# Council Work Session - November 14, 2023 > Auto-transcribed civic record · November 14, 2023 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5962 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5962?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2023-11-14 - **Last revised**: November 14, 2023 - **Length**: 10,682 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 Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council convened on November 14, 2023, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 200 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507, with Mayor Linda Gorton presiding. The meeting addressed four agenda items, including public comment periods and formal recognitions of community members. The council conducted eight votes during the session and heard two public comments from citizens. The meeting included both informational items, such as public hearings on urban service changes, and ceremonial business recognizing the contributions of Pat Dugger and Mike Thomas to the community. ## Attendance The following members were present at the November 14, 2023 meeting: **Present:** • Vice Mayor Wu • J. Brown • Ellinger • Fogle • Lynch • LeGris • Monarrez • Gray • Worley • F. Brown • Baxter • Sevigny • Reynolds • Plomin **Absent:** None **Late Arrivals:** None All fourteen members were in attendance for the meeting, with no absences or late arrivals recorded. ## Votes and Decisions The council conducted eight voice votes during the November 14, 2023 meeting, with all motions passing unanimously. **Employee Recognition Addition** [timestamp: 00:00] Vice Mayor Wu motioned to add a presentation related to the employee recognition of project manager Mike Thomas, seconded by Councilmember Plomin. The motion passed by voice vote. **Council Meeting Docket Approval** [timestamp: 10:00] Councilmember Ellinger moved to approve the November 16, 2023 Council Meeting docket, with Councilmember Fogle providing the second. The motion passed by voice vote. **Budget Amendments** [timestamp: 20:00] Councilmember Baxter motioned to approve budget amendments. The motion passed by voice vote without a recorded second. **New Business Items** [timestamp: 30:00] Councilmember Reynolds moved to approve new business items, seconded by Councilmember Gray. The motion passed by voice vote. **Neighborhood Development Funds** [timestamp: 40:00] Councilmember Reynolds motioned to approve Neighborhood Development Funds, with Councilmember Fogle seconding. The motion passed by voice vote. **Council Capital Projects** [timestamp: 45:00] Vice Mayor Wu moved to approve Council Capital Projects, seconded by Councilmember Plomin. The motion passed by voice vote. **Mayor's Report** [timestamp: 50:00] Councilmember Baxter motioned to approve the Mayor's Report, with Councilmember Gray providing the second. The motion passed by voice vote. **Contract Bid Recommendations** [timestamp: 55:00] Vice Mayor Wu moved to approve the Mayor's Price Contract Bid Recommendations, seconded by Councilmember Plomin. The motion passed by voice vote. All votes were conducted by voice vote rather than roll call, so individual council member positions were not recorded for any of the eight motions. ## Budget and Financial Actions The council addressed three significant financial items during the November 14, 2023 meeting, totaling nearly $2 million in contracts and agreements. **Winter Shelter Services Contract** The council approved Resolution 1150-23, authorizing a $48,500 contract with Community Action Council for the operation of temporary winter motel shelter services. This contract addresses emergency housing needs during the winter months. **Health Department Partnership Agreement** Resolution 1154-23 established an agreement with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department valued at $237,500 for EFRCPOPP services. This partnership expands public health programming and service delivery capabilities within the community. **Public Infrastructure Project Modification** The largest financial action involved Resolution 1155-23, approving Change Order No. 1 with Lagco, Inc. for the Meadows/Northland/Arlington Public Improvement Project. This change order totals $1,680,425, representing a significant modification to the original infrastructure contract scope. The three financial items collectively represent $1,966,425 in municipal expenditures, spanning social services, public health initiatives, and infrastructure development. These actions demonstrate the council's commitment to addressing immediate community needs through emergency shelter services while maintaining long-term investments in public health partnerships and neighborhood infrastructure improvements. ## Public Comment Two community members addressed the council during the public comment period on November 14, 2023. **Dean Pulsifer** spoke regarding the Urban Service Boundary Expansion [timestamp: 02:00]. Pulsifer expressed disappointment with how the advisory committee recommendation had been rewritten, stating that he felt the changes did not align with the council's original intent for affordable housing. He appeared concerned that the revision may have altered the substance or direction of the committee's work on this housing-related boundary expansion issue. **Rick Day** addressed the council much later in the meeting about the Salary Distribution Study [timestamp: 01:50:00]. Day commented on the presentation of the salary distribution study, expressing confusion and stating that he lacked understanding about whether factors such as race, ethnicity, or gender were being considered in the analysis. His comments suggested he was seeking clarification on the methodology or scope of the salary study being presented to the council. Both speakers raised questions about significant policy matters before the council - housing development through boundary expansion and employee compensation analysis - indicating community interest in these municipal issues. ## Contested Items The meeting featured one contested item that generated discussion among council members. **Second Property Tax Bill** Councilmember Fred Brown raised concerns about the proposed second property tax bill during the meeting [timestamp: 01:40:00]. Brown questioned both the cost-effectiveness and necessity of implementing an additional property tax billing cycle, expressing opposition to the measure based on these practical considerations. The disagreement centered on whether the municipality should proceed with sending out a second property tax bill to residents. Brown's objections focused on the financial efficiency of the proposal and whether such a measure was actually needed by the community. The extracted data does not indicate the final outcome of this contested item or whether other council members responded to Brown's concerns during the discussion. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 02:00] During the public comment period for agenda items, Dean Pulsifer addressed the meeting regarding the urban service boundary expansion issue. Pulsifer expressed his disappointment with the recommendation that had been made by the advisory committee on this matter. The public comment period served as an informational session, allowing community members to voice their concerns and perspectives on items scheduled for discussion during the meeting. No formal action was taken during this portion of the meeting, as is typical for public comment periods. ## Public Hearing - Urban Service Changes [timestamp: 05:00] A public hearing was conducted regarding proposed urban service changes during the November 14, 2023 meeting. The hearing was opened to allow members of the public to provide input and comments on the urban service modifications under consideration. No members of the public came forward to speak during the hearing period. The meeting proceeded without any public testimony, questions, or concerns being raised regarding the proposed urban service changes. The public hearing served as an informational item, fulfilling the procedural requirement to provide community members with an opportunity to address the governing body about the urban service changes before any potential action is taken. ## Recognition of Pat Dugger [timestamp: 01:00:00] Mayor Linda Gorton presented a recognition for Pat Dugger, honoring her nearly 40 years of dedicated service as the Director of Emergency Management. Dugger's extensive career in emergency management spanned four decades, during which she served the community in preparing for and responding to various emergency situations and natural disasters. Her leadership role involved coordinating emergency response efforts, developing preparedness plans, and ensuring the safety and welfare of residents during critical incidents. The recognition acknowledged Dugger's long-standing commitment to public service and her contributions to the community's emergency preparedness and response capabilities. Her nearly four-decade tenure represents a significant period of institutional knowledge and experience in emergency management operations. The recognition was approved by the council, formally acknowledging Dugger's years of service to the community in this vital public safety role. ## Recognition of Mike Thomas [timestamp: 01:10:00] Mike Thomas was formally recognized during the meeting for his completion of the Road Safety Champion Program. Mayor Linda Gorton and Martha Horseman served as the key speakers for this recognition item. The recognition acknowledged Thomas's participation in and successful completion of the Road Safety Champion Program, though specific details about the program's requirements or Thomas's particular contributions were not detailed in the available materials. The recognition was approved by the body without noted opposition or concerns raised during the discussion. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the November 16, 2023, Council Meeting Docket (as amended) - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the November 16, 2023 Council Meeting Docket, a resolution authorizing the Mayor, on behalf of the Urban County Government, to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services seeking federal funds (ARPA), with an estimated award of $75,000.00, to support childcare expenses for the Extended School Program in the Division of Parks and Recreation, and to accept this award, if offered, and further authorizing the Mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the November 16, 2023 Council Meeting Docket, a resolution authorizing the Mayor, on behalf of the Urban County Government, to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services seeking federal funds (ARPA) with an estimated award of $20,460.00 to support childcare expenses for the Family Care Center, and to accept this award, if offered, and further authorizing the Mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the October 31, 2023, Work Session Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Budget Amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Neighborhood Development Funds, November 14, 2023 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Council Capital Projects, November 14, 2023 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve an ordinance as presented in the November 14, 2023, Social Services and Public Safety Committee, amending the hours for the sale of alcohol on Sundays (as amended) - **Motion** — passed (0-0): amend the ordinance amending the hours for the sale of alcohol on Sunday, to only allow the sale of alcohol at restaurants, not package liquor stores - **Motion** — passed (0-0): put the issue of microtransit in the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Mayor’s Report - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Mayor’s Report- Price Contract Bid Recommendations - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn at 4:21 p.m --- ## Full transcript Music ¶¶ ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome everyone. Welcome everyone. I'd like to go ahead and call to order the Lexington Fayette Urban County work session of November 14th, 2023 and the vice mayor has a motion. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I move to add a presentation to today's work session under continuing business and presentations related to the employee recognition of project manager Mike Thomas. So moved. Thank you. Thank you. Second by Council Member Plumman. Are there any questions? We'll put that right after the first recognition. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. The first item up is public comment for issues on the agenda, and we have one person signed up. And so the way this works is I'll call your name, and if you'll come to the podium, please. And for the record, you need to restate your name and your council district, and you'll have three minutes to speak. And so I'll invite Dean Pulsifer to the podium, please. Welcome. Dean Pulsifer, District 10. This is about the urban service area expansion, of course. I'm disappointed with the Planning Commission's rewriting of the advisory committee recommendation without taking into account the council's intent or staff's comments. I was going to say they ignored the intent of the urban service area expansion from council, but they really seem to be trying to subvert it. To me, I thought the intent was affordable housing and to address the steadily increasing pressure on house prices in Lexington. They reworked the proposal to meet the bare minimum requirements and included Blue Sky that is already being developed and has its own development plan and didn't really add the full amount requested by the council. The Planning Commission proposal also ignored comments from staff, and to me it's two big items. One is that Blue Sky is already zoned industrial, so it won't get much effort from the consultant and won't help with housing. The second is that Area 1B, which is the section next to Parker's Mill behind Beaumont, can't be developed without some work in 1C. And 1C is not in the final proposal, and that's due to sewer concerns. A planning commission member at that meeting said they had a motion ready at the beginning of the meeting before they had heard from staff or had had a chance to discuss it. The final motion didn't take into account the items that staff brought up or items that were discussed. It appears that the bulk of the Planning Commission is against any expansion of the urban service area and did the bare minimum to meet the council's requirements and ignored the reasons for the expansion, that is, affordable housing and having enough area to grow through 2045, as well as decrease the pressures raising housing prices in Lexington. Thank you. Thank you very much. And just to clarify, I don't believe this issue is on today's agenda. That the urban services changes, which is different. But that's okay, we heard you. Thank you. So now, I believe at this point, I'll look to our legal team. I am to open the public hearing, is that correct, for urban services changes. So I'll go ahead and declare the public hearing open. And is there anyone here who wishes to speak about the urban service changes? This is different from the expansion. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? All right, very good. I'll declare that public hearing closed. then. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the docket approval. Motion to approve. Thank you. Councilmember Ellinger second by Councilmember Fogle and please log in if you have questions, concerns, or motions. I see nothing. Now I see something. Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I would move to place on the docket for the November 16, 2023 council meeting, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application for the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services, seeking federal funds, ARPA, with an estimated award of $75,000 to support childcare expenses for the extended school program in the Division of Parks and Recreation, and to accept this award if offered and further authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. So moved. Second. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Seconds. This is, to be very clear, this is from the state ARPA funds. And so I'll ask if there are any questions about it. All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next, I have Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Mayor, I have a walk on. All right. On behalf of the administration, I move to place on the docket for the November 16, 2023 council meeting a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services seeking a federal funds, ARPA, with an SMA award of $20,460 to support childcare expenses for Family Care Center and to accept this award if offered and further authorizing them authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Thank you and councilmember James Brown seconded and again that is state ARPA money. Are there any questions? All right all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right that motion passes. Is there anything else for the docket all right all those in favor of approving the docket as amended please say aye is anyone opposed all right that passes next we'll attend to the october 31st 2023 table of motions for the work session is there a motion council member plowman moves and council member baxter seconds are there any questions corrections additions all right all those in favor please say aye anyone opposed all right that motion passes and next we have budget amendments could I have a motion thank you vice mayor moved councilmember Plumman seconded now if you have questions please log in Councilmember Baxter. Thank you, Mayor. I had a quick question about Journal 144526-27. It's the Housing and Homelessness Fund. I just need clarification on what the difference is between what our fund balance conversation was and this amount. Okay, who is here to answer that? That would be great with Jeff as your backup. Welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon. 144-526-27, correct? Yes, ma'am. This is only the projects that would be transferring to the Housing and Homelessness Fund. So that would be your additional OP funds, the affordable housing amount. And I'm glad to send specifically those projects to you, but you have all of them in the 144, 521 at the top. Okay. So that is all the funds that were assigned during the fund balance conversation. And then each of them below represents only those projects that are transferred from the general fund to another fund to complete. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's what I needed. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Are there other questions about budget amendments? All right. All those in favor of approving, say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. We have for information only the budget adjustments on pages 8 and 9. and then we will move right along to new business if I could have a motion to approve all right councilmember Reynolds moves councilmember gray seconds and please log in with your questions councilmember Plumman thank you mayor and this had to do with number C mr. Martin are you here and this has to do with the installation of the sanitary sewer utilities with the Norfolk Southern Railroad Track. Welcome, Director. My question is, what will that do for the area? What's the benefit of doing that? Nothing I propose to it, I just didn't know what it would do. Basically installing that pipeline and the upstream pipelines would eliminate two pumping stations. And so, gravity is free, it never takes a day off. Gotcha. Okay. there and then on number d i'm sorry this is on number e and this has to do with the you matter kentucky i would say that's commissioner allen bryant allen bright there she is and so what's your question is welcome i could just i think it's probably a great idea i just had never heard of you matter kentucky and wanted to see if we can find out a little bit more so So UMatter Kentucky is actually the 501c3 name for our juvenile treatment court. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, and that's what we approved, I think. Yes, ma'am. So the $50,000 rolled over from last year, and then they already had $50,000 for this year. Okay, yeah, we heard about that. So I just didn't know the name. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. Just on item I, I don't know if Director Heron or Commissioner Langer wanted to just come up and kind of explain this a little bit more in detail. Good afternoon. So if you potentially recall from our conversation about the Bluegrass Care Navigators funding that we recently approved, initially we had put out one RFP to try to do a limited amount of hotel shelter capacity for the winter season. for persons that would not be appropriate at our congregate temporary shelter. That was to address populations like families with children, as well as those that were senior and disabled. We received only one response to that RFP from Bluegrass Care Navigators. They proposed to meet the need for those who are seniors and disabled, but did not feel like that was their expertise to take on families with minor children. I worked with Bluegrass Care Navigators to reduce the budget for that proposal, and my board approved additional funding for Community Action Council, who operates our Emergency Family Housing Shelter program. That typically uses apartment units as emergency shelter, a very small number of them. We don't have the capacity to generate additional apartment units quickly when someone's in need of emergency housing. So this would just be an additional measure to make sure that if we had households with minor children, that we would have an expanded option if, for example, the Salvation Army had no family beds available. Okay, so this is not at a motel, or it is at a motel? This would be motel-based, and it would provide wraparound services and allow us to maintain approximately three additional hotel rooms for the season. At the time that my board approved the funding, it was before there was certainty that this office would receive additional funding for the Innovative and Sustainable Solutions Fund. So they've asked me to keep them apprised of the budget on this project should it move forward so they can consider if there needs to be additional commitments. Okay. Thank you very much for that explanation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Gray. Okay, Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question about item K as in Kentucky, if Mr. Atkins is here. Craig Benz is filling in for you today. Perfect. Just a little bit more information and background on what this project is or what this is. Sure. So, KEDFA provides, provided preliminary approval for vector corrosion technologies to receive a 4% incentive, essentially a wage assessment. And that is a 10 year agreement. It's typical when KEDFA enters into these agreements with local companies that the LFUCG also provides some incentive as well. So in this case, we're recommending a half percent, a 0.5 percent incentive that would go along with that. There's no actual cost to this for the government. It's based on occupational taxes for future wages for new jobs being created. There's 20 jobs that will be created. Okay. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Does anyone else have new business questions? All right, all those in favor of approving new business, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And we'll move right on to continuing business presentations. So I'll entertain a motion to approve NDF funds. Second. All right, Councilmember Reynolds moves. Councilmember Fogle seconds. Are there any questions, council members? All those in favor, please say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And now I'll entertain a motion to approve capital projects. So moved. Second. Vice Mayor Wu moves. Councilmember Plowman seconds. Are there any questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And next is Council Member Jennifer Reynolds, who has Social Services and Public Safety Report. Thank you, Mayor. The Social Services and Public Safety Committee met on October 10, 2023. The meeting was called to order at 1.02 PM and the first item on our agenda was approval of the August 22nd, 2023 committee summary. There were no additions or corrections and the summary was approved without dissent. Next, Chief Wells with Lexington Fire Department presented the community risk assessment. As a part of the accreditation process, the Division of Fire and Emergency Services had to create its first ever community risk assessment standards of cover. He defined community risk assessment as the identification of potential and likely risks with a particular community and the process of prioritizing those risks. No action was taken on this item. Our third item was the juvenile treatment court update. Melissa Moore Murphy provided an overview of juvenile treatment court. And she explained the mission statement, which comes from state statute with a focus on mental health for children. Kivy Figgs with the Fayette County Public Schools explained a typical day for youth once they enter the program. She said that there would be an individual participant plan, an IPP, random drug screening, participation in mental health services, attending court dates and following the rules. No action was taken on this item. Our last item was the source of income discrimination presented by Charlie Lanter, Commissioner of Housing, Advocacy and Community Development. Source of income discrimination is a refusal to rent to someone based on their form of income and it has been an ongoing issue, particularly in the housing world. There are very few listings in Lexington that accept vouchers. Some solutions recommended including state and local governments to adopt legislation prohibiting housing discrimination based on SOI. What this means is that the landlords can't advertise no section eight. The proposal from the law department is to add language to the fairness ordinance, which extends a ban on SOI. This does not prevent landlords from using credit history, eviction history, criminal history, or any other commercially reasonable and non-discriminatory practice in making a rental decision. No action was taken on this item. However, the committee agreed to hold a special meeting this evening at 6 PM for the purpose of hearing public comment on this item. The meeting adjourned at 3.05 PM and that concludes this report out, but I have an additional report out from today's meeting. I have a partial report out summary from today's Social Services and Public Safety Committee that met November 14th, 2023. At today's Social Services and Public Safety Committee meeting, we had a presentation on the sale of alcohol on Sundays. After today's presentation and discussion among council members, a motion was made by Councilmember Civigni to approve an ordinance as presented today, as amended. Seconded by Councilmember Gray. Motion passed by a vote of 9 to 1. And it was yes, James Brown, Mr. Ellinger, Ms. Fogel, Minares, Gray, Baxter, Savigny, Reynolds, and Pullman, and no, Councilmember Fred Brown. On behalf of the committee, I so move. Second. I'm sorry, who seconded? James. Council Member James Brown. Yes. All right. Thank you. Is there any discussion? For those of you who were not at the committee, any questions? Or anybody else? No? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. A motion was made by Council Member Baxter to amend the previous motion, only allowing sale of alcohol at restaurants, not packaged liquor stores. Seconded by Councilmember Fogle. Motion was passed by a vote 6-4. Yes, Councilmember James Brown, Ellinger, Fogle, Fred Brown, Baxter, and Plowman. No, Menares, Gray, Savigny, and Reynolds. On behalf of the committee, I so move. Okay, so this is the real motion. As amended. As amended. All right, is there a second? Councilmember Baxter. All right, is there any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? No. All right, we have one no vote, Councilmember Fred Brown. All right, thank you. The next part is a report, but it already happened, so I'm a little confused, but that's okay. Motion was made by Councilmember Savini to report this item out during council work session this afternoon and seconded by Councilmember Gray. Motion passed by vote 9 to 1, yes, Councilmember Brown, Alan Garfogle, Menares, Gray, Baxter, Savini, Reynolds, and Plowen. No, Councilmember Fred Brown. On behalf of the committee, I so move. I don't need to do that, right? I don't need to do that one. Yeah, you're already doing it. Sorry, it was handed to me and I thought, but yeah, I don't need to do that, yeah. Okay, so the full November 14, 2023 committee summary will be reported out at work session when we resume after our winter recess. And that concludes my report. All right, very good, thank you very much. Okey dokey. Okay, it's time for a couple of recognitions. All right, Pat Duggar, you already knew I was going to ask you up here, right? Yes, ma'am. Pat is our Director of Emergency Management, and after nearly 40 years of service to the city, Pat is retiring. I think you said your last day is November 30th? Yes, ma'am. Yes. So on November 1st, 1988, Pat was named the first director of the newly formed Division of Emergency Management. Pat's job has not been easy. She created all of the policies and processes that are currently in use by the Division of Emergency Management. She has stood by our community and our Commonwealth during many natural disasters, including the Masterson Station tornado, numerous ice storms and snow storms, flooding, and that's just to name a few in our community. More recently, Pat was integral in helping us through the coronavirus pandemic. She was involved in the dissemination of vaccines and coordinating testing locations. Gosh, I remember going out there. Pat, I want to thank you for your dedication to our community. We wish you a wonderful retirement. And at this time, I'm pleased to present this proclamation. Here's how it goes. Whereas Pat Duggar has been a dedicated public servant in Lexington for nearly 40 years, and whereas Pat began working for the city on July 30, 1984, and she was named the first director of the newly formed Division of Emergency Management on November 1, 1988, and whereas throughout her tenure in Lexington, Pat has served six mayors and whereas she developed all of the policies and processes currently used by the Division of Emergency Management and whereas Pat held an integral role in the development and building of Lexington's Public Safety Operations Center and whereas throughout her career, Pat assisted in many natural disasters including the Masterson Station tornado, floods, ice storms, snow storms, and supported many hurricane evacuation operations. And whereas during the coronavirus pandemic, Pat had a very significant role in the dissemination of vaccines. You didn't actually give any yourself, did you? No, no, no. That would have been you. And establishment of testing locations. and whereas we thank Pat very much for her many years of service and wish her a very happy retirement, now, therefore, I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare November 14, 2023, Pat Duggar Day in Lexington. Thank you so much. Thank you. I just want to say thank you to everyone. It's been a great place to work. I can honestly say there was never a dull day in all of those years. You had great plans, and then something would happen to change your day. But I love the job. I love serving this community. And fortunately, we're one division that actually gets out and works with every component of Lexington that there is. Always have had wonderful support from whatever council there was. And I thank this one for the support you've given us while you've been here. I've got great staff, and I've had great staff throughout the years. That's why we've been able to accomplish as much as we did. And I've always had great support within the Department of Public Safety. The directors now are wonderful. We all collaborate very well. So I think that you all can be very, very proud of your overall public safety department, as well as the program of emergency management. And that's not just our division. When FEMA and everybody looks at the program, they look at the whole community and how your responses work. And I think we've been able to develop a great collaboration here. And we're actually looked at throughout the country in a lot of ways for people to look at lessons learned and how things are done. So, again, thank you so very much. It's been my pleasure totally to serve, so thank you. And we also want to recognize Noah, who was just a figment in Pat's imagination when I first started on council. Her son Noah is here today. Yeah. Can you be in the picture? Yeah. Okay. Are you doing the best for breakfast? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, I wonder if Mike Thomas and Martha Horseman and Commissioner Nancy Albright would join me at the podium. You go first, then. Martha is the director of the technology transfer program at the Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky. Mike Thomas is a project manager in our streets and roads. And most recently, a graduate of the road safety champion program. Road safety, as all of you know, is very important to our city. And our division of streets and roads makes an enormous contribution to making our roads safer. So first, let me thank Mike. Thank you. And I'm going to invite Martha up to say a little bit more about this program. We're winging it a little bit. I know you are. So am I. We're all winging this. I would like to just say, as a part of the Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works, how proud we are of Mike. We all encourage and embrace continuing education, and the Road Safety, Road Scholar program is a crucial part for a lot of local governments to help make sure that we are using best practices as we maintain and operate our streets. And to have someone that's completed even just the Road Scholar and Road Master Program is a significant achievement for a department. And yet Mike's gone above and beyond that with the support of Director Rob Allen to complete this new nationally accredited program. So I'm going to get Adam Kirk with UK to tell you just a little bit about the program. Thank you. I'm Adam Kirk with the University of Kentucky Transportation Center Technology Transfer Program. And the Road Safety Champion Program is a nationally recognized certificate program for transportation members to promote transportation safety within your local community. It was started and adopted in Kentucky by us back in 2022. And we're happy to recognize Mike as our first ever graduate of the program. that's a total of 24 hours of classes, as well as completing an individual project to look at a road safety improvement project. And so with that, we would like to present Mike with our very own warning sign certificate here and a coffee mug to keep him going through this cold night. Thank you. No. I really appreciate this honor that they have gave me the opportunity. And just working here with Streets and Roads has been a great opportunity for me also. I stay pretty busy through every single day. When I leave from Streets and Roads, I coach softball, girls softball at Taysbury High School. So that's a full-time job itself. Also, you know, just coming up when I was growing up, I didn't really have that great opportunity to get to go to college. My parents had issues, and I had to work and everything. But taking these extra classes and stuff throughout the time I've been with Streets and Roads has really brought my education level up, learning experience up, and trying to hopefully mentor younger professionals to get in this field as a trade. So I really appreciate the opportunity and the time, not just for Lexington, Fayette, Urban County Government, but for UK also for giving me the opportunity. And I really appreciate it. Thanks. I just wanted to say finally, it is very special for him to receive this honor from the University of Kentucky. We appreciate you all. And now, would you like to get a photo? Okay, come on, they all say yes. Thank you. All right, thank you so much. And this brings us to council reports. So if you'll log in, please. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I'll be brief. One thing is Mary Quinn and Visit Lex got recognized where they earned 13 awards from the Statewide Tourism Association. And then Mary Quinn herself was presented with a pretty distinctive award, which is the highest honor given by the Kentucky Travel and Tourism Industry. I just want to reiterate that she and her team, Mary Quinn and her team at Visit Lex do a great job promoting Lexington and making sure that Lexington is at the top of people's mind when they're thinking about visiting places and coming to Lexington. So I just want to give kudos to her. And then also, Ms. Duggar, congratulations. I remember when I became a neighborhood association president and took the emergency management training, the CERT training here at the city. And I was like, so the manager of the Department of Emergency Management lives in my neighborhood? I've got to have her phone number. So I'm still going to text you, so just know that. So congratulations for all you've done for our community. And then, Mayor, I had a conversation with Council Member Sevigny, thinking about the infrastructure fund and ways that we can improve it. And I was willing to put that item in the BFED committee to take a look at the infrastructure fund and see ways that we can improve on how that's used and make it more accessible to people to access those funds. So I don't think I need a motion for that, but I'm going to put that item in BFED committee. That's all I have. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Plowman. Thank you, Mayor. And Pat Duggar, I would like to recognize you too. 40 years. That's a long time. Pat and I actually met each other back in the early 2000s when I was at United Way. And actually, the project we worked on was from 9-11 because we had folks that possibly were going to move to Lexington because they had no places to stay in New York City. And we waited. We had everything ready and ready. They did not come, but we were prepared. A lot of that was due to your leadership. So congratulations and happy trails. And Noah, good to see you too. A few other things. Actually, it's been kind of busy. Last Monday night, we had our fourth community outreach event at Bracktown. And thank you, Council Member Lynch, for coming, attending, and helping with the facilitation. This is our fourth one. But if you ever get a chance to come, they were so enjoyable. It's a lot of reminiscing. They talk about family names. They talk about stories. I remember one saying, man, she was a mean old woman. Here's the tricks. But it was just fun. We captured those, and they'll be used later down. But we'll have another one in February, and I'll let you know when that is. And Tiffany Brown, who's our chair of our steering committee, is here, and she was there that night, too. And then on Tuesday, I got to represent the mayor in the city in a proclamation at the National Philanthropy Day. And that's a very cool event. There's over, gosh, right about 50 nonprofits. And they all bring in an individual or an organization who has meant a whole lot to them. This was the 36th year. And it's just nice to look around the room and see those great nonprofits and the people that support them. So that was good. And then Thursday night, Mary and I were at Castleton Lions, and each year the owner of the Ryans give out a book award to an equine-related book. And there were three finalists, and one of them was Horse, which is my all-time favorite book. Jacqueline Brooks is the author. What do I call her? Geraldine. Oh, Geraldine. Geraldine, and I said Jacqueline. She was not there, but she was live on Zoom. And I would also mention that Keeneland will be having an event with her. She will be there at Keeneland and I believe in the auction pavilion from 6 to 8. She'll have her books, book signing, and she'll talk more about the book Horse, which if you haven't read it, read it. It's all about Lexington, the horse, and all about Central Kentucky and the horse industry and kind of the slaves and everything that kind of went along at that time. That's all, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Fogel. Thank you, Mayor. Hey, First District. I told you it's coming, we're trying to beat the paving season before it closed. But Commissioner Albright, thank you for Toner, Kenton, Campbell, for those streets being paved. I drove down them last night and I was amazed, didn't hit one .0. So thank you and your team for that. Would like to tell first district in the city of Lexington, the pool take a piece of history at Douglas Park has been suspended due to the weather for Saturday. the predicted weather, it will be moved to May right after the Kentucky Derby and right before Memorial Day. So I want to make that an announcement. Also, the Catholic Action Center, everyone is so used to after 24 years, 24 plus years, they will not be doing the Christmas store this year. And so they are all in with give a kid a home. Give a kid a home. You can go to the web page and donate, they are taking donations. Over 575 Fayette County school kids are homeless, and so that's the project that the Catholic Action Center is working on this year. Elkhorn Neighborhood Association will meet at 530 tonight. Green Acres had their Neighborhood Association meeting last night. We had a great time there, a lot of work was done. Also, Nick Cooper, and this is in Councilmember Reynolds District, but we work together on a lot of things. He will be holding a fashion of the Christmas store out of Angliana. That's Project Kids. He is the co-founder of the Toy Factory, which is a detail shop. So I want to give him a shout out for picking up and trying to add to people who cannot afford toys for their children, but to go and get free haircuts and he will be feeding anyone that shows up. Wanted to make that announcement. I had something that LTMS produced with Council Member Brown and myself, but we're not going to show that tonight. Hopefully we can get this keyed up for our next session. And I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who will be celebrating. Please remember those who will not have families or have lost families and just keep them lifted in prayer. That's my report, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Wu. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to start with a piece of business. This is born out of a discussion following a presentation that we had about a waste digester in the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee. So I am forming a waste digester working group consisting of council members Baxter, Fogle, Legree, and Reynolds, and chaired by council member Savigny. We are doing it in this form of a working group instead of a subcommittee because we had a number of council members who were not in the EQPW committee who wanted to serve on it. Up next, a couple of events that I've gone to this past week. Just yesterday, I was just across the street in the lobby of McBrayer for the lighting of the Casa Angel Tree. Casa, as many of you know, whoops, that's not me. Casa, as many of you know, is court-appointed special advocates. And they have a program sponsored by McBrayer that is called Angel Tree. It's basically a bunch of envelopes with kids' names, ages, genders, and their wish lists for Christmas. And everybody is free to snag one of those and give to some children in need. You can go to cassoflexington.org slash angeltree for more information. I'm sure there are still kids available there. And then this past weekend, I went to a very, very powerful event at Camp Nelson out in Jessamine County called the Luminaria and Memorial Walk. And what this commemorates is 159 years ago in 1864, November, Camp Nelson was used as essentially a refugee ground and an army base for black soldiers. and in November of 1864, by order of the general there, 400 refugees, families, wives and children of these black soldiers were expelled from the camp with nowhere to go and they essentially wandered up what would now be Lexington Road or Nicholasville Road and 100 of them died during the following days and weeks. and this was the eighth expulsion of its kind at Camp Nelson. The news of this atrocity that happened reached national news and it prompted folks in Washington to actually make some changes. So in March of next year, President Lincoln passed legislation to grant freedom to emancipate the family members of those Blacks enlisted soldiers as well. So it was a very, very powerful piece of history that we got to witness. We walked along this path. It was a very chilly night, which I think gave you an idea of what folks were going through. And it's a piece of Civil War and American history just 20 minutes south of Lexington. And so if you all haven't been out to Camp Nelson, you should definitely check that out. check out that marker that is a national monument. That is my report. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. And I, too, want to congratulate Director Duggar for all that she's done and for sticking with the government for so long, not giving up on us, and for your leadership during COVID especially. Not many directors of emergency management can say that they lived through all the things that you've lived through, including a global pandemic that only happens about once every hundred years. So congratulations, and I hope you enjoy your next steps in retirement. I want to just take this moment to explain how grateful I am to the many, many constituents who have been pushing to have better air quality and better quality of life after the foul smells that have escalated in their vicinity. Last year, I started hearing a few complaints about the smell off Leastown Road. Then complaints died down for a while and started popping up again this summer and getting severely worse at the end of the summer and beginning of the fall. I heard concerns from Meadowthorpe residents, Townley residents, business owners in the area, as well as people who frequent that part of town and work over there. I went to the Commissioner of Environmental Quality and Public Works and the Director of Water Quality. We had a special meeting at the wastewater treatment plant with a lot of constituents that showed up, but complaints kept flooding in and flooding in. So my constituents and I kept pressing, and I spoke with CAO Hamilton and the administration, and they took these concerns very seriously. That is why Mayor Gorton signed an emergency contract to hire Webster Environmental Associates from Louisville to assist with the Division of Water Quality in addressing the air quality complaints related to the wastewater treatment plants, to both of our wastewater treatment plants, and their collection systems. They will identify the source of the odor and what could be causing them, including needed improvements, and will establish a plan for ongoing odor control, which I think is extremely important. So once again, I want to thank you, Mayor Gorton, and for everyone involved at the city for responding to my constituents' cry for an improvement in their air quality. I also put this item in committee, so hopefully at the beginning of the year we can have an update as to what's going on with all of this. And I am extremely grateful, and I hope that the 11th District and all of Lexington will smell much better soon. Thank you. Thank you very much. When I went outside my house yesterday, all I smelled was peanut butter cooking while they were cooking it. Council Member Legree. Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple of questions and I'm not sure who would be best suited to answer them because I believe typically it would be Mr. Adkins. About what? It's about the use of Lexington Public Infrastructure Funds. Dave Barbary can help you. Okay, great. So I am aware that Council Member James Brown has just put this item in committee, which I really appreciate. but since October 31st when this was first in our packet I've gotten a number of questions from constituents and I just want to get them out there publicly if you don't mind so a couple of people have asked me about why these public infrastructure funds have been not been used thus far for what we would consider housing infill projects? Okay so I think what's been missed in the reporting of this is that the ordinance itself was substantially changed about a year ago and that was kind of because they weren't getting a lot of interest I think at the time and one of the things that changed was it changed so that there was an equal emphasis potential on economic development and so the two projects that you all have for second reading are both in the economic development category they wouldn't necessarily be in the infill category because where they're located but I don't know that it was I'd have to go back and look at the original ordinance but I don't know that it was ever focused really on housing it was focused on infill but that was changed at about a year ago okay may I add just a quick point because when we kind of came up with this fund I talked with some members of the development community who said it wasn't enough money. Okay. It was three, I think it was three million at the time. Okay. When you mentioned the level of interest, does that mean that there weren't applications or they there were and they weren't suitable? I don't, so these go to the Economic Development Investment Board. I don't think they had a single application. We didn't have any. Okay. um okay uh so my understanding from what you're saying is that these two projects are more focused on the economic development aspect of this and that even though potentially housing could have been part of uh the intention of a fund of this sort there haven't been the applications to to fit that part of right and i think in the current and you all be looking at this committee obviously going forward but um i think the current iteration really does not mention housing specifically at all um okay not at all i'd have to go back and double check but i think that that might be in the previous version of the ordinance oh if it was in there at all okay okay um and just so again this This is a question I've gotten from people. So just, and after these projects were to move, if they were to be approved and move forward, how much would be remaining in that fund? So a million would be remaining? Okay. I think so. It's a million. Okay. That will be left. Okay. Yeah. All right, excellent. Well, it sounds like we're going to cover this a lot more in committee. I just got a lot of questions about housing and info as you can imagine with the position of my district and a lot of the conversations we've been having. So thank you, I really appreciate you Mr. Barbary. Thank you Mayor and thank you Councilmember Sevigny. All right, thank you. Councilmember Gray. Thank you Mayor. First of all, I would like to say thank you to the following individuals by name. Might take an hour to name them all. For the help with the Black Achievers event, Mayor Linda Gordon, Council Members James Brown, Shayla Lynch, Preston Worley, Whitney Baxter, Commissioners Nancy Albright, Charlie Lanter, Erin Hensley, Keith Horn, Police Chief Lawrence Weathers, Assistant Fire Chief Chad Traylor, Deputy CAO Glenn Brown, Law Department, Carlos Ross, GTV staff, Legislative aides, Layton, Torrey, Renee, I might be forgetting one, but particularly, I'm going to mention my legislative aide, Tiffany Duncan, who the event would not have occurred without her support and all the work she did. Also, a huge thank you to the mayor's staff, just to name a couple, Jacob and Susan Straub. The event could not happen without the help of so many. It was my first here as council member with the youth. There will be another one in the spring and the way that it was such a success, I know the one in the spring will be a success as well. Moving on. Over the weekend, there were several events. I would like to say congratulations to the Lyric Theater. As you see, I had a fangirl moment. I don't know if some people have seen the video. I was given a proclamation to the Sugar Hill Gang. I may have had a moment. I may have. I did. Council Member Lynch is saying I did. And my constituents who were there said they will never forget that I had a huge moment. But congratulations to the Lyric Theater and Executive Director Christian Adair, who resides in the 6th District, on putting together such a well-attended event that was free. In addition, as many of you all are aware, Councilmember Lynch and I have been doing town halls around the city of Lexington. Earlier this year, I placed in committee code enforcement as a whole. And I believe in order to make change, we must include the residents of Lexington in that process. I would like to say thank you to Commissioner Charlie Lanter, Director Lee Steele, of course Councilmember Shailen Lynch and my other colleagues who have shown up as a team of support because we are going all around the district and we are going all around Lexington and this is a team effort and I'm just thankful that this is a team effort and everyone is on board in making positive change in our community. If you have not had an opportunity to attend the first two town halls, guess Guess what, it's not over. We have two more to go. We have one coming up tomorrow evening at Liberty Elementary and following up on, which is in the 6th District. And then following up our final one for the month of November will be held at the STEAM Academy, which is housed in the 2nd District home of Councilmember Lynch. This is not the only one. I've heard from you all in the community. Elderly are very important to us and we are putting together a special event for you. We are coming to you where you are and hopefully soon we will have the location confirmed. Lastly, we do have a survey that we would like for you to complete. If you've had any personal interactions with code enforcement, we want to hear from you. Go ahead and take your phones up to the QR code and go ahead, I'll wait. Put that in there. Five, four, three, two. Okay, I know you got it. If you didn't, you can also come to my Facebook page or the council members lynches, or your council members will be sending out this survey as well in their newsletter. This is a team effort and we want to hear from you. This is your opportunity to be heard. Take this moment, enjoy it, and we can't wait to get the policy you want to see in the next year. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. It has come to my attention about the second property tax bill that's supposed to be coming out. Is Commissioner Hensley or anybody from Finance here that could answer a couple questions? Ashley's here. Ashley. It's my understanding that we send those out from the city, is that correct? She's going to say the sheriff sends them out. Do we send those bills out? The sheriff bills on our behalf. Pardon? The Fayette County Sheriff's Office bills on our behalf for property tax. Okay, have those been sent out yet? They have not, and I'm not certain of a date. December 1st, is that? for the second billing um remember and do we know the the amount of of revenue that's included in that that would come to i think the revenue comes to um to us and then we submit it over to the sheriff's department it will be collected by the sheriff's office who will then forward those payments to us and the second billing will be the urban services portion above four percent only do we know how much dollars we're talking about i don't have that that with me today, but I'm glad to provide to you by email. Is there, I understand it's not very much, and I understand it's really is going to cause an inconvenience to a lot of taxpayers getting a $5 bill or a $10 bill, and I'm wondering if we've looked at the possibility of, is it worth it to send those out? Has anybody talked about that or mentioned it? I believe there have been some discussions and are ongoing discussions to that effect. As you'll recall, the increase to the services and urban services fund, the street lights and the refuse were critical to maintain the level of service. So there's certainly a need for the revenue, but we understand where you're coming from in the inconvenience and there are continuing conversations. Well, I understand the need for the revenue, but I don't like the fact that we're going to send out another bill because we're worried about recall. And that's the legal part about it. I guess maybe I need to ask Law, can we stop that from council action at this point until we get a little bit more discussion or a little bit more information? And while Dave's coming to the podium, we worked for several weeks with the sheriff and the county clerk on this issue. And one of the places where we were looking, to your point, was if someone owed less money than it cost to send them a bill. So with that, I'll give it to you. Well, what amount is that, though? I can't tell you right now, but we didn't think that was very cost efficient to send that kind of a bill. Well, it's probably a little late in the process to stop it now. And I do not, I don't recall what the deadline, the absolute deadline is for sending it out, but it's coming. It's impending, like right before you all go on break. So, but, I mean, if you were of a mind as a majority to do this, it would probably be better to stop it before the bills get sent out than do some sort of refund if you had a mind to do that. Because, you know, the refund stuff would cost us more than, it would be doubling the cost of all this stuff. So, but I think you probably run out of track to do it. Well, I was thinking more of a common sense approach of telling the taxpayers out there that, hey, let's stop this second billing. And if we need to get the revenue or send the sheriff some of the extra dollars that we owe them because of this increase, we can take it out of fund balance. Or you can take it out of my allocation if you want to. Because I understand it's a small amount. you know we're not talking about a large dollar amount so that's that's my position on it is that you know give it back to the taxpayers and everybody's bill will differ you understand that because it's a property tax and they've i don't mean to horn in on you but it's too late these are we have worked for weeks to get the proper kind of envelope printed so that it's different We've worked with the sheriff to do a different message so people understand what it is. It's probably printed and ready to go because it's almost ready to send out. So did you want to say something? You walked back up, Ashley. I mean, I appreciate your sentiment. You all were talking behind the scenes because I don't think this came out to the council. I mean, other than we passed it. This council voted to do this. I know that. Yeah. I know that. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't have looked at the cost effectiveness of it. And you did as administration, evidently, and decided to go ahead and go forward. We did. And that was the task we were given by the council. I understand. Who all voted. If I can't stop it, then I want to go out there to say I think this is a... I appreciate it. Yeah, I think we could have done a better job. Thank you. Okay, I think Council Member Ellinger wanted to speak to this. Thank you. Ashley, could you come back up here? I know one of the reasons why this was asked and voted on and passed was because we had a $2 million deficit that we were taking out of the general fund. Now, how much of that, and you said you don't have the number with what we've already collected, because whatever is getting collected now is over the 4%, which could have had a recall and had to wait until after that date happened before you could actually do this. Can you get that back to us? I can absolutely send that out. Because I didn't know if it's going to be $200 or it's going to be $2 million, how big a difference that was. It's more than $200. I know that. It's in the hundreds of thousands. I'm glad to send that out. Here comes. I think it's a lot closer to the $2 million than it is to the $200. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions about this issue before we leave it? All right. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Council Member Savigny. Thank you, Mayor. Just a few things. First of all, congrats once again to your retirement, Director. I'm happy for you. Enjoy this part of life. You could run for office, too, now if you want to. No, she's on my district. That's what crazy people do when they retire sometimes. So come join us. And then a couple other things. I wanted to, Councilwoman Gray forgot to mention Commissioner Casey Ellen Bryant, who helped with Black Achievers Day. And so I'm her mouthpiece to thank her for this, and thank you for that. A little shout out to Councilmember Legree. I did have a lot of the same issues that I think that you were asking today, and I appreciate that. That's why I spoke to Council Member Brown, because I do think it's difficult for us that come into office with something that was approved before us to actually know what was done before we showed up. And sometimes we just kind of ride the wave, and this is kind of one of those issues that I think needs a little more discussion, so I appreciate that. I want to also let everyone know that this is No Shave November, and that's why I'm growing a beard. This is called a beard, and women can partake in No Shave November as well, if you'd like to. But No Shave November is all about cancer awareness, so please join me in that. I love to get a little laugh out of you guys. Join us for some holiday fun in District 10 while supporting the Lexington Fraternal Order Firefighters, the toy program. Mark your calendars for Sunday, November 26th. That's the Sunday after Thanksgiving at 4 o'clock at Station 20 on Arrowhead Drive. That is where the big, there's a huge display that goes on every year. It's pretty cool. It's done to music. and Council Member Baxter and I will kick off that light show. It'll be just like the Thanksgiving Day Parade over there. And on Friday, December 1st at 5.30, we'll light the tree at Station 19 on Southland Drive. This annual tradition has entertainment from the Lafayette High School Choir and Orchestra. Note that that would make District 10 once again the music capital of the world. We'll have tasty snacks, we'll have drinks from the Southland businesses, and great company of our friends and neighbors. Bring a toy to that event if you can. You can learn about the toy program and donate at lfdfof.org. Colleagues, I hope you'll join me in giving a toy to that organization. And I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Have a great time. Okay, that's it. Okay, we will, thank you. Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. I have a few announcements and thank yous. I had a very busy last couple of weeks. I just want to give a big thank you to Trees Lexington and Beargrass developers who are developing an affordable housing apartment community in the second district, Oakdale Apartments. Vice Mayor Wu was there to help us plant some trees. And many of you may not know, our tree canopy in the second district is scored at a D. So I'm very excited that Trees Lexington is partnering with the developers in my district and other community members to plant more trees in the second district. So I'm an overachiever and we're going to get that grade up to an A. I'm very determined. So I'm very excited that we were able to plant trees. And again, thank you Vice Mayor Ruth for coming out to support that event. Also, on Saturday, I got to support an event called Equine for All. It was held by Frankie's Corner Little Thoroughbred Crusade, which is a local nonprofit who is, their mission is to make sure that underrepresented youth get to have equine experiences here in the community to get them interested in the equine industry. And they had a very, very good time on Saturday. Councilmember James Brown and I got to judge the competition that day. And the students learned the skills that morning and we judged them on those skills that afternoon. And they did excellent. They did really, really excellent. So a special thank you to Germo Reese for inviting us to participate. And the 50, 60 kids that were there on Saturday had a blast interacting with the horses. They learned quite a bit and I was truly impressed by their skills. Also, I got to participate in the VA 5K with Charlie, the mayor's husband. He was a runner as well, and he placed first in his age group. I placed sixth in my age group, so we did very well representing and being there to honor the veterans. Councilwoman Gray was there to give a proclamation and was a great support to us runners. And I just want to give a big shout out to the VA for sponsoring a really, really awesome event. A lot of community partners were there to support our veterans and to honor our veterans, And it was really, really a great day for a run. The temperature was like 75 degrees. It was awesome. It was awesome. Also, kind of in the same vein, I got to do something on a personal note to help veterans. One of my fellow Citizens Police Academy graduates, who was a U.K. grad student, invited me to participate in his research study. And he is researching how to optimize VO2 max for special ops Marines. And that's basically the oxygen, your oxygen levels when you are doing some kind of physical activity or exertion. So he put me through a very rigorous test because I'm a runner. And I was so happy to participate in that study. And he's going to use all the results to put together a report to hopefully help our Marines in their efforts as they are serving our country. So it was very exciting to participate in that study. And he did a great job at that. And then just to echo what Councilwoman Gray mentioned about the hip hop 50th anniversary, I got happy honor of giving a proclamation, thank you mayor, to MC Shyrock. She is the first lady of hip hop, the very first one. And it was just an honor to have her be in Lexington to give an awesome concert that was free to the community. It was a phenomenal turnout. The event was sold out at the Lyric and it was just a great, great opportunity for community and come together and having a good time. So big thank you again to the Lyric and all the community partners that made that happen. And I think that is all my report. Thank you, Mayor. Very good. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to put the issue of microtransit in the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee. So moved. Second. Member Reynolds seconded. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? all right that motion passes that's all thank you man okay very good any other council reports all right um we do have a mayor's report if i could have a motion to approve council member baxter and second by council member gray are there any questions All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And we have a mayor's price contract bid for approval, if I could have a motion. Move to approve. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Plowman seconds. Any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. And then I wanted to recognize that today is Chief Colvin's one-year anniversary, I believe. Most of you know he has been busy. and things at our detention center have let's just say you've made wonderful progress out there with some of the issues that we had been dealing with and I thank you for that I didn't know if you wanted to introduce your sidekick now would be a nice time I think everybody here knows his sidekick But that's what I was going to say, Mayor, is that it's my privilege and my pleasure to introduce the person that doesn't need an introduction in the room. In fact, he knows more of y'all than I do. When I took over command of the division a year ago, I was before the council and kind of laid out my plan. And part of that was to get a better community footprint. there's a lot of important there's a lot of good and honorable work going on behind those thick bars and that's still doors down at the detention center by the officers of the division and we just had to and we can't bring the community in and just need to get that message out and so I'm really proud to introduce Jay as the new spokesman for the division of community corrections. He's accepted the position as the public information officer for the division and we look for great things from him in the area of employee recognition. We're going to start the newsletter again, but most importantly as the division spokesperson, as the community outreach coordinator on behalf of the division. And we think that this is recruiting. These are the things that he can really bring his skill set and all his years of experience and his contacts in the community to bear to help us rep the Division of Community Corrections. So I'd like to introduce Jay Alexander. Very good. Welcome. Thank you, Chief Colvin. I am honored to serve in this position in a city that I absolutely love. 25 years goes by real quick. I'd like to thank Chief Colvin, our administrative staff, Major Lamans, all in our administrative staff will all embrace me welcoming me in and our day-to-day officers who do a great great job 24 hours a day seven days a week on a tough but needed job for our community anything you guys think from me my door is always open thank you thank you congratulations to both of you thank you next it is public comment for issues not on the agenda we have one person signed up and so you'll come to the podium state your name and your dis council district and have three minutes Rick Day welcome my name is Rick Day and I live in the third district I recently watched a presentation of the results of the study done by the management advisory group to determine if race, ethnicity, or gender are factors in the salary distribution of LFUCG employees. And then I watched it again. And then I watched it again. I came here today to comment on that presentation, but a few minutes ago, while sitting back there I realized I still did not understand enough of what was said in that presentation to comment on it the only thing I do know for sure is that I still don't know if race ethnicity or gender are factors in the salary distribution of LFU CD employees other than that I don't know what to say right now I'm at a loss for words but don't worry I won't be for long thank you thank you that concludes public comment Thank you.