Last revised**: December 6, 2022 - **Length**: 34,322 words - **Speakers**: Mayor > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Urban County Council convened on December 6, 2022, at 5:00 PM in the Council Chambers in Lexington, Kentucky, with Mayor Gorton presiding over the session. The meeting addressed two primary agenda items, including an informational presentation from the Lexington Public Library Foundation and a formal recognition of the Frederick Douglass High School Football Team, which received approval from the council. During the proceedings, the council conducted two official votes and heard from two members of the public during the public comment period. The session focused on both community recognition and informational updates, reflecting the council's engagement with local educational institutions and public services. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the December 6, 2022 meeting: **Present:** • Mayor Gorton • Lamb • LeGris • McCurn • Plomin • Reynolds • Sheehan • Worley • Elliott Baxter • Bledsoe • F. Brown • J. Brown • Ellinger • Kay • Kloiber **Absent:** • Moloney No members arrived late to the meeting. A total of 15 members were present, with 1 member absent. ## Votes and Decisions The council took action on two items during the December 6, 2022 meeting. **Ordinance 1178-22** [timestamp: 05:00] The council voted on an ordinance changing the zoning from Wholesale and Warehouse Business (B-4) to Light Industrial (I-1) for property located at 101 and 109 W. Loudon Avenue. Council member Ellinger made the motion, seconded by Kay. The ordinance passed unanimously with a roll call vote of 14 ayes and 0 nays. All council members present voted in favor: Lamb, LeGris, McCurn, Plomin, Reynolds, Sheehan, Worley, Elliott Baxter, Bledsoe, F. Brown, J. Brown, Ellinger, Kay, and Kloiber. **Resolution 1188-22** [timestamp: 09:00] The council considered a resolution authorizing the Division of Police to purchase an Automatic License Plate Reader Program from Flock Group Inc. Kay made the motion, with Ellinger providing the second. This resolution passed by a narrower margin with 10 ayes and 4 nays in the roll call vote. Council members voting in favor were: Lamb, McCurn, Plomin, Sheehan, Worley, Elliott Baxter, Bledsoe, F. Brown, J. Brown, and Ellinger. Council members voting against were: LeGris, Reynolds, Kay, and Kloiber. Notably, Kay voted against the resolution despite making the initial motion to consider it. Both items required roll call votes, with all 14 council members participating in each vote. The zoning change received unanimous support, while the police technology purchase generated more debate and division among council members. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed one significant financial action requiring council approval. **Resolution 1188-22** authorized the purchase of an Automatic License Plate Reader Program for $236,250 from Flock Group Inc. This technology acquisition represents a substantial investment in law enforcement infrastructure and surveillance capabilities for the municipality. The resolution covers the procurement of automatic license plate reading equipment and associated services from Flock Group Inc., a vendor specializing in public safety technology solutions. The $236,250 expenditure will fund the implementation of the license plate reader system, which typically includes hardware installation, software licensing, and related support services. This purchase represents the only major financial action considered during the December 6, 2022 meeting, indicating a focused agenda on this specific technology investment for public safety operations. ## Public Comment Two community members addressed the council during the public comment period. **Joe Markham** [timestamp: 02:00] spoke in opposition to the proposed Tenant's Bill of Rights. Markham argued that the legislation would have unintended consequences, making housing less affordable in the community. **Frank Harris** [timestamp: 03:00] raised concerns about the License Plate Reader Program. Harris expressed worry about the lack of proper evaluation of the program and questioned whether it might become a permanent fixture without adequate oversight or review processes. Both speakers focused on policy matters currently under consideration by the council, with Markham addressing housing policy and Harris focusing on public safety technology implementation. ## Appointments The meeting included two appointments to local boards and commissions. **New Appointments:** • Janet Beard was appointed to the Affordable Housing Governing Board **Reappointments:** • Linda Gorton was reappointed to the Agricultural Extension District Board These appointments represent the ongoing effort to maintain proper representation and governance across various municipal boards and commissions that serve the community. ## Contested Items The December 6, 2022 meeting featured two significant contested items that generated debate among council members and community input. **Automatic License Plate Reader Program** The council voted on a resolution to purchase an Automatic License Plate Reader Program, which passed with a 10-4 vote. This split decision revealed a clear division among council members regarding the implementation of this surveillance technology. The narrow margin suggests substantial concerns were raised by the four dissenting members, though the specific nature of their objections and the arguments presented by supporters are not detailed in the available records. **Tenant's Bill of Rights** A proposed Tenant's Bill of Rights generated significant community engagement, with residents speaking both in favor of and against the measure during the public comment period. This item highlighted divisions within the community regarding tenant protections and landlord rights. The contentious nature of this proposal was evident from the mixed public testimony, suggesting the legislation addresses complex housing issues that affect various stakeholder groups differently. The outcome of any vote on this item is not specified in the available meeting data. Both contested items reflect broader policy debates common in municipal governance - balancing public safety technology with privacy concerns in the case of the license plate readers, and addressing housing affordability and tenant protections in the case of the tenant rights legislation. The community opposition and council division on these matters demonstrate the challenging nature of these policy decisions for local government. ## Lexington Public Library Foundation Presentation [timestamp: 01:00] The Lexington Public Library Foundation presented agenda item 1269-22 to recognize the City Council for their ongoing support in honor of National Philanthropy Day. The presentation was delivered by Anne Gay Donworth and Heather Dieffenbach representing the Foundation. The Foundation used this opportunity to formally acknowledge the Council's contributions to the library system and express appreciation for their continued partnership. The presentation served as an informational item, highlighting the collaborative relationship between the municipal government and the library foundation in supporting public library services in Lexington. This recognition aligns with National Philanthropy Day, which celebrates charitable giving and volunteerism. The Foundation's acknowledgment of the Council demonstrates the importance of public-private partnerships in maintaining and enhancing library services for the community. No formal action was required from the Council as this was purely a recognition presentation. The item concluded with the Foundation's expression of gratitude for the Council's ongoing support of library initiatives and programs. ## Recognition of Frederick Douglass High School Football Team [timestamp: 01:30] The Council recognized the Frederick Douglass High School Football Team for their outstanding achievement in winning the state championship. This recognition was presented as agenda item 1285-22, a proclamation honoring the team's success. Mayor Gorton and Nathan McPeek served as the key speakers for this recognition ceremony. The proclamation celebrated the football team's championship victory, acknowledging their hard work, dedication, and exceptional performance throughout the season that culminated in capturing the state title. The recognition was approved by the Council, formally honoring Frederick Douglass High School's football program and the student-athletes who contributed to this significant accomplishment. This type of proclamation serves to highlight the achievements of local educational institutions and their students in the community. The agenda item proceeded without recorded debate or concerns, reflecting the ceremonial and celebratory nature of recognizing the championship team's success. --- ## Decisions - **Ordinance 1178-22** — passed (14-0): An Ordinance changing the zone from a Wholesale and Warehouse Business (B-4) zone to a Light Industrial (I-1) zone for property located at 101 and 109 W. Loudon Avenue. - **Resolution 1188-22** — passed (10-4): A Resolution authorizing the Div. of Police to purchase Automatic License Plate Reader Program from Flock Group Inc. --- ## Full transcript I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome. It's 5 o'clock, so I'll go ahead and call to order the Urban County Council meeting of December the 6th. 2022 and ask the clerk to please call the roll. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Lamb? Here. Ms. Legree? Here. Mr. McKern? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Maloney? Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Here. Ms. Sheehan? Here. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Fred Brown? Here. Mr. James Brown? Here. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay and Mr. Kluber. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. We have a quorum. And with that, I will invite Pastor Corey Wilcoxon to come to the podium. And he is from Crestwood Christian Church. Welcome. And he's going to offer our invocation. Thank you very much. It's an honor to be asked here to pray for you all. Thanks to Mayor Gordon, a neighbor of Crestwood. Thanks to Councilperson Susan Lamb for inviting me to be a part of this. Let us pray. Holy and gracious God, we thank you for the gift of this day. We pray we have used it to honor you and to serve each other. We thank you for the gifts represented in this room today, especially the gift of leadership. God, we ask you for wisdom and courage to make decisions that are in harmony with your will. guide us to think calmly and carefully to talk honestly and openly to decide wisely and well lord may the respect that we have for each other and the love you have for us be reflected in all we say and do here today may we treat every person those in this room and those affected by the decisions made in this room as your child mirroring your radical hospitality and welcome And Lord, at the end of the day, may we find peace and rest knowing that we have done our best to serve you. We ask these things as your children, confident of your love, your presence, and your welcome that is with us now and always. Amen. Thank you so much. Nice to see you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Council. We have minutes of November 17th council meeting to approve. Is there a motion? Council Member McCurn, Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Are there any questions or corrections? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right. That motion passes. And at this time, we have a presentation to the council, I believe, a recognition from Lexington Public Library Foundation. All right. And Dunworth, Heather Diefenbach. Hi, everybody. Welcome. Nice to see you all. I am here belatedly to celebrate National Philanthropy Day, which was held November the 15th. November 15th is hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Bluegrass Chapter. And it's a day when about 30 nonprofit organizations from around the Bluegrass recognize their top philanthropists for the year. And it was our really great pleasure with the Lexington Public Library Foundation to honor you all. And it happened to fall right after the election. So a handful of you were able to come and several of you were taking some much needed vacation time. So we wanted to take this opportunity to recognize you all publicly in your area, in front of all of your audiences. And thank you for your support of the Lexington Public Library and the Library Foundation with the investment of the American Rescue Plan Act funds for the new Marksberry branch. I am joined today with Heather Diefenbach, whom you all know from the, she's the executive director of the library, as well as Ramsey Bova, who is the co-chair of the Lexington Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. I'm going to ask Heather to now read the script that we read as part of the National Philanthropy Day celebration. And then we are hoping that we can do a little photo op with each of you, with the group of you, to present you the award. Here's Heather. Welcome. Thank you. Federal COVID relief funding provided the city of Lexington with an incredible opportunity to invest in our community. And the Lexington Public Library Foundation, on behalf of the library, is grateful that council members and city leaders allocated $1 million in American Rescue Plan funds to support the new Marksberry Family Branch Library to be located on Versailles Road. This investment shows the city's commitment to education, community, and the overall quality of life enjoyed by our residents. The library estimates the new branch will attract 1 million visitors annually, as it serves the Cardinal Valley neighborhood and all who live or work in Fayette County. The library foundation is raising $5 million for the new facility expected to open in late 2023. with expanded community spaces, dedicated classroom, maker space, outdoor amphitheater, and a drive through window to accommodate customers on the go. The Marksbury Family Branch will provide increased access to technology, bilingual reading materials, space for non-profit partners, and free quality library programming for all ages. The Library Foundation salutes the City of Lexington, Council Members, and Mayor Gordon for this investment in our civic infrastructure, making Lexington a better place for everyone to learn, play, and grow through our libraries. Thank you. Thank you very much. And Vice Mayor Kaye is going to accept the recognition on behalf of all of us and then we'll get a picture. Thank you. Thank you. Is Craig here? Do you have... All right, now we have one more presentation tonight. And so I would like to welcome the members of the Frederick Douglass Broncos. I think we have a few here. Are you coaching a piece? Yes ma'am. This is one loud, proud group. So this is head coach Nathan McPeak with the trophy. And the undefeated Broncos, I think we're seeing a lot of them right back there. Just they are the school's first state championship in football, beating Bowling Green. So congratulations to all of you. Now, Coach, I'd like to present a proclamation to you. I don't know if you dare. Do you want to set the trophy up here? Yes, ma'am. Do you dare let go of it a second? Maybe. Okay. And Coach is going to accept the trophy for the team and make any remarks, and then we have some Spirit of Lexington certificates for team members. Come join me, please. Whereas Frederick Douglas High School has won its first state championship, beating Bowling Green 28-7 in Class 5A competition, and whereas the Broncos had an undefeated 15-0 season, whereas the championship is the 35th win for Coach Nathan McPeak as head coach at Frederick Douglass, and whereas Lexington residents are proud of the Broncos, our state champions. Now, therefore, I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare December 6, 2022, Frederick Douglass State Football Champions Day. Congratulations. Congratulations. Yes. You want to say a few words? Yes, ma'am. All right. This is very surreal for me. You know, I've been doing this 19 years now as an education and coaching. So very, very humbled to accept this on behalf of our players, our coaching, our coaching staff, our administration, all of our school personnel. You know, this isn't just done over a course of a season. You know, this is done over a course of a lot of hard work, a lot of hours, a lot of time away from our families. as coaches and players, and, you know, our families have to be on board with that. So, you know, our players did a great job all year. They made a decision that, you know, this is the third time that we've been in a state championship game, and we've only been at school six years in the football championship game. We didn't get it done the other two times, but this team decided early on in the season they were going to get it done now. And, you know, to be 15-0 is rare. We finished number one in the whole state in max preps, which is rare. We finished in the top 50 in the nation in max preps, which is rare, especially in the state of Kentucky. We have several guys that are going to go on to play college football. Some of them are staying here in Kentucky. Some of them are going to other places. Some of them still don't know yet. But on behalf of Mr. Diaz, our principal, Mr. Harmon, and our assistant principal, he's here in the back. And just on behalf of our players, thank you for you guys having us. And go Broncos. Okay, okay. So what we're going to do now is give each of the players who's here a Spirit of Lexington certificate. And so what we'll do is Coach McPeak is going to read the names of the players who are here. and if your name is red, will you come forward and I'll give you your spirit of Lexington and then we'll gather in front of the council members for a photo. So I'll let you come around here before you have the mic. Thank you. We'll start with our coaches and if a player came in late, just let me know who was out there. Coach Devin Daniels is our head freshman coach. Coach Will Catron. Coach Catron. Coach John Collins. Coach Evander Harris. Coach Lanning. Coach Peeples. Coach Peeples. Coach Toll. Is there any other coaches I missed back there? That's here. Oh, Coach Mike Mills that helps us with our graphics and Director of Operations, Mike Mills. that's good she's gonna have to get another one all right so i'm gonna have our players that uh were part of the team that are here uh several of them have went on to other sports are busy so apologize about them all not being here but we'll get through Tayshawn Benford. His brother, Treshawn Benford. Brandon Brooks. Cole Carpenter. Josiah Clay. EJ Queenscale. Tyler Grimes. Austin Harmon. Terryon Hicks. Thomas Howard. Oh, you're good. Okay. Okay. Tate Johnson. Walker Johnson. Ben Mariago. Ben Mariago, I probably butchered that, didn't I Ben? Darion Neal. Jackson Strauman. John Swalla. Faro Watts. Ty Lon Webb. And Rodriguez Jackson. I miss anybody back there. Thank you for the parents for coming as well, and we really appreciate it. All right. All right, here we go. Oh, yeah, that's just a reward. All right, thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Now I'll ask our clerk to give second reading of ordinances, and we will pause. I'm so sorry. We're going to pause before number three. Did you have a question before second reading of ordinance? I actually was going to offer a motion. I was actually going to offer a motion. Sorry, I'll speak louder. That before anything, before we start reading, that we go ahead and disperse with public comment. I would like to ask my colleagues if you all would agree to that. That way we go ahead and disperse with public comment, and then we could carry on with our regular business. I so move. All right. Is there a second? Second. Council Member James Brown seconded. Is there any question or comment? All right. All those in favor of having public comment now, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. So we will go ahead and have public comment. We have a lot of people signed up. So the way this works is that when I call your name, if you'll come to the podium, please, and say your name and your council district for the record, and you'll have three minutes to speak. And so first up is Joe. I'm not sure what your last name is. I apologize. What is it? All right. Thank you. Welcome. If you'll give us your name and council's district. My name is Joe Markham. I think I should have 12 or 15 minutes here to speak. So some people had ceded their time to me. Okay, who are the people, if you'll stand up, please, you have to be signed in and stand up. Scott Column? I'm sorry, Tomlin? Okay, all right, so you have his three minutes, and who else? Okay, did you sign the list? Yes. All right, so you'll have his three minutes. Was there anyone else? Is there anyone in the lobby? I don't know. Okay, so that's nine. I'm sorry. Malia Ward. Okay. Were you signed up, Malia? Yes. Okay. So, let's see, three, six, nine, you'll have 12. minutes. Okay. All right. I'm no public speaker, so it's going to be fast. I'm just going to read from the paper here. I did submit this an email to the council as well. I wasn't real comfortable speaking about this because there has been some animosity online towards rental housing providers, so I'd like that just put into the record. Council members, thank you for your time. My name's Joe, and I provide rental housing in the following Lexington districts. District 1, I have 15 units. All of these are under fair market rent values as established by HUD. I have two units in District 2, four units in District 3, one unit in District 11. For 22 plus years, I've worked to provide my family and my community value by buying, rehabbing, and renting homes. My hands have personally resurrected multiple properties, rejuvenated entire streets and neighborhoods, which has increased the tax base while providing homes for people. I work with my renters directly. They have my cell phone number and my email address, and I respond. I want to give you today as my point of view on why this tenant bill of rights is a bad choice for Lexington and will only exacerbate things by making housing less affordable. As a rental housing provider, RHP, RHP, I'm not a landlord. I provide approximately 200 renters safe, secure, and affordable housing around central Kentucky. My average rent is under $1,000 per month for a single-family home, and it's around $600 a month for a multifamily home. I was born here in Lexington in the 1970s. I'm the youngest of eight children, 10 years after my closest sibling. I grew up, most would call very poor, in a house on Lexington's north side where my family had lived since 1957. My father died when I was in third grade, so that home had become a single mother household, raising my nephew and myself and other brothers and sisters rotating through because they were much older. We got by on my mom's cashier's salary and a small SSI benefit because my father was a veteran. Bills were intermittently paid on a rotating basis. It was always a struggle for her to make ends meet. We ate a lot of government cheese and drank powdered milk or Kool-Aid pretty much exclusively. Food stamps helped provide some basics occasionally. Fast forward through lots of things that make me glad cell phones didn't exist back then and on into my mid-20s. My mother had been sick for over a few years and it was obvious she was not coming home to live by herself. She was in debt due to medical bills and a loan and had no money or estate to speak of other than the house. As a family, we were preparing to let the house go to bankruptcy foreclosure to settle her debts. With that said, I'm sympathetic to the issues that have led us to this point in time. Through fate and a partner that recognized opportunity, we were able to purchase my family home before it sold to foreclosure. This allowed mom to settle her bankruptcy and all of her bills. We took a huge risk and we were going to try to rehab it as our own first home. The house was in severe disrepair. The tub had collapsed into the crawl space. The roof and the windows were failing and allowing water in. Squirrels and snakes had taken over the entire backside of the house. It was in horrible shape and uninhabitable. It was in such bad condition that the first appraiser we had told us verbatim, tear it down, it's a detriment to the lot. He was right, that would have proven much easier. Instead, my partner and I spent literally the next two years working on it ourselves before it was anywhere near a livable condition. Nights, weekends, quote-unquote vacations, or any extra money we had went into repairing this home. We did 99% of this ourselves, despite me never having even owned power tools before beginning this misadventure. My first birthday present from my partner after the purchase of the house was a trip to Sears to buy a circular saw and some hand tools. We lived in this home for three years before I lost my job. I found a new job in a nearby town, and we had planned to sell the house and move there. The idea of renting was brought up, and we decided that we could try it, and if it didn't work it, we could still sell. All that background just to say this. Forcing hundreds of local small business owners that repair these derelict, blighted, or otherwise unsuitable properties to make them functional homes again, out of business, will have a host of consequences. As a government representative and as an individual, you will not be able to claim them as unintended. You have been warned of what will happen if this passes. Your actions from this point forward will at least have this consequence. Housing will be less affordable for the residents of Lexington. Lexington is a unique city that's flown under the radar of large institutional investors thus far. It's not technically in the sunbelt where they target. It has actual winners. It's been largely ignored as a flyover country for the out-of-state and institutional investors, despite being affordable. What they didn't realize is we have a strong university, a great community, wonderful tourism, a solid job market, are incredibly diverse with an inclusive fairness city ordinance of 23 years, and we're just ranked in the top 4% for equality, being number one in Kentucky. Lexington ranks high in surveys of great cities to live in. It recently came in 36 in a list that was published today. It's big enough, yet it still feels small. It has never been subjected to the wild swings in housing prices like the coasts or other areas of the country. The majority of the rental housing providers live and work near the city, not in some corporate office in San Francisco, using an algorithm to determine their best profit margins. Read the Herald-Leader's recent hit piece on the people that are currently doing the work, buying, rehabbing, and renting or selling homes, with a new life and a greatly increased taxable value. The majority of them live in or very close to Lexington. As a city, we have not fallen victim to the whims of those that want for everything while providing nothing in return yet. The Tenant Bill of Rights puts us directly on that path. It wishes to eliminate source of income discrimination. This will force rental housing providers to do business with government agencies that are notoriously slow and incredibly non-responsive to issues. This friction causes many delays. One only needs to look at government-funded programs like colleges or health care or the military for proof that their involvement in paying only results in increased costs over time. This will affect people without government vouchers the most and hardest. They will be even less able to compete with voucher holders or free market renters. Increased paperwork, notices, inspections, and the lack of responsiveness all slow the rental process and create burdens for housing providers. The associated costs will pass directly to the renter and make housing less affordable. It wishes to eliminate criminal background checks. These are necessary for the protection of both the housing provider and the community. People have a right to know if they are living next door to a child molester, a rapist, violent, or otherwise felonious offender. Recidivism rates for people with felony convictions is incredibly high, 60 to 80 percent for most crimes. The Public Housing Authority conducts criminal background checks and does not allow people with convictions like these. Why should rental housing providers be forced to do so? It wishes to eliminate credit scores as qualifying criteria. Getting a mortgage, a car loan, or a credit card with low or no credit scores is difficult. However, there have been recent changes to these processes for credit scores. The changes make a more accurate score available by using good payment history for items not previously considered and by lowering negative impacts of certain items like medical debt or student loan debt. Credit score is important because the best indicator of future performance is past performance. If credit scores are disallowed, rental housing providers ability to mitigate risk will take a huge hit. More risk always means higher costs. This cost will spread to all renters making housing less affordable. It wishes to eliminate eviction history. As mentioned before, the best indicator of future performance is past performance. While the number of actual evictions is incredibly hard to pin down for various reasons, there are easy trends to see. A single person can be responsible for dozens of eviction filings, but they may only represent one house that's lost to an eviction, even if they are actually removed from the house. Most evictions one in court do not actually result in the person being removed from the house. Restricting rental housing providers from considering evictions once again increases risk tremendously. Any increase in risk results in an increase in cost and that cost gets spread amongst all renters and makes housing less affordable. It wishes to eliminate immigration status. National origins is already a protected class. It wishes to establish a landlord registry. This has been considered in the past and has always been deemed a bad idea by the city council. It is. There are already multiple agencies tasked with ensuring all properties are up to code and habitable. Renters are free and actually protected from retaliation to report code or other issues to the appropriate city offices. Renters do not want a renter registry as that would be ripe for abuse and most likely illegal as a form of libel or blackballing. The same is true for housing providers. Someone has made a registry of landlords themselves online already. Reddit is a constant source of anti-landlord sentiments, including threats of violence, personal tax, and more. If such registries are formed by government, the cost for these will be passed to the renters, making housing less affordable. It wishes to establish a right to counsel. The renter and the rental housing provider have the same right to counsel right now, except one always has to pay for it and one doesn't through access to legal aid, legal clinic, etc. I tried contacting these agencies during COVID for assistance navigating the healthy at home funds, and I was told they never take rental housing provider caseicides. They only take on renters. Since September of 2011, any eviction case filed in Fayette County requires an attorney to file it if the property is held in a business entity. This is the main reason statistics that get thrown around about the lack of renters' legal representation about causes for evictions are incorrect. We are forced to use attorneys. It costs us to use attorneys. We cannot file the evictions personally if it's held in a business name. There are two reasons renters lose the majority of eviction cases. One, they do not show up to court, as they most likely know they have no defense, because two, the vast majority of eviction cases, approximately 92% in Fayette County, are easy to prove as they are for non-payment of rent. The right to counsel's only objective is to slow down the already exceedingly drawn-out eviction process. Pre-COVID, it was an average of 45 days from the time of service to the time the person was removed from the house. Since then, even with measurably lower eviction case numbers, it's close to 60 plus days before the renter has to leave and the housing provider gets possession of their property. If you were caught shoplifting an Xbox from Walmart, the store immediately gets their property back and the offender goes to jail with a felony charge potentially. In an eviction case, the offender gets to steal an entire house for two or three months and faces no criminal charges, only civil charges or fines, which are rarely collected. Summing up what another rental housing provider said. If there's a bread shortage, we don't solve it by registering bakers, restricting the amount of bread they can bake, charge them a per loaf inspection fee, and then tell them they have to charge less for it and give everyone a smaller slice. Some people think that if there's a housing shortage, the solution is to make it harder and more expensive to build new housing or to increase the cost of existing housing, tell people who and how they have to do business and how much they can charge. It takes longer to build a house than it does to bake bread, but the cycles of shortages, absent government interference, are the same. Prices go up, which makes individuals jump into the business, which increases competition, which creates more supply, which absorbs the demand, which makes prices go down. Government could become an active participant by building or buying more public housing. Instead, it chooses to target existing housing providers with measures like this, forcing them into unwilling partnerships. The only real solution to any shortage is to make more of whatever is in short supply. These types of policies have never proven effective. One just needs to look at what they do to the markets where they have been implemented. California, New York, Oregon, Louisville. Is the housing solutions there? Are they better or worse than in Lexington? Know this. Any funding paid for this will be ill-spent and is paid by those least able to afford it, yet it still does not address the root cause. There is not enough housing in Lexington. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Next is Frank Harris. Welcome. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Frank Harris. I'm 60 years old. I've lived in Lexington my whole life, and I'm here to speak on the license plate reader issue. I'm not here to argue the merits of the bill itself. What I want you all to consider doing is adding these things to the bill so that there is a period of time for evaluation and possibly repeal. My concern is that so many laws get passed that are bad laws, and they never go away. They're on the books forever. I think the ice cream law, you know, about putting an ice cream cone in your back pocket, so it's in Lexington, Kentucky. That's where that law was written. It's still on the books to my knowledge. That's a 100-year-old law. So what I would like for you to consider is putting this into any new law or new regulation that you have. One, the stated purpose of the new law or rule. The criteria for measuring the success or failure of the new law or the new rule. rule, a promise to review the success or failure with citizens' input and an opportunity for debate on the findings of the success or failure of the new law or rule, and most importantly, a sundown clause on any new law or regulation which would automatically trigger having to go through a re-vote to consider re-implementing that rule or law so that we can stop adding bad laws to the books. And I would like to cede the remainder of my time to Clay Davis. Thank you. Thank you very much, Clay Davis. and so you'll have a minute 26 left from Mr. Harris and so that's four minutes and 26 seconds. Welcome. Greetings, Mayor and distinguished council members one and all. My name is Clay Davis. I'm the director of We See You Watching Lexington, a local grassroots organization concerned with the use of surveillance in our community. I also live in District 8. I'd like to share some concerns with you today regarding the flock camera expansion and surveillance in general. Though some of my points may relate to things you have previously discussed, it is my hope that I will call your attention to some things you may not have considered, if you will only indulge me to the end. During a recent council work session, Police Chief Weathers made some deceptive remarks regarding the flat cameras, and I wanted to set the record straight. The chief stood here before you in council chambers and publicly said, we have a policy to regulate the cameras. Nobody else thought of that. Your police department thought of that because it's worried about people's rights. That statement is blatantly false. My organization has been asking this council for a comprehensive surveillance policy, one that would ensure complete transparency and accountability for all government surveillance devices and technology since 2017. That's five years. We even have a sample ordinance drafted by the ACLU that the city could use as a template to craft a policy that fits our community. Many of you, if not all of you, have previously received a PDF copy of this proposed ordinance. No one has taken the steps to put it forward. Currently, there are 13 major cities in the United States that have accepted and adopted an identical or similar ordinance recognizing that mature, modern, smart cities need these types of protections in place for their respective communities. The current policy touted by Chief Weathers falls far short of protecting the rights of Lexingtonians in comparison with this proposed ordinance. Lexington now lives in a fishbowl of police GPS trackers, encrypted phone cracking software, fixed cameras in our parks, body worn cameras, traffic cameras, license plate reading cameras, aerial drone cameras, the Amazon Ring doorbell program that allows police to use our doorbells as cameras and a 29 camera super secret camouflage police surveillance program that Chief Weathers refuses to acknowledge even exists. Wow. When you say all of that out loud, it begins to sound like we are well on our way to being an overly surveilled community. This, I think, is what Vice Mayor Kay was referring to at the recent council work session when he discussed that folks concerned about their privacy being invaded in a number of ways in which they have no control. Our proposed ordinance alleviates and remedies these privacy concerns and establishes reporting standards that this and future councils would find useful when doing the diligence that Councilmember Clover brought forth at the last work session. I agree with Councilmember James Brown that policy is what is going to protect our community, and I believe this council can do more. I recommend that this proposed ordinance be provided to and reviewed by the racial justice and equality commission to determine if they feel that it is a viable policy for our community. From the tone of the council's recent discussions, Lexington will not be reducing or eliminating the technologies that currently has in place. License plate readers will likely expand dramatically in number in the coming year. When Council Member Reynolds advocates for extremely costly and expensive tools such as ShotSpotter, it signals to our community that the Council intends on continually increasing the scope with which we are being surveilled. Excuse me. Your time is up. May I ask for one minute to close? Yes. Council? No move. Thank you. Council Member Round, Council Member Lamb. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. You have one minute. Thank you, council members. As technology improves, we can expect more and more invasive devices to be introduced into our community. For all the potential upside, there is also a potential for abuse. Despite assurances from current leadership, we have no guarantees how future leadership might employ these devices without a comprehensive ordinance in place. If any of you feel that you have been placed in a difficult position with your constituents with regard to striking a balance between public safety and privacy rights, this ordinance is the very tool with which you can accomplish that in your respective districts. Your leadership on this issue would be placing Lexington among the cities that pioneered privacy protection. And this is a critical moment for our city. And the time to do the right thing is now. I strongly urge the council to reconsider this proposed ordinance on behalf of those in our community that are concerned with the negative implications associated with living in an overly surveilled society. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much. Next is Miranda. Excuse me. Sorry. The council rules are that people need to listen. And please, no clapping. Miranda henchman welcome thank you I want to commend you guys I don't know how you do this on a regular basis to have the will and the knowledge and the intensity for it because it's a lot of people with a lot of opinions I'm here actually as a property owner I don't necessarily call myself a landlord although that's obviously the term we use I really care about my tenants just this year I had one tenant that got behind they had a brand new baby and he reached out to me and he said, we're just going to be late. We need more time. And I said, you know what? Absolutely. That happened two more times and I still help them. That young couple's back on their feet with the young child. I have another young family with two small children that lives in the right side of my duplex. And on the left side, I had three people that moved in. Of those three, two left. That's a whole other story. And I said to my girl, I see that you're struggling to pay rent. Let's get this all figured out. Let's get it all squared away. And let me let me let you out of this so you can find something more affordable as far as the tenants rights proposed that's hard for someone like me because the truth of the matter is I care about my tenants I care about their rights I want them to have a nice place to live I want them to be happy I want them to stay as long as they want and be great tenants and I want them to be safe if I can't screen tenants what do I say to the young family that lives on the right side of that duplex that has two small children I manage all of my stuff when I go into a property if i'm not very familiar with my tenant and i haven't been able to check a criminal background do you think i'm going to be comfortable going in and changing out the filter i do some of that stuff so i'm just here to say that if you if you make it really difficult or let me say this because i can deal with difficult if you make it really high risk i'm not going to take on that risk i'm not going to be stuck with a tenant that makes me feel unsafe or makes my other tenants out of respect feel unsafe. I think it's important that I be able to judge the risk involved, both financially, physically, and otherwise. And if it's too high risk, I will just sell my properties. And there won't be someone like me who owns that cares about when my tenants had a new baby or they changed jobs and they're behind and be able to give that grace and work through it. I just, I won't be able to accept that risk. So, and no offense, also don't need advice on how to be a good human and just be kind to people and give them grace when they need it. So that's all I had to say. Thank you. Would you say for the record your council district, please? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Division four is where I live. And then I have the duplexes in division four. And then it's like a five bedroom condo that the young couple lives in. But they were students at UK before all their roommates moved out and they had their baby. That's fine. Yeah. Thank you very much. Reva Russell English. Welcome. Hi, thank you, Mayor, thank you, Council. My name is Reva Russell English, I live in the first district. I'm never entirely sure what angle I should take when I'm talking about my The reasons that I oppose the proposed expansion of the Flock Automatic License Plate Reader Program. Because I'm always going to be in opposition to increased government and corporate surveillance of myself and my neighbors when we're just going about living our lives. So there's that. But there's more than just that that discourages me about the resolution this body might pass tonight. And part of it is the way in which the program kind of seems like it's doing something about crime. Now, if the data that has been given to us, the limited data from LPD is correct, There have been some wins on the backside of a crime that has already occurred. But none of us, if we could pick, would choose to have our stolen car recovered if we could live in a place where it wouldn't have been stolen in the first place. But it isn't just that the funding of this program means that we only react to crime instead of funding programs, services, and organizations that might in fact prevent crime and harm. It's also that we, the public, and some of you, our elected officials have worked so hard to gain a little bit of oversight, accountability and transparency in regards to our police department. It is astonishing to me that you are now considering reducing what little we have gained to put forward an entirely new surveillance program where we have no idea what our police department is doing with it. It's bad policy, I know that many of you trust our police chief and I hear that. But we shouldn't put policies in place that rely on people to do the right thing. We are being asked once again to trust that the police will use the program in the way that they're supposed to and we don't want to. We don't want to trust the police. We want to know that they are following the rules and the only way we can do that is by having oversight, accountability and transparency. And it's also not the nature of the relationship that we have with the police to be trusting. After all, they're surveilling us. How does that build trust? This harms the few gains that we have made in regards to oversight. We had massive protests in 2020 about this very thing. Please don't take steps back in that regard. And then there's the money. Policing always seems to need more money. Our police department has never had more money than they have now. Last year, they had never had more money than they'd had that year, the year before, and so on. In fact, nothing in modern history in Lexington has ever been as well-funded as our police department. But it's never enough, and for some reason, it's also never, ever related to outcomes. At the same time, we throw peanuts at the organizations doing the work that could prevent crime and harm. $1,000 here, $5,000 there. Can you imagine what some of our organizations could do with the quarter million dollars you want to do to expand this program? Fund prevention, fund people and their needs, don't fund surveillance. And please pass the Tenants' Bill of Rights. Can you imagine being a renter in Lexington right now? Thank you very much. Tyson Carroll. Welcome. Hello. My name is Tyson Carroll. I live in the 3rd District. I've been a Lexingtonian for 20 years, 20 plus years, and I've worked for our police department for 13. I am responsible, I maintain, and I oversee the unit responsible for the LPR program. for our license plate readers. I spend the majority of my time as a Lexington investigator investigating violent crimes, murders, assaults, rapes, those types of things. I consider myself a victim advocate first and foremost and I've sat through tough family meetings, meetings with the victims where they've asked for us to do more. They've never asked for us to do less. For victims where they have not once said, I wish there was less evidence available. I want to share with you a story or a couple stories. Recently, a victim was sexually assaulted here in Lexington by a stranger. Private surveillance allowed for us to get a video capture of the suspect vehicle. The victim gave us a description of the suspect. Specifically, and only with the LPR program, we were able to identify the vehicle, give that lead to investigators for them to corroborate, investigate, and arrest the suspect for that. We can't say if that prevents more crimes, but that person isn't out there to do that crime again right now today due to lpr we were able to safely arrest a suspect of felony assault where the warrant was issued six days ago now that time may not mean much but in my career six days is a pretty fast turnaround for us to be able safely arrest somebody to bring some justice to a victim of a felonious assault six days that's pretty quick I come to you today as a resident. I live here. I work here. I play here in Lexington. My family drives these streets. I drive these streets. My best friends drive these streets. And I'm telling you, I am okay with my data being there. I'm okay with my family's data being there. I'm okay with my best friend's license plates being on the system. I am a champion for victims and with this I can do more. I can help victims and that's what I want this program for. So I ask you to pass this measure. Please fund the expansion of the program. I will continue to be there, I'll continue to be responsible for it. You all know who I am, I'm there to answer any questions. Thank you for my time. Thank you. Andrew Russell, English. welcome thank you mayor council my name is andrew russell english i'm in district one and i don't really want to talk about why we should or shouldn't install the 100 plot cameras throughout the streets to read our license plates as we drive around the city i'm not really ready to weigh whether or not we should send a quarter million dollars to colorado to a venture capital company that's not yet even profitable. That's because I wasn't given any time or actual data by my city government or police department to make that kind of informal decision. What I am ready to talk about is trust, something that's built slowly and broken in an instant. Our police department and this very council pay lip service to the need for a better and more trusting relationship between citizens and public service. As a Lexingtonian, I was promised that this pilot program would be allowed to run its course of one year after the last camera was installed in August. Giving us at least a small foundation upon which to base this huge expenditure of public money. The motion on the table today will break that trust. I was encouraged when Lexington added two civilians to a police disciplinary review board and banned no knocks in the city. Both of these choices made the city a safer place to be for racialized folks who live or travel through Lexington. They also started to build a different kind of relationship between residents and police. The motion on the table will break that trust. In general, I feel this council could do a little more to engage residents in the process of legislation in Lexington. But trying to sneak a 300% expansion of this program through at the last meeting of this council for the year, or ever, without the promised pilot period, 5 o'clock on a Tuesday, it's a new low. Reminds me of the last minute attempted amendment to the no-knock ban that some of you will probably remember. I'm not ready to talk about this expanding the flock reader program because I wrote this on my lunch break and I had to get back to the job site so I could leave early to come to this meeting. Do the thing you're supposed to do, please, and vote to make this decision later. Let the pilot program run. Thank you. Next is Lamonte Shively. Welcome. Hi, my name is Lamonte. I live in District 1, and I want to talk about the Tenant's Bill of Rights. After finishing my time at UK last December, I moved to Louisville for work, but shortly after I moved there, I quit my job there in favor of doing grocery delivery with my car. That was going well until my car unexpectedly broke. After applying for over 700 jobs in three months, I had no money, I was using SNAP benefits to get by, and I fell into a deep depression. After I exhausted my family and friends of their generous support, My mental health couldn't take it, and I was evicted, and I moved back to Lexington. Now, that's just my story. Did I deserve my eviction? Yeah, I didn't pay my rent. But I was lucky enough to be 22 with no dependents, little responsibility, and a good support system around me. I learned a lesson there. And because of that lesson, the opposition to the Tenants' Bill of Rights makes my blood boil. Just yesterday, a post made in a Facebook group with over 8,000 real estate members was made. The subject was, don't Louisville up our Lexington. Said in the post was, quote, they being the council, have already heard the socialist housing is a human right crowd. And, quote, the avowed socialists that have pushed it this far are planning to pack the chambers so we need to be present as well. I'm not a socialist. I'm not even involved with the protest outside. I didn't know that was happening. But when did housing become a socialist issue? We're all taught that the four basic human needs are food, water, air, and shelter. Doesn't it only make sense to afford those basic protections for the renters that need them most? I'm sure lots of renters would love to have these protections. And I'm sure that most renters would love to be here in support of this bill. Being honest, they probably just got out of traffic. Last Thursday, Councilwoman Lamb said that being a part of the council and its achievements and touching lives was an honor that she wished that everyone could experience. Mayor Gordon and the council, I want to ask you on behalf of people who have also went through a time of struggle to move forward with the Tenet's Bill of Rights. The entitled and privileged argument for, quote-unquote, their Lexington should not trample the equitability, basic need, and preventative action that would impact thousands of men, women, and children in a growing city in favor of a few's bottom line. I'd venture to guess that people that this would have the biggest effect on aren't here. So it is on all of you to act in their best interest by moving forward with this bill. It could positively impact the lives of thousands, and it would be better to do that than bow down to the few who oppose. Thank you. Thank you very much. Amber Duke. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Amber Duke. I'm interim executive director at the ACLU of Kentucky. We are based in Louisville but represent our members across your districts. I would like to state for the record that the ACLU of Kentucky does not support license plate readers such as FLOT cameras. Before the pilot launched, we along with the NAACP and Human Relations Commission were invited by the mayor's office to meet with the Lexington Police Department to ask questions and share concerns about this technology. We shared our concerns about over-policing in communities of color, privacy and data storage, and the lack of guardrails to prevent unnecessary future expansions, and the lack of civilian oversight and accountability. Many of our concerns were addressed in the policy guiding the pilot project, and I want to thank Chief Eric Lowe in particular for his listening ear and incorporation of my organization's policy suggestions in the final policy that's currently in place. Like many that you've heard from tonight, I was also surprised to hear of the recent announcement of the dramatic expansion of the program. At the time of the announcement, I had not been invited back to discuss the pilot, nor had the memo of the first quarterly audit been published. I reached out to Chief Lowe, and within 30 minutes, he responded, looping in Commander Greathouse, and we were able to meet last Thursday. During that discussion, I shared questions community members have asked us about basic operation of the cameras. I asked questions about the data that is being updated on LPRs on the transparency page. I raised concerns about the department sharing LPR data with five dozen other police agencies with no policy requirements or review of the requesting agencies. I was given clarification of the differences between the 25 camera pilot, the expansion proposal, and the National Police Institute study. It was a good conversation, and I'm committed to continuing conversations with the department. I said to them what I will say to you here today. The ACLU of Kentucky recommends the council a lot more time for information gathering and discussion before moving this expansion request forward. The community has questions. The results of the first quarterly audit were just published this afternoon around 1 p.m. While I received prompt personal notification this memo was posted, it is not sufficient time for public review and questions. Parts of the program, like the data sharing between agencies, deserves more thoughtful conversation and additional policy. The ACLU of Kentucky is opposed to spending taxpayer dollars to increase police surveillance full stop. We believe it is a waste of resources that will not serve Lexington well. We must combat crime with evidence-based programs and investments that address its root causes, which are poverty, housing insecurity, access to physical and mental health care, child care, and more. Thank you for considering this testimony. Thank you very much. Candace Kinchik? Candace, are you here? All right. Emma Anderson. Welcome. Hi, I'm Emma Anderson, and I'm in the 1st District. I am a renter in Lexington. I have rented in the 1st District, and now I'm renting in the 5th District. In May, I was evicted. I could not find an affordable place to move. I didn't have the time I needed to search while working full time. I ended up couch surfing for six months, and it completely destabilized my life. I missed bills, a traffic court date, letters from my friends, because I was staying in so many places. I have roots in Lexington. I went to high school here, and I don't have any kids. but thinking about how much harder that situation would have been if I'd had kids in school and no network of people to stay with makes me really upset. Tonight you will be hearing from many Kentucky tenants members, and every one of us has struggled as a renter in this city. We come to you today to explain why we need your support on a tenant's bill of rights. we chose to focus on the four policies included based on thousands of conversations with renters and years of research on state and federal law and local models to um for those of you who are not familiar with the tenants bill of rights i wanted to briefly run over the parts first we want a source of income discrimination ban our members have struggled to find places that will accept their housing assistance and we know from service providers that they have the same problems. Public housing jurisdictions with laws banning source of income discrimination had voucher utilization rates 5 to 12 percentage points higher than those without the laws. Based on these results, a city with 10,000 vouchers served an additional 500 to 1,200 families with available funds. We also want other anti-discrimination measures, for example, tenants with eviction records, criminal records, low credit scores, and immigration statuses, all of whom face excessive barriers to finding housing. Two, we want tenants on the commissions and boards that make housing decisions in our city. The complete list of these boards is on a document that we'll follow up in an email with. We want a landlord registry. Tenants should be able to know who their landlords are. They can run background checks on us, so we should have an accessible way to track them, and it's all public information anyways. We want the registry to include things like code enforcement violations, tenant complaints, and eviction filings. And finally, we want every tenant in eviction court to have a lawyer. We know that nationally around 90% of landlords have representation while only 1% of tenants do. Lexington Eviction Court follows this pattern. How could this ever be a system of justice? It's blatantly unfair, and the outcomes reflect that. There's robust data that shows comprehensive right-to-counsel programs reduce costs for the city in the long run and lead to systemic change that keeps more people in their homes. We came here tonight to show you how much these protections mean to us and how greatly they could change our lives. We are upset. While you are on break, we want you to think of us, and we'll see you next year. Thank you. Thank you very much. Ahsan Gatewood? Welcome. Welcome. Hi, my name is Ahsan Gatewood Parks. I'm a member of KY Tenants and my family rents here in Lexington in the 2nd District. We used to be in the 5th District. I am 15 years old. Most of you have heard me speak at a city council meeting in October. I am here because my family and my city needs a tennis bill of rights. I live with my mom, sister, and little brother. I've worked at Sea Leaf and Soldigo restaurant in the summer, and I go to school at Carter G. Wilson Academy. I like art, singing, dancing, making novels, and playing video games. But this year my family has had trouble with our housing. It has made my life a lot more stressful. We were evicted earlier in the year just because our landlord decided he wanted to sell our home. Now my mom is paying double what she used to pay in rent and the place we moved into needs a lot of repairs. Every single part of the Tenant's Bill of Rights would help us. A ban on source of income discrimination would have made our housing search so much better. Right in council and eviction court and permanent rental assistant would reduce the stress we all feel. My mom, my sister, me, and everyone when we get an eviction notice. A landlord registry would hold landlords accountable when they mistreat tenants and help us know who the good landlords are when we are looking for a new place. and seats for tenants on boards and commissions would give us more of a voice so we can implant implement implement these socials social solutions and more maybe you get lost in the policy policy details but our housing system means that kids like me get less sleep it means we struggle more in school it means we can't enjoy our teenage years as much as we should And you can change that. Please pass a tennis bill of rights. Thank you. Thank you very much. Stephanie Hensley. Welcome. Thank you. My name is Stephanie Hensley and I live in District 5. I moved to Lexington from Corbin, Kentucky in 2021 because my friends and family told me that I would be able to find more opportunities for my family. I was hoping for a fresh start in here. Instead, my family has struggled to even have a roof over our heads. I used to live in District 1, now I live in District 5. I went from a bad apartment to another bad apartment. We were at Salvation Army and got an apartment at Matador North through Section 8. Kids got COVID, so we stayed in a hotel. And then finally, we got to move in thinking everything was fine. A year down the road, the health department said we had to leave because the black mold was so bad. So Section 8 took my voucher. Now I live in District 1. Now I live in District 5, and it went from worse to bad. There's open wires. The floor has cracks. There are holes in our closet, and I have a two-year-old. Knowing that my toddler can go in the closet at any time and grab wires stresses me out. The rent is $8.50 and the late fee is $100. We have to pay $45 extra because we don't make three times the rent. That doesn't make sense. I've had to walk five miles round trip to pay my rent, so we usually end up paying $9.50. Here recently, the office sent us emails saying we had to start paying rent online only. This is not an option for us because we get help from a local church, and they only do checks. I had a feeling that me and my family was going to end up homeless. I have a newborn that's only two months old. If you were in my shoes, how would you feel being homeless with two kids and an infant? Having that stress always there wears on me. I'm 28 years old. I've had a heart attack. No mother should have that thought in the back of their head that they're going to be homeless with their kids soon. I want other tenants to know that they're not alone. Landlords need to understand that it's not only about them. It's about the community, and it's about tenants. We are paying you, and you should respect us instead of landlords taking advantage of us. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Charles Starks. He got very ill and had the lead, but he said he ceases time with David to Gatewood. Okay. Davita? Welcome. Good evening. My name is Davita Gatewood. I'm a leader with Kentucky Tenants, housing chair of the NAACP, a proud graduate of the University of Kentucky, a mother of three sons in college, two kids in high school academies, and full-time caretaker of my youngest, who is functionally mentally disabled. And I'm a renter here in Lexington. I've lived in Lexington all my life. I used to live in the 5th District. I am now a proud member of the 2nd District. Most of you have heard my story. I'm here today because when you're a renter, Just because you find a home doesn't mean things are fixed. It's one thing after another. Last week was the first of the month rent was due. Because of rent increases in Lexington being among the highest in the nation, and rent increases nationwide being the highest in 40 years, I had to move to a place where my rent is now doubled what it was. Even though I have a housing choice voucher and should be paying only 30%, The Housing Authority miscalculated my income and is making me pay $1,303 per month. That's $2,200 more than I should be paying, according to the program rules. That's one full paycheck for me. It leaves no room for utilities or food. Groceries for my family. I shouldn't have to pay it, but I do. And Housing Authority won't fix it. no one should have to make a decision between groceries and rent. I just moved in a couple months ago. I moved into a home that needed many repairs, and to this day, those repairs still haven't been done. Despite me asking, and I have this on email, asking them multiple times to fix it, and they haven't. When I moved in, the home hadn't been cleaned, and there weren't even light bulbs in every room. So I paid for all of that myself as well. Within a month of living here, I received an eviction notice just because of some miscommunication between my landlord and the rental assistance program, which happens a lot. Tenants like me, mothers like me, families like mine are suffering every day because we do not have enough protections for renters. We need a tenant's bill of rights. We need even more than that. But that's at least a start. Thank you. Thank you. Lola Cox. Welcome. Hello. My name is Lola Cox, and I am a renter in District 3. Today, I am here in support of the Kentucky tenants, in support of the Lexington Tenant Bill of Rights. As a student and young adult very new to renting, I'm appalled at what my peers in this city have become the norm. Last year, I rented a house in Chevy Chase with three roommates. The rent was lower than the surrounding areas, so many of my expectations weren't high. But the landlord's attitude and the house itself was absolutely unacceptable. Unacceptable. Disregarding the black mold and lead pipes that were present the entire time I lived there, on repeated occasion our dishwasher and the washer broke, each with weeks long waits on the repair. At one point we had a complication with the gas bill under our landlord's name, which left us with no heat for a week during winter. That same landlord said to my roommate, I only rent to college students because they don't complain. Impassioned by these experiences, this semester I wrote my English final on the Lexington Tenants' Bill of Rights, and I would like to read you a short excerpt. Throughout our city and cities all over America, renters are discriminated against for their race, source of income, criminal history, eviction history, and immigration status. As reported by the Lexington Fair Housing Coalition's 2017 Housing Instability Report, low-income and black Latinx neighborhoods are evicted over twice the average rate of Lexingtonians, while tenants in predominantly white neighborhoods are evicted at 1-6 as often. That's under 1-12th the rate of the black and Latinx communities. According to a national study by the eviction lab, one in every five adult renters in their sample was black, yet one in every three eviction filings were served to black renters. By passing the Lexington Tenants Bill of Rights, you, the city council, will be helping thousands of people like me and thousands of people in those communities keep their homes safe and affordable. Housing is a human right. Thank you. Thank you very much. James Woodhead, welcome. James Woodhead, I'm in the 10th District. Last Thursday, I commented that the safest communities have the most resources, not the most law enforcement officers with the shiniest tools. It's no coincidence that Lexington has recently ranked number one in the country for tenants struggling with increased rent, and the homicide record has been shattered despite record investments in policing. This includes the brand-new seven-figure MOA that nearly every council member approved last week between LFPCG and the FOP, $26 million that is hoped, hoped to help officer retention. We seemingly never learn and continue to overinvest our resources on systems of harm at the expense of life-affirming city services. Now we are on the verge of prematurely ending the free pilot program with Flock Safety and moving forward with 100 surveillance cameras that will result in a quarter of a million dollars per year of local public money to one of the fastest growing tech companies in North America. To do so is investing taxpayers' money in a racket. Beyond offering the free pilot program, the Flock Sales team also recruits individuals with $250 Visa gift cards if they successfully refer new communities to their business. Knowing that communities will be resistant to surveillance and risking privacy, FLOC also has a program for a PR campaign. To counter negative feedback from concerned constituents, including groups like LPD Accountability and the ACLU of Kentucky, FLOC conveniently offers webinars for getting community buy-in and securing funding or public tax money from city councils. Instead of investing in out-of-town, multi-billion dollar tech companies that increase surveillance, we should be supporting our friends, families, and neighbors. Rather than over-investing in punitive systems such as those that violently enforce evictions, perhaps we should recognize that one of the most significant resources needed for safe and healthy communities is the right to housing. Yet over half the people who work in Lexington no longer live in this city, largely due to the affordable housing crisis. This includes many of the LFUCG employees who spoke to us and in front of City Council last week. rent for tenants in my zip code alone has increased over 30 percent over the past six months meaning that if my family had to move we'd be priced out of our neighborhood i'm sure many of you have had conversations with your constituents that are struggling to stay housed based on my experience i'm assuming some of you had these conversations while knocking on doors asking for votes during your election campaigns despite lexington currently currently having millions of dollars in housing stabilization funds from the federal government, many of the tenants I've talked to have forcible detainer warrants on their doors and landlords that refuse to accept public funds. All too often, these landlords have also misinformed tenants about eviction court, leaving individuals and families with limited capacities to navigate a complicated system. Or perhaps you talk to tenants who aren't yet facing eviction but have mold throughout their apartment, holes in the floor, and are afraid to ask for repairs while living in fear because rent for the neighboring unit just increased by $400. Excuse me. Your time has expired. May I have one minute to finish, please? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. You have one minute. Thank you. As the housing supplies continue to decrease in Lexington over the past year, housing costs have continued to increase. Both tenants and public safety continue to be on the losing end of this equation. Rather than continue to apply a band-aid approach, such as surveillance cameras, a healthy community requires that we get to the root of the malady. Council has the opportunity to progressively move less than forward by implementing a Tenants' Bill of Rights that prevents evictions, fights housing discrimination, provides representation for those impacted, and creates accountability and transparency for landlords that are profiting from tenants. No to controversial flock surveillance cameras that increase profits for out-of-town investors with deep pockets. Yes to a tenant's bill of rights that benefits Lexington's residents. Thank you. Thank you very much. Leanne Woodhead. Welcome. Leanne Woodhead, District 10. I'm here tonight to ask all of you to vote no on the expansion of the flock program. This will cost a quarter of a million dollars annually. There has been no data to show that these flock cameras are reducing crime in the areas they are placed, which, by the way, are primarily black and brown low-income areas throughout Lexington. Instead, I am asking that you work towards investing in our community and systems that work to reduce harm to those that are working lower-class families. A quarter of a million dollars can fund a data-backed program, GVI. Folks in Lexington have been asking for this. GVI has shown to reduce crime across six other cities with the data. A quarter of a million dollars could create affordable housing and housing security for so many Lexington families that are currently struggling to keep a roof over their heads. A quarter of a million dollars could be used to provide domestic violence intervention and prevention services to those that need them. Again, a quarter of a million dollars could be used to provide more shelter for our ever-growing unhoused population here in Lexington. If you want to invest a quarter of a million dollars, please think about investing it into systems that do not inflict harm upon others in our community. I encourage you to wait on expanding this program and please pass a tenant's bill of rights. Thank you. Thank you. Dottie Bean. Welcome. Dottie Bean with Council District 8. For 36 years, this community has grappled with the problem of homelessness and millions of dollars have been spent addressing the issue and very little has been spent addressing the problem. We recently reviewed the 2022 consolidated plan grants proposal submitted to the federal government for housing assistance and we now understand why this problem has not gotten any better. The money that could have been spent in its entirety to help people instead has funded many social service agency jobs, programs that were poorly thought out and were heavy in administrative costs and light on money to help with rent, deposits, utilities, housing repairs, emergency help to keep people in their homes, and infrastructure improvements to low-income neighborhoods. We have a new council coming into office next month and a great opportunity to end this cycle of high taxation and poor management of government. We want to challenge incumbent councilmen and newcomers to examine the need for every dollar this government spends and not let its bureaucracy stand in the way of fiscal responsibility. The housing issues are just one part of a complex web of waste that is killing the motivation for young people to work and pay taxes. We suggest you read every word of every resolution and ask for a complete accounting of money spent and then ask yourself if you and the taxpayer are getting your money's worth and if each expenditure is really needed. Thank you. Lucas Bullock. Welcome. I'm Lucas Bullock. I live in District 3. So thank you to the council for allowing me to speak. My name is Lucas Bullock, and I have grown up in Lexington and lived in Lexington for much of my life. I went to Henry Clay High School and the University of Kentucky, where I currently work as a graduate instructor. I'm here today with Kentucky tenants to express my support for a tenant's bill of rights. I am currently a renter in the 3rd District, and in the past I have rented in Districts 5 and 10. While I love Lexington, some of the toughest moments of my life have been experienced as a renter in this city. One such moment came in 2016, when the home I was renting lost heating in November, and the landlord refused to fix the issue until January, despite me having paid rent on time. During that two-month period, there were several days below freezing, and I remember sitting in my room bundled up trying to study for my finals and not being able to think straight due to how cold it was. I used to blame myself for getting into a situation like that. But as it turned out, this landlord had a reputation for not fixing issues in a timely manner. And I only found out about this after I had ended my lease with him. For this reason, I support the implementation of a rental registry, one of the components of the Tenants' Bill of Rights, which would provide more transparency and information to renters about the rental properties and the landlords who manage them. If I had had access to a rental registry when I was trying to find housing back in 2016, I would have been able to make a more informed decision about who I rented from and potentially avoid living through the winter with no heat. I also support the Tenants Bill of Rights due to my role as an educator. Each semester, I have a few students who approach me with concerns about their housing. Over the years, I've heard several horror stories from students who have rented homes containing lead paint, black mold, and leaky roofs, just to name a few examples from this semester. Attendance Bill of Rights would provide transparency and information to young people who are often exploited by landlords when they are trying to find off-campus housing. Beyond these examples, each of the four components in the Attendance Bill of Rights is necessary to improve the ability for everyone in Lexington to find safe, sustainable, and affordable housing. I want to emphasize to the council that this proposed legislation has not emerged from a vacuum. Rather, it has emerged from the perspectives of thousands of tenants in Lexington across all districts who are fed up with significant hurdles and issues associated with trying to put a roof over their heads. We need bold leadership to deliver this long overdue legislation. And I, alongside Kentucky tenants, will keep fighting until all renters can live affordably and comfortably in Lexington. We need a Tenants Bill of Rights. Thank you. Thank you. Jess Bowman. Welcome. Jess Bowman, District 9. A CM said recently, no one can deny in this recent election a major issue on voters' minds was public safety and crime, justifying expanding the Flock Cam program before the end of the pilot. What the public has stated time and time again is they want crime reduced, and LPD has admitted multiple times they can't prove the cameras reduce crime. They actually don't even have any comparison data to show if this invasive surveillance system solves more crimes. We see the dollar amounts of stolen property recovered, but was that more or less than previously? We don't know. No data. As stated in LPD's own presentation, Flock Cams take pictures of the back of the vehicle, not just the license plate. An example was given if someone sees a red Ford at a crime scene that didn't catch a plate number, the cameras will flag every red Ford, every single one. Does every red Ford get stopped by police? We don't know. No data. CM James Brown asked if there is data on the race or other demographics of people pulled over using the cameras. He's told that's not tracked. No data. Chief has stated there is misinformation, but we are referencing LPDs and the mayor's information. So why were they misinforming us? There's definitely plenty of misinformation about us and why we speak out in opposition, that we don't care as much about crime, that we support criminals and violence by asking for database solutions, transparency, and accountability. Nothing could be further from the truth. Crime is real. Lack of true oversight of policing in Lexington is real. Two things can be true at the same time. $26 million raises for police and expensive invasive tools won't solve crime. We love our community and want our neighbors safe from harm. We want investment into the people. We want solutions that get to the root cause of crime, not just reactionary measures that create more harm. We want a Tenants' Bill of Rights and a ban on income-based discrimination in housing. We want all our city workers who want to live in Lexington to be able to afford it. So yes, while it's true, crime was a hot-button topic this past election, the voters of Lexington rejected most of the FOP-endorsed candidates. instead choosing to vote in the most diverse council we've ever seen. We voted in council members who share our concerns about the efficacy of this quarter of a million dollar program. Given that, how can we not question the timing of a request for an expedited expansion? The request coming from Chief just three days after the election of six new council members. This timing appears to be an attempt to bypass what we actually voted for. Ignores transparency, disregards the need for evidence-based solutions, and uses the lame duck counsel to trample the process. It's everything voters distrust about government. Thank you. Nick Lyle. Welcome. Thank you. Nick Lyle, District 5. Thank you for allowing me to share my perspective on why the Tenants' Bill of Rights is so important to our city. I moved to Lexington where my wife grew up and her family still lives a year and a half ago. In that time, I lived with generous in-laws, rented near the distillery district, and recently was able to purchase a home near Henry Clay High School in District 5. I'm speaking to support the Tenants' Bill of Rights for Lexington because housing insecurity hurts us all. I moved to Lexington because it seemed like a great place to live and have discovered many more reasons to love it since then. But I also moved here because I couldn't afford to live in Oakland, California anymore. I've seen what skyrocketing rents does to a city and the damage it does to its culture. Even in my short time here, I've seen the rent skyrocket and talked to numerous people who have had to leave their homes in Lexington because of the prices. I may now own my home, but that shouldn't be the only way to secure a long-term, stable place to live and grow a family. I want to know that my neighbors feel safe and can commit to the long-term building of deep community here in Lexington that makes any place thrive. Rapidly rising rents, landlord discrimination, and evictions are a splinter in this community. Please ensure prompt passage of all the components of the Tenants' Bill of Rights. These are really the most basic protections and should not require much debate. I'm only surprised they don't exist yet. Imagine if lobbyists, for example, for building contractors pushed back against smoke alarm requirements. the council would still support basic fire code to prevent our city from burning down, no matter the imaginary lobbyists' false and exaggerated protests, that it would mean no one would build anymore, or that the smoke alarms would actually, through some contrivance, actually hurt the people in burning buildings. I'm asking you to prioritize our community, our workers, and residents over the profits landlords get from their most horrible practices, only to squeeze a few extra dollars of rent. Certainly doing nothing in the face of the issues we're facing is the worst option. I have actually been a landlord for a short period of time, and I sincerely hope no one on this council is so naive as to listen to the landlords here uncritically. None of these protections will put any rental housing providers out of business unless their business is discriminating against and evicting Lexington residents. these are these new regulations should include all the things mentioned I don't think I need to go into them again thank you thank you and also I don't support the expansion of the flock surveillance program thank you Dave Collins welcome my name is Dave Collins I reside in the ninth district I'm a detective with the Flexington Police Department and I utilize the flock system and I'm here to speak on behalf of the flock system and why we do need additional cameras. This has been a tremendous benefit for our department and our city. There are weekly success stories from many different detectives and many different units within the police department that have utilized the flock system to further investigations and close cases. They have been invaluable in helping constituents, many constituents of your all's constituents in each of your districts. The recovery rate of stolen vehicles has increased. It was pretty high when compared to the national average anyway, but it's helped that rate go up. It has led to an increase in criminal actors being apprehended in a shorter amount of time. It's used simply as a tool to further investigations. It does, I've heard some of the other comments. It does take photos of the rear of the car. The system focuses on vehicles, not people. It will take pictures of license plates. It does take pictures of the back of cars, so if we don't have a license plate, we can enter different parameters. But that is useful in that if there is a red Jeep that is a suspect vehicle in a crime somewhere, then if there's something specific about the suspect vehicle in question, whether it's a dented bumper or a rust spot on the hood, we can look in the flock system for those specific traits of that specific vehicle. So we're not out stopping every red Jeep we see in the area that this crime occurred. So basically it can be used as exculpatory evidence as well as inculpatory to show potential guilt of someone in the vehicle. If it's a stolen vehicle, if it was involved in robberies, rapes, murders, more cameras. I mean, we have the 25 right now. If we get the additional 75, it would be a great help to our department. And lastly, I'd like to thank all of you for supporting the Lexington Police Department. But myself, my fellow officers definitely appreciate the support that you all give us during these meetings. And I did have one more thing to add. A lot of things I'm hearing this evening involve people being concerned about over surveillance, too much surveillance. Many of those people are the people that demanded that the police officers wear body-worn cameras, but they say that these flat cameras are going too far. I'm for, may I have one more minute, man? I don't even need a full minute. One more minute. Is there a motion? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Anyone opposed? You have another minute. Okay. It won't even take the full minute. Thank you, though. But I'll say that, yes, the body-worn cameras, I think, are super important. I'm glad we have them because it shows the tremendous work that our officers and detectives do on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. And in the event, one of us makes a mistake, that's there, too. I love the accountability of having this on me. I just find it a little ironic that some people are saying that the flat cameras are too much surveillance, but every police officer in Lexington wears a camera for every encounter, and it's recording. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Joe Holland. Welcome. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Joe Howell. I'm a detective with the Lexington Police Auto Crimes Unit. I've been with this unit since 2015. I'm going to talk a little bit about the effectiveness of the FLOC system. we have noticed like Detective Collins said we already had a fairly high clearance rate or recovery of stolen vehicles however with this system our recovery rate is exponentially higher which is good with the decreased number of detectives and patrolmen we have on the street we're able to focus on a specific area instead of a broad search of vehicles or area I've worked several cases where the system has been very beneficial I can't provide direct insight of these cases because they're still not adjudicated, but I'll give a brief overview. The system has been successful in helping with a homicide investigation. Based on photos from the scene from a business, I was able to help homicide detectives get the vehicle in question, which was a stolen vehicle, using the LPR system. system. I've used it to investigate cargo thefts. I've used it to investigate, obviously, stolen cars. I spoke with detectives in the Financial Crimes Unit, and they've used it on numerous occasions when it comes to bank fraud and other money schemes. And there was a concern mentioned earlier about other agencies sharing data and so forth. Just last week, I was contacted by a sergeant in Alabama, who had arrested a criminal syndicate, and through the FLOC system, he was able to ascertain that they had been in Lexington, and due to this information, an investigation has been ongoing, and there was several thousands of dollars worth of jewelry that was stolen from multiple businesses here in Lexington. So without the FLOC system, that information probably never would have came to fruition. Furthermore, the system does not gather information on driver demographics, only the registration replay, time, and location of where the vehicle crossed the system. This is less invasive and intrusive than the Riverlink system in Louisville when you cross the bridge that collects all that data and then sends you a bill. So I cede the rest of my time to Jeremy Gay. To whom? Jeremy Day, ma'am. Okay, thank you. Dan Pack. Thanks. Welcome. Daniel Pack, First District. I am a scientist and an engineer. I've spent 30 years of my life designing experiments and analyzing data and reaching conclusions. and so I'd like to share a little bit of my perspective on the flock cameras based on that experience. The first thing, which is not in dispute, is that the data that we have are incomplete. The flock safety recommended a one-year trial pilot period, and that's because that's how long it takes to gather a good data set. We know that we're talking about cutting that short, and even if we agree that the preliminary data we have show that the cameras are working, We can't know that they're going to continue to work. We can't know that we're not going to discover some downsides or some problems that could crop up. We just don't know because we haven't taken the time to gather all the data. The second thing that's been pointed out before is that we don't have the proper controls. In other words, we've been given numbers on vehicles recovered or subpoenas and warrants issued. But those numbers are meaningless unless we also are told, for example, how many cars would have been recovered, how many vehicles would have been recovered in a similar period of time without the flat cameras, how many subpoenas, how many of those subpoenas would have been issued anyway, even if the person hadn't happened to have driven by one of those cameras. And the third thing is we're now talking about changing the experimental conditions. The decision was made back in the spring that we would not be told that the locations of the cameras would not be publicized. Good decision? Bad decision? I don't know. But now we're being told that the locations will be publicized. So now that we're changing the parameters of the experiment, the only thing, we have no data to indicate whether the cameras work or don't work when the locations are publicized. So the only thing that we can do is throw out the data and start the pilot over again. We cannot cut the pilot short. The bottom line is really this. If one of my undergraduate students presented me with an incomplete data set peppered by statistically meaningless, inherently biased anecdotes from non-experts, and extrapolated their conclusions to a situation completely different than that under which the experiments were conducted, I would absolutely, without a doubt, fail that student. So there's just no legitimate, scientifically justified, data-driven rationale for concluding that these cameras are a good investment. If there's some other reason for spending the money in this way at this time, then so be it. Just say so. But don't tell me and don't tell my community that your decision is based on the data, because it is not. Thank you. Norm Biller. Okay. He spoke earlier. Yes, thank you. Adrienne Williams. Welcome. Hi, my name is Adrienne Williams and I'm an organizer with Kentucky Tenants. I rent in the third district and I support a Tenants Bill of Rights. In particular, I want to talk about a long-term landlord registry. I care about a long-term landlord registry because Lexington is a horse town, but it's also a college town. I'm a faculty member at UK and I know firsthand that there are students, campus employees, and plenty of other people who moved to Lexington without knowing much, if anything, about the rental landscape they'll be moving into. Right now, information about slumlords and other disreputable landlords is spread through word of mouth and other myriad sources. Many of the largest rental companies go one step further and incentivize new renters at their properties to leave positive reviews by offering temporary rent or fee deductions or other bonuses. It's unnecessarily difficult for tenants to gather all of the information they need to make an informed decision on where to rent. Tenants should be able to go to one source and look up unbiased information about a landlord's property management history just as easily as landlords are able to do background checks on prospective renters. A long-term rental registry with publicly accessible information on evictions, code enforcement violations, and tenant complaints would help not only students, but plenty of other people in this city. It would give us a better sense of what we're getting into before renting from certain landlords. It would also help the city keep landlords accountable for their actions and the consequences of those actions on current and future renters. The people of this city deserve a robust, well-enforced, long-term landlord registry, and we deserve a tenant's bill of rights as well. I also want to talk about the imminent vote for the flock license plate reader program. I believe that a council vote on this pilot program should wait until after the pilot has finished next year. After council and the citizens of Lexington have had an opportunity to review more comprehensive data of how this program has worked. As it stands, there are concerns that black and African-American communities are being over-surveilled by these cameras, with 20% of the flock cameras being allocated in black neighborhoods, despite black and African-American people being 15% of the Fayette County population. It's clear that more research is needed on how flock safety and LPD can mitigate the equity issues that are already present in this program. Council needs to give this pilot program the time it needs to work out issues before it is scaled up. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Amber Coughlin. Amber. Michelle Ballard. Michelle Ballard. James Wilcox. I do not have a Leslie, I don't think, signed up. I signed up. There's another page back here. Oh, well, okay. We'll get to you then. I have three more pages up here, so if you will. Okay, James Wilcox, you ceded your time to Leslie who's on the next page. So we'll get to that. April Taylor, welcome. Welcome. April Taylor, 1st District. I'm just going to read some things that you all could read in your email. I'm not very encouraged that all of you do, so that's what I'm going to repeat some of it. Homelessness is not a disease or an affliction. It's an inability to pay rent or make the mortgage. There are many uncontrollable reasons why that happens. And while there are many uncontrollable reasons, people become homeless. Discrimination based on source of income is controllable, and you all can prevent that. You all, as the council, need to pass a ban on discrimination based on source of income, criminal history, credit score, eviction history, and immigration status. A common cause of homelessness is landlords refusing to accept applications from people using Section 8 or homelessness assistance programs or people with criminal histories, low credit scores, eviction histories, or no Social Security number. Often these tenants have the money to pay their rent, but they cannot find a place that will accept their application. Louisville passed an anti-discrimination ordinance in December of 2020. I also know what it's like to have the money to pay for an entire year's rent and spend more than six months trying to beg somebody to take that money from me. So this is not always an issue of whether or not somebody has the money or needs a voucher to help cover it. There are also people who have the money without the voucher system and just cannot find people who will take their voucher. In the 11 states and over 50 cities and counties that have passed bans on source of income discrimination, they have been shown to substantially improve the ability of people using third-party payments to access housing. According to the Center on Budget and Policy, priorities, public housing agencies and jurisdictions with laws banning source of income discrimination had voucher utilization rates 5 to 12 percentage points higher. And as Emma mentioned earlier, in a city that has 10,000 vouchers, this translates to 500 to 1,200 families being able to use their vouchers. So hundreds of families being able to find housing. This means that if the city passed a ban on source of income discrimination, our city's homelessness prevention programs would work more effectively. We would be able to serve more households more quickly with the same amount of money. According to a 2018 study in cities without source of income discrimination protections, 77% of landlords reject applications using vouchers, whereas in cities with bans on source of income discrimination, that number drops to only 35%. And I do want to pivot here really quick to tell you that I think it's completely asinine that you force through a policy regarding the flock cameras when the probationary period to gather data has not expired. You know that voters here in Lexington chose to elect the most diverse and progressive city council in Lexington history. And you are trying to circumvent that democratic right that we have to be represented by the people that we elect by trying to force through legislation prior to the program to test for data even being halfway expired. It's only been three months. Don't circumvent our democracy and our voice. Thank you. Next is Quinn Mulholland, and I believe, are you donating your time? Okay, thank you. Tana Fogle, and you'll have your three minutes plus Quinn Mulholland's three minutes. Welcome. Tana Fogle, First District, James Brown. I actually showed up here tonight on behalf of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to acknowledge Frederick Douglass as the state champions. And I really wanted to go after the mayor had that wonderful presentation. And then I said, well, I'll just do this at another time. However, in my 62 years, I've watched Charlotte Court disappear, East End Projects disappear, South End Davis Bottom disappear, you know, roots of folks here in Lexington. And as I represent the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth tonight, I just wanted you all to know that our 42-year organization stands in solidarity with the Tenants' Bill of Rights. And that's all I have to say. I know you're surprised, but Merry Christmas. That's it. Thank you. Several council members have asked to take a five-minute break. Do you want to do that or do you want to keep going? All right. Do you want to express that? All right. I have several. We'll go on a five-minute recess. So if you'll be back here at 6.58, please. Then we have several more speakers. Thank you. All right, please have five minutes. So once we get two more council members, we'll have a quorum and we'll go ahead and get started again. Thank you. All right, thank you. We have a quorum now. So we will continue with our public comment. Next is Catherine Smith. Welcome. Hey, you all. My name is Catherine Smith. I'm from Lexington, and I rent in District 1. I've also rented in District 3 and 5 over the past eight years, and I've always paid my rent on time. Since I've been renting in Lexington starting in 2014, I've had issues with almost every landlord that I've had. I've dealt with mold. I had an oven filled with mouse poop posing health hazard and leaving us with an oven to cook with. And I had to remove multiple raccoons myself because a landlord didn't want to deal with it. My current landlord is the worst I've ever had, being incredibly unresponsive to his tenants and showing a general lack of concern or respect for us. For both me and his other tenants, he is often times unwilling to fix very reasonable requests, such as a dangerous broken fence, a dishwasher that pretty much has not worked the whole time we've been there, a mold concern, or being reluctant to fix old broken blinds because it's expensive to fix, when really that's his legal responsibility. He oftentimes takes months to fix problems when he does comply, is incredibly invasive, showing up unannounced, entering our apartment without us opening the door for him, and is incredibly unprofessional in how he communicates with us. Both me and my roommate generally don't feel safe leaving the house at the same time if we know he is around because there is no level of trust there. And despite the things that I've had to deal with, this is still by far not the worst that tenants have to face, as many people in Lexington deal with much more severe scenarios and evictions, some of which we've heard today. And as we can see, there's an overwhelming amount of problems that renters have to face that could easily be mitigated with the Tenant Bill of Rights, which includes a landlord registry. With a landlord registry, people would be able to hear from previous tenant experiences and make an informed decision about what they can expect from a landlord, just as any other business has a review platform as well. With such a reasonable request, if landlords are providing safe housing situations as they claim they are and conduct themselves in a professional manner, they don't have anything to worry about. With how high rent is, many of us don't have a choice in where we can live, having to deal with these subpar housing conditions because there is nowhere else to go. We shouldn't have to compromise on health and safety just to have a roof over our heads. A tenant bill of rights, including a landlord registry, is critical if we renters are having to put our well-being and our sense of safety of home in the hands of another. A tenant bill of rights would help us enforce the already existing protections we have under state and federal laws that simply just aren't being enforced. Thank you. Your time is up. Can I just have like 20 more seconds to finish? to the council. All those in favor say aye. Thank you. Anyone opposed? All right, you have 20 seconds. Thank you. We want to see our elected officials show up in action for the everyday people that are sitting across from you today and feeling the brunt of the housing crisis. We hope that as you wake up in your own home tomorrow morning, you think of the other people in this town who aren't waking up in the safe housing situations we all deserve. Safe and affordable housing is a human right and i want lexington to be a leader in providing this for the people who live here thank you for your time and i also do not um uh agree with the expansion of the flock system thank you blake standifer welcome thank you hi my name is blake standifer i live in district three but uh i've lived all over lexington I've been a tenant in Lexington pretty much straight for the past seven years. And I just wanted to give my perspective on what it's like to be a young student tenant in Lexington. Really, I would say a lot of the landlords here would consider me a bad tenant because I expect them to be able to compromise, I expect them to fix issues, and I expect them to communicate. property owners in Lexington that I have worked with are at best aloof and non-responsive at worst predatory just a few examples I've had a dispute with the housing company I was with and then very soon some unannounced renovations happened all of my stuff covered in drywall I had to hear about my roommate complaining. I had a hole in my ceiling in another property for months. Later that property was found to have mold and roaches. It was horrible. My family was appalled at what working seven days a week, including school, would get you in downtown Lexington or around campus. I understand that this is really a class issue. There are people who see these properties as a good, safe way to invest their money and they want to see a return on that investment. For other people, it's a place where they live and it's the line between being out on the street and having a place where they can live and work. The people I know and myself in a way, they're intimidated and scared of their landlords. They know they don't have any power, and the landlords know it too. They're usually completely unwilling to compromise, and you really just don't have a say. I would like to see, as an American, I'd like to see more democratization of this landlord-tenant relationship, and if my little attempts at rhetoric hasn't changed your mind, I can quote the founding fathers, life, liberty, and property. If we can't own property, I think we should at least have dignity when we are renting. Thank you. I cede my time to the next person. Thank you very much. Matt Heil. Welcome. Good evening. My name is Matt Heil. I'm a homeowner in District 1, just the one home. and tonight I'm here with Kentucky tenants to support the Tenants Bill of Rights. In 2006, I rented a house with a few other guys on University Avenue and when one of them, the one who is our point of contact with the landlord, began stealing our rent checks, we got lucky that we were able to scrape together enough money from our part-time jobs to make up the difference. We were even luckier that the landlord gave us enough time to do so because he was hounding and threatening us the entire time. from 2015 to 2021 my wife and i rented a house on suburban court when i got laid off from my job in february 2016 i got lucky that that landlord gave me the time i needed to find a job and pay the back rent without throwing us out in the cold when five raccoons moved into our attic in that house in 2021 it was the sheerest coincidence the dumbest kind of luck that i grew up helping run a trap line and hunting small game. So when the landlord told me the least backed up pest control service was still going to take six weeks to get to us, it was just luck that I could deal with it when one of those raccoons would fall through the drop tile ceiling in the back room. Three of them did that. We were lucky that they didn't bite us or our cats and cause us bills that we could not then afford. We got lucky that we did not have to clean up that much raccoon excrement from our living space ourselves with the tenant's bill of rights, which you can and must pass. You can take all of the luck out of keeping a roof over your and your family's heads. You can take the luck out of finding a humane, decent, accountable landlord. You can take the luck out of finding a livable, clean home that doesn't make you sick or get you bitten. You can take the luck out of finding a place you can actually afford and can continue to afford even when the worst happens. You can take the luck out of whether or not you become homeless because the market, a thing no renter controls, takes an unlucky turn. By passing the Tenant Bill of Rights, you will guarantee an improved quality of life for many thousands of Lexingtonians, most of whom cannot and probably would not catch the kind of breaks that I have. Do the right thing by everybody and not just property owners and pass the tenant bill of rights. Thank you. Thank you. John Winstead. Welcome. Hi, my name is John Winstead. I'm a graduate student at UK and a renter in District 1. I've lived in Lexington for about eight years. I'm here to express my support for the Tenant's Bill of Rights. When I moved to my most recent house about two years ago, I had to go through a background check, a credit check, pay first and last month's rent, and put down a security deposit. From my experience, this is a pretty standard procedure for renting in most places. Despite meeting my obligations as a tenant, when I moved in in December, there was no hot water or heat. I found out after I moved in in that house that the house was renovated to remove the gas water heater and replace it with an electric one. It was fine. But the gas line to the old water heater was never sealed. So whenever the gas was turned on for heating, the entire house filled with gas. The gas company could only turn on the gas to provide me heating when somebody came and sealed the old line. Also, the new electric water heater was never properly installed. More accurately, it just wasn't installed. I'm not a plumber, so when I toured the unit, it was not immediately apparent to me that there were any issues. And one would assume that if a house was being listed, that all these renovations would have long since been taken care of. One would assume that. For weeks, I was on the phone with the property management company, the utility companies, the contractors that were supposed to come out and fix all of this. I had to be the middleman. The temperatures dropped below freezing every night, and during the day, I was lucky for it to break 50 degrees. I had to shower at my friends' houses. Luckily, I had enough friends. It was a miserable first month, and I had done everything as my part as a tenant. I did that. During it all, I had to be the middleman to coordinate the fixes while also going to school and working a job. The fact that this unit could even be placed on the rental market before it was livable is unconscionable. It was lucky, in a weird way, that I was the one duped into this situation and not a family. If a rental registry existed, such as the one proposed by the Tenants' Bill of Rights, I would have had actual recourse to fix these issues or at least known to look for another house rather than commit to living in an inhospitable housing situation for a month. I often hear that we should be grateful for landlords that are willing to provide housing for me. But my landlord did not provide a habitable living space until I made it clear that this space was illegal. If anything, since my rent is just over the amount of the mortgage for that house, it is much more accurate to say that I am providing him housing, and all I want is the rights that come with that responsibility. The City of Lexington needs a Tenants' Bill of Rights yesterday. Thank you. Thank you. Rebecca Milton? Milton. Milton. Welcome. Welcome. Hi, my name is Rebecca Milto. I'm a homeowner in the 5th District and I'm here in support of the Tenants' Bill of Rights. I've lived in Lexington for about eight years and was a renter for six. Affording a place to live is tough these days and even harder for those whose lives have been upended by domestic violence. I'm a Master of Social Work student at UK and my eyes were open to this when I was interning at Kentucky Refugee Ministries as a victim advocate. There I was helping immigrants and refugees that were victims of domestic violence. One of the most important ways that we ensure women and children are safe is by stabilizing their housing. So while I needed to help clients prepare their cases for court, I actually found most of my time was eaten up trying to help them find a safe place to live, safe, affordable housing, because there barely is any in Lexington. in. What small amount I could find available was poorly maintained and safety not guaranteed. And even those units get snatched up pretty quickly. Some of the most challenging cases I had were clients being evicted because they couldn't make rent while their husband was in jail for abuse, or some clients' documentation was out of date while they waited for their asylum to be granted. When I spoke to landlords all over Lexington explaining the situations of these women who were fleeing the violence of their husbands, many of them told me they they aren't allowed to make special consideration because of fair housing. Except these same landlords are allowed to discriminate on the basis of immigration status, credit score, and income by charging $1,000 for rent and requiring tenants to earn two or three times that. My experience at KRM showed me firsthand how difficult finding and maintaining housing is when your life is destabilized by domestic violence. the landlord's perspective that having lots of competition for units forces them to be choosy. So we have to increase the stock of affordable housing in Lexington. That takes time and what we can do now is protect Lexington renters by adopting a tenant's bill of rights. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Amy Clark? Amy Clark? Emily Jackson. Welcome. My name is Emily Jackson. I'm a renter in District 3. I'm here today with Kentucky tenants to express my support for the Tenants' Bill of Rights. We've heard some stories tonight from renters here in Lexington about the devastating impact of eviction, housing insecurity, and lack of affordable housing. And we know that there are many thousands more renters in our city who are struggling right now to find affordable housing or to keep a roof over their heads. So I'll keep this short. I'm here today to speak because I strongly believe that a tenant's bill of rights will make our communities stronger, healthier, safer places to live. And I'd like to cede the remainder of my time to Nolan Adams. Thank you. Casey Lyons. Welcome. My name is Casey Lyons. I'm a renter in District 5 currently. The majority of the time I've lived in Lexington, I rented in District 3. I'm currently employed as a crime victims advocate at Lexington Pride Center. I am an on-call crisis responder with Ampersand Sexual Violence Resource Center. And I'm also a member of the Access Healing Council, which is a statewide initiative by the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs to increase and improve rape crisis center services in marginalized communities. So you might say that working with crime victims is my life's work. And I'm not here to ask for more policing and surveillance. That's not what most crime victims want in my experience. They do ask for systems to do more, but it matters what the more is. The more that I hear them asking me for, more than anything else, is housing assistance. Many victims are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless, or they need to move to a safer place. You don't live long on the street without experiencing a crime. And crimes like intimate partner violence and human trafficking can put you on the street if you weren't there already. It's a vicious cycle because being on the street also puts you at the mercy of traffickers and abusers who can promise you a bed tonight and start hurting you tomorrow, knowing that you'll be too afraid to report them to anyone and lose the only place you have to stay. Crime victims trying to get out of that cycle have the same roadblocks as other renters. voucher programs with three-year waiting lists, and even when you get a voucher, no one takes it. Many victims are labeled as criminals themselves based on things they have to do to survive. Fighting back when they're attacked, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol because they can't afford or have been traumatized by formal health care, turning to survival sex work, theft, and selling drugs for the money they need to eat, or even something as small as sleeping or panhandling somewhere they're not supposed to. The jail is full of people whose only crime is being homeless. The jail and the streets are both full of people with untreated health issues, physical health, mental health, and that includes addiction. Housing is health care. All the time I see people who can't take care of their health without housing. They have no bathroom, no way to restore their medications. medications get lost or they freeze in the cold. No consistent place to charge their phone, which is their only calendar and alarm clock for getting to appointments. And homelessness is terrible for a person's sobriety, mental health, and even suicidality. Housing is healthcare and housing is a crime reduction strategy. Data shows that investing in affordable housing specifically and healthcare more broadly reduce crime. For example, your time is up. May I have one more minute to close? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Anybody opposed? You have one minute. Thank you. For example, when the Affordable Health Care Act passed and states could choose to participate in the expansion of Medicaid or opt out, the states that expanded Medicaid had a sustained drop in crime that didn't happen to the states that opted out. I've already emailed you all a study that shows for every dollar spent on health care, education, or affordable housing, crime goes down. And for every dollar spent on policing, crime goes up. The numbers are clear. If the goal is to reduce crime, meeting basic needs is the way to do that. When people are healthy and their needs are met, they don't get desperate. The jail is full of people who are desperate to survive, and meeting people's needs in the first place prevents that crime. It doesn't just make that person safer. It makes everyone else around them safer. They can take care of those health issues that make people erratic and unstable, get sober, stay on their meds, make their appointments. And I'm going to skip some things. Thank you. Your time is up now. Thank you so much. Andrea Zhang, welcome. Hello, my name is Andrea Zang, and I'm a renter in the 3rd District. When I first moved to Lexington two years ago, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Vistas do not make a lot of money, so I picked up a second job at Kroger. I would bike from my VISTA job to work a late shift at Kroger and then get home after 10 p.m. I experienced a year of being unable to afford rent, relying on a partner. It was a real struggle and there are people in this community who have dealt with that all of their lives as a child my mother struggled to afford housing in a good school district I have a better job now So affording rent has become easier, but our landlord raised our rent and now we need to move And as long as we can afford it any landlord in town will probably take our money But if we use a voucher or the city's rental assistance program landlords will be able to discriminate against us just because of how we paid our rent. In Fayette County, 96.8% of voucher holding households are headed by women, and 81.1% of those households are headed by black women. That's from a HUD study that our housing authority participated in. That's who landlords are asking to be able to continue discriminating against, and that's not right. People shouldn't end up homeless because landlords don't want to do some extra paperwork or participate in inspections to make sure that a unit is safe. There is no comparison between the two. Lexington needs a ban on source of income discrimination, and it needs a full Tenants Bill of Rights so that tenants are protected. And we also need our council to do its due diligence and allow the Flock Program, private program to continue before making a decision on if we should keep spending money on that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Dennis Chaney. Welcome. Hello. My name is Dennis Chaney. I'm a homeowner in the 5th District. I came here today to speak on the tenant bill of rights. I moved to Lexington in 2015 and was a renter for six years. What I noticed the most about renting here was the power imbalance between the renter and the landlord. If you were a bad tenant who needed repairs done, you constantly had to weigh the options. Can I afford to upset this landlord who may refuse to renew my lease? The tenant bill of rights will help improve that power imbalance. Back in October of 2021 in Akron, Ohio, one woman died. Ten people were hospitalized because they had a carbon monoxide leak there. Ohio did have a carbon monoxide detector law, but they had no inspections, no way to ensure compliance with that law. With the landlord registry, you would be able to make sure these apartments are safe and inspected. You know, people who end up suffering these consequences are often the most powerless. And then the other issue I wanted to talk about today was the Jefferson Street Aqueduct Project with the Main Street Baptist Church. I understand that the delicate, you know, historical considerations of this church and their needs. but I have to think that spending $6.5 million on a ramp to High Street and then another million dollars for a parking lot on Jefferson Street for a church to have adequate parking for their Sunday services seems like a bridge too far. I feel like for $7.5 million, some better compromise could be reached. Offering them Ubers. I mean, that's decades of Uber rides. buying a lot nearby to provide parking. There just seems to be a better way to spend this money and find a solution there. I just hope that you vote no on that million-dollar allocation and continue negotiations to make sure both sides can have an equitable agreement. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nolan Adams, and you welcome. You have your three minutes and two minutes from Emily Jackson. Thank you. My name is Nolan Adams of District 8. I'm a leader with KY Tenants, and I stand with my fellow leaders here tonight. These are people who I consider my friends and family, and I see them struggle every day with many things, and most of the time that struggle is trying to keep a roof over their head. I'm here with my fellow tenants and citizens of Lexington to vocalize my support for the Tenants Bill of Rights and defend it from dog whistles like they're turning Lexington into Louisville. In reality, we want to be better than Louisville at ensuring residents have safe, affordable housing. Because having stable housing puts people on a path toward being an engaged citizen in our community and our economy. Like many cities across the country, ours is in crisis. As rent has risen more in our city than any of the other top 50 largest cities in the country. And thousands are left insecure with their housing. As rent and inflation go up and wages remain stagnant, the people are left without the ability to participate in the economy, which hurts everyone from the very top to the very bottom. Without consumers with buying power, there are less customers for the business owners. It means less people will decide that Lexington is affordable for them to stay here and try to become a tenant in the first place. A ban on source of income discrimination would create an economy in Lexington that would have legitimate upward mobility. By increasing the ability for those who use subsidized housing in Lexington to have access to safe and high-quality homes, you increase their chances of upward mobility and create a Lexington where all people can succeed regardless of their life circumstances. Regardless of their eviction history, their criminal history, or their immigration status, people deserve to have their basic needs met. Denying them housing does nothing but put them in a situation where upward mobility is near impossible. We have talked to thousands of tenants across the city, and we know their struggle. We live their struggle. thousands of people whose landlords have prioritized their source of passive income over their tents living in housing that could be considered humane, whose homes are filled with mold, filled with rodents, with outdated appliances that don't work and don't see the maintenance they need. In my last living situation, we had a break-in occur that left our back window completely broken for two months while we searched for housing that fit all of our needs, leaving us feeling unsafe physically and unwell mentally as we continue to worry about break-ins because of the broken window. All of the proposed aspects of the Tenants' Bill of Rights are only designed to give tenants more representation and prevent inhumane treatment, like guaranteed seats for tenants in housing boards and commissions, right to an attorney in eviction court, and the landlord registry. Excuse me. We need the Tenants Bill of Rights because we all need a home, that is. We just want to live in Lexington like everybody else, but that is becoming harder every single day. But we need your help, council members, to get this passed, and we genuinely look to you for that help, as we see that many of you want to do good for your community. As Ms. Joyce says, we are the bees. We do everything together, and we will be back. Thank you. And I'd also like to cede the rest of my time to Bo Rivlett, please. Thank you. All right, next is Leslie Isitway. And welcome. You'll have your three minutes and three minutes from James Wilcox. earlier. My name is Leslie Whaley. I live in District 4. We're all here for the same reason. Every single one of us. Because we care. We all want more safe, affordable, clean housing. We want to give it to you. That's what we want to do. You, our city council, you've got the key to the solutions. You can do this, and only you can unlock the door that's holding us all back. Will you help us, please? The pandemic did us all a nasty turn. When governments required property owners to foot the bill for thousands of stranded citizens, you really hurt the mom-and-pop landlords. So guess what? We had to sell. And when BlackRock came to town and offered 30% to 50% more for a property, who can resist that? So guess what? That is why rent went up. When that happened, the property appraiser raised the value on our houses. No matter if we didn't put in new granite, we didn't put in new tile, we didn't put on a fancy gazebo, we didn't do anything. but that increased the value of our homes, the value of our homes, which increased our taxes. Do you know what that does? That increases our insurance. And do you know what that does? That raises your rent. You guys can help us out. Can you make a 30-day moratorium on huge corporations buying single-family homes? Give families the chance to do what other communities do. Why can't we? You know what the reward was for those of us who are sticking around and not selling out? More taxes, more rules, more regulations. This tenant bill of rights is not going to lower rent. And it's not going to create more fairness. It will only make offering affordable housing more difficult. Your solution creates more taxes and invites lawyers to fix things. Taxes and lawyers don't fix things. Never. Like you say, those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. I'm asking that you invite landlords to the table. There have been meetings and councils and things with only tenants. Allow us to come to the table. We have great ideas. Can you please incentivize people for building ADUs now? Cash, tax breaks, something. Let's get more homes on the market. If you're going to make rules about how property owners may use their property, make a rule that HOAs have to allow accessory units. make rules that they have to build duplexes in neighborhoods. That leads to more home ownership. And that leads to more satisfaction in both the renter and the landlord side. When a landlord and a renter live close together, the rent gets paid, things get fixed, rents can stay lower, and there's usually no credit check. This is how we create more affordable housing. Adding rules, adding tax, adding legislation is not going to help the situation. Everyone here today agrees there's some really, really, really rotten landlords in Lexington. But we already have some things in place to take care of that. There's the Housing Collective, the Tenant Review, Lexington Fair Housing, Human Rights Commission. and our friend code enforcement. I called code enforcement to get some statistics and they said they get calls all the time. But when they show up to take pictures, they're not allowed in. So they can't take the picture and they can't send that rotten, horrible landlord that lets mold stain an apartment. They can do nothing about it. He doesn't get a warning. we have to use what we have in place. I highly encourage a registry of property owners that are derelict in performing required repairs or treating tenants unfairly. But I think it's only fair that there's a registry of tenants who do not pay rent and who damage property beyond normal wear and tear. I amount thousands and thousands of dollars fixing, fixing, and fixing. It's not fair to us. The credit check issues, I understand that. But many communities are adding something called rent insurance. It works like mortgage insurance. It's a policy, there's a payment, tenant can't pay, landlord gets paid. I say if we're going to spend any tax money on something like this, it is the city pays the premium. Then they can get in, they can get a good record of being able to pay. Everybody's happy. You've got to treat us fairly as well. And I'd like to point out that allowing renters to not pay rent for months turned thousands of family rental units into short-term rentals. Thousands. Let that sink in in one year, thousands. Because you can kick them out and they'll pay the rent. Please, please don't pay attorneys to force property owners to give away free rent again. Please. Incentivize us to turn those short-term rentals back into long-term rentals. Ma'am, your six minutes has expired. Can I just say one more sentence? Please go ahead. We're in a crisis altogether. Only when supply exceeds demand will prices fall. Rotten landlords will get their act together and things will get better. Mom and pop owners are the best way to get that done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Bo Revlet, you'll have your three minutes plus a minute 30 from, I've forgotten who. Nolan Adams. Thank you. Yes, and thank you all for hearing us speak tonight. We know that it is very late. It's a very late night for us, too. We only have a couple of more from Kentucky Tenants. My name is Beau Revlett. I'm here with Kentucky Tenants in support of the Tenants Bill of Rights. Last time we came in October, we only had four speakers. We had everyone else see their time. We had about as many people in the room as we do today, and we would love to do it like that in general. And we said that we would come back if we did not have action between then and now. And so here we are. And we would love to, again, do it that way more often. And we appreciate the support that we have received, but we're not over the finish line yet. I want to recap a little bit of what has happened tonight. We have heard from three people who are opposed to the Tenants' Bill of Rights, plus four people who ceded time. So that's seven. I agree with many of the things that were said by Mr. Markham and Ms. Whaley. And I forgot the other woman's name, Miranda something. You know, I agree. expand the affordable housing fund, we need more supply. I agree. A moratorium on corporate investors buying up property wherever Ms. Whaley is, I think that's a wonderful idea. Incentivizing affordable development, increasing home ownership, addressing code enforcement problems with more enforcement, including through a landlord registry. I think those are all wonderful ideas. And also, they've emphasized that they are good landlords, and that's wonderful. We really appreciate whenever we have a place to stay that is good for us. And you've also heard many stories tonight of people who have experienced bad landlords, people who have experienced bad renting conditions, and we would appreciate you encouraging your peers to treat tenants better. And so for council, and then on the other hand, I'm the 25th speaker in support of a Tenants Bill of Rights by my count. This reflects general demographics of the city. 41% of your constituents are renters. Many of your council districts are majority renter. Nationally, only about 3% of people are landlords, and that's much less than 41%, and of that 3%, only 41% are mom and pop landlords. The majority are corporate landlords. We don't have any local data on how many people are landlords because we do not have a rental registry. I want to comment a little bit about what the opponents said tonight. One of the things I want to point out is that no opponent has said anything opposed to tenants being on boards and commissions. That's great. Miranda shared some concerns about criminal history. That is one minor part of one of the four parts of what we were pushing for. So, and that was the only policy of ours that Miranda addressed. Mr. Markham, like I said, I agreed with many of the things that you said. I want to point out some and respond to some of the specific other things that you said. One, you said that housing will be less affordable as it is in other places that have passed bans on source of income discrimination. It's factually untrue. There are 11... Excuse me. This gentleman has the podium. So there are 11 states that have passed a ban on source of income discrimination. Of those, six of them are in the bottom half of average rent. That's Rhode Island, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Delaware, Maine, and Oklahoma. He cherry-picked three examples, California, New York, and Oregon. Those are three expensive places, but they're cherry-picked. Over half are in the bottom half of affordability. He also listed Louisville. Median rent in Louisville is cheaper than Lexington, even though it's a bigger city. he also mentioned that it would force them out of business again there are 11 states and 50 cities and counties that have passed bans on source of income discrimination they have not experienced substantial flight of landlords from their cities it's just untrue he also mentioned on the anti-discrimination the other anti-discrimination parts he pointed out the national origin is already a protected class that's correct but immigration status is not again we spent years talking to attorneys including fair housing experts about this and evictions he pointed out that renter and rental housing provider have the same access accountable, which is true, although somehow 90% of landlords end up with a lawyer in eviction court. Only 1% of renters do. He pointed out that most eviction filings do not result in a tenant losing their home. Somewhat true, and that's partially why we don't want eviction history to show up on background checks, but that's also an undercount because the eviction filings only account for about one-third of total evictions, according to national data. Your time has expired. Your four minutes and 30 seconds is gone. Can I close for 30 seconds? That's up to the council. We have a motion. Second. All right. All those in favor of 30 more seconds. Thank you. Say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? You're good. Thank you. And I just want to share three very, very quick stories, a sentence of people, all of whom I met today, who wanted to be here today and could not. One is someone who walked into this meeting too late to sign up for public counsel who said, I'm going to be out on the street on Thursday. Another one is someone who I got coffee with earlier who used to be a very successful basketball player at UK who was in eviction court last week and only did not get evicted because of a pilot mediation program that we need universally. And one is a tenant from Bowling Green who messaged me and said, are the policies likely to be accepted soon? Unfortunately, my voucher runs out in February, so I'm in a time crunch who has a voucher here in Lexington, and no landlord will accept it. Thank you so much for your comments. Thank you. We really appreciate it. Jeremy Day. Jeremy Day. Freda Downey. Welcome. Welcome, Mayor. How are you doing? Hello to the council. My name is Freda Downey. I am a community advocate. I will not be removing my mask, so I hope you all can hear me. To remove my mask will be a breach in my safety and security. The reason I am here is, first of all, I want to say thank you. When you approach people for information, I like to go with my hand outstretched and shake hands. Even though the situation might be tumultuous, at least you're getting to the truth. Mayor, thank you for your information on housing. Now I'm able to go forward and help our community with the housing project. My project, and I also want to thank Mr. Maloney who is not here with us, but my project is I want to trade handguns in for housing. When the people are talking about mold, mildew, rats, roaches, snakes, squirrels, other pestilence, bed bugs, these things really do exist. Mold can kill people. I'm on my last leg because of a moldy and mildewed environment. What I'd like to do is I need help. I'm here begging for help because I want to demolish a home. The city is allowing me to demolish a home and yet build two homes on one property. I am so thankful for that. So I'm able to help our community with the housing crisis. Please help me facilitate this project. I just need your help. That's all I need. So this is why I'm here today. I also want to say this before I go. To our deaf and blind out there, there's no interpreter here, so I want to say this. We need housing. H-O-U-S-I-N-G. We need housing. We need it to be safe, affordable. We need it to be air quality regulated. We need it to be water quality regulated. It needs smoke detectors. It needs carbon monoxide detectors. And I want you to think about something. These people here are adults. What about our children who are living in these environments that are not eating properly because they don't have a stove that works? They don't have running water. They don't have a lot of things they can't eat. I have lost a lot of weight because I've been on a hunger strike for housing. And our children who live in filth and squalor and nobody is helping them with their electric bedding. How can a child be out here and can't get to school when they haven't slept on a decent mattress? They haven't eaten breakfast and then you wonder why their performance is low. So I'm here to help. I'm here to help the underserved be served. And if you want to help me, reach back for me and pull me through so I can pull my community through. And that's why I'm here. Thank you very much. And Mayor, thank you for all your time spent with me and thank you for your courtesy and hospitality to all the council members. Thank you so much. Council members, that finishes our public comment. And I want to thank everyone from the public who came here to speak to us. Now, if the clerk would please give second reading to ordinances. And we'll pause before number three. Yes, ma'am. Item 1, an ordinance changes the zone from a wholesale and warehouse business B4 zone to a light industrial I1 zone for 2.3827 net, 2.5584 gross acres for property located at 101 and 109 West Lawton Avenue, North Yard, LLC, Council District 1. Item 2. An ordinance changes the zone from a two-family residential R2 zone to a high-density apartment R4 zone for 1.089 net, 1.34 gross acres for property located at 530 East High Street, Winterwood, Incorporated, Council District 3. Thank you, Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. I would like to place item three in the new Planning and General Government Committee, just to have a presentation from planning on that. Second. All right, Council Member Ellinger seconds. Are there questions or comments to the motion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes, so we'll remove number three. Item four, in order to spinning and extending the full urban service district number one by the urban county government for the provision of street lighting, street cleaning, and garbage and refuse collection to include the area defined as certain properties on the following streets. Bay Spring Park, Buttermilk Road, Caseway, Cattle Path, Feathersound Way, Foster Drive, Haley Rose Way, Hollow Creek Road, Huntley Place, Knight Heron Way, Silver Springs Drive, Square, Circle Square, Squirrel Nest Lane, Stolen Horse Trace, and Tanksley Way. Item 5. In order to expand and extending the partial urban service district number 3 for the urban county government for the provision of garbage and refuse collection to include the area defined as certain properties on the following streets. Coco's Way, Silver Spring Circle, Silver Springs Way, Waldorf Lane, and William Astro Lane. Item 6. In order to expand and extending partial urban service district number 5 for the urban county government for the provision of street lighting and garbage and refuse collection to include the area defined as certain properties on the following streets. Lansdowne Drive, Vicksburg Road, and Wedgwood Court. Item 7. An ordinance amending certain of the budget to the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for funds in the amount of $70,000 to provide funds for council capital projects in the Division of Parks and Recreation and Division of Environmental Services and Appropriating and Repropriating Funds, Schedule number 23. Item 9. An ordinance amending certain of the budget to the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and repropriating funds, Fiscal Year 2023, Schedule number 21. Item 9. An ordinance amending section 2252.1 of the Lexington Fayette-Urban County Government Code of Ordinances related to constables establishing the amount of the bond to be provided by the constables and deputy constables, providing the constables may not appoint deputy constables unless authorized to do so by the mayor and subject to any standards established by the mayor, requiring the timely filling of the monthly activity report required by KRS 70.430, prohibiting constables and deputy constables from equipping vehicles with certain emergency equipment and establishing a penalty for violation and amending. Section 2251.1 of the Code of Ordinances related to local constitutional officers to increase the amount of the bond that must be provided by Constable to $25,000, all effective January 1, 2023. Item 10. An ordinance amending and restating ordinance 51-2017, which created a public infrastructure program in its entirety in providing for its purpose program funding, protections, priorities, limitations, criteria, and application process. administration by the mayor's chief development officer with oversight by the Economic Development Investment Board and the program fund, all effective upon date of passage. Item 11. An ordinance pending, ordinance number 20380, as previously amended, related to the Economic Development Investment Board to include oversight over the Lexington Public Infrastructure Program with final approval of funding to be made by the Urban County Council. Item 12. An ordinance amending the authorized strength by abolishing one vacant unclassified position of an engineering technician, grade 515N, and restoring funding for one classified position of municipal engineer, senior grade 520AE, all in the division of engineering, effective upon passage of counsel, item 13. An ordinance providing that all full-time and part-time employees included in the unified pay plan shall receive a 3% pay increase, providing that Section 2129B and 2226B, notwithstanding all employees at or above the maximum of the grade salary range, shall receive a 3% pay increase. amending section 2332-D, the code of ordinances, increasing the existing step structure for the positions of police chief grade 324-E and fire chief grade 324-E by 3%, and adjusting the salaries accordingly and increasing the salary by 3% for three positions of law clerk part-time within the Department of Law, and one position of council administrator within the office of the Urban County Council, and one position of park patrol coordinator part-time within the Division of Parks and Recreation, all to become effective January 2, 2023. And 14, an ordinance providing a one-time supplement payment for full-time non-bargaining employees, including in the unified pay plan, including the council administrator as follows. $1,000 payment for eligible employees making $75,000 or less a year, a $750 payment for eligible employees making more than $75,000 but less than or equal to $100,000 per year, a $500 payment for eligible employees making more than $100,000 but less than or equal to $125,000 per year and a $250 payment to eligible employees making more than $125,000 per year effective upon passage of council. Item 15, an ordinance meeting section 2, 3.2 in the chapter 2 of the code of ordinances, the Lexington-Fett-Urban County Government to establish procedures and guidelines for redistricting council districts. And item 16, an ordinance meant to serve the budgets and the Lexington Fair Urbany County government to provide $1 million for the Jefferson Street Viaduct project and appropriating reproofing funds, schedule number 24. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve? Second. Vice Mayor Kaye, when you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. LeGree? Mr. McCurran? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay? Yes. And Mr. Koiber? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Those all pass. Now when you are ready, if you'll give first reading to ordinances, please. Yes, ma'am. Item 17, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by creating 21 sworn positions of firefighter grade 311N in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services effective upon passage of council. Item 18, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by creating one classified civil service position of chief plant operations manager grade 527E in the Division of Water Quality effective upon passage of council. Item 19. An ordinance meeting to start the budgets of the Lexington Fair Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for funds in the amount of $76,279 to provide funds for council capital projects in the Division of Parks and Recreation in the Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works and Appropriating and Repropriating Funds, Schedule Number 25. And item 20. An ordinance meeting to start the budgets of the Lexington Fair Urban County Government to provide funds for grant match and establish a grant budget from the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management and Appropriating and Repropriating Funds, Schedule Number 26. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any walk-ons? Are there any motions to suspend the rules? Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I think number 17 and 18 don't have a budget schedule, so those can receive a second reading. Is that my understanding? Is that correct? I'll make that motion. Let's do it individually. I'll do number 17 first. I'll make a motion to suspend and give second reading number 17. All right. All right. Any questions? All those in favor of suspending the rules on 17, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? That motion passes. And then, Mayor, on number 18, I make a motion to suspend the rules and give second reading on number 18. So moved. Vice Mayor Kaye seconds. Any questions, comments? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. so if you'll please give second reading to 17 and 18. Yes, ma'am. Item 17, an ordinance admitting the author of strength by creating 21 sworn positions of firefighter, grade 311 in, in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services, effective upon passage of council. And item 18, an ordinance admitting the author of strength by creating one classified civil service position of Chief Plant Operations Manager, grade 52070, in the Division of Water Quality, effective upon passage of council. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Vice Mayor, did you have a motion to approve? I heard a motion to approve down here, Council Member McCurran. Second. Okay, Vice Mayor Kay seconds, and when you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Okay. Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. LaGree? Yes. Mr. McCurran? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kaye? Yes. And Mr. Kloiber? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Those both passed. Now, Vice Mayor Kaye has a motion. Thank you, Mayor. I move to separate the question on number 10 for resolutions. For a second reading, so move. Second. Council Member Ellinger seconds, and do you want that read first? Please. Okay. Yes. So the motion is to separate out number 10 and have it read first, and then the others would follow. All right, any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? No. All right, we have one no vote. Council Member Fred Brown. if you'll go ahead and give second read to number 10 only. Yes, ma'am. Item 10, a resolution authorizing the Division of Police to purchase automatic license plate reader program from Flock Group Incorporated, a sole source provider, and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute any necessary agreement with Flock Group Incorporated related to the procurement at a cost and act to exceed $236,250. Thank you. Thank you. I noticed before we get the motion to approve, Council Member Lamb has weighed in. Did you want to speak? Okay. Thank you. You know, I've been listening to the concerns that have been stated tonight and through all the emails, and while I still do support the flock cameras, what I wanted to ask for, And strangely enough, I'm not sure about incorporating it into a resolution. But basically, I want to ask that our police chief and that our mayor support before the cameras are installed, once they are received, before they're ever installed, that a presentation is brought back. if the chief would bring back a presentation during work session and to go over all of the data through that time. I understand it's going to be several months before the cameras would be able to be received. You have to go through the process of ordering them, and then you have to wait for them to come in. So I would suspect that it could be upwards of three months. I don't know that factually, and I am going off the cuff here. I don't normally like to do this, but I'm just trying to say that I hear my call. We hear and we understand, but I also really strongly believe that this is a good tool. And I know that's that. So I'm trying to find a compromise, as I always do, And trying to set up that if the mayor and the chief would agree to make sure that there is a presentation prior to the first camera of this next group of cameras, once they are received, to have a presentation. And I don't know if this is proper, but that's what I'm asking. So you're asking for a presentation before the camera starts? before the 26 camera is installed okay please okay yes all right is there a second this is two item number 10 a motion to approve as we normally would do um all right uh is there anything else you did not make that in the form of a motion I really didn't feel like that it was proper to make it in a form of a motion. It's a request. Well, I think that everyone in here has heard your request. All right. Now, are those of you signed up to speak to the same issue? Vice Mayor Kay? Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to keep this brief. And I think it's relatively straightforward as far as I'm concerned. The first point is that my reasoning for voting no on this is that the vote is not about the underlying value of the flock cameras. It's not about privacy issues at this point, it's not about effectiveness, it's not about a lot of what we've heard. It's not about the underlying value. What it is about is when do we evaluate the tool? We have a proposed tool. We have had a short period to understand what it's done so far. But what we don't have is data over time and what we don't have is comparative data. We don't know how what has happened in the interim compares to what happened previous to the interim. We don't have a timeline on this. And so, if you put those two things together, we don't have really the basis for a grounded judgment at this time. And I believe that we need to vote no and allow for that to happen. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I guess, and the Chief, you can clarify this for me, is when we do this, are we going to be owning the cameras or are we going to be leasing the cameras? And if that's the case, if we're leasing the cameras, will you be coming back in a year and we'll have to put that back in the budget to do that again? Commander Greathouse, welcome. So the cameras are leased from Flock themselves, and after a year we would have to renew our contract. So you would have to come back to the council then to re-up for the budget to get the cameras again? Brat for lot 24, yes. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Sheehan? Thank you, Mayor. Just a follow-up on Councilmember Lamb's request. I didn't hear a confirmation of whether we could have a presentation before the next set of cameras would be installed if this moves forward. Is it possible to have an agreement? We would be able to come back and give a presentation before the 26th camera would be installed. I don't know what the time frame is as far as getting those cameras in. And just for a point of clarification, we wouldn't actually receive those. We don't ever touch them. flock themselves will actually show up and install those, but we would work with them to make sure that if they have cameras ready, that could be delayed before a presentation is given before you all. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, thank you. Council Member Legree? Mayor, I'll make this short. I had a number of questions on Tuesday before I made my vote about this issue, and all of those questions still stand, hence the vote I'll be making today, and I look forward to receiving more information and to seeing the presentation and to sharing that information with my constituents. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council Member Lamb, for chiming in and making that request. If this moves forward, I think it's important that we try to continue to communicate as best we can to the public what the plan is, what data we're looking at, what we're going to compare it to. And with the item staying in committee, I think it gives us the opportunity to keep evaluating this tool and the measurements that we're going to have in place to justify whether we continue it going forward. So thank you for that, Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Kloiber. Thank you, Mayor. I agree with with all the metrics that councilmember James Brown put out there But I think I will just reiterate that those are things we should do before expanding a program Before committing a quarter of a million dollars to it on an accelerated timeline We need data. We need information We cannot say as much as we want to feel it is doing well We cannot say it is doing well and not doing harm until we have some of that data So I, too, will be sticking with my vote from before and voting no against this this evening. And I hope to encourage you all to do the same. Thank you. Any other council comments or questions on item 10? All right. Will you please, I think you already read it. Will you please take a roll call vote? Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. LaGree? No. Mr. McCurn? Yes ma'am. Ms. Plumman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? No. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes ma'am. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay? No. And Mr. Kuiper? No ma'am. Thank you. All right. Thank you. That item passed 10-4 with one absence. Thank you. Now, when you are ready, if you'll go back and give second reading to the rest of the resolutions. Yes, ma'am. Item 1, a resolution adopting a complete streets policy to provide an equitable, balanced, safe, and efficient transportation system that supports a sustainable and healthy community and further authorizing the urban county government to develop and implement procedures consistent with this policy. Item 2. A resolution ratifying the permanent classified civil service appointments of Charles Sayer, engineering technician, grade 515 and $21 hourly in the division of engineering, effective December 13, 2022. Michael Craven's managing attorney, grade 534E, 4151.12, biweekly in the Department of Law, effective November 9, 2022. Evan Thompson, attorney senior, grade 530E, 3361.65, biweekly in the Department of Law, effective November 9, 2022. to Norman Sinclair Public Service Manager, Grade 522E, 2301.92, biweekly in the Division of Parks and Recreation, effective November 9, 2022. Item three. A resolution to authorize the mayor on behalf of Urban County to execute agreements with the Fayette County Board of Education for space to host the extended school programs and recreational enrichment and learning programs for the 2022-2023 school year at a cost to exceed $58,500. Item four. A resolution to authorize the mayor on behalf of Urban County to execute a lease agreement with James R. Kemper for property located at 951 Enterprise Drive for divider water quality maintenance operations for an initial term of 36 months with an annual rent not to exceed $93,262.44 in fiscal year 2023 and subsequent increases of 2% annually thereafter. Item 5. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Brigadier Government to execute a first amendment to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 subrecipient agreement with the Community Action Council for Lexington, Favre, Berman, Harrison, and Nicholas County, Incorporated for the operation of expanded intensive street outreach services. It costs $449,162.55. Item 6. A resolution authorizing or her designate on behalf of the Urban County Committee to execute a letter of intent with ETJ Holdings Incorporated for the purchase of 5.58 acres of Coldstream Research Campus for the amount of $1,155,000 in authorizing me to execute a purchase and sale agreement that material complies with the letter of intent as well as any other necessary or related documents. and authorizing the necessary actions related to the transfer of property. Item number seven. A resolution rescinding resolution number 566-2022 and in its place resolving to authorize the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with the Community Action Council for Lexington, Fiat, Bourbon, Harrison, and Nicholas Counties, Incorporated to serve as grant administrator and or fiscal agent for the One Lexington Gun Violence Prevention Grant Program for fiscal year 2023 at a cost not to exceed $100,000. Item eight. I resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of the American Government to execute an agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration for participation in the Tactical Diversion Squad Task Force, Item 9. I resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of the American Government to execute an agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration for participation in the program funded state and local task force, Item 11. A resolution authorizing a director of the mayor to execute a memorandum of understanding with Casa of Lexington Incorporated, Fayette County Family Court, and the Fayette County Attorney's Office for the provision of statutorily required services for children who enter the Fayette Court system as a result of dependency, neglect, and or abuse. Item 12. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of our mechanic government to execute a lease agreement with FRM Lawson LLC for property located at 900 Enterprise Drive for the division of water quality maintenance operation for an initial term of 48 months with annual rent notice to exceed $201,286.08. Item 13. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of our mechanic government to execute a lease agreement with Transylvania University to host the annual Kitty Capers Holiday Show at Hagen Auditorium at a cost of $1,300. Item 14, a resolution authorizing Director of Mayor on behalf of Urban County Government to execute a first amendment to the agreements with Commerce Lexington Incorporated reallocating $142,000 from the Accelerate Lexington Program created pursuant to Resolution 708-2021 to further fund the Regional Economic Development Collective created pursuant to Resolution 43-2022 at no additional cost to the Urban County Government. Item 15. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of the government to execute an extension of agreement with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation in order to extend the period of performance for year four of the first responders and community partners overdose prevention project grant to December 30, 2022. Item 16. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of the government to execute an extension of agreement with the Lexington County Health Department in order to extend the period of performance for year four for the first responders and community partners overdose prevention project grant to December 30, 2022. Item 17. A resolution authorizing on the director of the mayor on behalf of the Secretary of the Community to execute an agreement with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation for the provision of evaluation services for year one of the expanded first responders and community partners over this prevention project at a cost to receive $99,997. Item 18. A resolution authorizing on the director of the mayor on behalf of the Secretary of the Community to execute contract modification number five to the agreement with CDP Engineers Incorporated for additional design services for the town branch trail phase three project increasing the contract price by the sum of $86,000 for a new contract total of $223,880, item 19. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of your beginning government to execute a change runner number two to the agreement with Gresham Smith for design services for Splash at Charles Young Park increasing the contract price by $12,300 raising the total contract price from $182,000 to $194,300 and 20. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of your beginning government to execute a change runner number two to the agreement with Pace Contracting for Splash at Charles Young Park construction project increasing the contract price by $49,447 and raising the total contract price from $1,411,863.18 to $1,461,311.13. Item 21. A resolution authorizing the Director of the Mayor on behalf of Urban County Government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security and to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application, which seeks up to $387,094 in federal funds from the Law Enforcement Protection Program to purchase body armor kits for all sworn officers. Item 22. A resolution authorizing to execute contract modification number three to provision services agreement with CDP engineers incorporated for services related to the Clay's Mill Road section one improvements increasing contract price by the sum of $26,542 for a new contract total of $884,001. Item 23. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of your mechanic to execute an agreement with HDR Engineer Incorporated for design of Citation Boulevard Phase 3B pending approval of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet letter agreement number 3 at a cost not to exceed $249,802. Item 24. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the American government to execute an renewal agreement with Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky Incorporated for administrative services rates and fees within the agreement for a period of beginning January 1, 2023 through January 31, 2023. Item 25. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the American government to execute an agreement RFQ number 37, 2022 to be paid with funds awarded under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, ARPA, with Strain Associates Incorporated for design engineering services for the Brighton Trail Connection under the cost mark to exceed $103,652 and further authorizing the mayor to execute any other necessary amendments, addenda, and other documents related to these funds. Item 26, a resolution authorizing the director of the mayor on behalf of the beginning of the government to execute a modification to an agreement with the Lexington Children's Museum DBA Explorium of Lexington to amend the budget and extend the period of performance through July 15, 2023. Item 27, a resolution authorizing the director of the mayor on behalf of the beginning of the government to accept a direct reallocation of federal emergency rental assistance agreement funds from the U.S. Treasury in the amount not to exceed $30 million and further authorizing the mayor to execute any necessary sub-recipient agreements and or amendments thereto with Community Action Council, CAC, and legal aid of the Bluegrass as needed for continuing operation of the Housing Stabilization Program, Item 28. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute two amendments with St. Joseph Health System Incorporated for the use of space at St. Joseph Health Systems Emergency Room as a clinical practice area for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner SANE program in fiscal year 2023, and it costs not to receive $3,000 for the storage of forensic evidence examples collected in conjunction with the SANE program, item 29. A resolution authorizing to the mayor on behalf of your mechanic to execute an agreement with Tyler Technologies for mobile client software at a cost not to receive $38,420, item 30. A resolution amending the following section of Appendix A, rules and procedures for the Lixit and Urban County Council, section 1.102 to update the initial term of appointment for the certain council office staff, section 3.103 to update the time and manner of interdirection, Section 4.103 to remove the redundant clause. Section 4.104 to update the order of business, creating part 7 of the rules to formally adopt the council capital project expenditure policy effective upon passage of council. Item 31. A resolution authorizing to execute agreements related to the neighborhood development funds with Bluegrass Families First Incorporated 500, Middothrop Elementary PTA Incorporated 500, the Woodward Landert Homeowners Association Incorporated 500, Carnegie Literacy Center Incorporated 700, I Was Here Incorporated 700, Chevy Chase Business Owners Association Incorporation 1000, and United Way of the Bluegrass Incorporated $1,150 for the office of the Irby County Council. At a cost not to see the sum stated in authorizing the approved neighborhood development fund allocation to the Division of Parks and Recreation, $300 and $728, pending completion and approval of any necessary budget amendments. Item 32. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of our mechanic government to execute an amendment to two agreements with Commerce Lexington Incorporated, reallocating $36,860 from one agreement authorized by Resolution No. 235-2021 and amended pursuant to Resolution No. 402-2021 related to the LFUCG Small Business Economic Recovery Program to provide additional funding for minority business development services contained within the other agreement authorized by Resolution 402-2022 at no additional cost to the urban county government. Item 33. A resolution is specifying the intention of the urban county council to expand and extend full urban service district number one to provide street lighting, street cleaning, and garbage refuse collection, finding a need for the service in the area included in finding the ability of the urban county government to provide the service in the area which areas define certain properties on the following streets. Armature Court, Ash Rapids, Bay Springs Park, Beaumont Central Circle, Bryant Road, Cattle Pass, Cordell Lane, Cravat Pass, Crocus Court, Danby Woods Drive, Elizabeth Street, Estrella Drive, Greendell Road, Harrington Court, Harrodsburg Road, Hemp Hill Drive, Industry Road, Innovation Drive, Larch Tree Park, Leastron Road, Liberty Road, Loblolly Court, Mabel Lane, Madison Point Drive, Magnolia Springs Drive, Malone Drive, Marbella Lane, Millridge Road, Moon Coin Way, Millendi Way, New Town Court, New Town Springs Drive, Nicholasville Road, Old House Road, Old Mount Tabor Road, Rosebud Road, Old Schoolhouse Lane, Parker's Meadow, Parker's Mill, Peaks Mill Road, Real Quiet Lane, Rosette Way, Round Way, Down Lane, Russell Cave Road, Rutledge Avenue, Sandersville Road, Silver Charm Lane, Sorrel Way, Spur Road, St. Andrew Walk, Stolen Horse Trace, Strasburg Park, Sullivan's Trace, Sun Dollar Cove, Tracerie Oaks Drive, Vincent Way, Waveland Museum Way, Wilson Downing Way, and Winning. color lane. Item 34. A resolution specifying the intention of the Urban County Council to expand and extend partial urban service to number three to provide garbage and refuse collection, finding a need for the service in the area included, and finding the ability of the Urban County Government to provide the service in the area which area is defined as certain properties on the following streets. Bob White Trail, Brandon Park, Browning Trace, Burning Tree Circle, Castle Bridge Lane, Crusaders Way, Dundee Court, Flying Ebony Drive, Glassford Square, Gold Dawn Trophy Trail, Grassland Park, Griffin Gate Drive, Harmony Hall Lane, Kelburn Court, Knightsbridge Lane, Laredo Court, Liberty Road, Lorenzo Place, Patchen Lake Lane, Ryan Circle, Summers Lee Place, Tatton Park, Walker's Way, and Wentworth's Place. Item 35. A resolution specifying the intention of the Urban County Council to expand and extend partial urban service district number four to provide street lighting to finding a need for the service in the area included and finding the ability of the Urban County Government to provide the service in this area, which area is defined as a certain property located on the following streets, Betty Hope Lane, Crescent Avenue, Glade Lane, and Mara Trace, item 36. A resolution specifying the intention of the Urban County Council to extend partial urban service district number 5 to provide the street lighting and garbage and refuse collection, finding a need for the service in the area included, and finding the ability of the Urban County Government to provide this service in this area, which area is defined as certain properties on the following streets. Audubon Avenue, Blue Bonnet Court, Blue Bonnet Drive, Brockton Drive Road, Bradley Lane, Dancer Court, Floral Park, Forest Park Road, Literary Circle, Potomac Drive, State Street, University Avenue, and Waterview Court, item 37. A resolution specifying the intention of the Urban County Council to expand and extend partial urban service district number 6 to provide street lighting and street cleaning, finding the need for the service in the area included, and finding the ability of the Urban County Government to provide the service in the area, which areas defined as certain properties on the following streets, Agape Drive and Palomar Trace Drive, and item 38. A resolution to accept a memorandum of agreement between the Lixit-N-Fair-Urban County Government and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2785, representing the corrections, lieutenant and captains, and division of community corrections to increase pay and address retention issues. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there a second? Thank you. Motion to approve. Second by Council Member Baxter. When you're ready, if you'll take a roll call vote, please. Did you have a question, Council Member McCurne? Yes. Thank you. It was just an item number one. Is anybody from planning here? They may not have made it this long. Okay, is there anybody that can help answer a question on item number one? Let's see. Is Brandy's not here, is she? I know. I know. Yep. I don't know what's going on. Councilmember Sheehan, maybe you can answer this one for me. My only question is, is it saying that we're adopting a complete streets policy that we haven't actually seen a policy? That was my only concern about is that we haven't actually had a policy implementation yet. in the words on here makes it seem like we are adopting a complete streets policy without sitting one. I just want to confirm that we are not doing so, that this is still a work in progress that is going to be moving forward. Thank you for that question. And anybody else who is here from staff is welcome to chime in. So we reviewed we had the document before that said basically that we are adopting the idea of complete streets, the kind of the benefits of it and the approach, but this only establishes the working group that will then work on later regulation. This does not move forward any regulation or policy in the way that you might be thinking of it in that way. No, that helps me and that helps answer the question. I'm sorry I didn't catch this one earlier, but thank you for helping answer it. Thank you. The procedures are yet to come. Thank you. Any other questions before we have the roll call vote? All right, when you're ready, thank you. Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Ms. LaGree? Yes. Mr. McCurum? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Mr. James Brown, Mr. Ellinger, Vice Mayor Kay, and Mr. Kloiber. Thank you. Thank you. Those items all pass. Now when you're ready, if you'll give first reading to resolutions. Item 39, a resolution accepted by Purdue Environmental Contracting Company incorporated the amount of $666,639.74 for improvements at former Jack's Creek landfill for the Division of Environmental Services and authorizing mayor on behalf of every county government. Next, you get an agreement with Purdue Environmental Contracting Company Incorporated Related to the Bid, Item 40. A resolution right-finding the permanent classified civil service appointments of Greta Cole, Administrative Specialist Senior, Grade 518 and 23.673, Hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 6, 2022. Gretchen Oliveira, Revenue Compliance Analyst, Grade 518 and 23.354, Hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 20, 2022. Andrell Williams, Revenue Compliance Analyst, Grade 518 and 23.369, Hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 6, 2022. Daniel Lane, Administrative Specialist, Grade 516N, 21.210. Hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective November 23, 2022. Terry Thomas, Accounting Technician, Grade 509N, 16.980. Hourly in the Division of Accounting, effective December 6, 2022. Item 41. A resolution authorizing on the Director of the Mayor on behalf of Herbicaii Cum to execute a letter of agreement awarded pursuant to RFP No. 32, 2022 with JPMorgan Chase Pink, N.A., for merchant services and electronic bill presentment and payment services to expand credit card and online payment options for the revenue at a cost of $19,409.60, item 42. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of Rebecca and Governor to execute a release of claims agreement with Detective Kelly shortage for care of retired canine Bodie, item 43. A resolution authorizing Director of the Mayor on behalf of Rebecca and Governor to execute a cell tower lease agreement with Cellco partnership DVA Verizon Wireless for ground and airspace at Deerhaven Park for placement of tenants, Communication Facility, Item 44. A resolution and authorizing the Director of the Mayor on behalf of the Government to execute an agreement with RFP No. 58-2022 with the Walker Collaborative LLC for a study of the urban county government's planning and development approval process at a cost of $135,000, Item 45. A resolution and authorizing the Director of the Mayor on behalf of the Government to execute a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for Joint Investigations, Item 46. A resolution and authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Government to execute a letter of agreement and any related deeds with the United States Department of the Army for the amendment of easements on the property located at 2250 Leastown Road, FKA 151, Votek Road, to extend the terms of existing sanitary sewer easements on the property for a period of 50 years at a cost not to exceed $4,000, item 47. A resolution authorizing, Dr. Mayor, on behalf of every county of the professional service agreement with each selected crisis mediator in order to implement the one Lexington neighborhood crisis response model with each agreement not to exceed the cost of $2,000 in fiscal year 2023, item 48. A resolution on authorizing and director on behalf of Herbicata and Governor Executive Services Agreement awarded a pursuant to RFP No. 60-2022 with GRW Engineering Incorporated for South Elkhorn Pup Station Odor Control Upgrade Evaluation Services for individual water quality. Added to cost and act to exceed $72,330, item 49. A resolution on authorizing and director on behalf of Herbicata and Governor Executive an agreement with the Lysian County Health Department for the Expanded First Responders and Community Partners Overdose Prevention Project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with First Responders Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act grant. and it costs NOC to exceed $237,500, item 50. A resolution and authorizing directly to the mayor on behalf of your beginning to execute an agreement with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation for the provision of evaluation services for the barrier fee-free reentry and recovery initiative under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health Services Administration from the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022. It costs NOC to exceed $44,927, item 51. A resolution and authorizing directly to the mayor on behalf of your beginning to execute an agreement, bid number 138-2022 with Bateman Community Living and Elior Company, DBA Trio Community Meals, LLC for catering service for the Family Care Center, and it costs $164,331.60. Item 52. Resolution authorizing to the mayor on behalf of the American County government to execute an assignment and assumption agreement with a materialized USA LLC and Identify 3D incorporated related to the jobs fund program to assign the incentive agreement with Identify 3 Incorporated and Materialized USA LLC at no additional cost to the American County government. Item 53. 2700. The Lexington History Museum, Incorporated 3000. Lexington Fashion Collaborative, Incorporated 3000. 16 District PTA, Incorporated Care of Arlington Elementary, 200. Bluegrass Families First, Incorporated 250. Georgetown Area Neighborhood Association, Incorporated 250. Highland Neighborhood Association, Incorporated 500. McConnell's Trace Neighborhood Association, Incorporated 300. And Wilderness Road Girl Scout Council, Incorporated 500. For the office of the Irby County Council, it'll cost not to receive the sum stated. Item 55. A resolution authorizing to the mayor on behalf of Irby County Governor to execute agreements related to the council capital project. expenditure funds with Seedleaf Incorporated $25,000 and Divine Providence Incorporated $28,721 for the office of the Urban County Council to cost under the sum stated. Item 56, a resolution accepted in a memory of agreement between the Lexington Urban County Government and the Lexington Professional Firefighters IAFF, Local 526, representing the firefighters, lieutenants, and captains in the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to increase base pay and address retention issues. Item 57, a resolution authorizing Thank you. Council members, we need to have our public hearing before 58 is read. So I'd like to go ahead and declare the public hearing open. And this is about the amendments to the 2017, 19, 2020 annual action plans. These are community development block grants. and so I'll ask if there's anyone here who would like to speak to this issue while the public hearing is open. And I see no one. So I'll go ahead and declare the public hearing closed. Thank you. If you'll give number 58 a reading. Yes, ma'am. Item 58, a resolution and authority to direct the mayor on behalf of every county government to approve and adopt substantial amendments to the 2017, 2019, 2020 annual action plans in order to reallocate federal community development block grant funds in the amount of $150,000 to a new project, which will provide financial assistance to low-income rent-to-year households. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, are there any walk-ons, Council Member McCurn? Thank you, Mayor. I move to place in the docket for tonight's council meeting a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with the Lexington Distillery District Foundation for consultation services related to improvements with the distillery district at no cost to the urban county government. I also requested this resolution, we'll probably have two readings tonight, thank you. Is there a Vice Mayor Kay? Seconds, thank you. Now, are there questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passed. Any other walk-ons? All right, if you'll go ahead please and give that first reading. Yes, ma'am. Item 59, a resolution authorizing and directly mayor on behalf of urban county government to execute an agreement with the Lacey and Distillery District Foundation and Cooperative Consultation Services related to the beautification and streetscape improvements on public property within the distillery district at no additional cost to the urban county government. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Now, are there, please log in if you have suspensions to give second reading. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you. I would like to suspend the rules and give second reading to item 56. This is a resolution accepting a memorandum of agreement between the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and Lexington Professional Firefighters. Is there a second? Second. All right, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, council member, that's number 56. Council member McKern. Thank you, Mayor. Can I, I'd like to move to suspend the rules on item number 39 all the way through 59, excluding item number 56. So move. Thank you very much. Is the Vice Mayor Kaye seconds? Any questions? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. So we have, he just did number 39 through 59 without 56 because Council Member Reynolds already made the motion. Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. So, okay, so we have one no vote on 59. Now, when you're ready, if you'll give all those second reading, please. Yes, ma'am. Item 39. A resolution accepted into bid of Purdue Environmental Contracting Company, incorporating the amount of $666,639.74 for improvements at former Jack's Creek Pike Landfill for the bid of environmental services and authorizing there on behalf of everybody out of government to execute an agreement with the Purdue Environmental Contracting Company Incorporated related to the bid. Item 40. A resolution ratifying the permanent classified civil service appointments of Greta Cole, Administrative Specialist Senior, Grade 518 and 23.673, hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 6, 2022. Gretchen Oliveira, Revenue Compliance Analyst, Grade 518 and 23.354, hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 2022. Joel Williams, Revenue Compliance Analyst, Grade 518 and 23.369, hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective December 6, 2022. Daniel Lane, Administrator of Specialist Grade 516N 21.210 Hourly in the Division of Revenue, Effective November 23, 2022. Terry Thomas, Accounting Technician Grade 511N 16.980 Hourly in the Division of Accounting, Effective December 6, 2022. And 41. A resolution of authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the mechanic government to execute a letter of agreement or pursuant to RFP No. 32, 2022 with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. for merchant services and electronic bill presentment and payment services to expand credit card and online payment options for the division of revenue at a cost of $19,409.60, item 42. A resolution authorizing Director of the Merriam Behaviour Mechanic Government executed a release of claims agreement with Detective Kelly Shortridge for the care of retired canine Bodie, item 43. A resolution authorizing Director of the Merriam Behaviour Mechanic Government executed a cell tower lease agreement with Cellco Partnership DBA for Rosenwallis for ground and airspace at Deerhaven Park for placement of tenant's communication facility. Item 44. A resolution authorizing the Director of the Mayor on behalf of the Attorney General of the Governor to execute an agreement RFP number 582022 with the Walker Collaborative LLC for study of the Attorney General of the Governor's planning and development approval processes to cost the state $135,000. Item 45. A resolution authorizing the Director of the Mayor on behalf of the Attorney General of the Governor to execute a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for joint investigations. Item 46. A resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the American Committee to execute a letter of agreement with any related deeds with the United States Department of the Army for the amendment of easements on the property located at 2250 Lees Town Road, FKA 151 Votek Road, to extend the term of existing sanitary sewer easements on the property for a period of 50 years at the cost not to receive $4,000. Item 47, a resolution authorizing and direct and mayor on behalf of the mechanical executive professional services agreement with each selected crisis response mediator in order to implement the one Lexington neighborhood crisis response model with each agreement not to exceed the cost of $2,000 in FY2023. Item 48, a resolution authorizing and direct and mayor on behalf of the mechanical executive services agreement were pursuant to RFP number 602022 with GRW engineers incorporated for South Elkhorn pump station odor control upgrade evaluation services for the Division of Water Quality at Acosta Dr. Seed $72,330, item 49. A resolution authorizing and directly on behalf of the County Government to execute an agreement with the Lexington County Health Department for the expanded First Responders and Community Partners Overdose Prevention Project under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services First Responders Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act grant at Acosta Dr. Seed $237,500, item 50. A resolution authorizing and directly on behalf of the County Government to execute an agreement with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation for the provision of evaluation services for the Barrier-Free Reentry and Recovery Initiative under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health Service Administration from the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 to cost $44,927, item 51. A resolution authorizing, Director of Mayor, on behalf of your beginning of next agreement, bid number 138-2022 with Bateman Community Living and Elior Company, DBA Trio Community Meals, LLC, for catering services for the Family Care Center to cost $174,331.60, item 52. A resolution authorizing, Director of Mayor, on behalf of your beginning of next agreement, assignment and assumption agreement with materialized USA LLC and identify 3D incorporated related to the jobs fund program to assign the incentive agreement and identify 3D incorporated to materialized USA LLC at no additional cost to the urban county government, item 53. A resolution authorizing on the direct the mayor on behalf of the county government to execute change order number 3 to the agreement with PACE contracting for the splash at Charles Young Park construction project increasing the contract price by $18,737.02 and within the total contract price from $1,461,311.13 to $1,480,048.15, item 54. A resolution and authorizing on the behalf of the neighborhood development funds for the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, Inc., TD Young Enterprises, Inc., Lexington History Museum, Inc., Lexington Fashion Collaborative, Inc., 16th District PTA, Inc., Arlington Elementary, 200, Bluegrass Families First, Inc., Georgetown Street, Inc., Highlands Neighborhood Association, Inc., McConner Trace, Inc., and Wilderness Road Girl Scout Council, Inc. $500 for the Office of the Urban County Council. It'll cost them to receive the sum stated. Item 55. A resolution and authorizing the name on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement related to the Council Capital Projects and expenditure funds with Seed Leaf, Inc. $25,000, and Divine Providence, Inc. $28,721 for the Office of the Urban County Council. It'll cost them to receive the sum stated. Item 56. A resolution and accepted the memorandum of agreement between the Lexington Fair Urban County Government and the Lexington Professional Firefighters, IAFF, Local 526, representing the firefighters, lieutenants, and captains in the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to increase base pay and address retention issues. Item 57, a resolution authorizing that we have a beginning to accept an additional award of $178,490.56 in federal funds awarded by the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management in order to upgrade the transmission site at Crawford Middle School, purchase a mobile siren deployment trailer, and provide six outdoor warning siren chargers to accept them which obligates the urban county government to the expenditure of $89,246.28 since it's a local match and authorizing mayor to execute any necessary agreements related to the federal funds and authorizing mayor to transfer undergar funds within the grant budget. Item 58, a resolution of authorizing directly to the mayor on behalf of the government to approve and adopt substantial amendments to the 2017, 2019, 2020 annual action plans in order to reallocate federal community development block grant funds in the amount of $150,000 to a new project which will provide financial assistance to low-income rental households. In item 59, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of Urban County Government to execute an agreement with the Lexington Distillery District Foundation, incorporated for consultation services related to the beautification and streetscape improvements on public property within the distillery district at new additional cost to the Urban County Government. Thank you. Thank you. All right. When you are ready, if you'll go ahead and take a roll call vote. Ms. Lamb? Well, let me just see. This might be my last vote. Let me just think about it a second. Okay, yes. Ms. Lagree? Yes. Mr. McKern? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Blumman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Vice Mayor Kay? Yes. And Mr. Koiber? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. All right, thank you. Those all pass. Now, if I could have a motion for communications from the mayor. Second. Thank you. Council Member Baxter, second by Vice Mayor Kay. Are there any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Anyone opposed? Now if I could please have a motion for the price contract. Move approval. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Did I hear a second? Council Member Baxter seconded. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. There are other communications from the mayor for your information only. And now is the time for council member announcements. Are there any? Council member Plowman. Thank you, mayor. I know we had talked earlier about doing our comments tonight during our council reports, but if we're talking to several of you, we thought maybe we'd just go to the next venue and do those. But that's up to everybody here. One thing we wanted to do before that, would the outgoing, not the outgoing, non-outgoing folks, please go underneath your desk and bring up your little favors. Did you have two? Oh, wait. Steve. We were going to use these during our council comments. We do have other people signed in. So we have several outgoing, we have about 10 or 12. Very good, very good. Just don't hit anybody with those. My gosh, okay. Council member Reynolds. What was, Council member Plum, what was your proposal? was that instead of saying all of our comments, we do it at our next venue. That's fine, I don't need to say anything if we're doing that. Okay, Councilmember McCurn. Except thank you to everybody who has served with me over the past two and four years. You all are amazing, I'll tell you more later, bye. Councilmember McCurn. If it's all right, I'd like to, I did make some remarks, so I'd like to make them, please. You know, I'm not an emotional person, typically, so please bear with me if I get that way, I'm sorry. First off, what a ride it's been guys, it's been real. I've been blessed by this opportunity and honored to serve this great community. From establishing the Black and Williams Reading Room, to putting forward a professional disc golf course, finalizing improvements, the Masters and Station playground, distillery district improvements, connecting trails to our neighborhoods, and much more. Building our community for the future has always been my priority. With every vote, I look at how it will impact Lexington, not just for today or tomorrow, but for the next 50 years and more. I want to take this opportunity to thank several people. First and most importantly, my family. They've been my support from the very beginning. My two boys are precisely the reason why I'm sitting here in front of you today. To better their lives, their future, and for all those here now and in our future too. And honestly, let me tell you, they're the best team any dad could ever ask for. To my legislative aide, Alicia, and let's be honest, not my legislative aide, she's more like my boss. Alicia Larmore, you're one of the hardest working, most passionate, and genuine people I've ever met in my life. Thank you for your teamwork and your service to our district. Thank you for standing by me. To all of our city employees, everyone, thank you all for everything that you do. and every day to keep our city safe, clean, beautiful, and a place that we proudly call home. I continue to stand with you and thank you all. Colleagues, mayor, working with you has been a true honor through laughs, arguments, looking at Susan in person, just kidding, compromises, late nights, early mornings. I am so happy that each one of you have always been there to see things my way. And lastly, I want to thank the second district for their support, their appreciation, their advocacy, and their votes over the years. I'm excited for all the things that we have accomplished and made together. I look forward to our future. Here's why I'm going to get choked up a second, so bear with me. Tonight, a special family member is joining us, of mine. A mentor, an advocate, a great man. This is my grandfather, my late grandfather. He has joined me from his time in his office to my time in my office. And I hope that I've made him proud. he's able and alert he's taking Fred's seat tonight when I walked into city hall for the first time I was excited to make new friends and build relationships instead of me walking out here with just friends I'm walking out with a bigger family I love you all, I look forward to this next chapter and everything that has in store. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy new year. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Vice Mayor Kay. Thank you, Mayor. And I, like Council Member McCurran, if I go too deep, I'm also not going to be able to speak because I'll get choked up. So I just want to say to all of the people who I have met and known and gotten to know over the 12 years I've been on council, my heartfelt appreciation for everything you've provided for me. This has been a wonderful, wonderful ride for me. I never anticipated when I first started running for office that I'd end up being the Vice Mayor. I've appreciated the support of my colleagues, of the staff, of people out in the community. Way too numerous to mention. And I can't go down the list. So I'm going to stop there and again say thank you so much for the opportunity. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilmember. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. So, when I decided to run for council in 2014, I had honestly no intentions of serving four terms. I didn't believe that was possible and I wouldn't have even contemplated the amazing experiences and friendships that we forged. People often ask, you know, what was the perk to city council? I often thought, well, it's the parking garage. But it has truly had been an opportunity to have a seat at this table and be in this room and the people. And it's flown by. My family who was here, I'm just grateful that they were supportive. I'm going to blame the fact that we've been here so long that I'm crying. You know, unfortunately, the answer to the when are you coming home question, which was all the time, doesn't get any better in the next role. But my kids have grown up at this place, and I'm thankful. My mom and my friends, good Lord, I couldn't have done it without. And I have like a whole page, and I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. So to my constituents in the former 10th district, because those are the ones who voted for me, thank you for giving me the privilege of serving. And the conversations around the coffee shops were things I'll never forget. We brainstormed about really good things, and we did really good things out of those meetings, and I'll put them in my newsletter at the end of the year. We've only done good work because the civic employees have been so amazing, and I have enjoyed getting to know so many of you. There's a phenomenal team with the city, and everyone plays such a really critical role. And it doesn't matter where you serve. It's been a privilege to serve with you. Shout out to the chiefs and commanders and officers who did a lot of work with me in neighborhoods and in meeting with constituents over kids playing in the street to break-ins. And we truly have the best in blue, and I'm really thankful. Council staff, you guys have been great. Just shout out to Stacy. You made sure that all my people got paid, and I'm really thankful for that. Mayor, it's been a privilege to work with you, and a former Mayor Gray. And Kevin in particular, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate our partnership and our friendship. I'm pretty sure that's going to continue next year, and I hope we can still do some good work. Commissioners, directors, former and present, partnership is so key when you're in a merged government. And I'm thankful we've had the opportunity to serve together. You are so patient with me as I learned everything from paving to recycling, storm water, and so much more. Class acts, every one of you. I'd always hoped for a personal and professional mentor. The Lord sent me Sally. So thanks for investing in me. Good Lord. I've had great aides. Jamie Rogers, Christina Baker, Sean Denning, and David Harris, thank you for choosing to work with me. It was successful because of you. I'll save my colleague comments for later. My hope is that every one of you leave with your heart and your head. You're going to need them both next year. It is said that our life journey is written like a story, and I will be forever grateful for this chapter of the city of mine. Thanks. Thank you. Council Member Kloiber. I really do pick the worst people to go after. Well. Cannot compete with any of that. I did say many of my thank yous earlier, but there's one last thing that I wanted to say to you guys. I do have a parting gift, a Christmas present, I guess, for all of you. I'll be giving you these prints when they come in of my favorite poem that I think is very, very relevant to the work that we do here. And it's If by Rudyard Kipling. So I'm going to just take a moment and read that poem for you guys. I don't have a lot of wisdom, but this is something that I've lived by, and I think it's a little relevant. So bear with me if I'm not the best orator. So if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too, if you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same, if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to broken and stoop to build them up with worn-out tools, If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on a single turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again from your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them, hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue. or walk with kings nor lose the common touch if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you and if all men count with you but none too much if you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run yours is the earth and everything that's in it and which is more you'll be a man my son thank you Thank you, Councilmember Lamb. You all know now why I did mine earlier, because I knew I wouldn't be able to do any of it tonight. So therefore, but I will just say that this has been a true honor to serve. And the 35 years, which is really strange for me to say, that I've sat in this government center, I have grown up and I have learned so much from so many different people. And I just hope and wish for my colleagues to have the same opportunities and all the employees to have the same opportunities because always believe that you can do more and don't ever doubt your future or what might be held for you in the future. So I say that. And then I also want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of the employees of the Irwin County Government and to all of our community. and good night. Thank you. Any other council comments? If I might, Council Member James Brown. Well, I wasn't going to say a comment. Just when we get done, I'd like to give all of the outgoing council members a standing ovation. Very good. I just wanted to express my thanks. Council Member Maloney, who's not with us tonight, but he always let us know where he stood, didn't he? Council Member Cloiber, thank you for your service. Councilmember McCurn I didn't realize you came from a family of public servants and thank you for your service to our community Vice Mayor we had our moments but they've all ended up good and I so appreciate your leadership and especially your ability to think things through beginning to end. Council Member Bledsoe, whom I've known a long time. I'll just say it again. She and my daughter played soccer together when they were young and then at Lafayette High School. I've known you a long time, and I so appreciate your dedication particularly your love of numbers in the budget. I think that passion came through and we will miss you a lot. Thank you for your service. Council Member Lamb, who represented my old district. Thank you for all you've done for your constituents and for our community. and I just want to express my thanks to each and every one of you for your dedication to Lexington and Fayette County and serving the people which is what it's all about and wish you well in your future endeavors. Thank you so much. All right now Council Member Brown Did you want to give a little go ahead and start it. Let's do it. . . Now, I would like to ask Vice Mayor Kay if he would like to make a motion to adjourn. I would like to make a motion to adjourn. All right, thank you. Second. We have a second from Council Member Lamb. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Thank you. We have one no vote. We are adjourned. Godspeed. Music