Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, good afternoon everybody. Let's see if we can get things settled down and get started. I'm calling to order this work session for March 12, 2024. First item on the agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda. We don't have anybody signed up. I don't have any requested rezonings or docket approval. So moving on to approval summary, table of motions, Council work session March 5, 2024. I'll entertain a motion to approve. Motion approved. Second. Motion approved by Councilmember Ellinger. Second, Councilmember Gray. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Don't have any budget amendments, don't have any budget adjustments, so on to new business. If you all have questions and comments, please sign in to speak. Council Member Menardes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I wanted to speak about items A and J. All right, looks like Chief Wells. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chief. I just wanted you to speak to the council here and the public about this item. If you could give us some details, please. Sure. So thank you for this opportunity. For those of you who may remember the saga of our SCBAs, it's been a long and winding road for us to get to this point. And the implementation, actually, of our new upgraded SCBAs took several years. During that period of time, we were really fortunate to receive some donated SCBAs that allowed us to kind of maintain our inventory and to keep on safely. And we thought this would be a good opportunity, now that we have fully changed over, to pay that forward. So there's actually 29 organizations that will benefit from this donation. Everybody from small local fire departments, volunteer departments to Eastside Fayette County Public Schools, Jessamine County Public Schools. So those packs are going to be put to good use. We did secure a good legal release through our legal department and our partnership with them. But all in all, we're giving away 256 air packs and 520 cylinders plus fittings to organizations that need them to maintain their safe cache of equipment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Chief, if you could come back. I have one more question on that same item. Sorry. Actually, hold on. I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's okay. She's going to ask about the same thing so we could come back. I'm sorry. Council Member Bonaris, why don't you finish your question first? Sure. Item J. This is for phase one archaeological study that we'll need to do on the one undevidable property along the Armstrong Mill corridor where we're doing the bike pad improvements. Initially our design project was funded by ARPA but then KYTC after that project, after that was already started decided that we need to also do a phase one for this one property. So we're using their statewide contract in order to facilitate that through a different funding source. So this will be done before the design really gets rolling. They basically go out there and dig holes at intervals to make sure there's no archaeological sites or artifacts there. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Sorry about that. One quick question on A. So when we say expired, can you explain what that means and how expired equipment would help someone else? Sure, absolutely. So this equipment does not meet the current NFPA standards for safety equipment. It's legal to use, and they certainly can use it, and everybody signs a waiver that it's as is, and they're responsible for the maintenance and upkeep. The one thing that you wouldn't be able to use are the cylinders once they go out of date. So it would be their responsibility to replace those cylinders when they go out of date and to hydro test them to make sure that they're good quality when they're in date. The rest of the equipment could be used. The problem is they don't manufacture the parts and pieces. So for these departments that are still a couple years out from being able to replace their inventory, this will allow them to kind of hobble along. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Thank you. Any other questions on new business? I'll entertain a motion to approve. Second. Councilmember Plowman and Councilmember Gray. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Moving on to continuing business. We're going to have actually two summaries today for Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee. partial report out for March 12, 2024 and a full report out for February 6, 2024. Take it away, Councilmember Sheehan. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So for the full report out for the February 6, 2024 meeting, the meeting was called to order at 1.04 p.m. The first item on the agenda was approval of the December 5, 2023 committee summary. There were no additions or corrections and the summary was approved without dissent. Then next, Councilmember Ellinger introduced microtransit, sometimes called on-demand transit, which is a public transportation that captures trip requests and group passengers and groups passengers into shared rides in real time. There are options for how microtransit is deployed by cities and Lex Tran would prefer a turnkey partner if we went with this type of program. Ellinger explained one option for a turnkey service is via. Council members expressed concern over the expense related to implementing a microtransit program. Emily Elliott from Lex Tran presented their strategic plan, highlighting their approach to filling gaps in public transit. She and Chris Avilia from LFUCG's planning department answered council member questions. Considering the city's goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, there were concerns about the impact of adding additional vehicles to the road. No action was taken on this item. Finally, Charlie Martin, director of Division of Water Quality, updated the committee about recent findings related to the causes of sewer odor. The treatment plants and pump stations are concentrated points of collection and retention. weather and the lack of rainfall reduces flow to the minimum when the system is designed for the maximum. Director Martin reviewed the odor control response, including the recent contract with Weber Environmental Associates, and next steps to be taken. Martin confirmed that the goal for the smell is to be eventually at zero. No action was taken on this item, but the item remains in committee for periodic updates. The meeting adjourned at 2.54 p.m. and that includes my full report out for that meeting. We do have a partial report out for our Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee meeting for today. The regular report out for this committee will be on April 30th. However, in the interest of moving forward with one action item, I'm going to provide this partial report out. During today's committee meeting, Heather Wilson and Jennifer Carey with Environmental Services provided a presentation on the LexGro Trees Grant Program. They provided a background on the tree canopy assessment. In February 2022, the council authorized $1.5 million from the budget stabilization funds for improving Lexington's tree canopy. The funds were placed with the Division of Environmental Services to oversee their expenditure, and the Tree Canopy Ad Hoc Committee was formed to provide input to the division as to how the funds should be allocated. Pursuant to the actions of the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee at its committee meeting today, I move to place on the docket for the March 21st, 2024 Council Meeting, a resolution establishing a grant program to be known as the Lex Grow Trees Grant Program, and providing for its purpose and objectives, approving and adopting guidelines for the Lex Grow Trees Grant Program, and providing for the authority of the Tree Canopy Ad Hoc Committee over the Lexgro Trees Grant Program at a total cost not to exceed $1 million. So moved. Second. We have a motion from Councilmember Sheehan, second from Councilmember Lagree. Any discussion on this item? Seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. That concludes my partial report. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. All right, next up is Council Reports. Council Council members, please sign in to speak. Council member James Brown. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just want to take this opportunity to talk about a grant writing workshop that myself, my office, Tiffany Brown and the Mayor's Office, BCTC and Fayette County Public Schools have worked to partner on coming up March the 23rd. It's a Saturday, 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Limited space. The intent is to reach out and to work with neighborhood associations, non-profit organizations and other entities that are interested in applying for grants in our city. We had limited space and I think we're full right now, but we knew during the planning conversations around this initiative that we were going to have a lot of interest and this may be something that we do again. I just wanted to thank those partners that have signed up to put this on with us. And then I also want to recognize a young high school intern that is Magdalene. Will you wave your hand? She's over there with core staff. She's actually been shadowing me today. She's actually the daughter of Kim Jackson that works in our grant department. She's a senior at Henry Clay High School. I guess today she had a day out of school and wanted to take the opportunity to kind of follow me around and see what it is that I do as a council member on a daily basis. And I just want to thank her for the opportunity to, I think she is planning to learn from me, but I learned a lot from her. And it's always refreshing and encouraging to have a conversation with the students and young people in our community because they're very aware of things that are going on. And we might take it that some of this stuff goes over their heads, but she was very knowledgeable about a lot of things that we talked about today. So thank you for taking the time and joining me today. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Baxter. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I think I have an image. So I just wanted to take a moment and invite everyone to come and celebrate the mission of the Explorium of Lexington, which is the Children's Museum. On Friday, April 26th from 7 to 10, it is the grownups turn to play. And it's a really, really fun night. All the exhibits are set up and geared towards adults and it's just a great way to enjoy the space and learn more about our mission going forward. So I'd invite everybody to buy tickets, they're available by visiting Explorium.com. You can always reach out to me if you have other questions. That's all, thanks, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Lynch. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have a few pictures to share. I have a few updates to share. My first one is that I had the awesome opportunity to speak to the New Standard Girls Group at Lees Town Middle School last week for Women's History Month. They were a very gregarious group. We talked about leadership. We talked about goal setting and future careers. They were so much fun to engage with and talk with the hour that I was there. And a special thank you to Ms. Ronette Bird-Wilder and Ms. Sheegog for inviting me to come speak to the girls. We had a very good dialogue, and I appreciate the time that I was able to spend with them last week. Also, today is happy National Girl Scout Day. For all the former Girl Scouts out there, happy National Girl Scout Day. I proudly represent Troop 422. We did amazing things in my hometown as a Girl Scout troop, and I just want to give all Girl Scouts a shout out today on our National Day. And lastly, I just want to say that tonight I get to speak to the Amache Girls Group for Women's History Month. I look forward to sharing with them as well, and hopefully I'll have pictures next week. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Plowman. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And just on the heels of your report, the Girl Scout cookies are being sold. Yes. I think I have six that I'm going to have to devour. Last week I had the opportunity to actually introduce a nominee that I had for the Jean Sabrel Luncheon. And Darlene Thomas, of course we all know her, she won this annual award and is so deserving. And if you've ever heard Darlene speak, I mean, she's, I'm in awe. She's just so dynamic and she gave just this wonderful speech. And this award is probably the seventh or eighth year. It's giving to a person that is passionate about families and children in Lexington, and she certainly is passionate about families and children. So I wanted to share that. This Saturday is the Fayette County Farm Bureau's annual farm equipment. This is an annual event that is put on at the horse park every year. It's very significant. You can also go online if you want to go out to the Kentucky horse park. If you're really into gardening, there's a lot of stuff out there, and I think I've said this every year, you could buy golf carts out there. But it's a real assortment, and I wanted to remind you of that. And then this Friday, Black Soil and Coleman Crest Farm are hosting a free production planner webinar for farmers. And that's at 10 a.m., and you register at Black Soil Kentucky. That's it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Fogle. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I had the privilege of attending the Lyric Theater. You have to work with me on this one. They had an evening of elegance and it was Chancellier, Diaz, Mobis, Convalice, Suku, and Ramba concert. And they really did a good job down at the Lyric on Saturday evening. So I wanted to share that with you all. We have some upcoming events at the Lyric, Friday March the 15th from 6 to 8. The Lyric is participating in the Lex Art Gallery Hop with the Pass the Mic, a poetry and performance open mic, all artists is welcome to attend. And so it's free admission, drinks and refreshments, so come on down and enjoy that at the Lyric. And that's my report, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Reynolds. Thank you, Vice Mayor. All right, I'm going to try to get through this in five minutes. It was a huge week in the 11th District this past week. First, I had the pleasure to celebrate with a press conference at the Lexington Children's Theater with the Mayor and Councilmember Legree for Early Literacy Month. And that is an effort that was combined with the Public Library, Lexington Children's Theater, in First Five Lex to promote literacy with an initiative called One Picture Book Lex. This encourages readings to thousands of families. It was that previous picture. And they are giving away lots of the book, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. So they're giving that book, thousands of them away in all of Lexington to encourage literacy. And the mayor gave a nice proclamation there. So that was nice. And then on that same day, last Tuesday, I also read to a group of young children the book El Perro Con Sombrero. And I read it bilingually for Read Across America Week at the Family Care Center. And I always look forward to participating in Read Across America Week activities. And the Family Care Center has a special place in my heart. So that was a lot of fun. And then I wanted to mention some great accomplishments by our fire department. First, the fire department has received internationally accredited agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and the Center for Public Safety Excellence. And this is a huge, huge accomplishment. Only a few fire departments attain this status. And I want to give a huge thanks and congrats to our whole fire department, which is one of the best in the country. And then also this past week, I attended the graduation for the fire department company officer academy graduation ceremony, where current firefighters go through an intense three week furthering education training course. And so I want to congratulate all of the hardworking graduates to that as well. and before I go to my next one not pictured I did want to mention that Councilmember LeGray and Councilmember Baxter and I attended the Kentucky League of Cities Women and City Government Summit last week and for I think International Women's Day and Women History Month it was really wonderful to be able to hear from other women in local government and do something that was furthering education for us because we really don't take time to do that and Kentucky League of Cities did a fantastic job with that summit so I just wanted to mention that and then this past Friday Christian Towers had a big ribbon cutting for their second tower and we had a lot of fun with that that was a project that it took longer than we all expected but that's gonna provide a lot of affordable senior housing literally in my backyard so if you know anyone over 55 that's looking for affordable senior housing just know that they are renting and they have they have units available and then on friday night i attended at the manchester at the lost palm ziva voices this is an organization that champions women and their stories and for international women's day they held an event at the hotel with three incredible speakers. Lamar is from Afghanistan and she's done so much in her last 20 years and this picture is with Dr. Kinga Munnik and she is the founder and president of the organization and she serves on the Mayor's International Affairs Advisory Commission and she's doing lots of work to bring more awareness around around women and their accomplishments and it was a really beautiful event with a room full of diverse people and so I'm thankful for for that. And then the big news, and that's Lamar, she's awesome, she's from Afghanistan and talked about her story of how she's trying to fight for women's rights there. And then on Saturday was the big huge celebration at the new Lexington Public Library, Marksbury Family Branch on Village Drive. And I just want to thank all my colleagues that came out for that and all the people there were over 2 000 people the place was packed and you could see all the color and the light and it was just absolutely gorgeous and i think it turned out just better than we ever thought and all i heard all day from people were positive comments and how thankful they were that this has come um to there's my son playing um come uh to the district So just wanted to highlight that. Everybody go check it out if you haven't already. And there's also, I think at the end, a picture of me with Betty Abishmani. There's some dancing from Casa de la Cultura. And then there is Betty. She actually founded the Village Branch Library and worked there for many, many years. And the library became what it was in that community because of her. and she really has a heart for serving the Hispanic community and I hope that that will continue at that location. So thank you. Sorry I went over my time. Almost made it. Thank you. Thank you Council Member Reynolds. Get some rest. Council Member Gray. Thank you Vice Mayor. I would like to say congratulations to Carter G. Woodson Academy student Tim Jackson for placing first in the Fayette County Public Schools STLP Spark Minecraft Challenge. He has won this challenge two years in a row. Keep up the great excellence that comes from Carter G. and from the 6th District, I must add. Mr. Jackson, job well done. Also, over the weekend, several members of the LFUCG family and I, we attended the Step by Step event, which Step by Step is a nonprofit that empowers young single moms from the age of 12 to 24. It was great to be in a room where we're celebrating and we're uplifting women who, and girls, 12, single moms, 12 to 24. These are people that need our support in our community. And I'm so thankful that we have an organization that is run by Tanya Thorpe that helps to uplift these women and to give them opportunities and support. times when they don't have anyone supporting them. So thank you to my colleagues. Thank you to Council Member Lynch's legislative aide, LaShawn Barber, for inviting me and a group of women to this event. It was very powerful and great job step-by-step for all you do in our city that's seen and definitely unseen. And lastly, over the weekend, I attended, well, this is not lastly, sorry, I forget all that I do. So over the weekend, I had the privilege of partnering or judging in the Fayette County Public Schools Urban League's academic challenge at Northern Elementary School. It was great to be there in my old school, Northern Elementary, to support schools that are in that district in academic excellence. So thank you to all the educators who are volunteering their times. When you think of the great work and the things that council members that we do, think about all that our teachers do in Fayette County Public Schools. They're volunteering their time all day on Saturday to uplift the next generation of leaders. So thank you, teachers, for all that you do that is evidently you're not paid for. So we thank you for it. And lastly, on Friday, I had the privilege of supporting our fire department and their fire department company officer academy graduation class. It was great to see so many firefighters who are moving up, who are now lieutenants. Great job to our fire department for supporting and uplifting new leaders. I'm just hopeful that soon we'll have more women in that class. So great job to all those now lieutenants in your new leadership roles. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Sevigny. Thank you, Vice Mayor. This has been one of the quickest meetings we've had. Thank you for your leadership. Council reports. Congratulations to the Paul Lawrence Dunbar academic team for being Kentucky Governor's Cup State Champions. Congrats to Dunbar. Also today at 5 o'clock, a public meeting for the Affordable Housing Needs Assessment will be held at the Beaumont Branch Library. I plan to be there. Join members of the housing advocacy and community development team to give your input on housing affordability and types of development needed now and in the future to meet our growing needs. That's it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Members. There is no Mayor's Report and no Mayor's Report on price contract bid recommendations. Moves us to public comment for issues not on the agenda. We have one person signed up, and I know you know how this works. come on up, give your name and district number, and you'll have three minutes. Rick Day. My name is Rick Day, and I live in the 3rd District. When the 2021 reallocations were passed, I asked then Council about how and why they were passed. I was told the council just signs off on on the administration's recommendations If that's the case then what has happened to Durham County Council? I Was watching a council meeting not long ago when Mike Scanlon came to this podium for public comment Now I don't remember all the vice mayors. I remember Mike Scanlon For those of you who don't know or don't remember Mike, he was vice mayor from 2002 to 2006. He was a member of a very strong and very involved council. For those of you who like me do remember Mike, and I know what you're thinking. but think about this also can you imagine that Mike Scanlon would ever have said we just sign off on whatever the administration recommends I don't think so but if he did can you imagine that every member of that council would have let him get away with saying something like that I don't think so so what happens when the administration knows that a council will sign off on whatever they recommend well among other things you get three allocations and the max that I have told you and in the coming weeks I will show you that everything about the reallocations was wrong and yet the administrative recommend you pass them and you did there were and still are a lot of questions about the mag study but very few answers the administration recommended you pass it and you did you would fix any problems later now you might think I'm going to tell you that Mike Scanlon counsel Mike Scanlon's counsel would never have signed off on those recommendations that's not it at all what I'm going to tell you is that those recommendations would never have been sent to Mike Scanlon's council the next time here I hope to talk in detail about the real every allocations and I hope to prove to you that the 2021 reallocations were wrong and that the people who recommended them to you knew they were wrong. I know that passing the reallocations in the MAG study seems like a long time ago, and it was, but I think the LFUCG employees and the current council needs to know what all went on. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's the end of our agenda. We are adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you.