# Urban County Council Work Session - April 21, 2009 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · April 21, 2009 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/870 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/870?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2009-04-21 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: June 17, 2026 - **Length**: 20,254 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Urban County Council convened on April 21, 2009, with Mayor Newberry presiding over the session. The meeting addressed six agenda items spanning legislative, budgetary, and ceremonial business. Council members approved requested rezonings, budget amendments, a broad slate of new business items (Items A through Q), and a Public Health Heroes Award, while also receiving informational updates from the Inter Governmental Committee and the Corridors Committee. Over the course of the meeting, seven motions were brought to a vote, two public comments were heard, and two committee presentations were delivered. ## Attendance All members were present at the April 21, 2009 Council meeting, with no absences or late arrivals recorded. **Present (17):** - Mayor Newberry - CM Beard - CM Gorton - CM Lawless - CM Ellinger - CM Stinnett - CM Myers - CM Blues - CM Crosbie - CM Feigel - CM Martin - CM James - CM Henson - CM Lane - CM McCord - CM Crosby - CM Gordon **Absent:** None **Late:** None ## Votes and Decisions The Council took action on seven motions during the April 21, 2009 meeting. - **Rezoning – Lansdowne Drive (R-1B to B-1):** Moved by CM Beard, seconded by CM Gorton, the Council unanimously approved placing an ordinance changing the zone from R-1B to B-1 for Lansdowne Drive on the docket without a hearing, subject to certain use restrictions. - **Rezoning – West High Street (R-2 to B-2B):** Moved by CM Lawless, seconded by CM Ellinger, the Council approved placing an ordinance changing the zone from R-2 to B-2B for West High Street on the docket without a hearing, subject to certain use restrictions. The roll call vote was 13 ayes and 2 abstentions, with no nays. Voting in favor: CM Beard, CM Gorton, CM Lawless, CM Ellinger, CM Stinnett, CM Myers, CM Blues, CM Crosbie, CM James, CM Henson, CM Lane, CM McCord, and CM Gordon. - **Amended Docket:** Moved by CM Gorton, seconded by CM Stinnett, the Council unanimously approved the amended docket. - **Budget Amendments:** Moved by CM Gorton, seconded by CM Blues, the Council unanimously approved the budget amendments. - **New Business Items A–Q:** Moved by CM Beard, seconded by CM Myers, the Council unanimously approved new business items A through Q as amended, except item A, which passed with 2 dissents. - **Grievance Process Subcommittee:** Moved by CM James, seconded by CM Henson, the Council voted 11–2 to establish a subcommittee to deal with the grievance process. Voting in favor: CM Beard, CM Gorton, CM Lawless, CM Ellinger, CM Stinnett, CM Myers, CM Blues, CM Crosbie, CM James, CM Henson, and CM Lane. Voting against: CM Feigel and CM Martin. - **Public Meetings on April 28th and 30th for Item A:** Moved by CM Blues, seconded by CM Beard, the Council voted 13–2 to schedule public meetings on April 28th and 30th for item A. Voting in favor: CM Beard, CM Gorton, CM Lawless, CM Ellinger, CM Stinnett, CM Myers, CM Blues, CM Crosbie, CM James, CM Henson, CM Lane, CM McCord, and CM Gordon. Voting against: CM Crosby and CM Ellinger. No transcript timestamps were available for any of the votes recorded at this meeting. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Council addressed several financial and budgetary items during the April 21, 2009 meeting, spanning ordinance approvals, contract authorizations, grant applications, and funding rescissions. - **Water Quality Management Fee Ordinance (629-08):** The Council considered authorization to approve a proposed ordinance establishing a Water Quality Management Fee. No specific fee amount was included in the available record for this item. - **Metaformers™ Infrastructure Performance Management Contract (249-09):** The Council took up authorization of a Statement of Work with Metaformers™ to provide Infrastructure Performance Management Support for Project Synergy. This item formalized the scope of work for Metaformers™ under the ongoing Project Synergy initiative. No contract dollar amount was specified in the available data. - **Household Hazardous Waste Grant Application (251-09):** The Council considered authorization to submit a grant application to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet under the Household Hazardous Waste Grant Program. This action would allow the city to seek funding from the state-level program dedicated to household hazardous waste management. No grant amount was identified in the available record. - **Rescission of Funding for Hollywood-Mt Vernon Neighborhood Association, Inc. (544-2006):** The Council addressed a resolution to rescind previously authorized funding for the Hollywood-Mt Vernon Neighborhood Association, Inc., referencing original authorization 544-2006. No specific dollar amount associated with the rescinded funding was included in the available data. These items collectively reflect the Council's ongoing management of infrastructure contracts, environmental programs, and neighborhood funding commitments during this session. ## Public Comment Two members of the public addressed the Council during the April 21, 2009 meeting. - **Chad Harpole** spoke at [timestamp: 04:54] regarding the proposed Water Quality Management Fee ordinance. Harpole requested that the Council hold a standalone public hearing on the ordinance prior to any vote, allowing community members and stakeholders the opportunity to provide input and comment on the proposal. - **Mr. Cobb** spoke at [timestamp: 1:43:19] on the topic of community change. He emphasized the importance of collaboration and urged Council members to support his initiatives, which he framed as necessary for economic growth in the community. ## Appointments At the April 21, 2009 Council meeting, the following appointment action was taken: - **Virginia Bell** was appointed to receive a resolution honoring her contributions to Alzheimer's care. ## Contested Items - **Water Quality Management Fee**: The council debated the implementation of a water quality management fee during this meeting. Some members raised concerns about the timing of the fee and its potential economic impact. The item resulted in a split vote, though the specific vote tally, the names of members on each side, and the final outcome of the vote are not detailed in the available record. ## Requested Rezonings / Docket Approval The Council considered two ordinances related to zone changes, which were placed on the docket without a hearing. - **CM Beard** and **CM Lawless** were the key speakers on this item. - The two ordinances addressed zone changes in the following locations: - **Lansdowne Drive** - **West High Street** Both ordinances were placed on the docket without requiring a separate public hearing at this stage. The item was approved by the Council. *No transcript timestamp is available for this agenda item.* ## Budget Amendments The Council took up a series of budget amendments for the fiscal year during this meeting. CM Gorton and CM Blues were the key speakers on this item. The Council considered and voted on the proposed amendments to the fiscal year budget. The item was brought forward as an ordinance, indicating the amendments required formal legislative action by the Council. The outcome of the vote was approval of the budget amendments. *Note: Detailed information about the specific dollar amounts, individual line-item changes, the substance of any debate or concerns raised, and the precise vote count are not available in the source materials for this agenda item. Readers seeking the full text of the amendments or a complete record of the discussion are encouraged to consult the official meeting minutes or the approved ordinance on file with the City.* ## New Business Items A-Q The Council took up a series of new business items, designated Items A through Q, during this portion of the meeting. According to the record, the Council approved the full set of items, which included a water quality management fee and infrastructure support for Project Synergy among the matters addressed. Key participants in the discussion included CM Beard and CM Myers. The record does not provide detailed breakdowns of debate or concerns raised for each individual item within the A–Q series, nor does it specify which council members spoke to which particular items. - **Water Quality Management Fee:** This item was among the notable measures approved as part of the new business slate. - **Project Synergy Infrastructure Support:** The Council also approved infrastructure support related to Project Synergy as part of this block of items. All items in the A–Q series were approved by the Council. No transcript timestamps are available for this portion of the meeting. ## Inter Governmental Committee Update CM James provided the Council with an update on the Inter Governmental Committee. As part of the update, a motion was presented to establish a subcommittee focused on the grievance process. The item was informational in nature, and no vote or formal action beyond the subcommittee motion was recorded as an outcome of the discussion. *Note: No transcript timestamp is available for this agenda item.* ## Corridors Committee Update CM Blues provided the Council with an update on the work of the Corridors Committee. The report covered the committee's ongoing efforts related to ordinance changes and landscaping requirements. No additional details regarding the specific ordinance changes under consideration, the nature of the landscaping requirements being reviewed, or any concerns raised during the committee's deliberations were recorded in the available meeting data. The item was informational in nature, and no vote or formal action was taken by the Council as a result of the presentation. ## Public Health Heroes Award The Council recognized the Lions Club with a Public Health Heroes Award for their contributions to public health in the community, specifically their work providing vision and hearing screenings. Key speakers on this item included Dr. Rowe, Linda Allen, and Sue Alexander, who participated in the presentation and recognition. The proclamation was approved by the Council. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place ordinance changing zone from R-1B to B-1 for Lansdowne Drive on docket without hearing - **Motion** — passed (13-0): Place ordinance changing zone from R-2 to B-2B for West High Street on docket without hearing - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve amended docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve new business items A-Q as amended - **Motion** — passed (11-2): Establish a subcommittee to deal with grievance process - **Motion** — passed (13-2): Schedule public meetings on April 28th and 30th for item A --- ## Full transcript Do I hear a second? I second. Council Member, um, Gorton has moved to approve the docket. Council Member Stennet has seconded that motion. Is there any discussion? Mayor, there is, there's, there are two ordinances, Ordinance Number Six and Seven, that need to be put on the docket without a public hearing, or with a public hearing. Two zone changes. Is there a motion with regard to either of those? Council Member Beard? I, uh, ordinance first reading and second, I'd like to, uh, put that on ... Ordinance Number Seven, uh, first reading of ordinances, I'd like to put that on without a public hearing. Second. I have a motion to put item, to amend the docket to put Item Seven on the docket without a public hearing, uh, second by council... That motion was by Council Member Beard, the second was by Council Member Gorton. Any, uh, discussion? Then those in favor of amending the docket accordingly, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Opposed, "No." Motion carries. Is there a motion with regard to Number Six? So moved. Council Member Blues. Uh, it's my understanding that, uh, that Council Member Lawless, uh, intends to, uh, to make a motion on, on that, uh... I think I hear the door opening now. All right. Do you have a motion with regard to Ordinance Number Six? Uh, place it on the docket without a public hearing. The motion is to, to amend the, uh, docket to place Item Six on the docket without a public hearing. That's by Council Member Lawless. The second is by Council Member Ellinger. Any discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. All opposed, "No." The motion carries. We're now back to the discussion of the docket as amended. Council Member Martin. I disqualify myself from voting on the First United Methodist Church zone, uh, application. I'm a member of that church. Very well. We will note that rec-recusal. Council Member Beicle? I will do so as well as a member of the church. All right. Any further discussion? Then those in favor of approving the, uh, docket as amended, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. We have a summary to approve. Move approval. Council Member Gorton has moved approval of the April 14th summary. Council Member Myers has seconded that motion. Any discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. We have some budget amendments today. What's your pleasure? We'll move approval. Thank you, Council Member Gorton. Somebody didn't log out. And Council Member Blues has seconded that motion to approve the, uh, budget amendments. Any discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, "No." Motion carries. We have several new business items. Council Member Beard has moved the approval of those new business items. Do I hear a second from Council Member Myers? Any discussion? All right. Council Member, um, Crosby's first on the list here. Uh, first, Mayor, on Item A, I, I mean, I know there's a lot of people. I don't know if we can take this out to discuss. I know I have some comments, and I know that there's several people here, regarding Item A, so it might be nice if we might give them the opportunity, um, to possibly speak on this, rather than waiting till after we vote. All right. Um, we can do that. I don't have a list, so, uh, if anyone does wish to address Item A, uh, please step to the podium, give us your name and address, and we'll give you three minutes to speak to the issue. This is regarding, um, the, uh, authorization to appro- ap- approve a proposed ordinance for a water quality management fee required by the federal consent decree. Are there any others besides Mr. Harpole? All right. Thank you, Mayor. Chad Harpole with Commerce Lexington, and the only comment that I have is more of a request, uh, on, on the proposed ordinance, that a standalone public hearing on the ordinance, um, be established for folks in the community and stakeholders, uh, to come out and, and comment on the ordinance before the vote is taken with the full council. And with that, um, that's all I have. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much, and I think that is, uh, the council's intent, and, and we'll try to do that before we get away today. Does anyone else wish to address Item A? All right. And I actually have some comments that I would like to make regarding Item A. Um- You know, uh, last week we received this book, um, Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded, and had a chance to scan a few chapters last night and, um, since it was provided by Cheryl Taylor as an expression of support for her new agency, um, I thought it was a personal nature. So this morning I caut, had my aide contact her office and, um, I asked to confirm this information because, of course, I wanted to send a thank you note. Um, at that time, I learned a very different story. Um, what concerns me the most about this book is not so much its content. Based on my review, it has some very interesting free market ideas on how we could become more environmentally responsible. Um, it discusses the US dependence on foreign oil. On the ne-, under other hand, it also disparages, uh, the Bush administration and a lot of Republican policies, and, you know, that's fine. I read all different types of materials and don't really have a problem with different points of view, um, no matter how politically biased they may be, may be perceived. My concern with this book is that it was purchased by our government and given to a gift to all council members. My aide learned this morning that the mayor's office recommended th, its purch, purchase by our commissioner. Deal or no deal, the book cost $30 and those funds are coming directly from the taxes that we receive every day from our citizens, taxes like the sanitary sewer fee, urban service fee, I can go on and on. But it's essentially the same pool of money that we are being asked to fund and raise again today with the stormwater fee. While this book may be minimal in cost in the grand scheme of millions of dollars in our taxes, this just illustrates, once again, my fru- frustration with this tax increase. There are millions of dollars that ha, have been included in this consent decree that were not required for us to settle the lawsuit with the EPA, a lawsuit that has actually yet to be settled. Behind closed doors, we negotiated additional programs, which should have been discussed openly, and were added to our proposal with the EPA, much of which was not necessary and the EPA probably would not have rejected these matters because it did not matter to the issue at hand. Quite frankly, we probably could have added new police, firefighters, and the E, EPA probably wouldn't have rejected them either because it did not matter to the issue at hand. What they were concerned about was being addressed. Since this matter is now on the docket for public vote, I don't mind stating that we were, we were advised that this was not necessary for us to add. We have effectively added and legislated new programs and funding under the guise of being mandated to do certain par- parts of this as a court settlement, and in my opinion, this is improper. In summary, this book is an example of the problem. We are taxing our citizens through fees at an unprecedented level during a time when we should be looking at ways to save money. I appreciated the book, but I intend to return it. We need to be stewards of our tax dollars and I would certainly hope with the whole fiasco we just went through with the airport that we would have learned some lessons. Using public tax dollars for gifts of appreciation should be avoided. Further, I would support some form of a stormwater fee that addresses the actual, the actual allegations raised by the EPA and further credit commercial and residential property owners who have either paid impact fees or who have initiated a comprehensive improvements to their property. We're not doing that at all, folks. So under this current proposal, these issues are not being addressed and I will not, under any circumstances, support this legislation. Council member Cosby, let me, uh, address an issue. I did, uh, recommend to council, to Commissioner Taylor, that she make that book available to members of the council. It was not a gift. It was part of the overall education process that all of us as citizens need to be going through. It is a book that has been the object of, uh, considerable national debate, and as we are trying to make policies with regard to our local environment, um, I thought it was an important piece of information for council members to have. So, um, it was not intended as a gift, it was intended as an important piece of, uh, information for everybody to have as we consider how to make policies for the benefit of citizens in Washington. Well, then, um, I don't know how else to say, on behalf of the staff of the Department of En, Environmental Quality, I want to express our appreciation to you for support of our programs and initiatives. As a new agency, we have been working diligently to be responsive to your needs and the needs of your constituents. To me, a support to express appreciation, those are words of gratitude, not words of education, and while I can appreciate that this may be, um, once again, something that could educate me, I'd be happy, I read a lot of it last night, and again, while I was quite surprised at the nature and content and some of the, um, views expressed in this book, regardless on the national level, um, how they may be perceived- Um, I was actually shocked during a time, given our economic situation, that e- and some of the situations we have faced as a government here locally with taxpayer dollars, again referring back to the airport situation, that we would be spending our taxpayer dollars on $30 books. We could, we could have easily gotten one book and we could have checked it out. That's just my point. Thank you. Council Member Blues. Um, Mayor, can you come back to me, uh, uh, I yield to, uh, Council Member Gorton. Okay, Council Member McCord. Just real quickly, um, eh, I support having a, an open public discussion about, about this. I think the work that the task force did was very good in, in giving something to react to, which I think is the number one thing. Um, I know of, of a couple of very specific situations where my office has, has gotten phone calls from people who have made, uh, significant in- investments in their property and wanted to, you know, talk about the credit program versus the grant program and so forth. And I think that what I would, would say to citizens is, as we move forward in this, uh, is to become solution providers, to be, uh, to work with us to, uh, tighten this, to, to make it the best that we can so that at the end of the day, like Council Member Gorton said, uh, I mean, we've, we've got multiple streams that are just dead in this town. You wouldn't want your dog or your kid to, uh, to interact with that water, and that's a real issue. And how we fix it in the most equitable fashion is, is really what we're trying to decide here, what needs to be fixed. Um, and, and again, I think that there are some people who have made significant investment into their properties, uh, into their businesses, into their schools, that, uh, it may not work in, in the current structure that we have now, but maybe that, eh, those folks can bring to y- bring us some, uh, suggestions that really improve the way this, the mechanics of this work. And ultimately, uh, you know, we have a, have a fixed water system and we don't ever have to go through something like this again. But, uh, so I would support a, a public meeting like that and I would ask that citizens come with, with solutions and reaction to the, this, uh, what was put forward by the task force. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Blues. Somehow I, I, I, I keep getting ahead- ... of Council Member Gorton here, so I, uh, would prefer that she go, go ahead. Oh, All right, Mayor, uh, when this discussion finishes, I, I, I want to, uh, to, to move to, uh, to amend the proposed ordinance, so I'll just wait. All right. Council Member Gorton. Thank you, Mayor. Um, well, as you know, this, uh, item A came to the council after the stormwater fee task force met for three months. And, um, I think all questions and comments are important, so I hope that, eh, we as a council will set a date for a public meeting. And, uh, we'll need to look at our calendars today to do that. Um, a couple of items of information, um, I don't think that the fact that the consent decree is not entered does not relieve us of our responsibility. Um, we have been violating the Clean Water Act for decades, and this is the first time that potentially we have a council that has the political will to fix this situation. And we all want people to come to Lexington and live here because we are known as a forward-thinking, environmentally clean city. I mean, for me, that's the bottom line. And we have what's called an MS4 permit. It stands for multiple separate storm sewer system. I think that's what it stands for. Um, this permit, um, eh, i- is about to be in its final stage within the next couple weeks of approval, and it's an enforceable permit. It doesn't have to do with the consent decree. I mean, I think we all need to understand what kind of situation we're in here. We have several entities that are going to require us to fix our stormwater, and they're gonna require us to fix our water quality. And I appreciate differing viewpoints on this, um, but I think it's time that we step up as political leaders and we say, "We're gonna fix this." Every district in Fayette County has flooding homes. Every district is touched by streams that are dead. And it's time to step forward, and that's why I am fully supporting this, and I'm looking forward to public comment and suggestions. Thank you. Council Member Stinnet. I would yield to Council Member Blues if he wants to jump in at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Stinnet, I'll just do that. Thank you. Uh, council members, as, as, as you know, a few days ago, I, I, I sent around a, a, an email suggesting that, that, uh, I wanted to address one section of the proposed ordinance, that's 16-408, the Water Quality Fee Board, uh, a, a board that will, that will review, uh, from citizen, uh, applications from two sources. One, citizens who, uh, have, have requested the, uh, uh, adjustment in their, uh, sanitary sewer user's fee, and citizens who, uh- ... might once, and if this, uh, uh, this new ordinance is passed, will appeal for adjustments in the, uh, water quality management fee. Uh, in the latter case the, uh, or i- or in the former case, the appeals would, would, would go to, uh, the Commissioner of, of Finance, and if denied, then to the board. Uh, in the latter case, appeals would go first to the, uh, uh, Director of Water Quality and, and then onto the, uh, Commissioner of Environmental Quality. And, and again, if denied, uh, the, uh, the appeal up -- an appeal could go forward to the Water Quality Fee Board. Uh, as proposed in the, in, in the, uh, in the current, uh, in the current draft, the board would be, uh, composed of, of three citizens, uh, the, uh, Citizen's Advocate, and one council member. I would propose rather that the, uh, that this board should more properly be a, a citizen board, um, and thus, uh, the following motion, that the board shall be composed of five citizens appointed by the mayor and one non-voting ex officio attorney from the LFUCG Department of Law. So moved. Second. Hmm. I have a motion and second to amend item A by, um, replacing the existing board with a five-member citizen board and an ex officio member from the law department? That's correct. All right. Any discussion? Council Member M- Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. No, it's not working my way. Is it working? Okay. Um, I have a couple of questions about the change of the board. Would ... Being that there's only five people on there, we've got eight council districts, or 12 council districts. I'm sorry, I'm number eight, so I just think about the eighth. Um, would you recommend that there be a geographic location for those five spots so that we don't have, so we kind of get some type of equal representation around the city for those five citizen board members? I, I would certainly have no objection to, to that. Uh, Council Member, uh, Gordon said there may be no two from the same district. Would you be amenable to that too as amendment? Yes, I take that as a friendly amendment as a matter of fact. Okay. So moved. All right. Um, I can't- Thank you. ... recall who, who seconded the motion to amend. Second. Did you do ... Okay, then we'll just include that as a friendly amendment then. Any further discussion? Council Member James. May I have a, th- um, the motion repeated? I was out of the room. Sorry. The motion is to amend item A by replacing the existing board's membership with a membership that would consist of five citizen members appointed by the mayor, no two of which could reside in the same council district, and there would be one ex officio member from the city's Department of Law. Any further discussion? Those in favor of that amendment then please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose no? Motion carries. Any further discussion of item A? All right, I think we're back on the, on the, uh, screen here. Council Member Stennet. May I just have a simple typo on item A? As it's listed, the proposed ordinance was reviewed by the Stormwater Task Force, not the Council Budget and Finance Committee, just for the record. So if we could get that summary or the new business items corrected. It's not a material change, so it shouldn't affect anything, but if we can just get that corrected, um, that would reflect appropriately in the minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council Member Crosby. Um, yes, I just, uh, have a quick response to a comment that was made earlier. Um, and I, I feel like it was m- made in response somewhat to my statement regarding the work of the task force. And while I think all of us appreciate all of the hard work of the task force and, and do have some differing opinions, um, again, my comments were not directed at the work of the task force or, uh, really towards, uh, uh, the administration per se. I just believe that, um, when you talk about the will of the leadership up here, that when you are adding millions of dollars into a consent decree, if you're a responsible leader, that should be transparent and done in the open and not behind closed doors, as we did with this consent decree. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I wanna thank the task force for their hard work, but, uh, not everybody was able to attend those meetings, and I think it's very important when we're looking at what we're gonna be doing, and especially when this budget is predicated on passing this fee, that we need to give the public the opportunity to respond. With that being said, I will make a motion to table A until a public meeting has been heard, and then we can put this back on. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Ellinger and a second by Council Member Crosby to table item, um, A until such time as a public meeting on, um, this topic is held. That topic or that, that motion is debatable only insofar as the timing of, um, the, the tabling. Any discussion on that limited issue? See none, so we'll proceed to vote. Those in favor of tabling item A until, um, a public meeting is held, please indicate by voting aye electronically. Those opposed vote nay electronically. Does any other member care to vote? The motion fails by a vote of 10 to 2. All right. Didn't register. Well, Councilmember Gray wants to vote no on that motion. It apparently did not register for whatever reason. Did any other member wish to vote and was unable- Hmm. That, that may well be the issue. Let's, um, let's log, let's try logging out and logging in again, and then we'll revote. Has everyone succeeded in logging back in? All right, then, then those in, those in favor of tabling the motion, please indicate, specifically those in favor of tabling the motion until such time as the public hearing is held, please indicate by voting aye electronically. Those opposed vote nay electronically. Madam Clerk, can you reset the screen? Well, when all else fails. All right, now we're ready. All right, let's dispense with that. Those in favor of tabling the motion, please raise your hand. For tabling it? Those in favor of tabling, please raise your hand. See two. Those opposed? The motion- Motion fails with all voting against it, other than Councilmembers Ehlinger and Crosby. Now we're back to our discussion of item A and- Mayor, if I could continue. Thank you. I've received quite a few calls, and people have stopped me and the big issue that they are concerned about is the credit issue. I know the task force dealt with that one quite a bit and went with an incentive program, but I still think that it's something that we need to look at. When you're talking about churches, nonprofits, others, that this is going to be a big expense to them that some of them aren't going to be able to continue business. So I think it's important that we meet with this. We have a council meeting on the 23rd and then May 7th. Are we planning on having a public hearing between now and May 7th? Is that our objective? Because that's when our second vote would be on this. That's entirely up to the council. We could have it in connection with the, uh, with the council meeting on Thursday, if you prefer, but we could also schedule a special time, either a standalone time or in connection with one of our work sessions. Well, we only have, um, two weeks until the May 7th, or 16 days. I think it's important that we get it in before then. Certainly. You... And, and I think the floor would be, it would be appropriate for anyone who wishes to set a time to make a motion to that effect. Anything further, Councilmember Ehlinger? No, sir. Councilmember Feigl. Well, you had indicated a... You were listed as someone who wished to speak. Actually, Feigl too, if that makes any... Okay, very well. I, I'm sorry. So you're asking for my comments on this issue? Yes. Okay. If you care to comment. So... I w- would like to. Thank you. Uh, having served on the, uh, the committee, I will just say that we spent a great deal of time, and we, we agonized over this because none of us likes the idea of assessing anyone a fee or a tax. But I think under the circumstances, we have, um, been given a mandate that we have to do something about our stormwater and sewer system. And there may be some question as to how we go about doing that, but I don't think there's a question about whether we do it or not. And so, I think that the committee actually is bringing forward this recommendation because this is an opportunity now for the entire council to have input, uh, and, and scrutinize this as closely as they would like to, to make changes, to, to, or to recommend changes. But this is not sent to you, I don't believe, as a final document. Uh, this is an opportunity for you to, to add your, your feelings. Uh, there were numerous public hearings for, um, the public. Not public hearings formally, but we had many, many people attend our meetings and participate and share their, share their input. And if I'm not mistaken, all of the minutes from the meetings were also, uh, on the website, so there was access from the public at large to follow every step of, of the process as we, uh, came to this recommendation. So, I feel like there has been a tremendous amount of opportunity for people to learn, um, everything that we talked about, uh, if, if they chose to do that. So I, and again, I, you know, I, it is a difficult chore to have to come up with something that we, um, don't have the money to pay for, but we know we have to do it. And it's very hard for us to, to pass this on along to the citizens. And while there are some people who, who, um, spoke about, um, already having done some, uh, some massive, uh, storm water projects on their property, I think the way that the committee finally came to regard this is that this is a system that we all use. Regardless of how much we put into our own particular project on our own personal sites, this is a system that we all have to buy into. And so to except anyone from paying this fee, uh, didn't seem the fair thing to do. So, uh, again, I say that this comes to the council for them to scrutinize, to review, to make recommendations, but nothing was done behind closed doors from the perspective of this committee. Everything was very open and very, um, very open to the public, very open to the public at large further- through the website. So, any comments are welcome, um, but, you know, I do feel that, that we did, uh, have a very difficult task. And, um, I'm not saying that the, the document that we provided is perfect, but I believe that we put force our, put forth our best effort and we invite comments from the council. Thank you. Thanks. Council member James. Thanks, Mayor. My question is for Council Member Gordon, as the chair of the committee. I know that we've talked about ex- I asked you before about expectations of public hearings and information that we receive as council members before we vote, um, on the first and second reading of this item. And if you could go through, for everyone here today and everyone watching, kind of, okay, what, a lot of people think that when we pass it at Tuesday, it's law and, or some people do. Can you talk to us about the process? Like, we, we put it on for, put it on the docket and then when are, when will everything need to play out as far as interaction or involvement, communication from community, and then how can we then, how will that information be processed that if changes need to be made to this, h- who will take care of that? Well, um, you're right. Today, if item A is approved, it would move on to the docket for first reading, and I would presume it would receive first reading on the 23rd. Is that, where is our- Yes, ma'am. ... legal eagle? Um, April 23rd, and then I am going, when we have the discussion about setting a public meeting, I'm going to suggest that we look at the possibility of having it on April 28th. That, uh, evening at 6:00, which would give us, um, about 10 days before the second reading on the 7th, which would give the council time, if it chooses to make amendments, to make amendments. Um, the task force is not scheduled to meet again. Um, although in all the excitement last week, I forgot to make the motion to disband. So, um, but, uh, that was just some of my thinking. It doesn't have to be that way. Um, it could be another way. May I, may I make a suggestion that before, bef- between first and second reading, if it were to pass to go onto the docket, that instead of kind of an incidental getting together of figuring out what changes need to be made, that there may be a small group that could actually talk about what had been presented at the public hearing and go through, that way citizens feel like we're really listening and addressing their issues and be able to say, "Yes, this is something we can, um, make as a change," or, "This is something we talked about in the task force already and we, we feel like we've addressed that substantially." That way citizens know that we've heard them and we actually respond to their concerns. I don't know in what form that needs to take, even if it's just, uh, some council members that volunteer to sit down and review all of the comments to respond, but I will make that recommendation to the council that we consider participation in, in that little small group. And I think technically we're going to have a public meeting, because a public hearing, there, there are different rules and the public hearing- ... is actually a discussion of an issue such as a zone change, but the public meeting is for one specific topic, and Laura can advise us on that, but... Can we have someone from law talk to us about the process of public meeting? What, what's a public meeting? Well, it's a meeting where you would, you would call a, a meeting of the council in order to consider any matter that you choose to have considered or receive information or comment from the public. What's the format of the meeting? That would be up to the council to decide. Who chairs the meeting? Um, it would be the mayor. Okay. So is that up to our discretion to let the mayor know how we'd like the meeting to happen? Sure. I think if you're gonna schedule a public meeting, you state what the purpose of the meeting is going to be. Okay. It's next week. Is that what you're... Well, I, I... That was just a suggestion, but I think also a public hearing requires a quorum and it requires a different, um, advertisement. I'm not sure- Right. ... about that, but it does... I think the public meeting doesn't require a quorum, does it? I don't believe that it would. So council members would be sitting here, and then anyone that wishes to speak would just sign in. They'd come in for whatever amount of time is designated by the chair to come to the mic, and then what... I, I guess what I'm asking is what happens with those comments? Are they typed up verbatim the same as, um, work session meetings and then that's something that we could go back and refer to? Or is anybody recording anything? Well, I'm assuming that the meeting would be televised. I'd have to ask Susan Lamb about that and see, but I'm assuming that... I don't know whether they typically type up meetings in public or type up minutes of public meetings. I don't know. Can you... Okay. When you find out that answer, if you'll let us know. I'll try to check with her right now and get right back to you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Um, I've got Council Member Gordon. I just had a quick comment. Thank you, Mayor. I thought that Council Member Ellinger brought up a really important point about the credits. This is a very complex discussion that we had in the task force about credits versus incentives, and I did want it to be known that the task force didn't totally rule out a credit system. What we said was because it's administratively very difficult to oversee, that we would leave that for possibility in the future, that an easier, more efficient way to start would be with the incentives and the grants and then decide if we wanted to have a credit program. And I also wanted to recommend that anyone who's interested in some of that detail, uh, go on the web and look at some of the meeting discussions about the credits and incentives. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Council Member Fogle, in reference to your, um, uh, comments regarding all the meetings being open, um, my comments were not regarding the task force meetings not being open to the public. It was specifically regarding closed sessions prior to you and others who are newly elected. Um, you were not privy to anything prior to what happened before you got on council and probably, in fact, you served on a committee where you probably even didn't have information regarding this closed session. So that's what, um, my comments were regarding, not the actual task force meetings. And, um, also just going to the, uh, content of a, of a actual public meeting versus a public forum, whatever we decide on, I would just hope that the format might be a little different than perhaps the task force meetings as far as the public actually being able to give some input. Um, a lot of the feedback that I've gotten from the task force meetings is that although they were open and that there was some time for public comment, most of the public comment was at the end, oftentimes after motions were voted on. So again, legislation was being passed before the public actually had time to comment and it was often limited to the last 10 minutes of a very long meeting with multiple people attending, sometimes upwards of 50 people who all probably had something to say. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I just wanted to, uh, I guess something that Council Member Ellinger said a little earlier about churches and schools and such, and I want everybody to remember that if in fact we start exempting separate different entities, whether they be educational, uh, institutions or churches or, um, whatever, um, it's just gonna shift the burden of cost over to the citizenry in general. And, uh, my guess might be that it could, uh, double that fee. And, uh, so just tuck that away in your minds when you start thinking about making exceptions and... 'Cause once you start, uh, there's probably no end to it. Thank you. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Um, excuse me. Um, Council Member Gordon, I believe you were suggesting, uh, a, a public meeting, uh, at, uh, 6:00 PM on April 28th. I guess we have not nailed that down. Maybe, uh, let me make a motion that we, that we hold the public meeting on, on this, uh, on this question. ... on that day, at that time. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Blues and a second by Council Member Beard that we hold a public meeting on, uh, April 28th at 6:00 PM here in the council chambers, I believe, for purposes of discussing item A. Is there any discussion on that motion? Council Member James? Thank you, Mayor. I think this would be the appropriate time for counselor, or for Commissioner Askew to talk with us about what the public meeting process would be. All right. Um, in the rules, the council rules 4.108 refers to a public hearing as a public hearing, uh, "Public hearings may be scheduled by the council as required by law to receive comments from the public, or to receive evidence such as on a zone change matter." And that is what Council Member Gordon was referring to. Uh, you've made a distinction in your rules between that and also a public meeting, which are meetings for the purpose of receiving comments- Okay. ... on matters not required by law, but where you're just trying to receive information. And during that meeting, unless you have a special called meeting of the council, which would require publication in the paper, uh, and sticking to the agenda, then you wouldn't be able to take any action at the meeting. And I'm assuming what you're talking about is simply having a meeting to receive comment. Is that what you're... You want the public to have an opportunity to comment? Right? Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion on Council Member Blue's motion? I do. I- Council Member- I would really like to be here, but I've already scheduled something else at that time, and I will not be here, and I would like to look at a different time if we could 'cause I really wanna be here. Suggestion. Do you have an alternative date? I'll do it on that Thursday. Thursday? Like we normally have the council meeting, on a Thursday night. Yeah. The 30th. The 30th, correct. Yes. Does anybody have a, have a problem with the 30th? Let me see. All right. Let's... Perhaps the most efficient way of doing this is how many folks would be available on the 30th. If you can be here, please raise your hand. Which date? The 30th. April 30th. What time? Six. Six o'clock. How about five? I'm sorry? I could do five, or however ... Five o'clock? Well, let's get a show of hands. How many people could be here at five or six o'clock, one or the other, on, uh, on the 30th? People both right now, and then we'll figure out... If the date works, we'll figure out the time. All right. How many can be here at six o'clock? How many people can be here at five o'clock? All right, looks like six o'clock is a preferable time. Yeah. And... It may not be ... All right. And how many people can be here on the 28th at six o'clock? We all have to be here. All right. 28th. 28th. And now, here the fifth is an option. Is that, is that a Tuesday? Yes, Tuesday the fifth at six o'clock. Mayor, I, I, uh, I have some real problems with the fifth, because that's two days away from the, uh, from the second reading at our council meeting, and I think that, uh, going back to what Council Member James says, after the public meeting, we, we, council members probably want to have some time to reflect back on, on, on the comments, uh, talk to one another. Uh, it may be that there would be amendments then proposed at the May 7th meeting, so, uh, it seems to me that, that, uh, I hate to see anybody have to miss a public meeting, but the 28th seems to be the operative day. All right, the motion on the floor is to conduct a public meeting on the 28th at 6:00 PM. Mayor, can I ask you a question? Council Member Elling. I guess my big issue is why are we such a rush to act? And I guess I need to ask somebody that might know. Is our attorney here? Or... Yes, is Jack Bender here? I- I'm not aware of Mr. Bender being here. Is it my understanding, and somebody else can answer this, that we have two years, um, to act after the consent decree is signed? Is that correct? It don't matter. He's charged. He's charged. There we go. The language in the consent decree requires us to adopt a stormwater management fee, uh, within two years of the effective date, which would be the date that the judge signs it. And at this point, the judge has not signed it, so really the two years has not started running, right? It has not, as far as the consent decree. Okay. So we're trying to get something done by the seventh that hasn't even been signed by the judge, so I don't think we have to be doing this at this rapid of a pace, and especially in this kind of economic downturn. So, I really like to be here, I'm not going to be here. I think we can... We don't have to put on May 7th, we can put it on to the next council meeting and still have time, 'cause I think we need to give people, if not maybe one, maybe two times, because somebody might not be able to hear, be here for the first public meeting and give them a couple opportunities, 'cause this is going to impact a lot of people. University of Kentucky, $500,000. So it's- ... when there's a lot of people, and this community is gonna be impacted by this, that we need to give them ample opportunity to come down here and speak if they weren't able to come to the task force. So I don't think we have to rush this through, especially when we have a two-year window after it's been signed. Council Member Gordon. Um, I have a couple of comments and a potential, um, solution to the dilemma about you not being able to be here on the 28th. Um, as far as delay, what we're proposing right now cannot even be implemented until next year. And, uh, until we have the second reading with an actual fee number, none of the database work can begin. And so that is why there's several months worth of work to be done with the database, so I think that is one of the concerns. To answer the question of, um, the 28th versus the 30th, um, I would like to propose to amend the motion, Council Member Blues, to hold two public meetings to hear from all the public who wanna come, one at 6:00 PM on the 28th and one at 6:00 PM on the 30th. And that way all council members will have an opportunity to be here at least at one meeting and we can hear from hundreds of people. Second. We have a motion and second to amend Council Member Blue's motion to provide for public meetings on both April 28th and April 30th at 6:00 PM on both evenings. Any discussion of that amendment? Then those in favor of the amendment to the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. Motion, the motion carries with the two dissents from Council Member Ellinger and Council Member, um, Crosby. We're now ready to consider the motion as amended, which is that we conduct public meetings on, um, April 28th and April 30th at 6:00 PM for purposes of discussing... receiving public input on item A. Any discussion? Coun-Council Member Crosby. Again, uh, just going back to why I voted no with Council Member Ellinger as, um, you know, again, there's many of us who cannot be here for both of those meetings and to allow public input from... yo-, there's gonna be different comments at both of those meetings, and granted we can watch the tape, watch it on the internet, but, um, I think most of us would like to be able to attend those meetings. So, I agree with Council Member Ellinger also in the fact that, um, w- we're talking about a fee that's going to be raising multi-multi-millions of dollars on a consent decree that has not even been signed yet. We don't even know what the final product is gonna be. So we're talking about not being able to implement something for six months down the road because they have to work out the systems, be able to implement the fee based on a certain dollar amount that we're gonna approve on something that hasn't been signed. We don't know what the final document's gonna say, if there's gonna be changes to it. We have no idea and we're approving something that's gonna raise millions and millions of dollars and we're trying to push it through in two weeks. It makes absolutely no sense to me why we c- can't take an extra week or two and give the public plenty of opportunity to give us some input and have time for ourselves to receive that input and then think about it. We're t- we're talking about millions and millions of dollars that we're going to be generating from this and we're pushing it through two weeks. Makes no sense. Council Member Myers. Thank, thank you, Mayor. Rama? Rama, I have a, I have a question for you. Yeah. There's been conversation about the databases not being able to be started until you have that final number. I- can you talk a little bit about the databases and what it takes, how long it's gonna take to build them? And it sounds like we're, we're moving at this pace because we're trying to get things in place so the database is gonna be started. Is that correct? Sure, um, part of it is we need to get, uh, preliminary information from the water company and that has to be compli- compiled and the GIS department has to send a considerable amount of data as to what we need. They need to get that. So all, you're, you're talking about six months approximately, best case scenario, probably five months. So it does take considerable amount of time to develop that. So is there something about us passing this motion- Mm-hmm. ... and finalizing it, is, is that the start point at which you can start on the databases? Or can you start some of that preliminary work now? Well, I think this party has to give us some permission to go to the water company and say, "Would you be kind enough to turn the information over to us?" And if this is not moving forward, I think we don't have any authorization to go and ask for that data. So I'm... My goal is not to derail this, but then, that being the case, could there be a separate motion from the council to ask to give the, the administration the authority to ask the water company to give us the data? I would, I would leave that up to the chair of the, I guess, the taskforce to decide that- Okay. ... at this point if, if she wants to. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Can you... I think Bill's gonna add something. If, if I could add something to the, uh, discussion. We met with Kentucky American Water, I believe it was last week, and have a meeting scheduled in three weeks. And we are progressing in identifying the scope of the, uh, project, what has to be established, and in what format at LFUCG, and also what format and, and scope that, um, Kentucky American Water has to use data. They told us that they would share data for our development purposes. And so we're moving forward, um, without the final design phase, but making sure that we're talking, as I say, the, the right geek talk, so, so that the, the information can be exchanged properly and developed i- in accordance to we're talking to each other in the same, uh, way. So then it, it sounds like what you're saying is that the databases, that work has already begun. The discussion, we're trying to, to design the scope of the project. No actual data has been exchanged yet. We're trying to come up with the scope. Okay. Are they looking for an ordinance from the council before they'll begin to give you access to the information or provide the information that you need to build the databases? I believe the, the correct answer is we... they're looking for a, a passed ordinance before they start programming on theirs piece. Okay. One final question, and you may not know the answer, but... and it may be for Rama, he may not know either, but, um, how much work can be done before we get to that stage where we need that ordinance in place so that they can start programming? Is, is there work... In other words, if we... if this was another two weeks out, does that hold up anything? Or is there plenty of work to do in the interim before... Th- there's plenty of work to do in the next two weeks. Um, however, it's a chicken and an egg. Okay. If, if we don't know the final product, we don't know the total scope to know whether, uh, separate programming and datasets need to be developed or not. Okay. So w- we're going as if it's something similar to what's been proposed, but without a final determination, uh, uh, we can't finalize that scope. Okay. I understand. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Wallace. Um, I did not serve on this committee, but I know that the city and this council has been talking about this issue since, I think, 2001, before that. And, um, there is nothing that, that seems like it has been rushed to me. I know there have been hundreds of hours of meetings and teeth grinding and hands wringing. And if we... we really can't wait to do the right thing. And nobody likes new fees, but there are plans for people who cannot afford them and we... it's... the time is now for us to do the right thing for our community and I just don't see it as being rushed. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. Well, I just wondered in all this, I know Charlie Martin's been involved, uh, I was gonna say ad nauseum, but, uh, t- in all the gory details and I wondered if you had any comments at this point. I do. Um, when I was here earlier, I did say correctly that the consent decree requires that the stormwater management fee within two years from effective date. But I think someone mentioned earlier about our pending stormwater permit. The very same remedial measures that are found in the consent decree are also gonna be part of our permit. We met with the state a week and a half ago and it's their intention to respond to public comments and then issue that permit. So we will have that obligation irregardless of however long it takes the consent to get... consent decree to get revised. And so I wanted to make sure that was clear. I answered Council Man Ellinger's question directly in that... as far as relating to the consent decree, but there is still that permit obligation and if we fail to meet that permit obligation, it will be the next consent decree that we will face ultimately. Any further discussion? Council Member Beard. Uh, Charlie, I'm sorry, I tried to catch you before you got ha- at least halfway back to your seat. Uh, uh, I guess in my opinion, once we have recognized the fact that we have a problem and we've known we've had a problem long before the EPA came along and told us we had a problem, this council had the will to do the right thing and start th- down the path of getting this problem fixed. So hiding behind the consent decree, hiding behind any other order coming from any other governmental entity means nothing, because in my opinion, we should be doing this all along. If we'd taken care of th- things 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, we might not be in this shape, but we chose not to and now we're having to pay the piper. I can't disagree with that. I think that ga- applies to a lot of our infrastructure needs- Right. ... and we're hearing a lot about that nationally. Thank you. Thank you, Ma'am. Thank you. Motion on the floor is to schedule two public meetings on April 28th and April 30th at 6:00 PM for purposes of receiving public comment on, um, new business item A. Any further discussion? Council Member Gordon. Uh, Mayor, will... in response to Council Member James' , uh, comment, which was a very good one, will there be... Someone actually recording the specific... I think normally there isn't someone recording the specific comments from the public and if not, I think we need to ensure that that's in place, so that all council members can read that document. See if that's the preference of the council, we can certainly do that. Uh, we can either make an amendment to this motion, or we can resolve the date and then deal with the logistics later. Council member Lane? Uh, Mayor, could you just order that this be televised, and then that'll solve the problem? I, it's my expecta... Yes. Okay. We, that's the plan. All right. Um, subject to something I don't know about going on with GTV3, I would certainly anticipate that. Uh, that's what I would recommend then. It would be available to everybody. Just so you- An- And it would be available on, uh, video streaming either that evening live or at a later time. 'Kay. Thank you. And correct me if I'm... Okay. Sounds like that works. Great. All right. Those... I think we're ready to vote. Those in favor of scheduling two public meetings on April 28th and 30th at 6:00 PM here in the council chamber for purposes of receiving input on, uh, new business item A, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. I believe that brings us back now to further consideration of the items of new business. Any, uh, further discussion? Those then in favor of approving the new business items, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion- No nay. No nay. All right. And we have two dissents on item A, from Council Member Crosby and Council Member Ellinger. That takes us down now to, uh, the various presentations. The first one is from the Intergovernmental Committee. Council Member, uh, James. Thank you, Mayor. Council members, you can refer to, um, page 58 in your packet, um- What's this? ... for the minutes of the Intergovernmental Committee m- meeting for April the 14th. We had three issues that we discussed and, um, one, the first one was the construction apprenticeship program. We had several people that attended that meeting, um, from private industry, um, related to the building and construction industry and, and this, uh, construction apprenticeship program was an issue. You may recall that we discussed in a previous intergovernmental committee and asked for some more work to be done on the ordinance, which would have given, um, a 3% weight on any construction bid that included an apprenticeship program. Um, in the interim, from the first discussion until the April 14th, we received a lot of phone calls, emails and such, and were able to bring some other players to the table. Um, Commerce Lexington had a presence, um, as mentioned in the minutes, Richard Vincent, who's with the Commercial Construction Association, uh, John Whittal, who is an attorney for a group of local builders, an independent contractor from... Larry, um, Cujo, I think is how you pronounce his last name, also spoke. Um, we also had comment from our purchasing, director of purchasing, Brian Markham. Um, so based on, um, the discussion, there was a motion by Council Member Crosby, um, and seconded and, and passed without dissent within the committee that I will bring forward to the council today. Um, I guess I have to bring this forward, even though we never really saw it. I don't know procedurally what I need to do, but the committee moved to disapprove the proposed construction apprenticeship program ordinance. And I bring that motion, I bring that to you in the form of a motion today. I guess my reaction is, if, if the committee's not bringing something to the- Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't even know what to do with that. ... to the council as a whole, it's not necessary. Okay. That's fine. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Um, the next item was oath for commissions and boards. There was no legislation that came from that. However, I will share with the council that there are two committees. The first, and they're made up of the same council members, the first committee that's currently working is working on the oath. So in actual establishing an oath, or researching an oath for commissions and board members. And the next committee, um, the next committee topic, which these same three, uh, Council Member Meyers, Beard, and Feigel, will work on will be the financial disclosure, um, of boards, members of boards and commissions for urban county government. So there's no legislation now, but that something should be forthcoming. The third item was the grievance procedure. Um, this has been an ongoing sh- subject for over a year. Um, what we were able to do is bring out, um, the establishment of a sub-committee, um, to actually see if there are problems, uh, to identify problems. That is chaired by Council Member Lawless, and, or has been recommended to be chaired by Council Member Lawless. So I bring to the council a motion to establish a sub-committee to deal with how the grievance process works and its effectiveness. Do I hear a second? That's my motion. Do I hear a second? Okay, Council Member Hinson has seconded the motion. Those in favor of creating a sub-committee to deal with the grievance issue, please, any discussion? Those in favor of that motion, then please indicate by saying, "Aye." Opposed, "No." All right. Who was the no? Uh, I- I think we need to, uh, vote by show of hands here- Edly? ... if we could. Those in favor of Council Member James' motion to create a sub-committee to deal with the grievance posi- uh, committee issue, please indicate by raising your hand. Yes. I see 10 votes in favor. Those opposed, please raise your hand. I see two. Council Member, uh, James' motion is approved. Great. Um, eh, with that sub-committee being formed, I will say Council... Again, Council Member Lawless is the chair of that committee, so any... if there is any government employee that would like to, um... These are not going to deal... Well, that's one thing that the committee talked about is, these needed to be more, um, process issues and not individual grievance problems. So we're not gonna actually be dealing with your personal grievance. It's gonna be the process and how we can improve the process and if the process is effective. So, keep that in mind if you forward any information to Council Member Lawless and we'll be, um, reporting back to the full council as that sub-committee, um, moves forward. That's the end of my, um, report, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member James. Any questions? Very well, we'll proceed. Council Member Blues, do you have the Corridors Committee Report today? Yes, I do. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, the Corridors Committee met on Tuesday, April 14th, uh, presided over, uh, by, uh, by former Council Member, uh, uh, Stevens, who i- is, is continuing, uh, as it's, it's, it's interim chair. The committee is still working on, uh, drafting necessary o- ordinance changes pertaining to its, its rules, its membership, its procedures and its powers. Uh, we hope to be finished with that process later this spring and bring, uh, a, a revised ordinance to the council for discussion and consideration. The other piece of business dispensed by the committee dealt with the Man of War Landscape Ordinance. Uh, as most of you know, this is an ordinance that specifies landscaping requirements prior to getting building permits for property along the Man of War from Richmond Road to I-75. The committee heard a request for a waiver to portions of the ordinance. Uh, the committee was also advised that the council was probably the appropriate body to hear such a request, so we invited the property owner and their representatives to appear at a future work session to make the case for a waiver. Thank you, Mayor. That's our report. Thank you very much. Any questions for Council Member Blues? Thanks. It's my pleasure to, uh, welcome to the podium Dr. Melinda Roe, who's here on behalf of the Board of Health to share with us a little information about a Public Health Heroes Award. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. Um, Mayor, if you would, um, do us the honor to head out this way, I'll be talking while you're walking. Um, National Public Health Week was April 6th to the 12th, and we, in Lexington, Fayette County, like to celebrate the whole month of April as public health to let you know all the different things that public health involves. The mission of the Health Department is to improve the health of the community and you need partners to do that. There's not one entity, one agency that does it. You need partners, and one of the, the good partners that we have here today that got our Public Health Heroes Award is the Lions Club, and I would like to invite, um, Linda Allen, who's second vice president for the Lions Club, and Sue Alexander, club secretary, up here to meet with the mayor. Thank you all for joining us today. I wanted to share just a little information with you about what the Lexington Lions Club has done, and I have done that in the form of a commemoration. Whereas the Lexington Lions Club was founded in 1921 and is the largest lions club in Kentucky with over 160 members, and whereas the Lexington Lions Club is dedicated to improving the health of Lexington, Fayette County residents, especially poor people and children, by serving those with vision, hearing and diabetes problems, and whereas during the past year, the Lexington Lions Club provided almost 1000 pairs of glasses, performed free vision and hearing screenings for all ages at multiple fairs and events, led the Kids Sight Program that has targeted six to 700 preschoolers with abnormal vision problems and provided hearing aids to people who could not afford them, and whereas recognizing that Kentucky ranks ninth in the nation in cases of diagnosed diabetes, the Lions Club avidly supports diabetes control and prevention education in Kentucky and has advocated Diabetes Day at the Capitol for the past four years, and whereas the Bluegrass Fair, held each year in July, is the Lexington Lions Club's only fundraiser, and whereas the fair generated over $175,000 in 2008 and generous donations were made to Diabetes Day Camp, week-long scholarships to Camp Hinden, scholarships to Camp Crescendo, a camp for young people with diabe- uh, with disabilities, and the annual weekend retreat for those who are deaf and blind. Now, therefore, the Lexington/Fayette Urban County Government on behalf of all Fayette Countians commemorates the Lexington Lions Club as follows, we hereby... ... applaud the Lexington's Lions Club on its selection by the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health as the 2009 Public Health Hero. We hereby thank the Lexington Lions Club for its extensive public service to citizens of all ages who are afflicted with vision or hearing problems or diabetes. This the 21st day of April 2009. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so, so much. This is for the Treasurer. Thank you so, so much. Well, on behalf of the Lexington Lions Club, we appreciate this award. We thank you for your support. We thank you for the community's support. We -- our motto is to -- we serve, and we certainly have done this in the past, and we'll certainly do so in the future to our citizens of Fayette County and Lexington area. Thank you so much. As I believe, uh, all of you are aware, Governor Beshear is scheduled to be with us at 4:30 for the Eastern State, uh, Hospital presentation. And unless he's here early, which I'm not aware of, I would suggest we go ahead with the council reports and then, uh, stop at 4:30 and- ... and pick back up with that presentation unless, uh, there's a problem with that. Okay? Then let's, uh, go ahead and proceed with council reports. The first one I see is Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to make council aware of some exciting things that are going on in East End. I know you've seen East End, um, pop up all over the place, um, from The Lyric to the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden, um, and many things, and just wanted to, um, I invited council to participate in discussion related to Community Development Corporation last week. Um, wanted to let you know that we had a very successful event. Um, we had members of government, um, attend a session. We had some members of commercial community, um, community services organizations, and also had a resident, um, kind of a resident session as well, um, at Doodles Restaurant in the district. And a lot of exciting things can happen with the Community Development Corporation, and Byron Marshall, who visited us from Austin, who also took us on the tour in Austin as one of the elective tours during the chamber trip last year, offered some valuable experience to us and shared, um, his experiences, good and bad, with Community Development Corporations and got to know Lexington quite a bit, um, our challenges, our assets, and such. So I wanted to let you know, at any point, if you want a debrief on, um, what we found out and how Community Development Corporation can help Lexington, please let me know and I'd be happy to share with you or partner you with some folks that were at the table that day that can talk with you about anything that you feel like might be a challenge to it, um, because it is my hope since, um, within the Central Sector Small Area Plan and the East End Small Area Plan both that there be a CDC formation that we can, in the future, really have, um, good conversations about how CDCs can be helpful to our community. And so I wanted to thank the Knight Foundation, the Legacy Center, um, my staff, Sarah Brown, um, and all those that helped. Um, we, um, I wanted to thank Atomic Cafe, um, who hosted us for dinner one night, um, Doodles, where we had the session, um, for the citizens and the Legacy Center Bluegrass Community, um, Foundation for hosting, hosting us there for some of the morning sessions. So that was very helpful in showing a lot of collaborative partnerships within community. Also wanted to thank the mayor for attending, um, a really amazing and an, an event that puts a smile on your face. Today, the mayor and I both were at William Wells Brown Elementary, which is in the First District over in the East End area, and, um, we were there for the Born Learning Trail partnership between United Way, um, Fayette County Public Schools, the Knight Foundation Legacy Center, and I may be forgetting a s- a partner in that, but it was a phenomenal showing of how you can use incide- incidental spaces, public spaces to teach our children. So in the absence of playground and, you know, large parks and recreation facilities, children can still learn and should learn, and it becomes a, a huge, uh, family experience when you're just walking down a sidewalk and have a learning experience. So thanks to all of those folks for participating and all the children from... Well, there was a class of children who were singers, um, at William Wells Brown that were there and some daycare facilities were there as well. So it was pretty cool to have a, um, a meeting in the middle of the day where children are around. It kinda energizes you, and I just wanted to thank the mayor for participating with that and all of the partners. So, oh, Fayette County Public Schools, of course, um, Superintendent, um, Silverman was there as well, so I wanted to thank him for his support. Mayor, thank you for being there today. It was, um, I've been smiling all day thinking about it. Thanks. Thank you. The, uh, highlight of the day was the, uh, children serenading us, and they did a great job. It was fun event. Thank you. Council Member Feigl. Thank you, Mayor. I have two, uh, comments, and, and I'd like to make a motion as well. Uh, first, I'd like to congratulate three different neighborhood associations in the Fifth District, uh, Fairway, Chevy Chase, and Shriners, who received Neighborhood and Community Sustainability Grants, and, uh, this fu- these funds will be used to plant trees and to provide lane, uh, Lily rain barrels. And I'd like to thank them for taking the initiative to apply for these grants and for doing what they can to better their neighborhoods. Also wanted to mention that I attended the 2009 Ice Storm review yesterday at police headquarters, and it was an extremely enlightening meeting. It was -- I was so impressed with the level of cooperation between so many areas of government. Each agency involved should be commended for their, um, spirit of cooperation and their dedication to this issue. And I would like to see a full presentation to the council. I think it would be extremely helpful to us as we answer questions from our constituents, and I think that it will help us, uh, in the event of another storm like this, uh, to understand what's actually going on behind the scenes. Um, and also, I wanted to make a motion. Uh, Council Member, um, Lane and I both serve on the UK Sanders Brown Center on Aging Foundation and have become acquainted with a very special lady there. Her name is Virginia Bell. And at 60 years old she received her master's degree in social work and went on from there to, to start, uh, a, uh, an Alzheimer's care, um, system. It's called the Best Friends Approach to Alzheimer's Care. And she is said to be an international jewel, um, and has done tremendous work for Alzheimer's patients, and they are, uh, they are, um, celebrating their 25th year in, uh, in, uh, in business helping Alzheimer's patients. And I would just like to, uh, recognize her for what she's done, not only for Alzheimer's patients here in Kentucky, but around the globe. Uh, so at that, I would like to move to place on the docket for the April 23rd council meeting a resolution honoring Virginia Bell for her many outstanding contributions that have helped countless Alzheimer's patients and their families and friends. Second. Thank you. Have a motion by Council Member Feigl to add that item to the agenda for Thursday, and a second by Council Member Lane. Any discussion? All in favor, then please let it be known by saying, "Aye." Aye. And all opposed, "No." Motion carries. Mm-hmm. And Council Member Feigl, I'll ask Mr. Green if he would try to arrange a presentation for us in the near future by, uh, Commissioner Webb and others about the, uh, ice storm. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. I'm sorry, Council Member Henson. I apologize. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'll forgive you. I do have a motion, but I, um, I also have a couple of announcements. Um, on Wednesday, tomorrow evening, the 22nd, there's, um, been an Avenue Neighborhood Association meeting at six o'clock and a Port Royal Neighborhood Association meeting at seven. Um, and that was the association that received- Yeah. ... the sustain- sustainability grant. Um, they're gonna be planting some, um, shrubs and taking out some, uh, invasive plants along Wolf Run Creek. So I was very, very happy for them 'cause they work so very hard. Um, also on Sunday the 26th at two o'clock, it's gonna be the new, another Wolf Run Creek cleanup. Tom Blues, I'd like to invite you to come with me. Anyone that would like to come is more than welcome to, but I always say it's therapy for me. That's my therapy for the year, but, um, I think, um, Friends of Wolf Run Creek perform a great service to this community and always enjoy when they, um, organize these events. Um, having said that, I have a motion. Um, I move to place on the docket for Thursday, April 20th, council meeting and ordinance amend... That's... Okay. Um, meeting and ordinance amending section 22-59 of the coordin- Code of Ordinances to make the following changes. Seasonal employees will no longer accrue vacation and sick leave or be eligible to purchase health insurance. Part-time employees must work 24 continuous months in order to accrue vacation and sick leave, and are no longer required to work 80 hours for two consecutive pay periods in order to be eligible. Part-time employees must work 24 continuous months in order to be eligible to purchase health insurance. Part-time employees will accrue vacation sick leave at a rate of five hours a month for each. Part-time employees may use vacation and sick leave in any increment. Supervisors will no longer be required to keep records relating to leave time, accruals, and expenditures. Part-time employees may obtain verbal approval to use vacation time. Section 22-59C, which gives the Director of Human Resources the ability to make reasonable rules and procedures concerning the implementation of section 22-59 has been deleted so that this section is consistent with similar sections in chapter 22 of the Code of Ordinance. Uh, Mayor, I noticed a typo in here. Do I... Well, first of all, do I hear a second? Second. All right. Council Member Lane seconded the motion. Council Member Lane. The, uh, correct date on that should be April 23rd, not April 20th. All right. Any further discussion? Council Member Gordon? I have a question. Is this the piece that's, uh, been brought forth in order to implement the PeopleSoft HR- That's correct. ... portion? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member James. Mayor, my question has to do with number one, and just wondering, um, for folks, are folks gonna be grandfathered in if they, if season- are there seasonal employees that are carrying health insurance right now? And are they going to be able to maintain that? Is there anybody here from... We'll let Rama address that. In the PeopleSoft system, we're not taking it away from anyone who has it, so- Okay. ... it's, yeah. Thank you, that answers it. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Those in favor of adding that item to the docket f- on, uh, April 23rd, please let it be known by saying, "Aye." Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Does that conclude your report, Council Member Henson? All right. Do I understand the governor is, is here now or I may... Not yet? All right. Then we will continue for a bit longer. Uh, Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I had three, uh, quick items. Um, first of all, uh, 10 of you council members sit on the planning committee, and I wanted to thank you for being willing to have two two-hour meetings today. Um, as all of you know, planning committee has lots of heavy-duty issues, and I appreciate that you were willing to meet for four hours today. Uh, secondly, um, as many of you know, we have been working on joint planning commission, planning committee workshops. Um, this is really the first time in my memory and in a lot of people's memories that the planning commission and the planning committee are working together to move forward on what we're hoping can be some, uh, visionary planning efforts. And I think we're making great progress, and our next joint workshop is going to be June 30th. We're now having them quarterly. It'll be at 9:00 AM in the central library, in the basement. And then finally, um, I've had a very productive meeting with Kelly Baker out at the District Seven, uh, State Transportation Office. O-o-one of the, um, challenges, I guess, in our county is the rural area and cleaning up the roadsides. We get lots of coverage inside the urban service boundary, but the state is very limited in the number of crews they have to help us with our cleanup. So Kelly Baker at the district office and I are working on some rural initiatives, and the first one will take place this Friday morning. Uh, Lisa Van Capenelle of Job Corps has, uh, we've worked with her and we'll have some Job Corps folks who are going to be cleaning up the Winchester Road, North Cleveland Road, uh, roadsides. So it's a good effort to bring forward, and we're hoping to work with more of these, uh, private entities to help with our rural road cleanup. Thank you. Thanks. Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just very quickly, I wanted to congratulate, uh, Council Member James for a, a great picture in, in Sunday's paper about the, about the event, uh, the welfare that you had and, and, uh, this, the two and a half mile fitness walk that was led. And, uh, again, being kind of the, the health, wellness, fitness guy or, or whatever, I, I, I wanna say how impressed I was to see what y'all done and how you had pulled folks together, and would encourage all those folks that participated with you to, uh, be a part of the Second Sunday, uh, event on October 11th this year. And to bring all of that, uh, down into this, into this downtown, because I think that, uh, what you did, you, you hit it right on the head of pulling all those groups together to get tested, go out and walk, uh, and have a full day of, of health and wellness. So I, I was so glad to see that in the paper, and I just wanted to congratulate you on that. Thank you. I wish I could take credit for organizing the event, but I cannot. Um, Jill Wilson with the William Wells Brown Community Center, and Mark Johnson, who is with the Health Department and also works, um, there at William Wells Brown, they did a phenomenal, phenomenal job. The walk was a hit. I do recommend any group, if you can get your groups to walk through your community, it helps so much 'cause you can educate as well as, and we do look forward to being part of, um, Second Sunday. Well, and, and while we're on that topic, very quickly, one of the very, uh, one of the, the great things to report is, is that, um, in 2007, Mayor, when, when you brought in a gentleman from Bogota, Colombia, and he happened to mention that in Bogota they started closing roads and inviting people to come out and walk, uh, it sparked an idea, uh, that has now started to turn into a movement. And that movement is more than just statewide, it's actually, uh, has the potential to be nationwide. And last year, on October 12th, uh, just by word of mouth, no sponsors, no, no real anything, just tapping a, uh, a nerve that was out there, we, uh, coordinated 70 counties closing roads on the same day. It's never been done by a state before. And so you have, uh, other states calling now. Uh, Governor Beshear, uh, was, uh, back in early March, we held a press conference with Governor Beshear proclaiming Second Sunday. Uh, the House and the Senate, Republicans and Democrats sponsored, uh, Second Sunday legislation. ... aah, the University of Kentucky has made it their top priority of all of extension. A, and so as we move forward in this, what's happening is, is that Lexington, a, is, is really on the forefront of a national health movement. And so when I see things like this, a, it just makes me smile and, and it certainly makes me want to try and pull as many folks together from as many communities when we do these things. So my congratulations to you and all your folks. And, and we certainly wanna welcome anybody on October 11th this year. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Lawless. Yes, I just wanna very quickly congratulate, a, the Seven Parks Neighborhood Association, the Ellsford Neighborhood Association, Mintail Park Neighborhood Association, and Columbia Heights for also getting sustainability grants. Um, they're all very good projects and I think possibly the third district got more neighborhood, a, grants than any other district. So thanks a lot. Thank you. Council member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the, a, this week's NDF, um, a fund list. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Beard and a second by Council Member McCord to approve the NDF. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just wanna congratulate Parks and Rec on a successful Kiddie Capers program this weekend. A, we filled the opera house with, um, several hundred little dancers and for them to be able to coordinate that many, a, girls and boys, um, on stage, a, and make it feel like you're at some big Broadway production, it was really something special. So, um, congratulations to Parks and Rec. And just a quick reminder, everybody, they announced a lot of great programs and summer camps that are gonna be occurring and lots of signups that'll be coming up. So pay attention. I know most people probably got the, um, nice Parks and Rec magazine in the mail, so pay attention to that 'cause they have lots of great programs. Um, speaking of being downtown on Saturday night, if anybody was out and about, a, it was jam packed downtown. It was rocking pretty good and, um, which brings me to a little frustration, once again, having car loads of kids and going to the parking meters. I certainly hope that we can resolve some of the issues, uh, with these parking meters, the centralized ones. Um, yeah, of course it was a beautiful night, which was great, a, but having to wait several minutes to be able to go up and get the ticket with a load of kids, um, and a, b- being in a line of people who are in the same situation certainly elevates a lot of frustration a- amongst a lot of people who are going downtown to spend their money and, and do business. So hopefully they are working out those issues. Thank you. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. I think that the, a, that the sustainability grants, the four of them awarded in the, in the third district are, are to be congratulated. And, and I want to congratulate the five neighborhoods in the second district, Meadowthorpe, Windburn, Westwood, McConnell's Trace, and the Western Suburb, a, who, a, a, who had successful applications for those grants. Congratulations to all of them. Thank you, Mayor. I, I wanna speak about those, a, neighborhood grants that were approved this y- this, a, week because it's part of our larger, a, Earth Week initiative. And we really did have a, a tremendous amount of participation from neighborhood and homeowners' associations from all across the community. I think there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 39 applications submitted. A total of 24 grants were awarded. And this, a, may well prove to be the best $50,000 we spend in urban county government because I am confident we will get multiple returns on our investment. The ideas that were brought to the table were creative. A, in every instance, the, a, neighborhood and homeowners' associations are contributing to the effort themselves. That leads me to think, uh, these projects are very high priority projects in the neighborhoods. And, um, I, I was just elated to see the quality of the applications we received and the interest level yesterday when we announced the awards. So please tell all of your neighborhood association presidents we're very grateful for their interest and their involvement. And, a, I look forward to seeing the end result of their work in the near future. A, Council Member Lane. A, thank you, Mayor. I'd like to recognize Council Member Linda Gorton, a, for her work on the storm order or order quality ordinance. Um, I've been carefully following the efforts of her committee because this is an, a, an area I'm extremely interested in. And she has really provided the leadership and stewardship to move this issue forward. I'd also like to compliment Commissioner Cheryl Taylor. The commissioner has ramped up, a, our new Water Quality Department from ground zero, and her work will, I think, really improve the quality of our city and the environment of our city. Uh, this has been a mammoth undertaking. I do not believe that, uh, she has received the, a, recognition from council or the general public for the amount of work she's done on behalf of the community. So my thanks to both, uh, Council Member Gorton and Commissioner Taylor this evening. Thank y'all for a job well done. Okay. Thank you very much. Those words are most appropriate. Council Member Gorton, uh, Martin. Excuse me. Thank you, Mayor. I, I also wanna congratulate Commissioner Taylor. Um, she spoke today and appeared with a number of experts, a, at the Lexington, a, the Commerce Lexington's Issues Forum, and, a, I thought represented the, the city very well, spoke very eloquently, and, and was the recipient of the, probably the greatest congratulations from, a, the, a, a Commerce Lexington of anybody I've ever heard. So it was well... certainly well earned. I just have a few announcements. Uh, Firebrook Neighborhood Associations are meeting tonight, 7 PM at the Firebrook Clubhouse. Wanted to thank the Mayor for, uh, inviting me, and also Congressman Chandler for appearing this morning's news conference, um, on the groundbreaking for the new South Elkhorn, uh, Sewage Treatment Plant. Um, as everybody said, sewage treatment plants aren't sexy. Um, but they are important, and this was a, uh, serious structural defect in our sewage system, and it's important for the 10th District, it's important for the folks over at Palomar that they not have a, um, a, a treatment plant that overflows when it -- when, uh, we have bad weather. Um, I think the Mayor is to be congratulated for addressing these types of chronic problems, and I'm just very pleased that -- to be a part of this council, uh, to do -- that, that addresses these kind of issues. Uh, I also want to thank the Pasadena Neighborhood Association and Harrods Hill Neighborhood Association for inviting me to their meeting, uh, last night. Um, Council Member Gordon was also there, and she was very gracious in, uh, speaking to the group and addressing problems, uh, and questions about the water, uh, fee as well. Uh, it was great, uh, to see this, this wonderful group. It's only a couple years old, and they had quite a few people there, and I appreciate their g- uh, gracious hospitality. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Does any other, uh, council member have a report? Then we'll proceed to the Mayor's report. There are several items that have been circulated. Motion to approve would be in order. Have a motion by Council Member McCord and a second by Council Member Stennet to approve. Council Member Gordon. Uh, yes, Mayor. There are two nominees for the Ethics Commission, and, um, traditionally, the council has held, um, confirmation hearings for Ethics Commission members, and I would propose that we do the same with these two, uh, nominees, and so I think that we need to look for a date to hold a confirmation hearing. I, I would propose 6:30 Thursday before the council meeting, but I'm not sure. There's a lot going on, so I'm not sure council members could attend then. Are, are you talking about the 23rd? Yes. Okay. That's, uh, Isaac Murphy. Yes. That night. The other proposal that I have thought about, um, is that we pull those two off of the Mayor's report and schedule a, a confirmation hearing next week or when we could do that, and then put them back on. We've also done that in the past. Was that a motion? Yes, I think we need to look for a date first. L- let me, uh, interject on this one just a little bit. Is there a quorum issue with the Ethics Commission where we need to, to move forward? Ms. Hartche? We do have some quorum issues. Uh, there are currently four vacancies. We've got the two up right now for, um, confirmation. The next meeting is May... The first, first week of May. May 7th. The next meeting is May the 7th. All right. Uh, I just wanted to make- Seven. ... everybody aware of that. If it would be possible to find a time prior to the, to the council meeting on Thursday, that would be great. If we can't do it, we'll, we'll .......................... All right? One more quick idea, uh, council members. Um, we do have a public meeting scheduled at 6:00 on the 30th for the water quality fee, so if we met at 5:15, we could have our confirmation hearings for those two Ethics Commission members. So for purposes of discussion, I move that the council meet at 5:15 on April 30th to confirm the two Ethics Commission nominees. Second. We have a motion, second. Any discussion? Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. So are you proposing that we pull these two off of the report until such time that we have the confirmation hearing? Uh, yes, because this report will move forward for- Right. ... the 23rd, so that- That'd be fine. ... will be included in my motion. Okay. Thank you. All right. And those in favor of holding a confirmation hearing on the two Ethics Commission nominees on April 30th at 5:15, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Oppose, "No." Motion carries. And, oh, I think the remaining item then is to approve the Mayor's report with the elimination of the two, uh, two, uh, Ethics Commission nominees per Ms. Gordon's, Council Member Gordon's motion. All in favor of approving the Mayor's report as amended, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Oppose, "No." Motion carries. Thank you. Um, that takes us down to, uh, public comment on issues not on the agenda, and I only have one person who has, uh, signed up to speak. Mr. Cobb, if you'd, uh, care to step to the podium, you'll have three minutes. First, giving honor to the most high. Thank you, Mayor, for another opportunity to speak. I'm here to shine today... Anybody who wants change in Lexington, it's coming. Th- The change that we desire is gonna come when we make it change. Everybody in here knows me and heard me say what I do. It's time to put some action behind the smiles. Many of you smile at me, s- wave at me. But now I wanna see where the proof is in the pudding. Let me be what I do, let me do what I do. It's strange paradox to feel abrasive towards me when I wanna provide a service, and at the same time, many of you would break your neck to go see them brothers play UK basketball. We gotta do something about the mentality in Lexington. A lot of words being said, a lot of ideas on the table, but the common dom- the, the common denominator is the stagnant growth in our community. The Irish is making his money, the Mexican is making his money. We gotta come up with ways we can make money for all people, and I have a plan. I'm asking you to help me. I thank you, Chuck, for letting me shine your shoes last week. Appreciate that. I'm asking everybody in the room today, humble yourself. Let's work together. Peace and love. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to address the council? We're ready to go ahead and start. Is that correct? All right. Governor will join us in, in, uh, progress, uh, but we, uh, we can go ahead and get the presentation underway. Let me, um, just say by word of introduction, it is very rare that we have the opportunity to do something that will help a, a centuries-old institution in our community that provides, uh, mental health services. It is very rare for us to have the opportunity to do something that helps our largest employer, and it is very rare for us to have the opportunity to reconfigure our community in such a way as to improve our economic development prospects for the future. What is even rarer than all of that is the opportunity we have today, which I would submit to you does all three of those things. It is a, uh, partnership involving a number of people at the state level, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, the University of Kentucky, um, certainly Eastern State, and, uh, I'm very excited. This is one of the most significant things that has happened in Lexington, in my memory, and, um, here to tell us about it today is, uh, Secretary Jamie Miller from the, um, from Frankfurt. So Secretary Miller, I'll turn the floor over to you. Okay. Thank you very much for allowing me to be here today, uh, to talk about this necessary and very important project. Uh, as you know, and let me get this started. Um, as you know or may not know, uh, Eastern State Hospital is the second oldest psychiatric hospital, we believe, uh, in the United States, uh, with existing, uh, pre-Civil War structures, uh, dating back to almost 200 years, uh, have certainly, uh, been a real challenge to meet the needs of mental health patients, consumers, and clinicians in this 21st century. The Eastern State Hospital campus quite frankly and simply has outlived its usefulness as a place of clinical treatment. Kentucky citizens and families dealing with mental illness deserve the best treatment available in the most modern setting that we can provide. Uh, obviously there'd been a growing recognition and agreement that Kentucky must replace the facility, and this has occurred not just recently, but in fact over the last several years. Uh, approximately 200, uh, 2200 patients were served at Eastern State Hospital in 2008, and although patients can come from all over the, the, uh, the state, uh, they generally come from about 50 counties, approximately 50 counties across the central and southern Kentucky area. Okay. I want to talk just a little bit, uh, briefly about the, uh, background, the events sort of leading to the formation of a plan for the financing and construction of the replacement facility. Again, this was not a new event, uh, for the commonwealth to express commitment, uh, for the replacement of Eastern State. In fact, in the fiscal biennium, uh, budget 2006, 2008, known as House Bill 380, which was enacted, uh, early in 2006, there was a requirement, uh, in budget language that required the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to develop a plan for the replacement of Eastern State Hospital. Uh, again, the, uh, issue came up during the most recent budget deliberations occurring e- early in 2008, where the governor, uh, Governor Beshear led the process in his budget reckon- uh, recommendation in House Bill 406 as introduced, which directed the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to continue the process to identify options for the planning of and financing for the replacement of Eastern State Hospital. And, in fact, the governor made a clear statement of his priority, uh, that, uh, we must find a replacement option for the Eastern State facility campus. Now, as you know, once the, the governor introduces, uh, or bill is introduced with the governor's budget recommendation, it goes first to the House of Representatives for deliberation and preparation of a House budget. And, uh, even then, and as a part of those discussions, early discussions about the cabinet's budget, it was, there was recognition by the House members, uh, that there was a desire to move this project forward. I don't know if I'm focusing it in the right place. Can we go back a couple of slides? Who knows how to do this? Ah, there. Um, at about the same time, there was, uh, deliberation on the House budget for the university and KCTCS at the same time. There was recognition that the University of Kentucky needed additional space and that KCTCS also had need for space to construct an educational building, a building that had been authorized previously by the General Assembly. It was about this time that, uh, leadership, uh, uh, as a part of the budget negotiation, uh, that the governor working with the leadership o-of the General Assembly, uh, with Representative Lee, uh, specifically, and other members of the General Assembly, uh, that the City of Lexington, the Fayette County urban government, recognized the needs of Lexington to continue to evolve the downtown area in a way that could benefit residents s- and businesses, provide the much-needed space for the University of Kentucky, uh, hopefully find a way to advance the project that KCTCS had for the educational building, and in fact, stepped up to the plate with regard to discussions concerning interim financing mechanisms that would allow the cabinet, KCTCS, and UK realize their goals. The General Assembly indicated a commitment at that time that if, in fact, the parties could come together and work out the agreements, uh, that, in fact, they would be interested in authorizing, uh, the commitment for the project. Now, what was the result? The result, uh, was two or three things. First of all, a unique partnership opportunity between the commonwealth, University of Kentucky, the, uh, KCTCS system, and the Lexington-Fayette urban county government. Uh, that certainly is unique in terms of the collaboration by the types of partners and the number of partners. Uh, but secondly, uh, uh, a unique construction project for the commonwealth, uh, in that what we're talking about is the replacement of an almost 200-year-old psychiatric facility. Uh, while those were unique, uh, something that wasn't quite as unique is the General Assembly's desire and commitment. Uh, because I've already talked about the commitment in the previous budget session, which indicated a, a real strong desire by the General Assembly to replace the facility and a commitment recognizing that, um, in numerous times, the commonwealth has advanced projects when there's a tight budget, uh, using a familiar method to authorize leaseback obligations in one biennium followed by appropriation of debt service or leased payments in future budgets. Uh, this, uh, the General Assembly followed through with establishment of a process through which agreements between all parties could be authorized in the budget, uh, language, and ultimately resulted in enacted budget language in House Bill 406, the budget of the commonwealth, uh, to make these provisions. The specific provisions of House Bill 406 are on the screen, uh, in front of you. Uh, they, the pertinent provisions are the conduit financing through the urban county government using an agreement between the r- urban coun- county government and the finance administration cabinet to provide the financing for the project. And this project will be, uh, around $129 million is authorized in the budget bill. Uh, use of bond, uh, proceeds to procure and construct the replacement Eastern State Hospital facility, provides for the authorization for the finance administration cabinet and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to enter into a long-term lease of 99 years of the Coldstream property for the purpose of the operation of a mental health facility, uh, with the state lease payments to begin upon occupancy. And it calls for authorization for KCTCS to vacate the property on Cooper D- Drive, and the finance administration cabinet is authorized to transfer the current location for Eastern State Hospital, uh, to KCTCS for its use, uh, once we have constructed the facility and have occupied the new mental health facility. Uh, in closing, I'd like to, uh, repeat, uh, and sort of round up, uh, some of the, um, provisions, w- and benefits that we think for the project. Uh, let me assure council members that this process for planning has not just happened in the last few months. In fact, there have been many, many, many months of planting, planning from, uh, by the mental health community, uh, cabinet officials, and government officials about the replacement for this facility. We sort of capped that off in, in 2008. In the summer of 2008, while there had been many, many months of discussion and deliberation about, uh, whether or not p- replacement would happen, what it would look like, and what the services would be, uh, we had four regional public forums in the summer of 2008 to sort of cap, uh, round up, and, and, uh, finish all of that public input for the process of determining what services would be provided at the new facility. The procurement process has resulted, uh, has occurred and resulted in the selection of vendors for the planning, design, and construction management of the replacement for Eastern State Hospital facility on land identified by the University of Kentucky. We refer to this as the Coldstream property. And the vendors that have been selected are from, I believe, from Lexington and the central area, as well as, um, as well as Louisville. I can see the governors has arrived. Um, and these vendors will employ many, many individuals in the central, uh, central area, uh, when the construction of the project begins. And lastly, I hope that you see an ongoing commitment here of the cabinet and the commonwealth for the replacement of Eastern State facility. In addition to just the physical plant, however, uh, we wanted to make the, the point that this will, the replacement of the facility will allow us to maintain current operations of one of the largest mental health facilities in the state in Lexington. And currently, the operational budget for Eastern State Hospital is around $35 million. That will remain here in, in Lexington and be a benefit not only to this, to the citizens that are served, but also for the employment base here. And certainly, we don't want to forget what the benefits are to the consumer or the person with mental illness or their family that we're trying to, to serve. It will allow for the provision of new services or enhanced services that we certainly cannot provide at the current structure. It will allow for the provision of psychiatric rehabilitation, neurobehavioral services, inpatient and outpatient services, triage and assessment, forensic and step-down services for reintegration, uh, into the community. We hope that, uh, in addition to just th- again, the facility and the services, that this will allow the commonwealth, uh, to realize our commitment to a philosophy and a practice of inclusion, resilience, recovery, and hope to the individuals with mental illness and their families. Uh, we also, uh, at, at this time, I would like to recognize that we have, um, members of the, uh, State National Alliance on Mental Illness here with me today. Uh, Mr. Bob McFadden and his wife is here. Please simply stand. Uh, I also have members of the Lexington chapter of NAMI here. I think I have Theresa Walton, who's the president. Uh, I'm sorry, here, as well as, uh, three board members, Faye Morton, I believe, Karen Ward, and Phil Gunning are here with me to show their support for this facility as well. In addition, uh, I think that it provides bu- budget language that recognizes the importance and the statutory role of community mental health centers, uh, particularly for our facility operator. Bluegrass Regional Mental Health/Mental Retardation Board, uh, is currently the operator of the Eastern State Hospital. Their headquarters, uh, will adjoin, uh, coincidentally the new site, and I have Shannon Ware, who is the executive director of the Bluegrass is here today. And, again, all of these individuals, uh, are here locally and, and are here to show support for this facility. And in closing, I'd like to, uh... Hopefully, I've, I've left you with two things. One, that there is a compelling need for the replacement of this facility, and that the commonwealth is strongly in support of, of this project. And I'll turn it over to Secretary Jonathan Miller. Thank you. I am the, uh, my title is the other Secretary Miller. And, uh, I say that because, uh, Secretary Jamie Miller has been, uh, the governor's principal surrogate in putting this whole thing together. But as Secretary of Finance and Administration, uh, I, uh, get the responsibility of, uh, helping make sure that the dollars are there and that the facility is administered appropriately. And I'm particularly proud to do so as a proud resident of this community and of, uh, Councilwoman Crosby's district. Uh, I wanna take you quickly through, uh, some of the, uh, financing. I can see how Secretary Miller was having some problems with this. Oh, great. I am, uh, I'm gonna need some technical help. Oh, no. I'm doing the exact wrong thing here. Okay. Should have had my daughters with me here. The, um, project schedule, uh, is up on the screen right now. The, uh, the... We are right now in the beginning of the design phase, which will last from, from this point until March of 2010. Uh, the, uh, bidding and award, um, schedule is proposed for March 2010 through May 2010. And that, uh, is, uh, for the bidding and award of the, the construction subcontracts. Uh, the construction, uh, is, uh, scheduled to take place between May of 2010 and June of 2012. Uh, we plan to have the facility substantially completed by June of 2012, and, uh, finally completed and occupied by July of 2012. Our construction manager, uh, which was, uh, chosen through a competitive, uh, procurement process, uh, is, uh, a Lexington company, D.W. Wilburn Incorporated. Uh, the estimated cost of the construction is $90 million. And, uh, since we are celebrating Earth Day eve and since I saw a couple of councilpeople, uh, trying to, um, out-green themselves earlier during the council, uh, presentations, I can, uh, be proud to say that, uh, this, uh, facility will be certified as a Leed Silver, uh, which is, uh, which means it's gonna be very energy inefficient. And this is part of Governor Beshear's, uh, very strong commitment to, um, making sure that we save energy and we promote the environment in all of our facilities. And as part of his initiative, uh, uh, setting high-performance building standards, and, uh, we're proud that this facility will be a green facility. I did it again. Do we have any, uh, 15-year-olds here that can- ... lead me through this? Okay. Here's the, the financing steps. Uh, and if I skip some steps, it's because of the technology. Step one, um, is, uh, right now that, uh, we are asking, uh, for the authorization and execution of a memorum- memorandum of understanding between, uh, uh, the Fayette County, Lexington-Fayette County government and the Commonwealth of Kentucky to provide interim construction financing. Step two will constitute the issuance of bond anticipation notes, uh, by, uh, by the Lexington-Fayette County urban government. The initial, uh, bond anticipation note would provide funds for the site survey analysis and project design, which we estimate, uh, to be, uh, about $8 million to be sold, uh, in the late spring of this year. Uh, then, uh, Secretary Miller's agency, CHFS, will request biennial appropriations in their budget to make payments, uh, to this, uh, county government under the lease. And a supplemental bond anticipation note would provide the initial construction financing, which we estimate to be between $60 and $70 million, uh, next spring. Step three would require the authorization and execution of lease agreements between Lexington and the state, as well as the University of Kentucky and the state, to provide for the occupancy of the facility and for the payment of the bonds. And then step four would entail the issuance of bonds in the spring of 2011 to convert the bond anticipation notes plus the interest and expenses to permanent financing and to provide the balance of the funding necessary to complete construction of the facility. In summary, this, uh, this bond anticipation note would be a short-term obligation of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, which would jumpstart the project. But I want to emphasize that no payments will be owed as interest in, uh, no payments will be owed since interests and expenses will be capitalized from the proceeds of the bond anticipation note. The permanent bonds will not be an obligation nor will it affect the credit of this local government. And the Commonwealth of Kentucky will pay all the expenses and ongoing maintenance associated with the new facility under this lease. The permanent bonds will be an obligation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which will be subject to a biennial budget process of renewable lease agreement with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which will be subject to appropriation by the General Assembly. Let me stress at this point, uh, that, uh, this is a commitment made by a very strong bipartisan, uh, group of legislators in the General Assembly. Several, several of them I noticed are here today. I've seen Representative Susan Westrom, uh, Representative Ruth Ann Palumbo, Representative Jesse Crenshaw, Representative Bill Farmer, uh, who's my representative, and I don't know if I'm missing anybody else. If I am, um, good, I got all four of them. But, uh, both of your senators, Senator Stein, uh, Senator Forgey Kerr were, uh very involved in this as well as the other, uh, legislators. So Democrats and Republicans who, uh, are in the General Assembly who represent Fayette County. And this is a commitment that, uh, was at the very top leadership of both the Senate and the House. So we feel very, uh, very secure that the General Assembly is behind this and will continue to appropriate the dollars necessary to facilitate this agreement. Uh, finally, in summary, uh, this has been a, a tremendous partnership between, uh, not only this government and, and my government, but also the University of Kentucky, as well as the community college systems. It is expediting the construction facilities and services that, as Secretary Miller, uh, mentioned are in dire need to this community, uh, as well as to the state. It provides for the expansion of our community college system, as well as the University of Kentucky during a very critical time, and, and it enhances economic development opportunities, uh, for Lexington. This has been a, a great deal, a great opportunity for the state, a great opportunity, uh, for the city. And, uh, uh, with that, uh, let me turn it over to the person whose vision made this all possible, who is, uh, who has been, uh, bringing the parties together, uh, to, uh, make sure that, uh, this town and this state, uh, uh, aim to, uh, get all of these goals that we discussed. And I believe this is the first time in, in forever, if not a long time, a first time forever that, that the, uh, the sitting governor's coming to address this council. So let me, uh, proudly introduce, uh, my boss and your governor, our governor, Steve Beshear. Thank you. Thank you all. Thanks very much. Mayor Newberry and Vice Mayor Gray and members of the Urban County Council, first, let me say it's good to be home. You know, Jane and I have spent most of our adult lives in this community, raised our two kids here, and that makes it an even more exciting day for me. It's an exciting day anyway because of this project. It's, it's even more exciting because it is going to, uh, have some really extra benefits for Lexington and Fayette County. You know, people like to talk about a win-win situation when you have multiple beneficiaries of a, of a project like this. Today's agreement on the financing of Eastern State Hospital could better be called a win-win-win or maybe even a win-win-win-win situation because quite honestly, this project and the approach taken to this project has something for everybody in it. Most importantly, individuals with mental illness and their families will see the benefit of a new state-of-the-art facility that brings modern treatment practices to a functional operation, essentially bringing care for Kentuckians with mental illness into the 21st century in our state. The state will benefit by replacing a facility that you know predates the Civil War with many of its buildings, a facility that served as the PowerPoint presentation pointed out about 2,200 patients in 2008. Eastern state officials will benefit because they'll be able to provide a new spectrum of services, including residential and outpatient treatment, triage and assessment, and neural behavioral services. Bluegrass Community and Technical College will benefit because eventually they'll be able to consolidate their facilities and develop a full service campus to serve both traditional and non-traditional students. The University of Kentucky will benefit by gaining very valuable space for future development. And finally, and last but not least, this city will benefit greatly. It'll benefit in a number of ways. One is having a new, aesthetically-pleasing gateway into this city." And as Mayor Newbury has pointed out several times, it will also benefit by being able to boast of a new education triangle around downtown. With the points of the triangle being UK, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, and Transylvania University. Many years of dedication, persistence, and hard work have gone into this effort to reach this point. A lot of people have been advocating on behalf of Eastern State Hospital for a very long time. Concerned family members, board officials, staff members, representatives of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, state agency officials, legislators like those that are here today, like folks like Representative Jimmy Lee, who has been so instrumental in working on this matter, and a lot of other constituencies. And of course, we need to recognize that today isn't the completion of this mission. But it is a significant step toward that completion, because we do move the ball forward today. We'll be able to do that because many people saw the advantages of a partnership. A lot of diverse stakeholders came together to make this deal happen. Their creativity, their innovation epitomizes the kind of efforts needed in the tough budgetary times that we're all facing. We can't rest yet. This hospital is not built yet. There are still challenges ahead. But I'm confident, and I think we're all confident, that if we continue to work together, we're not going to only be able to overcome any additional challenges we might face, but in the end, we are going to end up with a first-class, state-of-the-art facility for our folks who need treatment for mental illness, and Kentucky will have become a leader in yet another area in this state. I wanna thank you all very much for your time, your consideration, and hopefully your vote to move forward with this project. Thank you. The, uh, floor is open for any questions that any member of the council may have for Governor Beshear, Secretary Miller, or... Secretary Miller, or, for that matter, others. Any questions? Council member Meyers. Um, Secretary Miller? Huh? Oh, um, Jonathan Miller. I'm sorry. The other Miller. Um, you talked about jobs for Lexington. Do you know, and this may not be the best question for you, but do you know about how many jobs this represents in the construction trade in Lexington? You got the other... Uh, Secretary Miller would, uh, know the facility better than I. Construction or the operation? Uh, the construction or the operation of the facility. Uh, let's start with construction. Yeah. We, we, we think it's several hundred, but we don't have that, uh, quantified yet. Okay. And then what about operational? 500. About 500. 500? Excellent. Thank you. Any further questions? Council member Beard. Uh, n- not exactly a question, but a statement. Um, at one point some years ago, uh, there was a danger that this facility was going to move west, either to Franklin County or Shelby County, and, um, uh, at that point, uh, uh, Mark Birdwhistle and, uh, the former mayor and I, uh, had discussions about that. I don't know whether we had any influence whatsoever, but, uh, at the same time, we had this on our mind. Nothing of any, uh, all of this scale and scope, but, uh, at the same time, it, uh, uh, it could've mean, meant loss of jobs, and that was, uh, that's just as, just as bad as, uh, and, or worse, for that matter, than, uh, than gaining jobs or... Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council member James. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to point out to, um, remind new council members and refresh... or tell new council members and refresh the memories of those that served on the previous council, um, and everyone in the audience that we have, um, passed a resolution in the past supporting the efforts of a new Eastern State. Um, I have my assistant researching a resolution number for your reference and be happy to get that to you later, but this council has stood before and said that we do support, um, for moving forward with this. At that point, there was not any funding or any obligation other than that support and cheerleading for it. Um, but just wanted to let folks know that this is not the first time we've heard this, and, um, I do appreciate, um, everyone being here, and there's a, an overwhelming show of support for this and look forward to supporting the efforts of the new hospital and, and the educational triangle as well. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions or discussion? If not, a motion to add the ordinance to the docket for the April 23rd meeting, uh, would be in order. So moved. Second. Council member Meyers has moved to add the ordinance approving this transaction to the docket for the April 23rd meeting. Council member Gordon has seconded that. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion is unanimously carried. Thank you all very much for being here with us today, especially Governor Beshear. It's an honor to have you here with us today. Thank you. A, uh, just before everyone gets away, there will be a news conference immediately following the meeting on the first floor. Everyone is invited to, uh, attend that in just a moment, and a motion to adjourn would be in order. Can we get a second? Um, all in favor of adjourning, please, uh, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries.