Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Happy Monday and today is March 9th, board of commissioners work session. Um, madame clerk, care to call the role. Ma'am, Commissioner Richardson here. Commissioner here. Commissioner May here. Commissioner Smith. Okay. Thank you. We have no ceremonial recognitions. We do have citizens comment. Patricia Wridge, you can come on up. You know the deal. You got a minute. We'll let you know.

Thank you for having me. Um, I just need to know, do I introduce myself and then my time starts? That would be greatly appreciated. My name is Patricia Waldridge. I think it's been said enough that we know that. Uh, previous city commissioner and definitely a resident of this community. At this time, um, I will start my time to go into my comments. I'm okay because I'm going to talk a little fast, so I apologize. All right. I respectfully express my non-sup support for the proposed amendment in section 3920 of the city of Frankfurt code of ordinances which has established a four-year statute of limitations for bringing proceedings before the board of ethics measured from the date of the alleged allegation. Ethics violation and public service are often not imitated or immediately visible or apparent. In many cases, when the ethics violation occurs, it's done knowledge and with the intention of being concealed. Because of this, the public, even fellow officials, may not be aware of issues la years later. Sometimes only after documentation services, leadership changes, and patterns of behavior become clear. Establishing a strict four-year limit beginning of the date of allegation violation stricts yielding, shielding, misconduct simply because it was remained hidden long enough. Ethics accountability should not depend on how effectively a violation has been concealed or hidden. If the city is to maintain a limitation period, a more appropriate standard would be one that begins in the violation is discovered or reasonably should be discovered or one that extends beyond the equivalent of two mayor terms or a complete four-year terms departing the commission. Ensuring the accountability remains possible even after a change in leadership. Serving in a public official is a position of public trust. Integrity and character are not optional qualities. They are foundation of ethical leadership. So,

thank you to those commissioners that have upheld two of the very easy standards. Our community deserves the uh assurance that when ethical concerns arise that we can be fully examined and addressed regardless of how much time has passed since the act occurred. The purpose of an ethics ordinance is not to protect those in power, but to protect the public and uphold the integrity of our institutions. For that reason, I cannot support an amendment that may in unintentionally limit the ability of our community to hold its leaders accountable. Recent events continue to remind us how at times actions at the local level can appear to change in the ways that benefit those that should instead be subject to transparency and accountability. The current discussion surrounding proposed ethics change comes on the heels of a ethics complaint that I filed against then candidate and local resident that the complaint was unanimously dismissed because of its determined it was frivolous unsupported by evidence or documentation. While the complaint had no merit, it did it did encourage me to look a little closer and the broader sides of circumstances surrounding it. As my mother always told me, when accusations are made with no substance at all, it is often worth listening carefully and examining the facts. In doing so, I discovered concerns regarding taking by mayor dur a previous trip trying to represent our city. Based on the information available, the trip appears to be proceeded without prior commission approval and without standard docu documentation that has accompanied all of his other trips. Questions have been arised regarding travel expenses and they have exceeded the allowable limits outside the city ethics guidelines. At this time, appointments were made to board of ethics during a political sensitive period when the board later fulfilled its duties enacted independently. The response was to cover or to challenge the board and to pursue a legal action against it resulting in additional taxpayers expense. also leads to two women not being reappointed, maybe in realiation of self-inflicted violation or possibly removing

Republicans because I'm clearly aware that there are appointed of Republicans when it benefits the mayor. Over time, patterns of conduct often reveal themselves. Concerns have been ri raised above about our negative interactions with city leading making three women alone on the city staff cry that I've seen. He has now people of faith. He has yelled at them because I've spoken at their church. Even temper tantrums to nonprofit leaders that has asked me to speak at their events or I've shown up at their events. And local businesses have been chastised because of my sign in their windows. When does it stop? One minute.

Reports of this intimidating and confrontational uh behavior during campaign and now, including attempts discourage individuals and organizations from engaging with me publicly or troubling deserve reflection. Let me be clear. I am not motivated by jealousy, resentment, or political rival. My work and my path are guided by faith, service, and commitment to this community. Integrity requires that you hold ourselves the same standards that we expect from others. I didn't gain the title of mayor, but that didn't stop me from working hard for my community, the flood victims, and the residents and nonprofits in this community. Just because I don't post it doesn't mean I'm not working. My value and respect for people's privacy and respect that God will have a say in my works. For that reason, I believe the community deserves transparency and the opportunity to understand the full truth surrounding the matters. I respectfully ask that we all allow the facts to come forward on the public so the public can make an informed decision about the leadership and accountability that we expect from those we serve. Thank you for your time. I am Katrisha Waldridge. Let's get that right. Always intimidated, always imitated, never duplicated, and I will always stand with our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to staff reports. First of staff reports, we have an update from Eric Cochley for the development code rewrite. If y'all can remember, we're going to add this kind of to every work session. And if he has an update, he has one. If not, he's going to kind of just say where we're at in the process. Hey, Eric.

Hey guys. Uh last week, uh I believe we had our first kind of public open house, um to kind of share some of the the larger themes, um of the development code rewrite. now that we've kind of got a good good amount of it drafted to one condition or another. Um had pretty decent turnout, maybe 20 25 people came. Um that material, the presentation that our consultant did, which if you haven't seen it, um will be getting loaded to the project website, distilledto together.com, um sometime this week, uh as well as some of our other information just about where we are and the process um and all that to keep that website up to date. Um, other than that, work continues. We're we're two weeks into a a weekly meeting between city and county staff where we're literally going back to chapter chapter one of the draft and moment code. Um, getting into a room together with with the the whole group and and starting to read through it all to kind of get into the weeds and make sure we understand as we've gone from, you know, component to component to putting the whole thing together and looking through. So, um, and hope soon to get some some feedback. We've gotten some already from interested stakeholders that are actually familiar with using the code, that kind of things. Um, and just work continues. So, we're we're trying hard and fast to have this thing done by July.

Thank you. Any questions, Mr. Commissioner Anger? Um, thank you for the quick update. I was wondering, I was unable to attend the open house. I was wondering, you sort of mentioned some feedback. Was there anything specific that um anyone brought up or maybe changes that people would like to see that are worth noting?

Nothing terribly specific. There's a lot of good conversation and just questions about how we might do this or that or the other thing. Um we had a few folks that were, you know, I know we've heard members of the community be interested in the the whole dark sky movement and bird safe glass and that kind of thing. So that came up as far as any specific things that questions were asked about. Um beyond that, I mean, we we we kind of set up the different stations with different kind of sections of the code intentionally to kind of drive just discussion and questions, but no other, you know, critiques or uh very specific like requests beyond that kind of thing. Okay. Just wondering. Thank you,

Commissioner Richardson. Do we were there any like you know with this rewrite I've talked to some people some business owners in the community. Do we have any representation from any businesses or folks that developers or organizations that that h of that sort that we've we've actually shared the draft with a couple of local engineers that work on the development side. And early early on when we started this, immediately following the comp plan, we also reached out to to several members of the community around all sides of the whole zoning thing, including, you know, folks that work in development. Yeah.

Um and got feedback before we even started um with, you know, with the current code, what what do you not like? What do you like? What would you like to see in the new code our old code doesn't see? And so that's helped to inform our process. Um didn't learn a heck of a lot we didn't already know. those of us that have been working with the code for a long time and what we you know had already heard through the comp plan process u but just here in the last three weeks as we've tried to share some of the actual language with a few of those stakeholders um that's what I'm waiting to hear back a couple of members of um the local engineering community and other folks that actually are used to using our rags and whose work you know we've reached out to utility folks to the plant board to Kenny at sewers um just to make sure anything we're proposing that's going to be adjacent to what they have to do makes sense. So, we're trying to include those folks.

Okay. Because I obviously I don't like the word easy, efficient. Um I mean I I talked to a lot of that was one of the things I do. I mean, you know, my wife being in banking for over 30 years, that's part of her job is um and and I've visited the the DIG group quite a bit, the development insurance group. Um, I just I would like to see and make sure that I'm assuming this rewrite is going to help things be more efficient when it comes to developing new business uh whatever it may be uh when it comes to utilizing the city.

Yeah. I mean, we want to we want to have strong standards, but we've been clear u from both city and county staff to the consultants that we're trying to thread that needle from like quality standards, but also easy to use, easy to understand. um not ownorous, you know, complex processes if you don't need them and that kind of thing. So that's that's the goal. Anybody else? Thank you, Mr. A. Thank you.

Next in staff reports, you have an update on electronic records RFP. Uh I'm just going to do it from here if you all don't mind. Uh we released a digitization of our records RFP. Uh we took this through the innovation technology committee. This is something that uh we started an innovation technology committee kind of looking into and it's a needed process. Uh so we released that RFP. We got the results back or all the respondents back on Thursday. We received seven respondents. Uh the price ranges anywhere from 17,000 to 266,000. So it's quite a broad range. Uh Charmaine and I are going to go through those and the goal is to go through those kind of pick out who we can eliminate uh off just what our what we're looking for and then take that back through the innovations tech committee on a special called let them see it and hopefully get that process going. Uh this will be our whole goal in this is to have a openf facing uh website that people community can search for contracts any open records can go through there as far as they want to know ordinances contracts uh and any other things in city records. So, it's the full digitization of everything in the vault.

Nice. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. City Manager? We're good. All right. Oh, Commissioner May. When uh so we'll make a vote on this at a voting meeting at the end of March or do you think we'll this will be April or May? This would probably I don't know if we'll get a turnaround quick enough time to get it to the voting meeting. So, if we want it faster, we could probably do it at the work session if need wide range of prices. Can you throw those numbers out? You were talking so fast. 17,000 to 266,000 between the seven responses. That average 266 was way out. Why is there so a big G? That's a You know, I don't know about you, but that that's kind of a

The average in the middle was around that 80 to 90 was about where most of them were. We had one really low, one really high, and the rest were around that 80 to 90 mark. And what was that just to digitize everything? a one-time deal or they digitize it and then it's a yearly subscription which is only around probably average four or five grand that they maintain a website for us everything stays digital. Okay. Uh right now the way the city operates if I want to see what contracts coming due or I'm researching something I go to Charma she pulls out a big book. She looks through paper all this stuff and it takes time out of her day and then we find then we go to the vault. We go to whatever drawer it's in. We find this contract. Oh no. I I'm 100%

this will our our goal is to also have this link to our website so citizens can look find all this stuff themselves as well. No, I think this is a good move. I just was curious. I I I heard those numbers and I was like, "Wow, that's that's a big discrepancy." It's one was really low, one was really high. Everyone else is right there in the middle. Well, okay. Comments to myself. Anyone that can do something for 16,000 that someone charges 266,000 that may not be the best product either. Yeah. So, no. Yeah, that's where we're at. That average range is around that 80 to 90 was about that average range and that's probably what it's going to cost.

Is there a way that we the companies that we are looking at that we can kind of get references? Because that's my big thing is always hey tell me some cities or some counties or entities that you've done this with and we can call and at least say hey most of them are half of them at least are state contract. Okay. Through library and archives, we've already we sent it out to that group whenever we issued it. So, they should be reputable groups. And we've also got some requirements of uh keeping everything on site, doing it here. We don't want things packed up and travel. These are 1,800 some of these documents, right? So, you said that you are going to have a special call meeting in the next two weeks possibly. Yeah, we'll have one set up for Innovations and Tech. Got it.

And this will make everything keyword searchable, all that off that database. And this is for anybody in the community that could Yes. Our goal is to have a forward facing a link from our website that goes to that database. Plus, we can use it internally. Nice. Efficient. We like it. All right. Anybody else have any other questions? Moving on to discussion items. First discussion items, we have invasive task force with Anna.

Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. My hair is so cute. Thanks. I had to put it up because I've been painting. I like it.

Um, my name is Anna Cla Rogers and I'm an extension and research associate at Kentucky State University with their forestry and natural resource extension program. Um, I'm here on behalf of the Frankfurt Franklin County Joint Task Force on Invasives. Um, I also sit on that task force um, as a member. Um, and does this work? Let me Okay, awesome. Just so we're on the same page, I'll try not to spend too much time on this, but the problem with non-native invasive plants. Um, characteristics are of invasive uh plant species include aggressive spreading tendencies and rapid growth. This leads to loss of bio uh loss of biodiversity, loss of cultural heritage, costly impacts to agriculture and forestry, as well as increased maintenance in parks and rights of ways. Um, I do have a QR code there that links to the new field guide for invasives that the Kentucky Invasive Plant Council as well as UK Forestry put together. Um, and so I just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page about what a non-native invasive plant is before we keep going. And then this is just a little information. I don't know who's new to uh city council, but just a little uh history of the task force. It was formed in the spring of 2021. So, I guess we're on our fifth fifth anniversary, if I'm doing my math right, between the city and the county. Um, and it's made up of diverse stakeholders and expert partners. We meet once quarterly to talk about uh ongoing and future invasive plant efforts um in the region. All right, so now that we're all on the same page, um I just wanted to give y'all an oversight of what um the task force has been up to in the past year. Um, I'm sure y'all are familiar with the work parties that um, RIP, which is the volunteer arm of the task force remove invasive partnerships, puts on. We put on six of them this past year. We actually had more on the calendar, but the weather does not always cop cooperate. Um, and this is these are parties. Uh, they're they're

volunteer work days. We call them parties. Um, and members uh, volunteers come and they can learn about invasive species and removal methods. These are done in green spaces in Franklin County. So, in your park systems and other locations um that are uh shared by the community. Um here's some photos of some removal. I wanted to to highlight where uh I don't know if this pointer is working, but uh down here in the very bottom photo, we are getting some wildflower regeneration in East Frankfurt Park. Um which that used to be a park that was known for its spring ephemeral wild flowers. Um the bush honeysuckle there is there's a ton of it. Um but where we are removing we are getting these uh spring wild flowers coming back up which is very exciting and just uh really pushes you uh to want to do this more. Um that's a trillium for those of you that are familiar with um wild flowers. Um education and awareness. Every year, um, the task force hosts, uh, Bradford Bounty, which is a day that folks that have Bradford pear trees, um, on their property can cut it down, bring a picture, and trade it in for a native uh, tree of their choice. Um, last year, uh, we collected 85 uh, of these uh, removed invasive evidence of removed uh, invasive pear tree um, and exchanged those for native replacements. Um the new the date for 2026 um I just got it is April 18th. I don't have the uh uh flyer yet, but I can send that over to y'all. Um it will be in conjunction with the usual Earth Day event. I believe that's at um right down the street. Sorry.

It's at this uh beautiful the veterans. It's at the veterans in the uh library archives.

Yes, it's in that area down there. Um, and I believe Reforced Frankfurt is also going to be that day. So, there's going to be a lot going on on April 18th. Um, although we did make a website this year. Um, there's a QR code leading to it. Um, and it just contains information about the task force, priority areas, information about invasive plant species as well as resources to grants and things like that for land owners um through the NRCS for removal. Um, so that's going to be all in one location for um, citizens. Um the big undertaking this year was we uh know about I'm sure there's more. We know about six sites in Franklin County that have kudzu on them. Um which obviously uh this isn't what central Kentucky is known for. Um but if it got out of control, it could be known for a kudzu. Um so we are working with um private and uh public partners um on some public uh some some kudzu populations to get them uh in their first year of treatment. It will take a few years. Um but partners include Buffalo Trace. Um they have a pretty large kudu patch on their trails out in the back. Um Caston Key also has one. Uh we also partnered with Frank Frankfurt Public Works. Um and then uh several private land owners and farmers. So, this is a big undertaking. Um, and we did our first year at I think three of those sites. Um, a few of them, like the one at Buffalo Trace is a little big and we we've got to get the big guns out. So, I've been um getting like an ATV mounted sprayer and things like that ready to go for this year. Um, but that will be ongoing in 2026. Um, I I think I maybe I didn't I think I added a slide just about what's next, but I guess I didn't update it in time. Um, we are going to continue to work on like Kudzu, like I mentioned, we're going to continue with our work parties as well. Um, and we also just want to continue to

find uh both public and private collaborators that are interested in this. Um, I will say from the top down, this is a growing issue of uh uh it invasive plant species, well, invasive species in general are a USDA priority with this administration. Um, and so I think we're going to be seeing more national language about it. I think we're also going to be seeing more opportunities for funding for this. Um, so I want to put that on your radar as well. Um, I also wanted to mention that um, House Bill 640 is going to be um, on the table this year. It was last year, but I think they like submitted it a little late and it just the timing didn't work out. But this is um essentially I don't know the details of it because it does keep changing but essentially there will we don't currently have a uh list of invasive plant species that can be legislated from. We just have what the Kentucky Invasive Plant Council puts together um which we are releasing a new one this year. I serve as secretary um and uh there's no governing list if that makes sense. there's nothing that the uh horiculture industry or the the farming industry could look at and say this is an invasive plant species. Um so because of that there's also not a way for us to say this is banned or this is um uh you know this is something that we're not going to uh promote in our state anymore. So um I'm not going to tell you how to feel about that, but do your research on it. Um, we are certainly in support of there being some sort of framework. Um, but, uh, 640 is coming down the pipeline and, um, I just wanted to put that on y'all's radar. Uh, yeah. So, uh, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them the best I can. Um, and I appreciate y'all making time for us. Last week or two weeks ago, I got COVID and my time my

timeline is really messed up. Um, but I believe it was two or three weeks ago, the end of February was um, National Invasive Species Week. So, we always try to come and give y'all a little update around that time. So, any questions? Well, thank you, Miss Rogers. I wait. I learn something new every time I get up here, especially about things like this. So, thank you for educating me. I am rather newer to the board, so this is um really good to put on my radar, especially with the House Bill 640. So, I will be doing my research. Thank you. Does any of the other commissioners, Commissioner um?

Yeah, just quick comment. Thank you for coming. I I know Commissioner May and I were a part of the board that approved the initial uh group coming together and so it's great to see how you guys have grown and the work parties are still going and like the improvement that you showed with the Trillium. That's really exciting. So, I remember a time when I worked part-time for the city and out at Cove Springs, this was probably like 20ome years ago, I was just pulling garlic mustard by like the handful for hours and like

it did a little something, I'm sure, but it's great to to see this active group and and an improvement happening in our parks and our community. So, if there is federal funding, please, you know, have the group reach out to us and and if we can partner and help, um, just let us know. Absolutely. And we do, I forgot to mention this, we do have another work day coming up, work party coming up on Saturday, March 21st. Um, I can make sure to get that flyer over to you once it's approved. Um, I need to double check the location. Um, we try to work uh with Parks and Recreation uh closely and make sure we're not double booking with big events. Um, so I need to double check with them, but um, it will likely be at East Frankfurt Park um, which is it's perfect timing to see wild flowers coming up um, where we've been doing this removal. So,

yeah. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. Of course. Have a great day. I hope it's better. Oh, yeah. It just was Yeah. rough two weeks. All right. Item number two in discussion, we have what can I recycle with Sarah Anderson. Kind of a review of uh, we were without recycling for so long. kind of a a citizenry view of recycling.

Yeah. Hey guys. So, the last couple few meetings we've been talking very serious, right, about um the the future of our solid waste program, but we wanted to take a little time to kind of lighten it up and revisit um kind of the the ins and outs of recycling. So, to that end, I am going to recycle a campaign that uh communications director Blair put out on Facebook earlier this year and kind of use it as talking points. So, I don't know if you guys saw this when it went out on Facebook. I thought it was kind of cute. So, we're just going to kind of go through it and talk through it for everybody. Um, question one, does the city have a system for reminders? Excellent question. We do indeed. It's kind of amazing. You can use the web-based version or the app frank waste. Um, you can sign up for calendars. Uh, you can see your schedule based on your address. You can sign up for reminders, which is kind of nice. And you can do that through the web. You don't have to have the app if you don't want apps. I know some people like, oh, I've have enough apps. Um, you can do it through the website. You don't have to do that. Um, you also get notifications of any schedule changes. So, if there's adverse weather and we have to put things off a day or if there is um a change to what we accept in recycling, all of that can be uh found on our app. Isn't weekly recycling a service that I'm already paying for? Another excellent question. Um kind of so right now there is no dedicated fee that anybody pays for trash and recycling. Yes, people pay taxes and yes, that goes to the general fund which funds this program, that same bucket of money, as you guys know, also funds darn near everything else. So, every year as priorities change or as you know, as the group up here changes, there's the

potential that how solid waste is funded also changes. So, that's that's where that stands right now. Will my recycling be collected as trash if I put it out on the wrong week? So, you guys know back in October, October 23rd, 7th, whatever date that was. Um, we switched over to doing this uh bi-weekly recycling. So, people got concerned. I don't want to put my recycle card out on the wrong day and have it picked up as trash. If your recycle cart is out on week A and you're a week B schedule, we are not going to collect it. You simply bring it back to, you know, inside your garage or next to your house, wherever you keep it, until the following week, bring it back out and then we'll get it with recycling. When should my trash and recycle carts be out for collection? So about two years ago, January of 24, I believe, we changed our ordinance to change the time that carts need to be out from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. We did this because on occasion we have to we have to start early, maybe adverse weather, maybe we're making up we're running a double route. We're making up for a holiday. And so the guys want to get started earlier so that they can get to the landfill before it closes. Uh so 6:00 a.m. you need to have your carts out for collection. Can I use my blue lid bin? Blue lid bin for trash on my non-recycling week. So, your blue lid bin is your recycle cart. We actually in the ordinance it uh talks about that the carts are used for specific purposes only. So, your trash is for trash and your recycle is for recycle only. We can't uh we can't pick up trash out of recycle bin on your non recycle weeks. And now Jud's gonna play us a little a little diddy.

So this is one of our more popular maybe one of our more most popular reels from last year and just kind of an introduction to the next part of our conversation. It's cool, right? Good music. This is CJ, one of our newish guys, and he's uh having a good time with this. That's it. So, this this is a little reel that we put out um back in October when we when we started doing curbside recycling again. Um is that right? Or when we switched. Um anyway, so one of the other questions that was asked, what can I put in my blue lid blue lid recycling cart? Um so the city of Frankfurt, we partner with the Lexington Municipal Recycling Facility. All of the collected recycling material that we get here in town gets um transported to Lexington. So we we accept curbside whatever Lexington accepts. So you can see there kind of what's what's acceptable, papers, um steel and aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles and jugs, etc. and they have a handy dandy little one-page flyer on their website, which we also reference, that gives a nice visual for anybody who's asking, "Can I put this in my recycle cart?" This is pretty much what you can put in. And if you have questions about whether or not it's okay, you can go to Frank Waste and they have a which bin is it or which I think it's called which bin and

you can just type in the material and it tells you how to dispose of it, which is super handy and cool. Following that, what does not go in my blue lid? Trash, obviously. Any sort of bag, food waste, styrofoam. We get lots and lots of cat litter buckets. So, that's a that's a definite no. Um, discussions, questions. So, absolutely.

Cat litter buckets. So, so many of them. So, if you go to the Lexi the the Lexington MRF, the municipal recycling facility, if you go to their website, they have a really extensive list of items you can accept and cannot accept. Um, and like I said, we follow that list because that's where our materials go for processing. Um, so I have a teeny tiny little quiz if you guys want to do it about what's accepted and what's not. If you don't want to, that's fine. We'll just talk it through it. Put it on the spot, Sarah. Lay it on you. Okay. Okay. So, here's what we're going to do. Lay it up. Hand up for yes. No. Hand for no. Okay. Can I recycle plastic utensils? Very good. Absolutely not.

Which one's yes? No. This is yes. No. Just hand up for yes. Nothing for no. I need to listen to Oh my gosh. doing research. Okay. How about hangers? Plastic or metal? No. Very good. Thank you. Um, pizza boxes. Yes. Yes. Oh, that's a tricky one. It's yes and no. I It's good to take out the old pizza. The old pizza. Yes. So, yeah, if it's greasy and funky and nasty, we will not take it. But if it's dry and clean, put it in there. Um, plastic clamshell, like those takeout boxes, the plastic ones, you know, that Yes. No. No. I said yes.

Plastic styrofoam is a no. No, the plastic ones like the clear plastic, the clamshells that close like this. No. No. No. No. Uh, juice boxes. Yes. What's the juice box made of? Yes. Oh, why would you make it more complicated for me? So, like, you know, like a like a high sea or a juicy juice or an honest. Yeah, they're a Yes, they're a Yes. They're called terrapacks. So, they're layered uh cardboard or like paper board and plastic, but they actually can be recycled. So, like your those cardboard kind of uh milk jugs, those can go. Capri Suns. No. Very good. Uh shredded paper. No. Oh no. Correct. No. No.

You can re shredded paper can be recycled but only by specific facilities. So some people will do those shredded days. You can Yeah, you can drop it off for that. Um last one. Wrapping paper. No. No wrapping paper. Correct. No. No. Hard enough. See what about the the tube? Uh, I'm going to say probably. I would I would check frank waste, but yes. I would think probably. Yes. It's like paper board, cardboard. That I throw them in mine. I mean, either one. You could play Star Wars and then put it in your recycle bin. Yeah, that's what I used to do. Reuse, right? One of the arts. That's all I really have. Do you guys have any questions or thoughts?

Questions from the board. Commissioner May. This is just for me more than anything. Why not shredded paper if I can put other paper in the cart to go to the recycling center and it be shredded? So, oh, I should have I should have put a little video. Uh, if you go to Lexington's website, they have a video that actually shows the line, the recycle line working. So all the material arrives and they dump it in a big loading area and then it's it's fed onto a series of like conveyor belts and it it shakes, it puffs air, it does all stuff to separate items. Well, the way that they separate paper will not recognize shredded paper. Fair.

So it ends up just being waste trash. So if you put shredded paper in your recycle cart, it ends up just going to a landfill. If you save it for a shred day like like the banks do, you can take it usually and they'll accept it and recycle it. Okay, nice. Thank you, Commissioner. A couple random ones. We still do the overflow bags and they they're sold at Kroger's, right? Correct. So, for anybody out there that may have extra, you can sit those out anytime. Absolutely. And then you don't have to make an appointment for those. Buy the bag, put it out. But then people can rent extra cans. Correct.

Yeah. So, we still do um like bulk collections with or without the carts depending on what you've got. If you've if you get the carts, you get up to 10 of the large 96gallon carts and everything that you put in there, uh it's a $50 fee, okay? And we'll come and empty them once. Uh if you want to have stuff, bless you, if you want to have stuff outside of the carts, it's $100. And you can do that. You can do the $100 one with or without carts as well. Right. And then one more question. Um if some people have been missed recently, you know, here and there. Um are they able to report it on the Frank Waste app? Absolutely. Oh, you can't.

You can. There's a report a problem or ask a question. I can't remember. I think it says report a problem. But we get a lot of those that come in and it actually just comes in as an email to me and several other people and then we create a work order and go out and fix it and um if it if it's not something we can get right away, we'll send a message back and let them know that it's in the works. That's great. So that if you have the app, that is a good way to report it if you don't call in or don't want to call in. So for instance, um Friday,

one half of Tangle Wood was missed. The other side of the street got picked up, but the righthand side did not. And so we, you know, over the weekend and this morning, we had several people messaging saying, "Hey, I didn't get picked up." And so we sent messages back out to all those people. And by the time I got the messages out, it had already been collected. But yeah, just to let people know we heard you and it'll be picked up. That's great. Thank you. I am very thankful for the Frankfurt waste app. One day and Milo threw his momo. It says blueberry muffins package in there and I said Sarah is not going to kill me so take it out. So yes, we are working on it. We are We are learning together. We are learning together. Thank you, Miss Sarah. Any more questions? We're good. I'll have questions later. Okay. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you. Challenge the quiz. I am.

I think Hey, what was our score on the quiz? Sarah, you didn't give us a score. What did we get? Did we get a thumbs up? High five. Yes. Definitely pass. Yeah. Yeah. Green or red? You guys got green? Yes. Perfect. All right. Moving on.

The next item we have the proposed technology and innovation committee order revision. Uh last week we had a technology and innovations committee meeting. Uh this committee and Commissioner May is on this committee along with Mayor Wilkerson. And this committee is rolling. We're going through all kinds of different upgrades. That's where that's where the records came through. We have a lot of stuff going through there and uh we've also been discussing u solar energy and things like that. So we kind kind of came up with this proposal of maybe adding uh sustainability as part of that committee. Not financial sustainability but

solar things like that energy efficiencies. That's kind of what we've been talking about in that committee anyway. Uh so we came up with a proposal and the committee kind of wanted to recommend to the board of commissioners making that change to go technology innovations and sustainability committee. It gives it a home. Um a few years back the city did all the inrail studies that gives it a place for that to live and we can start working that process and getting that going through that committee. I just wanted to kind of present that to you all and see if there's any push back on that or and Commissioner May can can chime in if he has anything to add on that. Tell us more, Commissioner May.

Well, I'll just I mean kind of echo the same sentiment. Yeah, we we have a lot of opportunities uh to increase our energy resiliency um and the efficiency, you know, which translates into cost savings for the city. But it's a big project and it needs it does need accountability uh and a place to kind of go to and rather than trying to branch out and create another separate position or another separate committee. It just felt like with the discussions and the things we're already doing in tech and innovation that it felt home there.

So that was the idea was to yeah just kind of give it like you said its landing place to where these conversations can continue to then bring to the board for action if necessary. Great. Thank you for serving on that committee. My pleasure. And our goal would be to bring that at the voting meeting with those changes to that order. Nice. All right. Nothing else. Moving on to action items. We have a first reading. Seeking a sponsor. Forgot that part.

An ordinance amending City of Frankfurt Code of Ordinances section 39.2 relating to limitation of actions before the Board of Ethics. This ordinance amends section 39.2 20 the city of Frankfurt code of ethics to specify the conditions under which proceedings can be initiated before the board of ethics and establish a 4-year statute of limitations for bringing such pro proceedings measured from the date of the alleged violation. Any discussion on this? Commissioner Anger.

Um just a quick question. We did speak earlier and one of the things I asked was um is this similar to other uh cities ethics ordinances you know can you compare yes to other it is and actually if you all would I I realize this is causing quite a bit of confusion it sounds like in the community and um among you guys so if if you would bear with me for a couple minutes I'll give a really short I need the utmost detail okay Okay. So, if you look at your memorandum, um the one that I wrote actually cuz um

I think it's a little simpler. Um so, our original ordinance is literally one sentence and it said this is all about limitations of actions, when you can bring them, how long you have to bring them, etc. And all it said is unless there's a statute of limitations that otherwise applies under state law, an action for a violation of this chapter must be brought within one year after the complainant becomes aware of the violation. It's all it said. So that created some confusion. Um and and trust me, our ethics ordinance looks just like every pretty much every other city ethics ordinance in the state of Kentucky. we're all working off the same basic template that went out 20 years ago. Um, this language is a little vague when you look at it. And unfortunately, when we had a um recent appeal of a board of ethics decision, um, the judge's opinion created a little more confusion about what this one sentence means. What was always intended and what is intended by every city around the state is that um if you find out you you quite literally discover find out about something that does spark the need for an ethics complaint to be filed. You need to do that within one year. you have a year from when you find out to be able to file the ethics complaint that's in every ethics ordinance across the state of Kentucky pretty much. Um so the judge un unfortunately there was some language in there that added some confusion. Um for one thing it seemed to imply that a court action had to be brought within one year not just a complaint filed before the board of ethics. So the opinion made it seem that like you know

it meant it was meant to be a court action. That's that's not what was intended. We are saying a year from the day to bring any sort of ethics complaint or issue and the board this applies to the board itself too if they were doing an investigation one year from the date you actually find out um to bring something to the board of ethics. So go are you want to ask a question? Nope. I'm I am I am aligned. I'm listening. I just My brain is thinking my face said it. Okay. No, you're totally fine. I have a question. Go ahead, Commissioner Richardson.

So, am I to Is it fair to say the way we have it written right now? Uhhuh. Would that be fair to say that I'm looking at 3920 brought within one year after the complaint became aware of the violation that that that's forever. There's no um there's no limit to that. Meaning that's right. That Okay, I understand what you're saying right now. Yes.

And I'm pretty good, you know, I'm pretty good on elements of law. But the element of this statute which I'll call it a statute because it's a local statute. It's saying that it is an unlimited timeline for anyone. Okay, let me let me explain this part. I want you I will answer this

but it requires me to explain just for a one sentence ordinance that we're now changing to like two sentences. It's so confusing. Um but basically okay so the only thing this said was that you have a year from the discovery or you become aware of an issue to bring it to the ethics board. It set no limits on um how long you have to bring it from the time the incident allegedly occurred. So

So I guess so let me ask you a question. That being said, I'm the I worked for the city. I retired in 17. That's eight years ago. So, if there would be if someone brought an ethics viol said, "Hey, okay, Rob had an ethics violation back in 2005." The way this is written now technically, and they said, "I just found out about it. I just found out about something that happened 2005, right? And I just became aware within three weeks. the way it's written right now, it holds water. In theory, somebody could bring that to the board of ethics. Now, depending on what it is, there might be some other statute of limitations.

Well, and I don't I got another question. It involves state and federal statute, but I'm just I want But in theory, in theory, yes. Somebody could say, I know this happened in 2005. I know Rob is now, you know, 95 years old living in Florida, but that was very precise. Want to be in mine? No, I'm just I you know how I am. I mean, I lived and breathed elements of crime. When I read this, I had I mean, I read your memo, but I really didn't wrap my head around until I compared it to the new ordinance. Right. And the way our old ordinance is, it's it's unlimited. That is that is

for your lifetime. If you were a city employee uh or served here, you basically it's now obviously it had to be something to do with within your purview of

within Yes. that is actually subject to the ethics code. But yeah, it's and that is a standard that is completely um I I don't know of any ethics board or organization that would just set an unlimited time or intended to just set a completely unlimited time. That's not how the law is established when it has statute of limitations exist for all sorts of things and there's a reason for that. It's because, you know, at some point it just goes too far back. So the four-year that that I went ahead and added to this ordinance, it basically says from the time the alleged violation occurs, you have four total years to bring that. Um that is in line with the other cities in Kentucky that have addressed it so far. I've also talked to a couple of cities that are in the process of creating a statute of limitations because they don't want something from 15 years ago, you know, to now. And again, let me say this too, that does not mean that there aren't other avenues. There may be something that occurred that is criminal or has some other element that could be brought under a different process, but we are talking about just for the ethics board. So four-year limitation uh statute of limitation is in line with the trend of other cities in Kentucky.

So with the so with this amendment, the one that you did, this is the one that the one that before you amended it or before we amended it, was that aligned with other cities as well or does this like one two sentence switch up? Is that what makes this align with other mean?

So it may not read exactly the same way. I mean, a lot of cities still have this one sentence in their ordinance, and it's probably because they haven't had anything come along that has caused confusion or, you know, caused the need for interpretation. Um, and sometimes that's how you just find out that there's there's an issue. But, um, I think there's some chatter going on on on some of the list serves and and things like that, you know, to look into this stuff. There's actually a lot of changes I think that cities are wanting to bring to these ethics codes to modernize them.

And so this may not be the last. Um but basically, so the one-year period is just clarifying the judge's opinion. Unfortunately, it indicated that if something is a public record and it's existed for longer than a year, then somebody who finds out about it and brings it is out of luck because it was in a public record,

which is really difficult for staff, the ethics board who has no business, you know, trying to determine what constitutes a public record. Then they come to us, they're bringing city staff into it and we're supposed to be completely separate from the ethics board. It's it's just that would have been a very confusing and strange result. So we're changing it the language just a little to say what was always intended and how it's always been interpreted, which is you find out about it, you have a year to bring it. You have four total years from the time that it actually occurred. Does that that make Where did you come up with the four total years?

Four total years is actually and I think the um the ethics board had recommended five. Um we did four just to keep it in line with Owensboro. Um let's see. I think that's the one Bowling Green. Don't hold me to that. I think it's Bowling Green that's considering considering it. a couple other cities, but four years because it's the term of a mayor or um or two terms unfortunately, you know, for for a commissioners, but four years is a pretty pretty standard um statute of limitations. So that's why we put it in there. Um so in some ways yes this does um make it easier for someone to not easier but it clarifies that it is easy to bring an ethics complaint. You don't have to have had knowledge just because it was out there somewhere in a public record. you have a year, not from that time when it existed, but a year from when you directly find out about it, which again was always the intent of this ordinance. We just needed to clarify it um based on the opinion. And that happens a lot with court opinions. They accidentally, you know, they just use language that unfortunately sets a standard that's going to be difficult to follow. So, we just want to make sure that we address our ordinance, make it clear, don't waste anybody's time and money. um because now they can clearly understand exactly what the standard is

and this was brought to light because of the circuit court opinion. Yes. Anybody else? Anybody else have any? I mean I just just roughly Googled statute limitations while sitting here on ethics. I mean it it varies. Yeah. New York City has New York City has five. So, we can totally, you know, if you all want to talk about a different number, totally fine. This was I would be comfortable with that. I I I don't know. I don't know. I I I want to and and no disrespect. No, no, not taken. And this was just something honestly I looked at it and said, "What do other cities do?" Okay, let's do what they do just on this particular

and the reason the reason I say that is I hold myself in high regard. I worked here too long and ethics was a that's a big thing. I mean, when it comes to law enforcement, um, you may not be able to shoot real well, you may not be able to drive real well, but once you compromise your character, chief, that's that's that's pretty bad, isn't it? So, in fact, bad enough that you may not be a police officer anymore in the state of Kentucky or anywhere else. So, I do think I I would like to look at this a little closer. I would just And then maybe the four years we go with, right? I mean, I don't I don't know, right? Listen, are we voting? Is this voting? No. However, this is discussion, right?

This is discussion. This is a first reading, but I do want to bring something to your attention. And this is me not doing what I yelled at everybody for not doing in a memo for a work session, which is I did not explain the reason why we have an action item on the work session. And that is because uh the ethics board has no interest in going to the court of appeals to get this language dealt with. Yeah. We can do it ourselves. I agree. So, let's do that. Saves time and money for everybody. But we are on a deadline. What's our deadline? So, um it is Oh, boy. I love deadlines. Yep. Sorry.

No, no. Hey, don't be sorry. Look, look, I is maybe I don't I don't know if it's in here or not. Um it basically I think it's the day of our voting meeting or maybe the day of the work session in April. It is very soon. Basically if we don't get two readings in by the voting meeting the time to actually ask the court of appeals for clarification um is going to end. So we want to get it done. I'm not I mean and that's why correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. City Manager, but that's what a special meeting could be called for. Correct. 100.

I mean, I'm not I'm not too I mean, as long as I have the date, right, because I don't want to kick the can down the road. I do think this is very important. And the reason I say that is and I and I don't know about I'll speak for myself. Um, other than one appointment to any committee or is it a board that we have? Yes. I call every one of these applicants

and I do an interview because if I'm going to vote on someone, I want to know something about them. Um, we recently did vote on someone on the ethics board. I called and spoke to that person for 45 minutes. Very, very pleased with them. I do believe when it comes to ethics, I I do think that I don't know how that's governed with, you know, I would hope that political affiliation should not matter. Uh, however, in times, um, I I understand the concern with that, but I would hope that that that's considered, right, because we do have people that are ultra-conservative and maybe ultra liberal. I get that. Hopefully, we have some people down the middle. I mean, I would like to think everyone on the ethics board is somewhere in the middle. Um, because, you know, what's funny is having a law enforcement background doesn't matter where you come from. If you violate the law and and the elements of that crime are met,

you violated the law. That's just it doesn't matter where you are on the hierarchy of anything or political beliefs, right? So, that's kind of what I'm thinking. But, I do want the public to know that I I call these people and talk to them. And I think that's I think every one of us uh do that. Some I I'm not, you know, I've lived here over 30 years. So, I'm not from here, but I would imagine that uh uh Commissioner May and Commissioner Hunger, they and actually Commissioner Smith Wills, they they they're from here. They know a lot of people. I do too, but uh but I just I don't want you to think I'm wasting your time either. Maybe the four years is the way we go. I don't know, but I want some time. Is this the purpose of a first?

I know it's a work session. I just want to bounce this back and forth, but I I truly believe that that this is important cuz I one thing is for sure, holding ourselves in high standard is the and our our employees, right? Uh I can hope that in the back they we expect the best and people to and act the best, right? When it comes to ethics, uh because I I understand people make mistakes. Uh but I always had this I had a wise person told me there's mistakes at the heart and there's mistakes in the mind and those are different and you gota and people don't realize that at times and and in in a leadership position we have to take that in consideration.

True. And and the board of ethics did ask for five years. I know. Yeah. Um and I don't I don't want y'all to think I was going against the board of ethics. Just uh I I'm glad you gave me Owensboro and Bowling Green. I know quite a few people there. I would like to talk to them and I plan to do so. Uh the chief in Owensboro is a really good friend of mine and uh Art Elim is a is a great guy. The chief in Bowling Green is a really good friend of mine. Uh so I'll be calling them and talking to them. Absolutely. And again, it's not I think this I'm glad we're addressing this and I I to the to the board, I would say it's important enough that we talk among ourselves individually and that if we have to have a special meeting, uh obviously we'll bring the mayor up to to speed that we do that we do. So,

sure. And we can we can definitely do that. We can you guys can let us know, take a look, think about it, call around, talk to people, do whatever you you feel like you need to do. Um, and then Jason, we can call us as long as we get it done by the voting meeting. But but our ordinance would not, if I'm correct, it doesn't supersede any state law or federal law. No. Correct. No. When it's criminal, it's criminal. No. This is just for our local ethics board.

And to let the public know, there are statute of limitations within our our legal system as well. I don't sometimes public doesn't understand, but there are statute of limitations when it comes to uh state laws. Uh so that's that's important especially in a misdemeanor uh a whole bunch. Yes, they do they do exist for a reason but this is completely up to you all. Um 5 years, two years, 10 years. It's up to you guys. So So we need to talk amongst ourselves and our friends at other municipalities before the 23rd and we might have a special code meeting. That is correct. Copy. Did you say April 23rd? Um, March 21 our our voting date.

All right. I'm looking for that March. You don't care. I'd like to have that that that date in April. Um, yes. And I will No, not I don't need it right now. I don't know why I can't remember it, but I can find that out for you immediately. You're You're busy. I understand that. And now Commissioner Richardson has just made you busier. I'm sorry. It's totally fine.

Love it. All right, we're good. Any more questions? All right, if that's it, we will move on to discussion of tenative agenda. Mr. Mayor does a good job at this, but um from what I see, we might have a special call meeting for the tech and innovation committee. Correct. Um possibly a special call meeting before the voting meeting for this ordinance? Um anybody have anything else that they would like to call out? I don't know if I call it now, but uh obviously sanitation is coming up. That's I think that's on our maybe unfinished business. A few meetings back. I think the March voting meeting was when it was set to So it's on there.

Yes. It's on our tenative agenda right now. Yes. How how can I ask how it's on there? It is just on there with a placeholder. We haven't I'm getting difference of opinions when I speak to you all. So I have to we have to clean that up in the next two weeks. Okay. Deadlines. Deadlines. I'm locked in. All right. Well, that's a good segue into unfinished business besides solid waste. Anything else anybody have? I I'll go to unfinished business. I I'd like to discuss with Sarah a little bit about solid waste if we could. Is that possible? Am I allowed? Yeah. If you sure. She's thinking play Sarah's smile. You're doing a great job. Hi guys.

Hi Sarah. Um, a few things I want to clarify. First, I'm going to make some statements first. Uh, and and the very first one is um a lot of information has been fed to the public that is not true. I have fielded probably anywhere from 25 to 50 phone calls, emails. Um, I'm a little disappointed in the way it was presented to our public in u in the media.

Uh, I talked to several people and at no time I had several people even say that well that wasn't in the paper like that. Well, because once again, uh I would ask our newspaper to uh really help us engage the community and not be so decisive in in making us uh printing factual stuff is what I'm trying to say. Uh maybe call down and ask before it's printed. Uh because it really threw a lot of the public into a disarray. Um so I want that's my first statement. My second is I was very impressed with the with the Zoom calls we had with uh with getting to talk to uh the entities. Um and you know I just kind of want to out of all this I want to hear what what what do you think? I know where I stand. I think I've shared that with you but how how do you think uh and the reason I say there's many layers to sanitation.

Sure. And I want the public to know a part of the layer is the cost and and that's a big thing right now. I pulled up your uh you know I just pulled this up just just to refer you know we've got in-house do nothing it's anywhere from $3.1 to $3.6 6 million and that's important for the public to know that um it's equivalent to somewhere around 28 $29 uh pricing. Correct.

Um what I'm most concerned about is after talking with Amber uh today and and even before is our financial situation with the city overall and our needs in other areas. And I would never try to pit one department against another, but um Commissioner May and I have a meeting tomorrow with public safety and I'm sure what's going to come up in there are issues with we need to replace some ambulances and we have a radio system that needs and we had a presentation here comes with a price tag and there's only so much money after we consider um we roughly need to hold back 3 months and according to Amber that's right around 11 let's say 12 million. We've got 14 million. I'm spitballing numbers here because I didn't want to put her on the pressure. So, we don't have millions of dollars laying around when it comes to uh I'm trying to pull that up. The cost of these trucks, but basically, you put in here anywhere from 450 to 900,000 uh for one to two vehicles a year.

Yes. So, let's just just round that up. We haven't purchased them because I know today things are not going to be today. It's going to cost us more tomorrow. So, roughly a million dollars. Um, that's where I'm coming from. I want the public to know that. And I will say this, we have several things on on the horizon for revenue. But I'm not going to count on what we have in the in the in the on the on deck because we don't have that money with us. I at no point we I know we discussed up here passing that cost on to the public, but what I would like to do is this is way I feel today. Let me ask you your opinion before you before I reveal how I feel on how to move forward with solid waste collection services. Right.

Yes.

Um I first we have really really really amazing staff and they do an excellent job and I think they do pretty much the best they can every day given what they have at their disposal. That said, I do think that the responsible thing to do is to outsource this service. Um, the private companies, this is their bread and butter. This is everything that they do all day, every day. Their livelihoods depend on it. We have a staff of 20ish that that's all they do. But, as you pointed out, there's a lot of other departments and divisions in the city. So if you look at the city as a whole, right, we're we're focused on this and we're focused on that and solid waste is just a little piece of that and it's a big important piece. It's a public health related piece, but it's just a piece. And so we were saying, you know, can't pit one program against another, but when it comes time for budget, I mean, that kind of is what has to happen a little bit. Um, and so I I think personally that it's the responsible way to move forward is to privatize the service. Um,

well, that's where I'm at. And not just that, but I think we should pay for it because I I think and I did I don't want to steal Commissioner May's thunder, but the city not only retains control because if we pay for it, we still can we retain some control, but it we also gain a partner. Correct. a partner that Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your thunder. Well, I'll share the thunder. Let's share I'll quote what he said. He said, you know, we gain a partner that's motivated to do an excellent job because that is their entire that's their livelihood. And and what I like to do a bad job

is they mentioned in these conversations that if they had a truck breakdown or if they have issues, they can they have such a wide fleet or deep bench deep bench that they can pull people in from other areas to collect and and it's one thing that we don't have and I and and I I don't know what happened. I don't know why we're, you know, obviously this, I do know a few years ago I attended a meeting and a past city manager brought this up. Uh, and I thought it very odd. I did, but maybe there was some writing on the wall and part of it is the expense of it.

Uh, people are expensive, equipment is expensive, and unfortunately, uh, we've got a lot of big ticket items on the books right now, too. We have a meeting center. Uh, we've talked about, uh, Riverbank, uh, what was our Riverbank thing? Um u

there you go. I couldn't think. Sorry, I'm old. Uh you know, we talked about that. We've got the the whispers about a a pool, right? And so there's all these things. So what's what we have to do up here is think about service to our what they're used to and what they deserve and what we need to get them. But then we've got some what I call some quality of life things and some really things on the horizon that we need to consider as well, especially like I said when it comes to uh the ambulances and the radio system. And there's, you know, and the other thing is let's knock on wood. We we don't need any more natural disasters to happen. Uh so, um that's kind of where I'm at. I I kind of pulled my ace there. I guess I showed my hand where I where I'm standing. Uh, but I'm glad this is on um the voting meeting

and that's kind of where I'm at. Thank you. Anybody else? Say something. Yes. I just want to point out that this is not a recent issue on sanitation. Uh if you look back on how many city managers am I in the past five, six years? Uh I think it's been something that a lot of people have been bringing to the table. It's just not been discussed as as well as you all have discussed it and dove into as well as you all have. I've seen some stuff out saying that, you know, Sarah's not managing people correctly and that that is not how this issue began by one person not managing correctly.

In no means I'm not, in fact, I I want you to know something. I I again, I've learned more about sanitation because I I challenge I challenge the people I serve with. I've went to dozens of communities and talked about this.

And you know, to me, it's a slap in the Well, let me not say that. It's an injustice to you, your staff, to finance, to the city manager because you are working hard and and let's be honest, the heartbeat of this city es and flows through finance. That that is we have to find money. We have to find money to pay the bills. And when the bills start excess, it's kind of like my household. I run things in my house. I don't live right on the edge. and that rainy day fund, whatever we want to call it, we're we're we have some money there, but we need to be careful about how we're spending it because the next thing you know, uh, it, you know, the presentation we had the beginning of 2005, we don't want that to happen. And I think all of us are working together to make sure none of that happens. And I think this is one of those things, right? It has nothing to do with staffing. It has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do that I think you know if we go privatization well they're for profit well they're a company they make money I know they got to make money but we're looking at like I said you mentioned you know from a from a a $30 a month where if we keep it in house to eight I think the low $18.99

and that was bi-weekly recycling and I have my opinion on that too I love that that they gave a percentage in their memo that 36% % what was it 36? Yeah, we're we have approximately 36% participation rate for recycling in the community. 36 36% and we go bi-week. I since the bi-week to recycle, it's been really good for me. I mean, I've got one of the larger cans and I think I asked one of the companies, everyone could have a large recycling can. Yes. I mean, the size of your recycling can really makes no difference.

Correct. Uh the other thing is they could give additional cans. I am in favor of of people having if they want two or three can I don't know at that point we need to work out where that actually they're paying for that right I don't think that we disseminate that among everybody else you get what you get and then if you want more you have to pay for it correct that's like ordering a burger with extra food extra patty you got to pay for it right so u telling you I like two patties on my burger but when I order I got to pay for it I mean that's just how it is uh yourself. So, two patties. Two patties. I have the egg. Don't patties. Um,

but I appreciate you coming up here. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but I I appreciate uh Jason talking about this is something that and again, and I think it was Laura Heg that was uh city manager then that I attended and she brought this up. I found it odd and then here here we here I am uh or we are dealing with this. So, thank you. Thank you, Sarah. I just Yeah, I also wanted to say thank you for spending the time with us across all schedules to kind of figure out where we all rely on this on this um topic. Um but I appreciate you educating us and setting up time with both responders and no problem. I'm looking forward to our voting meeting. I think it'll be a good

I think it'll have a good turnout. Okay. Thank you. Anything else under unfinished business? Any new business that has come before the board? Hear none. See none, we'll move on to board comments. Anybody have anything? Good. I just wanted to say um since yesterday was International Women's Day, shout out to the staff, the ladies on the staff. You all are appreciated. Um just working with you all and educating me on all things. Um and then I really enjoyed working with Commissioner Anger. So, thank you ladies for all you do. Outside of that, motion to adjurnn. Second.

We are journed. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.