Yeah. With a public hearing for residents with questions regarding the urban service changes, is there anyone that wishes to address that particular topic? Seeing none, we'll, uh, we'll adjourn public, uh, hearing on that issue and proceed to the agenda for the work session. First item on the agenda is ques... any, uh, public comment on issues that are on today's agenda. Does anyone wish to address the council? All right, we have no docket approval today. We do have a summary to approve. I move approval. Second. Dr. Stephens has moved approval of the summary. Councilmember Ehlinger has seconded. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the summary, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. We don't have any budget amendments. We do have a few items of new business. Move approval. Second. Councilmember Beard has moved approval. Councilmember Gorton has seconded. Any discussion? I see none. Those in favor of approving the new business items, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. We're now down to the presentations. Uh, Councilmember Stephens. Uh, thank you. Uh, I want to report on the Budget Committee meeting, which was held on October the 28th. Uh, all committee members were present. Uh, we discussed, uh, general fund summary report of revenues and expenditures, which is, of course, kind of bleak right now- ... in that, uh, our revenue is, um, uh, constricted and our anticipated, um, retirees have not materialized as we hoped, so that we are faced with a problem of, um, of compensation for the employees, which may exceed what we got in our sock to pay them. And, uh, so that'll be a problem that will have to be dealt with. Uh, our fund balance originally projected at about $4 million, maybe less because of some obligations that'll have to be paid. We discussed and reviewed some recommendations concerning budget preparation and review, and, uh, Councilmember Lane has asked that we consider that in our December Budget Committee Meeting again and go over that, as well as some of our reporting mechanisms that we have with our new accounting systems and new computer systems. And that completed our business. We do have plans on our November 25th meeting that some councilmembers may be interested in who are not exactly on the committee. Uh, as you recall, the Equine Task Force, which was charged with the, uh, task of reviewing our equine business here in Lexington and what we could do as a community to, uh, make it more attractive and to facilitate the continuing development of that industry. Uh, they've came forth with a number of recommendations, and we're planning for our, our November 25th meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee a review of those recommendations and plan to have people here who will be able to speak to each one. And hopefully this will, uh, help us move to the stage of implementation of some of those recommendations for your consideration. That completes my report. Thank you very much. Any questions for Councilmember Stephens? Councilmember Blevins. Not a question, but a comment. As a part of the discussion, the, the deliberations at the Budget and Finance Committee that day, it was recommended that we have a, a review of the balance sheet. Uh, I was asked to take care of that, and in your email, I just emailed it a few minutes ago. We've arranged for a meeting on the same date, November the 25th, that's a Tuesday, at... from 9:30 to 11:30 in the fifth floor conference room to go over the b- the balance sheet. So that's in your, your email. Thanks. We'll have a busy budget and finance day. Thank you. Anything further? Very well. I'll, um, I don't see Commissioner Taylor right offhand. Is she... All right, Susan, um, this is Susan Bush, who is the director of our Division of Environmental Policy, I think. So- Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with you this afternoon, uh, as we recognize two of our... as we recognize two of our local businesses for their leadership in energy conservation and environmental stewardship, and I know that I'm very excited about that. Uh, the good example these companies have set, uh, as we all look for ways to reduce our energy consumption and our carbon footprint. And here with us today to give the awards, it's my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. John Davies, and John is the Director of the Kentucky Division of Energy Efficiency and Conservation. John's worked, uh, with us very closely in our department as we've tried to tackle some of the challenges we face in, uh, energy consumption and energy efficiency. And with that, to make the awards, I'll be happy to turn it over to John. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. Happy Veterans Day. Thought that was appropriate, and if there's any veterans here today, I'd like to salute them and thank them for their service in, uh, to the country. On behalf of, uh, Governor Beshear and, uh, my boss, who is the, uh, Dr. Lynn Peters, who's the Secretary for the Energy and Environmental Cabinet, I'd like to thank you for just taking a few moments of your time to recognize two buildings in the Lexington community that have recently been designated as ENERGY STAR, uh, labeled buildings. Uh, the two buildings are the Marriott Courtyard Lexington North and the Ross Tarrant Office Building. Now, some of you may be familiar with ENERGY STAR. It's a federally sponsored program, sponsored by the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, that helps us save money and protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. And you all may, might be familiar with it by seeing that little blue logo that you see on dishwashers and TVs and stereos. Well, they also certify buildings. And in Kentucky, we have 34 ENERGY STAR certified buildings. 15 of those are schools, and we're proud of that. Nationally, there are about 5,500 ENERGY STAR certified buildings, and about 2,200 of those are ENERGY STAR certified office buildings, and there's only about 360 ENERGY STAR star certified hotels. With the addition of these two buildings, Lexington now has three ENERGY STAR certified buildings in the community. Good Foods Market is the first one to be recognized. However, when you consider the fact that there's over five million commercial buildings across the nation, that puts these two buildings, near three buildings, in a very prestigious and a select group. I like to tell people that building buildings to code are the worst buildings we can legally build, and we can do better. And on these two buildings and the three buildings of Lexington, we are proving it, that we can do it. To earn the ENERGY STAR certification, the energy performance of a building has to score between 1 and 100, and only those buildings that achieve a 75 or greater are eligible. The score indicates that the buildings are in the top 25% of facilities in the country for energy performance. And commercial buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR use 35% less energy than a typical similar building. They generate one third to less carbon dioxide, and they cost less to own and operate than buildings simply built to code. And I also like to say that, you know, why do we care if energy, buildings are more energy efficient? Well, buildings are tremendous consumers of resources. They use over 65% of our electricity consumption generated in the nation. They produce over 30% of the greenhouse gases. They use 12% of the potable water supply. We spend thir- 90% of our time indoors, so there should be no question they have a impact on our wellbeing and our health. And lastly, they're expensive to operate and maintain, especially when natural gas and electricity costs keep going up. So, what you've achieved here today, and I would ask both Marriott and, and Ross Tarrant, please come up. Uh, you're helping the environment, but you're also helping the, uh, your pocketbook, pocketbook. So on behalf of Governor Beshear, Gover- or, uh, Secretary Peters and myself, congratulations on a job well done, and I hope that you continue in all your future endeavors and projects. And I'll go ahead and read one of the certificates. It's from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the ENERGY STAR, and it's to, uh, Courtyard Lexington North and Ross Tarrant Office Building. And they are recognized for earning the ENERGY STAR. And ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program helping individuals, businesses, schools, and communities protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Achieving the ENERGY STAR certification makes your building one of the most energy-efficient facilities in the commonwealth and demonstrates exceptionally teamwork among all stakeholders that built and operate this building. This level of excellence reflects flavor- favorably on your community's foresight to provide a better environment for future generations. Signed by Governor Beshear on the first day of November. Thank you. Mayor, would you like to come down? All right. Get a photo. Let me welcome to the podium, Penny Evil, uh, who coordinates our special events and who has been our liaison with World Equestrian Games. I'll turn the podium over to Penny. Thank you, Mayor. Well, you've already given my introduction so I don't need to do that. I am really excited to be here today to give you a World Equestrian Games Lexington update. My presentation today will focus on LFUCG initiatives as they relate to the World Equestrian Games and what the Lexington Host Committee has been working on, not the events that are taking place at the Horse Park. 682 days from today, the eyes of the world will be on Lexington. Many, many people within the Urban County Government and in the community have been working hard over the past two years in preparation for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and the corresponding city festival. I must stress that this is a work in progress and will continue to be updated and changed as we get closer to 2010. As you can see, there are many entities working together and supporting each other to produce a world-class event at the Kentucky Horse Park and in downtown Lexington. The World Equestrian Games Foundation is responsible for everything that takes place at the Horse Park. They are also proposing award presentation re-enactments, athlete appearances, and a large screen for viewing live telecasts from the Horse Park to take place in the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza. Many divisions within LFUCG are providing support at the Horse Park and for the downtown festival. These people are working on traffic control, security, litter control, recycling, emergency response, beautification, and much more. The Host Citizen Committee is helping to coordinate the many aspects of the downtown celebration, and these are just a few of the partner agencies that are committed to helping showcase Lexington to our guests and to the thousands of viewers at home. Time does not permit me to go into great detail, so I will highlight some of the planning being done by Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, the Host Committee, and partner agencies. What happens when 600,000 visitors, including international dignitaries come to visit? More buses, more cars, more people, traffic congestion, and an increased need for security. The Division of Police has been working with the World Equestrian Games Transportation Committee, consultants, and law enforcement agencies from surrounding counties to develop traffic management plans and a comprehensive security plan for both the Horse Park and downtown. They have evaluated the Ryder Cup and Rolex three-day event to see what worked and what didn't work. They are also studying additional police presence at hotel sites. Cost projections for support at the Horse Park have been submitted to the World Equestrian Da- Games Foundation and are being refined as schedules are completed and law enforcement partners are identified. We are asking the foundation to pay for the support services at the Horse Park. The Division of Fire and Emergency Services also face special safety challenges at the Horse Park. They're developing emergency and medical response guidelines and requirements for participants and spectators at the park, evaluating emergency responses from Thunder Over Louisville and the Kentucky Derby and meeting with the Kentucky Department of Emergency Management on response capabilities and coordination of emergency response agencies to the Horse Park. As with the Division of Police, cost projections are being refined as more details are completed. Unfortunately, we can't just focus on the many wonderful events and festivities that will be taking place at the Horse Park. We also have to think about what risks and threats might be present for both participants, human and equine, and spectators. The Division of Emergency Management is focusing on those issues by conducting risk and response capability assessments of the Horse Park. Also, DEEM has purchased an outdoor warning system for the park, which should be installed in the next six weeks. Thanks go to council for approving that item in their FY08 budget. Okay, there we go. One of our many priorities... No. There we go. One of our many priorities is how Lexington will look to our visitors, especially the major corridors that will be traveled back and forth to the Horse Park and the airport. The Division of Code Enforcement has created an internal corridor inspection team to focus on these designated areas. Housing issue inspections, which are exterior appearance of buildings, have begun. Nuisance issue inspections, grass, trash, junk vehicles, will begin in early 2010. Like many of the projects I will be talking about today, our community needed to get this work done with or without the games, but the games are an added incentive. In addition to approximately- Okay. In addition to approximately 500,000 visitors, the Horse Park will be host to 900 horses. As you can imagine, this many horses will produce a lot of waste. The Division of Waste Management is working with Horse Park staff, the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center, and FEI personnel to recycle or compost as many materials as possible during the games, including horse muck. Downtown, Waste Management plans to make six or seven solar-powered trash compactors available in an effort to remove the Herbies and rosies from the sidewalks. That will make a huge difference in how downtown looks. You can't talk about landscape and beautification efforts during the games without mentioning the contribution of the Division of Parks and Recreation. Not only will they be involved in the design and placement of a very large topiary horse, which unfortunately, you can't see very well in the picture, they also will be assisting with beautification efforts in the downtown area and with the downtown festival. As you are all well aware of the ongoing streetscape project, funding for streetscape design and design for moving utilities underground is in place. The goal is to get as much done as possible by September 2010. Imagine walkable sidewalks, pedestrian-friendly intersections, shifting bike lanes, and curbside rain gardens designed to absorb stormwater drainage. Again, these are projects we have long needed for downtown, and they will benefit our central city for many years. Can you tell me how to get to the history museum? Where are the public parking facilities? It's all about wayfinding. Extensive work is underway on Lexington's wayfinding project. Funds are budgeted and work is being completed on getting permits with the state for the proposed locations. I've heard people say, "I'm leaving town during the World Equestrian Games. Traffic will be horrendous." Well, that's why the Division of Traffic Engineering is working with the Kentucky Department of Transportation to provide traffic flow information to the World Equestrian Games transportation consultants. They have also been awarded funding for the purchase and installation of illuminated street name signs along Newtown Pike, a portion of the downtown area, South Limestone and Nicholasville Road. These are very popular with many local residents as well. As with other divisions, other projects will be identified during the pred- budget process. In December of 2007, Mayor Newbury appointed a WEG Host Citizen Committee to help coordinate the role Lexington would play prior to and during the World Equestrian Games. Carolyn Richardson, chairperson, and 22 community members have already put in countless hours attending meetings, brainstorming, creating applications, budgeting, and recruiting, and recruiting other volunteers to serve on these subcommittees. Lexington is throwing a free 16-day party in the heart of downtown, not only for our international guests, but also for the members of our community and those from surrounding counties. We want everyone to have the opportunity to experience the World Equestrian Games, even if they can't make it to the Horse Park. The selected venues for free events will be the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse plaza, where the World Equestrian Games Foundation will conduct award presentations. People can eat lunch while watching a live broadcast from the Horse Park on a large screen, and later in the day, attend evening concerts. Cheapside Park will be the scene of evening entertainment, much like the very popular Thursday Night Live series, and Triangle Park will be the arts and crafts venue. On any street corner you may find a street musician or an entertainer. An application process is in place to identify and vet the entertainment. The application will be made available statewide next month through various agencies and also on the LFUCG and LexArts websites. The Landscape and Beautification Committee, which is made up of many master gardeners and landscape professionals, is developing a unified image and color scheme for downtown and the corridors. More importantly, they hope to develop a sustainable community-based program that makes Lexington a beautiful place to work, live and play year round. Another popular question in addition to, "What is Lexington doing?" is, "How can I get involved?" Volunteers will be able to register to help with city efforts through the LFUCG website beginning in January of '09. In the meantime, people can call the mayor's office to get involved in the city celebration efforts. Downtown is not only home to the World Equestrian Games countdown clocks, but also to many wonderful retail outlets, fabulous restaurants and world-class businesses. Through the efforts of the Downtown Lexington Corporation, the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Lexington Downtown Development Authority and LexArts, we will inform and involve our many businesses of the events happening, hospitality and beautification efforts downtown. Today's economic situation will make the task of raising funds for our downtown festival more challenging. The role of the Sponsorship Committee is to create different levels of sponsorship that will provide businesses and individuals the opportunity to be involved as a sponsor. We also hope to work jointly with the World Equestrian Games Foundation to offer sponsors a presence at the Horse Park as well as downtown. Sponsor packages will be ready in early 2009. Streetscape Committee will work jointly with the urban county government, Downtown Lexington Corporation, the LDDA, Commerce Lexington, the CVB, community members, and businesses to clean up Lexington. This campaign will be a cooperative effort to clean, educate, enforce, and dispose of trash and litter. Our hospitality committee will work closely with the World Equestrian Games staff, work on protocol for visiting dignitaries and translation services. Our logistics committee will coordinate the efforts in the downtown area by working closely with special events, marketing, and hospitality committees. The Financial Oversight Committee will oversee the host committee budget and expenditures, and this committee, as you can imagine, will work very closely with our Sponsorship Committee. Our Marketing and Comm- Communication Committee will coordinate a major communication effort to inform our visitors and community members about what is happening downtown. We could not do any of this without our partners. These are just a few, and I'm sure there will be many more. The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau is doing so many things, I don't have time to mention them all. However, I do wanna mention the Bluegrass Tourism Ambassador program. It is a multifaceted program that ultimately will help frontline hospitality employees and volunteers to turn every visitor encounter into a positive experience. It is open to all. The cost is $20, takes about half a day and a little studying beforehand. We should all take the course and become ambassadors for Lexington. Currently, 33 LFUCG employees have been trained. Lexarts will be producing Horse Mania 2010. They will also help disseminate festival information through their website. The Downtown Lexington Corporation is heading up a litter campaign and obviously working with us to help with our downtown business relations and on special events. The Lexington Downtown Development Authority is highly involved in the Streetscape Project, signage ordinance, and working on downtown zoning issues. Commerce Lexington is helping small minority businesses prepare for the games, working on public policy efforts and downtown business relations. The University of Kentucky and Transylvania University will be providing internships to both our office and the World Equestrian Games Office, helping with translation services and public safety. The Lexington Center Corp- Corporation is actively marketing to promoters regarding events during the games. And Lextran, yay, is working on a downtown circulator, which is very exciting. Lexington, Kentucky, September 25th through October 10th. In 682 days, the eyes of the world will be on Lexington. Let's all get excited. Thank you, Penny. Um, I wanna express a word of thanks to Penny. She has sort of been doing, uh, double duty for the last several months. As many of you know, Mary Wathen was coordinating our, uh, efforts to collaborate with the folks at the Horse Park on the games. When she went to be a part of, uh, Governor Beshear's administration, I asked Penny to, uh, step into the breach and to, uh, on a temporary basis help to coordinate things with regard to the games, in addition to doing her special events duties. That is now, uh, getting close to being a year ago, and, um, I really appreciate, uh, your continuing to fill that, that need. We have been trying to, uh, um, keep a lid on, on additional hiring here as the budget is, uh, tight, but there's going to come a point in time at which Penny's gonna need some substantial help. And I just wanted to make everybody aware that that, that day is, uh, not too far around the corner, but Penny's done a wonderful job, and I thank you. Are there any questions for Penny? All right, you're off the hook. Thank you. Thank you very much. Bill Owen, if you'll step to the podium and bring, uh, as many guests as you wish. Good afternoon. Whoops. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh, it's a pleasure to be here this afternoon. I'm here on behalf of Lexington Center Corporation to share with you some recent developments in in- an initiative which was announced about a year ago regarding Lexington Center's facilities and our efforts to evaluate some long-range objectives, uh, designed to keep University of Kentucky basketball program downtown well into the future. Additionally, these objectives would also enable Lexington Center to continue to meet the region's, uh, needs for growth in its convention business for the foreseeable future and to evaluate the feasibility of converting a portion of the existing Rupp Arena into a performing and cultural arts center. A few weeks ago at its August board meeting, Lexington Center was approached by Rupp's primary tenant, UK Athletic Association, with a rather unique opportunity, which will be further described by Mitch Barnhart, uh, UK athletic director, in a few moments. In agreeing to work with UK on this exciting opportunity, the financial and architectural evaluations originally undertaken earlier this year were placed on a bit of a hold, at least where the arena plan is concerned. Our purpose with meeting with you this afternoon is twofold. One, to introduce you to the project team which will be pursuing these efforts. You'll find in your packet some printed materials, uh, which will give you information about IMG College, a division of IMG World and one of the premier sports marketing organizations in the country. IMG is represented this afternoon by Tom Stoltz, um, uh, Executive Vice President. And of course, Tom's a longtime Lexingtonian and Kentuckian, and, and we're pleased to have IMG College, uh, headquartered here in Lexington. International Stadia Group, which is an international sports facility development and financial group. Uh, HKS Architects from, uh, Dallas, Texas, an inter- internationally known design firm experienced in design of a variety of sports facilities, including American Airlines Center, uh, the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and many others, uh, some of which are shown in the brochure, which you have a copy of. Uh, HKS is represented by, uh, Gerry Fawcett, uh, a principal with HKS. You see Gerry back here. Also, I'd like to recognize Tom Harris, uh, vice president of University of Kentucky Administration. Uh, this is, is truly a, um, um, a joint teamwork, uh, initiative. The second reason for being here today is to announce and encourage attendance for a public forum to be held tonight at 7:00 PM in the Bluegrass Ballroom of Lexington Center. Uh, these representatives will be in attendance. It will be a time to gain a greater understanding of the project, to ask questions for those affected, uh, to provide input. Uh, we do not, at this time, have any detailed arena designs developed. We hope to show, uh, uh, some concept of what can happen in Rupp if it's no longer a, um, a sports and, and entertainment arena. Um, but we hope for the design team to benefit from the public comment and public input and for community concerns to be addressed on the front end of the project, uh, as, uh, designs are being developed. Uh, anyone with interest is invited to attend. It is truly a, an open public meeting. We'll try to get it concluded by about nine o'clock. But, uh, to do that, it'll need to sharp, to, to start, um, promptly at 7:00. Uh, at this time, I'm pleased to introduce, uh, Mitch Barnhart, Director of Athletics, University of Kentucky, with some additional comments. Mitch? Feel right at home with the countdown clock. I'm in good shape with that. So I'll see if I can get the play in in 30 seconds. No. Um, it's, it's... As Bill addressed, it is a very unique opportunity for us. Um, IMG, uh, has come to us with, uh, an opportunity that just has not been... Is very unique to college athletics. It's unique in its marketing approach, uh, and it's a unique time for us. Uh, we're approached with a variety of things, not the least of which is the basketball arena, and that was... That's one component of it. The other components that they will speak to us about more specifically is not affecting this project per se, is the football additional, uh, additional construction and renovation to our football stadium, in addition to, uh, a baseball stadium on our campus and moving some parts around that help all of our competitive teams as they, as they grow. Uh, other couple of notes that are of, of interest to us is that it's really of no, uh, expense to the taxpayers. That at a time when taxpayers are being asked to fund facilities, this is not the way this one's being formulated. And they came to us with a unique funding model with a pool of money that is basically puts the onus on the University of Kentucky athletic department and our marketing rights and how we grow the relationship with them and how we're allowed to use that to, to put our facilities together. And that is, uh, coming up with the cost, and then putting that back into a formula, allowing it to, uh, be used through our ticket holders and our marketing, uh, our marketing rights. So it's a very unique deal that's never been done in college athletics before, and IMG made us a priority in that mix. Uh, they could have picked any other school in the country they wanted to do this with, and they picked the University of Kentucky because of the previous relationships we had with formerly Host and with Tom Stoltz's relationship with the university. It was very, very important. I'll go back to a couple of things. Uh, number one, uh, we were in Alumni Coliseum, Alumni Gym for 25 years. We were in Memorial Coliseum for 25 years. Uh, we'll have been in Rupp Arena for 30-plus years. Uh, and, uh, by the time our lease runs out, we'll be, uh, 2018. Obviously, you can do the math. You can add another six, seven years, 10 years to that, and we're up there in that 40-year mark. And that becomes, uh, difficult when you talk about what we may need at that point in time. Uh, this opportunity may not avail itself at that point in time, so it's something we wanted to take a look at and see if there was room to do this within the IMG College structure, with the University of Kentucky structure, and in the city of Lexington structure. That's very, very important to us. Uh, the other interesting, couple of interesting notes as well is that, uh, Dr. Todd and the current university administration and the current athletic department administration headed up by, uh, by me, uh, we are committed, uh, to being downtown and, and helping the economy of downtown. And we want to, uh, continue to grow the town-and-gown relationship that's so important to this. Uh, you don't know if those components are still in place in 2018, 2019 as you go forward, and we wanna make sure that we preserve that for a long time to come, as, as Bill alluded to. Uh, and the last, last couple of things I'd say is that, uh, Kentucky basketball has always been a leader. We've never taken a backseat to anyone, and we've never had an opportunity, never not been a, th- on the forefront of college basketball. And for us to continue to grow our program and do the things we want to do, we want to make sure that we continue to be on the cutting edge. Uh, we have identified things and needs, uh, over the last six, seven years that, uh, we quite frankly, uh, would like to fulfill going forward. And if we have the opportunity to move that, move that clock up from, uh, '18, 018 to 020 and move that up to 013 or 014, that is something that's very, very important to us in the recruitment of, of not only athletes, but... ... uh, in the future, down the road, coaches, if that's something that happens, but, uh, more importantly, just to make sure that we're on the cutting edge for our fan base, we're on the cutting edge, uh, for the city, and that, uh, we're on the cutting edge competitively for where we wanna be in basketball. Uh, we wanna be a leader in, in that area. Uh, we also are pleased that it would create the opportunity, as Bill alluded to, to do some things in the existing space of Rupp Arena. Uh, we hope that that is, uh, workable and all works out the right way, uh, to per- give the performing arts center, we think that, uh, that's a very, very important part of the project as well. Um, so that's sort of where we are, and, uh, as, uh, Bill alluded to the fact, again, that we don't have a lot of designs upfront. We have concepts and things that we would like to get done. Uh, we know from the competitive side of it, we know from, uh, the, the fan side of it and the basketball side of it, we wanna make sure we address all the needs from the community side of it as well as the Lexington Center part of it. And, uh, that's where the study's sort of headed. So we appreciate your time today and we'll turn it back over to Bill, let him continue, close it out. Thank you, Mitch. Um, through its agency, Lexington Center Corporation, the City of Lexington is beginning its 33rd year of partnership of UK Basketball in Rupp Arena. It's a partnership which has allowed the city to build and pay for, uh, with only a small percentage coming from its general fund, facilities which have a dramatic impact on our downtown. Last year alone, over 850,000 people attended events at Rupp Arena. Hundreds of thousands of additional attended many other events at Lexington Convention Center, the historic Lexington Opera House, the shops at Lexington Center, and our facilities. Financially speaking, the vitality of Lexington Center rests on the back of Rupp Arena. Rupp helps enable us to support the meeting and convention activity at Lexington Center. It helps us to provide programming at the Lexington Opera House. Uh, it helps us maintain the beautiful Triangle Park. It supports our retail activities at the shops at Lexington Center. Rupp Arena supports thousands of jobs, tens of millions of dollars in economic output. UK Basketball is our single largest anchor. It's hard to imagine downtown Lexington without Lexington Center and UK Basketball. They're part of what defines our downtown. I'm really excited about looking forward well into the future, into the next phase of our partnership with UK Athletics. As Mitch indicated, this is a unique opportunity. If successful, it will solidify the success of our partnership perhaps for a generation. It will enable us to retool Rupp into new and exciting uses for the benefit of Lexington and Central Kentucky. It, it's interesting, on the one hand, you have an aging sports arena that's becoming, um, functionally obsolete for its primary tenant. But on the other hand, it's a wonderful asset for the community to look for other uses. Uh, an asset that's almost paid for. Uh, communities, um, uh, would envy the position and the threshold where we are at this moment. I hope I've whetted your appetite for, um, a meeting tonight. I encourage you to come. We'll start at 7:00. We'll try to get you out at 9:00. Uh, thank you, and if you have any questions at this point, I'll try and answer them and, uh, the rest of our group is available if you have something that, uh, has come from the printed literature you've been given. Thank you. Is... Council Member Lane. Uh, do you have any adaptive reuse ideas for the existing facility that we have now? Yes, you'll, you'll see some more detail on that this evening. In 1986, a feasibility study suggested an appropriate size for Heritage Hall was 100,000 square feet. At the time, Heritage Hall was only 36,000 square feet. That study led to expanding West Hall on the site of the old Van Der and Hardware property in 1995, nine years later, and took it to 66,000 square feet. In 1997, the Convention Visitors Bureau did another study that said, guess what? You need 100,000 square feet in Heritage Hall. That study led to the expansion of the Bluegrass Ballroom, the Thoroughbred Meeting Room space that has really been dramatic in what we've been able to do in attracting conventions. Uh, with this plan, the only way you can expand Heritage Hall is into the land currently occupied by Rupp Arena. You can't go to the west, you got Mary Todd Lincoln. You can't go to the north, you got Main Street. You can't go to the east, you've got Vine Street. This plan would enable us to finally get to 100,000 square feet for Heritage Hall, plus open up an additional space for a 2,500 seat performing arts center, uh, with ample lobby space, with ample space perhaps to do, uh, a cultural art gallery. Uh, there's lots of possibilities. Uh, Rupp is a tremendous amount of cubic square footage. It's already got structure, already got mechanicals, already got so many things that are very costly that you just figure out how to, to rework them into other uses. That sounds good. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. Bill, um, I've got, I've got a string of questions, but, uh, maybe I won't go through them all and wait, wait for this evening 'cause I do plan to be there. Um, does the IMG proposal include the retrofitting of the old Rupp Arena or is that going to be something that we are going to be expected to do? I, I, I think that's going to be something that, that we're going to be looking at as a, as a separate track. Uh, the financial implications of a new sports arena is, uh, needs to look at revenue, and I think the, the, the financial plan is looking at those revenues and, uh, at, at least in my judgment. ... the retooling of the existing arena would, um, would be on a different track. Now, I'll add however, if we can find a way to work in partnership with the UK, um, School of Music and Fine Arts College- Mm-hmm. ... in the same way we've worked successfully with athletics for the last 33 years, there may be some synergies we can pursue that will enable that. Um, I guess the next question, one of the overarching questions of this... the whole situation, is where are people gonna park? Is there a parking structure and is that going to be in the IMG as well? That, that's one of the things that we'll wanna solicit public input. The, the one idea is whether you, you, uh, I guess, Terry, whether you, you do one very large garage or whether you do a group of smaller garages that would fit for a variety of uses that go on in the area. That's some of the, um, of the input and some of the critical thinking that, that needs to be done. What w- the present footprint of the parking lot is, uh, how many parking spaces roughly? It's about 3,000 spaces. Uh, in, in terms of, of, uh, the ability for the site to accum... to, um, uh, to have flexibility, flexability to, um, uh, to relate an arena building, the parking lot size is about five and a half times the size of the footpar- footprint of the arena. So there's a lot of site flexibility in terms of how you, uh, position it. But unquestionably, there will be some parking components involved with it. Uh, one of the great things that's happened in the last two years is the development of a parking authority that perhaps can be another component. I'll save the rest for this evening. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Council Member Stevens. I'm sorry I can't be there tonight, I have another obligation, but, um, I'm interested in, in, in exactly what the plan is. Uh, we now, as a city and as Lexington Center, own Rupp Arena. I presume we'll still own Rupp Arena wh- when it morphs into an entertainment district, but who will own the, uh, the basketball arena? Th- the plan and structure now is just as we own... L- the... Lexington, through Lexington Center, owns the, the land, would continue to own the arena. How we work out the relationship from a financial standpoint, uh, that's not yet determined. I, I think the first step is to evaluate what needs to be built and build the right thing. Number two, de- determine what kind of revenue is available and then, from that facility, and then number three, develop a, a, a plan that works for both parties, uh, the city and the university. So who will pay for the arena? Who will finance it? Uh, the financial structure now is it would be privately financed, uh, with a fund, uh, that ISG has secured, uh, from Goldman Sachs and that's identified in the printed literature you've got. And so how many seats? Uh, I think I saw 19,000 plus luxury boxes, is that right? I, I don't... I think those decide... Those decisions are still yet to be made. Mm-hmm. And do you anticipate... Well, I guess that you can't project what it's gonna cost for the, the patron who will be using the place? No. Not at this time. Mm-hmm. And I remember several years ago, we... when, uh... I think we invested how many millions? Did we invest in the Lexington Center? Well, uh, we invested together with the state, we invested, uh, right at $50 million that allowed us to expand our convention facilities and allowed us to, uh, uh, secure, uh, a 15-year extension of the lease from the University of Kentucky. That's what got us to 2018. Right. And, uh, I recall that we got rid of the orange seats and replaced them with blue. Right. And, uh, e- everybody was pretty happy with the Rupp Arena then and, uh, with the Convention Center, but... So what, what was the element or what happened that changed the plan? Well, I don't know that anything's changed. I think again, as, as Mitch pointed out, we're looking forward to the expiration of, uh, of the current lease in 2018. But right now being an opportunity with what's been presented by ASG and IMG that may move that up somewhat. The thing that that does is open up some other opportunities, uh, uh, within Rupp. I don't know that anything's changed. You've still got an aging facility and you've got a long list of buildings that, uh, are the age of Rupp Arena or younger that aren't there anymore, that, that have been torn down, that have been converted to other uses. Long list. Okay. Well, I'll follow the developments with interest. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Bill, thank you very much and, uh, Mr. Barnhart and UK folks. Um, ah, I have several questions and I'm not able to come tonight, so some of them I will be calling you probably to ask. But, um, if the new facility is privately funded, then who ends up owning the new facility? Uh, Lexington Center- So the- ... the, the, the model that we're talking about right now is Lexington Center would continue to, to, uh, own and manage the new facility. The new facility? And that... And the funding of that then has no real bearing on that? That's just you've gone out and found... you're finding the funding? No, the, the difference in the model is, is looking to a private funding source as opposed to a public funding source. Mm-hmm. Uh, you'll recall I was here eight weeks ago with refinancing our, our public municipal bonds. In fact, my friends from Morgan Keegan, well, they- they're gone now, but, uh, in the back of the room helped us with that and that's the more traditional form of funding these types of facilities, where you issue revenue bonds. It- it's still a debt- ... instrument. Mm-hmm. Uh, it's just, what has been presented here is a private funding source as opposed to the more traditional public funding source. Well, I wanna, um, compliment you. Several, uh, council members who've been here a while remember when we asked you several years ago to become self-sufficient. Do you remember that? And we, we asked many of the, um, entities that we fund to show us long-range plans of how to become self-sufficient, and you are one of the few who actually came back and did that. And I, I think that really deserves a, a great deal of thanks. And, and I know that you and your folks were really responsible for that. And I, I think this is a really neat plan, um, and it allows us to go forward and use the old Rupp Arena for something in the future. So rather than, you know, getting rid of it and starting over, like you said, we will, we own it. We'll own it, so- That, that, that's certainly a savings for taxpayers. Mm-hmm. Well, I'll look forward ... I would presume you'll give us some updates as the- I will. ... as time goes on, so thanks a lot. Any other questions for Mr. Owen or any of our other guests? All right, thanks very much. Thank you. Hope to see you tonight. We're now ready for council reports, and I'll turn the microphone over to, uh, Council Member Gordon again. Thank you very much, Mayor. Um, well, first and foremost, I wanted to, uh, say a word about today being Veterans Day. Um, I know that we have at least two veterans on our council, Council Member DeCamp and Council Member Beard. Are there others? I wanted to just thank them for their service, and thank all of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coasties who do serve our country. Um, it, if you talk to military folks, you find out that they're not really the ones who want to go to war. It's the politicians, you know, who make those decisions. But the folks who serve in the military are willing to step up and, um, serve every day. And with that said, um, our community does have a Veterans Day celebration tonight, November 11th at 7:00 PM at Anchor Baptist Church at 3601 Winthrop Drive, and I would encourage all folks, including veterans and current military members, to attend. Um, Brigadier General Les Beavers, who many of us know, he's retired, is going to be the featured guest speaker. And that will be a, uh, really good event to, um, thank our veterans. And that's my comment for today. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. Uh, thank you, Mayor. I just, uh, have, uh, one, uh, brief thing. I'd like to send out two quick thank yous for, um, some employees who attended the, uh, Andover Annual Neighborhood Meeting last Thursday night. Um, the first is Brad Frazier from Traffic Engineering. He did just a phenomenal job, uh, presenting some information to the neighborhood regarding several of the traffic issues we're having, and, um, I just wanted to publicly thank him, and also Officer Todd Hart, um, with the Lexington Police Department. He, uh, also did an outstanding job, um, going through, describing some of the service and, services that our police department offers, and I just wanted to publicly thank them both. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Sorry for the delay. I wish I could be at tonight's, uh, meeting on the, uh, on the Rupp Arena, uh, questions. I think that, that this is an exciting project, and, and I, I know that many of the, of the neighbors in the, uh, Woodward Heights area and in Western Suburb will be, will be there, uh, to, uh, to participate, give their views, to listen to the proposals, uh, and to, and to see how, how this will, will, will help to make those neighborhoods much more a vital part of, of, of downtown and to keep them vibrant as residential areas. Uh, at the same time tonight, there is a very important meeting in, in the, in the Green Acres, Hollow Creek neighborhoods. The consultants who have been, uh, for, for several months now, uh, doing surveys and making a, a, a study, uh, on the best way to control the, the, the flood issues that have afflicted those areas, uh, will give a report to the public and make their recommendations. So this is a very, very important neigh- uh, neighborhood meeting for, for the Green Acres, Hollow Creek folks, and I hope that everybody will come out. It's at 6:30 PM in the Green Acres Park shelter on, on LaSalle Road. The same group of consultants will, will be, uh, reporting to the Winburn neighborhood, uh, tomorrow night, on Wednesday, November the 12th. That meeting will be at 6:30 also in the, uh, community center at Martin Luther King Park on McCullough Drive. Next Monday, uh, next Monday night, the Windborne Neighborhood Association will hold their monthly meeting. That will be at 6:30 PM in the Martin Luther King Park Community Center. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Stevens. Uh, I circulated, uh, earlier today a proposed ordinance that, uh, the executive branch of our government would like for us as a council to consider. It is an ordinance creating a Lexington, uh, an affordable housing trust fund governing b- board and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. And I would move that this be referred to the planning committee for consideration and review and report back to the council. I have a motion by Council Member Stevens and a second by Council Member Ellinger to refer the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Ordinance to the planning committee. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Uh, the second, uh, item I have is, uh, from the Kenwick neighborhood, that's north of Richmond Road from Henry Clay down to, uh, Richmond Avenue more or less. And, uh, the neighborhood association requested some traffic, uh, changes in their neighborhood. And, uh, traffic engineer manager, Mr. Brad Fraser, has conducted appropriate studies of that area and has, uh, concurred with the neighborhood association and is recommending that a four-way stop be created at Richmond Avenue and Kramer Avenue, and that a three-way stop be created at, uh, or installed at, uh, Menifee and Ousley. Uh, Menafee dead-ends into Ousley right in front of our, of our, uh, neighborhood structure there. Uh, I reviewed this and, uh, and met with the neighborhood and I concur with the recommendations, as does the neighborhood. So I would move that these changes be made. Um, I'll take that as a motion to put on the agenda for the, uh, council meeting resolution adopting those changes. Yes, I would move that we, um, put it on the docket for approval at the next work session. For the next council meeting on the 20th? Yes. All right. Um, I heard a second. Council Member Crosby. Any discussion? All in favor of putting that item on the docket for consideration at the council meeting on the 20th, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Uh, the third thing I'd like to announce that we're having a public meeting on Monday the 17th. Uh, as you know, we have funds to construct a sidewalk on Tates Creek Road, and, uh, there is opposition to this plan, and, uh, I would say pretty strong from some people. And, uh, so we're having a public meeting to discuss this, uh, opportunity, as I would put it, on the 17th of November, that's next Monday, at 7:00 PM at Emanuel Baptist Church. That's on Tates Creek Pike. And you have to drive there because it's hard to walk. There's no way to walk there. Emanuel Baptist Church, 7:00 PM next Monday night. Thank you. Council Member Lane- Council- uh, Stevens. Council Member Lane. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, back in August, uh, one of the constituents that live in the 12th, uh, district, uh, advised me that one of his, uh, neighbors had been renting a farm on a nightly, weekend, and weekly basis. And, uh, he felt that that was in violation of our zoning ordinance, which requires a minimum of a one-week rental period. So, uh, after reviewing the information that was provided, I submitted the information to the legal department of the Irving County government, who, uh, reviewed that, and they concluded upon review of the information that the way the property is being, being rented was in violation of our zoning ordinance. So, uh, we, we called a meeting, and it, it was fairly broad-based because this issue touches a lot of the different departments of the Irving County government. But we had the Department of Law, uh, Rochelle Bolin, uh, was there. Uh, Dewey Crow with the Division of Building Inspection, which, uh, was there. Uh, and they're responsible for, you know, reviewing the use of properties. Uh, David Jarvis was there, uh, from Code Enforcement. Uh, Bill O'Mara was there representing the Department of Revenue because there is a short-term tax on short-term rentals. And, uh, Bill Sallee was there representing the Planning Services. And, uh, I guess that was the key people that were there relaying different departments. Um, a- anyway, at the conclusion of the meeting, it was, uh, discussed that we would have, uh, proposed a, um, amendment to our zoning ordinance that would, uh, better define the short-term rental of, of, uh, single-family housing or farm properties. And so a recommendation was made, uh, by Planning in the Legal Department, and this was, um, sent to the parties involved as well as, at that time, we sent that to the World Games Foundation, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, uh, the Thoroughbred Association, the Fayette County Farm Bureau, and the Fayette Alliance to get some vetting and get some feedback from them. A few, um, recommendations were made and the draft, uh- ... modification, which was handed out at today's meeting, uh, is provided for your, uh, review. The changes are, there are a few changes in there that are underlined in the, uh, document. The, the idea today is there are several people who would like to make a few comments about this. Uh, in particular, I'd like to call, uh, Tony and Rhonda Hancock, who are, uh, direct, uh, next door to the person renting this property out. And, uh, I think you can see some of the problems, uh, are, the Hancock's have experienced. Secondly, I would like to say, the way the property, I believe, next door has been rented, has been more as a business, uh, which is required in something like a, a, a hotel or extended stay hotel or some type of a business zoning, where this is an agricultural area. So, um, at this point I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Hancock. Thank you for coming in today. Thank you very much. I'm Tony Hancock. Uh, my wife, who's passing out the, uh, photos here, and I have, uh, been in Kentucky for about 30 years. We own farms in three different Kentucky counties, and we choose to live in Fayette County at 1783 Ironworks Pike because of the beauty of the bluegrass. I wanna be especially, uh, appreciative of Ed Lane and his understanding and helping us to work through this. But we operate a small thoroughbred breeding operation, one of many in our particular neighborhood. We have a situation going on next door that is, uh, probably a good example of what can happen and will happen in other places. And that's the reason I'm here today. I would call this a rogue hotel operation. Apparently, it is permitted or at least tolerated under the existing ordinances and it certainly is clearly incompatible with operating a horse business in the bluegrass. The noise, the lights, the alcohol consumption, the partying, the traffic, the parking, the presence of naturally curious people that are not familiar with horses, uh, not to mention the dogs that they bring with them that are welcome, all create unacceptable risks and a real danger to both the horses and to the people themselves. As unpleasant as it is for the neighbors, such as myself, who lives on the right-hand side of the red dot there, and Carl Brewer, who lives on the left-hand side of the red dot there on the map, you can see that this is a clearly agricultural area. It is unpleasant for us to live next to a hotel like that, and, and a party house, uh, but it is clearly more than just that, uh, more than just a dispute between neighbors. It is, uh, significantly damaging to the entire concept of the bluegrass that makes the horse area different from Nicholasville Road, for example. The statute you're looking at today, uh, and hopefully you will adjust that, apparently is a disaster as it stands right now, because it permits, uh, at least evidently, someone to merely claim that he rents for the week to only single families and then allows him to openly run a party facility that is widely advertised on the internet. The only, uh... Then, then this ordinance, uh, we need to change that, and, uh, if we don't, it will be the beginning of a further diminishment, uh, of the horse business in Fayette County. I've brought a few photos along, uh, for your consideration, and I'll just go through them very quickly. On the neighboring property, there are two structures that are being operated as hotels. They're advertised as perfect for multi-families and large groups. That is not what was told Code Enforcement. They're advertised as having all linens furnished. In fact, in fact all, even the toilet tissue is furnished. The owner of property is not resident. He does not live in Kentucky, lives in Tennessee, and you can see the rates are 400 to $1,000 a night. I have personally witnessed, uh, children and adults petting thoroughbreds. You know that thoroughbreds bite, and they will take fingers off routinely. It, I have been terrified on multiple occasions of people reaching through the fence. I have seen children climb the fence and come into our fields where we have young thoroughbreds that are, that are quite, uh active. The children and adults also feed the thoroughbreds, and that's a danger to my horses. We had a colic not too long ago. These things happen, and it worries me. Dogs chase the horses. I have personally witnessed that. Illegal fireworks, people from other states coming in, don't know the fireworks laws. There's a lot of noise that goes into late, late into the night, and quite a lot of alcohol consumed. I'm gonna show you three recent events just very quickly because I respect your time. Uh, this particular one happened on October the 5th. This has been going on for some months, and I'm just showing you the three that most recently have happened. There were more than 100 people there, uh, loud music that went well into the night, and, uh, you can see that a tent was erected on the property. The farmhouse is just to the right. You can see the signage at the road, and you can see the parking lot and the field there. This is a little bit of an idea of, of what the, the lay of the landscape is for that particular wedding reception. On October 25th, there was more than 25 people who were there attending a wedding in Richmond. They spent the night there, had a loud party, bachelor's party or something the night before. Cars from several states. Not a single family, not at all. Alcohol was consumed. Clearly, the horses were bothered. This is what it looked like. Again, there's a number of cars, balloons on the road. The last one that I wanna show you is on November the 1st. It was a lady's party, a bridesmaid party, I believe. There were 10 cars and vans that were there, over 30 people. Loud outdoor partering- partying, uh, alcohol involved, and, uh, th- the horses were once again disturbed. So that's what it looks like out there in the country. Uh, we're in a rural zone, and, uh, this is a, this is a problem. And we're just the first of, of many. I am certain that, that, uh, that as this comes about and as the money is, uh, understood, this will happen more, in more places than just this. So what I've asked you to do- ... is to amend this zoning ordinance as you have it written up there. Uh, Mr. Lane has done a good job of, of putting that together with the legal department. But I would also add that you expedite this because someone is going to get killed. Uh, they're gonna get kicked by a horse, they're gonna lose a finger, they're gonna get killed on the road because the alcohol. One of the, one of these days, the septic system is gonna overflow. Um, things, bad things are gonna happen as a result of this. Um, I will point out to you that in this particular instance, uh, the advertising says that there are, there's six and a half baths in the two buildings, and the PVA says there's three and a half baths. So apparently, there's three baths that have been added, uh, without PVA's knowledge. Existing septic systems would be challenged by the extra usage even without the holding of the party events. Uh, there were no port-a-potties delivered when all the, the tent was put up, and I've watched the plunter, plung- uh, the plumber come on several occasions. Uh, traffic and parking in the photos clearly shows the danger. I've seen people personally trying to feed my mares and foals, and I've had to intervene repeatedly because they're not the same people day to day or week to week. Um, I cannot protect my horses 24 hours a day from this activity, nor should I have to. I'm operating the very business that you have on your seal. Uh, I have horses and tobacco, and uh, I'd like, would, would respectfully ask that you approve this, uh, amendment. Thank you very much. Uh, Mayor, there's g- a few other people here that might like to speak to the issue. If they would, could you come to the podium? Excuse me, Mayor. And I hate to, Council Member Lane, I hate to be the bad guy. All right. But this is, as parliamentarian, this is not part of our council report. Um, this would be better vetted inside of a committee. Um, like most of our process, I mean, we've given an unfair presentation that hasn't, and I understand it's not about the issue, but we, we may want to wrap this up because- All right. ... we're getting outside of our c- our council report time. Okay, well, I, let me just add that our intent here is to make a motion to refer this to the Planning Commission, which will, uh, you know, have a hearing on this and talk about it in a lot more detail. However, I do feel it's important that we do expedite this matter because not only is, uh, Mr. Hancock having a problem, but the World Games, uh, is gonna be doing temporary, uh, leasing of, uh, single family housing. And to have our ordinance revised so that they can enter, uh, design an agreement that complies with all of our rules and regulations is really a critical, uh, item. I notice that, uh, Chris Greathouse with Shorts, uh, which is managing the rental of, uh, commercial and single family residential properties for the games is here today. Um, so, uh, in that case, I would like then to make this motion, uh, at the request of our parliamentarian. I move to place a resolution on the docket of the November 20th, 2008 council meeting to initiate an amendment to the zoning ordinance that will limit short-term rental of residences for a period between one week and one month to only four times per calendar year. And, um, by doing this, this, uh, essentially would refer this to the Planning Commission who will then make a recommendation back to the council. Some- Second. Thank you. Uh, w- well, let me see if I understand now. Are we moving to place it on the docket and refer it to the Planning Commission or committee? Uh, you know, this was prepared by the legal department, and I was informed that it would be redundant to say to the Planning Commission since, um, you know, it, it would be required, uh, by zoning, uh, ordinance to refer to it for approval anyway. Council Member Gordon. So, uh, Council Member Lane, you're asking the council to ask the Planning Commission to look at this as a new text amendment, and then it would come back to us for approval. Is that what you're asking? That is correct. And, uh, if- Thank you. I notice that, I believe our, the attorney's here. She wants to speak to that issue. That would be good. Sorry, if you can repeat the specific question. Were you just asking about the motion? You know, the motion you've prepared. Um, the question is, w- does that automatically refer to the Planning Commission for review? Pursuant to chapter 100, a text amendment can be initiated either by the Planning Commission or by the council. And so in essence, what this resolution would do is initiate a text amendment. At that point, that text amendment has to go through the process set out in chapter 100 for consideration, which means it goes to the Planning Commission. It will go on their agenda. There will be a public hearing. Uh, it would go through committees. There would be committee recommendations that would go on their, uh, agenda for a public hearing, and then it would be forwarded back to council with a recommendation from the Planning Commission of approval or disapproval. The Planning Commission would then have to vote on the actual text amendment to determine whether they were going to approve and adopt it or not. So let me try to clarify the motion. In my own mind are, we then moving to adopt a resolution referring it to the Planning Commission, or do we just simply do that by motion? Now, the, the resolution would be to initiate a text amendment, so it would be a resolution. All right, all right. So motion is to put a resolution on the docket for the November 20th, uh, council meeting that would initiate a text amend- amendment. All right, and I heard a second from someone. Uh, Council Member Gordon, second the, the, uh, motion. Any further discussion? All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those no? Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, Mayor, I have one other item, too, I'd like to bring up. Um, this is, uh, in reference to the council's approval of collective bargaining agreements. And when I was a new council member in early 2005, the first public safety collective bargaining agreement was negotiated by Mayor Isaac. And, uh, when, at th- the, uh, the Commissioner of Law at that time and the mayor took the position that the mayor could unilaterally sign the collective bargaining agreement without the review and approval of Lexington's, uh, council. So this has been the manner in which all collective bargaining agreements have been approved by the City of Lexington to date. I've always been concerned about this approval process because it's not consistent with the duties of the council as clearly listed in Lexington's charter. The, uh, current commissioner, Logan Askew, upon review of Kentucky statutes and the charter, stated at a recent council meeting, he is of the opinion that council should review all negotiated collective bargaining agreements and approve them before the mayor executes the agreement, uh, on behalf of the ci-city government. Uh, Mayor Newberry also agrees, uh, w- with this procedure. Uh, he so indicated. And I agree with this procedure, which is coincidentally identical to the procedure used by the Louisville Metro Government in approving its public safety bargaining agreements. So I would like to see us, uh, have a specific procedure to review and ad- and approve the collective bargaining agreements. And then, uh, the question is, you know, uh, why should allowing the mayor to sign a collective bargaining agreement without the review or approval of council be of concern to council members? And these are the concerns that I have. The check and balance relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of our local government is virtually eliminated by, uh, in re- in regard to any personnel cost. And the taxpayers' and the citizens' voices, which are represented by the elected council members, are, are diluted because, uh, we have little say-so about, uh, approving collective bargaining agreements. The other aspect of this is that, um, the council, upon the unilateral action of the executive branch of our government, might be obligated or forced to raise taxes in order to fund an un- uh, unbalanced budget. And then I think the most important thing is that our failure to protect the providence of the council to set policy expenditures, tax rates is a, a dereliction of our duties as elected representatives to represent our constituents. And the collective bargaining agreements could, uh, in the future amount to as much as 60% of the total expenditures of our government. And so the fact that we are not approving and reviewing those documents, I think is, is, is not the right thing to be doing. So, um, I, I would also like to say that I have been a very strong, uh, advocate of public safety, and this is not an issue of supporting public safety. Uh, this is, uh, the council's obligation to protect our duties as elected council members to be able to, uh, prove and all expenders, expenditures of local government, uh, as stipulated in the chapter, in the charter. So for these reasons, next week I plan to introduce a resolution setting forth a new council procedure for the review and approval of collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the city's executive branch of government. And I'm asking each council member to support this initiative. I'm providing advance notice so that all interested parties, uh, will have an opportunity to discuss this important matter in detail at the work session on Tuesday, November 18th. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Lane. Does any other council member wish to report? Council Member Beard? Yes, sir. Council Member Lane, uh, because of the complexity of a, a bargaining agreement, um, should there be some kind of an interim group formed to do the review as opposed to bringing a done deal or an almost done deal to the council and then getting in a position in a, in front of, uh, the world that, uh, there's some small element of it that hangs one or the other of us up? Uh, that we could vet, uh, a little c- more cleanly in a, in a committee environment or something of that sort? Uh, I agree with that. I think that, I think the purpose of the council's review is not to be involved in the negotiations, but to ratify the negotiations- I agree. ... by the executive branch of government. But for us to review that and to see i- if there are any long range negative impacts on the financial, um, status of our government over, uh, several years. Because, for example, the, uh, public safety agreement with the firefighters, which was recently signed by the mayor is a three-year agreement and the amount is approximately 40 million per year. So by the signature of the mayor, he's agreed to $120 million worth of expenditures for three years. Uh, one year of which would he may not be mayor because he only has two years left on his term. And then the fact that the council did not get to review that or to approve it, I think we're doing a disservice to our, our taxpayers and constituents. I, I don't disagree with that. I'm just trying to get a process together that maybe is a, a little cleaner and smoother. All right. Well, I had a couple, I had a couple of ideas there. One is we could have a committee, and number two, we could bring it before budget and finance, uh, would be another. Or we could have a, a cow, uh- Okay. ... uh, look at it alt and total. I think a cow might be the best approach. I hope, I hope the public knows what a cow is. Well, excuse me, that's a- That's, that's the committee of-- the Committee of the Whole. And, uh, now that might be a better way, because that way each council member... This is a major expenditure and each council member could be fully briefed on the, on the budget. So, those are, uh, just the thoughts that I have but I, I, I cannot, uh, overemphasize how important I feel this is. I feel that we must take control of this and I, and I encourage everybody to look at the duties of the council as listed in our charter and it is black and white, adamantly our responsibility to approve expenditures of the government. Thank you, Mr. Beard. Quite all right. Let me just chime in long enough to say that, that I share Council Member Lane's view of this, as we discussed previously. Uh, I do think there is a appropriate role for the council to play. It's not in the negotiations on a day in, day out basis, but it certainly is in, in terms of reviewing and either ratifying or rejecting the, the proposed contracts. So, if, um, if any of you care to discuss that I'll be glad to visit with you, as I'm sure Council Member Lane would be. Council Member Crosby. Yeah, I just have a question for Council Member Lane. Um, obviously since there's some different interpretations of the statute have, you asked also that maybe some representatives from, I would imagine, Public Safety, uh, that maybe they have their attorneys present during this meeting so that they can also address, um, their interpretation of the statutes, so we have both sides, so we can get a very clear picture? Yeah, absolutely. Uh, we would encourage, you know, representatives from each of the collective bargaining groups to be here. And with regard to the state statue, uh, 'cause this was a question that came up, and the legal department researched it, the state statue regarding the urban county government in Lexington is the same as for the merged government over in Louisville. It's almost identical language. As I mentioned earlier, the way they review and approve the collective bargaining agreements is the way we need to do it here, where it'd be sent to the council for review and then they vote on it. And if there's a problem with the agreement, they send the whole agreement back and the mayor can then renegotiate. But I don't know, I haven't heard whether they've ever had to renegotiate or not, but, uh, hopefully they have, it's been pretty smooth operation for them. I would also, and Council Member Crosby just, uh, mentioned the fact that at the request of the firefighters, um, the issue is before the Attorney General's office, and I think as Commissioner Askew has, has indicated previously, it is going to be the subject of a Attorney General's opinion, I expect, along the way too. And I, I guess since we're gonna be discussing this in a week or two that, it, it appears that sometimes those opinions can take some time to get back, so obviously I think we need to make sure all sides are represented during our, our public meeting. Thank you. Anything further? Uh, yes. Council Member Stevens. Uh, Council Member Lane and I have talked about this, as well as several other council members, and I fully support the idea because I think it's something we need to do as a council. And I won't milk this issue anymore, but I think that the Committee of the Whole would be the appropriate place to take it so everybody can work with it. I appreciate your subtle humor there. Council Member Decamp. Yeah, I've talked to, to, um, our Councilman Lane about it and, uh, you know, I think, um, I, I support it. I just want to be sure that the, the system we set up is something that we don't, um, you know, stumble around, um, and everybody wants to change everything and I think then we defeat the purpose of this. So, I think as we design this we, we need to be very careful. I, I concur with the, uh, concept. When is the, um, next collective bargaining, uh, process start? We're right in the middle of the negotiations with the, uh, more senior members of the police and fire, um, organizations. And I, I stand to be corrected, but I think they're coming up within the next two to three weeks. We'll, we ought to see a final agreement with the, uh, uh, more senior police officers and fairly soon thereafter, one with the more senior, uh, firefighters. Chris, you may be able to help me here. I, I'm not sure what the schedule is in Lo- uh, Commissioner Askew, you may know. We just, we've, uh, not really started negotiations with the majors yet. All right, but that's typically a pretty quick process. Yeah, it's pretty mirror- I mean the major's contract mirrored the- Yeah. ... lieutenants and firefighters and cabs, so. Right. So, those, I, I don't want to say they're add-ons 'cause that, that's not a fair characterization of it, but these are s- are follow-up agreements to the ones that we have just approved within the last couple months in police and fire. And they're under... Well, they soon will be here. So you have not signed off on any collective bargaining? I, I went ahead and signed off on police a month ago, I guess, per the conversation we had here one Thursday evening and in the aftermath of Commissioner Askew's, uh, memo to everybody, went ahead and signed off on the firefighters agreement last week. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. And what date was the opinion requested of the Attorney General? How long ago was that? This- Two or three weeks, something like that. Uh, I requested it back when, uh, we were talking about the police signings. I mean, we're looking at a month now. Yeah. So, I mean it's, and, and I do want the right answer so I'm gonna- Mm-hmm. I am fully supportive of that. Mm-hmm. But, uh, you know, I don't want to get the cart before the horse and they rule in, let's say, in our favor, that resolution would- Mm-hmm. ... pretty much be null and void. Mm-hmm. But if it is, uh, it is what it is. I can't really... I'm not seeing the resolution, so I don't have a say in it. Okay, thank you. The IAFF folks have been, uh, great to work with in this whole process and I'm very appreciative of, uh, their cooperation 'cause I think they're taking exactly the right approach. Anything further? All right, there's no mayor's report, which brings us down to public comment on issues not on the agenda. Seeing none, we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Have a motion by Council Member Beard, second by Council Member Crosby. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Oppose no? Motion carries. Thank you very much.