# Urban County Council Work Session - October 14, 2008 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · October 14, 2008 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/621 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/621?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2008-10-14 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: June 17, 2026 - **Length**: 6,656 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and 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 met on October 14, 2008, at 3:00 PM, with Mayor Newberry presiding. The meeting covered 4 agenda items, including administrative approvals, a public forum on a smoking ordinance, and a recognition ceremony for customer service and safety award recipients. Over the course of the session, the Council took 9 votes and heard 1 public comment. Three of the four agenda items resulted in approvals, while the Customer Service and Safety Awards segment was informational in nature. ## Attendance All members were present at the September 12, 2024 Council meeting. The following individuals were in attendance: - Mayor Newberry - Ellinger - Blues - Beard - Gorton - Stinnett - DeCamp - Myers - Crosbie - Lane - James - Stevens No members were recorded as absent or late. ## Votes and Decisions The Council took nine actions during the September 12, 2024 meeting, with most passing unanimously and two decided by split votes. - **Approval of October 7, 2008 work session summary** — Motioned by Ellinger, seconded by Blues. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 0:59] - **Approval of new business items** — Motioned by Beard, seconded by Gorton. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 1:29] - **Move smoking ordinance forward and establish public forum** — Motioned by Ellinger, seconded by Myers. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 2:33] - **Add "leased" after "owned" in ordinance section 4, paragraph 1A** — Motioned by Lane, seconded by Crosbie. This language amendment to the smoking ordinance passed unanimously. [timestamp: 4:15] - **Change "facilities" to "buildings" in ordinance section 4.1** — Motioned by Blevins, seconded by Crosbie. This additional language amendment passed unanimously. [timestamp: 4:48] - **Amend motion to include "but not limited to"** — Motioned by Blevins, seconded by Myers. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 5:51] - **Accept Parking Authority Recommendation No. 1 for Transylvania Park** — Motioned by DeCamp, seconded by Blevins. Passed with one dissenting vote from Beard. [timestamp: 6:24] - **Amend motion for additional residential parking permits** — Motioned by Ellinger, seconded by Crosbie. Passed with one dissenting vote from Beard. [timestamp: 6:56] - **Table traffic safety issues near Christ the King Church** — Motioned by Blevins, seconded by Myers. The matter was tabled unanimously. [timestamp: 7:26] ## Public Comment One member of the public addressed the Council during the public comment period. [timestamp: 41:32] - **Lewis Cobb** spoke on the topics of community violence and the importance of self-help. Mr. Cobb shared a personal account of witnessing a shooting and used that experience to underscore the need for communities to take an active role in improving conditions for their members. He emphasized the importance of creating opportunities that allow individuals to better their situations, framing community self-help as a key component of addressing violence. ## Contested Items - **Transylvania Park Parking Permits:** The council considered a motion regarding parking permits for Transylvania Park. The item was not decided unanimously — the motion passed with one dissenting vote. The available record does not detail the specific points of disagreement among council members or identify which member cast the dissenting vote. ## Approval of October 7, 2008 Work Session Summary [timestamp: 00:59] The Council took up the approval of the summary from the October 7, 2008 work session. The discussion on this item was brief, with Ellinger and Blues identified as the key speakers during the consideration of the summary. The Council approved the October 7, 2008 work session summary. ## Approval of new business items [timestamp: 01:29] The council took up the approval of new business items during this portion of the meeting. Beard and Gorton were the key speakers during the discussion of this agenda item. The council discussed the various new business items before them and ultimately voted to approve them. *Note: The available data for this agenda item is limited. For full details on the specific items discussed, any concerns raised, and the complete deliberation, viewers are encouraged to consult the meeting video beginning at timestamp 01:29 or review the official meeting minutes.* ## Smoking Ordinance Public Forum [timestamp: 02:33] The Council took up the matter of establishing a public forum for a proposed smoking ordinance. Speakers Ellinger and Myers were noted as key participants in the discussion. The Council moved to schedule a public forum on the smoking ordinance for **October 23rd**, providing an opportunity for community members to weigh in on the proposed measure before any further action is taken. The motion was **approved**. ## Customer Service and Safety Awards [timestamp: 09:05] The Council recognized employees for outstanding performance through the presentation of Customer Service and Safety Awards. Key speakers for this portion of the meeting were Rama Dhuwaraha and Patrick Johnson. Awards were presented to employees who demonstrated exemplary customer service and safety performance. This item was informational in nature, with no votes or formal action required by the Council. No concerns or debate were recorded in connection with this agenda item. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of October 7, 2008 work session summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business items - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Move smoking ordinance forward and establish public forum - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Add 'leased' after 'owned' in ordinance section 4, paragraph 1A - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Change 'facilities' to 'buildings' in ordinance section 4.1 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Amend motion to include 'but not limited to' - **Motion** — passed (0-1): Accept recommendation No. 1 by Parking Authority for Transylvania Park - **Motion** — passed (0-1): Amend motion for additional residential parking permits - **Motion** — tabled (0-0): Table traffic safety issues near Christ the King Church --- ## Full transcript Is there -- Is there anyone here -- Excuse me. Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on issues on the agenda today? All right. Seeing none, we'll, uh, roll ahead. That was thrilling. We have no docket approval today, but we do have a summary to approve, the October 7th summary. Is there- Move to approve. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Ellinger, and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the, uh, summary. Is there any discussion? Those in favor of approving the summary, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. There are no budget amendments. There are some items of new business. Move approval. Second. Council Member Beard has moved to approve the items of new business. Council Member Gordon has seconded the motion. Is there any discussion? I'll move. I see none. Those in favor of approving the new business items, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. That takes us down to the services committee. Thank you, Mayor. Moving right along here. The services committee met on October 7th, and the main item that we dealt with was the smoking ban, which we had m- met about on the September 9th meeting, and we had asked the law department to come back with some, some, um, issues, uh, that were addressed, and they came back. We, uh, we heard from the airport board about the smoking room they had. We, um, met with and heard from other issues dealing with the smoking ban, and a motion was presented by Council Member Meyers to adopt the, the ordinance as presented today, and establish a public forum on October 23rd at 8:00 PM, second by Council Member Beard, and was passed with one nay. And I move that forward. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Ellinger, and a second by Council Member Meyers to have a public forum on smoking ordinance on October 23rd. Well, it would be -- We would ha- We would move the ordinance forward, and actually put it on for first reading on the docket for October 23rd. All right. And then, we'd also have a, a public forum at eight o'clock th- there on the 23rd. All right. Any discussion? Yes, Mayor. Council Member James. I'm so- I apologize, I wasn't at this meeting. What does the, um, public forum consist of? What's the difference between a public forum and a public meeting and hearing? Uh, you might want to have the law department, because we, we have had public hearing, public meeting, and then we, we instituted a couple years ago, actually, a public forum. And I think we'll have law kind of give the, the distinctions. Right. Right. Uh, Mike Sanders from the law department. I'm aware of the distinction between the public hearing and the public meeting. I was not aware of the public forum that Councilman Meyers brought up. The public hearing is a more formalized procedure, where the council, uh, takes exhibits and takes testimony. It -- Since it is not a zone change, public hearing, a quorum's not required. A public meeting is when the -- anybody from the public can get up and speak, and a quorum of the council is required. And those are the main differences between those two. Okay. And this motion is for a public forum, so we need to- For public forum. And I think Mr. Meyers can probably elaborate a little more on this. Thank you, Mayor. The, the difference between the three is that the public forum was instituted so that we do not have to worry about a quorum of the council for it to take place. Thank you. Any further questions? Then those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. Okay. Then we had a further motion by Council Member Lane to add "leased" after the word "owned" in section four, paragraph 1A, second by Council Member Crosby, and passed without dissent. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. We have further motion by Council Member Blevins, who changed the word "facilities" to "buildings" in section 4.1, second by Council Member Crosby, and passed without dissent. So moved. Moved. Council Member Ellinger has moved. Council Member Blevins has seconded. Any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. A further motion by Council Member Meyers, who, section three, establishment ad, including but not limited to banks, laundromat, retail stores, professional offices, restaurants, bars, game facilities such as bingo halls, pool halls, bowling alleys, childcare facilities, and adult daycare facilities, second by Council Member Beard, and passed without dissent. So moved. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Ellinger, and a second by Council Member Meyers. Any discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. And a final motion was presented by Council Member Blevins to amend the motion to include, but not limited to. Second by Council Member Meyers, and passed without dissent. So moved. Second. Uh, Council Member Meyers has seconded Council Member Ellinger's motion. Any discussion? All in favor then, please say, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. The next item on the agenda was on Transylvania Street parking. ... and a motion by, uh, Mr. DeCamp to accept, uh, number one, the recommendation brought forward by the parking authority. And if some reason for they are not allowed, the two spaces by the BORA, then they will r- reconsider for the residents at 315 Transylvania Park, and that was seconded by Council Member Blevins, and so moved. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Erlanger and a second by Council Member DeCamp. Everybody have any discussion? Any discussion? Those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed no? Motion carries. And then this was amended, this motion, to allow under recommendation n- number one, and I move for three additional residential parking permits and give the opportunity to go to the BAR to request a permit spot in the back of the property. And it was seconded by Council Member Crosby and passed with one nay. And I move that forward. Second. Council Member Erlanger's made the motion he just described. Council Member Crosby has seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed no? Nope. The motion carries with Council Member Beard dissenting. And the third issue was traffic safety issues in street adjacent to Christ the King Church. A motion by Council Member Blevins to table this issue until the next services meeting, and that was seconded by Council Member Meyers and passed without dissent. And I move that forward. Second. Second. Uh, I've got a, I've got a question about that motion. Is it, um, necessary for the- Probably not. ... council as a whole to- Prol- that's probably not necessary, Mayor. All right. And then the last items were items in committee and to take items out, and we were adjourned at three o'clock. Thank you, Mayor. Any questions for Council Member Erlanger? All right. Council Member Lane. Uh, is there any plan to give notifications to any interested parties about the hearing, uh, on the 23rd so people come speak to the issue? We did not discuss that, but I think it's probably a good idea. And I will, um, try to, um, take recommendations from you all and, and try to get to any of the parties you think are necessary that should be there for that, and we'll try to get that to the respective parties. So if you would get that to us this week, then we give them a week's notice to get out, and I'll do that. Any further questions for Council Member Erlanger? All right. Uh, yes, I had a, a question. I wanted to call to the council's attention that the ordinance that related to the clean air as amended was distributed to everybody yesterday, so they should have a copy of the final edition as passed by the committee. All right. There's nothing further. We'll move to the next item on the business, which is, uh, recognition of some, uh, employees who've been providing excellent customer service, and I'll turn the podium over to, uh, Commissioner Ko and Ms. Blodgett from our office. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Last week was, uh, National Customer Service Week, nationally recognized by the US Congress in 1992. LFUCG was one of several government agencies around the country to observe this week. Um, Pat Tatum in LexCall office led the effort to recognize their internal partners as well as the LexCall staff. Many LFUCG employees answer phone calls, email, and speak directly to citizens about a wide variety of, uh, local government issues every day. Customer Service Week provides an opportunity to thank and recognize internal front line staff who work collaboratively with LexCall to deliver quality customer service. The LexCall staff nominated six form, uh, six employees for their friendly, consistent efforts in working with them as well as our citizens. They were honored at a luncheon last week, but I wanted to recognize them today again. Valerie Thomas and Angela Scherr from Waste Management, Phyllis Arnold, Parks and Recreations, Karen Beatty, Traffic Engineering, Pam Whitaker, Division of Planning, Maxine Franklin, Human Resources. Phyllis Arnold received the top award by staff of LexCall, and I'd like for her to stand and get recognized. Phyllis, would you please come? I also wanna take a minute to thank the LexCall staff for their continued efforts in providing the citizens of Lexington with excellent service. This year, from January to September that is, LexCall has handled over 198,000 calls for information or requests for services. Customer Service Week, uh, Customer Service Week, LexCall recognized all of its former, all of its employees for their commitment and dedication to consistently delivering excellent customer service. Three staff members were recognized for excelling above and beyond in the different areas of performance. Nancy Mitchell was recognized for outstanding attendance. Nancy, would you please stand? Julie Brown was recognized for achieving above and beyond internal customer service. Jeff Estes received recognition for above and beyond external customer service. I'm proud of the work they, they do to make sure citizens' requests are handled efficiently and professionally. Thank you, LexCall staff. And now I- I'm- I will turn it over to Commissioner Kina Khoe, who will, uh, talk about the customer service training. Well, as you know, LexCall's not the only place in government that we deal with, uh, internal and external partners. That happens all across government. And, um, customer service is one of those areas that we began early in the administration looking at and- and to see how we might be able to do a better job. So we've had the folks in human resources develop a program called the Winners Circl- Circle Customer Service Program. And with that, I'll introduce Tammy Walters to tell you a little bit about the program and to, uh, recognize some of the, um, folks for that program. Thank you, Commissioner. I'm Tammy Walters in the Division of Human Resources. The Winners Circle was developed last October to promote exemplary customer service for all LFUCG employees. In order to complete the Winners Circle, an employee must attend at least five of the recommended customer service wo- workshops ranging in a variety of topics. I'd like to thank Suzy Evans for not only administering the program, but for teaching the workshops as well. I'd like to thank Leslie Jarvis, who could not be here today, and Michael Allen, the Director of Human Resources, for their support of the program as well. Now Commissioner Khoe will present to you the first six employees who completed the Winners Circle. Michael? Yeah, okay. We're honoring these individuals today with a certificate and a token of our appreciation. If they would please come forward. Diana Franklin. Congratulations, Diana. Claudette Minors. Claudette Minors. Calvin Powell. Applause. Patrick Swigart. Karen Tribble. And Bruce Willis. Thank you. I will quickly wrap this, uh, presentation up. But I wanted to let you know that when I first came back, um, I was gonna say out of retirement I guess, and to work for Mayor Newberry, one of the things that was on the top of his list, many things were, but one of 'em was customer service. And so I've had the privilege to be able to work on this from time to time, and the Winners Circle and some of the other things are because we have such a great team of people, and I sure appreciate, um, all the help from all these folks who are there every day. And we really do have a really great group of employees who do try hard every day to do the best that they can, to provide the right answers in the most courteous way. But one of the things that we wanted to accomplish was, we know that like in any company, there are pockets of this going on, really good people doing the right thing, but we wanted to make it more consistent. So we put together a team of people, I'm going to name them, several of them are here today, who were on Customer Service Committee, and I'll tell you what they did in just a moment. Uh, serving on this committee was Pam Camuel, Eric Howard, Pam Whitaker, Angela Sheer, Karen Beatty, Kendra Carter, Pat Tatum, Patricia Smith, Phyllis Arnold, Shante Moberly, Suzy Evans, and Tamara Walters. Ironically, they're some of the same people you've heard today because they are particularly proud of their customer service. We pooled them together. We let them do a lot of research. They talked to several other cities, businesses, they looked at what we were doing currently, and they came together and put, uh, put together a- a document and it's the customer service standards that we hope this- that will be adopted. Mayor Newberry has given his approval and it's going through a few other people just to make sure that we have everything, and it is an itemized, very detailed description of how to answer the phone, how to transfer a call, uh, field employees what's the best way to approach situations, um, we're gonna be going into emails, uh, the most professional way to do those. I'm really proud of this document that they produced, not me. And I think that a peer-to-peer kind of situation is- is what's called for here, because they're the people that will be needing to do this on a daily basis. We're very excited about this opportunity, and I just wanted to thank this group of folks and wanted them to be here today so that you could see that there really is a lot going on behind the scenes. So, um, thank you very much for giving us a few minutes to share and celebrate today. Thank you. Thank you all very much for being here. And, um, congratulations on your recognition. All right. I'll turn the, uh, podium over to Patrick Johnson, who has some, uh, employee safety awards. Good afternoon. I'd like to thank the mayor, vice-mayor, council members, uh, commissioners, directors, and the employees of Lexington-Fayette Urban County government for their active participation and support of the safety program this past year. It was a great year with reductions in frequency and severity of events in several key areas along with increased safety meetings and inspections of work areas. As always, it's very difficult in selecting the annual award winners from all that did so well. In the selection process, there are many elements that are considered in order to narrow the field. These include a statistical comparison of various safety indexes, vehicle accident rates, OSHA recordable rate, work comp claims, accident frequency, and severity reduction. Also, the size and the complexity of the areas and operations in relation to the daily challenges and the demands of safety. We consider history and leadership of the area, safety activities engaged during the past years such as training, program development, updates, and other safety improvements, the direct impact the areas have on other divisions, fellow employees, as well as our community. There are two categories of the awards. One's for the administrative areas, and there's one for the operational areas. I will announce third, second, and first place winners of each category. All award recipients will receive a certificate plaque, so if they would, have a representative come forward when I announce the winners. Also, Mayor, we'd like for you to be here for a photo opportunity with them, please. Hey, the third place winner of the Office Safety Award achieved 100% participation with safety meetings and a 96% with safety inspections. They had one vehicle accident claim in the past three years. They had no workers compensation claims in the past three years. Having achieved and maintained an excellent overall performance record for the past three years, the Division of Adult Services is a third place winner of the Office Safety Award. Do we not have our photographer? He was here earlier. Oops. I guess there will be no photo. Sorry about that. The second place winner had perfect participation with safety meetings and inspections since January of 2003. They've had no vehicle accidents during FY08 for the 13th year in a row. They've had zero workers compensations claimed during FY08, only two in the past 13 years. Having achieved and maintained an excellent overall performance record for the past three years, they placed first in FY07, first in FY05 and third in FY04. The Counsel Clerk's Office is the second place winner of the Office Safety Award. And the first place winner, achieved 100% participation with safety meetings and inspections during FY08. They've had no vehicle accidents in the past three years. They've had no workers compensation claims during the past three years. Their job requires both in the office as well as in the field to evaluate properties in the community. This work requirement increases their risk of injury, vehicle accidents, and their demand for safety on the job. Having achieved and maintained an excellent overall performance record for the past three years, and having placed second in FY07, the Division of Historic Preservation is the first place winner of the Office Safety Award. Now the operations areas. Third place winner achieved 100% participation with safety meetings and inspections. They reduced their vehicle accident frequency rate by 50% since FY07, reduced their OSHA recordable frequency rate by 50% since FY07. For their continued leadership in the field of safety, Streets, Roads, and Forestry is the third place winner. The second place winner achieved 100% participation in safety meetings and 92% in safety inspections. They reduced their OSHA recordable injuries by 100%. They reduced both their vehicle accident frequency and severity rates. For their excellent safety efforts and their significant contributions to the safety of the community and our organization, the Division of Engineering is the second place winner. The first place winner achieved 100% participation in safety meetings and a 92% in safety inspections, has no workers compensation claims for the past two years, reduced their vehicle accident rate by 70% this past year. They also served to enforce a broad range of ordinances and laws that impact the city and citizens. The employees are exposed to a wide range of hazards and environments. Their work requires a fair amount of driving and frequently awkward and uncomfortable situations with citizens. For their excellent safety efforts and significant contribution to the safety of the community, the Division of Code Enforcement is the first place winner. Go ahead. We're going to, we're going to ride, and we're going to ... Just look up. Okay. Sit down. Get in there. We'll pop your back. Very good. There you go. One more time. There you go. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. That's good. Thanks, Mike. I know that at sometime, it sometimes seems that as we receive feedback from our constituents that, uh, there are too many people that aren't doing things the right way in Irving County government, but the truth of the matter is, there are a lot of folks doing a lot of good things every day and, uh, today I appreciate you allowing us a little time to recognize some folks who have done things especially well in the customer service and in the safety areas so, uh, congratulations again to all of those. We're now ready for the council reports and we'll start with Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I have just one item. A few months ago, I think it was, Council Member Stennett had a beautiful Adopt Love T-shirt and talked about the Humane Society. And I wanted to remind the public that October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month and, um, our shelter here in Lexington houses thousands of animals and, um, the Lexington Humane Society last year placed into homes nearly 5,000 animals. And in a recent conversation with Susan Malcolm of the Lexington Humane Society, she said that because of the economic times right now, people are actually bringing their animals to the shelter and giving them up because they can't feed them, they can't take care of them. And so I just wanted to, um, to ask folks if they, if they want a warm and fuzzy being in their lives, to go to the Lexington Humane Society and check out the shelter animals. It's a beautiful facility. Um, you can play with the kittens, you can look at the puppies, you can look at the dogs and take one or two home with you. The other thing that is happening is that on October 22nd, the Humane Society will start its holiday boutique and everything that's sold in the boutique is profit that goes back to help take care of those animals at the shelter. So the Lexington Humane Society Shelter is at 1600 Old Frankfurt Pike and if you haven't been out there, just for a fun trip even, go check them out and, uh, maybe you'll take somebody home with you. Thank you very much. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first thing I want to say is, um, we've got Senate- Center Parkway Neighborhood Association meeting tonight at St. John's Church which is adjacent to the Gainesway Empowerment Center. Meeting starts at 7:00 PM. And also, the Gainesway Neighborhood Association... I'm sorry, yeah, the Gainesway Neighborhood Association also is having their meeting at 7:00 tonight at the apartment room at the Tate Street Golf Course and Representative Susan Westrum and Representative Bill Farmer will both be at that meeting tonight, and I will be in attendance as to those meetings. And then finally, I'd like to say thank you to Council Man McCord and Mayor Newberry for the second Sunday that went off, uh, this past Sunday. It was a great success, I think, and I rode down there and pulled my daughter in her little trailer on the back of my bike and had a fantastic time and, and it was a great, great turnout. And also, I wanna thank McDonald's because McDonald's passed out free water all day long and then also free apple chips and, uh, my daughter and I had, uh, four bags of those apple chips and it was - ... it was much needed fuel to get back home against that headwind. So I just wanted to congratulate you both again for that, uh, great success. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Council Member hit me to the button 'cause that's kind of what I wanted to talk about too and I want to thank Council Member McCord, the mayor, the city employees and, and over 2,000 participants from Lexington and, and from around the surrounding counties in 71 or 72 counties, communities that participated, and Mr. McCord is gonna be next and he can give all the, the, all the details, but I just wanna congratulate them. It was a fun e- fun event. The county, county extension was involved in it. I was letting on the weather so I could not do the, the bike ride I wanted to go to Paris with, but I did get to rent one of the yellow bikes and ride up and down the mile back and forth and really had a good time. And I look forward to us doing again. And I, I hope we don't have to wait a whole year to do it 'cause this is something I would like to see us do and do more on a regular basis. I think it's very good for the community. When we look at obesity, diabetes, areas that we rank very high in the nation in, I think this would be a great opportunity to get us out, active, and also it's, it's a good economic development tool. There were a lot of people out there at, that were visiting the, the local restaurants and, um, areas, uh- ... um, taverns there and enjoying it. And it was really good, and it was fun to see everybody out, and I really enjoyed it and thank you all. It was a lot of fun. Good for Lexington. Thank you, Council Member McCord. Well, I'll just piggyback off that and, uh, I- I want to say thanks to a couple of- of special folks and- and special entities. This, you know, as we've been talking about for a couple weeks, this has never been attempted by a state before. And there were 72 counties across the- the Commonwealth of Kentucky that closed roads simultaneously. Uh, and the feedback that we started to hear, uh, from those communities is, uh, the same thing we heard all day on Sunday, "When can we do this again? We want to do more of this. Uh, this is the best thing we've ever seen. Next year, we're going to do this." And, uh, what it shows is a real pent-up demand for, uh, for this, uh, type of activity, this type of community building. And what it also, uh, I'm curious to see, Mayor, are some of the, uh, the receipts from the businesses, uh, the week before and, uh, and last Sunday and comparing those. And, uh, we took a picture, and we're going to put it up on the website, uh, of 3:45 in the afternoon of Sunday, the week before. We took a picture of what South Lime looked like, and then we took a picture at 3:45 during Second Sunday. And it is an amazing, uh, transformation, uh, of what can happen to your downtown. But very specifically, I want to thank, um, our police department, who did an unbelievable job, specifically Lieutenant Doug Pape, who, uh, had a lot of moving parts and pieces and made that work. And I just am very appreciative to all of them. But I also want to thank Shay Rabold for taking this and really making Lexington kind of your project, uh, because I was running all over the state, and, uh, this would not have been the success it was without her leadership, uh, at the helm. And I really do appreciate everybody that was a part of the- the committee, but especially Shay and all your efforts. Thank you very much. Um, I also want to piggyback off what Council Member Myers said. You know, McDonald's takes a lot of abuse, uh, for- from some of the, uh, things on their menus, and- and, uh, especially after the movie Super Size Me, there's a lot of debate out there. But, uh, this McDonald's stepped up, closed their drive-through window, which I thought was a pretty- pretty bold move, passed out apples, passed out water, and, um, really stepped up and showed some leadership. And I think that's the positive that can come out of a day like this is- is people do somewhat of the unexpected. Uh, lots and lots of people come together when maybe they wouldn't have otherwise. So, um, our hope is, is to do this a lot more frequently, uh, and we want to start even today moving forward to, uh, the sponsorship it would take to do this, hopefully from April to October of next year. That's kind of my stated goal. So, Mayor, there it is. Uh, but, uh, but we- we will, uh, work diligently to make sure that- that that is done and- and funded. On- on another note real quickly, uh, the Legacy Trail, the trail that will come eventually from the Horse Park in the north through downtown, uh, Lexington, uh, on Saturday, October 25th, uh, at eight o'clock, uh, we are- are gonna organize a trail ride, uh, for the community to come out, uh, to be with the mayor, the council, uh, to come in and hear about what the plans are for this. This is a trail project that, um, can truly revolutionize, uh, this city, and, uh, we will be starting at, um, Cheapside Park at eight o'clock and riding out there for anyone that wants to ride all the way out to, uh, uh, to Coldstream. Uh, there'll be food, there'll be bands, uh, and basically you'll catch an idea of what's going to happen over the next two years there. So, for more information on that, please call my- uh, my line at 258-3215. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much, uh, Council Member McCord. Um, I don't know what happened, but I just lost everybody who wanted to speak. Okay, that's what I've got. Oh, it's back. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I just wanted to let everybody know that the Lexington Area MPO 2035 Long Range Transportation Study is available online. Um, the survey's anonymous, and it's really helpful to gather this information to help, excuse me, with the- with, uh, the transportation planning process for Fayette and Jessamine Counties. I actually did it. It only takes a few minutes. I would encourage everybody to go ahead and fill this out. Again, it's available online. And then also, Mayor, I just wanted to say that the Seventh District is looking forward to having you on Monday. We'll be very well-behaved and looking forward to having you in the district. So, thank you. I'm looking forward to it as well. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first, I'd like to congratulate the- the winners of the Customer Service and- and Safety Awards both. There's a group of folks, however, who, uh, probably fly under the radar screen of the administration, and that is our aides and staff on the fifth floor. And they're constantly in contact with our citizens, both, uh, on the telephone, by letter, by email, and also are in contact with all the various and sundry departments and divisions of the- of the government. Uh, and they make us all look good. And, um, I just wanted to say a little something about them because, uh, of all the other awards from the other areas. Thank you, Mayor. Amen. Council Member Stevens. I think we're all grateful for the aides that really help us do a- a job. When I started in the, uh, council office, I think there were two, and, uh, they took care of the 15. Now, I- I don't know how many we got, but it's pretty close to 13 or 14, and, uh, and, uh, they're all busy. So, I don't know what we used to do, but, uh, I guess we used to ignore people. I did have several announcements. First is the, uh, two candidates for the Fifth District Council Seat will have a forum at Henry Clay High School tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. And the -- and if you come in the front door of Henry Clay, turn right into the cafeteria. You'll get answers to all your questions. Th- that's Henry Clay High School. The second announcement I wanted to make was the Ashland Neighborhood Association, which is from Dushay to Shinneway and from Fontaine to Richmond Road, is having their annual meeting at 3:00 PM on Sunday the 19th of October at Henry Clay's house, not his high school but his house. And, uh, that's of course at, uh, on Richmond Road. 3:00 PM on Sunday. They couldn't get their announcement in to the regular bulletin board, so they wanted me to be sure and let everybody know about that. The third thing that I wanted to mention was that the transportation cabinet of state government has awarded, uh, a grant for sidewalks on Tates Creek Park, Tates Creek Pike. Uh, as everyone knows, not everybody's gonna be happy with that. And so we'll have some public meetings and a opportunity for everybody to express their points of view about that, uh, as time goes by. Thank you. Council member James. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to announce that tonight is the meeting, uh, the public meeting for the East End Small Area Plan. Tonight the consultant will be showing, um, the concepts, um, that he's come up with based on the citizen participation thus far and his expertise in the area of planning. And I expect, um, the William Wells Brown Community Center Gymnasium to be full of those folks that have an interest in East End and the future of it and want an input and want to make sure that this plan matches what they've expressed. So please come tonight at 5:30 at the William Wells Brown Community School. It's right, it's between, um, 5th and 6th Street, um, off Shropshire Avenue. So please be sure to attend. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Just two announcements. Uh, t- this evening, 7:00 PM, the Middlethorpe Neighborhood Association will meet at, uh, at the community center in Louie Mack Park and look forward to seeing the, uh, neighborhood there. That's at seven o'clock tonight. Then Thursday evening, O- October 16th, the McConnell's Trace Homeowners Association will hold their semi-annual meeting. That will be 7:00 PM at First Baptist Church in Bragtown. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Does any other council member have a report? I have just, uh, a couple of things real briefly then. First, um, I want everybody to, uh, be reminded of the, uh, neighborhood summit that will be coming up on the 25th. I hope you'll encourage all of your neighborhood associations to participate. Anyone is welcome, whether they're involved in a neighborhood association or, or not. We'll start at 7:30 in the morning with, uh, little, uh, light breakfast and an opportunity to view some, um, some, uh, exhibit booths reflecting services in the community. And the program starts at 8:35, so we hope we'll have a good turnout. If you need additional information, you can call our office at 258-3100. Um, second, I, I too wanna, uh, just comment real briefly on second Sunday. Uh, Council Member McCord did a great job of, of, uh, bringing that issue to the table, and I appreciate that very much. It was a really enjoyable day for those folks who were down there. Um, however, I, I would also point out to you, this is something that just doesn't happen without the expenditure of a lot of effort and a fair amount of money. Uh, these are the types of things we use our tax dollars for from time to time. There were a number of police officers involved making sure that we didn't have, uh, uh, any more safety problems than what we did, people from, uh, streets and roads and, and other places, parks in, uh, urban county government. And so it is not a cheap proposition, but this is the type of thing where, um, folks in the community can see their tax dollars very visibly at work and I'm glad we were able to do it and hopefully we'll be able to repeat it, if not weekly, uh, Council Member McCord, uh, more frequently next year. Having said that, um, does anyone wish to address the council on issues that are not on the agenda today? Mr. Cobb, if you'll step to the podium, you'll have three minutes. Obama. Peace and love to the council. Thank you for allowing me to speak once again, Mayor. Uh, a lot of times I came up here, I have not been courteous. Uh, so to be remindful, a friend of mine made up some courtesy cards and bought all y'all shoe shines. So I'm gonna leave 'em somewhere up here for y'all. Peace, love, and courtesy from Dean Glass at, uh, Courtesy Pontiac. He bought all y'all shoe shine. He gonna shine your shoes, uh, Mayor, whenever you're available. And we're gonna do some commercials. I can choose anybody in the world for real, uh, but as much respect you gave me, you're the first person I'm gonna shine, uh, if it can get done. Thank you. Uh, I got a message to the Black community today. As I got off work Wednesday night and a guy fell right in front of the car I was riding in. It was something out of a movie. He had been shot. Nobody stopped, but I was placed there for a reason. And he was fighting for his life, and I was witnessing it. Only thing I could do was give him what energy that he had in s- that I had inside of me to stay alive. I went into a trance and I told him, "Fight! Fight!" And he kept trying to get up, kept get up. Then the paramedics came, the police came. They saved him. They took him to the hospital. He was in critical condition for two or three days. His condition went from critical to stable. And, uh, if we keep shooting each other and killing each other, then we gotta look to ourself to blame. I, I don't blame nobody else for my own personal problems. But, uh, if there's an opportunity out there where you can help, us help ourself, and if it's through the shoe shine, uh, whatever means we need it, man. We gotta come up with a way where we can help people help themself to change their mindset. And, uh, we have to look to UK to help us. They bringing in athletes. The little brothers in the community need to be in touch with those athletes, so they can think they can get out of the community. Right now, ain't too many other options in the community. And we gotta create options for individuals to get out of the community. And lastly, and, and, and, uh, last thing I'm gonna say, I love everybody in the building. I love everybody in Lexington. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Cobb, uh, Mr. Marr, had you on the list. All right. If not, if there's no one else who wishes to address the Council, uh, Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I move that Urban County Council enter into closed session pursuant to KRS61.8101C for discussion of pending litigations, Lexington, Fayette, Urban County government and proposed litigation on behalf of the Lexington, Urban Fay- Urban County government. So moved. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Council Member Crosby. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries.