# Council Work Session - July 1, 2026 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · July 1, 2026 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6818 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6818?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2026-07-01 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: July 1, 2026 - **Length**: 8,058 words - **Speakers**: Mayor > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington Fayette County Urban County Council met on July 1, 2026, under the presiding of the Mayor. During the meeting, the Council took 15 votes and heard 1 public comment. The Council addressed 6 agenda items, including 4 items that required formal approval and 2 informational presentations. The Council approved four ordinances and agreements: a zone change ordinance, budget amendments and appropriations, a tax incentive agreement amendment, and removal of a survivors assistance agreement. The Council also received informational presentations on Artificial Intelligence Policies and Sustainability Standards for LFUCG Buildings. ## Votes and Decisions The council held fourteen votes during the July 1, 2026 meeting, all of which passed by voice vote. **Procedural Votes** The council approved the docket for the July 1, 2026 meeting, with the motion made by Council member Ellinger and seconded by Council member Higgins-Hord [timestamp: 0:05:54]. The council also approved the June 23, 2026 work session motions, with the motion made by Council member Reynolds and seconded by Council member Curtis [timestamp: 0:09:42]. **Ordinances Placed on Docket** Three ordinances were placed on the docket for future consideration: - An ordinance changing the zone for properties on Chair Avenue and Heyman Avenue, moved by Council member Reynolds and seconded by Council member Ellinger [timestamp: 0:06:27] - An ordinance for budget amendments and appropriations, moved by Council member Brown and seconded by Council member Elliot-Baxter [timestamp: 0:07:31] - An ordinance for a tax incentive agreement amendment, moved by Council member Eblen [timestamp: 0:08:02] **Budget Amendments** The council approved budget amendments, moved by Council member Elliot-Baxter and seconded by Council member Sheehan [timestamp: 0:10:12]. Subsequently, Council member Brown moved to amend the list of budget amendments to add grant budget amendments, seconded by Council member Elliot-Baxter [timestamp: 0:10:43]. The council then approved the budget amendments as amended [timestamp: 0:11:15]. **Agenda Modifications and Approvals** The council removed item B under new business relating to survivors assistance, moved by Council member Beasley and seconded by Vice Mayor Wu [timestamp: 0:09:10]. This item was removed again after new business items were approved, with the motion made by Council member Beasley and seconded by Council member Reynolds [timestamp: 0:12:18]. The council approved new business items, moved by Council member Sheehan and seconded by Council member Sevigny [timestamp: 0:11:46]. **Communications from the Mayor** The council approved three categories of communications from the mayor: - Appointments, moved by Council member Elliot-Baxter and seconded by Council member Beasley [timestamp: 0:40:58] - Donations, moved by Council member Curtis and seconded by Council member Sevigny [timestamp: 0:41:34] - Procurements, moved by Council member Sheehan and seconded by Council member Sevigny [timestamp: 0:41:34] **Other Approvals** The council approved neighborhood development funds, moved by Council member Reynolds and seconded by Council member Higgins-Hord [timestamp: 0:42:05]. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Council approved one financial action during this meeting: **Engineering Services Contract** The Council authorized a contract for engineering services related to expansion area work in the amount of $474,477. ## Public Comment Rick Day addressed the Council regarding a discrepancy in how employee misconduct cases have been handled at different facilities. [timestamp: 0:53:42] Day compared the handling of misconduct at Bird Thurman Drive with that at 200 East Main, questioning why different standards were applied to similar situations. ## Zone change ordinance An ordinance to change zoning designations for properties on Chair Avenue and Heyman Avenue was presented and discussed. The proposed change would rezone the affected properties from a light industrial I-1 zone to a corridor node zone. [timestamp: 06:27] Council member Reynolds participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The ordinance was approved by the Council. ## Budget amendments and appropriations An ordinance to amend and appropriate funds from fiscal year 2026 to fiscal year 2027 for various projects was presented and discussed [timestamp: 07:31]. Council member Brown participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The ordinance was approved by the Council. ## Tax incentive agreement amendment An ordinance to amend a tax incentive agreement related to the Lexington Center Development Area was presented to the Council. [timestamp: 00:08:02] Council member Eblen participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The ordinance was approved by the Council. ## Survivors assistance agreement removal A motion was made to remove an agenda item relating to the survivors assistance agreement. Council member Beasley presented the motion, citing the withdrawal of the selected organization as the reason for the removal request. [timestamp: 09:10] The motion to remove the survivors assistance agreement item from consideration was approved by the Council. ## Artificial Intelligence Policies The Council reviewed LFUCG's proposed artificial intelligence policies during this meeting. CIO Rogers presented the policies, which were designed to ensure responsible use of artificial intelligence systems, maintain public trust, and keep employees accountable. The presentation was informational in nature, with the committee examining the proposed framework for AI governance within the organization. The policies aim to establish guidelines that balance the potential benefits of artificial intelligence technology with safeguards to protect the public interest and ensure appropriate employee conduct. This agenda item concluded as informational, meaning no formal action or vote was taken at this time. ## Sustainability Standards for LFUCG Buildings Patrick Mason presented a proposal to establish long-term performance standards for LFUCG (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government) buildings designed to support the achievement of climate goals. The presentation was informational in nature, introducing the framework for sustainability standards that would apply to government-owned buildings. The proposal aims to create measurable performance benchmarks that guide building operations and renovations toward environmental objectives. No specific concerns or debate points were documented from this agenda item. The outcome was informational, indicating the item was presented for awareness and discussion rather than requiring an immediate vote or decision. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve the docket for the July 1, 2026 council meeting - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place an ordinance on the docket changing the zone for properties on Chair Avenue and Heyman Avenue - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place an ordinance on the docket for budget amendments and appropriations - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place an ordinance on the docket for a tax incentive agreement amendment - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Remove item B under new business relating to the survivors assistance - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve the June 23, 2026 work session motions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Amend the list of budget amendments to add grant budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve budget amendments as amended - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve new business items - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Remove item B under new business relating to the agreement for service for survivors support assistance - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve communications from the mayor appointments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve communications from the mayor donations - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve communications from the mayor procurements - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve neighborhood development funds --- ## Full transcript Music I want to run. I want to hide. I want to tear down the walls. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. It's three o'clock, so I'll go ahead and call to order the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council work session, and today's July the 1st, 2026, and we do not have anyone signed up for public comment for issues on the agenda. So we'll move right along to the docket. Motion to approve. Thank you, Council Member Ellinger. Council Member Higgins Ward seconded. And please log in with your questions or your walk-ons. Council Member Reynolds. I move to place on the docket for the July 1, 2026 council meeting An ordinance changing the zone from a light industrial I-1 zone in a wholesale and warehouse business B-1 zone to a corridor node zone for 4.355 net acres for property at 416, 422 through 424, 430 through 436, and 451 Chair Avenue, 441 Heyman Avenue, and 633 South Broadway without a public hearing. Second. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger seconds. Are there questions? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. The motion passes. Thank you. Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I move to place on the docket for July 1, 2026, council meeting an ordinance amending certain of the budgets to account for road purchase orders from FY 2026 to FY 2027 and appropriating and reappropriating funds, FY 2027 schedule number two. As is our practice, the Division of Procurement has reviewed open FY2026 purchase orders for items specifically approved by Council containing claims, insurance accounts, or are for ongoing construction or professional service projects and move those items forward into FY27. The budget to cover these purchase orders must be moved to cover these items and will be identified in the FY26 fund balance for this purpose. So moved. Second. Thank you, Council Member Baxter. Seconds. Are there questions? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Council Member Eblen. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I move to place on the docket for the July 1st, 2026 council meeting a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and amend the restated tax incentive agreement with the Kentucky Development Finance Authority and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and any other necessary documents related to the Lexington Center Development Area to allow state sales and use tax on approved construction materials to further incentivize the project. retroactive to June 24, 2026 at no additional cost to the urban county government. So moved. Second. Thank you. Second by Councilmember Hale. Are there questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Are there any other motions for the docket? We have a glitch. I don't know if you can help with Council Member Beasley's computer, but did you have a motion for the docket? Yes, ma'am. Well, I have a motion to remove something from it. Okay, that's even better. I move to remove item B under new business relating to the agreement for service for survivor support assistance based upon the withdrawal of the selected organization. So moved. Second. All right. Vice Mayor Wu seconds. And are there any? That's for the work session. Oh, yeah, we're still on the docket. That's okay, but we'll get you in a minute. Thank you. Now, is there anything else for the docket? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say the same. Nay. Okay, that motion passes. And next we have our June 23rd, 2026 work session motions. Could I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. Council Member Reynolds. Second by Council Member Curtis. Are there any corrections or additions? All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Next we have budget amendments. May I have a motion to approve? Council Member Baxter, second by Council Member Sheehan and Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of the administration, I make a motion to amend the list of budget amendments on pages 2 through 6 of the work session packet to add grant budget amendments established in the budget for the Motor Carrier Safety Program. Victim of Crime Act, Police, and Kentucky Overdose Response Effort, CORE, Quick Response Team. This will allow these amendments to receive two readings before Council goes on summer recess. So move. Second. Council Member Baxter seconds. Are there questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Is there anything else for the budget amendments? All right. All those in favor of approving the budget amendments as amended? Say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That passes. Now, we also have budget adjustments. Move to approve. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Actually, they're free information only. That's okay. And then we have new business. And I'll entertain a motion to approve. I saw Council Member Sheehan and I heard. Did I hear you, Council Member Sevigny? Second. All right. Thank you. Now, Council Member Beasley. Thank you, Mayor. I move to remove item B under new business items relating to the agreement for service for survivor support assistance based upon the withdrawal of the selected organization. So moved. Second. Council Member Reynolds seconds. Are there questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. For new business item I, I just want to be marked as a recuse due to my affiliation with the University of Kentucky. All right, thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. The first item that I had a question on was item M. I don't know if that's Director Huren or Commissioner Lanter. This was an item that I had in committee, and I'm super excited to see this program expanding. Could you touch a little bit on how many workers you will have and then the areas that they will cover? Yeah, so we had expanded our existing street outreach agreement with the Hope Center back in late October. That was when we were wanting to try to expand outreach in the downtown area. This is now the end of the term that they were under, so we rebid this contract, and Hope Center was again selected as the high bidder. There would be 10 staff that are directly funded with our dollars, and some additional staff that are going to be leveraged through opioid abatement and SAMHSA funding. to expand that a little bit further. And they will continue to use a zone-based approach. They may not necessarily keep team members that are specifically only downtown, but they are going to add a program manager, and they're going to route all of the needs to be location-based to try to create greater consistency with the team members that interact with the individuals at particular areas or encampments to try to foster better rapport and continue to try to improve outcomes. And exciting that this is in the evening hours as well and some weekend hours. Yeah. So we had already been operating with the base agreement last term, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. When we did the additional funding with the downtown emphasis, we added Saturday and Sunday part-time hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. That will all continue under this new agreement with some additional staffing, some expanded medical partnerships with Health First Bluegrass, and some expanded use of the Hope Mobile. And if someone has a concern and would like to make connection between an outreach worker and someone that they come across, they should call 311? So we are not right now set up for 311 to directly transfer to the Hope Center as an external agency. Right now I can say there is a shared email address, outreach at hopectr.org. Part of what Hope Center is going to work on with this new agreement is working with their phone provider to basically build a dummy number that will allow them to route those calls to multiple different cell phone numbers so that we don't have to try to give out several individual staff numbers. That would be great. Yeah, I think it would be wonderful to have one place where the calls go and then they be dispatched. Yep. Absolutely. We agree. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And then I had a question on item AA, and I don't know if that is for Ms. Lewis or Mr. Scott. This is about the Public Arts Commission, the installation of the art project. Yes. How are you? Good. Thank you. How are you all? What is your question? I'm sorry. Yes, I was just wondering if you could explain kind of the process that this piece went through to get to where it is right now for the public, because we get a lot of questions for public art. Can you remind everyone what process it has to go through? Okay, which piece are you asking about? This is about the Living Streets Lexington piece. Living Streets Lexington, yes. That has been a project that Living Streets Lexington is working with several members of planning on Living Streets. They have an organization called Living Streets Lexington. And so they have worked on doing asphalt art on Lewis Street and Schartfriar. And that will be, they selected an artist for that piece. and there will be multiple pieces of art in the asphalt, not in the right-of-way for cars, but on the side where it was normally striped, there will be art in all of those places. And this is actually a project that's kind of caught fire in a lot of cities. And so I think we're going to have multiple pieces of it here, but right now this is the first one. Sharp Schreier and Lewis Street. And the actual art selected has to go through the Public Arts Commission, correct? Yes, they have presented, and we have seen the areas where it's going to go, and the artist has been selected. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Morton. Thank you. And I'll speak towards that real quick because I'm actually involved with that. So I think it's actually a pretty cool process. So what happened is our folks in planning had got together, and basically they're a community engagement. So they worked with my youth advisory board to, one, kind of select about the top five artists. And the youth advisory board got to select those artists. And then it went to a kind of selection committee. And that was work with the neighborhood association. There was some members of the Charles Young advisory board was invited and members of planning in my office. And they selected out of that. The youth advisory board picked the first five. The selection group decided to get to pick that artist. but it was all with community engagement so they've been doing community engagement the whole time and i'll give um planning actually hannah creps um her flowers for leading that and it's a great project and i think we had a presentation earlier like early 2025 just about um the pilot street art and that's exactly what that is but throughout that engagement i think that they were very intentional through their engagement um working with the surrounding community working with um the youth advisory youth within the will brown community um to bring this art and it should should be a very cool piece of art that comes there. So I just want to follow up on that. But to my questions. So first, my question is, I will, Item M, and that's Mr. Heron as well. Item M. And you spoke a lot towards it, I think already with Councilman Reynolds' question, but I just wonder, I know that it's kind of, you know, it's different in the funding and investments. And so I guess is there going to be much of a big difference on the ground when it comes to solutions and outcomes or just more like a personnel increase when it comes to the difference in this outreach? So, I mean, this should definitely improve operations and outcomes. It's a similar level of staffing. There's a slight increase in the amount of clinical support with the leveraging of other grant funding sources. Essentially, this is not going to make a huge shift in what we see within our system because the primary issue is the lack of housing to place people into. But street outreach is an essential service and one of our primary access points. We've seen a lot of positive improvements with the addition of the encampment coordinator position. We've seen some really positive outcomes out of this program with the downtown expansion. They have housed 18 persons after getting the staff hired and trained. And then additionally, just the base program, we see about 34% of persons exiting to positive destinations, almost 1,000 unique contacts made in the original agreement. And then a smaller subset of persons are getting intensive case management. About 75% of those persons are exiting to positive destinations. And is the wraparound services piece kind of a newer piece, or they've been doing that piece as well? I'm sorry? Like the wraparound services piece, they've been kind of taking those resources out. Yeah, so in-house they would have access to a housing case manager, several outreach specialists, peer support specialists, and clinical staff. Then through partnership with Health First, they would have health resources they can connect individuals with. Internally, the Hope Center would have a network of mental health and substance resources they can connect individuals with, but also connect with other outside organizations. Thank you. Thank you. And then item S, as in Sam. And I understand, you know, in the past that this is early in the process and that there's still some unknowns, but I'd still like to know, as we continue to invest into regionalism at this cost, what are the anticipated return on investments for Lexington taxpayers, and how and when will council be able to evaluate whether this funding is delivering measurable economic benefits to our community, and what does that look like, and what should we expect? That's a great question, council member, and it is early. in the process, but it's not early in the process anymore. The engagement, the workforce engagement component of this program is up and running. The website is, we just heard last week, it's gotten like 200,000 engagements. Somebody else a little bit more computer savvy can, but it is getting out there. The workforce component especially, They're engaging more with actual companies to get them engaged and still working with some of the other communities that are within the project itself to get full buy-in on the effort. But it's actually ahead of where I would have anticipated it being at this point. Good, good, good. And I guess, like, what would be your thoughts on when we would probably be able to start actually seeing, like, dollar numbers of what that return on investment would look like? I think we have to get a better understanding, and I think that's something we need to ask be defined a little bit more. I think we need to, because one of the things we do ask, do we know yet that just because somebody engages with the system on the website, are they being able to get a job? Is it being beneficial to that employer who's looking for somebody? Those are, it's like they know they engage, but we don't know yet what the outcomes are. are, and the mayor and I are on that board, and we both ask for them to look and see if there's a way to develop what the success rate is after somebody engages versus just knowing how many engagements to the website there are. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Curtis. Thank you, Mayor. I have questions on a few items. I am going to start by following up on some of the discussion from Council Member Reynolds and Council Member Morton on item AA. And so just talking about the selection process, I don't know if this is Ms. Lewis or if Council Member Morton would like to speak to it as well. Ms. Lewis probably should speak to it. Thank you. Thank you. I was just wondering, the artist who has selected, Tony Wavy, is he a Lexington-based artist? And if not, is there a process in place to consider and prioritize Lexington-based artists in these selection processes? Yes, he is a Lexington-based artist. He is a performer, performance art, and he is a musician, performer, spoken word, and visual art. So he's a quadruple threat. And he was one of the people who applied and was selected through that very carefully gone through process. And some of the other artists, actually, it was kind of nice, some of the other artists that were in that selection process actually emailed me and said how much they thought Tony was a really good choice. And I thought that was some really good fellowship in the arts community here. But he's very excited about it. He's actually hoping very much that the project could be finished at least partially. And they would like to have it be part of East End Day. So they really want to engage the community. There will be children in the neighborhood who get to be part of watching what's going on and the preparation. So I really feel like this will be a very engaging project, and I'm hoping there will be more of it in Lexington. I couldn't agree more, and I appreciate you saying that on the record. I just know that a lot of folks really and justifiably want to know that when we're spending public money for public art in Lexington, it's going towards Lexington artists directly. It is a Lexington artist, and I am happy to say that the Public Art Commission has now gotten to see projects on the ground, murals, sculptures. There is such a great variety of artists working in Lexington, and we kind of get to see it all. And this is the very first of our asphalt art projects, but there's already been discussion of several more. And I hope to see them. Thank you so much. Thank you, Council Member Morton, for your work on this. It's going to be really fun. Next, I have some questions on item I, which I believe would be Director Martin. Thank you so much. So I was wondering if you could just, for the public, speak to what this project is. And I know that this predates your tenure as one of the first items that I met with EQPW about after I was sworn in. But just the experience that EQPW has had on this project with the University of Kentucky. This is a collaboration between us and UK as far as the widening of Waller from Elizabeth Street to South Limestone. They were going to do what they were going to do relative to the facilities that they're building there. And so we saw the opportunity to partner with them to widen this, to make it a better pedestrian experience, provide bike lanes and the things that they weren't necessarily required to have, but we wanted to have. So it's been a long time coming, but we finally were able to get the agreement together, and that's what this is. I appreciate that. And so I just I want to be clear about something just so I'm understanding it correctly. UK, they're going to build there regardless. And are they widening Waller Ave regardless of our participation in this? Yes. They are widening 275 feet with a taper of the 675. And so we're basically partnering with them to widen Waller to South Lyme and to reduce congestion and increase efficiency. But we're just adding more to it than what they would be required to do. Right. And so I recognize that and I appreciate the effort that we're taking to do that. But I want to just be really clear with folks about if we were not doing this, that would UK not take into consideration the congestion, efficiency, bike and pedestrian safety and facilities unless we were giving them this money? I would consider that we're encouraging them. There was a sidewalk, but it's a narrow sidewalk. We want a wider sidewalk. We want bike lanes and stuff like that. And so, you know, the opportunity to partner with whether it's U.K. or developers or anybody else like that to improve the pedestrian experience, I think it's money well spent. Yeah, and I agree with that. I will just, I'm out of time, but say that in other words, in my mind, it's pretty clear that U.K. is not concerned about the safety of Lexingtonians so much as they're concerned about their own growth and their own profit. So thank you. Okay. All right. Council Member Savigny. Thank you, Mayor. My first question is on item E, the bond and bond timing. Thank you for coming up here. I know Commissioner Hensley is gone and you get the privilege of doing this piece. So could you just explain to us really quickly the bond timing? And because I think what you're doing here is are we kind of getting ready to do the bond? Just if you don't mind. So what this resolution does is it's a reimbursement resolution. It allows bond projects to go ahead and occur in spending to take place prior to the sale of the bond. We typically work with the financial advisors and find the prime time to issue our bonds. And that varies every year. Our bond this year is for paving. As everyone knows, the asphalt plants are only open for a certain period of time each year. So if we wait until we sell the bonds, it could be the fall, it could be winter, it could be spring. The asphalt plants may be closed, so we'll lose some of that chance to get the paving done. Okay. So this particular thing that we're approving is just approving the ability to basically use cash and do a bond later? That's correct. Okay. All right. Is there a separate thing that comes through to do a bond? I'm just wondering the timing of basically our fund balance discussion and the bond discussion. Yes, whenever we go to sell the bond, all of that will come to council in form of ordinance resolution, and that will all be brought back to council whenever that time comes. Okay, so it's not right now? No, it is not right now. Perfect. Thank you for your help. Next one is item S. This is that Greater Lexington Partnership again. Just a quick question on this. I think this is great, and I'm glad we're doing this. Have all the other counties, are they all going through the same financial process and doing their money, or are some of the counties struggling on that partnership? They're struggling. I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it. You know, we just got the final report in last week, I think it was, and the request to payment rate is about 63% from the other counties, which is why you probably noticed in the agreement that we've given you, we've tied our payments in the future, moving to the success of receiving those payments from the other communities as well. And I appreciate that. And I think that's, I think it's the right way to do it. And I'm hoping that the other communities can kind of. There's a re-engagement being planned. You know, we're going to have a lot of, we had a lot of judge executives who are going to, they didn't run or, you know. And there's going to be a lot of re-engagement to reintroduce it later in December into January. But we felt like it was really important to say we are all in on this, but we need the other partners to be all in as well. I appreciate that. Thank you so much for that. And my last one is item Z, Raven's Run. And while you're coming up, thank you, Derek. Just on this one, it looks like it's a decent expansion of acreage, which is cool. And I think the fund is, is it from the, it's not from the new parks tax, it's from the parks acquisition fund. Is that correct? That is correct, council member, from the park acquisition fund. Okay, and then this is kind of right off Evans Mill, and so is the general plan to expand trail systems through there? Do you think we'll end up having a second, maybe a second entrance to the park? I'm just kind of curious where you think it might go. Sure, yeah, we are just in the beginning stages of conversations about what could occur on this additional 62 acres. We're most excited about the land preservation and that it brings the sanctuary to almost 800 acres. Potentially in the future we could see trail systems built out, additional access points. But for right now, our first and foremost is just to preserve the acreage. Great. I love the park. It's a great place to go. And I do think it's always kind of getting there. It does seem like if there was an access over there, I just think it could be even cooler. So thank you so much. Thank you. That's all I have, Mayor. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question about Item C, and I think this is for Commissioner Martin. so i'm just wondering if this some of this work that's being here is this is this the address the older issue that we were having uh last year is this something different is this a routine maintenance this this is something different this is part of a larger uh cleaner water kentucky grant that we got a couple of years ago that we had eight projects that we were doing that was entirely grant funded. Seven of the, you know, six of the eight are done. And so the excess money that we have left in those grants or we're moving over to the other projects as we finish them, working to try to expend as much of the grant money as we can. So this change order here is for things that weren't part of the original project, but isn't costing us any local money. We're using grant money for it. Okay. All right. Well, that's good news. It was a pretty big number, but hearing that it's grant money going to us, that's a good thing. All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Oh, and then, I'm sorry, Mayor. The only other thing I'll say, and I appreciate the questions about item S, I think in regards to the regional effort, I think it's important that we continue to show our commitment as Lexington to this effort, but also hold the surrounding counties accountable to do the same. So, appreciate all your work on that. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Morton. Thank you. And I just, my bad, I'm kind of speaking dicey early, so I'm going to clean it up. So disregarding that AA, so I forgot to mention the RFQ and RFP process. So throughout that, before we got initiated, we put an RFQ out to make sure that we got qualified folks, but then also intentional RFP process to make sure that it is sensitive and it's supporting the surrounding community, including East End connections, including a community engagement strategy. So prior to, before the art installation, during the art installation, and even after the art installation, and that emphasis on making sure that it's community focused. And Tony Wade's a good guy, a local artist, and he's actually going to be tasked with maintenance in this art project. Not just installing it, but he has to make sure that it's looking beautiful for about, I think, two to three years. So I think it's a cool project and it'd be dope. So I just wanted to highlight that. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Baxter. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner Martin, I have a question about item X. This is the agreement for engineering services for expansion area. I am curious if the information that will come out of this implementation plan will only apply to those areas, or if it will give us any information about countywide needs moving forward. It is specific to areas three and five, the Athens-Boonesboro corridor. It's the one that was probably less clear about how it would go together because there's multiple property owners involved. And so what we've tried to do is model this after what was done in the 80s, the OPSS plan, that basically laid out a framework, sizing of pipes, and costs associated with that so there'd be greater clarity for all of the partners out there about what they would be expected as far as to be built and what they'd expect to cost. I think it will help inform the infrastructure funding plan that's been discussed about already. This just drills down deeper. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Why, as in, I guess, yellow, maybe? Mr. Scott? Okay. Could you, anytime I see Ethics Commission, because we come before the Ethics Commission at some point, so I always like, could you tell us the big changes that are going to happen here and why we're doing this? Yes. So the last time the Ethics Commission has been updated was in 2017, and that was a relatively smaller update. So these updates, the commission has worked pretty diligently to work through all of these. There's changes to the financial interest statement. The ethics commission wishes to review it on a regular basis just to make sure that everyone who should be filing is included in the list who is required to file. So since it's been revised, government has changed a little bit, so they're just wanting to review the list. There's changes from membership from 9 to between 7 and 9. It has been historically, it's become a little difficult to get all the seats filled. So they're asking for a little bit of flexibility in that. The nominating organization. So from 7 to 9, so I don't. Just a range, yeah. No less than 7, no more than 9. Okay. The nominating organizations, some of them have dissolved. So we just need to update that list. And then as far as the nominating organizations, they are required to provide my office with certain documentation, and it has been difficult to get that. So we are including that required documentation as part of the nomination going forward. We are removing party affiliation because that has become challenging, one of the challenges to get the seats filled. And also, some of the nominating organizations are nonpartisan, so it's antithetical sometimes to their operations to give us that information, so we're eliminating that. And then the complaint process, we are asking for an amendment for that so that the chair and with the help of the attorneys that assist with this commission, review the complaints ahead of time and determine if it's in the jurisdiction of the commission. Their jurisdiction is very narrow in scope. So historically, we get a complaint, regardless of what's in it. We have to proceed with the inquiry, which can be a lengthy process to schedule. So we're hoping to diminish any kind of frustration from the complainants. And what's the quorum now? The quorum is five. So we're asking for just a majority of, if we have seven, it would go down to four. So, yeah, I guess that's my question. And so the quorum is how many members there are? Yes. Okay. So if it's 7 to 9, then it would be 4. If it's 9, then it would be 5. Right. And I think most of all of these amendments are really just an eye on maintaining compliance and increased transparency and more efficient meetings and just better record keeping in general. Sounds good. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other questions about new business? All right. All those in favor of approvals, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. Thank you. That passes. We do have communications from the mayor. First, our appointments. I'll entertain a motion. I think Council Member Baxter, did you move? Okay. And I saw Council Member Beasley, and then I heard another Council Member. So, Council Member Beasley. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. Communications from the mayor. Donations. Could I have a motion? Councilmember Curtis. Second by Councilmember Sevigny. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That passes. And the final communications from the mayor is procurements. Could I? Councilmember Sheehan. And second by Councilmember Sevigny. Are there any questions about the procurements? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Now we are on continuing business and presentations, and I'll entertain a motion to approve the neighborhood development funds. Move to approve. Council Member Reynolds. Okay, Council Member Reynolds moved. I'm not sure who. Y'all duke it out over there. Council Member Higgins-Hord seconded. Are there any questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that passes. Thank you. And next we have General Government and Planning Committee, and I'll turn it over to Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. The June 2, 2026, General Government and Planning Committee was called to order at 1 p.m. The April 28, 2026 meeting summary was unanimously approved. The committee reviewed LFUCG's proposed artificial intelligence policy. CIO Rogers provided an overview of the policy, which is designed to ensure AI is used responsibly while protecting city data, maintaining public trust, and keeping employees accountable for all AI-generated work. The policy outlines approved and prohibited uses of AI, requires human oversight, and includes employee training, monitoring, and an exception process for legitimate business needs. Council members discussed data security, vendor responsibilities, employee training, and future applications such as AI-assisted plan review and language interpretation. The committee then received a presentation from Patrick Mason from the LFUCG Environmental Commission on sustainability standards for LFUCG buildings. The proposal would establish long-term performance standards to help achieve the community's climate goals, including improved energy efficiency, solar-ready construction, and the gradual phase-out of fossil fuel systems in public buildings. Council members discussed implementation, funding, and long-term accountability. Commissioner Ford and his staff will work with the Environmental Commission and myself to continue refining the proposal before it returns to the committee for future consideration. The committee adjourned at 2.09 p.m., and that concludes my report. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Council Member Sheehan? All right. Thank you. Next, we have Council Reports. Council Member Baxter. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to take a moment to thank our park staff. This week we had an unexpected issue at Shillitoe Pool. The motor and the pump went out. We think it might have been struck by lightning, actually. And so they have worked super expeditiously to find a replacement pump and get that installed. And fingers crossed, we hope to be open later this week. But I just wanted to say thank you for working so hard so that the residents have a place to cool off in this heat wave. That's all. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Mayor. Colleagues, I sent you an email about this earlier today, but I have a motion for the solar zoning ordinance text amendment. I'll make the motion, but then if there are any questions or discussions, I'm happy to answer questions. I move to place the recommendation of the Planning Commission for the solar zoning ordinance text amendment on the work session agenda for the August 18, 2026 meeting under continuing business. So moved. Second. All right. Councilmember Curtis seconded. Are there questions? All right, all those in favor say aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, thank you. That's it. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, thank you. Councilmember Savigny. Thank you, Mayor. I'm also placing an item, a roundabout study. It's one of the street safety task force action plan items into the environmental quality and public works committee for review and I have a second item. I'm placing the item of the June 22nd, 2026 flash flooding assessment in the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee for review. And directing the Division of Water Quality to compile LexCol reports for the period of June 8th to June 30th, 2026. Geographically grouping those calls to determine whether clusters of flooding are indicative of the need for more in-depth study, including a study of the North Fork of Vaughan's branch. The division should also evaluate the June 22nd storm event in the context of historical storms documented in the Lexington Fayette Hazard Mitigation Plan 2020 update and report these findings to the committee. Finally, the EQBW recommends earmarking fiscal year 28 funding for an update to the 2012 stormwater severity scoring system using data points from the June rain events. And now for more pleasant news. All right. So, once again, the music capital of Lexington in the 10th district tonight, or tomorrow night, We've got Southland Jamboree. He's got a patriotic concert featuring the Six Strings, the Soldiers U.S. Army Band. That's going to be great. It's at 7 o'clock. It might be a little hot, but come join us out there. And then we have a colony has their annual July 4th bike parade. Starts at 9 a.m. at Colonial Drive in John Alden on July 4th. Dress up in your fun attire, meet the neighbors, and pick up a popsicle. And then finally on June 5th in District 10, the summer nights kind of moved to Sunday, July 5th, sorry. You can close out the July 4th weekend at Moondance with a great summer nights in suburbia, Red, White, and Blues featuring our own TD Young. And music there starts at 7 o'clock and hope to see you all there. Thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Mayor. Just have a few announcements for my District 2 neighbors. For my neighbors that live in Kearney Ridge and Coventry, there will be some additional blasting in the Legacy Business Park as we continue to construct those lots out there. So please be advised that blasting will occur on Monday, July the 6th, after all the fireworks from 4th of July. Also to my District 2 neighbors, Parks and Recreation will be hosting some summer playground days in some of the parks in District 2. On July the 10th at Whitney Young Park, there will be playground days out there. And then at Madison Station Park on July 17th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., there will be playground days out there. So please go out and have some fun with our Parks and Recreation team. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to mention that myself and quite a few of my colleagues attended the police banquet last week, last Thursday. And it was a really wonderful banquet. it, and I want to congratulate everyone that received an award and thank the police department for their really hard work. They're really busy this week especially, so I want to thank them. And I also especially want to give a shout out to Officer Ryan Holland, who is the Neighborhood Resource Officer for the Cardinal Valley area. He received the Officer of the Year Award, which is a a very prestigious award for his work in Cardinal Valley. So I wanted to mention him. And in addition to all the wonderful things we have going on downtown for July 4th weekend through the city, and you can find those at the city's website, lexananky.gov, Gatton Park is also opening up the park and having special activities, cookouts, DJ, bands, all throughout the day from 11 to 10 30 p.m and it's also a great spot to be able to watch the fireworks so go out early find your spot and be ready hopefully it'll be dry and it will not be suffocatingly hot thank you mayor although it could be it could be council member curtis Thank you, Mayor. So I wanted to take this opportunity to address something that y'all might have heard about, which was that last week in the 4th District, there was a non-injury shooting incident at Kirk Levington Park. My office has been working alongside our partners within LFUCG to respond appropriately to the situation. So late last Sunday night, officers responded to numerous calls from neighbors as the incident was occurring and immediately launched a significant response, including patrol officers, drones, the canine unit, the forensic services unit and detectives. That investigation remains active and ongoing with LPD continuing their efforts to identify those responsible and additionally investigate reports related to property damage from stray bullets related to the incident. As they continue that investigation, LPD has also been following through on our request for additional patrols in the Kirk Levington Park area. We have also been working with our partners at Parks and Recreation who have completed a streetlight audit and identified multiple streetlights in need of repair, which we have now requested through Kentucky Utilities, and we expect those to be completed shortly. We've also been in communication with One Lexington to respond to the justifiable anxiety that many neighbors in the area are feeling. And so we're looking forward to a neighborhood engagement walk this coming Monday to proactively address that anxiety. Additionally, we are asking residents who may have any sort of home security footage, information, or evidence that could assist investigators to contact the LPD through their non-emergency number, which is 859-258-3600. Again, that number is 859-258-3600. And finally, I want to speak on this as somebody who lives in the Kirk Levington Park area myself. While I'm immensely grateful that nobody was injured, my heart breaks for the kids who are simply out enjoying time with their friends at the park, but now have experienced trauma that's going to continue to follow them. They deserve our support as they process, and that goes beyond this investigation. With them in mind, I'm also asking my neighbors to exercise caution before spreading potential misinformation and disinformation about this incident, which we've already seen happening a bit on platforms like Nextdoor and Facebook. Moments like these are not a time to fear monger or play politics from behind a keyboard. They're times for us to come together as a community, extend a helping hand to our neighbors, and work to get through this together, not to push ourselves and our neighbors further into isolation or fear. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that brings us to public comment for issues not on the agenda. And the way this works is I'll call your name and you'll come to the podium and you will restate your name for the record. And you will also state your council district and you'll have three minutes. So Rick Day. Welcome. My name is Rick Day and I live in the 3rd district. Not too awful long ago it was reported that several employees on Bird Thurman Drive conspired to steal money from LFUCGs through the loan box program. apparently they were collecting cash and not turning in the money. When it was discovered the administration acted quickly. Several employees resigned and at least one was terminated. At almost the same time several employees at 200 East Main were also conspiring to steal money from LFUCG. Now their hands were probably a little cleaner. All they had to do was rig the results of a compensation study. The administration did not act quickly. The administration did not act at all other than to deny that it happened. Let me give you an example. Well, a high-paid-grade employee knowingly and intentionally submitted false and misleading information to the study. HR knew the information was wrong but used it anyway. Someone inside HR changed dates and manipulated numbers to assure that that high-paid-grade person would get a significant salary increase that they otherwise would not have gotten. We do not know who in HR made the changes or why. My guess is that someone just did what they were told. Now I'm sure Sally Hamilton could tell us but probably won't. Now, to be fair, she may not have known what was going on at the time. On the other hand, she knows now and she knew also she knew when she stood here and told you that nothing happened. After break, I will again be asking why the people on Byrd Thurman are treated differently from the people at 200 East Main Street. Now I have my opinion, and I will share that opinion with you, and it will be a perfect lead-in to the race-gender portion of the MAG study. Thank you. Council, that brings us to adjournment. Could I have a motion? All those in favor, say aye. We are adjourned. Thank you for coming. Thank you. We'll be right back. Disappear Tonight I'm yours Do anything that you want me to Tonight I'm yours Do anything cause I want you to Tonight I'm yours Do anything that you want me to Tonight I'm yours Do anything cause I want you to Tonight I'm yours Do anything that you want me to Don't hurt me, don't hurt me Tonight I'm yours Do anything that you want me to Don't hurt me, don't hurt me Tonight you're mine Tonight you're mine Do anything, do anything Tonight you're mine Tonight you're mine Tonight always to make you mine Do anything that you Do anything that you Do anything that you want me to Just do anything, anything you're all desired, baby. I'm out. We'll be right back. I met you in the Kingstown bar We fell in love, I knew it had to end We took what we had and we ripped it apart Now here I am down in Kingstown again Everybody's got a hungry heart Everybody's got a hungry heart Play down your money and you play your heart Everybody's got a hopeful heart Everybody needs a place to rest Everybody wants to have a home Don't make no difference what nobody says Ain't nobody like to be alone Everybody's got a hungry heart Everybody's got a hungry heart Lay down your body and you'll play your part Everybody's gotta hold your heart Everybody's gotta hold your heart Everybody's gotta hold your heart Everybody's gotta hold your heart Lay down your body and you'll play your heart Everybody's gotta hold your heart Hey, everyone. I'm Randy with LexTV. Welcome to this week's edition of Lexington Now for June the 29th, 2026. I'm here at Old Morrison here at Transylvania, the site for this week's patriotic concert. But more about that coming up next. This building was dedicated on November the 4th, 1833 and became an established venue for academic and civic gatherings. It's used today on the city of Lexington.