# Council Work Session - January 23, 2024 > Auto-transcribed civic record · January 23, 2024 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6023 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6023?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2024-01-23 - **Last revised**: January 23, 2024 - **Length**: 2,075 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 January 23, 2024, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 200 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507, with Mayor Linda Gorton presiding. The council addressed five agenda items during the session, covering routine administrative matters and new business items. The meeting included one public comment period focused on issues appearing on the agenda, allowing community input on matters before the council. Council members conducted four formal votes throughout the session, approving the meeting docket, work session motions, budget amendments, and new business items. All agenda items that required council action were successfully approved, indicating a productive session with apparent consensus among council members on the matters presented. ## Attendance All council members were present for the January 23, 2024 meeting. **Present:** • Mayor Linda Gorton • Vice Mayor Wu • J. Brown • Ellinger • Fogle • Lynch • LeGris • Monarrez • Sheehan • Gray • Worley • F. Brown • Baxter • Sevigny • Reynolds • Plomin **Absent:** None **Late:** None ## Votes and Decisions The meeting included four motions, all of which passed by voice vote with no recorded opposition. **Docket Approval** [timestamp: 00:30] Ellinger motioned to approve the docket for the 5 o'clock meeting, with a second by Fogle. The motion passed by voice vote. **Work Session Motions** [timestamp: 01:00] Plomin motioned to approve the January 16, 2024 work session motions, seconded by Fogle. The motion passed by voice vote. **Budget Amendments** [timestamp: 01:30] Wu motioned to approve budget amendments, with Plomin providing the second. The motion passed by voice vote. **New Business Items** [timestamp: 02:00] Baxter motioned to approve new business items, seconded by Legris. The motion passed by voice vote. All four motions were conducted as voice votes rather than roll call votes, so individual member voting records were not recorded. No opposition or abstentions were noted for any of the items voted upon during this portion of the meeting. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed three significant financial items totaling $286,818.50 in expenditures and grant funding. **Contract Approvals** The board approved Resolution 0011-24, authorizing a $5,800 catering contract with Hyatt Regency Lexington for the annual Senior Intern Alumni Luncheon. This contract covers catering services for the organization's annual alumni event. **Equipment Purchases** Resolution 0049-24 was approved for the purchase of ZOLL cardiac monitors and equipment totaling $176,990.50. This substantial investment in medical equipment represents the largest single expenditure discussed during the meeting, with ZOLL serving as the vendor for the cardiac monitoring systems. **Grant Funding** The board addressed Resolution 0072-24, which involves $104,028 in additional ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds designated for child care expenses at the Family Care Center. These federal funds will be administered through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to support ongoing child care operations and expenses. The three financial actions collectively demonstrate the organization's commitment to both operational needs and community services, spanning from alumni relations and medical equipment upgrades to federally-funded child care support services. ## Public Comment The public comment period featured one speaker addressing local infrastructure concerns. **Dottie Bean** spoke regarding road conditions during a recent storm [timestamp: 10:00]. Bean criticized the administration's handling of road maintenance and snow removal operations, stating that she was giving the administration failing grades in several areas related to their storm response efforts. The comment focused specifically on the adequacy of road clearing and maintenance services provided during the recent weather event, with Bean expressing dissatisfaction with the overall performance of municipal storm response operations. ## Contested Items The primary contested item during the January 23, 2024 meeting centered on a proposed name change for the Racial Justice and Equality Commission. **Commission Name Change Proposal** The discussion focused on changing the name from the "Racial Justice and Equality Commission" to the "Racial Justice and Equity Commission," substituting "Equity" for "Equality." This seemingly minor word change represented a significant philosophical shift in the commission's approach and intended outcomes. The proposal generated community opposition, with disagreement about whether the commission should focus on equality (providing the same opportunities and resources to all individuals) versus equity (providing different levels of support based on individual circumstances to achieve fair outcomes). Supporters of the name change argued that "equity" better reflects the commission's mission to address systemic disparities and provide targeted interventions where needed. Those opposing the change expressed concerns about moving away from the principle of equal treatment under the law. The debate highlighted fundamental differences in how community members and officials view approaches to addressing racial justice issues. The equality framework emphasizes uniform treatment and opportunities, while the equity framework acknowledges that identical treatment may not produce fair results when people start from different circumstances. The structured data does not indicate the final outcome of this discussion or whether a formal vote was taken on the proposed name change. The nature of the opposition suggests this item required further deliberation beyond the meeting date. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps are not available in the provided source materials for this contested item.* ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 00:10] The meeting opened a public comment period for issues on the agenda. Katharine Perkins was the key speaker who provided comments during this portion of the meeting. This agenda item served as an informational session, allowing members of the public to address the governing body regarding matters that would be discussed later in the meeting. The public comment period is a standard procedural element that provides community members an opportunity to share their perspectives on agenda items before official deliberations begin. No specific details about the content of Ms. Perkins' comments or other public input were provided in the available meeting materials. The session concluded as an informational item with no formal action taken, as is typical for public comment periods. ## Approval of Docket The meeting began with consideration of the docket for the 5 o'clock meeting [timestamp: 00:30]. The agenda item was presented as a resolution requiring approval from the body. Key speakers during this agenda item included Ellinger and Fogle, who participated in the discussion regarding the proposed docket items. The docket was approved by the meeting participants without significant debate or concerns raised during the proceedings. This approval allowed the meeting to proceed with the scheduled agenda items as planned. The resolution passed, formally establishing the framework for the remainder of the 5 o'clock meeting session. ## Approval of Work Session Motions [timestamp: 01:00] The board considered approval of motions from the January 16, 2024 work session. The agenda item was presented as a resolution requiring board action. Key speakers during this discussion included Plomin and Fogle, who addressed the motions that had been made during the previous work session. The board approved the motions from the January 16, 2024 work session without recorded opposition or significant debate during this portion of the meeting. ## Budget Amendments [timestamp: 01:30] The council considered budget amendments during the January 23, 2024 meeting. The discussion involved key speakers Wu and Plomin, who presented the proposed budget modifications to the council. The budget amendments were brought forward as a resolution for council approval. While the specific details of the amendments and the nature of the discussion were not detailed in the available materials, both Wu and Plomin participated in presenting or discussing the budgetary changes. The council ultimately approved the budget amendments without recorded opposition or significant debate based on the available information. **Outcome:** The budget amendments resolution was approved by the council. ## New Business [timestamp: 02:00] The council addressed new business items during this portion of the meeting, with the primary focus on a proposed name change for a city commission. The main discussion centered on changing the name of the Racial Justice and Equality Commission to the Racial Justice and Equity Commission. Key speakers during this discussion included Baxter, Legris, and Tiffany Brown, who presented the rationale for the proposed modification. The speakers explained the reasoning behind substituting "Equity" for "Equality" in the commission's official name, though the specific details of their arguments were not elaborated in the available materials. This type of terminology change typically reflects evolving understanding of social justice concepts, where "equity" often refers to providing different levels of support based on individual needs to achieve fair outcomes, while "equality" refers to providing the same level of support to all individuals. The discussion proceeded without significant opposition or extended debate recorded in the available materials. The council members appeared to be in general agreement with the proposed change. Following the presentation and discussion, the new business items, including the commission name change, were approved by the council. This approval means the Racial Justice and Equality Commission will officially be renamed to the Racial Justice and Equity Commission, pending any additional administrative procedures required to formalize the change. The approval of this new business item represents the council's endorsement of the updated terminology and suggests alignment with the commission's evolving mission and approach to addressing racial justice issues in the community. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Tuesday, January 23, 2024 Council Meeting Docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the January 16, 2024 Work Session Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Budget Amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn at 3:18 p.m --- ## Full transcript I that so i'll go ahead and call to order the january 23rd 2024 council work session and And we do have a quorum here, so the first item is public comment for issues that are on the agenda. And we have one person signed up for an issue that's on the agenda. And the way this works is when I call your name, if you'll come to the podium, please, and you'll need to restate your name. and your council district for the record, and you'll have three minutes. And so first is Catherine Perkins. Is Catherine here? Okay. All right. Next on the agenda is a docket approval and that will be approval of the docket for the 5 o'clock meeting today. So I'll entertain a motion. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger and Council Member Fogel seconded. And are there any items for the agenda? If you'll sign in please. None for the docket. right all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes we have january 16 2024 work session motions could i have a motion to approve council member pluman moves who did i hear over here council member fogel seconds are there any questions all right all those in favor please say aye Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. I'll entertain a motion now for budget amendments. Second. Council Member Baxter moves. Council Member Reynolds, I was going to say Council Member Jennifer seconds. Now, if you have a question about budget amendments, will you log in please? All right, all those in favor of approving, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. There are budget adjustments, Council, for your information only, starting on page 5. And then that brings us to new business. If I could have a motion to approve. Thank you, Council Member Baxter, and second by Council Member Legree. Please log in if you have questions. Council Member Plumman. Thank you, Mayor. and this had to do with item E. And Ms. Brown, can I just ask you a quick question? It's a clarification. What I'm thinking is I read the back pages and I know why you're doing that. I thought the public might want to know why you're changing that to equity. And I want to welcome Tiffany Brown from my office. Thank you. Yes, so it's just recognizing that equity and equality are not the same thing, And though we approach this work with a mindset of fairness, we don't all start at the same starting point in life. And so it's just so that race, gender, ethnicity, language, all of those things that would be categorized as a minority isn't a barrier to services or treatment, things like that. Okay. Well, I got it, but I thought other folks might want to hear the rationale. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Are there other questions on new business? No? All right. All those in favor of approving, say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. At this time, we have two committee reports, and both of them are Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. The first is from our Social Services and Public Safety Committee that met on November 14, 2023. The meeting was called to order at 1.02 p.m. The first item on our agenda was approval of the October 10, 2023 committee summary. There were no additions or corrections, and the summary was approved without dissent. Next, Connie Milligan, clinical director for Fayette County Mental Health Court, spoke to us about mental health court program, which has been in operation for 14 years. She spoke about the intersection of mental illness and substance abuse and said 90% of incoming participants struggle with co-occurring disorders. When asked about stable housing and if there's a difference this year, Milligan said stable housing is a crisis. There is a need for different types of housing so people can get off the street. Milligan spoke about community partners and extensive relationships with providers and substance abuse treatment. No action was taken on this item. Next, Rick McQuady, affordable housing manager, spoke about the purpose of the affordable housing fund. He reviewed the housing costs per month and noted it is affordable when you only spend 30% of income on housing expenses. He pointed out that the rent must be affordable for people to live there. He spoke about the valuation criteria for his program and he reviewed the annual compliance objectives. No action was taken on this item. We also heard a presentation on Sunday alcohol sales, but action taken on this item was reported out at work session on November 14, 2023. The meeting adjourned at 2.58 p.m., and that concludes this report out. The next one is from our special meeting that we had on November 14 as well, 2023. It was called to order, and the first thing that we did was review the fairness ordinance, and then we opened the floor to public comment on source of income discrimination. No action items were taken, and the meeting adjourned at 9.05 p.m. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Council Member Reynolds on either of these reports? Okay. Thank you very much. Now it's time for council reports if you'll log in. Council Member Lynch. Thank you so much, Mayor. I just have a couple of announcements for my District 2 neighbors. On January 31st, I will be having my next Shayla and the second. They were quite successful in 2023, so I'm moving them from the outside to the inside. So please join me at the Black & Williams Center on the 31st from 5 to 6.30 p.m. for Shayla in the second, inviting all of my District 2 neighbors to come out and chat with me. And then to all of my business owners in the Georgetown Road corridor, please come out at 6.30 at the Black & Williams Center for our business collective discussion to see if there will be interest in forming a business collective. because there are some really amazing businesses along the Georgetown Road corridor, and see if you would be interested in working together to form a collective to advocate for the issues that are most important to you as a small business owner. So please come out on the 31st from 630 to 730 at the Black and Williams Center. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Gray? Thank you, Mayor. So I would like to say thank you to Council Member Shayla Lynch, along with Director Lee Still. I was waiting for the picture. That was me stalling. Yesterday we had our final town hall prior to working, actually getting to work regarding our code enforcement. So I would like to say thank you to Director Still for being there at every single one of those town halls and being a team player, part of our team, to helping to improve our code enforcement division So, thank you, sir, and I look forward to our continued working together on this ordinance. We've got a lot of work to do, but we're here to do it. And lastly, earlier today, Councilmember Reynolds and I, along with several legislative aides, attended our training for the translation assistant, which we finally have on the fifth floor, which hopefully will allow us to converse with many of our residents, the residents who don't speak English as their first language. And we had representatives from Lexmark who were here to train us on the new toll. I look forward to actually teaming up with Isabel Taylor, who is director of our Global Lex, as we work on the bugs in the system as well. So thank you, team. Thank you to all legislative aides who were in attendance. I look forward to us all being able to converse and communicate with all residents of Lexington. That is all. Thank you. Council Member Fogle. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, if Council Brown will help me pronounce the quasi group, We have a new group who has purchased the old church on MLK and Rand. They will have Tewin Koreshi. Say it again. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Folks, I am tongue-tied and I've been all my life, so thank you for that, Mayor, and thank you, Council Gray. So they have purchased an old church. They're going to renovate it, turn it into housing, and this is the definition of affordable. The least amount of payment is $725, and the max is $825, I believe, and all utilities included. That is a great definition of affordable housing. So I wanted to give a shout out to them. Also, last night we had a wonderful meeting in Marlboro, Elkhorn, Wimburn. All the residents were there and we were speaking about that property from Transylvania that has great potential of fair housing and housing in that community. And the citizens spoke up and they grilled the development team and they took ownership and it was a wonderful meeting out there. And thank you, Council Brown, for coming over and attending that. Lastly, we're headed into black history. And on February 3rd, we will be ushering in black history at the Lyric. We will start it off with a gospel program at the Lyric. It will start at 6 o'clock. Everyone is invited to attend. It is a free event to the public as we usher in black history. So I believe, Mayor, that is my report. There's no sense in me to keep going on and on and on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Plowman. Thank you, Mayor. I thought this sounded like a lot of fun, so I wanted to share it with you. This Saturday, January 27th, Raven Run is having an Owl Prowl. Owl Prowl, it's hard to say. Event from 6 to 8 p.m. And you can take a wintery evening walk to listen to the owls. It's free, but registration is required. I heard I was going to say something like, who, who wants to go? I don't know what Al says. All right. That's it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Sevigny. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to announce that Beaumont Park, the neighborhood that's over there by Beaumont Middle, we're having a neighborhood meeting this coming Monday at 6 o'clock at the Presbyterian Church that's across from the Lexington School. So I hope the neighbors over there will join us. Thank you. Thank you. I see no other council reports, so there's no mayor's report, and there are no price contracts. And that leads us to public comment for issues not on the agenda. And we have one person signed up, Dottie Bean. Welcome. My name is Dottie Bean and I live in District 8. We're here today to deliver a report card on the administration's work in keeping our roads open during the recent snowstorm. We give them an F in terms of getting kids to school, an F in terms of getting people to work, an F in letting people know about the road conditions, and that includes LexCol too, an F in getting ahead of the storm, an an F in spreading any kind of substance on the roads and free treatment, and a D-minus in terms of accountability. On the other hand, we've been riding the bus for the past few months and we want to give LexTran kudos for keeping their buses running and getting us to the grocery. Where are all the local contractors we usually hire to clear the subdivision streets? Where were the many street cleaning vehicles we know you purchased or modified? Where were the daily reports on road conditions? And where was the report from shelters that were opening? And how many people were going to them? We didn't see or hear a thing from you. Now, where are all the employees from all the other divisions who have in the past helped out when we've had these snow events? And where is the snow plan? That's all we have today. Thank you. Thank you. That's our only speaker, so I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. All right. All those in favor, say aye. We are adjourned. Thank you very much. Thank you.