# Council Work Session - April 15, 2025 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · April 15, 2025 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6404 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6404?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2025-04-15 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: March 27, 2026 - **Length**: 8,645 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1, with speaker labels folded in from Granicus closed-captioning. 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 held its regular meeting on April 15, 2025, beginning at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber in Lexington, KY, with Mayor Gorton presiding. The meeting covered 10 agenda items spanning a range of legislative and administrative matters, including rezonings, budget amendments, mayoral appointments, donations, and procurements. The Council also recognized National Telecommunicators Week through a formal proclamation. Over the course of the meeting, 9 motions and votes were taken, the majority of which resulted in approval, and 1 public comment was heard on agenda items. A continuing business and presentations segment was also included as an informational item, rounding out an active and productive session. ## Attendance The following members were present at the April 15, 2025 Council meeting: - Wu - J. Brown - Ellinger II - Morton - Lynch - LeGris - Curtis - Sheehan - Hale - Beasley - Baxter - Sevigny - Boone **Absent:** Whitney Baxter, Jennifer Reynolds No members were recorded as late. ## Votes and Decisions All nine motions brought before the Council on April 15, 2025, passed unanimously. - **March 20, 2025, Council Meeting Docket** — Moved by Wu, seconded by Ellinger II. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 00:32] - **March 11, 2025, Work Session Summary** — Moved by Gray, seconded by Curtis. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 04:54] - **Budget Amendments** — Moved by Wu, seconded by Sheehan. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 05:25] - **New Business** — Moved by Wu, seconded by Morton. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 05:56] - **Communications from the Mayor – Appointments** — Moved by Curtis, seconded by Wu. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 18:51] - **Communications from the Mayor – Donations** — Moved by Sevigny, seconded by Gray. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 19:22] - **Communications from the Mayor – Procurements** — Moved by Sevigny, seconded by Wu. Passed unanimously. [timestamp: 20:00] - **Motion to Table Section 12-2 (Nuisances)** — Moved by Gray; no second recorded. The Council voted unanimously to table the section of the ordinance regarding nuisances until the October 14 work session. [timestamp: 25:33] - **Ordinance Creating Section 12-55 – Landlord Tenant Act** — Moved by Gray, seconded by Wu. The Council unanimously approved the ordinance creating section 12-55 in the code of ordinances related to the landlord tenant act. [timestamp: 27:09] No roll call votes were recorded; all decisions were made by unanimous voice or consensus vote. No abstentions or dissenting votes were noted for any item. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Council considered 33 financial items at the April 15, 2025 meeting, spanning purchases, contracts, grants, and personnel amendments. **Purchases and Equipment** - **L0270-25**: Sole source purchase of a Telma braking system installation from Atlantic Emergency Solutions for **$59,613.65**. - **L0304-25**: Purchase of four mobile vehicle lifts and accessories from ARI Phoenix, Inc. for **$62,766.69**. - **L0316-25**: Sole source purchase of replacement parts for the Headworks Bar Screen for **$57,181.00**. - **L0323-25**: Establishment of MillerMendel, Inc. as a sole source vendor for the eSOPH Background Software System for **$6,468.75**. **Contracts and Agreements** - **L0271-25**: Change Order No. 5 for the Town Branch Park Access Improvements Project with Marrillia Design and Construction Inc. for **$129,913.00**. - **L0272-25**: Change Order #1 for refurbishment of a ladder fire apparatus with Atlantic Emergency Solutions for **$269,331.11**. - **L0273-25**: Renewal of a PSA Agreement with the Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass for **$50,000**. - **L0302-25**: Software service agreement with ESO for **$22,570.43**. - **L0308-25**: Three-year maintenance agreement for generators with Cummins Sales and Service at **$3,429.31 per year**. - **L0310-25**: Lease agreement with Metro Employees Credit Union for **$13,237.50**. - **L0311-25**: Supplemental No. 1 agreement for the Citation Boulevard Phase 3B Project for **$100,000**. - **L0313-25**: Agreement with Saint Joseph Health Systems, Inc. for **$3,000**. - **L0317-25 / L0318-25**: Change orders for Valley Park Building Renovation & Expansion (Johnson Early Architects, **$25,000**) and the New Senior & Therapeutic Center (Champlin/Haupt Architects Inc, **$42,000**). - **L0320-25**: Price contract with Republic Services of Kentucky LLC for **$11,000,000**. - **L0326-25**: Change Order No. 1 for LFUCG Kelleys Landing Phase 0 with Gresham Smith for **$27,900**. - **L0327-25**: Consultant services agreement with Patrick D. Murphy Co., Inc. for courthouse roof replacement for **$150,000**. - **L0329-25**: Amendment #1 with Community Action Council for **$54,981**. - **L0330-25**: Lex End Homelessness Housing Flex Fund agreements with Arbor Youth Services, Inc. and Community Action Council for **$300,000**. - **L0331-25**: One-time funding to address homelessness system gaps distributed among Arbor Youth Services, Inc., Community Action Council, GreenHouse17, Inc., and Lighthouse Ministries, Inc. totaling **$158,648**. - **L0336-25**: Agreement with Frost Brown Todd for negotiating services for the Government Center Project for **$160,000**. - **L0337-25**: Agreement with INdigital Inc. for their MEVO system for **$20,250**. **Grants** - **L0307-25**: FY25 Stormwater Quality Projects Incentive Grant to CBZ Enterprise, LLC for **$331,500**. - **L0312-25**: Award from the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet for **$79,206**. - **L0321-25**: Agreement with Kentucky Blood Center Inc. for **$10,000**. - **L0338-25**: Resolution requesting Congressional Community Project Funding for the Central Kentucky Regional Business Park Authority totaling **$10 million**. - **L0339-25**: Marathon Community Investment Programs First Responder Grant for **$3,405**. **Personnel and No-Impact Items** - **L0309-25**: Appointment of Theresa Reynolds as Applicant Agent for LFUCG — no budgetary impact. - **L0324-25**: Abolishment of one unclassified position and creation of one classified position in Parks and Recreation, with a budget adjustment of **$9,669.86**. - **L0340-25**: Similar position reclassification in Emergency Management, noted as budget neutral. - **L0333-25, L0334-25, L0335-25**: Engineering service agreements for design, construction inspection, and right-of-way services with multiple firms — no budgetary impact. ## Public Comment At the April 15, 2025 Council meeting, no members of the public came forward to comment on issues appearing on the agenda. [timestamp: 0:02:32] ## Appointments The Council took the following appointment action during the April 15, 2025 meeting: - **Theresa Reynolds** was appointed as Applicant Agent for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG). ## Contested Items - **Graffiti as a Public Nuisance Ordinance** — A procedural dispute arose over a proposed ordinance addressing graffiti as a public nuisance. Council member Gray moved to table the ordinance until October 14th, 2025, citing concerns about the penalties the measure would impose on property owners. No additional participants, vote outcomes, or further details regarding the nature of the proposed penalties were recorded in the available meeting data. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 02:32] No members of the public offered comments on agenda items during this portion of the meeting. ## Requested Rezonings/Docket Approval [timestamp: 02:32] The Council took up the matter of requested rezonings and docket approval, with Wu and Ellinger II identified as the key speakers during this portion of the meeting. The Council approved the docket for the March 20, 2025, Council Meeting. No additional details regarding specific concerns raised, debate, or individual rezoning requests are available from the meeting record for this agenda item. ## Approval of Summary [timestamp: 04:54] The Council took up the approval of the summary from the March 11, 2025, Work Session. Gray and Curtis were the key speakers during this portion of the meeting. No concerns or substantive debate were noted regarding the summary's contents. The Council approved the summary. ## Budget Amendments [timestamp: 05:25] The council took up a budget amendments ordinance during the April 15, 2025 meeting. Council members Wu and Sheehan were the key speakers on this item. The ordinance was considered and passed as amended. No additional details regarding the specific line items, dollar amounts, or the nature of the amendments are available from the meeting record. The council approved the budget amendments as amended. ## New Business [timestamp: 05:56] The Council took up New Business with Wu and Morton identified as the key speakers during this portion of the meeting. The Council approved the new business items presented. *Note: The available data does not include details on the specific items presented, arguments made, or concerns raised during this discussion. For a full account of what was debated and decided, readers are encouraged to consult the meeting transcript or recording beginning at timestamp 05:56.* ## Communications from the Mayor - Appointments [timestamp: 18:51] The Council took up the matter of communications from the Mayor regarding appointments. The item was presented and discussed with Council members Curtis and Wu identified as key speakers during this portion of the meeting. No specific concerns or debate are reflected in the available record for this item. The Council moved forward and approved the mayoral appointments as communicated. *Note: The specific individuals being appointed and the boards, committees, or positions to which they were appointed are not detailed in the available meeting data for this item.* ## Communications from the Mayor - Donations [timestamp: 19:22] The council took up communications from the Mayor regarding donations. The item was presented and discussed by key speakers Sevigny and Gray. Following the discussion, the council approved the communications. No additional details regarding the specific donations — including donors, recipients, amounts, or purposes — are available from the provided record. ## Communications from the Mayor - Procurements [timestamp: 20:00] The Council took up communications from the Mayor regarding procurements. The item was presented and discussed by key speakers Sevigny and Wu. Following the discussion, the Council approved the communications. No additional details regarding the specific procurement items, contract values, vendors, or concerns raised during the discussion are available in the provided record. ## Continuing Business/Presentations [timestamp: 20:00] The Council took up continuing business and presentations, covering ongoing projects and committee updates. The discussion was led by speakers Brown and Gray. - **Topics covered** included capital projects and committee summaries, though specific project names, dollar amounts, or committee details were not enumerated in the available record. - **Brown and Gray** served as the primary speakers during this portion of the meeting. - The item was **informational in nature**, with no votes or formal actions taken as a result of the presentations. No specific concerns, objections, or debates were recorded for this agenda item. The presentations were received by the Council as a status update on ongoing work. ## Proclamation: National Telecommunicators Week [timestamp: 28:13] Mayor Gorton issued a proclamation declaring April 13 through April 19, 2025, as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Lexington. The proclamation recognized the contributions of public safety telecommunicators — the dispatchers and communications professionals who serve as the first point of contact in emergency situations. Director Janelle Patten was among the key speakers participating in the presentation of the proclamation. The item was approved by the Council. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the April 17, 2025, Council Meeting Docket, as amended - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the April 17, 2025 Council Meeting a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Lexington Freedom Train with LexArts Inc. as Fiscal Agent to fund a public art project, with funds from the Percent for Art Fund, through the Public Art Commission’s Collaborative Grant Program, in an amount not to exceed $245,000.00 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the April 17, 2025 Council Meeting, under Ordinances, First Reading, an Ordinance changing the zone from an Interchange Service Business (B-5P) zone to a Light Industrial (I-1) zone, for 0.99 net (1.31 gross) acres for property located at 125 Canebrake Drive without a public hearing - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the March 18, 2025, Work Session Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Budget Amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business, as amended - **Motion** — passed (0-0): amend Item p under New Business relating to Change Order #2 to the agreement with Champlin/ Haupt Architects Inc, d/b/a EOP Architects, to reflect an increase in the total contract amount by the sum of $42,000 from $951,750 to $993,750 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Communications from the Mayor - Appointments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Communications from the Mayor – Donations - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Communications from the Mayor – Procurements - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Council Capital Projects - **Motion** — passed (12-2): approve an ordinance amending chapter 12 of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Code of Ordinances, pertaining to section 12-2 (c) related to graffiti as a public nuisance, and section 12-5 related to penalties, as presented at the February 25, 2025 Social Services and Public Safety Committee Meeting, as amended - **Motion** — withdrawn (12-2): table approving an ordinance amending Chapter 12, section 12-2 (c) related to graffiti as a public nuisance, until October 2025 - **Motion** — passed (12-2): postpone approving an ordinance amending Chapter 12, section 12-2 (c) related to graffiti as a public nuisance, until the October 14, 2025 Work Session - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve an ordinance creating section 12-55 of the Code of Ordinances related to the Landlord-Tenant Act to prohibit landlord retaliation for tenant complaints to a governmental agency, as presented at the February 25, 2025 Social Services and Public Safety Committee Meeting - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn at 4:30 p.m --- ## Full transcript so so so so so so welcome everyone i'd like to go ahead and call to order the lexington fayette urban county council work session of april 15th 2025 and first up on the agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda and it looks like we don't have anyone signed up so we'll go right ahead to the docket and rezonings and i'll ask for a motion to approve motion approved thank you council member ellinger second by council member curtis and i'll ask if there are any issues council member gray yes mayor so the agenda is that what the docket the docket well i'll come back when you ask about the minutes then okay all right um council member lynch i have a motion for a walk-on yes you do i moved to place on the docket for april 17th 2025 council meeting a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with lexington freedom train with lex arts lex arts inc as fiscal agent to fund a public art project with the funds from the percent for art fund through the public art commission's collaborative grant program in an amount not to exceed 245 thousand dollars all right council member hale seconded are there any comments or questions all right all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes council member boone thank you mayor uh moved to place on the docket under ordinances first reading in ordinance changing the zone from an interchanged service business zone to a light industrial zone for 0.99 net acres for property located at 125 cane break drive without a public hearing so moved thank you council member baxter seconded are there any questions all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you is there anything else for the docket all right all those in favor of approving it as amended please say aye aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you next up is the table of motions from the march 18th 2025 work session i'd like a motion to approve second vice mayor and second by council member reynolds are there any questions council member gray thank you mayor i noticed in the minutes my name is missing um i was present and i mentioned throughout the minutes so i just need that corrected all right we will make that correction is there anything else any other corrections additions questions all right all those in favor please say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you now um we have budget amendments pages three to five could i have a motion to approve all right council member gray seconded by council member savigny and please log in if you have questions all those in favor please say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you uh you have some budget adjustments for your information only and that brings us to new business i'll entertain a motion to approve council member savigny and second by council member gray and first question is council member baxter thank you mayor actually have an amendment okie doke i move to amend item p under new business relating to change order number two to the agreement with champlin hop architects incorporated dba eop architects to reflect an increase in the total contract amount by the sum of forty two thousand dollars from nine hundred and fifty one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars to nine hundred ninety three thousand seven hundred fifty dollars so moved thank you is there a second second council member sheehan seconds are there any questions it's just a change in the totals the total amounts were just a little different yeah yep all right anything else all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes thank you mayor thank you council member reynolds thank you mayor my first one is item r and i wanted to ask chief wells if he could come up and speak a little bit more about this partnership and what it means welcome chief thank you very much council member for the question so item r here is regarding a partnership between lexington and the kentucky blood center uk health trauma care and some other regional ems agencies and this is a really really exciting initiative as we know lexington often leads the way in in many initiatives and this will put us in the the first one percent of ems agencies across the country to adopt what is a well-researched and incredibly effective life-saving program the ability for our units to give whole blood in the field is something that really is going to continue to set us apart and truly truly save lives i'm super excited about this how many of our buggies would all buggies be equipped with this or only certain ones so initially through this first phase it's just going to be the ems supervisor that's going to carry this they'll be dispatched on all significant trauma runs and we know that they they will be able to get there pretty quickly but just to ensure that we don't have any waste of the product we want to start very slow and then build the program from there that makes a lot of sense thank you for explaining that and i'm really thankful that you all were able to do this so thank you for your support of course i have one more item uh it is oh i don't know if commissioner ford is here or someone else wants to speak on that uh could you just explain uh kind of this part of the parking renovation yes uh council member and council uh the project out at valley park is going real well it is scheduled to be completed later this summer early july we have uh some cost savings that's going to allow us to invest in some of the parking to allow easier access more accessible access ada parking etc so we are increasing the contract for our design to reflect that work thank you we're really excited about this uh renovation coming to fruition one more question uh does does this i was trying to figure out does this add parking spaces to the or and if so how many i can follow up with you and provide the exact details to that i believe it's an area closer to the building that we want to ensure that is uh compliant with ada standards okay all right thank you yes i'd appreciate those details thank you very much that's all mayor thank you thank you council member lynch thank you mayor i have questions about items w and x if either mr harren or commissioner lantern welcome good afternoon thank you and my first question is on a w um so there's an increase in funding to the community action council for their winter motel shelter services and i was just wanting some more explanation about the increase in funding yeah um so we projected the amount that would be needed for this winter resource that provides short-term hotel stays to families based on last year's expenses we had more families that presented within our system for need and so they originally projected serving about 35 households for approximately 30 nights each and they served closer to 40 families and the length of time that individuals were in hotel was often longer than projected with some families staying 100 or more days in hotel we're struggling a lot with finding affordable housing units and moving people into housing so that length of time is definitely increased and then my last question is regarding x that's great that there are access point agencies is that on the website can i find that easily or what are some of the access point agencies so the access points will actually be the recipients of the funding arbor youth services and community action council this is the first time that we have tried a program of this nature which provides a little bit more flexible source of financial assistance to either rapidly end homelessness or to prevent individuals from entering literal homelessness so they will initially start with taking referrals from partners such as our emergency shelter providers our street outreach teams our housing providers Fayette county public schools and then we would be able to potentially expand if the program were to continue for additional terms awesome i think that's great thank you so much thank you thank you council member morton thank you chair for um item k could you provide um that's a brief update and shed a little light on what phase 3b consists of um so phase 3b is from windburn drive to russell cave as you can see there that's what we're working on the design for right now 3a is the design is complete we're working on the right-of-way phase for that which we have been for some time and pretty much could you just talk about like where we are in the process still are we still some of that same process the last time you spoke yes sir the 3a is still in the right-of-way phase we've made good progress in the last several months on that um and then like i said 3b is the design phase we hope to move to the right-of-way phase on that later this year thank you yep um then item ee welcome cool so i'm a little familiar with the regional business park and the plan for but could you shed light on the return and investment for our city in regard to the regional business park um how much and when we will start to see returns possibly you have any idea well the construction should begin just as soon as we piece together more of the money like the the money that is included in this congressional funding the community project funding uh all the communities that are involved all the counties uh will receive one-third of the properties not all the taxes created so that includes property business license taxes net profits taxes all the taxes created on site we'll split that all 33 33 and 33 percent with the exception of a 10 hosting fee by the host community in this case the city of berea okay so but no no like any in fair no estimate on numbers right now as of right now like how much like when we start to receive like the first year how much will we get no estimate we haven't started construction so i would hesitate to give you a date that is very movable at this point sounds good um and then lastly item cc commissioner welcome it's just uh i guess due to my i guess something like a knowledge um as of now the communities of the community excuse me the government center project has not been given the full green light by the council meaning the council hasn't voted um on monies or a bond for the project or any purchase of property etc um what does this agreement lock us into specifically well basically we would start in negotiations shortly and this would cover the cost of negotiations all the way through as well as the p3 process um obviously it'll be less money than this if for some reason the the project does not proceed i suspect we'll know whether the project's going to proceed as you go through the budget process you know um and this is this is a lock in agreement can't be revoked or anything this is locked in well it'll be less money if we have to back out of it so yeah thank you okay thank you councilmember gray thank you mayor and this question is regarding letter w director heron so um let me scoot closer to the mic um so to my understanding i heard what you said regarding when council member lynch asked you regarding this so this is the temporary winter motel shelter shelter shelter services that were in the sixth district is that correct um so actually no um this would be a separately funded a kind of component of our winter response um we did not utilize the same hotels for our family program so as to try to kind of keep those populations separate and also not put all of our eggs in one basket and where were these locations just um an example of a hotel that they would have utilized would be bluegrass extended stay on richmond road and going forward i know this is to i guess tie in because since the program has sent ceased on april 1st but going forward looking at the future do you foresee asking next year when we come to this issue again um of winter and seeking shelter for our own house families uh do you foresee this being an issue as well as coming back afterwards and asking for more money or um i mean sometimes it does happen we had to do this last year we initially made a smaller commitment and then had to scale upward so we will do our best to look at the available data that we have and project needs at the same time i encourage community action council to definitely continue to serve families that were in need as i did not feel comfortable with us having families with children on the streets during inclement weather well i thank you for having that compassion and empathy um but okay just going forward i just uh this since this is budget season for us i just want to make sure that we're allotting sufficient funding so that we're not coming back another portion of the reason why we went with the specific initial amount that we did is that was the amount of money that my office had remaining on arpa funding so we are trying to pre-fund something that we knew would be an expense with those remaining dollars um so the additional portion is local dollars um so we did try to you know budget as best as we could and maximize the federal dollars that we still had remaining thank you that that clarity thank you for that information that helps thank you and thank you mayor thank you councilmember ellinger thank you mayor i want to follow up on cc please cc cc charles charles or charles chuck thank you commissioner um so if we're at this stage is that are we in the negotiating process then i'm not sure what we're about at this election committee selected one to move forward with and that process will start shortly i think actually um we're going to do a site visit later on this week so i'd expect maybe by next week or the week after that we'll actually start negotiating thank you thank you ma'am thank you are there any other questions about new business all right all those in favor of approval say aye is anyone opposed all right thank you that passes uh we do have communications from the mayor first our appointments i'll enter thank you vice mayor is there i heard a second councilmember gray any questions all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that passes next we have uh communications on donations thank you councilmember baxter and second by councilmember curtis any questions all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes and final communications from the mayor procurements could i have a motion councilmember savigny second by councilmember gray any questions about procurements all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that passes now we'll go to continuing business and presentations and first up is council capital projects vice mayor moves approval is there a second councilmember savigny any questions all those in favor say aye aye anyone opposed all right that motion passes and next i'll call on councilmember reynolds for social services and public safety thank you mayor this is a social services and public safety committee summary of motions from february 25th 2025 the meeting was called to order at 1 p.m. the first item on the agenda was the approval of january 28 2025 committee summary there were no additions or corrections and the summary was approved without dissent for our first presentation melinda jameson executive director of casa provided an update on the casa program casa provided provides screened trained and qualified community volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children and youth who appear before family court because of abuse or neglect casa programs operate in fayette bourbon woodford scott jessamine garrett and lincoln counties of the kentucky counties listed fayette county had the lowest contribution provided by local government and there will be a funding request during the fy 26 budget discussions to increase this percentage no action was taken on this committee item next director heron with the office of homelessness prevention and intervention spoke about the homeless encampment response and street outreach street outreach started as a pilot program and focused on outreach as a first touch service provider this was initially funded with innovative and sustainable funding recommendations include a new position in fy 26 for an encampment coordinator identifying a sustainable funding source for op and modifying ordinance 103-2014 for more flexibility no action was taken on this committee item finally denise gray sixth district council member provided an overview of code enforcement town hall meetings were held throughout lexington to engage residents on how their interactions with code enforcement could be improved and what code enforcement policies could be changed the tenant landlord act ordinance prohibiting landlord retaliation comes from state law graffiti has been added to the code of ordinances related to nuisances there is a concern that someone could be cited for potentially being a victim of a crime when graffiti is found on their property motion by gray to approve an ordinance amending chapter 12 of the lexington urban county government code of ordinances pertaining to section 12-2c related to graffiti as public nuisance and section 12-5 related to penalties as presented at the february 25th 2025 social services and public safety committee meeting and included in the committee packet seconded by lynch motion passed without dissent on behalf of the committee i so move second council member morton seconds any questions or conversation council member gray thank you mayor and very good job council member reynolds in reporting out so i i'm going to present a motion to table um the second ordinance section 12-2 oh no right now we're discussing the first okay is it about the second it's 12 yes it is a graph okay hang on one minute hang on just a minute okay yeah we're we're on the first one i is it 12-2 councilwoman oh okay that's the one okay that's the one we're on not the second one yeah yes you're moving to table yes uh mayor i'm moving i move to table section 12-2 regarding nuisances um until the month of 8 october of 2025 in order to um seek um to remedy the concerns of several of my colleagues regarding um setting nuisance uh making graffiti and nuisance in a penalty on land on property owners so moved is there a second second all right that is non-debatable the motion to table i'm sorry your point of information you said october i said october yeah i i think it uh commissioner it doesn't have to have to table a motion is to postpone we have to have a date do we have to have a date on the table to table it i'll say october 13th her motion was this is technically it's technically a motion for a date certain the way she's done it even though there's not an actual day you picked but a straight motion to table you just it's basically indefinite and and you all normally traditionally don't do motions to table you normally do pick a date for it to come up to post so what would you like me to do well well i'll ask if you want to i believe there was a second does the seconder do you want to withdraw your motion to table sure i will withdraw my motion second and then did you have a another motion you wanted to yes i do mayor and that motion is the following um i move to postpone to postpone um section 12-2 regarding nuisances until october the the month of october do you have a 13th we'll do october 13th that what meeting is that i don't know i'm making up that's my birthday you all that's a date sir all right here give me a calendar okay do over rewind everybody here we go your motion then would say until october 14th work session yes ma'am until october 14th the day after my birthday work session at the work session thank you so much now is there a second thank you any discussion i don't know that there'll be room in the committee at that time i have to it's the work at work session okay never mind i'm sorry that's great it's as if it's coming back and you're in work session got it okay thank you okay all right anything else all right all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes i have another one thank you now we're ready for the rest of your report motion by grade to approve an ordinance creating section 12-55 in the code of ordinances related to the landlord tenant act to prohibit landlord retaliation for tenant complaints to a governmental agency as presented at the february 25th 2025 social services and public safety committee meeting and included in the committee packet motion passed without dissent on behalf of the committee i so move is there a second vice mayor woo seconded now is there any discussion none all right all those in favor say aye is anyone opposed all right that motion passes and the meeting adjourned at 2 36 p.m and that concludes my report out thank you mayor thank you very much are there any further questions for council member reynolds all right thank you again um all right that brings us to a proclamation so i would like to invite director janelle patten and i think that she has some of her employees with her so come on up all of you um all right this is wonderful um so this week is national telecommunications week and we are excited to celebrate our e911 professionals because we have some of the best and i asked with all these folks who's running the shop they said they they said there are plenty of people there our division of enhanced 9-1-1 is a critical service in lexington fayette county our telecommunicators respond to emergencies providing callers with valuable resources and often being the first to react in a time of crisis the safety of our residents police officers and firefighters can depend upon the quality and accuracy of the information obtained by our e911 telecommunicators and i enjoy every chance i get to visit you all out at e911 this team is hard at work they respond to emergencies in real time with profession professionalism dignity and respect no matter who is calling and so director patten you have a wonderful team and i know they respect you and you're a wonderful leader and so at this time i'd like to present you with this proclamation and i'll read it whereas when an emergency occurs the prompt response of police officers firefighters and paramedics is critical to the profession protection of life and preservation of property in our community and whereas public safety telecommunicators are often the first and most critical line of contact our residents have with emergency services and whereas in emergencies accurate information is essential to the safety of the public and of our police officers and firefighters and whereas day and night our public safety dispatchers respond to emergencies providing callers with a sense of calm in high stress situations and whereas the members of lexington's 911 team are heroes who help save lives stop criminals and keep our community safe now therefore i linda gorton mayor of lexington do hereby declare april 13th through the 19th 2025 public safety telecommunicators week in lexington thank you for all you do thank you thank you all right we're going to put this up a little we have a great staff in lexington we are very fortunate we have a resilient team um the past few years we have had some challenges and we have overcame and i couldn't do it it's not about me it's not about the management team it's about the people that are actually doing the job and i thank you all for your support i thank this leadership of fayette county for their support and just keep hanging in there with us because we're not going to let you down we'll be there to answer the call that's great thank you very much should we get a photo yeah all right let's get a photo with the council come on how are you good thank you um all right guys i'll jump down all right one two three one more so all right council members it's time for council reports council member hale thank you mayor um uh reforest the bluegrass is taking place this saturday april 19th at district 7 zone jacobson park from 9 a.m to 1 p.m reforest the bluegrass is a community tree planting festival it's a great opportunity for the community to help planting trees and their streams and water bodies to improve um repairing and buffers benefiting our water quality these efforts also improve our tree canopy air quality and quality of life and more then on saturday april the 26th from 10 a.m to 1 p.m also at jacobson park charles young park and shillito park we will celebrate reforest at home because 69 of the land in fayette county is privately owned we need landowners to plant and maintain tree uh maintain the trees also reforest at home is an event where environmental services gives away free saplings to homeowners in fayette county it's a great opportunity to help grow our tree canopy and at your home thank you great thank you council member brown thank you mayor i just want to start by just thanking you and your team for the work that you all have put in on the budget i think you referred to them during your budget addresses your talented budgeted budget team so i just want to say thanks for the work that you have continued to do to right size our budget i appreciate the inclusion of all the council members ideas and budget priorities i think that helps us get off to a good start with the budget the other thing that i'll say that i really appreciate was your commitment and investment in technology i think as we try to make lexington safer i think we understand that we're going to have to invest more in technology especially ai as opposed to running away from it because i think it can make our lives easier or better also the three percent raise for the employees i think the investment in the and showing the value of our employees are important and then also reducing the bond package just to name a few things about your budget that that really stand out i think our council members i think i just like to thank kelly farley who's been working hard with you and your team to get us ready as council to start reviewing the budget i think everybody's geared up and gassed up after this break to get started in the process so we look forward to it uh what else i'll um i'll also recognize and acknowledge um just changing subjects is uh council member morton uh council member lynch reynolds and she and for their work on the recovery residence ordinance i think the mayor has got us off to a good start with her work and her team's draft ordinance michael did a good job of sharing his rationale for how he sculpted that draft but i think we can all know that there's a lot of work to be done to that ordinance i think residences have been communicating with us for months about their concerns and i think we'll continue to work on that to try to have a policy that serves our community well and then i just like to um the e911 operators they they left out hopefully to go back to get to the phones but i think um i just want to say that i appreciate them and all that they they do for our community and keeping us safe a lot of times they get overlooked as a important part of public safety but i think we know that a lot of times they are the first responders with taking the calls and getting folks out there to address the concern so thank them and thank you mayor thank you very much council member beasley thank you mayor um i would like to just start by offering our condolences to the family the friends and our police department on the passing of officer gales this past week we'll continue to keep you all in our thoughts and prayers um so while we were on break we attended the 500 build for the habitat for humanity this is the 500th homeowner who got her keys while we were on break we did that um let's see what else did we do oh we we hung out with chief wells and talked about the baby blocks um so thanks chief for giving us a tour of all of our fire stations here it was fun we read um from the fed county educators association invited us out to their read across america um this is the food that we made over 70 bags for tates creek high school kids to take home for spring break so that we would make sure that they had something to eat um this is the rose revival hearing that ksvt which is the constituent the kentucky student voice team invited us to um you all should look that up these are our fayette county well they're students from all over kentucky um who are interested in their education as well as civil work that we are doing um they were a great group of kids um this is the luna library uh divine karama's that that's his daughter she passed away he had a book signing at the north side library and all the proceeds from his book went to fund this this luna library and it's books hold on let me read it because i'll mess it up um it is uh it is books for that they give away um it's a special collection of books for for by and about black and african-american people and characters so um we went out there and supported divine about his um library is that it is that all i got is that it uh sorry this is just the first half i wasn't sure how long it would take five minutes but we'll have a second one um when we uh go to a work session this week i'd also like to thank council member morton for letting us come out and do hunger takes us hunger doesn't take a spring break um he let us go to green acres just so that we could learn what that process looks like and maybe we can try to implement that in more parks in fayette county next year thank you thank you council member boone thank you mayor a sense of place is hosting oral history seminar and collection this evening at 6 p.m at the lexington history museum admission is free and refreshments will be provided discover how to capture and preserve the untold stories of lexington's historic black hamlets this hands-on training is perfect for our community members and storytellers who want to learn oral history techniques and especially for those who have a rich legacy with connection to fayette county's historic rural black hamlets i'd also like to thank my colleagues who joined us at keeneland last friday morning our visit was hosted by fayette alliance and horse country and highlighted the impact of the equine industry has on lexington fayette county after breakfast at the track kitchen we were able to tour the back side of keeneland and watch the morning works i look forward to continuing these conversations with each of you and hope our next visit is a little bit warmer thank you mayor thank you council member sheehan thank you mayor my office has worked to organize two upcoming neighborhood meetings the first is on wednesday april 23rd we will meet with neighbors and representatives of the fayette county public schools from 6 to 7 p.m at henry clay high school to discuss the reconstruction project of the school we will meet at in room 104 on the 23rd and then we will be meeting with neighbors from the ashland neighborhood area on tuesday april 29th from 6 to 7 at the lexington senior center at 195 195 life lane we will be there to discuss the upcoming kentucky american water project and the proposed pedestrian safety improvement project in that area so look out for those two meetings and please attend if you can and then in honor of national sexual assault awareness month the domestic and sexual violence prevention coalition is hosting the seventh annual wake up lex on friday april 18th local coffee shops will put out special wake up coffee sleeves on the first 50 to 300 drinks served that day one side of the sleeve has a message of support for survivors and the other side provides a resource for survivors of sexual violence so we invite the community to participate by visiting a participating shop and then you can also spread the message of support by taking a selfie with your sleeve and posting it with the hashtags wake up lex or it's time lexington and if you'd like more information about resources and the program for it's time lexington you can go to it's time lexington.org thank you mayor thank you councilmember lynch thank you mayor as always things are on and popping in the second district the party never stops today i was excited to be at the ribbon cutting for god's pantry's new facility on innovation drive in the second district they have a new 120,000 square foot facility to have to feed more people as you may know god's pantry serves 50 counties here in the state of kentucky which is important because i learned today of the 20 food insecure counties throughout the united states 10 of those counties are in kentucky 10 so they are doing god's work literally in feeding families every single day and their new facility on innovation drive is going to help facilitate more food being transitioned from the facility to homes throughout the state of kentucky so i'm excited congratulations to mike halligan and the god's pantry team for your new facility it's beautiful and i look forward to hearing about all the all the more awesome things that they're going to do because this new facility that they have on innovation drive in the second district also happening this week is yappy hour with our parks and recreation staff at mason station dog park it's always a very popular event so i invite all my neighbors near and far to come on out this wednesday at 6 p.m and bring your beautiful furry friends to have a good time at yappy hour also happening very soon is kite fest in mason station park it is open to the whole community it is a free event that our parks and recreation staff puts on bring your kites and if you don't have a kite they will have kites there that you can purchase for for yourself and your family so come on out to kite fest once again it's at noon on april the 26th and then lastly i will be hosting my next district-wide meeting on monday april the 28th we're going to do a little bit of a different format i will be at sandersville elementary school in the library for from 6 p.m to 7 30 at 6 30 p.m that's when i'll provide my updates so it's a drop-in kind of meeting you don't have to come and stay the whole time just come drop in ask your questions let's chat um and then i'll give an update specifically at 6 30 so come on out at the end of the month on april the 28th thanks so much mayor thank you council member curtis thank you mayor um i'm going to keep my comments brief because uh a lot of the things that i was going to touch on my colleagues already have hit so uh thank you for that and uh i just want to say uh that tonight we are going to be having a neighborhood meeting over in the oaks at the clubhouse at 6 30 p.m i'm looking forward to seeing my neighbors in that area and answering any questions that they might have so if you're in the oaks and you'd like to discuss what lfucg has been up to and what is going to be happening over on the north side of the fourth district on the south side of lexington please come on out and i'm looking forward to seeing y'all there tonight thank you mayor thank you council member lagree thank you mayor um i just need to enter one item into the environmental quality and public works committee and that is um house bill 443 updates as related to environmental quality and public works um and then secondly i just want to reiterate about reforest the bluegrass and reforested home um council member hale did a great job talking about uh these two programs um and i want to say that reforest the bluegrass is so fun it's really family friendly i'm going to bring my dad if you have children in your lives bring children there's music there's food they're friendly people and there are happy people planting trees and um you would love to be one of one one of those people so just know that you don't have to come for the full time you can just come in plant some trees chat with people have a good time and enjoy a big positive community event so that's my pitch for reforest the bluegrass thanks mayor good thank you council member morton thank you so first i'll start off with um i had a great tour great meeting with the brine station and that's not brine station middle school but that's bronson high school but with brine station middle school students um their boys group and after the school program it was very inspiring to hear their perspectives and talk with them about leadership education and staying engaged with their community and as you can see almost every meeting i'm in the schools a lot and the youth are very important um and then moving on this week this um yesterday i had the the opportunity to tour um our recycling facility um i kicked off the week this week with a tour of the lexington material recovery facility it was eye-opening to see the scale and importance of our recycling efforts um recycling is not only not only protects our environment but it supports local jobs and strengthens our community i'm a huge thank you to miss hatter the plant manager for walking me through the entire process and being very informative um she was great and then um this this is a great hunger to not take a spring break um i'm incredibly proud of the success of our spring break meal initiative we served an average of about 80 kids per location we had six locations charles young center dunbar center douglas park saint martin village park green acres park and windburn park and you know we started off coming into it we had one goal just feeding kids throughout spring break make sure they had a meal but very soon we end up seeing especially at the end of the week we realized that it led to more um this and this initiative shed light that one um that there's a need to to bring resources to our underserved communities and more of them to the fact that our community centers and our parks can be activated i mean we had like i said about 80 kids at each park and each community centers they were they were activated that week um for our youth and and most importantly that our youth want program tailored to them at their feet in their communities um so this this initiative was amazing um i'm i want and actually i'll sum it up with a story i'm from a constituent so i was at windburn park um and walking out and somebody runs me down and she comes up with um tears in her face i'm like you know what's what's going on what's wrong but there were tears of joy she looked at me and said i have never in the last about 15 to 20 years have seen this park as full with kids smiling i'm happy and just you know that she said she said that that they were fed um with with the meals but also their soul were fed they were happy and that's exactly what it should be our parks activated our community centers activated smiling children having fun and taking them away from other nonsense um so and then lastly um well actually let's go back to hunger to take a spring break um i want to give a special shout out to council member amy beasley five days a week she was there at green acres it wasn't just to to get the layout she was there serving um council member brown he showed up multiple days and council member lynch was there at st martin village so you know the kids being able to see their leaders being able to be in the park with their leaders and see folks that are making changes um is eye-opening for them and they want to see you guys there so please um support the youth as much you can and and come out and you know play with them i guess um and then lastly um our our podcast is finally live i'm excited to officially announce that our district one podcast real talk real change is now streaming um it's on spotify right now and it'll be on youtube very soon um you can go to my my facebook page and hit that link and it'll pop right up i mean in our first episode my staff adena tatum which is one of the hosts and i sat down with councilman large james brown to break down how local government really works um check it out subscribe and stay tuned we got real conversations coming your way soon and that is it thank you thank you council member reynolds thank you uh i too want to chime in and say i really appreciate your budget is very thoughtful and comprehensive and um i i'm excited about many pieces so thank you great great presentation today i also wanted to give my condolences to the family of officer gales um from east sector um i also his colleagues um i'm really sorry for everyone's loss um i know it's hard to lose somebody uh last i uh week i something really exciting happened in valley park and i just wanted to take a moment uh to thank everyone who joined us for a government day for adopt-a-park i love adopt-a-park because i participated in helping start the first one many years ago last wednesday um the 11th district council office was proud to co-sponsor government day with partners for youth i first want to thank my legislative aide isabel ballard because she worked very hard on this and getting people together we brought many city government divisions um to the kids uh for spring break this event gave children the chance to connect with the services that keep our city running and have a lot of fun while doing it we are really grateful for all the departments that showed up and went above and beyond to make the day special just wanted to mention them briefly traffic engineering who brought a real red light and green light game streets and roads who brought a street sweeper the lexington police department who showcased their amazing motorcycle unit the copsicle van and mounted horses winchester and bishop waste management that came with a garbage truck and a knuckle boom and parks and recreation delivered games and fun with park and play and lexington the lexington fire department taught fire safety using a fire engine and the fire safety trailer so once again thank you to all of all of those groups for making this day educational for for the kids lastly i would like to take a point of personal privilege to thank everyone for their kindness kindness condolences and patience with me over the past few months during the illness and passing of my father i have been surrounded by a huge community during one of my most difficult times many people from lfucg sent me cards brought my family and i food supported us in lots of and supported us in lots of ways i'm incredibly grateful to my lfucg family my dad was a psychologist and taught psychology for 32 years he also worked as a counselor in lexington for many years including at access wellness i didn't know until my dad passed away that he had been the counselor to many city employees who disclosed this to me with his passing i had no idea the reach or the depth of work that he had and influence he had on others he was whom i went to for advice my biggest cheerleader and supporter his passing leaves a huge void but once again i am incredibly grateful for your support thank you thank you councilmember gray thank you mayor first of all i would like to say thank you to sheriff kathy witt and the sheriff's office for and as well as stephanie fixen of the domestic violence and sexual violence prevention office here at lfucg for being present to speak on the sexual assault as many as i said numerous times today to april is sexual assault awareness month and last year i dealt with something maybe one or two of you may have heard of heard about and and i'm just thankful for the support of folk like commissioner armstrong of public safety as well as the lexington police department as well as particularly i think he's lieutenant nate muller for all of their support as well as my colleagues and friends shayla lynch and what's your name dave savigny and my legislative aide heather parish all for their support in my entire sixth district but i heard from many people that they were not going to step forward and speak out about their assault because of what happened to me with the herald leader and with certain of our news stations and i want to just put out there to all those people please speak up you are your best advocate no one's going to stand up for you as you will do for it must be you so stand up and be your own advocate be your own hero only you can save yourself and even if you may be stigmatized there are so many people out there who have your back i have your back stand up speak out protect yourself secondly and also we learned today that sheriff witt who has been our sheriff for almost 30 years 27 she said she today was the first time our council me invited her to speak at our social service and public safety committee meeting i know that the sheriff's office is not part of lfucg officially but we work we all work with one another and i'm hopeful that this we will not go another year where our people that we give money to and people who protect us and protect us and keep us safe don't have an opportunity to present all the work that they're doing with the funds that we give them so i'm hopeful that it won't be another five years before she's about office speaks so anywho's um moving on to my actual announcements um to the residents of the sixth district our first uh district-wide meeting will be taking place next week at frederick douglas high school on wednesday beginning at 6 p.m i am invited your other three council members yes you have four council members it's not only just me denise gray you get you get your choices between also vice mayor dan woo um what's his name council member james brown and council member uh chuck ellinger um the second um so they will be present hopefully they will be present to meet you and tell you a little bit more about what they do as your council member um next last week i had an opportunity to attend um the bluegrass council of the blind which is housed housed in the 10th district um their dining in the dark event um at this event we had an opportunity to learn what people who have visual impairments what they deal with on every single day basis we are all blessed blessed with beyond measure they at this event not only did we dine in dark with blindfolds on but we had an opportunity to learn what it's like to walk being visually impaired and it was a little difficult and which made me realize how we as a city are not truly accessible for people who live with disabilities and i'm hoping going forward we will be more cosmic or understanding and place ourself in their shoes because we are the people making decisions about them and we must also think about people who are living with those disabilities and i'm hopeful in two years i was told they have it every other year that there will be more council members there present because it was very moving experience and that is all thank you mayor thank you very much we have no one signed up for our final public comment so i'll ask for a motion to adjourn all those in favor say aye we are adjourned thank you very much so could you expect me