The, uh, the first item on our agenda today is public comment on the issues that are on the agenda. Does anyone wish to address the council? Seeing none, we'll move ahead. We do have a docket to approve. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Uh, Council Member Myers has moved to approve the docket. I hear a second from Council Member Stennet. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. We also have a summary to approve from the February 17th meeting. Is there a motion? So moved. So moved. Have a motion by Council Member Stennet and a second by Council Member Henson to approve the February 17th summary. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. We also have some budget amendments today. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Gordon and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the, uh, budget amendments. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries. And that takes us down to new business items, item five on the agenda. Move approval. Second. Council Member Beard has moved the approval of the busine- new business items and Council Member Gordon has seconded. Any discussion? All i- all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? I'm sorry. I didn't see you down here. Uh, excuse me, Mayor, I- Uh, Council Member Lane, before- I have an item I'd like to place on the docket for Thursday, February 26, 2009 council meeting. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor to execute an amendment to the contract with BRC Emergency Services LLC to increase the quantities of debris pickup in public picnic areas. So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Have a second by Council Member Ellinger. The motion is to amend the items of new business to include that, uh, resolution. Any discussion on the motion to amend? All in favor, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries. Council Member Gordon? I had some questions on new business. Are we still there? Yes. Okay. Um, on... And you actually might know the answer to this one. On A, um, which is the, uh, approval of advertising the administrative specialist in police. Now, um, how does this fit in with our hiring? Are we still under a hiring freeze and how does this fit in with that? We are still under a hiring free- freeze, but there are exceptions made where hires are particularly critical. And, um, I'll let Commissioner Bennett speak to this particular hire. This actually... And I've got, uh, Commander Stack to, to back me up here if you need more information than I can give you. But there's a position in the Division of Police in our central records unit. It's for the, what's called a Terminal Agency Coordinator, which is the person responsible for overseeing our interface with, uh, with the state police through the NCIC, National Crime Information Center and link systems. Uh, what we anticipate... And we had a person recently retire. What we anticipate doing by being able to advertise internally is to m- promote someone into that important position and then hold their position open and not fill it. So that's the current plan. Effectively, we'd still have a position open. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And then on item G, um, I- is Commissioner Webb here? Commissioner Webb? Hi, Commissioner Webb. On item G, this is the, um, s- one of the stormwater easements for the Clays Mill Road project and that's in front of the, um, I believe that's in front of the Unitarian Church out on Clays Mill Road and, and there's a... I, my question is very simple. There's a stream that runs right kind of along the Clays Mill Road and I wondered if there was any impact to the stream or if it's only on the other side of the road. Do you know? Uh, I believe what you have, and I may be wrong, we may need to get you some additional information, but I think what you have is drainage areas. There's, there isn't a curb on that road, but there's like a drainage ditch that runs down either side. And if... The new road construction definitely would impact that. I think there's actually ma- and maybe, I don't know if Council Member McCord's here, maybe you could get me some information on that. I would be more than happy to. Because I believe right in front of, right next to Clays Mill Road- Mm-hmm. ... in front of the Unitarian Church is a stream that runs on out through there and now, maybe I just think it's a stream and it's- I'm prob- I may be thinking about the wrong spot is probably what, what we're doing. But if you wouldn't mind, I'll get you that information. That, that would be great if you could- Okay. ... get me that. Um, I appreciate it very much. And then, um, on item, uh, I, which is the, um- ... uh, this might be an item for Charlie Martin. I saw him stand up back there. This is the -- This is the agreement with the Lexington Legends on the education piece for the stormwater and household waste management, and I was just curious, this is for $18,750, and I'm, I'm presuming this is one piece of a big education picture. Is, is that a good assumption? Th- That is true. You know, from, uh, I can speak to the water quality aspect of it. As you know, we're required under our permit, and, and also through the consent decree, to do public education and public outreach. We feel like the, the, the agreement we've negotiated with the Legends here gives us a, a really large conduit of which to be able to spread this message out. As you noticed in the packet is that, and one of the, we have an outford, outfield billboard for the whole season,, where we can be able to put our message out, directing people to our website, to where they can get additional information about environmental program where we're doing, everything from reforest to bluegrass all the way to neighborhood cleanups and all that. And, um, , we just feel like this is a good way to reach out to a lotta people, and also because this is fami- or family and, and kid oriented, that's a lot of our target audience as well, and I'm sure the same applies for the waste management folks. Ha- Has anyone spoken with the Legends a- and, of course, as, as I'm about ready to ask this, maybe we oughta s- be speaking to UK folks too, about doing, um, any TV PSAs or p- uh, announcements about this? Because, uh, one of the questions that came to me about the Legends games was how many different people go to Legends games in Fayette County. Um, and I know that TV, maybe TV is also part of what you're doing. TV has a huge impact because many, many different people over the weeks see, see the TV, and I didn't know how many different people from Fayette County would see this at a Legends game. You know, if you- Well, there's, th- there's, there's also a, a radio component of this, I do believe- Oh, good. Okay. ... that, that, but we are using TV as you s- I figured you'd be at my shoulder here momentarily. But we've been using TV, at least on the water quality aspect of it, through Fox 56. We've had these 30-second spots. They're ... I can't remember the title of them, but it has to do with greening of Fayette County, and we've done several different things along fats, oil, and grease, and rain gardens and those type of things. And the beauty of this is that once that Fox 56 is done with them, they take their logos off of it and turn it over to us, and we're able to run this on GTV3 and all that. So we own the product after it's done. Very good. And so that, yeah, that is also part of, of the overall programming, to reach out and, and get folks. Uh, but we saw this one as, as, like I said, in, in the initial phases of it and, and a lot of it intense negotiations with them is that we feel like we're gonna be able to get a lot of our target audience and get buzz about what we're trying to do. Okay, and it's a one piece of the whole big picture? Yes, ma'am. Okay, very good. I mean, if the ... The whole picture really needs to be environmental education across holistically what we manage in that department. And what we have done, and you all allowed us to do, was to hire a environmental education and public outreach manager, and that person will begin work Monday. So we plan to have, we wanna have a master plan that includes everything from TV and radio spots to public events. That calendar would include all of that information. This particular item, although Charlie addressed it because it, it, like stormwater, will also include household waste management and that sort of thing. It's a holistic look at environmental issues. Uh, the Legends Park has agreed to become a member of the WasteBusters program, so they're gonna begin recycling. So they're gonna kick off that season. Great. And then we're gonna have events at each game, and like you said, it's a very diverse crowd of folks, kids, all kinds of people that will be exposed to this. They'll have green moments, you know, Rosie Relay races, the billboard, and then, um, those kinds of things. So this is one small piece of a, an overall strategy, um, that we haven't really shared with you. You've seen bits and pieces of it over the last several months, but we want a comprehensive plan that we can share very shortly, so. Very good. Thank you very much. Councilmember Stennet. Uh, Commissioner Taylor, on that same item, I had a question. Um, just to clarify, are we spending a total of 18,750 or a total of 37,000? It's a total of 37 split between waste and water. I guess one of the things I have to say, waste and water typically did their own thing, and in this particular case, both of them had approached the Legends separately, um, and each were looking at a separate contract for information. And by combining that, um, they were able to reduce the, the cost, and then both areas are gonna split the cost, and we're gonna have messages not only in waste and water, but we'll also have some information about energy savings and those kinds of things that we think people will listen to hopefully, so. Okay, so just so everyone's clear, the funds that are coming from, are from the sanitary sewer fee that we collect and the garbage tax that we collect. Right. Those are the two accounts that- If we ... They're splitting it, yes. That they're coming from. Okay, very good. Thank you. Uh-huh. Sorry. Any further questions concerning the, uh, matters of new business? All right, those then in favor of approving the new business items as amended, please indicate by voting aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. We're now down to, um, the planning committee report. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. The planning committee met on February 17th. The first item which was on our docket was the electrical inspectors fee. Um, Commissioner Mike Webb and his folks are working on an update to the contract, and actually, um, this is on page 42, for council members, 42 of the packet. Actually, the council did not ask to move this forward yet for approval. Uh, Commissioner Webb asked for an opportunity to discuss the contract changes with the current contract holder. So, he's going to come back to us at our, uh, f- next meeting. And then the second item on the agenda was the, uh, new business item from late January, I believe maybe January the 26th, concerning private retention, detention basin maintenance. The council pulled that off of new business and put it into the planning committee, and this item is a requirement of the, um, EPA consent decree that they, uh, the, uh, water quality folks bring this forward to the council in the form of an ordinance. So, the planning commis- committee discussed this, um, and heard from Charlie Martin about the policy on, uh, maintenance of private property retention and detention basins. And basically, what this policy does is to codify the practices that have been in place for approximately seven years. And so, there was quite a bit of discussion, including how this information would be disseminated to the public, and the discussion ended with a motion by Vice Mayor Gray to move this issue back to the council, and I'm bringing this as a motion from the committee today, to be added to the docket for approval. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Gordon and a second by Council Member Stennet to bring that item back to the council. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. The third item on our agenda was the status of the Newtown Pike extension. And the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is handling the right-of-way for this, and LFUCG is handling the utility construction plans for the bridge. Um, the, we also received, in writing, a project status update for the Liberty Road project and for the Loudoun Avenue project, and these will be on our future agendas, uh, in written form. And then the committee updated its items in committee, and there were two items removed from committee, and I will bring those as motions to the full council since they were put into committee by the full council. The first is a motion by Council Member Stennet to remove the day treatment facility from the items on our list. So moved. I have a motion by Council Member Gordon, a second by Council Member Ellinger. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. And the final motion was by Council Member James to remove the issue of backyard setbacks from the planning commit- planning committee. So moved. Any discussion? Then those in favor of Council Member Gordon's motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. And that completes my report. Thank you. Next item on our agenda is a presentation by Partners for Youth, and I understand Larry Johnson is going to lead our discussion. Larry? Thank you, Mayor Newberry, and, um, thanks again to Andrea James, who's sponsor us here. Um, we're here to wi- I'm hoping, well, each one of you should have received a copy of our 2008 DMC report, and we would like to, uh, present to you a PowerPoint presentation based on that report. Over the past four years, a dedicated group of systems and community stakeholders led by Partners for Youth has worked to address the disparate representation of youth of color and detention in Fayette County. Some of those, uh, are here with us today. African Americans ages 10 through 17 make up approximately 18.3% of the youth population, however, were represented in detention at approximately 53%. That is three times their rate in the population. White youth, ages 10 through 17, in the same year, represented 73.4% of the population, but only 45% of the population in detention. A little over a third of that total population in local detention in 2005 were females. However, the d- disparate representation was different for females. Females represented approximately 9% in the population of African Americans and only 10% in detention. So, we're really, really, really, at that point, was concerned about males, but we must say that the female population of young people, African Americans and kids of color, are increasing. Martin Luther King says that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." We went backwards somehow. I need your assistance. You need to go back? Yes, sir. I need to go forward actually. Thank you. Our DMC strategy was to examine policies and procedures and laws and practices for potential for bias. Systems representatives on the committee conducted an internal examination of our, um, practices and policies to each other so that we could begin to understand how we all operated. And we felt that we needed, uh, an external examination as well so we were able to secure the assistance of two highly respected national consultants to take a look at our policies and practices and make recommendation for changes. We also felt it was important to increase opportunities for positive youth development, especially for those non-traditional youth. Those youth that are not necessarily the academic scholars, not necessarily involved in a lot of activities and things in their community. Um, we wanna thank you, Mayor Newberry, and, uh, those who came before him for funding Partners for Youth and the Grassroots program, our scholarship program, and you council members who supported the increase, um, supported increasing opportunities in your neighborhood. Um, we also decided that we couldn't just try to do something that would, that would have an impact today, but we had to look into sustainable changes. Um, and our committees, uh, those who are working with us, are committed to long-term change. In the first year, 2004, we conducted the initial stages of mapping the path youth follow through the system, from initial contact with law enforcement through to, through disposition. In the second and third year, we applied for and received a grant from the National Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Um, they were able to secure the services of technical, uh, s- services of Dr. Kimberly Leonard Kemp, who is professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Dallas. We also received technical assistance from the most noted organization in the United States, who is providing assistance to state and local communities. Uh, we were able to get that assistance through the State Juvenile Justice Advisory Board Subcommittee on Equity and Justice For All Youth and they were able to provide the assistance from the Haywood Burns Institute. Both technical assistance provided, providers submitted a list of recommendations in their reports and our DMC committee, uh, established four subcommittees to address those recommendations. One subcommittee looked at the leveling of disorderly conduct charges by school law enforcement, um, because it was a poten- it had the potential for discretion. Uh, we looked at how those charges were being leveled, um, what schools had the most charges, and, uh, looked into the definition of disorderly conduct to make sure that it was being used properly and we were quite satisfied with what was happening at the school level. Uh, we also realized the need to collect pre- and post-detention demographic data on a periodic basis, probably quarterly, so that we can, uh, kinda measure our outcomes. Pre- and post-detention data is, is being collected by various stakeholders, the police, the administrative office of the courts, the State Department of Juvenile Justice. Um, and because the data collected at various points in that process leading to detention seems to conflict because it's collected at that point and with the information that they have at that point, we have a data committee, uh, data sub-committee that's trying to determine which set of data is the best data for us to measure, to realize, uh, to measure, um, and inform our work. A third sub-committee was, um, a local risk assessment, our risk assessment instrument group. The committee determined that the only reason for placing young people in secure detention should be in the case where it is determined that a young person presents a risk to the community, a risk to community safety. A sub-committee was established to develop an instrument to provide a consistent set of information about the young person and about their criminal history to the judge that was making that decision. Lastly, we have a committee that is addressing the need for alternatives to detention, especially mental health needs. We felt that was important that we not just, we not lock a child up because of risk to harm themselves. We need to find resources, whether those are mental health resources or counseling, whatever, um, that would help reduce that risk to that child. But the child shouldn't be locked up for that reason. The work of DMC is more than collecting data and seeing what the data tells us. We really, um, need to make changes and commit ourselves to making changes. Um, this slide says that there is no social change fairy, uh, fairy. There's only change that's made by individuals. And of course, we need your help and the help of, of all our community partners to help make that happen. Over the past three years, we have witnessed some changes, and I'd like to talk about a few of those changes. One, we've witnessed changes in the criteria instrument used be local district court judges. One big change on the form that they use at that criteria document was to eliminate a area that allowed for an officer to request detention. Judges agreed that this space had the potential, uh, to increase subjectivity in that criteria document, so that was changed. Partners for Youth developed a Lex Fusion program and neighborhood youth councils that empower young people to identify barriers to positive youth development opportunities in their cl- in their neighborhoods and to participate in civic engagement activities to better their community environment. And Partners for Youth developed, along with its partners, a truancy assessment center that works closely with Judge Wise's truancy court program to direct students and their families to much-needed resources. A local way, runaway homeless shelter, which accepts referrals from judges as an alternative to detention, did not accept young people with assault for charges. They have revised their policy to make this, to make that decision on a case-by-case basis. As a result, a number, the number of accepted referrals from Mash, from the court has increased by 342% in Fayette County in fiscal year 2008 over their, the numbers that they received in 2007. I, I, I wanna tell you that that's a huge savings in that it cost approximately 200 and I think it is and 40 something dollars a day to house a young person in detention, whereas it only cost I think it is about 100 and something dollars a day, 119 or something like that, to house them at Mash. That's a huge saving, over a 60% per day saving. Prior to last year, it was a normal practice to detain a young person pending a hearing, uh, if a law enforcement determined that that kid, uh, that that young person had a runaway charge. Now, judges are, are called when a child is picked up or when a child is picked up. And that is heard on a case-by-case basis by a judge and they make the decision at that time. That's resulting in less young people going into detention that, that don't need to at that time. We've also witnessed a decrease, or an increase, I'm sorry, in daytime programming for court-involved kids. The Division of Youth Services now provide daytime programming, including the use of Play-Doh for students who are on suspension from school. That allows them to still work on their academic skills and to get their homework done and to, uh, kind of work, increase their grades. Local DMC efforts are bene- benefiting young people across race lines while addressing disparate representation of minorities. The overall number of youth detained in 2004 was 360, 206 were African Americans. In 2006, two years later, the overall number of youth detained had decreased to two tho- 233, which was a 33% decrease overall. Of those, 132 were African American, a 36% decrease in African Americans in detention, a decrease in the number of 74 young people who are African Americans. What we need fr- from council... It didn't change. There we go. I'm sorry. We would like for you to help us to identify and recruit champions, uh, such as local and state officers, such as, um, people that you all were, people that you know who can help us, help advocate for and promote community change and systems changes that reduces the disparate representation of youth of color in detention. We need your support for educating the community on the negative impacts of the use of detention for low-risk and non-violent offenders. Again, it is, we are very concerned about community safety, which is the, we feel, is the reason young people should be detained. Um, and it is the, it is the main reason. Uh, we would also like for you to help us promote Race Community & Child Welfare's Undoing Racism workshops in Fayette County. Um, there is one coming up soon. We don't know how many more of those without support we'll be able, um, the Race, Community and Child Welfare group will be able to, uh, put on but we need your support to help with that. We're working together. It's an issue that is across systems line, the same disparate representation that we see of youth, uh, in suspension rights in school, we see of youth who have come in contact with the cabinet and are in the, in foster and adoptive care or out of home care and also in detention. We would like for you to support, uh, the s- we would like for your support for the greater views of alternatives to detention such as shelter, foster care, electronic monitoring device while ensuring community safety. It is my understanding from looking at the community corrections budget that approximately $100,000 last year was budgeted, if not more, for juveniles- ... um, the use of detention could decrease the need for tho- that much funding for incarcerating youth, and could be used for, uh, prevention work and alternative to detention work. We would like for you to advocate with local law enforcement agencies across the board, that they would aggregate and report local arrest and release data by race, age and gender and charge. Uh, this would help us to be able to keep track of trends, and also inform our work. And lastly, we advocate... we would like for you to advocate with the state government, to support programs that provide delinquency and crime prevention and alternative to prevention services in Lexington. I really appreciate your time, um, in allowing us to come and share with you our report. We're quite- quite proud of our work. Thank you. If you need more information, uh, we do have our report online. Uh, on the government website, it's listed on your page, or you can contact me. Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you. Thank you, Larry. Let me, uh, just say, I very much appreciate your effort in this regard, as well as countless other projects I know you've- Just- ... been involved with in the community over the years. Uh, you're an excellent advocate for the causes, uh, in which you've been involved and I really appreciate your dogged devotion to bringing some of these- Sure. ... issues to our attention, because they need to be. Any, uh, questions for... Council Member James. Um, thank you mayor. Um, council members, along with the presentation, you should see a resolution draft and, um, I know there's someone here that can, um, speak on... if you'd like to speak on the draft a little bit, or what your in- the intention is, I would like to hear a little bit from you. Yeah. If you can identify yourself. If you can iden- I'm Kevin Sutphin and I am the chair of Partners for Youth. Uh, with the resolution, it's not a specific monetary request. Uh, it is more, uh, an acknowledgement that disproportionate minority confinement exists in Fayette County, that, uh, as a community, it's something that we want to address, and, uh, that you all are, will be supportive of that, and- and help us in our endeavors to, uh, to address that, uh, disparity. Uh, and one of the key components of that is the, uh, reporting of statistics that help us to, uh, uh, like Larry said, monitor trends, but also to, uh, pattern programming to- to address youth needs in Fayette County. Um, thank you very much. And so with that being said, being that there is no, um, budgetary impact, um, I do move that, of course, once reviewed by, um, our law department, I move that we place on the docket, um, the resolution related to disproportionate minority confinement, um, and place it on the docket for our next council meeting. Second. We have a motion by Council Member James and a second by Council Member Blues to add the proposed resolution to the docket at the next council meeting. Is there any discussion? All in favor then please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you mayor. All right. Let me thank all of you for being here today and s- a special... uh, wait just a moment. All right, Council Member Stennet. Thank you mayor. Just had a follow-up question. When we say minority, are we talking about all minorities in this report? 'Cause I know the resolution refers to all minorities. We are all ta- we are talking about all kids of color, all minorities- Okay. ... by race, if- if I can use that term. So it's not just African-Americans, and if you w- that one slide that we did present showed that even though we're addressing African-Americans because they represent the large- Right. ... disparity. Um, the impact of our work is affecting all youth. Okay, so we are track- Not just minorities, but all youths. ... Hispanics in there, all- all the minorities in our community, we're tracking that through your data, or they were a part, yeah. That is correct. Okay. Um, for Hispanics though, I think the percentage was only 1%, um, in detentions. Uh, what our work is doing, like I said, is impacting Hispanics, whites and- and, um, African-Americans. The way we like to... we- we- what we say is that we want to make sure that young people are being appropriately detained in Fayette County. If the disparate representation is correct, then we work harder in the community or wherever else we need to work, but we also working with the systems people, uh, looking at policy changes for potential for bias. So after today, wha- what does your group continue to work at, uh, o- on this issue? Where do you go from here? Um, we're working... W- our committees are still together. Okay. One committee is- is working on that, uh, risk assessment inventory. We're also working with the state. The state is looking at a new risked instrument, a criteria document that we can use. So we're working with the state on an instrument that they might impose on us as well. Another group, which is our data group, is working with the school systems, working with child welfare. We're all working together to kind of track some young people's records, to kind of see how we can... how... looking at what happened and what... and outcomes of these young people can feed our policies in the future. Again, Partners for Youth still has this grassroots program, its Lex Fusion program, its Neighborhood Youth Council programs, and we're increasing those to address what's happening on the community end. So the work definitely is continuing. Good, good. I wanted to make sure of that. And- and have you presented this to our state delegation, our state folks? We have not presented... We have sent copies of our report to all of our state, uh, representatives. Um, not our state representatives, but to our council, to our representatives, to our senate. ... people to the pr-- um, Administrative Office of the Courts to DJJ. Okay. Very good. Thank you for your work. You're welcome. Appreciate it. K-- Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Could you stay up for just one second? Yes, sure. Um, Councilman Stennet asked a great question on how... you know, what can we do to move forward, and what you guys are gonna continue to do in this area. Um, last year, I had, um, uh, Dr. Delanor Manson come in and present- Yes. ... um, and she did a great job of presenting about those, um, I guess- Disparities. D- disparities, but also the, um, seminars- Yes. ... on undoing racism. The trainings. The train- Yes. And it's a two-and-a-half-day training, right? It is a two-and-a-half-day training, and, um, at this point they're, they're asking that people commit to, to the whole full two and a half days. Several of our committee members have attended, um, and several people in law enforcement and, and s- the Cabinet and other, other, uh, agencies are attending. Right. At that time, I asked the Council to approve $15,000 to, to pay for one of those seminars, and we didn't have it in the budget last year. I know we're not gonna have it in the budget this year either, probably. But I would like to put that back out front and ask that, if there's a way to work that in, that we can do that this year. Um, secondly, and I, I kn- I know it's probably not gonna happen, but I just wanna keep that on the table. But secondly, um, I just had a kind of little sidebar with the mayor. On this resolution, where you talk about the police e- the LFECG, uh, UK, Transy, um, state, other police departments, that they report out the data, statistics, so that you can track. Um, I think the mayor said that he doesn't have any problem at all with LFECG starting that. So- Let me, let me just emphasize, I don't have any philosophical problem with it. I don't know what the logistical problems are. Uh, and I'll, I'll have to defer to Commissioner Bennett and Chief Bastin about that, but I don't have any philosophical problem with it. Okay. Thank you for that, and that clarification as well. So if we can work that out, and we get that worked out, it would be fantastic if we could do that, and we kinda set the stage and raise the bar. And then, as we move our resolution forward, we can encourage the state and UK- Exactly. ... especially with the chief, um, um, Beatty over there now, to go ahead and move in that direction as well. Maybe we can set the example. So we'll, we'll work on that as well. But it's great work that you're doing. I'm sorry that, that more youth couldn't be here today, but I guess they're probably in school where they're supposed to be. So thank you. We hope so. In the future. We're, we're counting on it. Yeah. But, um, but you guys are doing a great job, and I, I too commend this mayor for continuing to support your work. Thank you. Thank you. Anything further? I do wanna say a special word of welcome to Judge Maria Ransdell, uh, from the district at District Court here. Um, she's been a very superb supporter of all these efforts, and, uh, thank you for being here today, Judge. Thank you, everyone. All right. Um, I'd like for, uh, Terry Burkhart to join me at the podium here in just a second. We have a, a short presentation here. With me is, uh, Terry Burkhart, who's the CEO of the Bluegrass Chapter of the American, um, Red Cross. And I'd, I am sure many of you, since you have had a chance to serve on the council, have developed a heightened appreciation for all that the Red Cross does in our community. It is, uh, amazing how many times we are finding ourselves in need of calling upon the Red Cross's services. And, uh, I have a brief proclamation here that I wanted to, uh, share with Terry, and, and then I'll let him introduce several other folks who are here with the Red Cross today. Whereas, each March, we formally recognize the American Red Cross and the critically important humanitarian role it plays in the Bluegrass, and whereas for more than 90 years, central Kentucky has relied on the American Red Cross Bluegrass Area Chapter to respond to dozens of disasters each year, and to shelter central Kentucky families in their time of need, and whereas the American Red Cross Bluegrass Area Chapter helps local communities prepare for disasters by training thousands y- each year in health and safety practices, and whereas the American Red Cross is entrusted with providing support and assistance to the US Armed Forces and their families in times of war and peace, and in that role, the Bluegrass Area Chapter serves over 30 central Kentucky military units, sending hundreds of emergency messages to servicemen and women stationed overseas, and whereas the staff of the American Red Cross Bluegrass Area Chapter is 95% volunteer, and we salute those who answer the call to serve others in times of need. Now, therefore, I, Jim Newberry, Mayor of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as American Red Cross Month, and I encourage all citizens of Lexington-Fayette County to support this organization's noble humanitarian mission, and to thank those who volunteered to serve. Congratulations, Terry. Thank you, Mayor. And if I could just add to that, uh, recently, we had a great example of a partnership working together with the city and numerous other community organizations during the ice storm. During the ice storm, we operated a shelter in this community for eight days. We had 259 individual registrants who spent 682 nights in our shelter. And as the mayor mentioned in the proclamation, we are really a volunteer-based organization, and we couldn't provide that necessary, uh, service to our community without the support of our volunteers. We have a number of volunteers here today, and would love the opportunity to have a photo with you, Mayor, in recognition of all their good work. And maybe we could give them a round of applause. Can you help me scroll down, since I changed his screen? It's there 'cause he told me before he had to move it. Ready? Keep going. You've got to go to the next thing. It's counseling. You can click here to go fast like this. Where? Like that. Oh. That should get you there. Oh. It's high tech. Or if you want, you can press that. When you get off, you have to put the mirror over it. Oh, no. I got it. All right. Looking good. Can you smile for me? One more, just for the camera. Very good, thank you. There you go. Look good. Very good. Thanks a lot. Pretty good. Damn right, Mayor. I recommend he show up. Damn right, Mayor. We gotta learn to live with you. Sorry, Mayor. Thanks again for your being here with us today and, and for all those occasions when you all have stepped into the breach in our community. We're very grateful. All right. We're ready now for council reports. And, um, it appears as though Council Member Meyers may be ready. I'm ready. All right. Council Member Stennet, then. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of announcements. One, just a reminder to my colleagues that we are having a special budget and finance meeting next Tuesday at 10:00 AM here in the council chambers to continue our discussion, uh, in regards to the Lyric Theater project. So it's next Tuesday at 10:00 AM. And then also, I wanna thank the Mayor, and Vice Mayor, and Council Member Gordon for coming to our neighborhood meeting last night for the Sixth District Presidents. Um, they were very impressed to see you all there. And, uh, we do appreciate your time, and, and sticking around until almost the bitter end, so to speak. I know it went a little longer, but, uh, thank you all for ta- making an attempt to be there. Mayor, I know you had other engagements, and thank you for, for coming by. I appreciate that. And also, Mayor, I didn't know what our plans are in terms of the ice storm and having a debriefing, uh, government-wide or, or with the council as to areas where we possibly can improve on the next ice storm 'cause I don't think it's a matter of when or if, it's a matter of when because I think we'll have it again. But I think that there is some, uh, ways we can improve. There's a lot of good ideas the community has, uh, whether it be from assisting KU with tree trimming or, or areas within government to come improve our communications. Is there a plan to have a debriefing in regards to that? Uh, there is. Um, Commissioner Webb spoke to that, I guess, a week or two ago briefly. And, um, I'm not sure to what degree that has started yet, but I know that was in the works, particularly with regard to, um, making a reevaluation of our snow and ice removal plan. Um, but I think that was scheduled to begin in March. Is that correct, Commissioner Webb? Mayor, we have been so busy with this first snow, I haven't had a chance to schedule it, but yes, that was our intention, uh, particularly with the snow plan because we've sort of- Uh, I'll tell you, if you'll come up to the microphone, it will probably, uh, help those watching on GTV3 hear what you had to say. And, and Commissioner Webb, if you would, just take it from the top here, so, uh, everybody will know what you're saying. Yes. Uh, we c- that was certainly the intention that I expressed with the council, that we, f- particularly the snow plan, that we needed, once we got away and got the debris all collected, and, and we can tuck this one away, that we would sit down with a group, uh, and review our snow plan particularly. But, uh, I think it certainly warrants to take it even outside of that. Uh, I, I know everyone is very interested in looking at the snow plan and seeing how we might adjust it, how we may add priorities. But I, we continue, I know it doesn't look like that, but we continue to be extremely busy with the debris pickup and just trying to take care of the daily stuff, so that hasn't been scheduled yet. And, and that's fine. I, I just, I don't want us to forget about some of the lessons we've learned from, from this event, whether it be from our EOC operation, our 311, the street plowing. There, there are several things we need to go over. As long as we have an opportunity to do it as a group here, uh, and address that, that'd be great. We'll, we'll convene that. Um, but obviously, the folks in, in Streets and Roads are a critical component of that, and, um, they're still pretty well engaged at the moment. Oh, we are extremely engaged still, at this point. And I will add a note, to your all's credit, and to Commissioner Taylor, last night at the neighborhood meeting, I know, Mayor, they, they applauded the efforts of our private collectors that are out there doing the job in our private areas, as well as our public collectors. Uh, the folks in Solid Waste and, and then all the neighborhoods were very impressed with the speed in, uh, at, at which we were getting to a lot of the large amount of debris. So, thank you all. And they, they gave a sincere thanks to you all. I, I appreciate that. I'll tell you the, the thanks goes to those folks really that are coordinating this. Uh, a group out of engineering is, is working with the debris collection and we, they have shuffled people in and out as inspectors to keep that going and staying on track and getting all the streets we need, need to get. And water quality is providing people. Again, this is not just a Streets and Roads effort, this is LFUCG-wide effort. And I will pass that thanks on to them 'cause they really are deserving of it. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Beard, I think has a question before you get away. Uh, Commissioner, uh, would it be appropriate at all to have, um, someone from Kentucky Utilities come also at this time and... I know in, uh, the, uh, 2003 ice storm they, uh, uh, spun out a bunch of, uh, statistics as to how many poles they had to replace and how many this and how many that and how many miles they walked, uh, to give the public some appreciation for the scope of this, um, this one, eh, especially. Uh, I certainly think it is, uh, inappropriate, particularly when you get into the, the tree area, but what we'll probably have to do is, is have a small session and kinda break out everything we wanna take a look at and where we have over, overlap with KU, I think that's when it's appropriate to bring them in. But we can discuss that with a small group of people and come back with what we would propose. Okay. All right. All right. Anybody else have a question for Commissioner Webb about that topic while he's here? All right. Uh, then we'll move along. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I had two items. The Stormwater Fee Task Force will meet Thursday, February 26th from 9:00 to 11:00 AM here in the council chambers. And I, I think and hope we're about to wrap up our work and bring, uh, something back to the council. And then secondly, I simply wanted to report that last week, almost a week ago, we held a joint planning committee, planning commission workshop. It was very well attended by all planning commission members and approximately two-thirds of the planning committee council members with a couple of council members who are not on the planning committee. It was also, we also included our Board of Adjustment chair and our Board of Architectural Review chair, along with many of the planning staffers. And I believe if you talk to most folks, it was very well received and, um, this is the first time we've done this for many, many years and the outcome is that now that we've laid a foundation of understanding of what, um, each person's job is within their particular board or commission, we have set a second workshop which will occur in about a month and we're actually going to look at some issues which we identified in this workshop as, um, items for further exploration and, and understanding and perhaps to move us forward on some, uh, real important planning issues. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Council Members, I've passed, um, out to you a list. It starts off with, um, project name, description going across the top. This is a list of proposed neighborhood development bond fund projects. Um, about a month or so ago, I sent around an email asking for your input, your projects that could be done, um, completed by June the 30th. Um, I can give you a brief history. If you wanna know, the bond fund goes back to 2005, I believe, and we're about termed out on that bond life, and we had some rem- um, a remaining balance and wanted to give council members the opportunity to submit projects that, or kinda short-term projects. In front of you are the list of projects which have been approved by the Neighborhood Development Bond Fund Committee, um, which is comprised of Council Member Lawless, Council Member Blues, Council Member Martin, myself, and Council Member Crosby is also on that committee, and we've consulted with our parks staff, um, commissioner and director, um, that would be responsible for the projects that are in our actual parks, and then several of the projects are actually neighborhood-based projects, um, and have some contacts that are within the neighborhood. So, if you see some contact people on that sheet that you're not familiar with, those are, those are neighbor- neighborhood folks that will be working. So, I bring to you... Um, I make a motion... Oh, I should let you know that we do have to get approval of the Bond Council for these projects. So, what I'm bringing to you is a motion to approve the list of various projects presented by the Neighborhood Development Bond Fund pending approval of the Bond Council. Second. Thank you. Th- the motion, um, by Council Member James and seconded by Council Member Blues is to a- approve this list for purposes of issuing bonds subject to Bond Council's approval. Is that- That's correct, Mayor. ... a fair statement of it? Um... All right. Any discussion? I, I've got just one question. Go right ahead. Um, I haven't added this up, but it appears as though it would be less, you know, somewhere in the 250, $300,000 range, which is a, pretty- It's 344,765. Okay. That would be a pretty expensive, um, bond issue by itself. Is the idea to incorporate this with some other debt that we are, are incurring in order to spread those issuance costs over a larger sum? Um, if Mary Fister is here or someone from our... Here you go, Bill. Okay. Mr. O'Mara. I'm not sure how the, um, how the Neighborhood Development Bond Fund works in conjunction with our other bondings, but I'm sure you could answer. Maybe. Uh, I'm not sure either, but I think I can give a clarification. The bond was issued in '05. The proceeds have to be spent by June 30th of this year. Great. That's all I needed to know. Does that answer your question? That, that does indeed. I- Wonderful. ... missed out on the 2005 issuance, by, about- Okay. ... two years. All right. Uh, Council Member Ellinger. You said 345,000. How much do we have left to spend? 'Cause we just made a list and we decided we're gonna just, everybody- 345,000. So was, was this, uh, did everybody m- Was this the total list, or- This is it. Are, are ... Yeah. So how did you come up with the 345? Somebody said, "I need 10,000." Somebody said, "I need 15,000." And then- These are com- This would be the cost to complete the project. So these- So we had exactly the same amount that we needed was given? We worked very hard to get very close to that amount, absolutely. The total is actually, um, the total of the projects is 344,765, and I think we're at like 345,000, um, for a remaining balance, with, uh, the caveat that Tom Blues has a project here, and he could come up with a little bit of money on one particular project if it goes a little bit over. I could do the same thing. And one of the estimates, we believe, is kind of high. Um, there's a Woodland Park Plaza project which actually is, is bid kinda high out for what we're going to end up, what we're gonna end up doing. So it's probably, the 60,000 will probably be less there. Okay, I'm good. We worked very hard with... We've been meeting for two years on this, so we've, um, worked very hard to get that number exactly, as precise as we possibly could. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Blues. I just wanted to add, um, with regard to the, to the, to the, uh, Bond Fund Committee's deliberations is that w- w- w- w- we were, we were, uh, very concerned to, not to, not to try to fund projects w- which were at risk of not being completed and not being paid out by the, by the expiration date. And so some larger, uh, larger projects where there were various uncertainties and contingencies were, were, were eliminated. So, uh, then it s- it seemed most feasible to work with smaller scale projects that we could get a, a, a good grip on and had, uh, you know, had, had more than reasonable certainty that they could be completed and paid for within the time limit, so. All right. Then my understanding, my, my understanding of the motion now is that, uh, the motion would be to subject to bind council's approval, submitting this list for payment from the 2005 bond, bond proceeds. Yes. Is that correct? All right. Th- Is there any more discussion? Then all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? And we'll add a resolution to the, um, docket to that effect. All right. Uh, all right, Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Dave, if I can have you come over here, just get ready to say a couple words. Uh, let me make a couple of announcements. Uh, first off, next, uh, Tuesday night, March 3rd, at seven o'clock is the sev- uh, Stonewall Neighborhood Association's annual meeting. And, uh, certainly wanna welcome anyone in the Stonewall neighborhood to come out to it. It is at Stonewall Elementary. Uh, also, Mike, uh, while you were up here, I wanted to also say thank you. Uh, no need to come up, but Commissioner Welby, I really do appreciate, and have been receiving a number of calls, uh, from folks about public and, and the private folks picking up debris, and, uh, and the job they're doing, the attitude they have. And, and so I just wanna say thank you publicly as well to you and to everybody that's involved in that that's doing it. Um, y- y- it's definitely being noticed and, and people, I think, as Council Member Stennet said, when we do our debrief, uh, this is gonna be one of the, the things we did really right in the deal. So I really appreciate that. Uh, if you've got something to say, come on forward. I'm sorry to take the time to, to walk all the way up here, but I, I really don't wanna miss the fact that environmental quality and solid waste, it's not, not just me. They are, there are people who are out there, and I'll tell you, everybody's getting really tired. Well, I appreciate it, and, uh, Commissioner Taylor and, and everybody that has, has a hand in this, just know that citizens are calling, and they're very appreciative. And, uh, I was out Saturday morning, eh, running through Chevy Chase and saw trucks picking up, and, and, uh, it's, it's happening everywhere at all kinds of hours. And so I'm very appreciative. Thank you. Um, uh, I wanted to bring Dave Elson, uh, executive director of the W- High Street Y, uh, forward, because on our agenda items, I... ... for new business, uh, that we approved. Uh, I'm really pleased with agenda item, uh, B, and this was a, a grant application that we made for the Safe Routes to School program, which is a federal transportation program, uh, and this is a unique way to go about going after these funds, uh, partnering with the YMCA, uh, we being the applicant, they potentially being the, uh, administrator of the funds. And, uh, again, as we move forward into a budget crunch year, uh, as we move forward into some very interesting times, I think that, uh, it's gonna be critical for leaders to start to find new ways of doing things, because we can't keep doing it the same old, same old way. That, that is the lesson that we have to, uh, to really understand. And so, Dave, if you wouldn't mind just taking 30 seconds to a minute and just talking a little bit about, uh, what your all's part in this is, and how you kind of look forward to, to more opportunities like this. Happy to. Um, thank you all for having us. Uh, Mayor, in your proclamation of the Red Cross, you mentioned that, that, that the Red Cross is there in times of crisis, something like that. Uh, the YMCA also is, is concerned about things, uh, and we really do see it as a crisis. Uh, nationally, the YMCA, uh, has an Activate America initiative. Activate America is the YMCA's response to the growing health concerns across the country. And, you know, who better to do it than the YMCA, really, uh, to respond to this. So if not, you know, us, who? Uh, w- we've done a lot of things in, in Fayette County in, in the last couple of years, and the Safe Routes to School, uh, is, is part of that. Uh, the way we see that we can help out and reach out into the community, just k- getting, getting people active, getting them healthy, uh, and, and, and taking a new approach. Uh, we've, we've been working on childhood obesity and different things. We're working, uh, Council Member McCure, with you, on, on, uh, uh, getting trails and, and bike paths done, uh, healthy eating and we see the Safe Routes as, as another way that we can reach out in the community and get some things done. Um, Safe Routes is basically to enable and encourage youth, uh, in their support of, of, uh, healthy, uh, spirit, mind and body. Getting them to think a little bit differently. Uh, some of the things that we, um, some of the projects include, um, getting students biking, getting p- get pedestrian education, walking school buses perhaps, which is a terrific idea. Uh, bicycle safety awareness, earn-a-bike programs, public awareness campaigns, uh, things like that. Um, the Y is not gonna make money doing this. We're not gonna do it. We're just doing it to get, uh, get kids active. We appreciate your all's support and we look forward to it. If we do receive the funds, we look forward to being administrators of it. So thank you so much. Dave, I really appreciate all that you, you all are doing and I know that, uh, we've got leadership at the top that's from Kentucky, uh, in Audrey Haynes that has been, uh, uh, diligent about securing a lot of funds for us and there's some real opportunity, uh, ahead of us and I appreciate you and, and all those on our staff that, uh, looked at this creative way to solve it. You know it's something near and dear to my heart is, is the recreation and activity level, uh, of our kids and, and our whole community so, again, thanks for coming down and just explaining a little bit about the partnership. Mayor, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Hinson. Thank you, Mayor. Um, last week I attended a luncheon at the Embassy Suites along with Vice Mayor Gray and Council Member Beard. Um, it's a realtor's community housing foundation. They do a lot of really, really, uh, good things for the community such as, um, home repairs for elderly and disabled that do not have funds available that are low income. They address, um, accessibility issues. If an elderly person becomes disabled, um, they would build a ramp to allow access into their homes. Um, if you have a low income, disabled or elderly person that their furnace or air conditioning unit goes out, they'll come in and have volunteers that replace that. And I just thought it was such a great program and I... Already has agreed to, um, to arrange for them to come to a council work session and do a presentation. Um, I knew they existed, but I, I was just enlightened when I went last week, so I wanted to share that. Also, um, Keighley Green Homeowners Associations are having a meeting Monday the 2nd at seven o'clock at Gardenside Christian Church. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Gray. Uh, thank you, Mayor. First thing I'd like to do is acknowledge what Council Member Gordon was, uh, mentioning, uh, earlier in her report, which was the joint meeting of the planning commission and the, um, planning staff and the Board of Adjustments Representatives and BOAR and how really meaningful that was and to recognize that those who, m- many who've served on the Infill and Redevelopment, uh, Task Force for the last couple of years, this was one of the many recommendations. And to see it, uh, actually come alive is rewarding and inspiring. Um, the second thing I want to do is, uh, report on the Town Gown meeting last week, and fortunately Officer Keith Gaines is here and he's gonna share with us, uh, a recommendation that came out... Or actually, his recommendation. But while Keith is coming to the, to the, uh, um, podium, um, I'd like to give him a little praise quickly. Um, he gave us a report at Town and Gown last week as the chairman of one of our sub-committees and let's see, Linda was, uh, Council Member Gordon was there, Council Member Lawless was there. Peggy, were you there? You weren't there, right. But you heard about it. Anyhow, Keith did a great job of, uh- ... illustrating, uh, his sub-committee, which is new to this organization the last year or so, um, to Town Gown. It's a new structure that was created to, uh, tackle issues and really keep 'em in front of us. And he not only took that challenge as the leader of it, but he also took it further and created a business plan for this year with nine, uh, strategies that he's tackling with that committee. And I just wanna say, Mayor, uh, I know this, this points to the administration. It's a credit to the administration, to the chief, um, to Commander David Boggs as well. The leadership of these CLEAR Units is really outstanding. Ran the last night at Kevin's, at Council Member Senate's, uh, neighborhood mees- meeting was illustrated. But these guys are going beyond, and I'm saying that gender neutral, these guys are going beyond the traditional boundaries, beyond the traditional job descriptions in taking leadership roles to do problem-solving that's really helpful for our community and our neighborhoods. And Keith has an example of that, that he's gonna share with us today, and it has to do with the, um, our Herby management. First of all, I'd like to thank everybody. I know, um, this isn't my first time up here and for all the, the praise and having everyone willing to listen. Uh, make this brief. What I'm looking at is maybe to get into the services committee to relook at the existing Herby ordinance. Um, possible small flaw that we have that I've realized talking to neighborhood associations and working around the university area. That is, um, our existing ordinance for, um, Charlotte Turley to enforce the Herbys not being brought back and taken out, um, as we enforce on our own government, uh, with private companies. She has, or we have no way of enforcing those. Um, it's not in our ordinance to enforce that against private, uh, solid waste companies. And I think with the conversation, um, with Councilperson Lawless, that it's probably due to the fact that when this ordinance was originally written, that they still went to the houses and picked them up, that the Herbys were a fairly new idea. And, um, so it was written for, I guess, our government with that in mind. So maybe take a look at that to, to put the same restrictions on the private companies. Thanks, Keith. And what we'll do is we'll put that recommendation, I can't remember, uh, I'll make a motion that we put that in. Where did we set for it? Services Committee. Services Committee? All right. So moved. Second. All right. Second motion by Vice Mayor Gray and a second by Council Member Gordon to refer the Herby ordinance to the services committee for review. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, finally, just on that same, uh, theme, um, what Officer Gaines did here was work cross-functionally within the government, brought people together beyond one... beyond the silos of just police, went beyond the ones, his own silo and pulled others in for, for cross-functional problem-solving. And it's a really big deal, and it's a really big tribute to an organization that's continuously adapting and changing and taking on new initiatives. So we appreciate that. Um, finally, uh, I'd like to announce that, um, Maureen just got a call this afternoon, uh, in my office saying that the auditor's report for the airport will be available. Copies of that will be available in the morning at 8:30. They'll drop them off at the council office for all council members. Meetings at 12:30, right. 12:30 tomorrow, special meeting. 12:30 tomorrow, special meeting of council right here. All right. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to, uh, also applaud the efforts of the, uh, the Red Cross. I, I was over there on Wednesday night, uh, uh, of the, uh, the shelter at Dunbar High School, which is in my district. And, uh, I was there same time as the mayor was, and I was just really quite impressed with how professional they were, uh, the Red Cross professionals. Some of them were here today and, uh, the healthcare professionals and the police and the fire department emergency services. Everything was very, very professional. I was just extremely impressed. Um, I wanted to send a congratulations to the Dunbar Varsity Cheerleading Squad who recently received first place at the state championships and third place at the national championship competition in Orlando, Florida. Dunbar's in the 10th District, and we're proud of the job they do out there. So well done. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks. And let me piggyback for just a moment on your, your remarks about the Red Cross's shelter there. I think unless you, you've been there and you've actually seen how it operates, I think there's a perception that that's something you don't want any part of. It's just a shelter of last resort. And as you described it, they did an outstanding job of checking people in and, and there were recreational activities, there was healthcare being provided, there was food being provided. And I can't say enough positive things about the overall effort that the Red Cross did. I should have said that while they were here a few moments ago, but you're exactly right. It is, uh, it is a very useful alternative for folks who may find themselves without, uh, electrical power. So- It was hot food, cold drinks, comfortable beds and plenty of it. That's right. Thank you. All right. Uh, Council Member James. Um, thank you, Mayor. A few moments ago, I got distracted and I forgot to mention that, um, tonight is the central sector public input meeting. And this is, I believe, going to be a phenomenal meeting. Um, for about 10 months, there's been a steering committee made up of, um- ... Urban County government staff, planning staff, the consultants, residents, and other, um, invested organizations in the central sector area. For 10 months, they've been working on this, on this plan, and it's very intricate, um, dealing with land use, um, zonings, um, infrastructure, roads. Um, I think that one-way, two-way thing is in there, if you all wanna come out and talk about that one. Um, and, um, tonight, they unveil their draft, their final draft, to the public at six o'clock at the public library. And I just want to encourage all folks, even if you don't live in the central sector, come and just kinda get a feel for what the small area planning process is, is like, um, because I do believe it is an effective, um, n- community revitalization, um, effort or program, and I think that you'll be very impressed with, um, the work and the input. We talk about citizen engagement involvement. This is prime opportunity for citizen engagement involvement in a tangible way, and something that actually will become part of our comprehensive plan, and, um, will be the guide for the future of that central sector. So, I hope to see you all there at the public library tonight at six o'clock. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just wanted to announce that, um, at, if you call, for citizens who are eligible for the earned income tax credit, um, we had, I think it was 22 million dollars that were due our community last year that didn't come back to our community because people didn't take advantage of that at tax return time. And so, uh, I know the mayor may want to speak a little bit about the partnership that he entered into earlier this year, but the new Gainesway building, which is located at Milano and Gainesway, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they have volunteers that are preparing tax returns, um, for free. And if you're eligible for that earned income tax return, they'll make sure that you receive it. The way to find out... And they're also doing these all over the city at different locations. The way to find out what location is closest to you and the time is to call United Way's, uh, 211, and they will, um, assist you in finding the locations closest to you. So I just wanna put that out there, and make sure that we get some of that $22 million back here. Thank you, Mayor. I think you said it very well, so I'm not sure I can improve upon that. But you're so right in highlighting that this time of year, there are a lot of people who are entitled to get money back from the federal government that just don't go to the trouble of completing a fairly simple form. And, um, if you think you, you might be eligible, please call the United Way. They can provide you with information about where to go and, and the eligibility requirements as well, I think. So, I appreciate your mentioning that. Does anyone else wish to make a report? All right. I think we have one matter I need to raise in the mayor's report. We're not... Count, uh, Commissioner Taylor, do you wanna come forward now? There was some discussion about whether we needed to do this in closed session or not, but the last I heard was that we were gonna do it in open session, so, uh, Commissioner Taylor. Okay. What I wanted to do was give you a short update on what's going on with the property that we discussed on Old Frankfurt Pike, uh, back in December. And as you might recall, we had an agreement, um, for that property to be put on hold while we did what we call the fatal flaws analysis of the property, to determine if there were any reasons that we may not want to move forward with this, uh, potential acquiring of the property. And what we did, uh, we used, um, GBB, the same company that did the, uh, waste assessment for us a few years ago, um, did a, uh, overview of that property, and they, uh, looked at floodplains, conservation easements, zoning and land use, permits that would have to be obtained, the size of the site and whether it would accommodate the type of expansion we're discussing, wetlands, transportation network, our phase one environmental, and our geologic geotechnical hazards. And we did get that report back. Of course, there's always, we're on kind of tight time frames, but we got the report back last week, and they do have some information on several areas that are of concern. For example, that particular property does have quite a bit of floodplain around it. As you may recall, uh, Town Branch and Wolf Run both come together right on the corner of the property, so that, to some extent, limits what you can do on certain portions of it. It has a large overhead power transmission line with an easement, so that just below that line, you can't build a building. You could do, uh, uh, parking lots and that sort of thing, but not a building. We have, um, some opportunities there for greenways, uh, the site has some contours that are gonna make it a challenge, but those things are all basically, um, as we reviewed them, seem to be problems that we could address, uh, with design choices that we would make on a facility. The one that seemed to be the most, um, pressing was, a potential fatal flaw, was the fact that although it's zoned industrial, it does have a restriction on the property as it was platted in about, I think it was 2000, that says you can't recycle non-ferrous metal and glass on that site. Um, in doing some research on why that was put into play, apparently the folks at the time, uh, that the plat was, um, entered had some concerns about, uh, recycling that could go on that site. Um, what I do know about that site at this point in time, though, is that, um, as a, uh, potential neighbor on that location, we can certainly address any issues that anyone would have in that area about what we would place on that site. ... and had talked about doing what's called a public facilities review, this would be my first one, uh, to get public input on what that potential site building might look like. Um, we had in mind any facility that we would place on that site would be a completely enclosed operation unlike where we are today on, uh, Manchester and Thompson where we have a lot of storage outside and that sort of thing. We were interested in providing a facility that would be completely enclosed, energy efficient, and really model the same type of, um, building that we would all like to see that's energy efficient, green, um, and fits in with the contour of that property. The other piece that you asked me about, and again, this is very preliminary, but we have been trying to collect actual data on what we generate as a city. I have a lot of gross tonnage numbers, but the data that we collected, uh, the first set of data that we collected was done in December. We're gonna do another round in about a month to get spring data. But the first round of data included residential, commercial, and industrial waste. We took 50 loads of garbage and sorted it out, every single thing in the trucks. We got 80 waste streams sorted from that. The 80 waste streams were all considered streams that had potential to be recycled or reused in some way so that it could be avoided going in the landfill. And i- it's very preliminary data, but essentially, we found that somewhere between 75 and 85% of the material that currently goes to a landfill in, in Fayette County has the potential to be reused. And I've got a breakdown, this is not gonna be the final result, but we will give that. For example, paper, about 20% of what we're sending to the landfill is paper. Uh, includes all kinds of paper, books, cardboard, corrugated, those kinds of, it's a mix of paper, different types. Now, we don't have markets for all of those today, but potentially, there is a market, and part of the next step of analysis that we're going to do is, well, based on what we project is the amounts that we generate, what type of market, what kind of return could we get for that material? Another area, of course, plastics, um, that was a little over 12%. Glass was small, 3%, people are recycling that pretty well. Metal, about 3.7, but a big surprise was organics, uh, 34.8% of the first round that we got were organics. That includes leaves, grass printings, people were putting material in the Herby that could go into the compost field. Foods, liquids and those kinds of things. Of course, organics tend to be sort of heavy, they tend to be wet, so this was a, a weight thing that we were doing. Um, other products, we had rubber, we had, uh, textiles, carpet, uh, different kinds of things like that. So i- i- it's enough to indicate that based on what we think we're doing today as far as what's going to the landfill, a significant proportion of what's going to the landfill today could have another use. And that use could range all the way from composting to some sort of recycling to even some sort of a waste to energy opportunity, and, and that's something that a lot of communities are looking at now. So it's very preliminary, but based on what I have seen here on, as far as the analysis of the property and what we think we can generate potentially by recycling waste, we would like permission to move forward with negotiating an option for that property. Um, right now, we have uh, no money tied up in this. At this point, what they've asked us for is, um, to allow the check that we gave them previously for $83,000 and change to be used as the deposit to buy us additional time to get more data and make a better, uh, assessment of the economics of the deal, so. Thank you, Commissioner Taylor. Let me, um, uh, say to everybody that Commissioner Taylor's been working pretty diligently on this whole process for several months, and I am delighted that we have gotten as much information together as we have to this point, but as you can tell, there is, uh, still an opportunity to try to further refine the information that has come to us by more thoroughly evaluating the ra- waste stream, by taking a little further look at the property- Property. ... and, uh, making some judgments there. So th- the issue here, just to try to let everybody know exactly what we're focusing on is, should we proceed with the payment of the $83,000 for the option to save the property, or should we, um, walk away given what we have heard to this point? So that's kinda the question. I, I move that we move forward with the $83,000, Mayor. Second. All right, I've got a motion and several seconds. I'll put Council Member Myers down as, uh, number two there. So, uh, uh, is there discussion on that motion? And I guess I'll, I'll go to the list here. Council Member Gordon. Uh, have you had an opportunity since we discussed this in closed session in December to talk with all of the new council members? Not in detail. I see. Um, I'd be happy to do that to give you more background, um, on this. The, the reason it's coming forward today, one of the details you would need to know is the agreement that we, uh, went into in December would, would hold the property till February the 27th and without any cost to us. And so we were given a little time to go and try to do some first blush look at, at that property and whether it would be useful. So. Well, I, I think it's a good idea to go ahead with it, and there would be time before second reading to be sure everybody's questions were answered. Uh, I'm not sure, uh, I, I need a little help where we are procedurally on this. I think we had authorization to enter that agreement and make the payment based upon the action of the Council last November, December, something like that. Keith, can you help us out, help me out? That's right. The option to purchase the, the tricky part right now is the fact that come February 27th, we can't pull that money back. The Council already authorized the option to purchase, which is a six-month- Okay. ... option. So you can use the remainder of that time to finalize or attempt to finalize this, but that money is non-refundable once it's spent. Yeah. O- okay. And then I had a couple more questions that don't apply to the motion, so I'll ask those in a minute. All right. Any further questions then, or issues, comments? Uh, Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I, I, I guess I'm, I'm confused- Yeah. ... about the res- the restriction on the plat. Can you, uh, are we sort of rolling the dice on this m- this money before we know what's gonna happen with the restriction or are we sure that we can get that resolved? She referred to it as a platted restriction. It's actually when that zone change occurred and the zone was changed, it's a condition on the zone change. It's a binding element of the zone change? It is, except not to the government. So it's not gonna impede us from using this property for what we wanna use it for? Correct. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. I'm operating off the screen right now in terms of trying to get folks lined up, so Council Member Lane, anybody else? All right. All right, um, my question was that if we elect to purchase the property, the 87-5 does apply to the purchase price? Okay, good. Thank you. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, first, uh, uh, Cheryl, you and I had a q- quick conversation about this earlier, and, um, I- I'm, a little bit about this, I'm still, um, concerned about it. I don't know if the word is concerned or not, but I know that we have a lot of moving parts to a project like this, and not the least of which is a, a business plan that has to do with moving an existing facility in the future and, um, dealing with, uh, private sector competition, at least that's emerging and where that takes us. Um, also the location of this and the Old Frankfurt Pike corridor and the potential for that, integrate, integrating that with the Town Branch and the opportunities with the Distillery District. So there are a lot of moving parts to it. I appreciate your foresight in looking at this. My support for this at this point in time is based on the belief that on first, your confidence in the project and the belief that between now and when we might actually purchase the property, that we will have a really compelling business plan that addresses all of these issues. But primarily, the business side of it, as far as the, the government operating in a long term and sustainable way, um, this operation. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else wish to speak to the motion now? All right. Um, the motion from Council Member McCord was to proceed with the, uh, payment of the $83,000, which is an effect to say, do not ask for the check back. So, uh, those in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Let me, uh, let me tell you that there's probably not anybody in Irvin County Government that has had any, uh, greater series of challenges thrust upon them than Cheryl Taylor and, and the folks in Environmental Quality. And I, I could not be more pleased. That's not to say we've hit every, every, uh, step we should have, have taken along the way, but it's been remarkable how much progress has been made, and I think we're just now really beginning to see that department beginning to take the kind of shape where we can, we can really make some dramatic strides in terms of our environmental stewardship as an organization. And, um, this recycling facility is a key element of that. There's some operational improvements we can make to increase the capacity of the facility we currently have, but I think Council Member Blues can attest that's something less than an ideal location that we've got. And furthermore, even if we make the maximum operational improvements there, we just don't have the physical space to begin to accommodate the waste stream that's currently going to the landfill that could be recycled. So our future off Manchester Street is limited, very constrained by the space. And whether this ultimately proves to, to satisfy the very legitimate concerns that Vice Mayor Gray raised a minute ago is something that we won't know until we really start crunching the numbers. But all of the preliminary indications are exceedingly positive. And, um, I think it would be, um... I- I'm very, very pleased with your decision today, and I'm, I'm delighted that we're able to move forward. Now, having said that piece, I think there's some folks that wanna speak to some issues beyond what was on the motion, and Council Member Myers? Um, I- I just have really a comment. I... You're doing a fantastic job. I appreciate everything you're doing, and I look forward to moving forward with this project, and eventually moving to a flat tax for solid waste. Thanks, I appreciate that. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Commissioner Taylor, thank you very much. I had a couple just little questions. Um, if I understood, your waste stream analysis was only from Urbees. Only from Urban County government E-families. Yes. Right? Um- We, we... Yeah. Go ahead, sorry. Uh, well... And, and thinking of the context that our city has set a goal of being waste-free, garbage-free- Mm-hmm. ... by 2020? Or is it 2030? Well, we said 2020, 'cause we're being aggressive. That's eight years. That's... Yeah. Yeah. 2020. We're aggressive. That's 12 years from now, and I'm all for that goal. I think that's where we should be headed, and with that, um, you know that we've put the issue of private haulers into services committee, and the standard of the private collection, which I believe should be at least as high as ours. And so, I guess, with that said, you know, um, if, if we, the city, uh, Urbee users, have that much lawn waste in their Urbees, I'm not sure what would be in the private collection system. But, um, I think where we need to move with this is to require a standard by everyone. And how we get there is gonna be up to law and you and to, to provide us with something that will legally be in co-... stand up in court, and where we can say to our community, "We've set this standard, and everybody has to meet the standard, no matter who picks up their garbage, and no matter who picks up their recycle." So I'm, I'm just saying all this to say I'm really excited about what you learned by... and I'll look at Steve Feast by going through the garbage. I'm really excited by what you learned about how much of that can be recycled, and appreciate all your hard work on it, and look forward to even, even more hard work on this. Thanks. So, thanks. Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Commissioner, can you tell me the percentages again of, um, the reuse and recycle product that came from... You mentioned com- um, compostable, 33% I think it was? Hmm. And, and again, this is the first set of data, so- Right. ... we're... We may get some shifts, especially when we get into the spring. But, um, yeah. The paper, we had 20.2%. Plastics, 12.3, which I thought was a bit low. Uh, glass was only 3%. Hmm. Metals, 3.7. Organics was 34.8%. Um- Okay. Steve's been a big proponent of us finding other uses for organics, and so, that's a opportunity for composting and... Uh, then we had some other products which were kind of a mishmash of everything from textiles and carpet, rubber, um, even furniture and appliances. That's 19%. Wonderful. I think that... I mean, although it's not good that everything's going in the Urbee, but the fact that we know and have this analysis, I think it's amazing, um, because you hear of other cities doing some really creative things and, um, revenue generating things based on the products, the streams that are coming out of their waste. So, thank you for your work, and I'll continue to, uh, work with you through the links process, the budget links process, and beyond, um, to do whatever I can to assist. This is... I think it's very exciting news. I think it's a great opportunity. Steve is a, a fan of changing the name of Waste Management to Resource Recovery, 'cause he's been pretty... he's been sort of the brains behind this, and, and, um, you know. So, we do think we have a lot of potential opportunity here. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member McCord. Uh, I'm just gonna add to that, and thank you again for this. It's something that I, I enthusiastically made that motion, because we've been talking since day one when you came in that, uh, I saw this as, as one of the greatest opportunities for our government and for our citizenry, in that, um, something like this becomes a catalyst for not only a better tax system, as I believe Council Member Myers said, uh, but also, uh, all kinds of new revenue. Not only from resource recovery, but, uh from a, from an entirely new green economy, and I think that that's what's at stake here. And so, as citizens listening in on this when we're talking about, about property, I think it's really important to come back and, and just point out that we, we have a, uh, a current facility that is almost maxed out. Um, it's, it's not a, um, a facility that really can, can increase too much in its current state. We have all kinds of stuff that's going in, into the landfill that could be recovered, and that's just, as Council Member Gordon said, from, uh, what LFUCG can monitor. Uh, and you can probably take those percentages way up with, with private haulers and so forth. Um, and we have a situation where, um- We have the W- Brookings Institute comes out last year and says we have the worst carbon footprint in America. All these things are opportun- are a tremendous opportunity for us, uh, a city that's based on a, on a payroll tax to create new green economy. And so I, I see this as a real catalyst for that. And the one thing that I wanna keep pointing out to folks, uh, and I, and, and we've said this in private, but I wanna say it on, on the mic, is the reason why I appreciate all that you're doing and the speed at which you're moving is because, uh, come May, we're gonna ha- have 200 and some city leaders go to Madison, Wisconsin on this chamber leadership trip. And Madison is the most recycling-friendly city in America. Mm-hmm. And when these folks see what that means to that city, to their economy, to their, to their environment, I, I think what's gonna happen is you're gonna have a real, uh, tsunami of support for something like this. So there's very important for us as a council and as a government to run these numbers down and they, to really get a grip on this, because I think that as Council Member James just said, this is probably one of the most exciting things. In all this doom and gloom, here sits a tremendous opportunity. And so I would say let's put every resource and every bit of creativity towards, uh, towards moving forward. Thank you again. On that note, let me, um, remind all of you of, of one aspect of city finance that I think most of you are familiar with. And that is, we have some very significant constraints in our general fund right now, but the money that supports our Department of Environmental Quality comes from other funds, the sanitary sewer fee, the, uh, so-called garbage tax. And, and we do have some ability to grow. So if you see some, um, hiring being done in environmental quality, it's an effort to try to get Commissioner Taylor and, and Steve and Charlie and Susan Bush, uh, the sorts of resources they need in order to do their jobs more effectively. Uh, we do not have a hiring freeze on those jobs outside of the general fund, so we're trying to get the resources there. And, um, I agree entirely with what you had to say, Council Member McCord, it is an exciting opportunity for us, and we're trying to build a infrastructure that's there necessary to support these efforts. Council Member Myers. Mayor, since you, you brought that up, um, it was brought to my attention the other day that we're advertising some new positions in solid waste, I believe. Could you maybe speak to... and they're, they're creating new positions, I, I think. Could you speak to what those will bring the government and the citizens- Uh, well, actually, I'll, I'll defer to Steve- Okay. ... or, or Cheryl about those particular positions. Uh, I don't know which of the two. Steve, come on up. We'll put you on the spot here. Yeah, 'cause they're, they're in solid waste. Talking about the program manager senior positions, I can start, but Steve is the details guy. Um, the way waste is organized currently, you have Steve and then you have, um, two people helping with operations, one person running the recycling center, and, and a very limited number of managers. Um, we have supervisors, but most of the folks that work in waste management are boots on the ground, out there picking up trash, handling our recycle. Um, so the majority of people are really dealing with the day-to-day. And what we wanted to do in, in Steve's shop is create a structure that would allow them to be able to proactively look at waste as an investment opportunity and manage that way. So we've split the function into three main areas that currently do not have a manager. The two, the two we advertised, I think this weekend, were program manager senior, that person will be responsible for all of the operations and collection for recycle, compost, all of those systems that are out in the, out on the streets. They also will be responsible for enforcement, and they will be responsible for helping us implement, eh, eh, routing efficiency, uh, projects that we wanna do. The other senior will be responsible for the recycling facility, marketing, um, materials marketing, uh, the Waste Buster's program. Help me. What have I forgotten? Composting, landfills, those are big areas. Landfill's been one of those things that, as a city, we've sort of managed, um, in an informal way, and those are, are areas that we really do need to focus a lot more attention on because of some compliance issues that we're redressing currently. And then also at Hailey Pike, opportunities that we have. We have a lot of property out there, and we have opportunities with that property. So that person will be sort of our technical resource person. They'll manage the recycling program, the composting program, the landfills and that sort of thing. And then the other side of the house, they'll manage collections and operations. Centrally, um, they don't have an administrative officer, uh, Steve does not. And we had planned on adding that administrative officer position to handle the human resource issues, the budget management, and also customer care, customer service. Um, the, the waste folks, they, they are a very large piece of the Lexcall call-in. Uh, what we do now in waste is we, we do miss pickups, we do miss those kinds of things, and it's our goal to have 100% satisfaction. And so we are going to implement in that central position, uh, more of a customer care contact to work with Lexcall and to do more followup on these calls. So it's a three-pronged organization that we w- we're doing that actually models what Charlie's doing in Water. He's got the same setup. He has, um, the technical resource group. He has the sanitation and collections group, and then he's got an admin person in the center. So we would have models that would match each other across the two media. I don't know if that helped. Is that- ... yes, it did. If, if Steve wants to add anything, that's fine. It's better if I had a visual for you. We have a little, uh, organizational chart that might make it a little easier, and I didn't have that with me. I'm sorry. Okay. No, that's okay. Just one final question though. Um, when you talk about efficiency and that customer service, um, and the routing. Mm-hmm. We had talked before and I'd asked the question a couple different times about, uh, GPS on our trucks. Uh, and I think that Rama said that they were looking into that. H- h- have we made any movement on that? Today. We had the final two candidates, uh, came in and gave us a live demo of their, uh, programs. We're looking at systems that would allow us to do a better job with safety and compliance by allowing pre and post trip inspections. Uh, the... Each truck would be equipped with a, what they call a rugged screen or a rugged tablet, but we could actually route and download routes to people so that they can... we can re-route people, and we'll route them in such a way as to reduce mileage, reduce time, reduce fuel, um, and those kinds of things. They had some samples today from the companies that we looked at that showed, um... Gosh, I forgot. Was it Houston? I think they went from 130 something routes down to 88, but added another 150 household, thousand households or... So there... It's ways for us to, to maximize the resources we have, expand service, improve service, but minimize the resources that we have to use to do that. So this morning we, we looked at the final two candidates and are in the process of, um, deciding which is the best, um, program that we think we wanna come forward with you all to... on a recommendation, so... Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you. Anything further? All right. Thank you very much Commissioner Taylor and Keith and Steve. That's all I have. The last item on the agenda is public comment on issues not on the agenda. Does anyone wish to address the council? See none. Is there a motion to adjourn? Move. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Lane and a second by Council Member Gordon that we adjourn. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Oppose, no. The motion carries. Thank you.