# Council Work Session - February 27, 2024 > Auto-transcribed civic record · February 27, 2024 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6052 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6052?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2024-02-27 - **Last revised**: February 27, 2024 - **Length**: 11,466 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 February 27, 2024, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber of the Urban County Government Center, with Mayor Gorton presiding. The council addressed seven agenda items during the session, covering both routine business and ongoing municipal matters. The meeting included three formal votes, with council members approving requested rezonings and docket items, summary approvals, and new business items. No public comments were received during the designated public comment period for agenda issues. The session concluded with informational reports from both council members and the mayor, providing updates on continuing business and municipal presentations. ## Attendance The following members were present at the February 27, 2024 meeting: **Present:** • Vice Mayor Wu • J. Brown • Ellinger II • Fogle • Lynch • LeGris • Monarrez • Sheehan • Gray • Worley • F. Brown • Baxter • Sevigny • Reynolds • Plomin All 15 members were in attendance with no absences or late arrivals recorded for this meeting. ## Votes and Decisions The meeting included three motions, all of which passed by voice vote. **Approval of Requested Rezonings and Docket** [timestamp: 00:30] Wu made a motion to approve the requested rezonings and docket, which was seconded by Ellinger II. The motion passed by voice vote with no recorded individual vote counts. **Approval of the Summary** [timestamp: 01:00] Wu moved to approve the summary, with Ellinger II providing the second. This motion also passed by voice vote without recorded individual tallies. **Approval of New Business** [timestamp: 02:00] Reynolds made a motion to approve new business items, seconded by Gray. The motion passed by voice vote with no individual vote counts recorded. All three votes were conducted as voice votes rather than roll call votes, so specific vote tallies and individual member positions were not recorded. No abstentions or opposing votes were noted for any of the motions. ## Budget and Financial Actions The council addressed multiple financial items totaling over $700,000 in expenditures and grant awards during the February 27, 2024 meeting. **Stormwater Quality Projects Grant Adjustments** Several decreasing change orders were approved for the Stormwater Quality Projects Incentive Grant program: • Resolution 0176-24: $1,679 decrease with Lakes Edge Condominium Association, Inc. • Resolution 0178-24: $5,818.08 decrease with Friends of Wolf Run, Inc. • Resolution 0179-24: $12,454.36 decrease with Living Arts & Science Center, Inc. • Resolution 0180-24: $10,087.97 decrease with Friends of Wolf Run, Inc. • Resolution 0183-24: $4,640.70 decrease with Bluegrass Greensource, Inc. **Major Contracts and Amendments** The council approved Resolution 0177-24 authorizing a $75,775 sole source contract with The Verdin Company for repairs to the historic Skuller's Clock. Additionally, Resolution 0184-24 approved a $281,369.68 amendment with CHS TX, Inc. d/b/a YesCare for additional staffing for the MAT Program. **Grant Awards and Federal Funding** Resolution 0198-24 accepted a $300,000 award from The Recycling Partnership, Inc. The council also approved Resolution 0197-24 for Amendment No. 5 of the TIGER agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Town Branch Commons Project, utilizing previously budgeted federal funds and grant match. **Social Services Funding** Resolution 0201-24 authorized a $40,000 amendment with Community Action Council for Temporary Winter Motel Shelter Services. **Budget-Neutral Items** Several resolutions had no budgetary impact, including speed limit changes on Viley Road (0186-24) and Crawley Lane (0187-24), creation of a classified civil service position (0196-24), and amendments to the Extended Social Resource Program (0202-24). ## Contested Items The February 27, 2024 meeting featured one contested item that generated community discussion and opposition. **Amendment to Resolution No. 158-2021** The primary point of contention involved a proposed amendment to Resolution No. 158-2021 regarding the Extended Social Resource Program. The amendment sought to add a mental health priority area to the existing program framework. The item faced community opposition, with discussion centering on the proposed expansion of the program to include mental health services as a designated priority area. The nature of the opposition and specific concerns raised by community members were discussed during the meeting, though the extracted data does not provide details about the specific arguments presented by either supporters or opponents of the amendment. The discussion involved consideration of how the mental health priority area would be integrated into the existing Extended Social Resource Program structure and what implications this addition might have for program operations and resource allocation. The outcome of this contested item and whether the amendment was ultimately approved or rejected was not specified in the available meeting data. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 00:10] During the public comment period for issues on the agenda, no members of the public came forward to address the governing body. The meeting proceeded without any public input on the items scheduled for discussion during the February 27, 2024 session. This agenda item serves as a designated opportunity for community members to speak on matters that are specifically listed on the meeting agenda before the governing body begins its formal deliberations. The absence of public participation during this portion of the meeting indicates that no citizens wished to provide input, raise concerns, or offer support regarding the scheduled agenda items. The public comment period is a standard component of government meetings, providing transparency and community engagement opportunities in the decision-making process. ## Requested Rezonings/Docket Approval [timestamp: 00:30] The council considered and approved requested rezonings and docket items during this agenda item. The discussion involved key speakers Wu and Ellinger II, who presented the rezoning requests to the council for consideration. The council ultimately approved the requested rezonings and docket without significant debate or opposition recorded in the available materials. The specific properties, zoning classifications, or details of the individual rezoning requests were not detailed in the provided information. **Outcome:** Approved **Key Speakers:** - Wu - Ellinger II The approval of these rezoning requests allows the affected properties to proceed with their proposed development or use changes under the newly approved zoning classifications. ## Approval of Summary [timestamp: 01:00] The council considered approval of the summary from the previous meeting. Council members Wu and Ellinger II participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The council voted to approve the summary of the previous meeting. No additional details about the content of the discussion, any concerns raised, or the specific nature of the previous meeting's summary were provided in the available materials. The motion was approved by the council. ## New Business [timestamp: 02:00] The council addressed several new business items during this portion of the meeting, with Council Members Reynolds and Gray serving as the primary speakers for the discussion. The new business segment focused on various financial amendments and contracts that required council approval. Reynolds and Gray presented the items to the council, though the specific details of the individual amendments and contracts were not detailed in the available materials. The discussion proceeded without significant debate or concerns raised by other council members. The items presented appeared to be routine business matters that had been properly vetted through the appropriate channels prior to being brought before the full council. Following the presentation and brief discussion, the council moved to approve the new business items as presented. The resolution passed, indicating unanimous or majority support for the financial amendments and contracts under consideration. The efficient handling of these new business items suggests they were largely administrative in nature and had likely received preliminary review through committee processes or staff recommendations before reaching the full council agenda. ## Continuing Business/Presentations [timestamp: 03:00] During the continuing business portion of the February 27, 2024 meeting, presentations were delivered on neighborhood development funds and other ongoing municipal projects. Worley served as the primary speaker for this agenda item, providing updates on current initiatives and project status reports to the governing body. The presentations covered neighborhood development funding programs, though specific details about funding amounts, targeted neighborhoods, or project timelines were not detailed in the available materials. Additional ongoing projects were also discussed as part of the continuing business review. This agenda item was informational in nature, serving to keep council members and the public informed about the progress of existing municipal initiatives rather than requiring any formal action or decision-making. The presentations provided an opportunity for officials to review the status of previously approved programs and maintain oversight of ongoing community development efforts within the jurisdiction. ## Council Reports [timestamp: 04:00] Council members provided updates on various community and committee activities during the Council Reports segment of the meeting. The discussion featured presentations from three council members who shared information about their recent activities and committee work. Council member Ellinger II, Gray, and Sevigny each contributed updates to inform their colleagues and the public about ongoing municipal matters. This agenda item served an informational purpose, allowing council members to communicate about their involvement in different aspects of city governance and community engagement. The reports provided transparency regarding council members' activities outside of regular council meetings and helped keep all members informed about various initiatives and committee work happening across different areas of city operations. No formal action was taken during this portion of the meeting, as the Council Reports segment is designed to facilitate information sharing rather than decision-making. The updates allowed for coordination among council members and provided the public with insight into the breadth of activities council members engage in beyond the formal meeting structure. ## Mayor's Report [timestamp: 05:00] No report was provided by the Mayor during this portion of the meeting. The agenda item was acknowledged but no presentation or discussion took place. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the February 13, 2024 Work Session Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn at 4:14 p.m --- ## Full transcript Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, good afternoon. I'm going to call this meeting to order for the Tuesday, February 27th Urban County Council work session. We're going to go straight to our agenda. The first item on the agenda is public comments for issues on the agenda. And I don't see anyone signed up for that. So we'll move on to the next item on the agenda, which is requested rezonings and docket approval. Are there any motions? Second. Second. All right, motion was made and seconded. Is there any discussion on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Are there any that oppose? Hearing none, that motion passes. The next item on the agenda is the approval of the summary. So moved. So. All right, a motion was made and seconded for the approval of the summary. Are there any questions or comments to this item? Hearing none, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Are there any that oppose? Hearing none, that motion passes. Going down the agenda, we have no budget amendments today. We have no budget adjustments. All right, the next item on the agenda is new business. Is there? Second. All right, a motion was made to approve new business and second it. Are there any questions? Council member Ellinger. Thank you, Chair. Number N, please. N as in Nancy. Commissioner? We got an email on this, but if you would just kind of explain how we have changed this process some, it would be for the public's interest? Absolutely, yes, because the public does not get my email. So currently right now, the extended social resources program is divided into two main pots of money. 40% of it goes to overnight emergency shelter, and that's managed by the Office of Homeless Prevention Intervention. And then 60% goes to community-based initiative programs, and that's run by my office, Department of Social Services. Out of that CBI, community-based initiative, there are currently three priority areas, community wellness and safety, childhood and youth development, and food insecurity and nutritional access. What we are proposing is instead of three categories is to add a fourth category, which would be mental health base. Right now, mental health is a component of the community wellness and safety priority area, and we are proposing to pull it out and make it its own separate category. Thank you, Commissioner. And this will be on the two-year basis? Yes, sir. So right now, when awards are given to agencies, it's for a two-year funding cycle. We are starting to begin that right now. And based off of the needs of our community, which I don't think I need to explain to anyone who's listening or in this room, that we have mental health needs in our community. And so we have identified it, and starting this cycle, which would begin in March with requests for proposals from agencies, we would then have that fourth category under the community-based initiatives. Thank you, Commissioner. And that's all I have. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next, we have Council Member Baxter. Thank you, Chair. I have a question about item L, about the recycling upgrades. Commissioner, can you tell me just a little bit more about what that means for program and how our community might benefit from it? Sure, happy to. Thank you very much for the opportunity. This is a second grant for the opportunity to help offset some of the costs of the additional equipment that is required to allow us to begin to recycle plastic type 5. And there's also a component where we will have an education piece to help us reach out to the community and educate folks on what we will be taking as a result of the change. Can you give me an example of what a plastic type five is? I can. The most common ones I hear are strawberry containers and yogurt cups. Okay, all right. Well, I appreciate that. It's exciting. All right, thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next, we have Council Member Gray. Thank you, Chair. I have a question regarding letter B. I'm just curious, Commissioner Ford, regarding this since we're having this company be the sole source vendor for repairs, I'm curious if we had any bids or any inquiries from the city, any manufacturers or businesses in the city of Lexington. No, council member. This is a very special and unique case. I've had Betty Kerr from Historic Preservation. to give the council an overview in regards to the clock. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Ford, and good afternoon. I'm Betty Kerr, the Director and Historic Preservation Officer for LFUCG of our Historic Preservation Program. I brought with me, and we'll just start on the end of the row, the program that we provided at the dedication of this clock, rededication, back in 2013. So can somebody just hand me or something and give you one for the record? Excuse me. And I'm going to answer the question? Yes, please. Yes, I need the answer, the question answered. Yes, I just thought that none of you were on the council at the time the Scholar clock was worked on, so I thought you might want a little bit of background, except maybe Chuck. So it is a specialty project in the construction world in the sense that it is a clock from – it's over 100 years old – 1911, built by the Brown Clock Company. And so it has sat on Main Street since that time, and it is a cast iron clock with all of its original elements still surviving. It has new clock works in it. But there is only one company here in the United States who repairs these clocks. There's no one in Lexington, to say the least. And so it is the Verdon Clock Company. They've been in Cincinnati and in business since 1848, and they make cast iron street clocks and bronze bells. Yes, I've researched the company. We've vetted them very carefully and they did the restoration of this clock for the LFUCG in 2013 and did a beautiful job on it. And then the reason it's before you all today for a contract with Verdon again is that it was hit by a vehicle and very substantially damaged. So I do have images that show of the clock after it was hit and such if you have an interest, But I know your question at the moment is tied to sole source provider. Yes, ma'am, but I do appreciate you answering the question. I do appreciate all that you do for our city and for this historical. This is very important for us to preserve our history. Well, we appreciate your strong interest and support. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. And I'm available for any other questions if anyone has them. Thank you. And so I have a question regarding letter M. Thank you, Director Heron and Commissioner Charlie Lanter. Hey. I'm just curious, just need some more information about this. Yeah. So initially we funded this program, which provides temporary shelter services for families with minor children with only $48,500. dollars. The initial invoice that we received based on community need was about $28,000. So proactively went to my board and got approval to award additional funds to the program to carry us through the remainder of the season. We just initially, based on our data, expected to see fewer families that were in need. So far we have sheltered 17 families to date this season, nine of which who are still with us, the others have already transitioned to some form of permanent housing. They're doing an excellent job of moving people along, but sometimes we just need more capacity. So the 17 families, this is just going, you answered my question, I do appreciate it. So the 17 families, that was more or less than what you expected? That was more. We initially budgeted that we would need only a handful of rooms that we would carry throughout the entire winter season, and we are seeing that three or four rooms at a time is just not sufficient when we've had sometimes as many as 13, 12 families in hotels at a time. And lastly, do you foresee a request such as this coming in the near future, I mean in the future, like next year? So unfortunately, at present, I would anticipate that until we would have expanded family shelter that we're going to continue to need some seasonal resources. Now, this amount of money is already budgeted for. This would come out of the money that was awarded to us for winter purposes from the fund balance. So it's covered. But definitely until we would have things like the feasibility study back, I anticipate that we're going to continue to have some short-term needs. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next, we have Council Member Plowman. Thank you, Chair. And I have a general question that really touches C, D, E, and F. Mr. Martin or Ms. Albright? I know Ms. Albright's here because I saw her. Mr. Martin. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon. I've seen these. We've had these come before us on new business, I think, even a week or so ago. And I was just wondering, the monies that are coming back, because they didn't spend all the monies, Do you find as an ongoing trend that most people just go for the max and then they don't spend it and that's how it comes back to us? Well, they're all for different circumstances. B or C and E are basically just they got done and for one reason or another didn't need the full amount of the grant. The Friends of Wolf Run actually had some trees donated so they didn't have to buy them. The Living Arts and Science, they had a change in leadership, so a little change in direction on the project. That's why they gave money back. I was just thinking that sometimes when you see grants and you can ask for like 50,000 and you go ahead and do it. But these are very specific as to what they wanted done. So some things didn't happen, plans changed is what you're telling me. Correct. I got it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Councilmember. Next we got Councilmember Ellinger. I have a response. Councilmember Fogel. Thank you, Chair. M as in Mary. Commissioner. Jeff, as you're approaching the podium, I just wanted to make sure we paint the picture. The last time that the Fayette County Schools was here, they reported 575 children in the Fayette County Schools were homeless. That count is now 900. So I know that this pot of money that we're talking about, we have other community partners that are housing. Like when you hear 17 families, I wanted the council and everyone to know that we have more than 17 families in hotels that other community partners are housing. This is just the partners that community action can handle, is that correct? So this is for the agreement with community action council, correct. And can you give them the date of closure for the winter shelter? Yeah, so all of our winter resources, that would be the Hope Village, our winter weather program for seniors who are disabled and can't access other forms of shelter, and the Community Action Council program for families with minor children. All those resources would come to an end at the end of March. So at the end of March council, we will have people who have mobility challenges, people with mental health issues in families. Our program will end, so I'm pretty sure that you will approach us again. So for the safety of these folks and our winter shelters will close. So that means that the people who are at the Hope Village will be back on the street. So I'm just saying that for you all to get ready for your constituents to call with this issue that will be growing. Thank you for the hard work that you all have been doing and I wanted to just say that Our community partners have been very, very approachable when they come to the Hope Village. You've had housing stabilization, mental health services, employment, workforce. Everyone has come to the Hope Village, and I just wanted to say thank you for that hard work that you and the commissioner has put together. You're absolutely welcome. We're doing everything that we can to move as many people to permanent housing by the end of the season as possible. Thank you. And thank you for housing that family of 13. That was a big job. All right. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Chair. I want to follow up on number B on the clock, if you don't mind. On the clock. And while you're walking up there, for the record, I was not there in 1911 when the clock came in, just for the record. Well, and may I join you in recording? Neither was I. Despite everyone's potential, you'd be surprised what people say to me about those things. When you're in the history business, they're like, so, well, how many people were there? Who did you see? When you talked about it getting hit by a car and hit the planner, and we go through, and this might be a law question, but we go through insurance, and then we're self-funded, but were we able to get that money back from the NIC? Commissioner Horn has been working with that. This is a law question, but I happen to know that a claim slash demand has been filed with the insurance company of the driver of the vehicle. So it's in process right now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. If there's no other questions, we'll call the vote. All those in favor of new business, please say aye. Aye. Are there any that oppose? Hearing none, that motion passes. Next on the agenda is continuing business and presentations. Neighborhood development funds, is there a motion? Motion approved. Second. All right, a motion was made and seconded to approve neighborhood development funds. Are there any questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Are there any that oppose? Hearing none, that motion passes. Council member Ellinger, I ask to pass the chair to you to give my report. Council member Brown, and I have the chair, so I will probably relinquish it afterwards. Thank you, council member. Budget Finance Economic Development Committee, January 30th, 2024, summary and motions report out. The meeting began at 1.31 p.m. The approval of the November 28, 2023 committee summary. The committee unanimously approved the November 28, 2023 committee summary. The second item was a quarter two financial update for January 2024. Next, Commissioner Hensley introduced the quarter two financial update. Notable transfers are 55.9 million from the FY23 general fund balance to various funds as Determined at the October 31, 2023 budget committee of the whole meeting, revenues continue to run a positive variance to budget. Primarily due to greater than budgeted insurance premium tax collections, investment income, and service fees related to EMS. Personnel costs are right at or below budgeted costs and operating costs to budget are underspent. No action was taken on this item. The third item was the annual comprehensive financial review. Jenna Jones from Strothman and Company presented the results of the June 30th, 2023 audit of the annual comprehensive financial review. LFUCG received a unmodified opinion fairly presented in all material respects. Ms. Jones reported having no issues communicating with LFUCG as required as part of the audit. No action was taken on this item. The next item was the technology ecosystem development. Council member Savigny introduced the technology ecosystem development item, the technology association of the bluegrass. TAB is a non-profit member organization with the goal of expanding and improving the technology industry in Lexington Fayette County. TAB is working on employment, supporting future tech professionals, and supporting community building. Potential funding for TAB will be used on best practices such as creating an employment rich environment, engaging future tech professionals, and accelerating community building. No action was taken on this item. The committee adjourned at 2.50 PM. That concludes my report. I will relinquish the chair. Reluctantly. Reluctantly. Thank you, Council Member. The next item on the agenda are presentations and I would ask the director of building inspection to meet me at the podium. All right. So Mr. Bob Carpenter is joining me at the podium. The city's division of building inspection recently received this international accreditation service accreditation. We were pleased to learn that the city of Lexington is the first building inspection department in the state to receive this accreditation. What an accomplishment. Our building inspection division holds a responsibility to protect the public safety and warfare as it relates to construction by enforcing Kentucky's building codes. The accreditation is not easy to acquire. Work began several years ago under the leadership of former building inspection director Dewey Crow, who has since retired. Bob, you and your team play a critical role in our community. Thank you for all you do, and congratulations on the accomplishment. Now it's time and my pleasure to present a proclamation on behalf of Mayor Gordon. And the proclamation reads, Division of Building Inspection Day. The City of Lexington's Division of Building Inspection has received an International Accreditation Service, IAS Accreditation, and whereas Lexington's Division of Building Inspection is the first Building Inspection Department in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to achieve IAS Building Department accreditation, and whereas the approval of Building Department accreditation is confirmation that a Building Inspection Department has been found to be providing services at a high technical and professional level. And whereas the process to acquire this accreditation has taken several years, And we're asked that the Division of Building Inspections goal is to ensure safe construction by enforcing the Kentucky Building Code. And we're asked the City of Lexington commends the Division of Building Inspection on their accomplishment and its dedication to the residents of Lexington. Now, there are four James Brown on behalf of Mayor Linda Gordon do hereby declare February 27, 2024, Division of Building Inspection Day in Lexington. Congratulations. Thank you. Speaker 1, Director, please share with us. I just want to thank a few people, the administration and Commissioner Albright especially for supporting this. You mentioned Dewey Crow, him and also a retired director of code enforcement, Cash All-Chevy, they both worked together to get this started. But the most important I think is the people that work in building inspection. They are professional and carry themselves good and are very trained and I want to thank them more than anybody. Thank you. Thank you. Do you have anybody here that wants to join us at the front for a picture? Let's do it. I don't know. I don't know. I just think it's not looking for. I didn't. All right. So will President William French please join me at the podium? How are you doing? Yep. So as you all can see, we've got quite a few guests joining us today. So William French is here from the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity where he serves as the president of the Alpha Beta Lambda Chapter. The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity's mission is to develop leaders, promote brotherhood and academic excellence, and provide service and advocacy to our community. The fraternity has a rich history here in Lexington. For 30 years, the education foundation of the Alpha Beta Lambda Chapter has organized and hosted the Unity Breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The fraternity also works with William Wells Brown Elementary to enhance students' reading and comprehension skills and provide scholarships to help students further their education. Mr. French, your organization's leadership is a cornerstone of our community. Thank you for your dedication to our community. And now it is my pleasure to present this proclamation on behalf of Mayor Gordon. Thank you. Yep. So the proclamation reads Alpha Phi Alpha Day, whereas the mission of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity is to develop new leaders, promote brotherhood and academic excellence, and provide service and advocacy to our communities. And whereas the fraternity's motto, first of all, servants of all, we shall transcend all, embodies the organization's history as the first intercollegiate fraternity founded by African American men. and whereas one of the seven founding members of the fraternity, Vertner Woodson Tandy, was born in Lexington and whereas for 30 years the educational foundation of the Alpha Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has organized and hosted the Unity Breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and whereas since it's founded, the Alpha Beta Lambda Chapter and its education foundation have participated in a wide variety of educational, charitable, community, civic, and nurturing programs to benefit young African-American males. And the Central Kentucky community, and whereas the fraternity works with William Wills Brown Elementary to improve and enhance student reading and comprehensive skills, and provide scholarships to help students further their education. and whereas the City of Lexington commends the many years of leadership and service of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Now, therefore, I, James Brown, on behalf of our Mayor, Linda Gordon, do hereby declare February 27, 2024, Alpha Phi Alpha Day in Lexington. Thank you. President French, you have some remarks for us? I do. Thank you. Thanks for this recognition of the work of our fraternity has done over the many years in Lexington and in central Kentucky. We stand on the shoulders of African-American men in this community who have often gone unrecognized for their many efforts of forging a community that is inclusive to all citizens in this community. Lexington is a great place to live, but like many other cities across America, we all have our challenges. Alpha Phi Alpha Incorporated's Alpha Beta Lambda chapter has always and will always, has always and will always be engaged in this community with empowering citizens to stand up and be heard. We emphasize our fraternities national programs like a voter-less people is a hopeless people that was initiated in this fraternity in 1930. We have conducted registration drives, campus neighborhoods informing citizens on upcoming elections and making sure they are aware of being registered to vote and where to go get registered to vote. Go to high school, go to college. Project Alpha is another national program that we are enthusiastic about, mentoring our youth and showing them what is possible by being attentive in school and showing them our chapter brothers making a difference in our community. This chapter and one brother in this chapter were instrumental in renaming a portion of one of our streets, Martin Luther King Boulevard, from East 6th Street to Euclid Avenue. This change was approved on February 11th, 1988. Brother Lee Jackson, I'm sure most of you know of him. And we just celebrated, as Councilman Brown said, our 30th Unity Breakfast on MLK Day. Again, this idea came from a local citizen who asked one of our fraternity brothers about having a breakfast to unify our community by celebrating our differences and customs. We do not do these activities for the sole purpose of being recognized. We do this because our founders, the Seven Jewels, laid out the foundation of brotherhood with the purpose of serving people who are left out or have lost hope in the American dream. Our desire is to be at the table when decisions are made in our community that affects these citizens. In conclusion, one of my favorite alpha men is Brother Thurgood Marshall. He said, equal means getting the same thing at the same time in the same place. Thank you again for this special recognition. During Black History Month, I will end my remarks with our fraternity's motto, first of all, servants of all, we shall transcend all. Thank you. Yeah, if you all don't mind joining us the front four pitcher. . Thank you. All right, council members, back to our agenda. And I will say that President French said their model way better and in a better cadence than I did, so. All right, the next item on our agenda is a presentation of the Central Bank Center Annual Update. And from Central Bank Center, we have Brian Seidt with us. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. I wanted to introduce you to our team here that will be presenting. The assistant general manager for Central Bank Center is Laura Alexander. The president of his elects is Mary Quinn Raymer, as you know, and then their VP of sales is Marcy Krueger. Also want to highlight in the audience our convention center sales team of Joe Fields, Logan Sparks, and Becky Trimble. They make all the magic happen and bring those hundred and thousands of guests to town. So it's an honor to be here. The purpose of our presentation is to come and tell you the success story of the investment that you all decided to make in renovating and then also building the brand new building downtown. We've been open for almost two years now fully. As you know, a lot of you are at the ribbon cutting. Oakview Group has been managing the facility since October of 2021 when Bill Owen announced his retirement. And we kind of wanted to go through some of the highlights we've been having since then. So I'll start with some of the accomplishments of Rupp Arena. So you may or may not know Rupp Arena was nominated for the 2022 Arena of the Year for Academy of Country Music. There's only five arenas in the nation that get nominated for that, so we were really thrilled to be one of them. In 2023, we hosted more public non-UK athletic events than ever before in the venue's history, and the building is coming up on 48 years, so we were really happy to break that record. In the same time, we also hosted the most UK athletic events. As you know, Memorial Coliseum is being renovated, so not only did we host the men's basketball games, but also hosted women's, gymnastics, and their volleyball. So broke records from all sides there with the events that we had. We had the Kentucky Rising concert, which raised over 2.9 million for flood relief. If you remember the floods that we had in Eastern Kentucky, Chris Stapleton did a show. Raised almost $3 million for that, and then also were nominated for The Live Music is Better award at the Polestar Awards, that is an industry award that takes place in Beverly Hills every February. And then just some major tours that have been coming through Rupp recently or will be coming up. We obviously have Olivia Rodrigo coming up, but have hosted Lizzo, Blink 182, Guns N' Roses and the Eagles. Morgan Wallen had three sold out nights that had 40,000 tickets sold over those three nights. And then Tyler Childers just this last December did December 30th and New Year's Eve doing 29,000 tickets. And we had the privilege of hosting the Judd's final show when they had that with Winona. At the Opera House, which we also manage, we hosted Lee Ann Morgan and Heather McMahon. They are both comedians. They both taped their Netflix specials there. So if you go on Netflix right now, you'll see the Lexington Opera House for the world to see. We're also working with Visit Lex as we speak to leverage the Kentucky film incentive that the state has so So we can bring in more tapings and national exposure events, whether at the Opera House or also maybe some potentially at Rupp Arena. And then in 2023, the Opera House also has hosted more events than ever before in its 47 year history, including events with live podcasts, symphonies, family shows, and tribute shows. So we're really proud that that building of less than 1,000 seats has been able to break records and still bring all kinds of shows to town. While also being the home for most of the local arts groups that perform in Lexington, as you know, they perform at the Lexington Opera House. I won't go through and name all of them. You can see them on the screen. But the local arts groups actually take up more event days than our national shows do that we bring in because of rehearsals and show days and everything. And even through the pandemic and afterwards, they've all been able to come back and thrive. So we're really proud that we're able to host that at our complex. So I will turn it over to Laura to talk about some of the accomplishments at Central Bank Center. Thank you, Brian. So many of you all know that the Central Bank Center underwent the renovation and expansion and reopened in April of 2022. Some of these are highlights that I have listed here on the board as far as some of the success stories that we've seen since then. And I'll just kind of touch on a couple of them. Last year we saw the Kentucky Society of Human Resource Managers. They held their first convention outside of Louisville. It's notoriously been held in Louisville, and they decided to finally come to Lexington. They loved it so much, they're actually contracted to return in 2025, and it represented 720 room nights for Lexington. The retail jewelers organization will be bringing a little over 1,800 room nights to Lexington in 2026. And this is one of those groups that would not have been able to come here if it wasn't for the expansion of the property. The Southeastern Theater Conference outgrew the old convention center a couple years ago. But with the new renovations, they brought their event back to Lexington at the Central Bank Center in this past March, bringing over 4,000 room nights to the city of Lexington. The International Conference on Missions had also outgrown the capacity, and with the new Central Bank Center expansion, they will return in November 2024 with 8,000 in attendance and over 4,000 room nights. Now with the expansion in our exhibit halls, which has about 100,000 square feet, We are also able to host some large sporting events including cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, and many more as we're finding. But some of the ones that we wanted to touch upon include the Academy Volleyball Tournament. Has about 150 teams coming each spring starting in 2024. We have the Made Hoops Basketball, which is a new basketball tournament that is returning. Again, 150 teams coming in the spring of 2024. And a new cheerleading event, which is Champions Force National Cheerleading Championships. We have about 4,000 attendees in July of 2024. Now with that, we've obviously seen a gross in our revenue, which is always great to see. So in this past fiscal year that ended on June 30th, we saw 391 event days just at the convention center alone. The fiscal 23 gross revenue saw basically an 80% increase over fiscal 22. And then fiscal 24, which will end in June 30th of 2024 this year, is projected to be over 100% increase from the fiscal 22. One important note that we have on here, obviously, that we measure, the importance of building a convention center in most communities is to bring visitors to town. So that they stay the night in hotels and they spend more money in the community, eating at restaurants, going shopping, etc. And so one of the things that we measure is the transient room tax revenue to see if we're matching on pace to performing what the CSL study said we were going to do. So the team with OVG in Lexington and Visit Lex, we put a strong emphasis on hotel room nights. If you saw the previous slide, we measure a lot of the statistics in room nights because that's important to us. And so fiscal 23 transient room tax revenue was the highest in LCC history. So we're projecting in this next fiscal 24 that again ends in June 30th, that it's going to set a new high for LCC for the third straight year. Next we'll turn it over to Mary Quinn. She has a couple more comments on the transient room tax revenue and talk about some of the partnerships. As Laura mentioned, we've been really fortunate to enjoy a very strong partnership with our colleagues at the Central Bank Center. And I'm very pleased to say that the transient room tax, I'm just going to go back. I don't know if I can go back. The transient room tax growth has been really phenomenal. So both organizations were able to hit that $10 million mark, which has been fantastic. I will say that coming out of the pandemic, leisure is what really drove the recovery in those initial months. And so things like concerts do a fantastic job of bringing folks to the city and turning that dollar over. Business travel, we've seen a lot of adjustment in business travel. We think we might be leveling out to a new normal. I'm not sure that we'll ever be back to where we were pre-pandemic because we discovered a lot can be done via Zoom. Needless to say, though, people still really believe in the power of face-to-face connections, and so we've seen business travel recover to about 75%, and I think that's just maybe where we are now. And then I can't say enough about how important it is. because we are a leisure destination we really need business on the books early in the week we need our hotels filled with group business which is where the convention center plays a critical role on those sunday monday tuesday nights and so we've been fortunate to be the size city that we are secondary markets have recovered much faster than first tier markets as it relates to convention business and we finished last calendar year 2023 at a 62.8 occupancy rate for the city that is where we were pre-pandemic and we've absorbed a thousand new hotel rooms into our city so that just goes to show you that the demand coming out of the pandemic has been really strong all right moving on to our trade show booth thanks to some of you who were sitting on council when arpa dollars were first being allocated we were able to purchase a brand new trade show booth which you were looking at much of what we do in the recruitment of meeting planners to the destination is done at appointments appointment based marketplace shows think of it as speed dating if you will we'll sit down have 20 minutes to pitch a meeting planner on the perks of hosting their meeting or convention here in Lexington and we were able to take a brand new booth on the road this is a fantastic 20 by 20 we usually try to book it right on the tail end of a big trade show floor so that we can sort of own an area we went with a daytime nighttime scene and you can see just a lot of the stunning imagery that we use to try and bring people into the booth we have received a ton of compliments on it so I wanted to just let you know that in the last year we attended 30 of these marketplace shows and we acquired 66 requests for proposals as a result of those 30 shows and that represented 10,000 room nights to the city. And here's Marcy to talk a little more. Visit Lex wanted to lean in with the city on our excitement about turning 250 years young next year in 2025. So a year and a half ago we rolled out an incentive because the larger meetings booked so far in advance so the incentive is if you brought your meeting here to Lexington during our need months in 2025 visit Lex would actually provide the food for your opening reception and live local entertainment we had such great results from it 30 people gave us RFPs for their meeting and we have successfully booked 10 of those conventions into Lexington and that is worth 4.5 million dollars that'll be here in Lexington next year and then we will do photo opportunities and party favors just to really lean into the birthday bash and celebrate our year to our city turning 250 years another really popular way in which we meet or bring meeting planners to to the city is through familiarization tours and so what you see right here is a group of meeting planners that joined us in market and of course this is in the winner circle at Keeneland we try to host to what we call fam tours every year typically in the spring in the fall last year we were able to host two fantastic groups that resulted in 26 requests for proposals for bringing group business to the city that represented 23,000 room nights we were also able to host 80 local meeting planners there's a number of meeting planners that are based here in Lexington and or attached to the different corporate entities that are here in Lexington so we always do a local meeting planner fam as well it's quite popular we try to take them to the newest additions to our market and showcase what we have in terms of venues in an effort to try and remind them that this is a fantastic place for them to host their meeting or group and so we hosted 50 of these meeting planners in 2023 and I think probably the most compelling statistic of all is the last one that you see on the slide when we get a meeting planner that is not from this area to come to Lexington on a site visit we had we have an 85 conversion ratio which is quite enviable that is an extremely strong close ratio so the city really does do a fabulous job of selling itself once we can get them here just want to touch on a couple of statistics i think laura mentioned the convention sports and leisure study there was a study done in 2011 and then refreshed in 2015 that was evaluating the economic impact of expanding the convention center and the recommendation at that time was to expand especially to get to a hundred thousand square feet of contiguous exhibit space that really was the impetus about approaching the legislature in 2016 to get the funds and basically we were wanting to make sure there was a really solid return on investment and i think I think that this graph does a nice job of saying yes, this was worth the funds that have been expended. You can see in the black what Convention Sports and Leisure gave us as target goals to meet as the new center was completed. And then we have come in ahead of pace on both of those, so it's really fantastic. In our first two years out of the gate, we have surpassed the number that was given to us as a benchmark number for the building to be performing. And you can see on the left hand just some conventions that we're bringing in, the number of room nights that that represents, and the economic impact that is associated with it. I can tell you, looking future forward, that the pace is extremely strong. We are up 41% based over our previous four historical high years. So we feel really good about being able to deliver a return on the investment from this building to the community. And then with the addition of this new building that is larger, we were able to go after a high profile meeting planner group. Religious Conference Management Association had always had an interest in Lexington. However, they wanted to make sure the new convention center was up and running. They've come and visited and they have actually awarded us this convention. So we'll have 1,000 meeting planners here in February 2026. And we're able to promote it over the next couple years in order to get Lexington back on the map. And then we just want to also share some testimonials from some meeting planners. Arrowhead Conference is a very well respected organization in the community. And Alicia has wrote a very nice testimonial. They have brought seven conventions to our city over a five year period. So we're on the trade show for, they literally bring friends over and say, you've got to come see my friends in Lexington. We just had the Lutheran Women Missionary Leagues in the Southeast Theater. And so it's so nice to have folks like that that just entrust us and the service they have been provided here in Lexington. to bring their friends over because it's their reputation on the line. And again, just thank you to everybody what you do for our city, because when we bring meeting planners here for the first time, we hear we feel safe here. We feel very comfortable here. We know our meeting attendees will feel that way as well. And it's a very affordable city when they look at where we're located geographically, they realize how many of their members will drive here, which is cost saving. So thank you for everything you do. Thank you Brian, Laura, Mary Quinn, and Marcy for the presentation. Council members, do you have any questions? First up we have Council Member Reynolds. Thank you Chair, or Chair, yeah, you're chairing, yes. I just want to thank you all for all your hard work over the past few years to make these stats a reality. visit Lex, Mary Quinn, and Brian. I mean, it's really impressive. And as I run into people in Lexington that are visiting, they always also seem very impressed with the city as a whole. And I think you helped us understand the need that we had to bring more conventions in, and then you were able to do that. And that's good for all of us. It's good for business. It's good for everyone in Lexington to have these conventions come in and people that wouldn't normally be here staying here and bringing dollars to the area. So I don't know that I have a specific question at this time, but I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work. It's an honor. I'm excited that the 11th District overlaps with the Convention Center and Rupp Arena. And as always, anything I can do to help, I'm more than happy to. And also want to compliment you on your presentation, which was extremely helpful and concise. So thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Chair. I don't really have a question. Just thank you all for the presentation. And we've been talking about trying to get this together for a little while. And I think it would just put it on the back burner. I think we need to have a presentation from your group probably once a year just to bring us up to date. I've been around a long time, especially when Rep Arena was built and the first convention center was built. And so it's been astounding on how far it's advanced in the almost 50 years. And, listen, this convention center is a crown jewel in Lexington. And a lot of people don't realize it, but we bring a lot of revenue in, the convention center does. And these dollars stay here when they come in, but they leave. So we don't have too big of a problem there. But it's a great, we've got a good organization, the management group that has come in about a year and a half. I'm very impressed with the accountability and the leadership there, and I think they're in good hands. And, Council, we need to promote our Lexington Center Group Convention Center all as much as we can. So thank your presentation. Thank you, Council Member Brown. Next is Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Chair. Thank you all so much for this very insightful presentation. The numbers look really, really good. So that just shows all the hard work that you all have done. And I just want to continue to encourage you to make sure that when you're courting different organizations, conventions to come, that you look at diverse groups and organizations and people. Because we want diverse people and organizations to come to Lexington and experience Lexington and all that we have to offer. And we want them to leave us a positive, lasting impression. So please continue to increase your efforts for diversity, equity, inclusion when you're thinking about organizations, conventions, and groups to bring into the city. Thank you for a job well done. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next, is Council Member Legree. Thank you, Chair. Thank you all so much for this presentation. I think you all did a really great job quantifying all of the activity that we're seeing in downtown and explaining a little bit more numerically. the number of visitors who are coming to visit our city. I remember pretty clearly the anxiety we all felt during the pandemic about what's next, how to bring our occupancy rates back up, and I think you all did an excellent job not only navigating those couple of years, but helping to promote Lexington as a really versatile city where you can do things indoors, outdoors, in the country, in the urban core. And I appreciate that. I think it is really helpful to have a presentation of this sort, hopefully annually, if that's something that we can entertain. Because especially as we're seeing the developments around Town Branch Park, as we're seeing more connectivity between the center of downtown with the distillery district and the integration of trail systems, I'll be really curious about how that hopefully bolsters our recruiting landscape for all of our conventions and visitors. So thank you all for your great work and for all the ways in which you tout Lexington, not only to people who live here, but to people all over the nation. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Legree. Next is Councilmember Fogle. Thank you, Chair. Wow. I grew up at 708 West Shore Street, just around the corner from Rupp Arena. I watched it be built as a little girl. And so this is amazing, ditto to everything that Council Member Lynch said. And I just wanted to say thank you. I look forward to partnering with you all on some adventures that I've got in my head as everybody was presenting. I was like, ooh, ooh. So just thank you for your presentation, thank you for your hard work. It's a beautiful place to walk into when we come in, no matter what point of entry, everything is just laid out and it's beautiful. So I just wanted to say thank you from the first district. Thank you, Councilmember Fogel. Next is Councilmember Ellinger. Thank you, Chair, and thank you all for the presentation. And I'm glad that we're exceeding our expectations and it was money well spent to do this. I'm curious, when you go and you have a conference and you have somebody, How do you determine who's going to participate in hotels, the geographical area, and how is that determined to make sure everybody is participating? Sure, that's a great question. If it's a group that wants to be at the convention center, usually the attendees want to be able to walk to the convention center. So transportation is usually off the table. However, these shows that we go to, we find board meetings for 30 people. We find meetings for 100 people, 200 people. So we're taking care of all the hotels all over Lexington that have meeting space. That's the beauty of when we come back from a trade show. It's all sizes, it's not just convention center size. The presentation today was obviously all focused at the convention center. Right, okay, well thank you. Did that help answer? Yeah, it did. Yeah, I just want to make sure everybody is participating in here and- 100%. Taking advantage of this beautiful city. We love all 90 of our hotels in Fayette County. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. i will say you know i'd serve on the uh... commission the visitors and convention center commission and i'm impressed i think you know i get downloaded me and sally and they'll have this information all the time so uh... i just want to come in central bank center and visit lex for their coordination and cooperation and working together to make this happen the level of concerts that we've had over the the last few years i think it's notable just my daughter was calling me the other night talking about trade tickets so i mean just uh... just uh... just the talent that we've been able to get i think is you know i commend you on that so uh... i wish you brought the video that had the drone footage shot of central bank center and and and all that downtown area just we show that uh... to folks that you're trying to recruit and bring here i think it just has a lot of value so so thank you for the presentation for the information no other questions uh... council members Did you all have any closing comments or thoughts? No. All right. All right, moving on our agenda next is council reports. All right, first up is council member Ellinger. Thank you, chair. And Mr. Barbary, if you could, could you give us an update where we stand with the source of income, what's going on with Frankfort? Because I think there was something happened today. Sure, good afternoon. So the bill has now been passed, so it's going to go to the governor, and he'll have 10 days to review that and decide what he wants to do. So the earliest this could possibly go into effect if he doesn't veto it would be the week of March 11th. And then if he vetoes it, they would have until the end of the session to override the veto potentially. So you have a window between pretty much March 11th and April 15th, which is the last day of the session um in all likelihood at some period at some point in that period of time this will become an effective law the way things are shaking out right now and what happens since our ordinance has taken effect march 1st between that and and the time our advice to the human rights commission would be to stand down until we see how this this shakes out in frankfort and not to not to enforce it because you're just going to get into a mess where they start they they try to start to enforce it and then it's not a valid law by the time they go to and exert any kind of penalty or anything like that thank you thank you chair and we'll have in the i think our recommendation is if this goes into law would be to amend your ordinance and we'll have an amendment for you all to consider if and when this becomes law thank you council member next is council member gray Thank you, Chair. I'm buying time. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. So over the week, I am one of the few council members that didn't realize we didn't have council meetings last week. Go figure. So I was fully booked and busy in our community. I had the opportunity of speaking at several of our Fayette County public schools. First, I spoke at Martin Luther King Academy, which is located in the 6th District. Martin Luther King Academy is one of our alternative schools where we have some of our students that need a little bit more love than some other students. It was a great opportunity to speak with some young women who need more, to see more young women, young women or speaking of myself, more role models in their life who are making positive difference. It was just a great opportunity to speak with them. Next, I had the opportunity to speak at Dixie Magnet Elementary School, which is also located in the 6th District. I'm at Dixie often, but it was a pleasure to be there with several community members speaking with them about what we do in our daily lives. I normally speak all the time at these schools, but I was there particularly speaking during Black History Month. Following that same day, I was back at my former elementary school, which is Northern Elementary, which is also located in the heart of the 6th District. I was actually their Black History person. All students in the school learned about me, which is a full circle moment. I would like to say kudos to a young man by the name, and I'm trying not to mess up his name. Acasio. He is a fifth grader at Northern Elementary who had the honor, as I say, of introducing me to his classmates. He's a young man at the bottom that is holding the sign that says Councilwoman Gray. He just worked all night and all week on his speech. And it's just an honor to be at my former school, my home, and being someone that they can learn about and someone that's making a positive difference in the 6th District and in Lexington. I was also involved with Fayette County Public Schools Real Read program. I was at Arlington Elementary School this week, I believe, along with Judge Goodwine and Senator Reggie Thomas as we read to students there. I had the pleasure of reading to kindergarteners and I'm a little animated so they enjoyed my animation, that's for sure. And later on that same day, I was at the preschool where it happened to be crazy hair day. And so I made sure to have a little crazy hair with the ponytail, side ponytail with items in my hair. And I read my favorite children's book, which is called Pete the Cats, I Love My White Shoes. And I made sure that I went home and put on my white shoes. And it was just always fun to be around our young people. And finally, I had the pleasure of meeting with a group that I know my colleagues and I are very familiar with, which is our, I believe it's Lexington for Palestine group. about what concerns them. And I did put out a statement because for me, it's about the people in my district. And I believe it's imperative that as the councilwoman for the sixth district that I do acknowledge their concerns. And I do understand that they do not feel safe right now in the city of Lexington. Many of them have been terrorized because of what's going on in Gaza. And I put out a statement letting them know that I see them. And although it is outside the scope of my duties as city council member, I understand their situation, I see them and I hear them, and they are not alone. And they have a leader in me that sees their concerns and I hear them. So that is all that I have. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, council member. Next is council member Savigny. Thank you, Chair. I don't have any pictures, but we have a lot of things in district ten that are going on. At Friday's KHSAA state championship swim meet, Seneca Otto placed first in the boys 50 free and boys 100 breaststroke. his 50 free time of 1993 broke Dunbar's school record and tied the Kentucky High School state record. Congratulations Seneca on being a 2024 two-time state champion and a Kentucky High School state record holder. Also news in the 10th, SCAPA of the Bluegrass Middle School speech team won their 27th consecutive KHSSL state championship And we're also awarded the Sustained Excellence Trophy. Congratulations to Scapa of the Blue Grass Middle School. Lastly, this evening at 6 o'clock at the Beaumont Y Water Quality, my friends at Water Quality and I are hosting a meeting for the people of Beaumont regarding the stormwater improvement project in the Savannah and Guilford Lane area. A huge thank you to Greg Lubeck and Mark Sanders and project manager Doug Baldwin for always taking the time to meet and speak with our neighborhoods about this upcoming work. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to send a special message to my District 2 neighbors. We had a sewer emergency completely unexpected occur last week, and I want to just ask for Director Charlie Martin to come up and give us a bit of an update on what's going on. And I want to thank you in advance. you and your team have jumped into action very expeditiously to address the issue that's going on along Leestown Road. So I'm going to hand it over to you. Okay. All right. If I get too granular, please stop me because I brought along my map, but I think most all of you have seen this that I sent to you the other day via email. Basically last week we found a leak there on a pressurized pipeline. That pipe comes from a pump station that's located in front of the federal prison on on lees town road and works its way along lees town and eventually ends up at town branch but this leaked area here this is the second one that we've had to repair over the last year and a half and what we have found is that basically the pipe is completely corroded pretty dramatic picture here but that's what they basically you've got five clamps on this right now it's it's like putting band-aids on a severe burn so what we're doing is this is that we're preparing a certificate of emergency hopefully we'll have everything all signed off on by the end of the day with the contractor to mobilize if not the end of this week early next week most of this is in front of the great acres parcel that is currently under development anderson communities i've been in contact with them about trying to coordinate how we do the work because i i just as soon have them stay out of least town road if we can obviously avoid it right now we're off the pavement behind the sidewalk but they're obviously going to get trucks in and out of there because they're going to be digging up the old pipeline and replacing it with one section we don't know how much of the corrosion extends you see my little coloring thing there on the right hand side of that that's you looking at the pipe if you were if you went underground and looked at it sideways in a profiled version and the yellow basically indicates the part that we're looking at is that those high points when it goes up like this it traps air there and where the air and water interface is where you get that corrosion at and you've got two areas where that thing pops up there it's about 900 feet long i don't want to guess that it's 600 feet and And find out that we left another 300 feet there untouched. So we're going to replace the entire 900 feet that's along there. Think about it like an artery bypass, basically, if you were going to the hospital and such, it's the same process. Differences is that it's a 24 inch pipeline that pumps about 3,000 gallons a minute. Thank you so much for your update. So District 2 neighbors, we are addressing it and are aware. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Thank you so much again. add one thing the one thing i did forget if weather and everything cooperates with us probably a 10 day operation awesome thank you thank you chair thank you council member next is uh council member fogel thank you chair uh thank you uh cm lynch because i know our our district's kiss and it's gonna affect traffic and everything else in the health and welfare of the community um we are We are approaching spring break, want to give attention. And even though first district will be feeding the children of the Fayette County schools, that means that your children from your districts can come over to first district to the parks. We will have backpacks to send every child home every day to make sure that they have a nutrition meal. And we have partnered with CHI, Demetrius Blair will be partnering with us for a healthy, safer neighborhood and she has healthy food. We have the pieces and the chips, so we'll have a combination of that. Each child will receive a backpack every day to take home. They will eat a hot meal in the parks. We have 13 parks in the first district. And so if you have some children that's out, thanks to the council member who see the children and want to feed them, for those who didn't have the money to give, that's okay, God will bless you anyway. And for anyone else that would like to donate, Community Inspired Solution is the partner, this partner with us, the 501c3. You can drop off donations to the Northside Library beginning March the 26th. We'll be taking donations at the Northside Library. The time is from 11 to 2 that we will feed the children of the Fayette County Schools. So for anyone that would like to drop off donations, we will accept them. Please help us feed the children during spring break, it is really important. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And hopefully we will get to comment once again. I know that the state is doing their thing, but until the state drops whatever they're going to do, I think we should move on with what Lexington is going to do for our community. I hate waiting on the decision of what the state's going to do. Who knows, there could be some kind of divine intervention and they don't pass it. And so, if we can use those certificates, I don't care what the window period is, Let's use those certificates and let's see our community and then let the state do whatever they're going to do. But in those moments, I hope that we honor what we voted. And so that's all I have. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Councilmember. Next, we have Councilmember Plowman. Thank you, Chair. And I guess what a great culmination to Black History Month because tonight is our first all community Hamlet meeting. We've had other Hamlet meetings, but they've been one singled out by individual Hamlets. But this is the big one tonight. You've all gotten invitations from me over the past few weeks. It is at 6 o'clock and it's at Picadome. And it'll be very interactive. It's not going to be listening and talking heads. It'll be very interactive with a lot of good outreach to Hamlet members and community members that are there to find out more. So I wanted to bring that up. And then colleagues, I don't know how many of you are coming, but You will be recognized tonight for your investment in this project. So I hope to see you there. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Next we have Councilmember Leguri. Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to remind everybody about the upcoming St. Patrick's Day festivities going on in downtown Lexington. This year we're going to celebrate on Saturday, March 16th, and We're going to start the day with the Lexington Habitat for Humanity Shamrock Shuffle 3K, so it's a pretty manageable district, at 8.30 a.m. And then from there, the blessing of the keg will be at 10.45, which will kick off the day-long festival. There are going to be a lot of activities going on, including a parade at 1 p.m. on Main Street. And it's always such a fun day, and I hope to see you all downtown. Sorry, I got a little distracted over here. I just also want to mention that this past weekend was the first compost workshop of the year. And I'm really glad to see the ongoing success of that program. Thank you so much to our environmental services team for all of your hard work on this. And council members, I know you all have already been promoting this, but There are additional workshops March 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 24th. And residents who attend will receive a $50 voucher to go toward a composter. And those can be pretty expensive, so that $50 can make a dent in the price. And just so that you all are aware, and this may apply to some of your all's residents, this is the first year that workshops are available to all residents of Lexington. So even if you don't receive city services, just make sure to tell your residents to register before the classes fill up completely. Even if they have, they can keep checking out lexanonky.gov forward slash compost for more information. They happen every year. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you, Councilmember. Next is Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Chair. I would like to, as chair of the social service and public safety committee, I'm going to add an update on the It's Time Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition to the March 5th agenda. And I just wanted to officially do that. And then I wanted to just say that I hope I see everybody, as Councilmember Plumman mentioned, at the Hamlet meeting at 6 o'clock in the 11th District at Piccadome Golf Course. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember. Next is Councilmember Sheehan. Thank you, Chair. Just a couple quick announcements. Tonight at 6 p.m. at the Kenwick Community Center, Council Member Legree and I will be joined by several of the planning staff members for a meeting about the urban growth management zotas for the surrounding neighborhoods. So please attend if you would like. And if your neighborhood association would like more information about the zotas that are under consideration, planning staff is willing to come to your neighborhood meeting. so just let your council member know. And then next week on Monday, we have the Romney Road Publix Project meeting. That is at 630 at Christ the King at the Heyman Hall room within that space. So if you are in that area or interested in that project, you can attend. And then I would also like to announce, it's also on Monday, May, March 4th, that Congressman Barr holds a quarterly Veterans Coalition meeting. And that is taking place at the Kentucky High School Athletics Association on 2280 Executive Drive. That meeting starts at 6 p.m., but if you have questions about services or casework, you can show up at 5 p.m. to talk with his staff members about getting any issues addressed. So that is all. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. I don't see any other Council Members signed up for public comment. There is no Mayor's Report. There's no price contract bids. I don't see anyone signed up for public comment, so I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All right, a motion was made to adjourn and seconded. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Consider this meeting adjourned. Thank you. Good job. Thank you.