Please join me in welcoming Mayor Jim Newberry as he delivers the 2009 State of the Merged Government address. Mayor Newberry? Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Let me begin with a word of thanks to the Lexington Forum for hosting today's events. You've done a marvelous job, and I am most appreciative. And let me also say how deeply honored I am by your presence here today. This would be a marvelous turnout under the best of circumstances, and to see this many people turn out on a day with the weather being as inclement as it is, is, uh, just remarkable. I think it speaks well to the level of commitment that folks have to the City of Lexington. I am very, very grateful for your presence. Members of the council and my fellow Lexingtonians, Charles Dickens authored one of the most memorable lines in English literature when, in A Tale of Two Cities, he wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." When I read that quote as a high school student in 1971, I thought it was completely nonsensical. But when I read it as mayor of Lexington in 2009, and consider the state of our merged government, I now understand the wisdom of Dickinson's words. The next two years may well prove to be the most challenging and yet the most productive two-year period in Lexington's 234-year history. The current e- economic environment provides our city and its residents with more than enough financial challenges, the worst of times, if you will. However, the ALLTEK FEI World Equestrian Games create an unparalleled opportunity for Lexington to tell the world about our best attributes, our people, and our place. And with the groundwork laid over the last two years, coupled with good prospects from a federal economic recovery package, we have the opportunity to produce one of the most significant eras of constructing and repairing our infrastructure that Lexington has ever seen. The best of times, if you will. It is in this perplexing but exciting environment that we embark on the 36th year of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. Today, we have the chance to both reflect on the past and to ponder what the future may hold. So I ask that you join me to look back at some recent accomplishments, and to look ahead at challenges that await our city in the coming year and the, in the years ahead. After considering the state of our merged government and the state of our city, we clearly have our share of short-term challenges, but we also have great reason to be hopeful and positive about our future, in spite of the short-term challenges. When I finish, I hope you will share my optimism about the future of our city and its citizens. Two years ago yesterday, members of the 17th Urban County Council and our administration met at Shaker Vid- Village to consider Lexington's priorities. That exercise yielded the six pillars, the environment, economic development, a community vision, innovative planning, enhanced communication, and effective government. While we all wish that we could have done more, the track record in all six of those areas has been solid and progressive. I shared much of this information with the council at the recent swearing-in ceremony, but I wanna share it today with this broader audience so that all of you will know how much the 17th Council achieved. The two years since our Shaker Village retreat have been marked by a concerted effort to provide the citizens of Lexington with a greater return on their investments in local government, and to improve the state of their merged government. Let's begin by looking back at our environment. We successfully resolved our litigation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and we raised the sanitary sewer fee to provide the necessary funding for the projects required by our agreement with the EPA. We aligned the organizational structure of LFUCG to reflect a greater commitment to our environment when we created the Department of Environmental Quality. We have taken the preliminary steps to expand our general recycling capacity, and at the same time, we have expanded our electronic waste recycling, increased our recycling income, and made $50,000 in grants available for neighborhood environmental projects. Although it received far less attention, our decision to join the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, or ICLEI, is an enormously significant step toward addressing Lexington's climate change issues, and that decision will yield significant benefits in the years to come. In recognition of our remarkable dependence on tax revenues tied to the strength of our local economy, we invested in our economic development initiatives. Expanded relationship with Commerce Lexington has worked well, with far faster results than anyone could have reasonably expected. The Bluegrass Business Development Partnership among Commerce Lexington, the University of Kentucky, and LFUCG has received an international economic development award, and I expect you'll be hearing more good news about the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership later this week. Moreover, the council's approval of applications for two tax increment financing districts in our downtown area has set the stage for even more economic development in the years to come. We said we wanted a common sense of direction for our community, and the first phase of the Destination 2040 project is complete thanks to your support and the involvement of approximately 3,000 Lexingtonians, including many of you who are here today. Destination 2040 serves both to reaffirm our community strengths and to identify common goals for the future, and I'll return to Destination 2040 in- in just a few minutes. Just as the best planning requires a long-term perspective, so too does our effort to provide more innovative planning. Our reorganization tied our division of planning with the Department of Public Works. Four small area plans, intense planning efforts focused on specific areas in our community have been initiated for the central sector, the east end, and two segments of the Nicholasville Road corridor. Our planning for the downtown streetscapes has produced award-winning designs. Finally, the decision... the state's decision to relocate both Eastern State and Bluegrass Community and Technical College has presented remarkable planning opportunities for our soon-to-be-created Higher Ed Triangle. When Bluegrass moves to Eastern States' campus, we will have a higher education triangle formed by the campuses of UK, Transy, and Bluegrass, with downtown right in the middle of it all. Any city in the world would love to have that arrangement in place. We committed to enhancing our communications efforts, and again, our reorganization aligned our actions and our words. The reorganization created the Office of the Chief Information Officer. The result has been vastly improved information technology efforts and improved operations in our government communications division. Lexcall's hours of operation have been expanded to facilitate greater access by citizens, and our GTV3 programming has been enhanced. Our website's role in communicating with our citizens has grown exponentially as we have added an assortment of information and video streaming of many meetings. In December, we launched our new website at lexingtonky.gov, and with that new look came the opportunity for citizens to do business with LFUCG online through a new e-commerce function. Our last pillar was effective and efficient government. We have already discussed the enormous significance of the June 2007 reorganization of LFUCG. Without that landmark action by the 17th Council, we would not have achieved as much as we did, nor would we be poised to achieve similar progress in the next two years. In addition, the decision by the council to fund and implement a government-wide management review was a courageous one. The report from management partners provides us with a roadmap for improving the delivery of LFUCG services, and I look forward to continue to implement those suggestions. We reduced the overall size of the LFUCG workforce, primarily through attrition and retirements, even though we increased the number of police officers and expanded our Division of Water Quality personnel in, in order to satisfy the obligations of our EPA agreement. Finally, you may recall that when we gathered for this address two years ago, we were struggling to have our financial reporting software produce accurate and timely reports, a key element in effective and efficient operations. Thanks to the dedicated work of many individuals, we now have reliable financial data. While there may have been more that we could have done to advance the six pillars, it's fair to say that the 17th Council can be justly proud of its accomplishments during 2007 and 2008. Because of our January 26th, 2007 commitment to work together on the six pillars, I am confident that historians will view the tenure of the 17th Council as the most productive two-year period in the 35-year history of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. Thank you. To those individuals who served on the 17th Council, please know that your record is one against which other councils will long be judged, and I wanna thank you for your efforts. As a result of the council's work, and the work of many dedicated Irvin County government employees over the last two years, the state of our merged government is much improved. But now, it's time to look ahead. The challenges and opportunities awaiting our city in 2009 are numerous, and they are significant. In some cases, they're unprecedented. Today, I wanna share with you three such challenges. Undoubtedly, our financial challenges must be addressed first, but there are also challenges associated with the President's economic recovery package, and with the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which merit our attention as we consider 2009. John W. Gardner, the founder of Common Cause, once said, "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." Indeed, I believe many of our seemingly insoluble problems are but mere great opportunities for those el- elected to serve the people of Lexington during 2009. However optimistic we may be about Lexington's long-term prospects, the short-term fiscal challenges in our general fund are serious. Even though the healthcare and education components of Lexington's economy are recession-resistant, our economy is not recession-proof. The next 12 to 18 months will not be easy, but we will endure. When it ends, Irvin County Government will be better prepared to deal with the future than it has been for years. Here's how. First, we must ensure that our current fiscal year ends without a deficit, despite questionable revenues. In light of our uncertain revenues, we will continue to limit current expenditures to assure a balanced budget this year, and to attempt to carry forward a surplus into fiscal year 10. Second, we must soon prepare a budget for fiscal year 10, which, at the moment, presents an estimated $27 million general fund shortfall just to continue existing services. Fortunately, with the help of the Policemen's and Firefighters Retirement Fund Board two weeks ago, we have developed a plan for funding the pension fund over the next five to six years while avoiding a new $20 million expense in fiscal year 10. I am grateful for that board's assistance. However tough fiscal year 10 may prove to be, please know that it could have been much worse without the help of the Pension Board. Third, we must implement a storm sewer fee as required by the EPA so that we can continue the implementation of improvements to our storm- storm sewer system. But there's also some good news. These financial challenges give us the chance to make Lexington generally, and Irvin County Government specifically, better. In 2009, we should take several steps to make Irvin County Government work faster, better, and cheaper as we await better economic times. So while waiting for revenues to rebound, I intend for our administration to pursue the following 10 low or no-cost steps to lower the cost of operating LFUCG and to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Number one, reducing the garbage tax. I have asked the council to reduce the property tax for garbage collection during 2009. We have an accumulated surplus, which can be used to address our waste management problems. And by operating more efficiently in the future, we should not need to keep the tax at its current level. Number two, conducting internal strategic planning, and number three, conducting performance reviews. As an organization, we need to develop a strategic plan for LFUCG, and then evaluate the performance of all in relation to that plan. It will cost us little to take these steps, but the benefits of those efforts can be significant in 2009 and beyond. Number four, improving the permitting process. Our permit review process has been far too complicated and far too slow. That process must be thorough. But to avoid increasing the costs of projects, the reviews must bo- move more simply and faster. In the end, citizens will benefit when project costs are lowered by making permitting less expensive. Number five, proposing lobbying ethics legislation. Lexington citizens need to know who's getting paid to lobby Irvin County Government, just as citizens know who lobbies both the state and federal governments. In 2009, we can make that information available. Number six, proposing one or more new TIF districts. Tax increment financing creates a mechanism to promote redevelopment efforts by keeping in Lexington tax dollars that otherwise would go to the state. We need to continue to find creative ways to put this financing tool to work for the citizens of Lexington. Number seven, creating an office for neighborhoods. Our neighborhoods are vital to our efforts to improve our city, and we need to provide our volunteer neighborhood leaders with a source of ready assistance when they work with LFUCG. In 2009, we can help our neighborhood leaders do their jobs better. Number eight, creating a facilities management database. LFUCG owns a significant number of real estate parcels. When we arrived in 2007, there was no comprehensive list of the properties we own, let alone a detailed listing of important facts about those properties. By developing a comprehensive facilities management database, and by permanently integrating it into our electronic financial data, we can do a much better job of managing the real estate facilities which Lexington taxpayers have entrusted to us, both for 2009 and the future. Number nine, expanding contracting with minority businesses. And number ten, encouraging job training through our purchasing power. By using LFUCG's purchasing power, we can encourage minority businesses to grow, and encourage employers to provide apprentice programs to provide their employees with the skills they need to do better work and to earn better wages. Fortunately, these initiatives will not require huge expenditures of funds, yet they will enable us to serve the public more effectively in the coming months and years. In short, despite all of the seemingly insoluble financial challenges, 2009 presents a great opportunity to make LFUCG work better than ever before. Beyond our financial challenges, we have both enormous opportunity and enormous challenges in 2009 as a result of President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. If adopted in its current form by Congress, we will have access to unprecedented financial resources for improving our civic infrastructure. As we gather today, the precise contents of that legislation remain uncertain, but the general parameters of the bill are exciting. Substantial funding will be ma- will be made available directly to cities through the Community Development Block Grant program, through various public housing initiatives, and through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. The President's plan calls for significant investments in roads and other transportation infrastructure, much of which will be made available through state governments. Congressman Ben Chandler's 21st Century Classrooms Legislation, passed by the House in 2008, was incorporated into the President's plan. The President's plan also includes the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program, an enormously popular program from the 1990s that should enable us to put more police officers on the street. In short, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan has the potential to provide incredibly positive opportunities for our city and for the entire country. I encourage all of you to contact Senators McConnell, and Bunning, and Congressman Chandler to let them know how vitally important the prompt approval of this legislation is to Lexington. While it is a complicated proposal, just remember this simple fact: the recovery plan is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to fix many of the infrastructure problems which have been neglected far too long. We are fortunate to have a president and a Congress that understands the crying need to invest in our cities, and I thank them for their efforts to address these pressing needs. However, just as we are confronted with unprecedented resources, LFUCG will be confronted by an unprecedented challenge of how to ensure that those once-in-a-lifetime funds are spent wisely and transparently on solid projects that create jobs, so that the public will have confidence that we are being good stewards of their resources. Not only is it the right thing to do, but if we are to have any hope of seeing additional federal investments in public assets, it is incumbent upon us to be sure that the money is spent even more carefully than if it were our own. This challenge is especially significant since we will be asked to spend large sums of money in a relatively short period of time, a combination of events where mistakes are often likely to occur. To monitor our efforts, this week, I will appoint a mayoral commission comprised of members of my administration, council members, and members of the public to determine our spending priorities and to oversee the expenditure of the recovery plan funds. Further, we will use our website to provide regular updates on the status of each project, on the number of jobs created by those projects, and how we address the problems which will inevitably arise. I will ask the commission to report regularly to the council, and I will probably be asking the council to hold special meetings over the course of the next six months as we initiate our efforts. Finally, we will work with the US Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities to identify other steps which we can use to assure a high level of accountability, and to ensure that we utilize the best practices available to maintain the public trust in our efforts. In addition to the financial challenges associated, uh, with our current economic environment and the challenges associated with the recovery package, we are confronted with the challenge of supporting the state's efforts as we host the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The games present both a fun and positive challenge for Lexington, but a challenge nonetheless. For the last couple of years, we have been gradually getting ready, but now is the time to accelerate our efforts. I will be asking the council to provide increased staff support for those efforts, and I will be asking the business community to provide financial support for our downtown festival. In addition, subject to the council's final approval, we have reached a tentative agreement with the Games Organizing Committee, which will detail the nature of the city's relationship with the games. The games present us with an unprecedented opportunity to tell the world about our unique history and our unique landscape, as well as our unique love of horses and horse lovers. If the 2006 games are any indication of what to expect in 2010, approximately 500 million people around the world will watch the games on television during the 16 days of the event. Now, today, many of those people have no earthly idea where Lexington, Kentucky is. But by October 11th, 2010, they will know. That fact alone makes the games important to Lexington in ways that are hard to fully comprehend. In 2006, I met with the mayor of Aachen, Germany, and he told me that he considered Aachen's 2006 games to be equal parts of culture and sport. I share that view, and I firmly believe we can use the games to help the world better understand Lexington, and to help Lexington better understand the world. I'm also confident that for 16 days in September and October 2010, there will be few places in the world that will be any more exciting than Lexington. But I'm also confident that for the 20 months or so between now and the start of the games, there will be few places in the world any busier than Lexington. Our challenge in 2009 is to marshal our resources and talent to gain full advantage of the opportunities the games present. I know we can meet that challenge, and I am confident that we will. To paraphrase President Obama, the challenges Lexington face, faces in, in 2009 are real, they are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But especially in light of the presence of new leadership in Washington, I have never been more optimistic about the city's longterm future than in January of 2009. Because in this year, we will meet Lexington's 2009 challenges, and in doing so, we will begin to prepare our city for a new era of prosperity and progress in the years to come. But to more fully prepare for that new era in our history, 2009 must be about more than just 2009. For Lexington to regain its status as the Athens of the West and to achieve a new level of prosperity and progress, this year must be about doing more than just dealing with the current problems which confront us. This year must be about laying the groundwork for our city's future. In 2008, we undertook Destination 2040, our community visioning project. We asked citizens from all across Lexington to dream about what they wanted our city to be in the year 2040, and the results were fascinating. The Destination 2040 report, which is currently being considered by the council, reflects recommendations distilled from the input from thousands of Lexingtonians. It contains four longterm recommendations, and in each of the four major aspects of our community life, human needs, physical growth, economic expansion, and cultural creativity. It also contains some short term recommendations called momentum builders that will help us build the momentum necessary to achieve the longterm goals. I hope many of you will review the report on our website, lexingtonky.gov, and I hope that the council will move promptly to finalize the draft report. Even though the council may ultimately revise some portions of the report, there are a handful of ideas which we should undertake now simply because they are great ideas with great support throughout our community. First, in 2009, I will work with officials in our contiguous counties to establish the Bluegrass Diamond, and with officials in Louisville and Northern Kentucky to enhance our role as a participant in the Golden Triangle. The Bluegrass Diamond concept is one which envisions Lexington working closely with its seven county neighbors to address multiple areas of mutual concern. While we will have neighborly disagreements from time to time, the issues which unite us are far more common and far more significant. Second, in 2009, we must work to make Lexington a national leader in adopting a secure electronic medical record system. President Obama has made this area a priority in his recovery package, and we need to move immediately to capitalize on the opportunities which the president's leadership has created. Third, in 2009, we must continue our efforts to fund the bike trail system and to complete Complete Streets throughout Lexington, so that roadways will serve pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation, as well as cars. In the last two years, I have been overwhelmed with the community support for our recently completed trails, and I cannot wait for the completion of the trail from the Horse Park to downtown. There is much more work to be done to meet our community's demands for expanded trails, and we must meet that need fully and without delay. Fourth, in 2009, we must pursue major advances in funding for the arts so that our arts community can be nationally competitive. We have a remarkable level of every kind of artistic talent in our community, and we have an unlimited opportunity to attract more artists in the future. If we establish Lexington as a nationally competitive location for artists, our economy will be better, the funding for our local government will be better, and our quality of life will be better. Last, but perhaps most important, in 2009, we must begin to take the steps necessary to make Lexington an environmental leader in reducing greenhouse gases and employing sustainable choices in housing, transportation, and other community activities. Ladies and gentlemen, it is imperative that our city, our state, our nation, and our world move without delay towards combating the effects of global warming. I am past the point of debating whether or not our climate is changing. I believe the evidence is overwhelming in support of the notion that our planet's climate is rapidly changing. But even if you reject that idea, we should aggressively pursue every form of energy efficiency to achieve the benefits associated with lowering our utility bills. There is a compelling case that American ingenuity can be used to develop new energy-efficient technologies for the world to use. I believe that Lexington can make a meaningful contribution to that effort. As the home of a significant number of energy researchers at the University of Kentucky and the home of many professionals with energy experience, we can develop green technologies that can ultimately be used to develop local jobs. Further, our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases can provide immediate employment in Lexington for individuals who know how to operate a caulk gun, who can replace windows and doors, and who can install insulation in homes and businesses. We certainly want the jobs which come from developing solar panels and other high-tech, energy-saving devices, but until those jobs develop, we can put people to work now and for months to come making our existing buildings more energy efficient. And significantly, as we make LFUCG buildings more energy efficient, we will reduce the utility bills that our taxpayers have to pay. In 2009, we will take significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint. As the year progresses and after the council acts, we will implement other Destination 2040 concepts. But for now, we will get the ball rolling and start building the momentum necessary for Lexington to achieve the potential identified in Destination 2040. So, to those of you present today, and to those watching on GTV3 throughout our community, I ask that you consider what role you can play in helping Lexington achieve the Destination 2040 goals. Your elected officials cannot achieve these goals for Lexington if citizens do not participate. But if everyone participates and we work together on the common goals identified by our fellow citizens, there is no doubt that our city will be widely recognized as America's pre-eminent mid-sized city. So, what can be said about the state of our merged government and the state of our city? In simple terms, it's better than it was, but it's not yet as good as it can and will be. While we have accomplished much in the last two years, we have much work to do in 2009 to address our financial challenges, to maximize the benefit of the President's recovery package, and to prepare for the World Equestrian Games. In addition, 2009 creates a time for us to begin pursuing the common goals for our community that thousands of Lexingtonians have helped to create. Today's world presents us with a challenging financial environment. But however challenging the environment may be, there is no doubt in my mind that we can and will turn these seemingly worst of times into the best of times for Lexington and its citizens. In 2009, may God bless our city and its citizens. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, for your comments and your leadership that you've demonstrated. We are proud to have you as our mayor. The Lexington Forum would like to thank you for the opportunity to host your State of the Merged Government address today. Thanks to your LFUCG staff for their assistance and to GTV3 for their broadcasting today. Congratulations to Dr. Stevens, our Lexington Forum Spirit Award winner. The Lexington Forum is very fortunate to have our new Executive Director, Don Brockman, who's joined us this past year. Thank you, Don. A very special thank you goes to Kim Sweezy, who has been invaluable as, as the Forum Midnoon Committee Chairwoman today. Thank you all for being...