♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I welcome you to our June 3rd Public Art Commission meeting. We have a nice agenda. A few items to follow up on. First we will take up the approval of the minutes, if you all had a look at them, unless there's any additions or corrections. I'd ask for a motion to approve. Second. Thank you. Single, thank you. Motion to second. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. All right. So, Kaymon completed his time with us, and Craig Rushing completed his time with us. I'm sorry we didn't get to tell them goodbye properly. They actually had completed their time. That's all right. They actually had completed their time and a little extra. So they had kind of continued rolling on, and then we realized their term had expired. So there is a new person, and unfortunately by the time we had he wasn't able to join us today. Yes, ma'am. William Hodges has been approved to join us. I think Andrew knows him, and our previous landscape architect, Tony Barrett, had known him and recommended him as well, but he was very excited, and it was just too short notice for him to start today, but he'll be here next month. And our other replacement then? I'm sorry. Who's the other person? There is another person that's being moved forward for approval. That would take over the large seat, and her name is Yuha Jung, and she is faculty at UK arts administration program, but is also an arts attorney and has a lot of public planning and public art experience. So I'm really happy to have her joining us. Sounds like a great addition. Thank you very much. She has to come before council for approval, but that's who will be moving forward. We'll show up if we need to. We'll show up if we need to. Yeah. Yeah. So I appreciate her interest and willingness to move forward and join this. Well, then you want to take up the issue or the report of our ribbon cutting for birth of hope? Sure. And I asked Lex TV did a really nice. They were there. They set up a beautiful media event. And so I thought they put this video together that I thought would be fun because a lot of people were not able to be there, but just to show the video, if you don't mind for us to take a look at for that. So we are here today to officially dedicate our newest piece of public art, the birth of hope Louisville artists. Dave Cottle has created this wonderful sculpture. It is a powerful reminder that hope belongs everywhere, everywhere in our community. And that change is always possible located at the entrance to our Fayette County detention center. The birth of hope brings brightness and positivity to those who work here and to the visitors who come in and out every day. The piece is dedicated to the men and women of the detention center and illustrates the spirit of the staff who work so hard to protect and serve our community. This has been a great opportunity for me. When I get a chance to do a piece of public art, I want to do something that is heartfelt. That's that's important in its own way. And those things were here in spades. The chance to build this piece was really an important part of my career. I felt when I had this opportunity, that hope was the single most important common denominator of all the people who are involved with the detention center in any way whatsoever. In good times, we celebrate our hopes fulfilled. But in challenging times, it's hope that sustains us. So I hope that you all have great hopes in your lives that take you places where you couldn't even imagine. A unique pleasure of this artwork is that viewers will be able to see it and see the site change and evolve over time. I've been able to experience the work during different times of the day, with different sky conditions, and to view it at night with the dramatic lighting. And, of course, the beautiful garden that has just been installed will be growing and filling out over the next few months, providing color and texture throughout the year. This is a real coming out party, truly, for the whole Public Arts Commission, many of which are here, and we meet every month, and we work hard with the opportunity to make Lexington more beautiful, one piece of public art at a time. This is a real gratifying get for that group, for the people that work here and understand what goes on here, but for the city of Lexington, a city built on the infrastructure of the arts. From its moniker as the Athens of the West, to the station that it has today as the arts leader, in my opinion, in our entire state. This very corridor is traveled by many people on a daily basis, and this spot is home to our community corrections facility. And now, this statue will be seen by all those who travel it, coming in and out, as well as all the employees that frequent it on a daily basis. Hope. You will not find it in our policy manual. It isn't on the job description. There is no in-service training requirement for hope. But hope, it is essential in our profession. Now, hope is critical to a jail officer to possess. One of the toughest officers I ever worked with, one day commented to me that I don't know what good this job is doing. This struck me hard. In that moment, I realized that if we as officers could not find our hope, how are the individuals locked behind these walls going to find any hope? Hope isn't just for the inmates. It's also for us. It's what gets us up at 4.30 in the morning. It's what helps us step back into a unit after a fight. Hope is what allows us to believe something better is always possible. Not just for the men and women behind bars, but for ourselves also. This job, I openly admit, can chip away at you. The long hours, the constant state of vigilance, the emotional toll of watching people stuck in cycles of violence, addiction, and regret. We talk constantly about safety and security in the division, and that is rightly so. But none of us should forget we are keepers of something more powerful. We are gatekeepers of second chances. And if we do not hold on to hope ourselves, we have nothing to give. Today, let's take a moment and challenge each other, officers. Find the small ray of hope President Kennedy speaks of in signs of growth and others, quiet victories, someone getting clean, someone getting their GED, someone calling their kids instead of their crew. Then I challenge you all to find a way back to your own hopes, your family, your faith, your fitness, a good laugh with somebody who gets it. Protect your own hope, officers, like it's part of your gear. At the end of the day, for me, bars and locks do not define this work. It is the belief that tomorrow can be better than today. And that belief, it starts with us. Again, President Obama said it best. While we breathe, we will hope. Thank you. Thank you. Very nice. Very nice. Nice addition, ma'am. I'll remember it now. I didn't hear it at the time. It's all good. It's all very good. All right, Heather, you want to run through our outstanding? Yeah, and I just want to encourage you all, too, to go visit that sculpture and go at night. You know, the lighting really is beautiful, and I think it's really important because that is a 24-7 corridor. You know, there are shifts, there are people going in and out of the detention center, and at the industrial park across the street, there are shift workers there. You know, we all experience just how busy that area is. It's incredibly busy every minute of the day and night. But go take a look at it at night because I think it really is like a beacon in this kind of dark place. So I think it is very successful, and I was delighted with how the detention center embraced it and was so excited about it. So anyway, so thank you, and thanks, LexTV, for putting that together for us. Okay, I just wanted to ‑‑ there are a number of projects sort of in different parts of their ‑‑ in different phases, sorry. The Waverly Park that the commission approved in May, I am ‑‑ they are anxious to get going, but I am still awaiting a contract from law to be able to give that to them. Hopefully, I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to have it and get it before council before they go on break. So that's what I'm pushing for. The Lexington Freedom Train Project, I actually got photographs this morning. They have broken ground and are preparing for the foundation to be poured. The dedication is going to be on Thursday, June 19th at 11 a.m. And so I hope if you all can join on that day, it will be at 11 a.m. So that's exciting, and congratulations to that committee for moving this project forward to reality. The Gatton Park Tunnel Project, they are finalizing some plans, and again, that is a contract from law that we're going to hope get before council soon. And then the Utility Box Projects, if you remember several months ago, and I had shown you the first batch that had been installed this last fall. At the same time, the selection committee had selected a total of 12. And so we got six installed in the fall, and now six are being installed this month. So I just gave you the locations and the general artwork that's going to be put on those boxes. Thanks to Image 360, they're working with us on this and provide a very, very significant discount, which is helpful for us to be able to do more. Anyway, so I just wanted to share that with you. These are great pictures and great locations, because there's a lot of boxes. And this helps them immensely. Well done, all right. Anything else anyone wants to talk about or check up on? I actually have, yes, something, and I left it off. Okay. I left old business off of the agenda by accident. Okay. But now that we have the Detention Center Project, as you all, for folks who've been on the commission for a while, Gainesway Park had been one of our projects that we had identified. And it became clear, we can only really handle one large project at a time. I mean, we were sort of trying to, we made some progress with Gainesway Park, but we never could quite get that project up and going at the same time that the Detention Center was going. So I would like to, now that we've finished the Detention Center, to go back to Gainesway Park and put it front and center to be able to move forward with identifying a project, identifying a community group to engage in that project. And Councilmember Beasley, who is the new Councilmember for District 8, had reached out to me saying she was aware that this had been something discussed. And so I have asked if I can meet with her just to get her, let her know what we had discussed to this point. But I wanted to see if there was a working group that might be interested again in focusing on that project to try to move it forward. Yeah? Yes, originally. Right. Right. I'm guessing the landscape architect. Yeah, that would be, we'll just tell him. No. You're in. Surprise. Okay, Georgia, Celeste, Roseanne. Okay. Okay. And are we starting from scratch or? No, I mean, we gained a lot of information and I think, you know, for instance, we were looking at it as sort of a two-part project. And I think those ideas are still good. One was they have those lovely ponds and the bridges, and we felt that just a lighting enhancement down there was something that we should do. And we had talked with a lighting designer and had gotten some ideas. I'm not sure, I don't think they were exactly what we would want to move forward, but I think the idea of adding lighting there is still a good one. And then the other part was that somehow we might create something up more toward the playground, either something interactive or something more playful. I had tried to involve the middle and high school art departments, and I didn't get anywhere. And I had provided some artists at the community center there, and there's a lot of turnover there, so that didn't really go anywhere. So I think to identify a community group that we might be able to engage, maybe there is someone in that apartment complex that's just over the fence perhaps, but I think we could kind of investigate that. It seemed that in the first go-around we were talking about a lot of aesthetic improvements, but not necessarily artistic. So that's when I was sort of wondering how do we get to the artistic part versus correcting fountains. Right, and I think that's part of the original lighting design was that. Did you get a written report from that consultant? Yeah. Because that was a huge part of the conversation. It's like, we're lighting up your safety, but is that really what we're supposed to be doing? Right. So there was a fine line there. Right, and yeah, and I think there's, you know, yes. And I think that's kind of why it sort of moved. Do you think there would be ways to perhaps encourage the new council member to match funds, like four things that would be out of the capital funds that are available to do those things, take care of those things while we supply the art component? That is an excellent idea. Yeah, that's an excellent idea because I think we did identify things that needed correcting, like with the fountain and the safety lights, and, yeah, that wasn't really our role to do that. So that's a great idea. Thank you. Is there an active neighborhood association? Well, that's what I'm not positive. And I thought, you know, maybe in meeting with Council Member Beasley I can find that out. But I'm not sure about that. Did you all do any community engagement before? Just with the community center. Okay. With the kids and some of their parents at the community center. Very good. So will you all meet a couple of times then, you think, or meet out there, or what will you do? Oh, I think, why don't I, I will reach out to these folks, and we'll set up a first meeting, and, yeah, maybe we can just set it up to meet out there again and kind of, I'll pull together everything we had had from the first go around. And I'll try to meet with Council Member Beasley soon and meet with her before our meeting and see what she has to say, and then if she has some ideas for us, and then I'll set up a first meeting. Okay. Sounds very good. It should be a nice change. I mean, this has noodled around for a couple of years. I mean, it's been here. Yeah, yeah. And that's okay. You're right. Your point about capacity is well-suited, and we have it now. So, very good. Any other subjects or topics? I do have a question. Yes, ma'am. So, are there any subcommittees, or do I just form ad hoc as needed? That's the way it's been. Okay. It's been sort of project-based for when we're taking on a project, forming a kind of working group to focus on that project. Okay. All right. Thank you. As art is, we are a work in progress. Okay. Unless there's some announcements or any other things to note on, I ask for a motion to adjourn. Well, I was wondering, Bill, I was wondering if others had been following the public art issues in Louisville. Oh, man. And some of the significant comments were poignantly negative about their art commission. Really? And sort of bogging things down. So, anyhow, it was an important thing for me to read about how the community views the commission not being all that active, and, in fact, being sort of a hindrance. And I also, actually, I also just read today that Ed Hamilton's piece by the river was vandalized last night, cut. And this is his second piece that's been vandalized in the past year. Did you say cut? Yeah. The hand of the piece was sawed off. Oh, gross. And some effort. Yeah. Yes. Very deliberate, you know. Wow. So, and that's the second piece. His other one, the Lincoln, I think the hat had been. Yes, stolen. Yes, stolen. The Lincoln piece. So, that's, there's been a lot of other problems, you know, about the artwork and also some of the storage of the artwork and all of the canes that were. Oh, my. In a fence and anyway. I haven't followed any of it. Yeah. So, the work that we do and I think the way that we model and, you know, is really important that we be careful and deliberate and intentional with what we do and what we select and, you know, we spend a lot of time on the master plan and that we really pay attention to it. Because you can get in the weeds real fast, you know, technically with public support or perceptions. So, I think it's just really important to be careful and very deliberate with what we're doing and how we're doing it. Best practices. Are they older than us in this capacity? How old is their public art commission? Yeah. But they, too, do not, they now have one staff person devoted to public art. We still don't have that. So. We're always glad to see you. I'm a portion of a staff person devoted to public art. I had no idea there was any controversy there. We just try to be very thorough. And I think it shows. It's the best thing. Well, you know, that's very, it's very interesting because, again, one of the objectives, one of the things that every artist is going to experience or any sculptor is going to experience is how the public is going to react. Right? And even experience with my mentor, Richard Hunt, in Harlem, New York. I saw a big piece of his down in the Harlem area. And I was like, oh, my God, that's a Richard Hunt. And I ran up to it and it was covered with graffiti. Oh, no. And I said, went back and I saw him. I said, Richard, I said, man, they had covered your whole piece with graffiti. And he said, well, that's the way they have adapted to their environment. And I never looked at it like that, you know. So you're going to have these kinds of experiences. This Ed Hamilton thing, I don't know much about. But that's a horrible way of getting scrap money. But that's a pretty big hand. Okay? At least a 50-pound hand. So due to scrap costs. Maybe a hundred bucks or so. But I think that's the only reason why they would cut it off. Wow. People looking for any kind of scrap money. I mean, that's the whips down here. Yes, all the time. Right. They popped them off to go and scrap them. So it goes to show also the desperate need of people. Yes, sir. And money. It's just always going to be some kind of reaction that people is going to have to art. If they like it, if they don't like it. And like I said, the most hated political piece ever made was the Statue of Liberty. Very political. And they did not like that piece. And that's a symbol of America. So it's an interesting discussion. Just like the Calder for Chicago. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. But, Gary, you mentioned Richard Hunt. And there was a time when that piece needed heavy restoration work. And everybody in the community board and council office were against spending money for that. But it was a lack of public education. They didn't even know that Richard Hunt was a black artist working in Harlem. They had no idea because he had been there for so long and quiet about what he did. And shown all over the world. And here they had one of his first pieces. Public pieces. Had no idea. So public education has to be a significant part of what we're doing. I saw articles about the resignation of the chair. Did you see articles about? No, not that. Anyone else? I thought that's what you were meaning. She is. No, no. Do we do enough public education, do you think? I mean, that was. We don't. That would make a great subcommittee, I'm just saying. Spoken like a true council member. Okay, we'll take that under advisement. What would it be kind of outreach? An outreach committee or education? Let's talk for a minute. All right. Anyone else? Don't talk about anything else. We got time. Move to adjourn. Well said. Motion. Second. All those in favor. We're adjourned. Thank you all. See you at the committee meeting. He was a hard-headed man, he was brutally handsome, and she was terminally pretty. She held him up, and he held up for ransom in a bar out of the cold, cold city. He had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude. They said he was ruthless, they said he was cruel. They had one thing in common, they were good in bed, she said. They're the best of the lights are turning red. Life in the fast lane. Surely make you lose your mind. Life in the fast lane. Eager for action, hot for the game. The calling attraction, the top of her game. They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills. They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavily bills. There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face. She pretended not to notice, she was caught up in the maze. Out every evening, until it was night. He was too tired to make it, she was too tired to fight a fight. Life in the fast lane. Surely make you lose your mind. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Everything, all the time. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Blowing and burning, blinded by thirst. They didn't see the stop sign, took a turn for the worse. She said, listen baby, you can hear the engine rave. We've been up and down this highway, haven't seen a goddamn thing. He said, call the doctor, I think I'm gonna crash. The doctor said he's coming, but you gotta pay in cash. They were rushing down that freeway, messed around and got lost. They didn't care, they were just dying to get off. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Surely make you lose your mind. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Everything, all the time. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Life in the fast lane. Don't you feel it growing, day by day? People getting ready for the moon. Some are happy, some are sad. Oh, we can't let the music play. What the people need is a way to make them smile. It ain't so hard to do it, you know how. Gotta get a message, get it all through. Don't let mama cause you happy while. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music all the time. Well, I know you know better than everything I say. Meet me in the country for a day. We'll be happy and we'll dance. Oh, we're gonna dance the blues away. But if I'm feeling good to you and you're feeling good to me. There ain't nothing we can't do or say. Feeling good, feeling fine. Oh, baby, let the music play. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music all the time. Like a lazy falling river. Surrounding castles and skies. And the crowd is growing bigger. Resting for the half an hour. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music all the time. Oh, listen to the music all the time. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music. Oh, listen to the music all the time. Oh, listen to the music. Have a little love on a little honeymoon. You got a little dish and you got a little spoon. A little bitty house and a little bitty yard. A little bitty dog and a little bitty car. It's all right to be a little bitty. In a little hometown or a big old city. Might as well share, might as well smile. Life goes on for a little bitty while. A little bitty baby and a little bitty gown. It'll grow up in a little bitty town. Big yellow bus and little bitty books. It all started with a little bitty love. It's all right to be a little bitty. In a little hometown or a big old city. Might as well share, might as well smile. Life goes on for a little bitty while. You know you got a job and a little bitty check. Six pack of beer and a television set. Little bitty world goes around and around. Little bit of silence and a little bit of sound. A good old boy and a pretty little girl. Start all over in a little bitty world. Little bitty plan and a little bitty dream. It's all part of a little bitty scheme. It's all right to be a little bitty. In a little hometown or a big old city. Might as well share, might as well smile. Life goes on for a little bitty while. It's all right to be a little bitty. In a little hometown or a big old city. Might as well share, might as well smile. Life goes on for a little bitty while. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ the crimes, the detectives solving the crimes, but we don't think about the victims and we don't think about the victims' families. So obviously that's very important and something that the Lexington Police Department is extremely committed to work with and help these folks. So give us some examples of ways that this program helps those victims and families. So a lot of what we do, what we're talking about here is the follow-up, okay. So if you have had to have police to your home or someone has had to call police to your home, we already know that you have survived a traumatic event. And it's very natural and normal to wonder, what do I do now? What happens next? What can I do to keep myself safe? What are my rights? And so that's where we come in and we will reach out and contact by phone primarily but also in person too as well any survivors of an intimate partner violence, interpersonal violence or any violent crime as well. And just let them know what the next steps are in prosecution. We can register them with VINE to be notified if their offender is released from custody. Let them know when their next court date is. All victims, thanks to Marcy's Law, have the right to be notified in a timely manner of court proceedings as well as attend those court proceedings. So we call and let people know what their rights are as a survivor of a violent crime in Lexington. And you hear people talk about Marcy's Law more now, obviously, so that's really one of the major components of that is the notification process. It is. Marcy's Law made victims' rights in Kentucky a constitutional law. And so victims and survivors have the right to be heard in court proceedings involving their offenders. We work with every unit, every section of the police department, but if you are a survivor of an intimate partner violence crime or we're talking about a crime against a child, you are also going to get assigned a detective who is highly trained, trauma-informed, victim-centered and is also going to follow up with you as well. So all of our detectives in our unit are also very well trained. They're like advocates as well. So it is very much a team effort between us and the detectives to make sure that anybody who has survived a violent crime in Fayette County, especially when we're talking about domestic violence or interpersonal violence, is going to be very well taken care of. So it's more than just the justice of getting the crime through the court system. It's about helping those victims all the way along. Very much so. And in a lot of cases, the investigation is still ongoing. If the patrol officer could not make an arrest due to various reasons at the scene, there's going to be a detective that's going to follow up and take those next steps and go above and beyond for that victim. And every single one of our detectives in the special victim section does that. And I've heard you say before that Lexington, and I think I've heard you say it too, that Lexington is very resource rich as far, and that's really what you all do is kind of put people in touch with those resources and what are some of those resources? So we are extremely fortunate in Fayette County to be partnered with a lot of our outside agencies. A lot of what we do is referral based. So our job is to make sure that victims and survivors get connected to resources to get help and get the next steps. We're very fortunate to have Stephanie Thegston in our domestic and sexual violence prevention coalition board. We are a member there and she provides us with resources for survivors of domestic violence to help them with their next steps, like providing them with security equipment and things that they might need to feel safer in their home. We're also very fortunate to be partnered with Divine Karama and One Lexington. And so he helps us provide access to programs and counseling and support for families who have survived an incident in Fayette County involving gun violence. So it's a huge program what he's doing there. We are, we work very closely with the other advocates at the county attorney's office as well as the commonwealth so that the survivor has a streamline from the arrest to prosecution. And so hopefully the process for them is a little easier given what they have survived. Okay. Now does your program refer the victims to these or can they reach out and call them or does it have to? It's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of both. We communicate weekly with the county attorney's office. It's basically just communication to let them know what we've done with the victim just so that, you know, because a lot of times victims, they may tell us one thing, but then tell them another thing. So it's just a way of communicating to see kind of just where we're going with that person. Kind of keep everybody in the loop. Exactly. So how would someone get in contact with you all? With the passing of Marcy's Law, try, with there being the four of us, we try to assign an advocate to as many case reports every single day as we possibly can. So ideally, if you're a victim of a violent crime in Fayette County, you shouldn't have to do anything. We will reach out to you. But if you need us, if you have a follow-up question, if there's anything we can do to help you, you can call 258-3700 and ask to speak to one of us. So it's more than just resources, right? And I've heard you all talk about this before and the Lexington Police Department obviously is very committed to this, that sometimes people just need to, when they're a victim or a victim's family, sometimes they just need to ask questions, they need to have answers. But I've heard you say before that sometimes they just need someone there for them. Yes. That's a very good point. Sometimes we're not going to make a referral. Sometimes we're not going to provide certain things. Sometimes what anybody might need after surviving a tragic situation is just somebody to talk to. And that seems like a small thing, but it's incredibly valuable. It's incredibly valuable to have somebody to talk to. You've just survived a violent crime and you just want to talk it out with somebody. And we do that day in and day out, every day. We sometimes have communication with survivors. We no longer are working their case, but they still call and check in. A lot of times, too, and like Tisha was saying, just to kind of feed off of her, is that it may not be a referral place because there's a lot of times that victims will also come into the lobby and want to speak to us and it's just a matter of, like you said, just listening and just hearing them out. And it may not be an actual referral that we get. So a lot of times we get individuals that may not be a referral to us and they'll call us from downstairs and say, hey, so-and-so is here, can you speak to this person, provide them with victim services, and we make ourselves available for that as well. Awesome. Well, we thank you all for joining us today. And I've learned a lot more about the Victims Advocate Program. Yes. Thank you. Yes, no problem. Yes, you are very welcome. Hello. We are here with Ms. Robin Anderson and Marisol Contreras. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having us. Absolutely. So you all also work with the Victims Advocates Program. Yes, ma'am. Yes. And what you do is what's referred to as the SOS Program, is that right? Can you tell us a little bit about that? SOS stands for Surviving Onward Sessions. And it is for families and friends that have lost someone due to homicide. We meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Dunbar Community Center. We start with some food, a little fellowship, and then typically we have a speaker every week in which we bring in from all different community agencies, such as One Lexington. We have a prosecutor come from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office. We bring in our Robbery Homicide Unit, Bluegrass Care Navigators, and many more. And also some of our grassroots type of services, such as SWAG, which is Tonya Lindsey who works with homicide families as well after losing her son. And it's just a way for families to come together and learn a little bit more about what our community has to offer and then find support with each other. And I know you had mentioned that these are, I guess, victims of homicide deaths. What about overdose deaths? Now we pretty much, you know, work up every case as much as we can. And one of the new areas that we are working with is overdoses in which the person does not survive. And we will reach out to the family and just offer our condolences and let them know of any support, you know, that our community has and offer those services to them. Awesome. So, Ms. Contreras, can you tell us about your background? Yes. Like you said, my name is Marisol Contreras. I came to the department in 2022. That was the goal of the department when they opened a position for bilingual advocates. You know, it's a matter of trying to help the community, to make them feel safer and to make them feel comfortable coming through with reports. When I talk to the victims, I always like to explain the process or what's going to be happening next. You know, I let them know if another person is going to be trying to reach out, what their role is, and why they're reaching out. Sometimes, you know, the barrier of the language makes a big difference and impact. It can be intimidating for the person. So that's the reason why we try to provide the services in their language. So both reporting and also following up, that's very important to have that, absolutely. So when we were talking to Leticia and Cornetto, we were talking about, you know, the resources. So I know being on patrol, we're familiar with some resources, Greenhouse 17 and the NEST. Can you all tell us a little bit more about that? Well, when it comes, yeah, I'll give a little bit from when it comes, again, for the Hispanic community. We try to network with those agencies. Some of those agencies have also made efforts to have a bilingual person. So by different workshops and meetings that we attend with those agencies, we try to network. So let's say that I have a Hispanic person that only speaks Spanish, you know, I'll let them know. We have these resources that are provided through a different agency, but you can reach out to this person. She also speaks Spanish. You talk to them, and they should be able to help you with this, this. And if you have to reach out to another agency, this is what their services are, so that they have clarification on those resources. Ms. Contreras, is there a message in Spanish that you would like to say? Sure, yes. Everybody here at the police department appreciates you as well, so thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. So Baja, it was really nice talking to the Victims Advocacy Program. I did not know that there was that many resources for the victims and their families. So what are we going to be talking about next month? All right. Episode three of season two. We're going to be talking about something that's kind of near and dear to my heart. It's a program that I actually started 25 years ago and just recently turned it over to some other officers that were part of that program in their youth. It's our Explorer Post 357 for ages 14 to 21, giving them an insight and training into law enforcement. So I'm excited about that and going back a little bit and talking with some of the officers now that were part of that program when they were as young as 14 years old. So that's coming up next month. So join us next episode on Yearlex PD. Tastes to be a good day. Wake up. Tastes to be a good day. Wake up. Tastes to be a good day. Yesterday's a dream I face the morning crying on a breeze. The pain is calling, oh Mandy. When you came and you gave without taking. But I sent you away, oh Mandy. You kissed me and stopped me from shaking. And I need you today, oh Mandy. You came and you gave without taking. But I sent you away, oh Mandy. You kissed me and stopped me from shaking. And I need you. I wake up every morning and stumble out of bed. I stretch it and I yawn it, another day ahead. It seems to last forever and time will slowly ride. Two baby knees together, then the stars align. In the moment that he's with me, time can take a flight. The moment that he's with me, everything's all right. Nighttime is the right time, we make love. That is his or my time, we take your heart. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. To find me waiting for him. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. To find me waiting for him. He takes me to a movie or to a restaurant. If you're slow dancing, anything I want. Only when he's with me, I catch a light. Only when he gets near, makes me feel all right. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. To find me waiting for him. All day I think of him, dreaming of him constantly. I'm crazy mad for him and he's crazy mad for me. Crazy mad for me. When he steps on the train, I'm eagerly for a fight. I work all day to earn his pay, so we can play all night. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. To find me waiting for him. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. To find me waiting for him. My baby takes the morning train. He works from 9 to 5 and then he takes another home again. Mr. Telephone Man Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. When I dialed 611 repair service. She said, hello, may I help you please? I told her something must be wrong with my phone. Cause my baby wouldn't hang up on me. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. She let the phone ring 20 times before she answered. Let me tell you what happened then. A minute later, I got the operator. Saying, please hang up and please she'll call again. Baby, Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Some strange man is on the telephone. Keeps telling me my baby ain't home. She ain't got no phone in line. The situation's blowing my mind. I just can't take this anymore. Please operate the line. See what you can do. I dialed the right number, but I still couldn't get through. Will you just check the line just one more time if you can? I'm pretty sure no phone can be answered by no man. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man There's something wrong with my life. I'm trying to dial her number. I get a click every time. Must be a bad connection. I'm giving my love an affection. I just can't take this no more. This situation's blowing my mind. I can't get my baby on the line. I tracked that information. Mr. Telephone Man I can't get no cooperation. Mr. Telephone Man I'm still on the phone. Telling you my baby ain't at home. My baby's number. I just can't take it anymore. Help me out. Please, Mr. Telephone Man. Help me out. Please, Mr. Telephone Man. This is Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. God bless you, please. This is Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. We'd like to know a little bit about you for our lives. We'd like to help you learn to help yourself. Look around you while you see our sympathetic eyes. Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home. And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa. God bless you, please. This is Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes. Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes. It's a little secret, just around the sons of air. Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids. This is Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa. God bless you, please. This is Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon. Going to the candidates' debate. Laugh about it, shout about it when you've got to choose. Every way you look at it, it's yours. Where have you gone? Jordan, IGO, One Nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's that you say? This is Robinson. Joe to Joe has left and gone away. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž You know from an old friend we used to be real close Ž Ž Ž Said he couldn't go on the American way Ž Ž Ž Close the shop Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Hi, I'm Councilmember Hannah LaGrie and I'm really excited to share about a new pilot project launching in early June that reflects the values that we all care about. Safer streets, community-driven solutions, and a more connected Lexington. We're making changes to East High Street between Woodland and Rose to address long-standing concerns about speeding and pedestrian safety. This quick-build project will add over 30 spots of new parking, a loading zone, a protected bike lane, and will modify our travel lanes. It's a multifaceted effort aimed at calming traffic and making the streets safer for everyone. These changes are based on feedback from neighbors and we'll be testing and adjusting as we go. Installation is planned to begin on June 2nd, weather permitting. Thank you to everybody who's helped to shape this effort, from our Complete Streets Coordinator to our Traffic Engineering to our Division of Planning to our Metropolitan Planning Organization, and especially a big thank you to our Neighborhood Champions who helped to push this initiative forward in our community. To learn more, visit lexingtonky.gov forward slash roadpilot. Let's keep moving Lexington forward together. [♪upbeat music playing♪ [♪upbeat music playing♪ [♪upbeat music playing♪ We're standing in the heart of the 1st District at Charles Young Park hosting Hunger Does Not Take a Spring Break. Hunger Does Not Take a Spring Break started about two years ago under Council Member Fogle and myself when I was working in the office. We realized that during spring breaks, kids with hunger, specifically in our district, we serve a very underserved and undervalued district where we know that kids needed food and had food insecurities. But this is something that we realized the whole city has taken advantage of. We have six locations. We have Charles Young Center, Dunbar Center, Douglas Park, St. Martin Village Park, Greenacres Park, and Windburn Park where the kids can come and have programming. As you'll see in the gym where they have access to community centers, access to the parks, or access to organization doing programming. They can get free food, free meals, hot meals, different meals every day, but also a snack bag to take home and get that snack bag refilled each day so that they can eat throughout the evening. We know when folks are in school throughout the year, they are counting on the breakfast and counting on the lunch from school. So that's why, that's honestly where this program came from. Those kids are counting on school lunches. We wanted to make sure we would fill at least one void. The main goal is to make sure that our kids have something to eat during the spring break because we know that hunger does not take a spring break, while also making sure that we're activating our parks, activating our community centers. These parks over time have not been as activated as we like to see, but this initiative we see that they are getting out there. We're seeing at least between about an average of 50 kids per location, and it is a great thing. I think this initiative is so important because, one, we know in our undervalued communities we need to bring the resources to their footstep, and that's exactly what we've done. We've looked at all over the first district. We made sure that the radius is wide-ranging so that the kids have to walk less than a mile, or kids have to be transported less than a mile to get free food and free snacks. But it hits home for me because, as a kid, I used to go up to the shelter. We're not at a shelter right now, but we will be at one. And I used to get free lunch. And as I grew older and got into college, I questioned, where's the free lunch, where's the programming, why aren't our kids having things to do? Poverty is a gateway to many things. For example, gun violence or for the needs of lack of resources or criminal activity. We know now more than ever that we need to address that issue of poverty head-on. So this initiative is one of them. We've seen that not only does it address the need for food insecurity, but it addresses the need of getting youth in the gym, getting youth off the street, maybe making better decisions. It's addressing the need for other nonprofits providing wraparound services, knowing that we've seen, well, the city's open to the whole city, that nonprofits in the different daycares are taking advantage of providing, you know, getting these kids food and getting them snacks because they see that it's a great program. So we've seen all over the district that we have different centers and different kids coming out. And the main goal is just making sure kids get food, kids get fed, kids get snacks, and kids are happy. So if it's coming from a nonprofit, it's coming from neighborhood kids, no matter what, we are serving them. And so this initiative, the gateway of addressing the poverty and working together as one community, as one unit, to address that. It takes dollars to get and donations to get the food to the snacks. So that's the first piece. And any folks that are willing, that are committed to making sure that kids are fed, that would be very helpful. The second piece was communication. We're trying to find as many innovative ways and many different ways to reach the kids and reach the families so they can know that this resource is available. We've realized that that is our biggest barrier, is the communication piece. They always say you can take horse to a water, but you can't make it drink. Well, we have brought the water to the horse. Now we've got to figure out how to get them to in the centers to take those resources. And then the last piece is just making sure our volunteer piece. So making sure that we can run these buildings. And our neighborhoods have stepped up. Our partners have stepped up and took the call. And, you know, if you want to volunteer, if you want to donate, if you want to be a partner to buy snacks, or if you just want to help spread the word, those would be the ways to help us, I would say, for the next year. And best believe, this is a spring break, but probably in the summer, you'll see something similar coming with this initiative. We want to see our kids smiling. And you will see very soon the smiles on the faces, the happiness they're having. And this shouldn't just be for one week. This should be year-round. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ We are standing in the heart of the First District in the East End in Charles Young Center. I'm sorry, we're in our reading room. The kids are out there playing, having fun, having a good time. Charles Young is activated, finally. We are here with two great community leaders, Mrs. Hodge, the Vice President of Williamsboro Brown Neighborhood Association, and Mr. Hodge, the President of Williamsboro Brown Neighborhood Association. How are you all doing today? Wonderful. Great, great, great. So, you know, as we spoke a little bit earlier, this is Hunger Doesn't Take a Spring Break, and this does not take place without our community leaders, without our volunteers, without our sponsors, and everyone that makes it happen. Can you tell me a little bit about the importance of Hunger Doesn't Take a Spring Break and kind of how you got here? Well, we kind of got here because we knew there was a need in this area. So initially we kind of got it going, got money from a few people, and put the rest of it together, and you see what it is now. There it goes, there it goes, there it goes. So you spoke about needs. Tell me about that need and where we are in the East End and how you see that need. Well, we both grew up in the East End in the housing projects, and so we knew as children that there's always a need in the spring and in the summer and in the fall. Whenever you're away from school, there's a need for kids that are dealing with hunger. So we decided that it would be a good idea to activate Charles Young because it sits in the heart of where we grew up, and so it's very important and dear to our hearts because we can reach neighborhood children that we see on a daily basis. Great, great. You mentioned neighborhood children. I mean, there's probably 50 children in the gym, if not 100, within this campus of Charles Young. Tell me how happy you are to see the kids out and them using this gym and being activated, allowing them to get nutritious meals but also to feed their heart with activities and programs. Well, we love it, and we just feel that Charles Young needs to be activated and used more, utilized more for the kids. You know, we complain that they're causing issues, but what are we doing to give them something else to do? Right, right, right. And that's exactly what the community leaders have done here in this location today. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, 12 to 2 p.m., the Williamsboro Brown Neighborhood Association, the Williamsboro Brown leaders have took the call. They stepped up, made Charles Young a location to feed the kids but also make sure that we have youth programming, getting the kids off the street, getting the youth fed nutritiously but also feeding the heart. And you'll have anything that you want to say towards the community, towards the event, just in general, about the kids, about the youth, about the center, about this event? We love seeing the children. We love seeing Charles Young come alive. It was always alive and bustling with children when we were growing up here. So just to see it now and to see this many children in this space at one time is wonderful, and that's what it's about. We as a community have to come together and make sure that we have a safe place for children to play, to read, just to enjoy and just enjoy the magic of being a child. And so that's why it's very important and dear to us to have Charles Young open and active and readily available for these children. They're begging for help. They're begging for someone to pay attention. And that's what this center should be used for, and that's what we're advocating for, and we won't stop until it's actually open and available on a daily basis. There it goes. There it goes. Ms. Hodge, Ms. Vivian Hodge, hit the nail on the head. Kids deserve to dream. They should be able to dream big. And our community leaders have made sure this week they can dream, and I plan to make sure they can dream further. I appreciate y'all. I'm really excited to be a part of this initiative. One of the key roles I played was contacting our fundraisers, so I just want to thank all of our partners because without our partners, we would not have been able to run this event and provide as many snacks as we wanted to. We set a goal. We met that goal. 500 kids a day that could be fed for 5 days, which is really big. We want to thank Bluegrass Community Foundation, Community Inspired, CHI St. Joseph Health. We want to thank Hallway Feeds, Traditional Bank, the Fatherhood Initiative with Lexington Leadership Foundation, Chef Lee, which I'm going to give a special shout-out to because she's one of our entrepreneurs that we work with, and she's providing some great nachos. V's Catering, Visit Lex, and 859 Print for providing our fires and helping us to get the word out. Most importantly, we would like to thank our neighborhood associations because without them, the spaces wouldn't be open. They're there. They have been there every day serving food and helping to also organize the volunteers that have come out, and we want to give a special shout-out to all of our volunteers. We put an ask out, and the call that we got back was overwhelming to where we couldn't even use all the volunteers that had reached out, so it was very impressive, and we love to see the teamwork and philanthropic hearts that are in Lexington. And we want to give a special thanks also to Dunbar Center and Parks and Recreation for having their staff help facilitate this program, too. We are standing in the West End at Douglas Park with one of our amazing community leaders, Rolanda Woolfolk. How are you doing? I'm good. How about you? Great. It is an amazing day. Spring break week. The sun is out, and the kids are here. Full house, as you all will see on this video. Rolanda, can you tell me about the importance of Hunger Doesn't Take a Spring Break and it being here at Douglas Park? Well, it's important because it's right in the middle of the community, and providing opportunity for our youth to have a meal during lunchtime is a great time for them because they're excited about the food they're receiving and just being able to get the meal. Tell me the importance of bringing resources to the footstep and to the doorstep of the community rather than, you know, the barriers in place or having to go find the resources. It relieves a whole lot of barriers. It's easy access to them. They don't have to think about where they need to go and how to get there and transport. They just know it's right close to the school, it's in the area of the park where they're used to going to play, and that it's going to be easy enough for them to access. Right. We just seen a little kid run past with a green backpack. Tell me about this green backpack and what is in this and what is this? They're excited about their green backpack, and they bring them back every day to get refilled. They receive chips, any type of snack that they like, cookies, macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, to fruit cups and applesauce. And they get to walk down the line and pick out their piece, each snack each day for their refill. Tell me about the process in each location and how it works. Each location got a map out on how they're going to move forward with the meals each day and how they transition each time. What they do is the volunteers help pull it out, and then they walk with the kids. With them, we're learning names. We're also learning about the kids and having conversations on what they like and what they do not like, but they still take each thing home. And if they have a sibling, we get to learn their siblings, and that process just brings it down with a conversation as well. Right, right. So no sign-up, just show up. Just show up. No sign-up. You just come and let us know you're here, and we'll give you a bag and give you something to eat, and they have a good time. So you mentioned a key point, and this one I'm going off topic, but trust, building trust. This initiative, we talked about how the goal was just to feed kids that were possibly hungry or just give kids where you have access to food, but we're seeing that it's going down many different angles, whether it's supporting non-profits, supporting other entities, whether it's supporting or attacking root causes of poverty. Speak about how it's building trust and how that it's activating our parts and showing that youth programming is important now more than ever. Well, youth programming makes a big difference because it gives somebody a mentor, and it's easier for them to build a relationship and see someone every day in their neighborhood that they can connect to. Like if I have a trouble, they have a trouble or see something, they can come to me because they remember you being up in the park and say, hey, this is a safe person that I can talk to and remember who I've been interacting with all spring break. So it's a building bond relationship. It's connecting the dots and building a relationship, a family ship with each other. Creating safer and healthier neighborhoods, huh? Yes. And then lastly, you know, we've seen a lot of smiles on kids' faces. We've seen a lot of kids at all locations. We know we average about between 50 to 70 almost at each location. Tell me just your thoughts on the impression or the thoughts of the kids and what you've got out of it, just the kids at this location and how they feel. Well, our kids were when we got movie night down at the, whatchamacallit, at the Black and Williams. So they, with them coming here, we have built a partnership with them and then with Black and Williams. So they look forward to coming to both locations to have a good time and activities. It's what are we going to do next? What's our next activity? What are we going to eat next? That excitement is seeing them excited about that is very heartwarming. Right, right. And that, I think you just hit another nail on the head that this spring break initiative, you know, it's one week, but it shows that we have to keep going. You know, these kids, we built that trust, but now the kids want more. They want to say, you know, how's this park going to be activated? How are these community centers going to be activated? What is next? So that's a great segue. What is next, Lexington? We have to make sure that we're investing in these kids, investing in the youth, providing them with programs, providing resources to their doorsteps, at their footsteps, because it's needed now more than ever. And as you can see, the kids want it and they need it. And I just wanted to thank Rolanda, thank the Georgetown Neighborhood Association, all of our community leaders, all of our volunteers for stepping up, taking the call. As you see the theme, one, process, show up, no sign up, easy, walk through, get your meals, stay for programming or not. Two, the kids are happy. The kids are activated. The parks are activated. The community centers are activated. We are rolling. And then three, and most importantly, it is here for you. So thank you so much. Thank you. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Hello, neighbors. I'm Councilmember Shayla Lynch, and I'm glad you're joining us today. Today we're going to continue the deep dive to talk about the city's boards and commissions. That's an item I put in committee to get really a good look at our city's boards and commissions. We commissioned a study to do a deep dive to see if they're equitable, if they're meeting the community's needs and doing what we hope that they are doing. And so today I have someone that knows our city's boards and commissions very, very well, Ms. Melissa McCart Smith. Thank you so much. She's the administrative specialist senior in the mayor's office. So thank you for joining me. Thanks for having me. Of course. If someone is interested in serving on a boards and commission, what should they do? Where should they go? Who should they talk to? So the first thing I recommend is to go to our website and to kind of tool around in there. We've got a page for each board and commission, which has a lot of information on that board. There's a contact person on every board and commission that you can call directly or email directly. Another thing that I think is kind of helpful sometimes is if you reach out to the council member who may or may not be on that board or commission. There's not a council member on every board and commission, but a lot of them do have a council member, and so they know a lot about what's going on and what it does and how effective it is and all of that good stuff. So that's another good thing to do. And then also I think it's fun to just show up to a board and commission, a meeting. All of the boards and commissions meetings are open to the public, and so anything that you see on there, times and dates, you're welcome to come to and learn a lot more about what's going on directly from the members. Good advice, good tips. When someone is filling out that application, are there any suggestions you want to provide them when they're tackling that application to submit? There's always, I feel like more information is great. You might be filling out that information for people you've never met, and it almost always goes through council for approval, and so if you've never met any of the council members, the more information you can give about yourself, the better. And if there's ever any questions, my name and the link that goes with the application, you can always just ask, and I can reply and respond to that. A lot of the applications have specific questions for the specific board you're applying for, so it'll ask you a little bit more information that's needed if the seat is qualified in any sort of way. So there's always a way to reach out and see what you need, and any kind of technical issues that happen, I'm always happy to help, too. Wonderful. That's awesome. In your opinion, what is one of the most popular boards and commissions that you see a lot of people apply for? One of the most popular boards and commissions is the Planning Commission. Really? That surprises me. It's extremely popular. Every time there's a vacancy, we get at least 10 applicants in, which isn't a lot, but often we'll get up to 30. So it's a very popular board and commission. It's also one that you spend a lot of time at, so it's a very busy board or commission. That's great. I think you've already said if a neighbor has questions about joining boards and commissions, they should go to the website and look for that contact information, and they can contact you as well. Is 311 a good option as well? They may know a little bit about the board and commission. If your question is real specific, I recommend going to the board first. You can certainly go through 311. They know so much. I'm always impressed about what I can call and ask them, so they do know a lot. They can at least get you to the right place if you have a question about that. Can people serve on multiple boards and commissions at the same time, or are they just applying for one at a time? The application allows you to apply for one board at a time or commission. You can serve on multiple boards at different times depending on your schedule. There are a couple of boards that say you can't do that, so it just depends on which one you are. There's probably a handful, like two or three, that say you can't serve on this board if you're serving on that board sort of thing. Awesome. Viewers, neighbors, I want you to apply to be on our city's boards and commissions. We have over 60 of them. That's a lot, and there are a lot of vacancies. I know you send out a vacancy email report every month, just about. At the beginning of every month, I'll send out what are currently vacant seats that are open, and then also people who have terms expiring in the next 90 days, because sometimes those seats will roll off and they'll be available in 90 days. That notification goes out every month. If someone wants to sign up to get your email to get the vacancy list, how do they do that? All they have to do is send an email to boards at lexingtonky.gov, and that link is on the website, too. There's a little button, handy button. If you go to the website, you can just click and say, I want to sign up. Awesome, awesome. So, neighbors, you can get even email reminders about applying for boards and commissions, and it will send you a vacancy list. Thank you, Melissa, for joining us today to answer those questions. Thanks for having me. I want everyone to get engaged with local government, and a board or commission is a great way to do that. ♪♪♪ I am here with Martin Rivers, a good friend who's become a good friend, and we're going to talk about the city's boards and commissions. Now, Martin, first tell the viewers a little bit about yourself. So, I'm retired. I was an engineer, firmware and software engineer at Lexmark. Retired in 2017, did some volunteer work that was not government-related, and then got introduced to the Senior Service Commission and sort of hopped in at that point. Wonderful. And that's where I met Martin is serving on the Senior Service Commission we serve together. Now, what motivates you to try to decide to be on a city board or commission? Well, as you likely know, I send lots of emails to council people because I see problems, maybe, or offer an idea. My council person is Council Member Sheehan, District 5, and I'd seen something about really what turned out to be the Homestead Exemption Act, but I was thinking about things that could help seniors reduce their taxes because most seniors are on fixed incomes, so have to be very careful with their money. And so she gave me the answer to that, but she said, had you ever thought about being on the Senior Service Commission? The answer was, no, I've never thought about being on any commission. So I poked around at it. I submitted an application. It was really quite easy. I was really nervous. I thought, well, is it an elected position? No, it's not really an elected position. And I also thought, well, it's going to be lots and lots of time because the commissions that I typically hear about are like the Planning Commission or Board of Adjustments, and I think those people put an enormous amount of time in. They really do, yes. And it's like I do like being retired, but this commission does really important things. I've been honored to help out with the education sort of subcommittee. It seems like we are providing valuable information to the community, and it really was not like the Planning Commission with that sort of time stuff. So thank you to Council Member Sheehan for introducing me to that. So being on the Senior Services Commission, has that allowed you to pursue some interesting things you're passionate about through the commission's work? The education component. There are several subcommittees in the senior service. There's like one on transportation. There's one on housing. There's one on education. I'm sure I'm missing some. But I think it's important for seniors to understand what sort of services are out there for them to take advantage. And so we've kind of been working for the last year on this, we call it the Senior Minute, doing little quick interviews that we do with organizations, government organizations, community organizations, and I've learned a ton of stuff about what's available. And so hopefully those are providing good information to our seniors. Awesome, awesome. Have you faced any difficulties or challenges being on this Senior Services Commission or Boards of Commissions period? So I said I was a retired engineer, so I'm kind of a techie kind of guy. I wish that there was more technology brought to bear from the commission's perspective. I sort of helped set up some Google Drives to keep minutes and all that sort of stuff, but I think there's still hesitancy in using that technology to track meetings. And then on the flip side, I really tried to push for paying more attention to technology that can help seniors, because everybody hears about aging in place. And I haven't quite got the traction on that in the commission. I'll keep trying. Yes, please do. We appreciate you pushing us in the right direction. What aspect of serving has been most rewarding for you? Learning about local government. So I knew nothing about the boards and commissions before Council Member Sheehan asked me to look into this. And as soon as I joined, it's like it struck me, I don't know anything at all about local government. I vote for council people, but I just didn't pay attention to them. So it was just a couple of weeks after I joined the Senior Service Commission that I started coming to a lot of council meetings. And it really became eye-opening that your local government really is what affects you the most. You know, the news is all about the federal government, and you just get riled up. When I watch what happens at the local level, I don't get riled up. I mean, I see people like you and Council Member Sheehan and Vice Mayor Wu and, you know, rattle the list off, that are passionate about what you want to do, you're trying to do good. And it's not just the council people, it's the bureaucrats, the staffers, whatever. That's what really is pleasing, to come to these meetings and to talk with these. And I would have never done any of that if it had not been for the Senior Service Commission. Wonderful. Now, I'm recording this hoping to invigorate some of my neighbors to want to join boards and commissions. So approximately how much time a month do you spend on the work you're doing with the Senior Services Commission? So this commission meets once a month, hour and a half, typically Zoom. So you can stay in the comfort of your home and do it. We do meet in person a couple of times. And then this education team that I'm on, I've sort of helped organize the interviews. And so maybe four hours, reaching out to people. And then we have, with the help of LexTV, do the interviews. And that's another hour, hour and a half. So six hours a month at the most. So not bad at all. It's not. And you get to meet all sorts of interesting people. So are there other city boards or commissions you're interested in joining? I would be interested in thinking about the Planning Commission. You won't like to hear this, but I think the Planning Commission is more powerful than the council. And even though it is appointed and voted on by the council and the mayor, I don't view that they are really representative of the normal citizen. All you have to do is watch some of the meetings that happen. And I'm not a planner, but I like to research new topics, and I've looked at planning. So that's one. But in the hierarchy of things, the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustments, maybe the Ethics Commission. So my last question would be, what would you like to see more of or done differently since you've been serving on the Senior Services Commission as far as boards and commissions? Younger people. People like me. I mean, there are people on the Senior Services Commission, like two council members. You're one of them. And then there are people from the health department, the bus has a member. But I don't view those as members that are – they're not normal citizens. They're representing the government in some way. I want to see more people that have less gray hair on these commissions so that maybe the Senior Services Commission wouldn't be the right commission for younger folks. But I can find a lot of arguments that's not true. But this is your government. This is your city. And we need your views. We need the younger views. Great. Excellent point. Thank you so much for joining me today to talk about our city's boards and commissions. I'm so glad that you're serving. I hope you will continue to serve in more capacities on our city's boards and commissions. So I hope, neighbors, that you will get engaged as well. Please visit the city's website, listen to KY.gov, and go into the search bar and type in boards and commissions. And it will send you to the list of boards and commissions so you can figure out where you want to serve because we need you to serve. Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time. Thank you. Hi, I'm Councilmember Amy Beasley from the 8th District, and today we're here with Chief Wells from the Fire Department, and we're talking about our Safe Haven Baby Box. So, tell me about the Baby Box, Chief. So, the Baby Box is a really neat community partnership, community collaboration. A local group raised the funds to actually purchase the Baby Box, and then we, working with the LFUCG, were able to secure the remaining funds to get it installed and utilize this alarm system, which alarms and lets the crews in the station know. But even more special and even cooler is, you know, there's always a chance that these crews, and with this busy station, it happens a lot, are out. So, it also notifies dispatch so that they can dispatch the closest crew to come and check on an infant who may have been placed in this box anytime that exterior door is opened. So, I open the thing, and I put my how old baby? Yeah, a newborn baby is sort of the intended audience for this, and that's who we would expect to find in there. But, yes, somebody would open the box, place a newborn in the box. That would trigger an alarm both inside the station so that the crews can immediately check on the infant if they're here. If not, the closest crew will get dispatched to come and check on this newborn who is in the box. It then locks from the outside so that there's no chance of somebody following behind and trying to, you know, to try to grab the child or the infant. And our crews are able to immediately render care. It's climate controlled so that, regardless of how hot or how cold it is outside, that there's good temperature and plenty of opportunities for fresh air to come in from this side. Okay, so we put the baby in here, and our heroes, I mean, our firefighters have made it here. Yeah. Now what? Now, so we actually had to write an internal protocol. The child is going to be transported to, I believe, U.K., and then there will be a lot of collaboration with the hospital, with the social workers at the hospital to make sure that the child is taken care of. But this was meant as a completely anonymous way for a parent to surrender a child so that there's no interface with the parent. They can do this completely anonymously. And ultimately, the goal of this is to prevent abandonment in an area or a place where that might not be safe. So we know, a parent knows that they have surrendered their child in a situation that is not only completely anonymous but completely safe. So there's no cameras outside facing this box? Absolutely. There are no cameras at all. And actually, that is one of the requirements that Safe Haven, which is the company that produces this box, requires us to confirm that there are no cameras that are monitoring the outside of this box. Do you know how much this costs? The box itself is about $14,000. They are built one at a time when the orders come in. And then the ongoing cost is just the monitoring, which is fairly nominal. And so you said that LFUCG raised some more funds to put this in, I guess, for the install? Yes. There was costs associated with the installation, and obviously there's a little bit of costs associated with the monitoring for the box, the electricity that keeps it climate controlled and all of that. And so that is something that the LFUCG partners with, and they provide the funds for that. And so if I put my baby in here, there is no chance that I'm going to be prosecuted for abandonment or anything else with this baby, right? That is 100% correct, yes. Because I've left it with the firefighters. Yes. But in most cases, we figure if a parent is surrendering a newborn, it is an act of desperation, and it's a life-or-death situation that this parent felt they had to surrender the child, and we just want it surrendered in a safe environment. I love it. I love the baby box. It's a great thing. So could we possibly get these in other stations? So say, okay, so it costs $14,000 for this box. So say my group decides, oh, we're going to put a baby box at $16,000. Could we raise the money and then petition the council member to try and get that at that fire department? Maybe. So there are some requirements that come with this box. You have to have an exterior-facing wall that opens up into a climate-controlled living space. Some of our stations, and I'm not sure that $16,000 would be necessarily a good fit because it doesn't have a lot of exterior wall. But one of the things that we did when we were presented with this opportunity was we cross-referenced where we have the most maternity cases with which stations would be able to accommodate a box like this. And this was our best location for the first one. I think there are other stations in our community that will be good candidates for it, but without looking at the specific requirements for installing the box, I couldn't tell you exactly which ones those are. So if an organization wants to raise money for one of these boxes, the best thing for them to do is reach out to your office? Reach out to us. We'll probably put them in contact with Community Service Bureau through the Lexington Fire Department who would assist in facilitating that process. Have we had anybody drop their infant off in our box yet? We have not. Now, this thing is just a few months old, and I don't think it's unlikely to say that we will at some point in time. There's been a number of infants surrendered in Kentucky already, but none in Lexington thus far in this box. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. I love it. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Pure love. You're the picture of pure love. 99 and 44, 100% pure love. 99 and 44, 100% pure love. 99 and 44, 100% pure love. Pure love. I hitchhiked up to Memphis, a young boy in my prime. I thought that big old city could ease my Georgia mind. After just one hour, I met this southern girl. She said to call me the Queen of Memphis. Then she took me around the world. And I saw stars dancing on the water. I heard Elvis singing blue suede shoes. That old muddy river was my fitness. The night I fell in love with the Queen of Memphis. I woke up the next morning a prisoner of her charm. She showed me things I'd never seen back there on that farm. She set my soul on fire. She fulfilled all my dreams. A boy became a man that night in the arms of the Memphis Queen. And I saw stars dancing on the water. I heard Elvis singing blue suede shoes. That old muddy river was my fitness. The night I fell in love with the Queen of Memphis. Just like that old man river, she keeps rolling through my mind. And you know I won't forget her, cause she was one of a kind. I saw stars dancing on the water. I heard Elvis singing blue suede shoes. That old muddy river was my fitness. The night I fell in love with the Queen of Memphis. And I am still in love with the Queen of Memphis. ... Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can And when it's time for leavin' I hope you'll understand That I was born a ramblin' man My father was a gambler down in Georgia And he wound up on the wrong end of a gun And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus Rollin' down Highway 41 Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can And when it's time for leavin' I hope you'll understand That I was born a ramblin' man ... I'm on my way to New Orleans this morning Leavin' out on Nashville, Tennessee They're always havin' a good time down on the by-road lawn And just the women think the world of me Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can And when it's time for leavin' I hope you'll understand That I was born a ramblin' man Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Lord, I was born a ramblin' man ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...