Budget Committee - Regular Meeting

Set up silo tanks and be able to use a different basis so people can have access to that safe water, access to that disinfectant, using a machine that's not tearing up the roads, or if the roads are torn up, it can travel there easily. Hopefully very soon Kentucky will embrace this officially, this mobile water treatment plan.

And I want to address an issue that we all know that people have questions about. Lieutenant Hogan was wearing his department issued body worn camera. However, his camera was not activated during the incident. And whether Lieutenant Hogan complied with Department-worn camera policy will be a separate question of whether his deadly force is justified legally. So those are two separate issues. Those would be two separate investigations. Also, and whether that use of deadly force is within policy. So you have kind of three things going on. Did he violate policy regarding the body-worn camera video usage? Did he violate policy regarding the use of force? Was the use of force justified? So those are three issues that our P I U unit as well as our professional standards unit will be looking into during this investigation. Finally, if anyone witnessed this incident has any information, has any surveillance video, cell phone video of this incident, we urge them to call 574 LMPD and give us that information that could help with this investigation.

We recently partnered with CityWise Software to launch a new rental housing website that brings local listings into one easily searchable place. And different from national listing sites, this platform is designed around our community's needs and our goals here in Louisville. It elevates small and mid-sized landlords who often rely on word of mouth for renters so that they can filter by price by number of bedrooms in the neighborhood to compare what's easily available. Small landlords, those with under 20 listings, will be able to post on this website for free to get the word out about their apartments. You can check it out at our website, apartments.louisvilleky.com. We're opening something that people have been asking for. They've been clamoring for this. They've been looking forward to this for a long time. We're officially opening Louisville Park and Recreation's first outdoor designated roller skating court And let me tell you, it's a long time coming.

Roller skating is more than just putting on a pair of skates and rolling around in a circle a million times. It's about self-expression, mental, physical well-being, all that you can think of. You forget about your bills being late when you're roller skating because you're free. You're in a moment of just freedom, So I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Lanham Park had been a forgotten treasure here in the Portland community. And throughout the last few years, we've made some enhancements to the park. I'm so proud to see Lanham Park has been put back on the map again for our families to enjoy.

I was overwhelmed by the sacrifice that families had made and what families were struggling with. And to see what USA Cares was doing with and for those families was overwhelming.

The statistics say about 22 veterans a day commit suicide. We have eight caseworkers to cover the entire country.

Okay.

Thank you.

No, no, wait a minute.

I told them I would take one there. They don't know. I don't know.

Are we waiting?

Yes, sir. One moment. I'm going to give you an update in just a second. But we are meeting. We're just waiting for a second. We are waiting for the chair to arrive. She's running a few minutes late.

Metro TV 30 seconds, please Good afternoon. Welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting for government oversight accountability. I'm Councilwoman Purvis. I am the chair. I'm joined in chambers today by Councilman Herndon, Councilman Owens, Councilman Piagetini. I am joined virtually by Councilwoman Paula McCraney, Councilwoman Hawkins, Councilman Bratcher, Councilwoman Jenny Murray-Wooderich. We do have a quorum. And you want to go ahead and read your disclaimer?

This meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A, read in full.

Thank you. I am also joined by Councilman Kramer here in the chambers. First thing on the agenda is, let's see, we're going to start with, no, I have to say something first. So what we're going to do is item number two is going to be held as well as Item three has been held, paired with a sponsor, Councilman Reed and Councilman Piagetini. So we are going to start with the apartments first before we go into the discussion. And the, The first department is the apartment of Danita Cheatham to the Deputy Sheriff Merritt Board. Term expires June 13th, 2027. I need a motion and a second. Thank you. Ms. Jackson.

Althea Jackson from Mayor Greenberg's office. So the Deputy Sheriff Board has five members. They serve for a three-year term. Two are appointed by the mayor with the approval of the council. Two members are appointed by the Sheriff's Office, and one member is elected by the... Two members are appointed by the Jefferson County Sheriffs, and then one member is appointed by their FOP. There are... Their purpose is to hold hearings, public and executive, and disciplinary matters concerning the deputy sheriffs, which is consistent with the duties and limitations set forth in Ordinance and KRS 70.260. The qualifications, they have to be at least 30 years old and a resident of the county. No person shall serve on the board who is a deputy sheriff or holds any other elected office. They can't be part of the immediate family of a sheriff. And so today we are asking to move forward with Danita Cheatham. She is out of Metro Council District 22. She has 30 plus years of HR experience. She has her Master's of Arts in Management. She is skilled in strategic planning, organizational strategy, labor law, and employee relations, among other things. She supports HR responsibilities for both private and public. She has supported HR responsibilities for private and public Fortune 500 companies. She is here in chambers to introduce herself to you. Danita, you want to come forward?

Good evening, as Althea said, my name is Danita Cheatham and I appreciate your considering me for the appointment. Are there any questions for me at this time? Councilman Piagetini.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Cheatham. Welcome. Just wanted to thank you for your willingness to serve. I did want to point out, and I know this board generally deals with disciplinary issues, and I'm sure you'll handle that in a great way. I did want to publicly thank Sheriff James and the sheriff's office for all the work that they're doing in the community. We've seen a huge change in how the sheriff's office has approached community policing, particularly around neighborhood traffic concerns and speeding and things that really improve the quality of life locally. So I just want to express my thanks to them. And as you're transitioning to help on this board, You know, we appreciate, hopefully there's no major disciplinary issues we've got to deal with, but I did want to express my thanks to him, and thanks for you for serving on this board. The Sheriff's Office is an incredibly important role, and I'm glad to see the whole office doing more in this community. And thank you for being a part of that.

Thank you. I don't have any other comments or speakers, so we're ready to vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposition? The ayes have it. Thank you. Thank you. The next two we're going to combine. Reappointment of Yvonne Jones to the Human Relations Advocacy Board. Term expires September 30th, 2029. And the appointment of Renisha Morton to the Human Relations Advocacy Board. Term expires September 30th, 2027. I need a motion and a second, please. Thank you. Ms. Jackson.

So we are asking to move forward with Ms. Jones. I'll give you a little background on the human relations advocacy. The purpose of this commission is to promote and secure mutual understanding and respect among everybody. There are members to be qualified to be a member of this board. You have to reside in Jefferson County and the members shall include just a variety of social, economic, cultural, ethnic, racial groups. So they want this board to be diverse. Ms. Jones is out of Metro Council District One. She's an African American female. She is a former member of the Women Ambassador Program, which is a Metro program. She works on a design team that focuses on creating better human experiences in the workplace. She is a former career coach with Goodwill Industries, and she is also a former correction officer and youth counselor. She was unable to be here today, so I am presenting on her behalf. You want me to go on with the second one? Ms. Renisha Martin is out of Metro Council District 25. She is the co-owner of Martin and Muir, counseling and clinical behavioral health professional. She is a MBA executive with more than 10 years experience in behavior, health, and community partnerships. She is skilled in program development, strategic planning, public speaking, and leadership. She would be a tremendous asset to this board. We are asking to move forward with her appointment. She is here in chambers to introduce herself as well.

Hello, I'm Renisha Martin, and thank you for your consideration. Any questions?

I don't mind. Tony, do you have any questions? Okay. Does anyone have any questions in virtual world? No. Okay. I guess we're ready to vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any oppositions? The ayes have it for both candidates. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Our next department is Daniel Corey Shaw to the Kentuckiana Works Greater Louisville Workforce Development Board. Term expires June 30th, 2029. I need a motion and a second, please. Thank you. Ms. Jackson?

So we know that the Kentuckiana Works Board serves as our local workforce development board. And it serves as that for several counties, Jefferson, Bullitt, Henry, Trimble, Oldham, Spencer, and Shelby. They provide strategic leadership for workforce development efforts. They provide administrative support for private and public funding sources that can be used to carry out workforce development efforts. These seats are prescribed and have a representative from community-based organizations, private sector, economic development, from the state employment agency, vocational rehab, and adult education. There are 18 members on this board who serve a three-year term. We are asking to move forward with Daniel Corey Shull. He is out of Metro Council District 22. He is the senior pastor at Burnett Avenue Baptist Church. He is the current chair for JCPS school board. He is a lecturer at the Simmons and Camelsville Universities. He has his PhD as well, master's, on and on, and he is very active in this community. I'm sure most of you guys have met him at this point, but he is here to introduce himself to those who haven't met him.

Good afternoon, my name is Corey Schull and I am very pleased to be asked by Mayor Greenberg to serve on the Kentuckiana Works Board. I've been working with Kentuckiana Works on the JCPS side. Of course, our Academies of Louisville model is really gaining steam and the partnership between JCPS and Kentuckiana Works has been a monumental one. And so I'm excited to continue work in this capacity.

Well, I just want to say thank you so much for lending us your talents and your professionalism, and I'm sure others would agree with me as well. Does anyone have any comments or anything to say? Councilwoman Hawkins? Councilwoman Hawkins?

Can you hear me? Yes. I just want to say it is a great honor to have Pastor Schull serve on this board. Definitely, I'm supporting this. Hope everybody else would as well. I think that he brings a great wealth of knowledge to this board as well.

That's it. Thanks. Thank you. Councilwoman McCraney.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Shull, I am so glad to know that you are going to be serving on this board. The Kentuckiana Works Board is the first board that I was assigned to when I came to Louisville, Kentucky. It is an absolute wonderful entity that will help so many people in our community. What they do for the youth in this community is actually incomparable. So thank you for your willingness to serve on this board. You will make a great team member to this board. And I thank you for your willingness to serve.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Without any other comments, we're ready to vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any oppositions? The ayes have it. Thank you. Our last appointment of the day is Dr. Zamanian to the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau Board. Term expires August 16th, 2029. I need a motion and a second, please. Thank you, Ms. Jackson.

So Louisville Tourism, their mission is to promote tourism and convention activities. activities in Louisville. That's the bottom line. There are 10 members. Mayor appoints six, the governor appoints three, and then there's one ex officio on this board, and that is the president and chief executive from the fair board. They serve a three-year term. Dr. Kava Zamenia is at a Metro Council District 8. He is the founder and CEO of Rabbit Hole Distillery. He has his post-doctoral fellowship from Northwestern University Medical School. He has his PhD, MA, BA in Clinical Psychology. He was unable to be here this evening, but we do wanna move forward with his appointment to the Louisville Tourism Board.

Does anyone have any questions or comments about this apartment? No. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any oppositions? The ayes have it. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Thank you. We will now go back to the top of the agenda with our discussion on housing accountability. Who do we have here today?

Good afternoon, Jeff O'Brien, Executive Director for Economic Development with Louisville Metro. We have our team from Codes and Regulations and Office of Housing and Community Development that are happy to answer any questions regarding our processes involving housing. So we have Director Donald Robinson with Codes and Regulations and his Assistant Director, Phil Crowe. who handles code enforcement and our housing quality inspections process, and then we have Director Laura Grabowski with the Office of Housing and Community Development. So with that, I'm happy to answer questions or go into specifics about our processes.

Okay, so I sent you guys an email, real simple detail of what I'm looking for in this discussion. But since you're up, What I want to address with you is We continue to get calls and complaints from contracted services through the city. And I'm looking at one right now, a constituent, and we've gone to her house with you guys before. She is now requesting an internal investigation because she feels her house is in worse condition than it was when the city began the repairs on it. And so she's gone back and forth with this contractor. And when things like this happen, these constituents, they don't know who to turn to but the council office. And so we are trying to answer questions about a contractor that we know nothing about. We don't know their history. We don't know their experience. We don't know if they're insured. We don't know if they're bonded. We don't know anything. So we're put in the middle of a lot of cases that we don't know anything about, which is why I've always asked you all, who are these contractors that you're using? The ones that you're sending to the houses? What's going on? Who's monitoring the work? How are you holding them accountable for what they are a grant to do for the services that they are saying that they're going to provide? Who's cutting the checks? Are you cutting the check before you confirm that the work has been done and done to satisfaction and what's required in that field? How is this working? Because we are getting too many of these calls. I don't know if my colleagues are getting these calls as well, but I know that we're getting these calls. And so, um, something's going to have to be done with these contractors that are being used, um, that have been used for these services for these home services. Because like I said, we're put in the middle and we know nothing about these contractors. And, to keep getting complaints after complaints after complaints with these homeowners on these contractors. We want to know what's going on. Are you vetting these contractors? How do you pick these contractors? We want to know what's going on because we cannot continue to have unhappy constituents when the work is not done accordingly.

So the contractors that we procure, and Laura, if you want to come up and go through the specifics, we do go through contractors. We do vet our contractors. This is regarding our home repair program. So what historically we've done is we have a list of contractors that we have on contract with Metro. We have our staff would go out and write up the scope of work and inspect the home and come up with an approved scope of work with the homeowner. So we have the homeowner go through the scope of work with our staff and with the contractor. We basically go through a list of our contractors and as jobs come up, we go down the list to see who is available and who is qualified to do the work. From that point, our staff does monitor the work with the contractor at the home. There are disputes from time to time. We do have a constituent relation team in the Office of Housing and Community Development that tries to resolve those complaints. In this particular case that you're referring to, Councilwoman, I believe that the- Please, please don't identify the name. Yes, I'm not gonna identify the individual. But in this case, I believe we did have a couple of Metro contractors come out and then we went to a third party a non-profit, one of our partners to help resolve the situation as well, just because we didn't think we were getting any further traction with that one. That's something we have done in extreme cases throughout the process, although I would say those are in the minority of home repair cases that we get. All that said, last year we switched the way that we run the home repair program We now prefer to use our non-profit housing partners like New Directions Housing Corporation and Habitat for Humanity to help us do the work because A, we feel like the work can go further and stretch the metro dollar because we're leveraging other dollars that are out in the community. And number two, we feel like those organizations are able to provide better direct services than our small team in OHCD can provide. That's been the change in the process. I'll let Laura come up and talk a little bit about the specifics and how we vet the contractors and what qualifications those contractors have to have before they go into homes.

Good afternoon, Laura Grabowski, Director of the Office of Housing and Community Development. Yeah, like Jeff said, we do accept applications from contractors throughout the year. It's ongoing. They are, when the contractors apply, they know that they will be working on the home repair programs, and not everybody, not every contractor is interested in doing that, so these programs are generally funded with federal or city dollars, there are limits on them, and frankly they, the contractors, are watched very closely. So anyway, they apply and our team vets them. We look at whether they're in compliance with the Revenue Commission, what their references look like, how long they've been in business, the general, I don't know if it's like resumes, but the work that they've done before. Most, well, I won't say that. A lot of our contractors have been on our approved list for a while. They have to go through a variety of certifications for lead-based paint. And one thing I will note is that we do have a set of policies around how the contractors are supposed to act and do work. We have, it doesn't happen very often, but we have gone through a situation where a contractor has done something um has not done work very well we have you know like banned them i guess from the program we put we put some on suspension um this is over you know the last decade we really don't we've done maybe Over the past three years, 300 cases, and I know our Office of Client Services that handles complaints, they have handled five that I can remember. Like Jeff said, we are moving toward using subrecipients more frequently. Our inspectors, when the contractor is out doing work, they are inspecting the work. So these are not code enforcement inspectors, these are inspectors, housing rehab inspectors. They are the ones that are looking at the scope, writing that up with the homeowner, and making sure that the contractor is fulfilling the scope. I think most of the, Most of the complaints that we get that are fairly easily resolved have to do with a discrepancy between what the homeowner thought was going to happen and what actually did happen, so we've worked on increasing and improving our communication. Sometimes, to your point, sometimes we do have contractors that don't live up to the work that we would like to see and that we want the homeowners to see. In those cases, In every case, the house goes through a final inspection through our office before the contractor gets paid. Often there might be a couple of things left to do, so the contractor will be made to do those before they are paid. In what I would consider worst case scenario, if we have an inspector, a human inspector, who has inspected work that a contractor has done, and that is not good enough. That sometimes is when those complaints, they come in through client services and we do what we can to make them right.

So how many complaints, average amount of complaints that you receive in regards to the contractor's work?

Yeah, I took a look at that after seeing the email and over the past three years, which is when we've really had the Office of Client Services, it's been about five. Now that means the work is done, the homeowner is within their warranty period and they have contacted the contractor and something has broken down. So that is not to say that during the process you know, there has been, a homeowner could have a complaint, it's resolved, we move on. But these are actually complaints where the homeowner is finished with the work, the contractor's finished with the work, the contractor has been paid, and the warranty is in place, and those complaints have come in. So five with, over about three years.

So I'd like to know that the constituent that is wanting to file a complaint or want an investigation stating their house is worse off than it was before, assume you have the scope of work for everyone, and so how are you gonna move forward?

Well, I know we don't want to talk about the specifics of that. No, we don't want to identify the person. We just want to know, in general, how would you move forward with this? In a situation where Metro or OHCD had used a contractor to do that work, at the point of time when we cannot come to an agreement, we do, we've only done it twice that I know about, we would refer that person over to risk management, to Metro's risk management. In this particular situation, to Jeff's point, there was a third party, a subrecipient involved, so that makes it a little bit more complicated, but that is, risk management sometimes can come in and help to make the homeowner whole if it really does seem like the contractor did something wrong and our office didn't catch it, which, I mean, we are human. Every once in a while there is an error. So that's our, I don't wanna say like the last chance, but we try to do everything we can to resolve the situation, but sometimes we just can't resolve it. So that is, so sometimes we have to refer to risk management, like I said, in this particular case, we're trying to work with the subrecipient to figure out what work is at issue right now. Was it the original scope? Was it the subrecipient scope? It's gotten a bit complicated.

Councilman Piagetini.

Thank you. Kind of a different direction. I just want to confirm something I think we've been talking about for a little bit of time, and that is the procedure to enter property, particularly related to landlords, right, when codes and regs are doing their process to inspect or serve notice and all of this stuff. I did receive, and I think we've communicated on this, but I just want to talk about it here just for a minute. concerns that all of our codes and regs officers, and we have a procedure that follows constitutional due process rights where we just can't walk onto private property randomly without certain things to be true and or proper notice and all of this. Can we just talk a little bit about the procedure that we're following and ensuring that it is following constitutional precedent?

Okay, Donald Robinson, Coastal Regulations Director. So I'll just go through just a regular case. Sure. We get a complaint with a property. We sent a code enforcement officer out to investigate. What we do is try to make contact with that particular person at that residence. And if we're able to make contact, we will go over all of the things that are incorrect with the property. So the first offense we'll do is a violation notice. And we'll say, we're putting you on notice. We're giving you 10 days to correct these particular problems. And we'll come back and do a re-inspect. So that's one part of just making contact. Now, if we have a residence we go to, we ring the doorbell, we try to gain access. We don't have access to that particular property. Then what we do is we post the particular notice on the front of the house. And in some cases, there's always a violation in the backyard or if there's a neighbor on neighbor complaint, we would try to gain access to that property through the neighbor's residence. We can look into the backyard, but we cannot physically go and open a gate and inspect that particular property.

I'm getting two scenarios there. One is the property is owned by the person who resides there. Correct. And then there's another that it's landlord-owned, so it's tenant, right? Yes. It's quite clear to me that if you knock on the door, the person that answers the door is the property owner, you're making contact with the owner of the residence, no problem. To your point, you can do plain view from the... If you don't make contact with anybody, you can do plain view.

Absolutely.

You can't... Now, as I understand it, you can certainly walk through the front door, but you can't just then randomly walk through the rest of the property either.

No, I can't.

Yeah. But if you could see something from the sidewalk, for example, okay, if I see the gutters are falling off, I can cite you for that. Absolutely. Now, if you make contact at the door with a tenant... Can you help me out with that procedure? Can they say, come on in, or do they need to notify or you notify the landlord? How does that work?

Well, if they're under lease, they can tell us or they can say, come on in. That's fine. But anything that we find on that particular property is going to be cited against the owner of that property.

Right, right. But they can grant access because they are the resident there, even though they are not the landlord.

Absolutely.

Okay. Then I think that's all the scenarios. Then when you don't make contact and let's just say the claim, let's say it's a tenant claim and the issue is interior to the property. you come up to the door. At that point, there's nothing in plain view. You're just coming up and saying, hey, I need to get access, right? Nobody answers the door. What next?

So we will put that on the list to return to that particular property. OK. And we will keep returning until we gain, you know, someone comes to the door.

So that's just good old-fashioned legwork, trying to make contact with somebody. Absolutely.

That's a lot of runs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Again, I support, look, I want everybody to follow our codes and regulations.

Absolutely.

But I also just, you know, there were some concerns. I haven't heard as much recently, so I think some of the changes and procedures that you guys are doing seem to be working, but I'll let you know if I hear anything different. But, yeah, I do want to respect that people have property rights and, you know, we are a government agency. We need to... give proper notice and go through the proper process before we're walking on private property. So appreciate that. Thank you.

Councilwoman Hawkins. Thank you. Thanks for being here, guys. Just a couple of things. I've seen that process happen in real time with codes. And I want to say, Mr. Robinson, that you know, since you've been in this role that, you know, you and Mr. Crow, I wanna say that anytime that any of my constituents have had the smallest to the biggest issues, you all have came out yourself, you know, and investigated it, and that means a lot. Even if your employees had came out, you know, cited someone, once I've given you guys a call, You know, if you guys didn't think that it warranted or was something that they missed, you guys looked at it with a second set of lenses. And that right there speaks value. So I really do see that change and I want to say thank you for that.

Thank you.

Okay, then the second fold, I want to get back on the housing. So either Laura or Jeff can speak to this. So this is like two folds. I didn't know where this was going because I didn't, you know, I didn't know what this conversation was going to be about today. but the contractors, right? The contractors that, you know, I know my colleague Councilwoman Purvis was saying that I guess someone or a constituent, one constituent has some issues or concerns about the process for construction, right? Contracts and things like that. Metro government, pretty much outsources. Metro government is not the contractor, correct? Is that, I think that you didn't make that clear. Metro government is not the contractor for any properties that are renovated. Metro government outsources, right, with new directions, Habitat for Humanity, things like that. At the same time, these contractors have to go through certain processes to be able to become a vendor or a contractor for housing, correct?

Right, that's correct.

Right, so we just outsource that work. I wanna make that very clear that Metro government does not go out and do work on constituents' homes, right?

That's correct. Can I just clarify one thing, Council? Sure. I'm sorry to interrupt. The Metro government, we have historically directly contracted with private businesses that are in the contracting field. They have to go through a process of certification and training with our team. What we are moving toward is going to subrecipients, and that's a technical term that we use on our federal funds, to our nonprofit partners who may also use their in-house staff or may also have contractors that also have to go through those same certifications because overwhelmingly our home repair program and lead paint removal programs are federally funded programs. So these funds require that they have the proper certifications in order to administer federal funds, and remediate items that are federally regulated like lead-based paint. So those are the sorts of things that we have to go through that, the Housing and Urban Development, what the federal government requires us to have those certifications. So I just wanted to make that clarification. We are moving more toward the subrecipient model because we found that to be more efficient and more effective in our service delivery.

All right, so my next question would be, in the event of the process doesn't change, it doesn't matter if it is with New Directions, if it's Habitat for Humanity, in the event that if a constituent is not happy with any contractor, that Metro government, sins for that or they bid right because i know sometimes they bid out you know different um projects if for some apparent reason the constituent is not happy with that work then does metro government step in you know and and start to investigate what is the process in the event if A constituent is not happy with the work of a contractor that has been subcontracted through one of our vendors procurement process. Just what does that look like? So the people that are listening can understand what it would look like in the event. If they're not happy, does it come back to you all? Does it just say, Does it land on the contractor because they already went through everything? Because remember, we're not the contractor, right?

So usually the way that happens is if there is a concern with the work, the homeowner will usually contract the inspector or project manager that is overseeing the work. So we always have a Metro staff person in the case where we are finding the contract, that Metro staff person is overseeing the work. They're helping the contractor writing up the scope, they're going through that scope with the homeowner, so usually that.

Those are called case managers, is that correct?

Yeah, those case manager, inspector, So they will come through and our staff will go and inspect the work, they'll have a conversation with the contractor, they'll see if the work was done properly in scope or not, and then we'll try to resolve it kind of at that level. If things get elevated, we have, of course, We're a government agency, so we have a bureaucracy. We'll kind of elevate to supervisors and managers from there. In the rare instance, we will take the contractor that was working on the project off and shift it to another one of our contractors. So that is, again, I think Ms. Grabowski said that we have, how many, we did 300 over the last three years, we do about 100 home repair cases a year, so we've had five complaints over the last three years, so it's extremely rare that we have to make those moves, but we will move to other contractors or look at other partners to try to effectively resolve the situation so that we're not getting complaints into our council offices or into Laura's office or my office.

I just wanted to add one thing, Councilwoman, to your question. When the cases are primarily handled by our subrecipients, they have their own complaint policies. We ask them to attempt to resolve it, but yes, I mean, we are the ultimate, we're the ultimate contractor for their services. So should Habitat or New Directions receive a complaint and not be able to resolve the complaint, then yeah, it comes into our office. We're still, we're only about a year into this and we have not really seen that yet. It seems like the subrecipients, like our office, They have a lot of tools at their disposal to try to make everything, to resolve any issues that the constituent might have. But that's how that would happen. So if you are, you know, you're a homeowner and you're receiving repairs from Habitat or New Directions, we would say start with, that group, they're gonna have some tools at their disposal to try to resolve. If not, then you contact us.

But you do have a case manager or case investigator with every case that follows that case kinda all the way through, so in the event if there's some hiccups or if it's something that they're not liking, they would be able to kind of see it and identify it right then and there throughout the case?

We do. We do when we are running the program. In the subrecipients case, because of just the separation, we have a monitoring team that does spot checks. does income checks and will handle any of the complaints that come in. So there's a larger caseload, but yes.

Okay, thank you.

Laura Arm. Jeff can answer this question. Do you all do before pictures when you create the scope of work of the area to be worked on of the homes? Yes, we do.

Our inspectors take before pictures and after pictures. Those have been very helpful in the complaint cases and also in the not complaint cases because a lot of times you really do see quite a visible impact. Yes, as far as complaints go, those have been very helpful to be able to look in the software that we use in the case file and see what the inspector, what the homeowner saw as the before, what they saw the problem as.

Okay. Thank you, guys. I will speak with you all later about the case that wants an investigation. So I would like to move on to code enforcement, and I understand that you guys are going to actually speak for Louisville Metro Housing Authority. Okay. In the email that I sent you all, and I'll read it, I'd like to know the number of housing deficiencies regarding Section 8 rentals, and are the landlords being made aware of these deficiencies, and are they able to remain in the program with being a negligent landlord, and who oversees inspections prior to these properties being occupied?

Okay, I'll attempt to speak to LMHA's piece. Well, I'll speak to code enforcement. I'll give you the numbers from January 1st through July 31st of 26. We attempted 4,140 inspections, and out of the 4,140, we had 1,638 that failed inspection. We had 2,031 that passed. This is prior to occupying the apartment. yes i mean the house apartment yeah okay yes and again we we perform the inspection so what we do is we send out our um we get the notice from lmha a lmha we sent out that inspector to inspect according to the INSPIRE system, which is a different system that's used by LMHA, has different aspects of what we're looking for inside of the houses, and we perform those particular duties, and that's why you have, you know, the 2,000 that are passed, but the 1,600 that's failed, the majority of the failures is kind of the old ordinance, we required one smoke detector that will sound in the dwelling And the new INSPIRE system requires one smoke detector in every room. So a lot of the homeowners or the owners does not understand that particular change in the law. So we have a lot of failures with that particular section of the inspection. So it's a faster turnaround when those owners, they realize that all I have to do is buy a smoke detector and we'll bring that particular property up to code.

Have you all provided these landlords with an update on what's required?

That will be LMHA.

Okay. Yes. Okay. So if they do not become compliant, what happens? Are they able to stay in the program as far as renting their properties out through Section 8?

Well, from our end, if there's life safety things that are being caught in those inspections, we give them 48 hours to correct those particular deficiencies. Any minor item that's caught in the inspection, it's a 30-day turnaround. So after those particular time frames are exhausted, then we turn that particular case back over to LMHA, and then they will make the decision from there.

Okay, okay. So I also wanted to know the number of deficiencies on rental properties and the notice process, and you just said the timeframe given to become compliant is 30 days, right? Yes. So do you all contact the property owner, email, mail,

It's an email that goes out immediately.

Okay. And so if you do not get a response, how do you move forward?

A response, well.

And this is just, this is not LMHA, this is just normal. When you go out and cite someone for a violation and you do not get a response, how do you move forward?

Well, we look at the time frame. If we cite them, then we will continue to come out and follow up on those particular inspections. And each time we come out, then we're going to put another citation on that particular case.

Okay, and then that results in a penalty, a lien?

Penalty could be a lien.

Okay, okay. So on rental properties, do you know how many deficiencies of average that you have on rental properties?

Don't have that number right with me, but I can get it for you.

Okay. I'm just curious. Okay. Okay. Does anyone have any questions besides me? Okay. I think that's it. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. This meeting is now adjourned.

It's going to be, again, a collaborative process that we're going to have to work on this from many fronts, a specific policy. I don't know if there is one specific that would