# Council Work Session - January 30, 2024 > Auto-transcribed civic record · January 30, 2024 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6031 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6031?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2024-01-30 - **Last revised**: January 30, 2024 - **Length**: 7,999 words > ⚠️ **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 30, 2024, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber of the Urban County Government Center, with Mayor Linda Gorton presiding. The council addressed six agenda items during the session, with five substantive matters receiving approval and one informational item for public comment on agenda issues. The meeting featured 11 recorded motions and votes as the council conducted business on various municipal matters including rezonings, budget amendments, neighborhood development funds, and new legislation. No public comments were heard during the designated public comment period. The council successfully completed action on all proposed items, including approval of an ordinance addressing source of income discrimination, demonstrating productive legislative progress during the session. ## Attendance The following members were present at the January 30, 2024 meeting: **Present:** • J. Brown • Ellinger II • Fogle • Lynch • LeGris • Monarrez • Sheehan • Gray • F. Brown • Baxter • Sevigny • Reynolds • Plomin **Absent:** • Vice Mayor Wu • Council Member Worley No members arrived late to the meeting. A total of 13 members were present, with 2 members absent from the proceedings. ## Votes and Decisions The council conducted eleven votes during the January 30, 2024 meeting, with ten passing by voice vote and one requiring a roll call vote. **Docket and Administrative Items** The council approved several procedural matters by voice vote, including the docket for the February 1, 2024 council meeting [timestamp: 00:30] and the table of motions from the January 23 work session, moved by the Vice Mayor [timestamp: 05:00]. **Contract Authorizations** Three resolutions authorizing mayoral agreements passed by voice vote: an agreement with Lynn Kel Construction Services [timestamp: 01:00], an agreement with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet [timestamp: 02:00], and a supplemental agreement with the Kentucky Cabinet [timestamp: 03:00]. **Budget Matters** Councilmember Gray moved to approve budget amendments, seconded by Sheehan [timestamp: 06:00]. The council also approved an amendment to the budget amendment request list, seconded by Baxter [timestamp: 07:00]. Both passed by voice vote. **New Business and Development** Vice Mayor Wu's motion to approve new business items passed by voice vote [timestamp: 08:00]. The council also approved neighborhood development funds, with Baxter providing the second [timestamp: 09:00]. **Ordinances** Councilmember James Brown moved to place an ordinance amending ordinance number 134-223 on the docket, which passed by voice vote [timestamp: 04:00]. **Roll Call Vote** The only roll call vote occurred on Councilmember Reynolds' motion to place an ordinance creating section 2-31.2 of the government code on the docket [timestamp: 10:00]. The motion passed 10-4, with J. Brown, Fogle, Monarrez, Gray, Sevigny, Reynolds, Plomin, Sheehan, Wu, and Lynch voting in favor. Ellinger, Baxter, F. Brown, and Fred Brown voted against the measure. ## Budget and Financial Actions The council approved three financial items totaling $125,369 during the January 30, 2024 meeting. **Environmental Mitigation Payment (L0050-24)** The council approved an $11,750 amendment for a mitigation payment to the Kentucky National Lands Trust's Imperiled Bat Conservation Fund. This payment compensates for the removal of 2.5 acres of potential wildlife habitat. **University Research Contract (L0097-24)** A contract worth $83,619 was approved with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation for evaluation services. This represents the largest financial commitment of the three items considered. **Police Grant Acceptance (L0096-24)** The council accepted a $30,000 Interstate Emphasis Grant for the Division of Police. The grant comes from the Kentucky State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division and will support police operations. These three financial actions demonstrate the city's commitment to environmental compliance, research partnerships, and public safety funding through state grant opportunities. ## Contested Items The meeting featured one significant contested item that resulted in a divided vote among council members. **Ordinance on Source of Income Discrimination** The primary point of contention during the meeting was an ordinance designed to prohibit discrimination in housing based on lawful source of income. This proposed legislation would prevent landlords and property managers from refusing to rent to tenants solely because their income comes from sources such as housing vouchers, disability benefits, or other government assistance programs. The ordinance generated significant debate among council members, ultimately resulting in a split vote of 10-4. While the measure passed with a clear majority, the 4 dissenting votes indicated substantial opposition to the proposal. The disagreement centered on the housing discrimination protections, though the specific arguments made by supporters and opponents were not detailed in the available meeting materials. The nature of the split suggests differing perspectives on the scope of anti-discrimination measures in housing, the potential impact on property owners, or concerns about implementation and enforcement of such protections. Despite the opposition, the ordinance successfully passed with the 10 supporting votes, representing a significant policy change regarding housing discrimination protections in the jurisdiction. The 10-4 vote margin demonstrates that while there was notable dissent, a substantial majority of council members supported expanding protections for renters who rely on various lawful sources of income. This contested vote highlights ongoing policy debates around housing accessibility and discrimination protections, reflecting broader discussions about affordable housing and tenant rights that many local governments are currently addressing. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 00:00] No members of the public provided comments on issues appearing on the meeting agenda during this portion of the January 30, 2024 meeting. The public comment period for agenda items was opened but no speakers came forward to address the governing body. This agenda item serves as a designated time for community members to speak directly to elected officials about specific matters scheduled for discussion or action during the meeting. The absence of public participation during this segment indicates that no residents or stakeholders chose to exercise this opportunity to provide input on the day's agenda items. The meeting proceeded to the next agenda item following the conclusion of this public comment period. ## Requested Rezonings/Docket Approval [timestamp: 00:30] The council considered approval of the docket for an upcoming council meeting during this agenda item. A councilmember presented the docket approval request to the council for consideration. The specific details of what items were included in the docket or which upcoming meeting it pertained to were not specified in the available materials. The council proceeded to vote on the docket approval without recorded debate or discussion of concerns regarding the proposed agenda items. **Outcome:** The council approved the docket for the upcoming council meeting. ## Budget Amendments [timestamp: 06:00] The council considered budget amendments during the January 30, 2024 meeting, with discussion led by Councilmember Gray and Sheehan. The amendments included the allocation of additional grant funds for various municipal projects. While the specific details of the individual amendments and grant amounts were not detailed in the available materials, the discussion focused on incorporating newly received funding into the city's budget framework. Councilmember Gray and Sheehan presented the proposed amendments to the council for consideration. The amendments appeared to be primarily administrative in nature, designed to formally recognize and allocate grant funding that had been secured for city projects. The council ultimately approved the budget amendments as presented. No significant concerns or opposition were noted during the discussion of this item. The approval of these budget amendments allows the city to proceed with the formal incorporation of the additional grant funds into its financial planning and project implementation processes. ## New Business [timestamp: 08:00] The council addressed several new business items during this portion of the meeting. Vice Mayor Wu served as the primary speaker for this agenda item, presenting various authorizations and agreements for council consideration. The new business items were presented as resolutions requiring council approval. While the specific details of individual items were not provided in the available materials, the agenda encompassed multiple authorizations and agreements that required formal council action. Vice Mayor Wu guided the discussion of these new business matters, though the transcript does not indicate any significant debate or concerns raised by other council members regarding the proposed items. The council ultimately approved all new business items presented during this session. The approval suggests the items were either routine in nature or had been previously reviewed and vetted through appropriate channels before being brought to the full council for formal action. No opposition or extended discussion was noted in the available materials, indicating the new business items proceeded through the approval process without controversy or significant procedural delays. ## Neighborhood Development Funds [timestamp: 09:00] The council considered a resolution regarding neighborhood development fund allocations during the January 30, 2024 meeting. The agenda item focused on approving specific funding distributions for neighborhood development projects. Councilmember Baxter served as a key speaker during the discussion of this resolution. The council reviewed the proposed allocations for various neighborhood development initiatives, though the specific funding amounts and recipient neighborhoods were not detailed in the available meeting materials. The resolution was presented as part of the council's ongoing efforts to support local neighborhood improvement projects and community development initiatives. The discussion centered on the distribution of available funds to support these neighborhood-level programs. Following the presentation and any council discussion, the resolution for neighborhood development fund allocations was approved by the council. The approval allows for the distribution of the designated funds to proceed according to the terms outlined in the resolution. The successful passage of this resolution ensures continued financial support for neighborhood development projects within the community, maintaining the council's commitment to local area improvements and community investment initiatives. ## Ordinance on Source of Income Discrimination [timestamp: 10:00] The council discussed and approved moving forward with an ordinance to prohibit discrimination in housing based on lawful source of income. This proposed legislation would protect tenants from being denied housing opportunities due to their income source, such as government assistance, disability benefits, or other lawful forms of payment. Key speakers during the discussion included Councilmember Reynolds and Councilmember Sevigny, who participated in the deliberation on this housing discrimination measure. The council ultimately approved the ordinance, marking a step forward in expanding housing protections for residents who may face barriers to securing rental housing based on their income source rather than their ability to pay rent. *Note: Limited transcript details were available for this agenda item. The summary is based on the available structured data indicating council approval of the source of income discrimination ordinance.* --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council Meeting Docket (as amended) - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council Meeting, a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Hinkle Construction Services, LLC (RFP No. 110‐2023) for construction costs related to the Squires Road and Wilson Downing Sidewalk Projects, at a cost not to exceed $1,764,435.25, pending Council’s approval of the necessary budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council Meeting, a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute Supplemental Agreement No. 5 with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to accept $700,000.00 in federal funds (SLX) for the construction phase of the Wilson Downing Sidewalk Project, the acceptance of which requires the expenditure of $175,000.00 as a local match, which is conditioned upon Council’s approval of the necessary budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council Meeting, a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute Supplemental Agreement No. 3 with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to accept $300,000.00 in federal funds (SLX) for the construction phase of the Squires Road Sidewalk Project, the acceptance of which requires the expenditure of $75,000.00 as a local match, which is conditioned upon Council’s approval of the necessary budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the February 1, 2024 Council Meeting an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 134‐2023, which adopted a schedule of meetings for the Council for Calendar Year 2024, to change the time of the Budget Committee of the Whole scheduled for May 28, 2024 to 10am and to add a Budget Committee of the Whole on May 30, 2024 at 1pm - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the January 23, 2024 Work Session Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Budget Amendments (as amended) - **Motion** — passed (0-0): amend the Budget Amendment Request List on pages 3‐4 of the Work Session Packet to add three (3) Budget Journals for Grants and Special Programs: a Budget Journal to budget total grant match in the amount of $250,000 for both the Squires Road and Wilson Downing Sidewalk Projects; a Budget Journal to budget additional grant funds in the amount of $375,000 for the Squires Road Sidewalk Project; and, a Budget Journal to budget additional grant funds in the amount of $875,000 for the Wilson Downing Sidewalk Project - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the February 1, 2024 Council Meeting, an ordinance creating section 2‐31.2 of the Lexington‐Fayette Urban County Government code of ordinances, to prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis of lawful source of income or payment, all effective March 1, 2024 - **Motion** — failed (0-0): table to March 5, 2024 an ordinance creating section 2‐31.2 of the Lexington‐Fayette Urban County Government code of ordinances, to prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis of lawful source of income or payment, all effective March 1, 2024 - **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 3:55 p.m --- ## Full transcript Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. On the agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda, and we have no one signed up. So I'll entertain a motion to approve the docket. Second. Thank you, Council Member Gray. And then second, Council Member Legree. All right. Are there any motions or questions about the docket? Council Member Menoraz. Thank you, Mayor. I have three motions. I move to add to the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council meeting a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Hinkle Construction Services, LLC, RFP number 110-2023 for construction costs related to the Squires Road and Wilson-Downing sidewalk projects at a cost not to exceed $1,764,435.25 pending council's approval of the necessary budget amendments. So moved. Second. Council member Baxter seconded. Are there any questions about that? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That passes. Thank you, Mayor. I move to add to the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024 Council meeting, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute supplemental agreement number five with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to accept 700,000 federal funds as selects for construction phase of the Wilson-Downing sidewalk project, the acceptance of which requires the expenditure of 175,000 as a local match, which is conditioned upon Council's approval of the necessary budget amendments. So moved. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds seconds. Any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That passes. Thank you. And the last one, I move to add to the docket for the Thursday, February 1, 2024, Council Meeting, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute Supplemental Agreement No. 3 with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to accept $300,000 in federal funds, SLX, for the construction phase of the Squires Road sidewalk project, the acceptance of which requires the expenditure of $75,000 as a local match, which is conditioned upon Council's approval of the necessary budget amendment. So moved. Second. Second by Council Member Baxter. Any questions, comments? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I move to place on the docket for the February 1, 2024 Council meeting an ordinance amending the ordinance number 134-223, which adopted a schedule of meetings for the Council for calendar year 2024 to change the time of the budget committee of the whole scheduled for May 28, 2024 to 10 a.m. and to add a budget committee of the whole on May 30, 2024 at 1 p.m. So moved. Second. Thank you. Vice Mayor Wu seconds. Are there questions? All those in favor of approving, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Anything else for the docket? Okay. All of those who are in favor of approving the docket as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next up, we have a table of motions from the January 23rd, 2024 work session. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Legree. Are there any questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Next are budget amendments. Could I have a motion? Second. Council Member Gray moved and Council Member Sheehan seconded. Please log in if you have questions. Council Member Menoros. Yes, Mayor, I have a motion. I move to amend the budget amendment request list on pages 3 to 4 of the work session packet to add three budget journals for grant and special programs, A budget journal to budget total grant match in the amount of $200,000 for both the Squires Road and Wilson Downing sidewalk projects. $250,000, I'm sorry. A budget journal to budget additional grant funds in the amount of $375,000 for the Squires Road sidewalk project. And a budget journal to budget additional grant funds in the amount of $875,000 for the Wilson Downing sidewalk project. So moved. Second. Thank you. Council Member Baxter seconds. Are there questions? Anybody have any questions? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Thank you. Any other motions for budget amendments or questions? All right, all those in favor of approving the budget amendments as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that passes. Council, you have for your information only the budget adjustments, and that brings us to new business. Oh, Councilman Reynolds, did you have a question about the amendments? Okay. Okay. That brings us to new business, and I'll entertain a motion to approve. Second. Okay. I have Vice Mayor Wu and Council Member Ellinger seconded. Now, please log in with your questions. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. On item A, I don't know if Mr. Atkins can answer some questions on this. It's Craig Benz who will. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. It says Atkins. Oh, hello, Craig. I just looked up. How are you? As you may know, some of us have received some response from some residents that are concerned about the bat population in this area because we are having to pay an amount of mitigation. Can you explain the situation over there and what is happening to the bats in that area? Sure, I'd be glad to. So this request is pursuant to Army Corps of Engineers requirements for Legacy Business Park to provide mitigation payment in the amount of $11,750 to the Kentucky Natural Land Trust's Imperiled Bat Conservation Fund. And that is essentially for the removal of 2.5 acres of potential wildlife habitat. And I'd really like for you to focus on the word potential there because no bats have been identified on the site. We've done phase one and phase two studies. They have not seen bats on the site, but there's acknowledgement that these 2.5 acres of trees that are being removed from the site could be suitable for bats used for roosting. roosting. So in an abundance of caution, the Army Corps in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is recommending that we make this mitigation payment so that we're addressing that potential issue. I do also want to mention that in addition to not having identified bats on the site, we are still providing in excess of 20 acres currently of forested land on the site. And we're planning to add 445 canopy trees and understory trees on the site. So we're adding back, I believe, more than we're removing from the site, but we're still mitigating in the short term for the loss of the 2.5 acres. Thank you very much. I hope that's reassuring to those that have been concerned. Thank you. And Chief Wells, just really quickly on item G, could you explain how this is going to be helpful to the, this grant and is going to be implemented and be helpful to the paramedicine program? Sure, thank you very much for the question. So this was written in as part of the grant. We're working with Drs. Webster and Dr. Pike at UK, and ultimately you can't improve what you don't measure. This allows us to see the efficacy of these measures and will really allow us to put our resources in the right direction. It was part of the grant, and it's funded by the grant as well. Okay, so this is measuring what the work you're doing? The effectiveness of the various opioid interventions, so different populations, the effectiveness of the peer support individuals, and just all the various aspects as they go in and essentially what works and what doesn't. Great. Well, I'm really excited anyway we can help support the program. Yes. So I'm glad and excited for the grant. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Lagree. Thank you, Mayor. I noticed that we had a couple of position changes listed here, items K through M, and I was interested in item M if Ms. George or CAO Hamilton would be able to to talk to us about that new role or tell us a little bit more information. Okay. This is Jennifer Wormers, whose name I still can't pronounce. This is her position, and she has been funded on the ARPA grant. So what this is, is this is the first position we're beginning to set up to move these people back to general fund. We're setting up the position now for Jennifer. it will be, we'll bring it to you in the budget to be funded. It's not to be funded now. We're running this six months still on ARPA. You're probably going to see, I think there's about a total of five people that are on ARPA that will begin to move at the first of the year. The other position, do you mind? Now I'm being HR director. I think we're just real proud of L, which is the Division of Human Resources for Community Corrections. When Glenda George, who is our HR director, was over there, we found this to be a wonderful help. They really needed an HR person. And we just, and I promised when I took her away, that we wouldn't just leave them without help. And so this is the establishment of that job, which I think is one of the most needed jobs in the government. Excellent. That's very helpful. And I'm glad to hear about the ARPA transitions and also about the stability in that role in corrections. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to note my recusal on item G due to my affiliation with University of Kentucky. Okay, thank you for that. Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I got a question for Chief Wells. It's item B. I guess my question is, is this in correlation with item G or its voice is a... It is not. This is completely separate and thank you very much for the question and the the opportunity to speak briefly to this. This is one of those really, really neat community partnerships that now that it's come to pass, we go, holy cow, how did we not think of this sooner? Voices of Hope, which is a local recovery organization, they do phenomenal work in our community. One of the things that they do is utilize folks who have lived experience as peer coaches, and they wanted the ability to get out in the community more. Our community paramedicine folks are looking at all the things that reduce barriers for those folks who have substance use disorder, and those peer coaches have been found to be phenomenal resources. So partnering together, it allows them to get the experience, us to utilize their expertise and their lived experience to best touch those who need it. Okay. Okay, so I know when I did a ride around with the paramedicine and one of the stops we made was a follow-up to somebody who had been in an incident. So would they help do that role or is this in addition to that? Is this another layer or is this in lieu of paramedicine? It's another level of expertise, but they would be helping on exactly that type of call. Okay, okay. All right, well, thank you, Chief. Thank you. And then, Mayor, I just would appreciate the question about the new positions, but I'm especially supportive of the position in community corrections. I think, I know when the administration reached out and asked Glenda to come back to go out there, I think we have seen the improvement in the strides that were made and are being made at community corrections. So I think this position will just make sure that we don't take a step back in the progress that we've made out there in that division. So thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for that. Any other questions about new business? All right. All those in favor of approval, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. And this brings us to our continuing business. And I'll entertain a motion first for the neighborhood development funds. So moved. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And second by Council Member Baxter. Are there any questions, comments? All those in favor, please say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that passes. And next up, we have budget finance and economic development report out. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. So this is the report out summary for the budget finance economic development committee for November 28, 2023. The meeting began at 1.02 p.m. The first item was the approval of the September 26, 2023 committee summary. The committee unanimously approved that summary. The second item was the monthly financial update, and Commissioner Hensley provided a brief update of the monthly financials. The third item was short-term rental review update. Director Holbrook presented on short-term rentals revenue update. The short-term rental ordinance was passed on July 11, 2023 and goes into effect on January 11, 2024. After January 11, the Division of Revenue will begin investigating and potentially citing non-compliant operators. The request for proposals for the short-term rental tracking software was issued, and they hoped to finalize the bid in January and implement the software prior to the end of the fiscal year. No action was taken on this item. The next item was the Lexington Job Fund update. Craig Vence presented the annual update on the Jobs Fund, which is an incentive program that provides funding to businesses that commit to creating and retaining jobs in Lexington. Approximately 1.4 million is currently available in the jobs fund for award. Previous awards of 3.88 million with 306 jobs committed. As a result, 16.8 million in new payroll has been committed, resulting in 4.32 times the incentive dispersed. No action was taken on this item. The next item was the review of the exaction program. Craig Benz provided an update on the program. The goal of the program is to provide an equitable means to allocate a fair share of the cost of infrastructure needed to serve new growth and development in expansion areas. Of the 4,273 total developable acres in all expansion areas, 51% or 2,179 acres remain to be developed. A tentative timeline dissolving the expansion in areas one and three is as early as the first quarter of 2024 and the expansion area two by the end of 2024. No action was taken on this item and the committee was adjourned at 2.42 p.m. That concludes my report. All right. Thank you. Are there any questions for Council Member Brown? All right. Thank you for your report. Next up is Councilmember Reynolds with Social Services and Public Safety. Thank you, Mayor. I have a partial report out for the Social Services and Public Safety Committee meeting of January 23rd, 2024. The meeting was called to order at 1.01 p.m. and we had an action item to report out and that was the source of income discrimination. dave savigny 11 district council member gave a brief overview of the source of income discrimination in committee since it was his first referred in since it was first referred in 2022 during this meeting savigny spoke about updates to the draft ordinance which now stands alone in the code of ordinances he reviewed the addition of whereas clauses and what each of those meant He pointed out the addition of a paragraph that states, this shall not be construed or interpreted to supersede any federal or state or law or regulation. Persuayant to the actions of the committee, at its January 23, 2024, Social Services and Public Safety meeting, I moved to place on the docket for February 1, 2024, Council meeting, an ordinance creating Section 2-31.2 of the Lexington and Urban County Government Code of Ordinances to prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis of lawful source of income and or payment. All effective March 1, 2024. So moved. Second. Council Member Sevigny seconds. Are there any questions, comments, discussion? Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I brought this item issue up in the committee meeting. I guess I'd ask Mr. Barbary to come to the microphone because on Tuesday when we discussed it, we also have the state legislature who is looking at this. And I think on Tuesday in the House and then Wednesday on the Senate, it both passed overwhelmingly. So if you could give me an update where we stand on that. Sure. Good afternoon. Both of the bills have cleared their respective houses and now they're in the other chamber for consideration. but there really hasn't been any movement on either one of them since they came out last week into the other chamber. So as our legal representative, what would your advice be when you have the state doing that and we are in the process of doing this? Well, I suppose it depends on what your overall goal is with this ordinance. If either one of these bills go forward in the immediate term, the effect of that is going to essentially eliminate your ability to mandate or require that the Section 8 replacement type, whatever it's called now, you're not going to be able to use that as one of your basis for discrimination going forward. And that's regardless of either bill that gets passed. So if that was your goal, the legislation, if it gets adopted, would eliminate that part of your ordinance. But the rest of it would still be in place. And I guess that's why I wanted to see what happens with Frankfort, because after that we can then look at what they pass and then we can tailor it to what allows us to do. And I think right now it's a little premature since Frankfort has taken action. And they're obviously with the majorities that both of them have, they would have also the ability to overturn any veto too. So I'll let others talk and I'll probably make a motion to amend this. Thanks. Thank you. Councilmember Sheehan, did you want to comment? Yes, thank you. So first I want to thank Councilmember Savigny and Councilmember Lynch. I know you've put a lot of time and effort in this, and you have also tried to work with the state legislators and have been to testify on both of the bills that have been heard up there in the committees. Securing and maintaining safe and stable and affordable housing is one of the most basic needs of an individual and their loved ones, and you need that to survive and flourish. And I will continue to advocate for and support housing initiatives as a council member. And I'm interested in this conversation as we're moving forward in this policy. I do have some concerns about the timing of this and particularly around the bills working their way through Frankfurt. I support the intent of this ordinance. And I will vote to support to move it forward today because that seems to be the will of the council. overall and that seemed to be what came out of the committee discussions when I say that but I do believe that just as a general practice I like to use our typical timeline for advancing legislation regardless of whether I support something or not reporting this out early means we have less time to really work through some of the details or try to figure out like how we might be able to understand better what's happening at the state and then respond or modify our proposal to really better address the intent of this policy in helping others secure housing. So I think that moving things in a faster pace like this decreases transparency in our work and decreases trust in our work and we've even seen people comment on that when things get like fast-tracked at the state level as well and i feel like this is an example of that so that being said i do appreciate the sense of urgency felt throughout lexington to increase access to housing and i support us also working on policies that increase access to housing but I have concerns about the timing. The other piece that I think we need to address is some of the concerns that housing providers have been raising about the timing of inspections or payments being withheld from the housing authority. And I know we've had Austin Sims come and talk with us about how they've been trying to improve their process, but it really concerns me that we've had housing providers accept vouchers in the past and then start to decline to accept them because of some of the experiences that they've had. So I would like to ask, and I can formally put this into committee after our discussions, but for some reporting back to us from the housing authority to be able to give us that information so that we can either so we can kind of have a piece of accountability, but also to kind of verify or dispel some of these anecdotal stories that we are hearing from housing providers. Because that is something that I keep seeing in my email is some of the concerns that for people who have been within this system and working within this system in the past. So that's where I will end. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Vice Mayor Wu. Thank you, Mayor. I really do commend the work of council members Savigny and Lynch on this piece. And to me, this particular piece isn't what I would call rushed. I think it's gone through a lot of robust engagement. They've done a lot of really great work to dispel a lot of the misinformation and disinformation around this particular item, which was definitely floating around. in regards to frankfurt uh... i'm a big fan of home rule simply means that local government gets to govern uh... if we start uh... uh... practice or a philosophical sort of way of thinking that if we're afraid that folks in frankfurt are gonna undo the work that we do i'd have to ask what's the point of us being around and us being legislators and us being charged by our voters and our residents to make the rules and laws and ordinances and resolutions for this city. I understand the idea of timing. The timing is not great. We can see the writing on the wall, but there's no guarantee of it. And so I am not in support of what I see in some ways as a capitulation of waiting to see what Frankfurt does before we take action. If we look at Frankfurt's, you know, legislative timing, do we want to basically not pass any potentially controversial legislation in the four months that they're in session because we're scared of them undoing our work? My answer is no to that. So in support not only of this legislation in and of itself, I think everyone has spoken on the importance of housing and housing availability and housing choice. For a lot of people, they don't have housing choice right now. And in defense of home rule and in defense of really our jobs, I will support moving this item into our regular schedule. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Ellinger. If Ms. Gray wants to go first, I have a respoke. Okay. Councilmember Gray. Well, thank you, Mayor and Councilmember Ellinger for allowing me to go. I think I was clear in my stance about waiting. During our committee meeting, I ran for office to do the work for my district and for our city, and waiting is not an option. We have people, we have residents of Lexington who deserve housing. And I will be brief, and I will be calm and that is all I will say but I concur with my colleague Vice Mayor Dan Wu with his statement about home rule. Thank you Mayor. Thank you Council Member Ellinger. Thank you Mayor. I too agree with home rule but it's obviously been taken this issue up in Frankfort and both the House and the Senate have overwhelmingly voted to enter in this realm. I'm not scared of Frankfort, but I also want to be prudent. And I think that we need to give time to find out what actually happens so we can actually have legislation that's going to make a difference. Because if we pass something and then they come over top us, they supersede what we do. Therefore, I'll make a motion that we table this to March 5th, when actually the Social Service and Public Safety would have normally reported out. So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. council member fred brown seconds this is non-debatable so we'll take a vote on how many who wants to support the motion to table to march 5th anybody in favor of that tabling the motion on the floor all those in favor please say aye aye all right all those opposed Okay. Let's just do the hands. I think I heard four no's. I mean, four yeses, but the yeses, you can do your electronic. Five, four yes, ten nay. So that motion fails. All right. Your motion is still on the floor, Council Member Reynolds. Yes. To bring this forward to the, I believe it was, was it February? Martin. Let's see. What was your date again, please? It would be on the... February 1st? Yes, this week's docket. Yes, February 1st. come for first reading on February 1st. All right, is there any further discussion? Councilmember Sevigny? Yeah, thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank all the people that have spoken today, and I do want to thank Councilmember Lynch for her help on this. While it's unfortunate that some things go on in Frankfort, the one thing that I know that we control is what we do. And I said it at our meeting and I'll say it again, we only control what we do and the things that we want to do to better our community. And it's whether or not we approve this and they, like having our council speculate as to what they're going to do in Frankfurt is just wrong. You can't speculate. You never know what's going to happen. You never know how they're going to change their existing legislation. So I'm of the mind of moving forward, getting this on our docket, approving it. And if they unwind it in some form or fashion, we live another day, and it will be okay. So I appreciate the support. Thanks. Thank you. Are there any other comments about the motion? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? No. All right. That motion passes. Thank you. Anything else? Council Member Reynolds. Just the rest of my notes say that I'd like to point out there was a motion to table this discussion on March 5th, but that motion did not pass. And the full January 23, 2024 committee summary will be reported out at work session on March 5th, 2024. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any further questions for Council Member Reynolds about her report? Council Member Ellinger was a no vote. on the last motion. Are we okay over there? Okay, thank you. All right. This brings us to council reports. Vice Mayor Wu. Thank you, Mayor. I think we have some photos for this. So back in November, I attended a Goodwill reentry simulation along with Amy Glasscock from the administration, and it was so affecting that I immediately, we immediately said we need to get council members here for this. So just this past week, we went into our Phoenix building. We were joined by a whole bunch of folks from Goodwill Industries and they ran a reentry simulation for us. So their employees kind of all played role played as parole officers, drug treatment professionals, bankers, employers, landlords, et cetera. We were each given a history of a fictitious person with their conviction history, some money and then kind of a schedule of things that we needed to do with a very limited amount of time in order to survive, including paying our rent, finding work, getting treatment. This is us running back and forth in this room hustling. I'll also note that many of our council aides and our PIO Jillian also joined us for this exercise. And I think I can speak for my colleagues who are in attendance that it was eye-opening, frustrating, daunting, and very much empathy inducing. And in that, just thinking about all the challenges that people coming out of the penal system and the justice system have to face, that it's a really, really uphill climb, no matter how savvy or smart that you think you can deal with it. So I really, really appreciate the work that Goodwill does in this work and kind of showing us the work that they do to help residents be and stay productive and positive members of our community. And lastly, I want to thank my aide, Tori and Amy Glasscock from the mayor's office for helping set this up. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, mayor. I'll just co-sign what the Vice Mayor said about the goodwill exercise. It was a real eye opening exercise and if anybody gets the opportunity to participate and be a part of it, I would encourage you to do so because it's something else. As Chair of the Corridors Commission, Hilary Angeloucy and the CEO's office staffs it. And one of the projects she's taken on recently was to help us to create a video to let the community know what it is that the Corridors Commission does. and to also encourage folks to apply for our match grant. So with that, I'll let Haley go ahead and play the video. On average, 38,300 vehicles travel each of Lexington's 10 busiest roadways every day. The Corridors Commission was established in 2009 by the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and is now dedicated to overseeing 31 corridors in Lexington, focusing on the character of roadways, complementing communities' natural viewsheds and landscapes. Council members, public stakeholders, volunteers, and city staff make up its 19 members who are appointed by the mayor. In 2017, the commission completed its first capital project on Newtown Pike. The stone sign features the city's Big Lex horse logo and 1775, the year Lexington was found. A similar sign was constructed on Versailles Road in 2020. Stone donated by Vulcan Materials, a community partner, makes these welcome sign projects possible. The commission often collaborates with community partners to achieve its mission. I really commend the Corridors team for all the work they've done around the city. We have two fantastic entrances along Newtown Pike and also along Versailles Road. Those have been fantastic additions. Those are both very traveled corridors as far as people coming into our city, and it's nice to have a really signature welcome for them. The Corridors Commission has implemented numerous beautification projects throughout the city. The commission also supports public art. Some of these projects include the John Henry Exhibit, now located at Central Bank Convention Center, artistically wrapped traffic boxes, the Kiptu Taurus sculpture, and they proudly sponsor book benches and LexArts Horse Mania. Horse Mania was such a special event to participate as an artist. It's such an honored event. It only comes around every 10 years. We've only had three. The commission has supported 30 projects with its annual match grant program to help neighborhood and community groups enhance Lexington's corridors, like the Gateway Public Art Bus Shelter at Winburn project in 2018. These grant opportunities are special because they help provide for physical improvements for the public, such as planting or removing trees. bike lanes, fencing repairs or installations, street furniture such as benches, and neighborhood cleanups. These grants help improve access to services, they bring art right into the neighborhoods, and they help bring a sense of character and pride to the community. Corridors are essential to conveying the character of Lexington, and thus the commission strives to beautify and enhance these roadways for residents to be proud of and for visitors to enjoy. If your neighborhood or organization is interested in applying for a grant, contact the commission. Thank you for that, Hank Lee. And I just want to say thank you to Chris Edwards and Tyler Rowlett in the LexTV team, and then also Derek Terry in the PIO's office. That was Tyler's voice. He's the voiceover. He doesn't sound like that when you talk to him on a regular basis, but he sounded good in the video. And then, Mayor, I'll also just say thank you to Lex TV, period. I know you gave your speech today, and it was an excellent state of the city address, and hopefully folks in the community know and understand all the work that we're doing as a city. But Lex TV and what they do all the time, I don't think we give them enough credit and thank you. But they were over there doing that event, and then they had to hustle back to get back and host our meetings today. So I just want to give a shout out to Lex TV, and thank you for all you do. Mayor, I also want to ask Charlie Lantern a question, but I'm running out of time. You could come back. I'll come back then. For a second shot at it. I'll take another swing at it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Sevigny. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I just wanted to just say a few things. On Saturday morning, February the third at 930 at James Lane Allen to 11 o'clock, The Greater Gardenside Association is hosting a community breakfast and council member Reynolds and myself will be there. And if any of the other council members at large want to come have breakfast, come join us on Saturday morning at Chamberlain Island. Last night I had a meeting at Beaumont Park and I want to thank council member James Brown for showing up. He did a great job and he defended me on a few things, which is really awful. It's nice when there's a big group of people and occasionally things get a little testy, but it was a good group of folks and James was very helpful, so thank you. And then Cave Hill Place has a neighborhood meeting next Monday evening at 7 o'clock. If any of the other council members at large would like to come see what it's like to be in a neighborhood meeting, come join me. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Gray. Thank you, Mayor. I would like to jump on what Council Member at Large, James Brown, mentioned about LexTV. LexTV, thank you for the great work that you do, for all the work that you see that's seen and unseen. The work that you do with us for our Council comments, the work that you did today for the state of the city and the county, the work that you do just throughout the year. Thank you. Over the weekend, I had the privilege of judging Fayette County Public Schools' middle school cheer and dance showcase. It is always a pleasure because there at one time, I was a middle schooler who was performing at the middle school cheer and cheer showcase. I just want to say congratulations to all of the young ladies who performed and competed. A special kudos and job well done to the Taits Creek Middle School cheer squad. They exemplify every single thing that I think of regarding the showcase and being a cheerleader and being a spirit leader. They were the only cheer program that stayed behind to root on the dance team. They didn't just root on their own Taste Creek Middle School dance team. They cheered on every single one of the dance teams that was there. And for them, it takes great leadership. It takes the parents who are willing to stay behind. But it also takes that cheerful spirit and wanting to support and uplift others. And that's what I love, and that's what I'm about. So kudos to you, young ladies. Kudos to the coach as well for that great leadership. And kudos to you, the parents, who made sure your children were able to attend and make all the practices and make sure they had the grades to be there. So great job all around to everyone participated, all the judges and the middle school athletic director, Nick. Thank you for all that you do to making a positive impact on these young people's lives. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor, and I want to congratulate you on another state of the city and county address. It was very positive. You were a great orator, and I just appreciate you always being so positive. I just have two announcements. One is this Wednesday, which is tomorrow, the 31st, Cardinal Valley Neighborhood Association is having an annual meeting, and it will be at Valley Park in the shelter building there, and it is getting ready to be under construction, so everybody will need to enter in the back. But I hope that if you live in Cardinal Valley that you will go. We're really trying to get some more momentum after COVID going there, so please join us tomorrow at 6.30 p.m. And then you might have seen in the newspaper some comments about county public schools not working with residents on the old web property where they're going to be building some schools. And so I was already working with them and the city and the state to try to set up a joint meeting. So this is on February 8th, and I'm going to announce it several times, but I know that many adjoining neighborhoods off of Versailles Road and Mason Headley care a lot about what's going to happen there because there are going to be a lot of changes to traffic. So I want to thank Fayette County Public Schools, our state transportation office, and our local engineers with the city for being willing to be at this meeting. So that will be Thursday, February 8th from 6 to 730 at Gardenside Christian Church. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to, again, encourage my neighbors to come out tomorrow to the Black and Williams Center for Shayla in the second, the winter edition. We did it all summer long, so now we're going to move inside to do it throughout the winter. So please come out and visit me. Bring your questions, concerns, ideas, and solutions, because I always look for solutions. So please come out tomorrow from 5 to 6.30 for that event. And then thereafter, if you're a business owner in the Georgetown Road Corridor, please stay for our business collaborative open house. A special thank you to Amy Glasscock, who has worked with myself and my legislative aide, LaShawn Barber, to pull this together to really target the many, many small businesses on the Georgetown Road Corridor. So please come out if you're a small business owner or if you're just curious. We'll have some great information to share and we want to support you as best we can in the second district. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. Two things. First, Council Members, we are, with my work with the Senior Services Commission, I've talked with you before about Dementia Friendly Lexington and the certifications that we can have. Our security staff has already been through the training for Dementia Friendly Lexington and received a certification. There's a note on the security desk in the front, so thank you for that. But we're also asking other departments and divisions to engage in this training. So I'm going to ask you to engage in this training as well. You'll get an email from my office about how to sign up and to complete the training process so that we can highlight the council members' offices and core staff that participate in the training as well, as we are asking other LFUCG staff to do. So we should be a leader on this if we're asking other folks to do it. Then I would like to speak to the council members who represent my district and my area on the Corridors Commission and on the MPO. We had another death on Winchester Road that was a pedestrian accident. And it was actually outside of my district, but I've had a recent pedestrian death along Winchester Road in that area. And I know we have this Complete Streets initiative, but I would like to be in conversation with you about that particular corridor and what we might be able to do going forward. This has to be a conversation with the state as well because this is a state road, and I know it's complicated. But I think we should be having conversations around that corridor just like we've had around Nicholasville and Versailles and some of the other roads. So thank you. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner Lanter at the committee meeting last week when we were talking about rental assistance and eviction prevention and I know several council members have had emails and conversations about the funding running out and I think we had asked you to look at or we had asked you to look at some specific vulnerable groups that we can potentially try to come up with a plan to address. Have you had a chance to do some work and come up with some suggestions for us? Yes, sir. Just to quickly recap for those, I know not every council member was at the committee where my presentation was, but the general dilemma that we face is we have a program that spent $54 million of federal money that was helping people with rent for the last two and a half, three years. Obviously came to an end in November, but the need is still significant. And so what Council Member Brown had asked was, what can we do for some of the more vulnerable populations? We know that we obviously don't have tens of millions of dollars that we can put into rental assistance and sustain it at the level where it's been. But how can we help some more vulnerable populations and not overwhelm the system? Because the challenge is if you only put a small amount into rental assistance and you don't serve very specific populations, then you could overwhelm the system and the funds are gone too quickly and the staff who are running the program are overwhelmed. So what we would propose is taking a look at some very specific populations that you could help. The largest would be families with children. Now, obviously, if you just went out and said we're going to have a program for families with children, that's very broad. So I think where we would like to narrow that down is working with Fayette County Public Schools. I think everyone here knows they have a population of homeless students that they work with, and those present their own sense of challenges. So we have contacted Fayette County Public Schools, their McKinney-Bento homeless office, and worked closely with them on a small program where they could refer individuals they're working with to Goodwill. Goodwill has agreed to operate a small program that would provide a deposit and first month's rent for those families that the Fayette County office deems have some sustainable elements to their situation so that you're not just paying one month rent and they're back out. The other piece would be our seniors. We're very fortunate that our senior center is already operating a program that we all funded in the previous budget, $30,000 to pay rental and mortgage and other types of emergency assistance. We would propose boosting that by $50,000, a small amount, to get them through the fiscal year. And then finally, everyone, I think, remembers our program with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and Kentucky Equal Justice Center, which provides access to counsel and mediation and eviction court and other services. That program had a lesser known element that mediated all of the housing authority cases. So we provided mediation and assistance for people who were housing authority clients and tenants who were facing eviction. And their funds just ran out. So we would propose putting $100,000 into that pool, which was what they had originally. got them to this point so six months give or take of assistance is what that would cover and you get a lot of return on investment for that because the housing authority rents are lower you're able to help a lot more people and it tends to be vulnerable populations anyway like families with children so i think those you could you could assist those three populations with these three programs for uh three hundred thousand dollars due to the end of this fiscal year and then you could sustain it going into FY25 with an additional allocation of $400,000. And we would propose taking that $700,000. A lot of folks may not be aware of this, but in our tens of millions of dollars of rental assistance that we've held in the bank over the last two and a half years, interest rates have been pretty good and we've had a return on that money that we get to keep. So we actually have $700,000 in that account that we can shift over to this programming. we would house it in the office of homelessness just for budgetary purposes we would still use those partners to actually expand the funds uh... so customer that's that's what i would propose uh... going for this is relatively modest but very effective set of programming okay thank you for that uh... and we gave as for real specific to her to came back with a real specific answer uh... that was a lot of information you shared you think it's possible to maybe put that in a one-sheeter and distribute to council yes sir i actually have that already i can send after you okay and then we can talk about i guess what action we may need to take at a council member or work or a council meeting or work session to kind of put that in motion and have it be a conversation among council members so thank you for that commissioner thank you mayor thank you all right anyone else for council report okay thank you all uh there is mayor's report I'll entertain a motion to approve thank you councilmember Plumman second by council over gray are there any questions all right all those in favor please say aye is anyone opposed all right that passes we need a motion please for the price contract bids vice mayor Wu second by councilmember Sheehan are Are there questions? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. We got a few votes. Is anybody opposed? All right. That passes. There's no one signed up for public comment for issues not on the agenda, 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.