Music Thank you. Welcome. Council's running a little late, but we're going to go ahead anyway and start our work session, please. First item on the agenda is, and this is October 10th, 2023, is public comment for issues on the agenda. And we have a few people signed up. Let's see. The way this works is if you are signed up and want to speak, I'll call your name and you'll come to the podium. And you need to restate your name and your council district for the record and you'll have three minutes. First up will be Chris Hoskins. Second will be Leslie Whaley, and third will be Christian Torp. So Chris, welcome. Good afternoon, Chris Hoskins, District 11. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. On behalf of Juby 2 LLC, I'm here to speak on proposed resolution 1011-23. This resolution, which it appears to have received one reading, seeks to condemn certain of Juby's property near or at 2710 Sullivan's Trace. I come here to discuss just a few legal issues. And we respectfully believe that this attempt to take the property does not pass constitutional muster. The first issue we have are there are reasonable alternatives here. their their properties very close to jim these property including two six eight four carnier is drive where they can board under the rail on and connect uh... to the manual to my knowledge however this route this reasonable turn it has not been uh... pursued and i would suggest to you all that not pursuing let alone perhaps considering reasonable turn it alternate alternatives is improper and an abuse of discretion there's also a question as to whether this taking is one of necessity this goes back quite a while lf u c g uh... there this sewer system project occurred in around two thousand six at that time lf u c g could have required a line the burke of attempted required on come back this way when this project started but lf u c g elected not to do so instead they advise this is an issue on private developers and that they're staying out of it. One private developer put in a pump station at 2811 Spur Road, and importantly, this pump station is still functioning. To the extent another one is needed, that can be added by the private developer. For these two reasons, and there are others, but I know I'm short on time, we would ask that you reconsider, not approve the proposed resolution condemning the property at this time. Thank you for your time today. Thank you very much. Next up is Leslie Whaley and after Leslie is Christian Torp. Leslie? Is Leslie Whaley here? Christian, are you in the house? I'm right here. All right, why don't you go right ahead? Welcome. Thank you very much, Council. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. I'm an affordable housing developer. Can you say your name and district for the record, please? Christian Torp, District 1. I'm Ms. Vogel, my Council representative. I'm an affordable housing developer, and I live next door with my wife and small children to a multi-unit affordable housing development. It was created, in fact, with help from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. And I'd like to ask the council, what kind of community do we want to live in? And more importantly, who do we want making decisions for us and our neighbors? Out-of-state investors or the people involved with those two little girls you heard about earlier? I think it's very important that we really think about who we're benefiting and who, with half of Lexington residents being renters, whose interests are we really looking out for Or if we don't give them all the help they need in finding the housing they need with all the choices they can get and not be limited by where they happen to get their resources from. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is Leslie Whaley here? All right, that completes our folks signed up for this public comment. Thank you. Next I'll entertain a motion to approve the docket. So moved. Vice Mayor Wu moves second, Council Member Fogel. If you have questions, please log in. Council Member Sheehan. I have a motion to amend. Okay. I move to place on the docket for the council meeting on October 12, 2023, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets for the Lexington Fayette Urban County government reflect current requirements for funds in the amounts of $96,092 to provide funds for council capital projects in the divisions of Parks and Recreation, Environmental Services, and Traffic Engineering and appropriating and reappropriating funds scheduled number 0020. So moved. Thank you. Councilmember Reynolds seconds. Are there any questions? All those in favor say aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Are there other items for the docket? All right, all those in favor of approving the docket as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next up, we have September 26, 2023 work session motions. Could I have a motion to approve? Second. Council Member Plumman moves. Council Member Legree seconds. Are there questions, corrections, additions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next, I'll entertain a motion to approve budget amendments. So moved. Vice Mayor Wu, thank you. Second by Council Member Baxter. Please log in if you have questions. Council member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question about the budget amendments that pertain to the distillery district. I think it's two of them. Commissioner Hensley, welcome. Commissioner, I think I know what that funding is. Is it that the remaining funds from the Tiger Grant that we're going to use and reallocate to the Distillery District in Manchester Street? So that was actually funds that were given by council to the Distillery District group when Council Member McCurran was here. We initiated a contract with them. We have an agreement, but the funds never got encumbered. And so it's just to go ahead and follow up on that commitment. Okay. Okay, just, yeah, I'm just trying to figure out if that was something that, I guess I thought those funds were already in the division that they needed to be in. So, thank you. Thank you for that. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Any other questions about budget amendments? Council Member Lynch? That was a mistake. I withdraw. Okay. Anyone else? Budget amendments? Uh-huh. Did you have a question? Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. We'll move on now to budget adjustments, which are for your information only. And next we have new business. If I could have a motion. Thank you, Council Member Ellinger. I heard a second over here. Council Member Gray. If you have questions, please log in. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Number C, as in Charlie. Hey, Charlie. Well, that's Commissioner Lanter. Charlie, for sure. That's why he said C, as in Charlie. Could you explain what we're going to be doing here? I think it's going to be a nine-month process. Yeah, this should be done maybe late spring. It's important, obviously, that from time to time we assess the situation of affordable housing in the community. to evaluate our own progress and to look forward as to what we still need. So this will sort of be twofold. It will give us a needs assessment that says here's how far we've come, here's what remains in terms of need of affordable housing, and also some very high-level details, such as how many two-bedroom units do you need, how many three-bedroom units, and then that will help guide the Affordable Housing Board, hopefully for another 10 years, on how best to make use of our resources. And that's my next question. When was the last time this was done? 2014, right when the fund was created. There's not been one since then. that's all the questions i had on that and then on a i just want to thank the kelly family because we have a new park that's going to be down there by the river and thank them now as we call kelly's landing so thank you mayor thank you council member baxter thank you mayor commissioner planter you got off easy no no you can sit back down you can sit back down i had asked you enough questions earlier um okay i have a question about item x i don't know if commissioner armstrong or representative from police could i really just i'm looking for some clarification here if you could just kind of describe what what this will do and how it will benefit us welcome hi the axon signal that is a device that is created by axon and we will put that in our patrol cars so when the officer initiates their emergency equipment it eliminates the human error of them initiating self initiating with a body-worn camera so it works in conjunction and it will activate their body-worn camera automatically without a human touch so lights and sirens would initiate the camera that's correct okay great I look forward to that thank you for the clarification thank you mayor thank you councilmember Reynolds Thank you, Mayor. On item X again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you were walking back there. I didn't catch you in time. Is it only lights and sirens that activate it or is it motion? What all will activate it? Right now they still have to press the button, right? That's correct. It's the, any activation of the emergency equipment would be lights and sirens or lights separately. Okay, so nothing else. They will still have to activate it if there are not any lights or sirens going on. Correct. Okay, so if they get into a situation with somebody, they will need to just turn it on themselves still. That's correct. The only other way that a body-worn camera would operate if it was in buffering mode to activate it would be if the officer were to draw a service weapon or their taser, and that would automatically activate it. Or if another officer in the proximity within several hundred feet did that, it would automatically activate it. Okay, and there's not other technology that allows for it to be activated automatically in other situations that exists, or do you know? It's with Axon. It's their product, and that's what we're carrying with the body-worn cameras. So that's why the sole source was asked for. I just meant, do you know if it exists, any other type of technology, or that is triggered by other things at all? Or do you know? To initiate our body-worn cameras, I'm not aware of. It's usually the signal that's received from the Axon devices. Okay, thank you very much. The other item is why, and I'm not sure if you would be responding to that as well. It's about the police equipment items being donated to the Lexington Public Safety Museum. Could you explain a little more about what the Lexington Public Safety Museum is? Sure. It's a nonprofit. It's ran by some retirees, and what they do is kind of preserve some of our historical history through the Lexington Police Department. and some of the items there are outdated and non-serviceable, and it gives people in the community an opportunity to visit, view, and kind of understand the history of the Lexington Police Department. And you said they're stored at the police department? The history is not the equipment that we would be donating. So if someone wants to go see it, it would be where? The Lexington History Museum. The History Museum. Okay, sorry, I misunderstood you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. That's all. Thank you. Councilmember Plowman. Thank you, Mayor. And this question is to BB. BB, and I guess that's Mr. Duncan. B as in boy, B as in boy. Welcome, Director Duncan. This obviously is about the agreement with TSW that's going to take the consultant. It's going to be the consultant as we move forward on the growth management. And I was wondering, was there a decision a committee made, or how were they selected? Customer Plumman, they were the only respondent to the RFP. That was going to be my next question. Okay, because I noticed when I was reading the materials, they seemed so much architectural based. And I thought it was going to be, it is bigger than that. But they were the only one, huh? And we discussed this internally and reviewed it and actually met with them to talk about their proposal. And staff is satisfied that they will be able to address the needs that we need for this master plan. Okay. Thank you very much. My next question had to do with number H. Oh, I'm sorry. It's N. And I do have a question. Come on up, Heather, because I'll go ahead and do that one since you're on your way up. I did have a question about that. Heather Lyons is my director of arts and culture. Yes, Ms. Lyons. It sounds like the money is going to be used for something really great. Can you add a few more details on that? They're splitting the $100,000 between a staff position who will focus on grant writing and $50,000 that they want to put toward their arts and equity grants. Okay, and the position, is that just for one year or does that? Well, yeah, I mean, that's one year salary. But there's a possibility it might move forward. Yeah, I mean, certainly I think they're hoping it will be continuing after that year. And then the rest of those monies will be earmarked for more diversity, is that what you're saying there? They have an arts and equity grant, specifically looking to fund artists and organizations to increase the diversity of their arts recipients. Good, okay, those are my questions, thank you very much. And then the other one is N, and I guess that's Ms. Walters. And this has to do with the Anthem Agreement, with the plan for the police and fire recruitment. my question is this just an annual renewal of something that's already in place so it is a renewal it's for the medicare eligible portion of our police and fire retirees and historically or currently where you have the humana medicare advantage plan and we're transitioning to the anthem medicare advantage plan okay so it's just to transfer companies it's the same them the same benefits that are going. Actually better benefits. Better, oh yeah. Yeah, at a lesser cost. Okay, I was curious. Thank you Ms. Walters, thank you Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Gray. Thank you Mayor. First question is regarding letter, let's just go letter F. and that is with commissioner Albright or director Ellen so I just have a question regarding the your bid process as this is something we've been talking about I see that it's authorization to establish a sole source provider for purchase of snow plows and parts and snow repair or plow repair so of the bit do you know how many bids you received we didn't go through a bid process we've been working with ettinger for several years and they maintain our fleet they add they add the parts to our new vehicles when they come in and then we buy the parts to maintain it so since we didn't go through the bid process, how do we know that $31,251.60 is equitable or the best reasonable price for us? There's not that many vendors in Kentucky that do this work, and sometimes for some types of equipment, they're the only supplier in Kentucky. So we don't have a lot of options if we were to go to bid. Okay. But there's no way to know then? Well, if they're the only bidder, you're going to get the same price whether you go out to bid or not. Well, we didn't go through the bid process. Right, because they're the only supplier for Kentucky for several of the parts. So nobody else would bid against them. Okay, just checking. Okay. Just trying to catch you. Good job. Next, letter H. That's Heather again. and as she's walking up this is something the council passed just so everybody would kind of remembers this was a council initiative i recall go ahead um so my question is regarding um the position itself for dei diversity equity well it's not a position for dei well regarding this the point of it is ensuring the underrepresented artists? Those are grants that they're funding to applicants. Okay. So explain, please. So there is an application on their website, and organizations can apply for funding to support a project, a performance, some initiative, and they have to indicate how that organization and or the audience that they would be serving will increase access and opportunity for more minority-based groups and artists. So how are we publicizing this to these organizations to... I think that is something you would have to discuss with LexArts. Is anyone from LexArts here? No? Okay. Interesting. Well, that would be a question I guess I have to contact them on. Thanks. Thank you. Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. And Ms. Lyons, my question is for you as well on item H. Since these were funds that were already budgeted for, my question is why are we doing a purchase of service agreement in order for them to get the funds? I didn't understand that piece of it. It's just like any other time that an organization is receiving money. The council has to approve that. This was outside of their funding, of the annual funding mechanism. This was additional funds that you all agreed to support these, this particular two items. And so we have to do a contract with them for this. Okay. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. And Commissioner Armstrong, I just had a question about item G. It looks like we're reducing the minimum age for folks to apply to be police officers. Welcome, Commissioner. That's Member Brown. Thank you very much for the question, and you are correct. Historically, in the state of Kentucky, and it continues to this day, actually, you must be 21 years of age to be a peace officer. What the state did recently was change it that you need to be 21 years of age by the time that you're sworn. So what that allows us to do is hire individuals and let people test to become part of the police academy that are actually 20 years of age, as long as they're 21 by the time that they're actually sworn as a peace officer in the state of Kentucky. So that can open up the pool a little bit. It's not going to be a huge change, but I know of at least three individuals that it's going to affect for the next class. So that's a good thing to see. Okay, yeah, I just know that we've always talked about how we weigh a lot on the importance of the training, kind of the bar, the high bar that we set for our local peace officers and just wondered if- They're going to receive the exact amount and same kind of training. There's going to be no difference in that. Also, by the time they become sworn officers, they will be 21 years of age as required by past KRS. Okay. What did we do recently? Did we lower the age for firefighter applicants as well? Didn't we do that maybe a few years back? Yeah, we did the 19th. What did we do? Did we go from 21 to 18? 21 to 19. 21 to 19. Okay. But there's no state law requiring such for firefighters. There is one for a peace officer. Peace officer. Okay. All right. Thanks for that clarity, Commissioner. Thank you for the question. Thank you. Are there any other questions about new business? All right. All those in favor of approving, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Now we have continuing business presentations, neighborhood development funds for October 10th. So moved. Second. Okay. Council Member Baxter moved. Vice Mayor Wu seconded, but then Council Member Sheehan popped up on the list. Did you? Oh, okay. To this motion? Okay. All right. Now would be time. I move to amend the Neighborhood Development Fund List to allocate an additional $300 to Castlegate Maintenance Association for a new total allocation of $1,450 for power washing of a brick fence in the neighborhood. So moved. Second. Okay. I think I heard Council Member Brown second. Are there any questions? No. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Is there any other discussion on neighborhood development funds? All right. All those in favor of approving as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Next up is Council Member Reynolds for Social Services and Public Safety Report. Thank you. The Social Services and Public Safety Committee of August 22, 2023. I'm going to read the summary in motions. I called the meeting to order at 1.02 p.m. and committee members Ellinger, James Brown, Fogle, Menares, Gray, Fred Brown, Baxter, Sevigny, and Plowman were in attendance. Council Members Lynch, LeGree, Sheehan, and Vice Mayor were also present as non-voting members. Approval of the June 13, 2023 Committee Summary. The motion by Sevigny to approve the June 13, 2023 Committee Summary was seconded by Gray, and the motion passed without dissent. Lexington Noise Ordinance. Hannah Aydin, legislative aide to third district councilmember, presented the history of Lexington's noise ordinance. She reviewed the current guidelines and enforcement and laid out in the ordinance. The next steps for this item include finding a funding mechanism, staffing for enforcement, and challenges with the citation process. Looking forward, some items to consider include an internal working group to investigate this further. Revisit proposals from the 2011 Ordinance Task Force and explore the use of decimal readers. Review the fine structure and explore a joint enforcement between Code Enforcement and Lexington Police Department. A recommendation from committee discussion was to create a working group or subcommittee to explore decibel readers and penalty structure. No action was taken on this item. Three, Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Annual Update. Jeff Heron, Director of Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention, provided background information and said the office was established in 2014 and was designated as a Continuum of Care Lead in 2015. He explains that Opie is a coordination and planning office but does not provide direct services. Moving forward, Opie will work towards completion of recommended strategies. He closed his presentation by reviewing the goals of the five-year strategic plan. Committee discussions centered on the Lex count information. He said a requirement for continuum of care is to do a shelter and unshelter count. To explain the breakdowns of the count, Herron said that the household would include families with children. He said the Lex count charts indicates that these numbers include one night during the year when the count took place. Heron confirmed they don't track citizen versus non-citizen in their count. Most shelters, street outreach, or housing programs accept anyone. No action was taken on this item, and the meeting adjourned at 3 or 4 p.m., and that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Council Member Reynolds? No? All right. Thank you. With that, we have a proclamation. All right, will Fire Chief Jason Wells join me at the podium please? This week we're celebrating National Fire Prevention Week, a time to educate our community on the importance of fire safety and prevention. The theme for National Fire Prevention Week is, cooking safety starts with you. That's if you cook. right? Emphasizing the simple actions we can all take to remain safe while preparing food. Cooking is the number one cause of home fires across the United States. Throughout this week it is important that we highlight the importance of fire safety and do everything we can to keep our loved ones our neighbors and first responders safe each and every day our firefighters and first responders put their lives at risk to save others we're so glad to see a number of them here with us today lots of you thank you thank you and thank your fellow firefighters for their tireless commitment to our community. Chief Wells, you have a very strong team. Thank you for all that you do and at this time it's my pleasure to present you this proclamation. And here's how it goes. Whereas National Fire Prevention Week is a time set aside to educate our community and spread awareness of the importance of fire safety and prevention and whereas the 2023 National Fire Prevention Week theme is cooking safety begins with you reminding us to stay alert and use caution when cooking to reduce the risk of kitchen fires and whereas cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the United States and whereas Lexington Fire department is committed to reducing the occurrence of home fires and injuries through prevention and education and whereas residents who have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan are more prepared and more likely to survive a fire and whereas we come together to uplift and honor our brave firefighters and first responders who are among the first to react when devastation strikes. And whereas Lexington is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our city, now therefore, I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare October 8th through the 14th, 2023, National Fire Prevention Week in Lexington. Thank you, Chief. Congratulations. Chief Wells. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council. And as the Mayor indicated, this week really is all about our ability to reach out to the community and push the importance of fire prevention. And so along with my amazing staff here today, we have a lot of folks from our community service bureau, even community paramedicine. And so the folks who really are out in the community making a difference every day, and I want to make sure that we give them a big thanks. And I also want to say that we are extremely fortunate because we have such incredible community support. So thank you all. Should we get a photo? Sure. Come on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Next, it's time for council reports. Please log in. Council Member Gray. Thank you, Mayor Haley. So I just want to share with you all a little bit of my current council comment, which is about traffic management. I know in my district and all around Lexington, speeding, that's a bad place to stop. But go ahead. I like the way we can hear the visual. So it's okay. We don't need to hear me. So I'm aggressive driving in our neighborhoods. Many of you have also asked me about traffic calming measures such as speed tables. During this segment, I am conversing with Jeff Neal, Director of Traffic Engineering and Lieutenant Chris Van Brackle of the Lexington Police Department to learn more about how the city approaches those concerns. Thank you. So this council comment is directly to help residents who have been reaching out, not only via phone calls and emails, but also on social media. As I always say to residents, I sometimes watch or get on next door, but please shoot us an email, and we will do all that we can to educate you about means of how to keep our neighborhood safe in our street safe. But contact us, and that way we can help you. But here is something to answer some of those questions I saw on Nextdoor regarding traffic management and what we can do in our neighborhoods and on New Circle Road in those areas. And next, I just want to say congratulations to this young, short fifth grader. Her name is Michaela McKinney. She was just pinned earlier this morning by our own Chief Jason Wells to be the junior fire chief. She won this position by writing an essay about a way to prevent fires. And as mentioned before with the proclamation, it was regarding cooking, how to avoid cooking fires. So it was just so informative. It's always a joy also to go to Dixie Elementary. I go so often now that now the students are excited. They say, you're back. But what I loved about this class of fifth graders was that they were so excited for Michaela. So congratulations to Michaela McKinney. Hope you have fun hanging out with firefighters this upcoming week for the next four days. Having ice cream every day and having some good breakfast and lunch as well. Eating like a firefighter, I must say. So that's all. Also, I want to give a loud thank you to our police officers. As many of you may be aware, earlier, I believe this weekend or on Friday, there was a shooting on Anniston Drive. Our police quickly, quickly found the assailant, and he is currently in our community corrections facility right now. So thank you to our E911 and also to our police for doing all you can to keep residents safe and quickly doing your job, even though it's hard. No one's saying, hey, we love you, but we do. So thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Council Member Fogel. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to draw your attention to Friday the 13th at 1030 at our historic lyric. Our very own TD Young is a recipient of the Governor's Award. The Governor will be here at 1030 for anyone who is not working your part time, full time job. Next, this message is to Oakwood, Georgetown Street, Marlboro, especially Castlewood, 4th Street, all the streets that are in the 1st District. I have a confirmed meeting with the Commissioner, Commissioner Albright and Mr. Glenn Brown. We are going to address our paving in our community and we will meet with traffic engineering about all of your concerns. So this message is going out to my constituents to let them know that we really are working to make sure that we have safer streets and our paving is done. And so I just wanted you to know that I'm on the job. For our council members, thank you all for the hard work that we've been doing. Newly elected officials we are getting ready to embark upon a year. And so it's really been quite the experience. And so that is my council comment. I don't have anything else to say except for an amazing morning that I spent with you at the ribbon cutting ceremony. We have this fantastic new children's facility on Richmond Road that just opened and it is absolutely beautiful. And my niece was born one pound, one ounce, and she is 30 years old today. So that was amazing. And then to be with my fellow council members at the distillery. I know I'm in recovery, but I still had a good time learning some interesting things about the white oak that is used for the barrels. I know y'all think I'm crazy, but that is fascinating to me. And so, and how we stand to gain a lot of revenue behind this. So that's my council comment. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Plumman. Thank you, Mayor. I always like to follow Council Member Fogle, your energy level. I really wanted to share this because I think this sounds like fun. But the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park is having an event. It's called the Crawl, and it's this Saturday the 14th and next Saturday the 21st. It's from 530 to 730. But it is, it's celebrating this spooky season by just showcasing the many horse cemeteries around the park and the stories of the ghosts that haunt the grounds. I never knew that before, but it sounds like fun the next two Saturdays. You do have to go online and sign up. It's free, but just go to the KentuckyHorsePark.com and I might see you out there. And the other thing I was going to announce is that tomorrow at 2.30, we'll be having Cardinal Run North Park groundbreaking ceremony on site. And we're all very, very excited about it, not just the district, but the community. Council Member Sevigny is real close. And it's going to be one of our largest parks, maybe second only. So tomorrow at 2.30 if anybody would like to join. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member LeGree. Thank you, Mayor. Well, happy Tree Week, everybody. I had a great weekend celebrating the beginning of Tree Week. And I want you all to see that there is a lot more left to do. So if you were not able to attend the kickoff events in the last couple of days, please know that there are many events throughout the community that are still happening and will be happening all throughout the week and weekend ahead. So just to recap a little bit of the weekend's events on Friday, we had our tree week kickoff event at Castlewood Park. And I know a couple of my colleagues were also there, Councilmember Lynch, Councilmember James Brown, and Vice Mayor Wu. Four trees were planted in the park, and it was a really lovely evening with community members and table set up and music and food and great conversation and a really, really positive vibe around trees and talk about our environment. And then on Saturday, we celebrated Arbor Day at the Arboretum. And it's the 32nd annual Arbor Day, and I was very excited to present the proclamation on behalf of the mayor about that. And I also want to thank Councilmember Lynch, Councilmember Baxter, and Councilmember James Brown for joining me and my fellow Arboretum board members and all of the volunteers and community members who turned out for that day. It was really great to see the Children's Garden was open, there was a lot of learning happening. You could touch a large snake or hold a hissing cockroach. They're very, very large. This big, they're huge. And so I think people had a great time and it was another good tree oriented event. So just a big congrats to all of the tree week organizers for their sixth annual tree week. There are over 90 events going on around our community. And again, if you don't have the physical schedule, know that it's all on the Urban Forest Initiative webpage, and I know that you can find one that will suit you. And, Council Members, I believe that there is an event in every single district and our at-large members, you know, you can go anywhere. So, thank you so much. That's it, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. I just have a couple of announcements and thank yous. I first would like to thank the Lexington Fire Department, specifically Station 24. I was able to shoot my Lex Save Lives video and demonstrate compression on your hands-only CPR. And I just want to encourage all my District 2 neighbors to stop by Station 24 to learn how to do hands-only CPR because it will save a life. Everyone should get trained. It is very, very important to get training because the life you save may be in your own household. So please stop by Station 24 if you're in District 2 or for all of our residents, And the fire stations that are throughout our community to learn how to do hands only CPR because it's very, very important. So a big thank you to Station 24, I really appreciate you all. Next I would like to highlight the community fall festival that is happening in District 2 at Whitney Young Park. This Saturday from 1 to 4. It's free for the community. There will be health screenings, community resources, food, fun, and lots of giveaways. So please everyone come out to the fall festival this Saturday. It's going to be such a good treat, and I know that we'll have good weather, fingers crossed. And then lastly, I would like to thank our Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition and Stephanie Thiexton for giving us our purple pumpkins. I have mine on my front porch, and I hope that invites conversation amongst my neighbors to support Domestic Violence Awareness Prevention Month this month, October, and to encourage everyone on October 19th to wear your purple in support of survivors. Thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you. Vice Mayor Wu. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to highlight a couple of very fun things I got to go to last week. The driving of the Spike project came through Lexington. In fact, it kicked off a multi-stop whistle stop tour in Lexington because the artist, Dal Bloomberg, is actually from northern Kentucky. So what you're seeing there, and that's the artist right there, what you're seeing there in the last slide is a 43-foot statue that weighs in at about four tons. It's going to travel by truck across the country, and what it's doing is it's commemorating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. And I snuck in there and got to speak a little bit because this subject was very personal to me in that I learned from a very young age in not very many lines in my high school civics book about the fact that this railroad was mostly built by Chinese immigrants back 150 years ago. And their contribution has not only been ignored, but very consciously and systematically erased from the history books. So this piece of art is just a small move in sort of remembering all the sacrifices that those workers made, some with their lives. And some of my colleagues joined us as well. We got to shoot off a little confetti cannon, and we got to know a contingent from Utah who were there because that's where it's going to end up living by next summer after its tour near Promontory Point, Utah, where the golden spike was struck signaling the completion of the railroad coming from two sides. And then just to piggyback on Councilmember Legree's comments about Tree Week, just a couple of pictures. There's us hanging out. It was a really, really great crowd, a lot of great nonprofit organizations out there. There was beer. There was tacos. I got to deliver a proclamation on behalf of the mayor announcing Tree Week. And this is, I think, the sixth year of Tree Week, and it's been really heartening to see it grow. And as Council Member Legree said, tons of events coming up all week long and get to learn about some of the native trees and plants of Lexington. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. And on that note, I last year had an event for Tree Week in my district honoring former Council Member Henson planting a tree. And I wanted to have another event for Tree Week this year. And so I will be hosting this Wednesday in Pine Meadows Park planting at 6 p.m. for someone who lost his life way too early, Chris Valdez Romero. He was shot and killed in Pine Meadows Park at age 16 just a few months ago. And so we're going to celebrate Tree Week and plant a tree in his memory. I think it's really going to be timely. It's been very difficult the past few weeks, the instances of gun violence that we have been witnessing in Lexington and in my district. And I just want people to know that we do not think it is okay, that I care, that it seems like there isn't enough that we can do. but I feel that there are a lot of initiatives the government is doing that are really positive, and I'm continuing to meet with the gun violence task force that I set up, and we will have a report out in several months for counsel. But just know that the people who have lost their lives or who have been victims by gun violence are not forgotten. On a lighter note, this weekend the goats are arriving to Oxford Circle again for the goat project, and I'll be doing my council comment there and recording it. So come on out and see the goats if you want to on Saturday. And then from 1 to 4 p.m. in Valley Park is the fall festival, so you can bring your kids and dress up, and there will be a costume contest, painting of pumpkins. there's always dancing and good food so I hope people will come on out to that and then Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. in Garden Side Park is a Garden Side picnic so if you live in the Garden Side area please join your neighbors in Garden Side Park and I'm happy to give an update on what's going on with some construction in that park and I think that's all I have at this time thank you Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Savigny. Thank you, Mayor. Just a few things. The Fayette County Public Schools Cross Country Championship takes place today at 530 at Masterson Station Park. Lafayette is hosting and they are currently ranked second in the state. So Southland Park Neighborhood Association meets tomorrow at 6 o'clock in the Southland Shelter at Southland Park. And And you've already mentioned the Cardinal Run groundbreaking, so come on out and join us there. And then since sometimes we're a little late in District 10, October 21st we're doing a tree planting for tree weeks. And so next Saturday we're going to be at the intersection of Vista in front of Lafayette High School filling that place with trees. So come join us at 1 o'clock with a shovel. you thank you all right any other council reports okay we do have a mayor's report if i could have a motion to approve thank you councilmember gray second councilmember fogel any questions all those in favor say aye aye anyone opposed all right that motion passes we also have a mayor's report for the price contract bid recommendations which we really don't have that report so there's no vote there and then i wanted to take a moment to introduce you to carmen combs marks if you'll stand please carmen is the new substance use disorder intervention program coordinator, and she joined us on September 25th. You may remember her predecessor, Amy Baker. She not only oversees the program's current initiatives, such as outreach and the naloxone training and distribution, but she also coordinates the Mayor's Substance Use Disorder Advisory Council and the newly formed Opioid Abatement Commission. She has over 20 years of public health and project management experience and most recently carmen served as an equity project manager for the cdc foundation so we're really happy to have her and i want to introduce you all to her so welcome thank you yeah she jumped into a lot of work didn't you all right finally we have public comment for issues not on the agenda and we have one person signed up rick day and i believe you know how this works if you'll state your name and district and you'll have two minutes welcome My name is Rick Day. I live in the 3rd District. Several weeks ago I told you I was continuing to try and find out why a select group of 35 employees were given the benefits of being reallocated or reclassified in 2021, while the other 1,400 LFUCG employees had to wait and accept the results of the 2022 MAG study. My search for information was focused on the 20 engineers that were included in those 35. Here's what I found. First, there are very specific requirements necessary to initiate a reclassification study. I have found no information that would show those requirements were met. The study was done anyway. Once a study is done and if money is available, HR makes adjustments to the compensation for the classifications that meet certain criteria. Thirteen engineering section managers and municipal engineer seniors met that criteria. They each received a 12% pay increase for an average of $10,000 a year. Six traffic engineering managers and traffic engineer seniors did not meet the criteria. They also received a 12% pay increase for an average of $9,000 a year. One deputy director received a 10% increase for $11,000 a year. The directors were not included in the study. I thought you should know this. I thought the other 1,400 employees should also know this. Thank you. Thank you very much. That takes us to adjournment. Could I have a motion? No. All right. Councilmember Fogel and then I saw Councilmember Baxter. All those in favor say aye. We are adjourned. Thank you very much. Thank you.