Music guitar solo I'm ready to go, I know. Thank you. ¶¶ And I'll go ahead and call to order the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council. This is the work session of January 17th, 2023. And this is our brand new session with six brand new council members. And I thought maybe if it pleases the council, we might go ahead and first thing go around and introduce new folks. Does anyone have any issue with doing that? All right. So, Council Member Fred Brown, let's just start with you and we'll introduce everyone. And tell us your district or whether you're at large. I'm out of the 8th district, which is the southeastern part of the Fayette County. I'll give you a little bit of the history of that. I've got the Tates Creek High School and all the schools in my district. I've got Gaines Way Park in my district. I've got Tates Creek Golf Course in my district. So I've got one of the best districts in Fayette County as far as being able to manage it because it's so contiguous. And that's one of the pluses that I have. And this is my ninth year being on the council this time around, so I think most people know. Thank you. Thank you for that introduction of yourself. Council Member Gray. Well, if Council Member Fred Brown could give you the history, I'll give you the history of the 6th District. The 6th District has the most public schools within it. Most importantly, Bryan Station High School and Frederick Douglass, Carter G. Woodson Academy, MLK Academy, and the Eastside Technical School. That is all I will say. And you are? Oh. I am Denise Gray, Councilwoman for the 6th District. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Jennifer Reynolds, and I am the council member for the 11th district. And this is my third term, and my favorite color is mint green. All right. All right, Tana? Council member Tana Fogle, I am proud to represent the community of the first district. You will learn more as we go. Thank you. How was that? That was perfect. talking about. Thank you Mayor Preston Worley, I represent the 7th District. I've had the pleasure since 2017 when Mayor Jim Gray appointed me and the people of the 7th District have honored me with re-election three times now. Thank you Mayor. Thank you. Good afternoon Chuck Ellinger. I'm an at-large representative. I've been on the council for eight terms and this will be my ninth term. So thank you Mayor. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Thank you Vice Mayor. Thank you Mayor. Thank you Thank you, everybody. My name is Dan Wu. I am a at-large council member and also vice mayor. My favorite color is red, although I've been advised that I need to buy something in UK blue. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, and welcome new council members. I'm James Brown, council at large, formerly represented the first district, and looking forward to representing the city, the whole entire city. So thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Kathy Ploman. Oops, it's on. My name is Kathy Ploman and I am the council member for the 12th district. The 12th district is 70% of the land mass, so I butt up to all the counties except not 100% with Jasmine. But I have neighborhoods, but I have all the rural in the 12th district. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. I'm Liz Sheehan, I represent the fifth district and I'm starting my second term on council. Good afternoon, my name is Hannah Legree. I'm proud to be starting my second term as third district council member, which is the district we're sitting in right now. Good afternoon, Whitney Elliott Baxter serving my second term representing the ninth district. Good afternoon, I'm Dave Savigny. I've served for 17 days in the 10th district. Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Shayla Lynch and I have the honor of serving the second district in our fair city. forward to working with everyone. Thank you. Very good. Welcome, new council members, and welcome to everybody after the break. And I appreciate that little deviation from the agenda. So now we will go to public comment for issues on the agenda. And I have one person signed up for public comment and I'm not sure whether your issue is on the agenda or not. Tanya Livesey, is that correct? I'm sorry. Lindsay, is your issue something on today's agenda? Okay. Do you want to go ahead and speak then? the protocol the council rules say that you state your name and address or excuse me your council district for the record and then you'll have three minutes okay to speak can you guys hear me my name is tanya lindsey and i'm in the eighth district and first i want to thank everyone for allowing me the opportunity to come before the council. Like I said, my name is Tanya Lindsay. I started a nonprofit called Sisters and Supporters working against gun violence. I know that all too well I lost my son. He was 16 in 2023 to gun violence. And I have been informed about the one, the one legs grant opportunity. I've had an opportunity to review it, But I'm here today to get clarification because I didn't see in the agenda for the peer. What I'm looking for is grant opportunities to help those families directly impacted by gun violence for hardship. We're talking about wraparound services and stuff like that. But when I looked at the definition of the peers and the examples, I didn't see anything in there for financial hardship. And I know that's something that I have worked with Divine Karama directly with, but I also was under the impression that there would be an opportunity of $25,000 to be given to a grassroots who deal directly with homicide families. Thank you very much. And I don't know, maybe after Ms. Lindsay is finished, I'm looking at Divine Karama. If you could talk with her and figure out what the issue is. Okay, thank you. And the last thing that I wanted to say, as I know that we all have the same common goal here, is to reduce the gun violence in our community and save lives. But we cannot forget about those who are directly hit hard from the loss while we're trying to obtain this goal that everyone wants, is the reduction and to save lives. So I'm hoping there is an opportunity for grants to be given to families that have been impacted, because I know what that journey looks like. It's not a month thing. This could last for years. And there's no opportunity, there's no hardship, help for those families that are being hit. Because there's a disturbance. When there's a loss abruptly like that, there's also a disturbance in finances. And those families are hit twice. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Next on the agenda is the docket approval and any rezonings. Is there a motion? Second. Thank you. Councilmember Plowman, do I hear a second? Second. Councilmember Baxter, is there any discussion or additions or deletions from the docket? Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. Under ordinances, first reading number four, I would like to move that item to the Planning and General Gov Committee, along with my other item that I already have there that's looking at how social services are positioned in neighborhoods, because it is a similar item. So I'd like to take that off the docket and put it in committee. Is that a motion? Yes. Second. Okay, Council Member Ellinger has seconded. Is there any discussion? Is there anything from planning that is an issue? Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes for number four on first reading of ordinances to put it in committee. Council Member Fogle. Thank you, Mayor. I would like to place item three on the docket without public hearing, so moved. Second. Okay. And Council Member Worley seconded. Is that correct? All right. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please. Yes, Council Member Worley. I've just realized who the applicant is there. I need to withdraw that second and recuse and would ask someone else to second. Okay, Council Member. So you withdraw and recuse. Council Member Ellinger seconds. All right, thank you. Any other comments or questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right, that motion passes. Anything else for the docket? All right, seeing nothing, all those in favor of approving the docket as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? Okay, that motion passes. Now, next is the December 6th Council Work Session Minutes. which are in your packet, Council Members. If I could have a motion, please, to approve those. Thank you, Council Member Sheehan. And second is Council Member Cloman. All right. Any questions or comments? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Next, if I could please have a motion to approve budget amendments. Those start on page three. So moved. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger moves and Council Member Reynolds seconds. And if you'll log in, please, if you have questions about budget amendments. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Item on page 4, journal entry 138727. It's a municipal aid fund. Just a clarification as much as anything as to what we're doing with that million aid. Commissioner Hensley, welcome. Thank you, Mayor. There's actually a number of these items that you will see throughout the budget amendments that are rolling our fund balances from the prior year to the current year as part of our match. We take a look at those. We anticipate that in the fall of every year when we do our fund balance conversation. And then we go throughout the course of the year and try and reconcile those and make sure we have everything we need, roll whatever we need forward. And so you'll see on page three, there's also one for general fund. That one is on page four for MAP, and there are a number of them for the variety of different funds as you go through the schedule. I guess to answer my question, though, the $1.8 million, is it still in fund balance and hasn't been spent yet? It's just the match that was moved forward from prior year to this year for the MAP for the projects that are continuing. Okay, so it is budgeted for projects? Yes. Okay, I wanted to make sure of that because I don't know. Yes, sir. Some of that's used for paving, and I'm not sure if part of this is in paving or where it's at. Right. This was assigned to a match in the prior year, and it's still being used for that purpose, and we're just moving it into the current year. Okay, great. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. And, essentially, I think you answered my question, but the one I was going to ask about was the Solarize Lexington, and it looks like that's where the million wasn't spent that we're going to reappropriate? Right. That one is actually a little bit different. That one was assigned as part of the fund balance conversation was a million dollars and it was in general fund. That million dollars is being moved from the 1101 general fund to the capital fund because the project will live in that capital fund. So it retains its balance until it's expended. That makes sense. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Any other questions, council members, about budget amendments? All right. Seeing none. All those in favor of approving, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Next are budget adjustments on page 7 for information only. And those will come to you. They were approved in November, and they're just for information for you. New business, could I have a motion to approve? Thank you. Council Member Legree moved. Council Member Plowman seconded. Now, if you have questions, please log in. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Number X, please. Ms. Carey, welcome. Welcome. In the Corridors Commission and also in the Green Space Trust, we had looked at a litter, and this is, could you kind of explain how this program works from how we get the money from the state and how that is dispensed and all? Sure. This is a grant that we apply for each calendar year, and the monies are dispersed based on the number of road miles and the number of applicants from the various cities and counties throughout the state. And in the past several years, we have been using that money to fund our litter contractors who go to places where we've received litter complaints along roadways to pick up trash and litter along the roads. And they keep track of miles that they've covered as well as the tonnage of litter picked up. Does this have anything to do with the van that we send out? Do we do anything? No, that's a different program. That's what I thought. Just want to make sure. Yes, and that's funded through the water quality management fee. Thank you. Jennifer, you know, it occurred to me, Council Members, that there are six of you who may not know everybody who's coming to the podium. Do you mind, if each responder will just say who you are and what you do, do you mind stating your name and what you do? I'm Jennifer Carey. I'm Director of Environmental Services. Thank you very much. Thank you, Director. And Mayor, number Z, please. Director Burton, please. And I think when we did our parliamentary procedures, we were actually supposed to ask the Mayor to recognize them. Instead of how we've kind of done it in our old past, we just kind of said, hey, Doug, can you come up? And now I think we're supposed to ask you to tell them to come up. Is that a new rule? Well, that's the rule. We just never really actually followed it, I think. Okay. Well, Director Burton of Engineering, would you please answer this question? Sure. What was the question? It's number Z on the Citation Trail. And what's going on with that project and then this little piece here that we're looking at? So if you recall two years ago, we finished up Citation Trail Phase 1, which connected from Lucille Drive to Citation, which is a previous section of trail that was built when we extended Citation. This will get from Lucille Drive to the west to the Anderson property, and then when they finish out construction of that property, which is private development, that will extend over to Masterson Station, creating that connectivity that we've been working on for some time. That's the key. I like connectivity. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Director Burton is our Chief Engineer for the government and directs all of engineering. Thank you. All right, Councilmember Plumman. Thank you, Mayor, and this is on letter I. So Commissioner Albright, are you here? Commissioner Albright is our Commissioner of Environmental Service and Public Works. Welcome. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner, on I, it talks about providing, and I know that our CDL, it's a challenge to find folks to take that. But it says a new source of training, and I was wondering, is it different than what we've been doing? Or are your expectations different for this, or it's pretty much the same training they've been getting all along? It's different. That's in large part due to the fact that in February of 22, I believe it was, The federal regulations for obtaining a CDL changed pretty substantially, and we've been trying to work that new process out with our internal folks, usually our safety coordinators in our divisions in EQPW. But we've had a lot of turnover in that group over the last few months as well. And so we're just not quite able to stay on top of the requirement that they get a CDL within six months following these new more stringent requirements. So we've contracted out for some help. Okay, great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And then I had a question on R. And that has to do with the Jack Creek's Pike landfill improvement miscarry. And that, of course, is in the 12th district, so I had just a question. It looks like we're adding a pretty significant amount of money, and this construction administrative services is, I also heard that it was a really low bid that got the job, and that this will kind of come in and support that. Can you tell me a little bit about more why we're doing that? They essentially will serve as the owner's representative, so as LFUCG's representative, and keeping an eye on that project and making sure that what is in the construction plans is what gets built, verifying that installation is correct and things like that. So they represent us. And the reason that we split it into two phases, which probably isn't typical, but we did it because we wanted to get them under contract during the previous fiscal year. So that's why we had the phase one for the design services, knowing that we would be receiving the additional budget for the construction administration during fiscal year 23. Do we normally or do we often bring in construction administration groups? It sort of depends. Division of Water Quality has separate consulting firms or engineering firms that strictly provide this type of service. And that's all they do on all of the remedial measures plan construction projects. But typically on sort of one-off projects like this, the design consultant also serves as the construction administrator. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. And Director Carey, I got a question about item X as well. Sorry about that. So this grant in regards to litter, and like Council Member Ellinger said, we've been having these conversations in corridors. So is any of this money that we can use to allocate to go towards efforts to address the litter in regards to the public education and? Yes, we certainly can. It's sort of open as to how the funds are dispersed. basically the only requirement is that you're conducting community-wide litter pickups twice a year. The way we see it, we're sending our contractors out there on a daily, sometimes weekly basis to address litter. So we're certainly meeting that minimum requirement. And we can use the funds to pay for staff, pay for events, pay for contractors. So there is some latitude if we wanted to divert some of those funds to public education. Okay. And then I thought we were using some of these funds to pay for the litter pickup van. Are we doing it for our teams internally and not that previous van that we partnered with? We still have the van under contract, and they can receive up to $150,000 a year, and those funds are budgeted out of the water quality management fee. So we're not relying on a grant to fund the van. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Director. And the mayor also had a question on item T and then item FF. These are both, I think, abolish and create new positions. Yes. Is Director Walters here? Okay. There you are. So if you'll state your name and what you do. Hello. Hello. Tammy Walters, Director of Human Resources. Thank you, Tammy. So these two positions that are getting abolished and created, were these decided on in the division? Are these jobs that I guess we haven't been able to fill and they could be better utilized, create a new position? How did this come about for both of these? So item T was actually approved in the FY23 budget. Okay. And that study came along later in the year. Is this the last, I believe, of all the positions that were approved in the budget? Mm-hmm. And you said item DD? I think it's BD. Yes, ma'am. That was a request from the Division of Grants and Special Programs. They had a vacant position of grants compliance officer and wanted to add some specific certifications and extra duties to fill a gap between that position and the supervisory position. And so they submitted a JPQ to have that studied and created. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. And then I guess I still got some time, Mayor. And I think this might be for Chief Wells. Item FF. Welcome, Chief Wells. Fire Department. Thank you. Welcome to all the new council members. I'm Jason Wells. I'm the fire chief. Thank you for the question, council member. So item FF is a request for a $1 million grant through the Assistance to Firefighters program, the AFG program. that is to support the paramedic program that we have in place. So it's very important for us to train new paramedics to continue to fill those ambulances as folks come on. That's about a nine-month-long class, creates a lot of overtime. So we applied for this grant to lessen the financial burden on the LFUCG. Okay. And it also said that, you know, some of these funds can be reallocated, And I guess if it's along the same spirit of the training, if capital improvements is something that we can put these funds towards if the need arises? I think those probably are going to have to go toward the backfill and the training cost for those paramedics. Certainly, if that frees up general fund money, then there is an opportunity. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I was going to ask Chief Wells the same question, so they were answered, so thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you. Does anyone else have questions on new business? All right. All those in favor of approving new business, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That item passes. Next, we'll go to continuing business and presentations, and I'll entertain a motion to approve the neighborhood development funds. Move to approve. Second. Okay. Council Member Ellinger moved, and I saw Council Member Gray second. Are there any questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. And you have two items for information only. One is the General Government and Social Services Committee of November 15, 2022. And the other is the Planning and Public Safety Committee of December 6, 2022 for your information only. And now is the time, Council members, if you have a Council report, something going on in your district or something of interest if you'll log in please council member Ellinger thank you mayor and welcome everybody back and one of the issues that happened while we were gone was um with Lex Park and I saw I think in the paper that we were going to have they were going to come speak next week at the work session is is that true have we set something up with them so because I know we've had a lot of citizens that have have called and contacts about that, the changes. Yes, Council Member Ellinger, they are on the agenda for a presentation on the 24th at work session. Thank you. And then the second issue, I know we have some attorneys. We have a zone change that's planned tonight at 5 o'clock. And I've heard different issues. If we're going to have it, not have it, it's going to be. And I'd like to see what we do. If we have to do something here, do we need to wait until 5 o'clock? And what's our plan for that? And I see one of the attorneys here. So, Mr. Woodall, do you? I guess we ought to have a – does our law have any opinion as to whether this can be – Well, I'm about to make your day. You're about to make the day. Yeah, I think he's going to give us good news about the 5 o'clock. But I think because of notice issues and that kind of stuff, we have to follow certain procedures. So, Tracy? Council Member Lynch has some comments about that, too. I know it's in her district, so I was going to have her bring something up, too, here. So if we wouldn't wait to your comments, I'm happy to do that. But I want to make sure it got addressed during the work session. So I'll wait to your comments. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Very good. Thank you. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. Couple things. First, we are in a period where we are reorganizing what is happening at the Kenwick Community Center. And our parks department is collecting feedback from the community about the activities that could happen there. So I wanted to encourage people to engage in that. So tonight from 5 to 7 and on Friday from 3 to 5, Laura Hatfield, our superintendent of community engagement, is holding some informational kind of a session at Kenwick Table, which is on Owsley, right near the community center. You can come to see her there and give her feedback and ideas of what you would like to see at the Kenwick Community Center. And there is an online survey that's available as well to give feedback if you can't attend one of those sessions. And then also I just want to say thank you to Stephanie Bowling, who was our director of that center for a long time. She has moved on to another opportunity, and I just want to thank her for her service. And then I wanted to just say thank you to everyone who works in water quality in our construction areas. On December 16th, during our break, there was a water quality and construction workshop that was held. And I attended some of that, and one of the presentations was on erosion and sediment control. And I won't get on all of the details of that, but one of the major things that was presented was how we have been able, in government, to lower the percentage of non-compliance in that area for those construction projects in 22 out of 26 areas. So that's amazing. And that, in 12 of those 26 areas, there's been sustained decreases for the last three years. And that's just amazing work. I thank everybody who has worked on those issues and has had a hand in increasing compliance there for those matters. And then finally, Lex count is happening. This is our annual Lex End Homelessness Continuum of Care count that we do of where we visit outdoor locations where persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness might be found. we provide some resources and do a count of the population for our community. And this count is very important, one, because we're required to do it, but also because this allows us to know how many people are experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our community to then be able to provide the best resources. So if you are interested in helping with that count, we are looking for volunteers. And you can go to lexandhomelessness.com and click on get involved. That count occurs on January 25th, so if you would like to join a team to help with that count, please submit your information in the next day or so. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Fogle. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you to the city government that has extended a warm welcome for myself and the new council members. getting us ready and prepared for this day. I want to thank everyone that I've met with personally, all the commissioners and everyone. I am so excited to be the representative for First District. And thank you, one Lex, for the great meeting in our office from your staff and yourself. I look forward to working with you and forward to just increasing the numbers of successful people that you're working with. And thanks for that bright orange, but you know I'm a UK fan, no more Tennessee. No, I'm just kidding. The other thing that I would like to lift up is over the break, there was a production from these group of children for the Ebony Nutcracker, just in case no one was able to get to the lyric. And it was made up of Wilm Wells Brown students as well as some of the PAL folks. And I don't want to leave anybody out, but what a great production that was to lift up. And it was sold out. Both showings were sold out at the lyric, and that was fantastic to bring up. The other thing, yesterday, and this great man who made a dent in my life, PG Peoples was honored yesterday at the MLK breakfast. And that was a highlight in our community and for the city of Lexington. And if you miss Judge Melissa Murphy's address, go back and get that video and listen to it. She nailed it. She killed it. I know that's not the right wording for me to use, but that's me, okay? And when I say she killed her, that means she did a phenomenal job. And so I wanted to lift her up. The other thing is, Charles Young Center will have an open house. And CM Sheehan, we were able to get Stephanie from your center to our center. So we look for amazing work for her to continue to do. Also, the last thing, because I know there's a time limit on us speaking. I'm going to have to get used to that one. You have two minutes and 18 seconds. Two minutes left. I remember I went from five to three. I mean, I was at three. Now I'm at five. Hello. Hello. So. I just want to say it's a pleasure. We have a meeting with RISE Academy, which is the upcoming academy. So I am going to exit my seat here so that we can attend that meeting of these beautiful, young African-American students. It has been a pleasure. On my first day, I've got my breath. I'm ready. My boots are on the ground. And welcome to Council Fogle. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Plowman. All right, thank you, Mayor. I personally want to welcome our new council members and look forward to working together this upcoming year for the greater good of our communities. So welcome and look forward to moving forward. I just want to also mention tomorrow at 10 o'clock, there is going to be groundbreaking, not groundbreaking, a ribbon cutting. It's called the Polo Club Apartments. And what's really cool about this, these are AU Associates. This is their construction. And what they are are 55-plus affordable housing. And that's a real niche out there. And this is the third one. I had another one in another district out there at Kearney Creek. And then there's another one at Meadowthorpe. But, again, this is tomorrow at 10 o'clock. I just wanted to let you know. And also, A&U Associates, this is really cool to know, they've done 40 projects and 1,700 new affordable units. So that's quite a coup. And so if you want to join me, come on out. Also, this is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. You can take a moment to remind everyone. Take a moment. We have some great organizations locally, Greenhouse 17, Natalie's Sisters, Refuge for Women, The Well, and many others who do great work providing safe shelter for women. And so thanks to all of them, and if you'd like to get involved, please do. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Yesterday was MLK Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, and I just wanted to thank all the council members that came out and supported all the events in downtown Lexington yesterday. I've been the co-chair of the MLK Holiday Committee for the last several years. As co-chair, myself and Chester Grundy get all the acknowledgement. But it's really that committee that works year round to put on that event and to plan that event. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the MLK Holiday Committee, and I'm going to list all of them's names. So it's 13 of them, so it shouldn't take me too long. Arthur Lucas out of the mayor's office, Chester Grundy, Dale Morgan, Jamal McDaniel, Jason Brooks, Kendriona Price, Jay Alexander, Mary Ann Porter, Ryan Jerz, Sharon Murphy, Stacey Webster Little, Tiffany Mastin. And this year we brought on Carrie Thayer-Cardwell who really helped us pump up the 50th anniversary. We had to deal with some challenges this year based off of Central Bank Center and what they're programming. But they were able to help us turn that room around and put on an excellent program. And we really appreciate everyone in the community that came out and participated in the march, especially since we had to cancel it last year. So I just wanted to say thank you, council members, for supporting that event. Thank you, Mayor, for being there as well. And then I think I need to plug the sponsors just to give a shout out. The University of Kentucky and the city have been long-time sponsors of this event. But over the years, we picked up Bluegrass Community Foundation, Spectrum, as title sponsors, and I just want to thank them for their investment in that event and in this community. So thank you, Mayor. It was a fabulous day. And thank you for all your hard work co-chairing that committee. And I have not seen the estimate yet. There had to have been 2,000 or 3,000 people marching. It was stunning. So thank you for all your good work. Councilmember Gray. Well, thank you, Mayor. Chris, do you have it? Okay, scratch that. So tonight I am hosting a town hall at Consolidated Baptist Church. This town hall is targeting the African American community. Within the African American community, we typically have been calling it by something of a name that it's not. We've been saying, he died of cardiac arrest. He had a seizure. But the real cause was opioid overdose. So I'm hosting this town hall in partnership with Consolidated Baptist Church, First Baptist Bracktown, First Baptist Bracktown, and the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. Previously when the commission had its meeting here in Lexington in October, they held it at UK. This UofL girl right here was like, I don't know if that's a great place to get the people. So for this one, to get more of the people who the issue is touching and concerning, I moved it to the north side, which is in between neighborhoods that are being directly affected. And I'm hoping that we have a large turnout, not only from the partners, because I know that we have many governmental agencies and leaders who will be there. But my hope is that we reach the community, the people who have been dying, the people who have had loved ones pass away, people who want to do something about this issue. Because it touches and concerns so much that's going on, the violence, the mental health issues that are going on that need to be addressed as well. So I'm hoping to have a great turnout for tonight's event, and this is the first of many town halls I will be doing within the city of Lexington and within the sixth district. Thank you, Mayor. Very good, thank you. Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. This is to address Councilmember Ellinger and the zone change hearing that's scheduled at 5 o'clock and I would like to bring those applicants up to the podium, Mayor, if that's okay with you? Yes. Okay. Mr. Woodall and Mr. Worsham as well. Thank you. Welcome. How are you? Ladies and gentlemen of the council, Madame Mayor, thank you very much for your presence today. This zone change that's before you, which is amendment request 2200012, was actually scheduled for hearing back in November by the prior council. Mr. Worsham, who I have the pleasure to represent, who is president of Winterwood, we met with our team and have decided that it really isn't fair to put this upon you in your very first meeting. many of you who are new to the council number one number two we've got a little work to do with our plan to get it in better shape hopefully to bring it back to you with a recommendation of approval rather than disapproval from the planning commission so we've made that decision as a team and we're going to i'm here to for the record formally withdraw the application so that you don't have to worry about hearing it tonight you'll hopefully hear from us later but as far as hearing tonight for let you off the hook. Thank you very much and welcome to you new council members and thank you for to all of you for your service. Thank you. So I think a motion perhaps is in order. Is that correct or do they have to withdraw it at five o'clock? Tracy Jones Department of Law. A motion's not in order at this time. The applicant can withdraw their application but the hearing will need to be convened at 5 o'clock just because of the timing and the notice. There's obviously no way to let the public or anybody that would have attended know. So the hearing can be convened. The vice mayor can advise that the applicant has withdrawn their application, and therefore there won't be a need for the hearing at that time. So there's no need to do anything except the applicant will withdraw in that regard. Yes. And then, so, Council Members, you'll need a quorum at 5 o'clock. And so, if I understand correctly, Vice Mayor Wu will call the meeting to order, and then someone, you'll explain that it's been withdrawn and someone will move to cancel the meeting. Is that, or adjourn the meeting? Adjourn the meeting. Okay. And we will be there if you have any questions. Okay, good, good. Yes, there is a question. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. With the withdrawal of the application, how does that impact the time frame? I mean, when the Planning Commission disapproves an application and that becomes the ruling, does the time frame about when you can reapply to rezone that property apply if you withdraw the application? There is a time frame about reapplying with the same application on the same property. So when they come back, obviously, Mr. Woodall said, you know, they're going to do some work. We don't know what that's going to look like. But if they come back and, for example, ask for a different zone, configure something differently, it is very possible that that could be refiled because it is different from what was already filed in this application. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. And thank you for that. And I think that Council Member Worley needs to make a statement. Yes, thank you. While there's no formal action being taken now, some of you may know I will not be at the meeting even when it convenes tonight. Most of you know Mr. Woodall is my law partner and my law firm representing the applicant. I am recused from this matter. So for whatever the discussion is today and then the action taken this evening, I'll not be a part of that. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Anything else, Council Member Lynch? That is it. Thank you so much, Mayor. That's enough, right? Yeah. Very good. Councilmember Legree. Thank you, Mayor. I just have two items related to young people. Some of you all may already know that there is now a new children and youth gallery at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center. And they're having their first show with students from the Redwood Cooperative School. That opening was on January 6th and the show runs through March 4th. And there are going to be five additional exhibits that are planned throughout our calendar year of 2023 with students from all over Fayette County. So that's really wonderful. And the gallery is on the second floor of the center, so I encourage everyone to check it out. I love to see young people doing art. And then Miss Lindsay was speaking a few minutes ago about the One Lexington Grants. And I also, and those are a great opportunity to engage more of our community partners and I'm excited about those. And I also wanted to remind people that the Partners for Youth Grassroots Grant Allocations Program is receiving submissions for their Grassroots Grants Program through January 19th. So that's this Thursday. I have been on review panels in the past and other capacities for those grassroots submissions. And you get to learn so much about what people are doing in our community and some of the needs that many different organizations are working hard to meet. And you make great connections. So if people are interested in learning more about those grants as well, That website is partners4youth.org and the four in there is the number. So partners4youth.org. I'm glad that we have so many good community based programs working for the benefit of our young people especially. That's it, Mayor. Okay, thank you very much. Vice Mayor Wu. Thank you, Mayor. I'll follow up a little bit with Council Member James Brown's comments about Martin Luther King Day celebration yesterday. We went to, a lot of us went to a bunch of the events. There was a unity breakfast, which saw, what, at least 1,500 people probably come to that. We had a march with thousands and thousands of people. I'm curious to see what that number was. As we, at the head of the parade, rounded from Vine Street to Rose Street to Main Street again, we couldn't see the tail end of our group over on Vine Street. So it was very, very heartening to see that. So, and then during the MLK 50th anniversary event, I know Council Member Brown shouted out the rest of their committee team, but I want to shout out Council Member Brown and community member Chester Grundy for all the work that they've done on this and just leadership in the community in general. I saw something along the parade line that really sticks with me. There was a gentleman, he was up on sort of a high point, and then he came down, and he was holding a couple of signs. And one of the signs said, March with purpose, not feel-goodism. And I love that because there was a lot of feel-goodism yesterday. When you look around you and you see, you know, what seems to be your entire community around you here to celebrate the life of this iconic civil rights leader, it's very easy to walk away from that and just feel good about your city or yourself or the people around you. And I think we need to remember what this gentleman's sign said is that all of this is about continuing his work and working with purpose. So I, for one, am committed to this work, and I think I can speak for all of council that we're committed to, you know, furthering the work of Dr. King in terms of justice and equality. and I'm super excited personally to be working with this council. I think this blending of energy and new ideas and experience and wisdom is going to serve our city really well. So I'm humbled to be here and to be in this company. Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. And I might tag on to your comment. This is hard work. In my commissioner's meeting this morning, I said the work of racial justice is hard work, as you all know, and it doesn't just happen in one day. So we're going to keep after it. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. And I too wanted to mention yesterday and just how impactful those events are for our community, for us. I think it's really amazing that our city has had these celebrations for as long as they have. And because it's an educational piece for the public, there's a lot of folks that grew up without knowing anything about the civil rights movement and a lot of the history that's in our country. So I just really appreciate, I also appreciate the committee and Council Member Brown for always getting really, really amazing speakers for that event. And it's a free event, so that's just incredible. So thank you. It's an honor to be able to be a part of them and just learn. I feel like it's an opportunity to learn. And I also just wanted to mention I'm on the Board of Health, And we just accepted or voted on and hired a new commissioner of health named Sheila Owens Collins. And she is an amazing doctor and has a really wide background of experience and I got to spend some time with her when she came to visit for her interview. And so I'm just really excited to have her and I hope that you all will get to meet her and work with her with the health department. So thank you very much. Thank you. Does anyone else have a council report? All right. Thank you. Next is the mayor's report, which every four years it's quite voluminous. And I want to thank council members for your willingness to serve on all those many boards and commissions. And so with that, I'll entertain a motion to approve it. Council member. She was trying to get in there. Yes. Council member Gray moves and council member Baxter, were you the second? Any questions about that report? All right. I do believe we have every single council designated seat on all those many, many boards filled right at this moment. So all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that passes. And then I wanted to mention one other thing during my report. I wanted to introduce to you, if you haven't met him yet, Kenneth Payne. If you'll just stand up. Kenny has joined our One Lexington team as community outreach advocate. And he's been here three weeks? How long have you been here? Three weeks? Almost four weeks. So, council members, I hope you'll come down and get to know him. And he's an awesome part of this One Lexington team. So thank you. And, council members, on page 69, you'll see the mayor's report the price contract bids. And if I could have a motion to move those on to the council meeting. So moved. Second. Council member Dave Savigny moves. Vice mayor seconds. Any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Now, I don't believe anyone is signed up for public comment for issues not on the agenda. And so that brings us to our adjournment. I believe the quorum for the zone change at 5 is 10. and so we need to be sure that 10 of you are here at 5 o'clock so you can cancel your meeting. Okay. Oh, did you have one? I had one little thing. It's Ms. Baxter's birthday. I want to wish her a happy birthday. And it's a big one, so I won't say how many because it's a small one to me, but it's a big one for her. The big 3-0. Happy birthday. Thank you very much. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? Okay. All right. All those in favor, say aye. We are adjourned. Thank you very much.