Committee on Sustainability and Parks - Regular Meeting

And to garnish it, I'm just gonna take one apple wheel and just float it right in the center there. And that is gonna be our bourbon apple pie cocktail. So Jessica, you know I'm going to have to do it. How'd you like them apples? I liked them a lot. Seriously, were they close to your family's recipe? Pretty much exactly, I'd say. Like home, pretty much. And you had them for breakfast? We pretty much, I think every time we had fried apples, it was always with pork for dinner. We usually did it with breakfast. We had them with breakfast, fried chicken, lunch, just whatever. But I thought about there's such a candy taste to them like you eat them for dessert, right? Some people like how I say my sweet potato souffle to like a dessert at the end and that makes me think of apple pie. Yeah, so what do you think? Does this do a pretty good approximation to tasting like apple pie? It really does. I almost thought that you put allspice in it because that initial aroma is like opening the oven.

I think that the trick is the black walnut bitters with the cinnamon shot is what really makes it kind of like a baked good flavor.

Well, yeah. I mean, it is like drinking an apple pie in a glass.

Well, it certainly puts me in the fall spirit.

Well, cheers to that. Yeah, cheers. We'll see you next time on Bourbons and Biscuits. Cheers. Cheers.

I'm a CDL driver. Been here 27 years. The owner would pick it up and I'd dump it in there. I basically operate an automatic truck. Pick up black garbage cans with this one-armed machine. He does all the work.

And it's very mental and a physical job in dealing with the elements and everything in between.

When I was a child, I used to want to be a garbage man by seeing the garbage men come down the street and they holler. I've never gotten actually a letter at work, but I've had people acknowledge the appreciation for me doing my job. This is Charlie's Note. Dear sanitation worker, thank you for picking up our trash because if you didn't, there would be litter all over our town. I like watching you when you go by my house and home. See you soon. Love, Charlie. It was touching. It just brought me back when I was a child and I used to always want to see, I always wanted to be a garbage man and just coming in that one Monday morning and just having that ladder, it just, it touched me a certain way. You know, I kind of like felt real good.

There's so many untold stories and so much good that our people do on a day-to-day basis. Going above and beyond that we do things for them that's not even in our job description. from helping with groceries to door-to-door service. We're just so proud of them, and we just try to show it when we can in every opportunity we have.

I just know that I'm a fan of Charlie, and we have a good connection. I honk the horn at him every Monday. I was more amazed that this little boy takes his time. He was real touching. I appreciate it. I really do.

I'm Michelle Mutt, and this is my partner, Katie Ross.

Today, I'm requesting that Governor Andy Beshear extend the emergency measures in Jefferson County that provide 10 cents per gallon relief from Kentucky's gas tax through July 31st of this year. Louisville families and businesses are already feeling the strain of rising costs, and the ongoing I-65 shutdown has only added to that financial burden by increasing transportation expenses and commute times. Our successful efforts to end reformulated gasoline requirements in Jefferson County are helping lower prices at the pump here locally. However, gasoline costs are expected to rise again in the months ahead. And so this extension that I'm requesting provides relief when people need it most. Many Louisville families are making difficult choices every day as household budgets remain under pressure. Every dollar counts, so I will continue taking action to keep more money in the pockets of working families I appreciate Governor Beshear's consideration of this request, and I look forward to continue to work with him and the Kentucky legislature to reduce costs for Louisville families in any way possible. Barbara is now going to be the interim CEO of the Belle of Louisville Riverboats. Krista Snyder recently announced her departure, and Barbara's agreed to steer the ship forward as we enter the busiest time of the year for both the Belle of Louisville and the Mary Miller, with cruises, dinner cruises, wedding group tours, and so many other things already underway.

Our Bella Louisville River Boats team, they are river ready. Our boats are in Bristol condition and we are ready to welcome you on board. So I say this, together, all of us can take a cruise on the Mary M. Miller and we can have a ball on the bell. So join me on the Bella Louisville or the Mary M. Miller.

Dan and I and everyone here at the Louisville Zoo are proud to announce the birth of not one, not two, but three baby Amour tiger cubs born to Timmy and Victoria. There are three new baby tiger cubs here at the Louisville Zoo. These three babies were born overnight. They were born on May 27th at 1.24 a.m. And these are the first Amour tiger cubs born here at the Louisville Zoo in 22 years.

We congratulate Timmy and Victoria. Victoria's doing a great job as a mom. We do not intervene at this point because she is taking care of those three cubs extremely well. Congratulations again to Victoria and Timmy.

Hi, I'm Gary White and this is Louisville Now. Today, we are at Waterfront Park and we're going to talk about Whiskey Row Car Show. It's the third annual event that's coming up on Saturday, June the 20th. I have with me Trevor Cravens, who is one of the organizers for the event, the organizer for the event, right? And Eric Olson, who's with Kentucky Kickdown. You can see behind us, there are some motorcycles. They're going to be a part of the Whiskey Row Car Show for the first time this year. So let's jump in, talk a little bit about this event. Trevor, tell us a little about the Whiskey Row.

So this is our third year bringing Whiskey Row Car Show to downtown Louisville. We're going to close Main Street between 2nd and Floyd. and then come down brook street and on washington street we're going to have 300 more than 300 cars uh custom cars classic cars modern cars uh so a variety of vehicles uh plus another couple hundred motorcycles with kentucky kickdown It's just part of the event. That's obviously the feature of the event. We'll also have live music from School of Rock and Six Ways of Sunday. There is an art auction done by a very special group called the Paint Slingers that benefits our charity partner, Active Heroes. The event goes on from 10 to 4.

I hear what you're saying.

Good afternoon, everybody. This is a regular scheduled Parks and Sustainability Committee. Today is June 18, 2026. It is 3.06 p.m., and I'll go ahead and get started. I have in the chambers today Councilman Anthony Piagentini, Councilwoman Jennifer Chappell, Councilwoman Crystal Bass, Councilwoman Betsy Rui, I have joined with us Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins, and then my Vice Chair, Councilwoman Paula McCraney. She is on virtual, so this meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. Yeah. Item one on legislation we are going to hold. Item two, we have O-0177-26, an ordinance amending section 42.31 of the Louisville Metro Code of Ordinances related to issuance of permits. And we have Amanda Baker from the County Attorney's Office. Can I get a motion, please?

Good afternoon, Amanda Baker, Assistant County Attorney. There is an amendment by substitution in the system that I want to draw your attention to. So this item would amend LMCO 42 subsection 3.1 under item 3D. So this would add a section to the existing code that states no permit to rent any park facility or special event permit shall be issued to any person, business, or event sponsor whose event producer is not compliant with the terms of any neighborhood development fund grant agreement through which the person or business receives funds from Louisville Metro government.

Councilman Piagetini. Yeah. Councilwoman Hawkins.

Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to speak about this. I've been working on this for quite some time. It seems as if we have a lot of nonprofits and entities that are still able to do business several departments, specifically parks, that are on the noncompliance list. And once it came to my attention, once I got the noncompliance list, I seen that there were several people still doing business. So, you know, I wanted to add to what we already have in existence just to make sure that we dot our I's and we cross our T's when we're giving permits out.

Council Member PLC.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Question either for the County Attorney's Office or Council Member Hawkins. So this is... Was, is there a reason why this is specific to NDF? I'm wondering, I'm just curious, thought process wise, because sure, I get it. If you're not compliant with an NDF and you're on the non-compliant list, why are we issuing, the question would be why are we issuing permits and giving you other special considerations when we have this outstanding problem? Are there any other non-compliant lists outside of NDF? I'm just thinking other grants that the city may distribute. Did we think about broadening this out to say, look, if you're non-compliant with any grant within the city, then I think the idea is you'd have to resolve that before you could do this. Or are we really just being specific? Is there any other provision of the law that prevents others that are non-compliant with other grants outside of NDF to not get these?

I'd have to do some research on that. In doing the research and preparing this, it doesn't appear there's anything in existence currently. This would, as written, would just address the specific issue of the non-compliant list for purposes of NDFs with OMB. But, you know...

Okay, I don't see it on B either. Okay. And then, because I was going to be, is there other noncompliance lists? It seems like an easy first start because we have a defined list.

Right. I think that would be a question for the administration if there are any type of compliance lists out there.

And then my only other question is about remediation. So let's play this out a little bit. Like I represent an organization. We got an NDF grant for whatever it is. We're noncompliant for some reason. And I know there's a variety of reasons we put people on the non-compliant list. I'm assuming that, and then I've got an event coming up and I want to apply for a permit. I get denied and they say, you're on the NDF non-compliant list. How is getting off of that or remediating that just simply, okay, you have to contact OMB and remediate the current thing. You get off that non-compliant list and then you can get your permit?

I think there is a representative from Parks here that could maybe answer the administrative questions as to how that would be handled. I think that's probably a question for the administration, but I would imagine that that's how that would be handled, is a check with OMB and resolution as to how how they would get off that list.

Yeah, thank you. Could somebody from Parks answer that question? I guess the question really is twofold, right? One is operationally, like, are you guys going to get the noncompliant list to make sure you're not issuing permits? And then let's just say you say no to somebody, or then you're going to say, here's the phone number for OMB. You need to resolve this first. And then when they do, OMB then informs you, and then you can issue them the permit. Can you talk about sort of operationally how you're going to do it?

manage that on our end operationally yes we would be looking to OMB to send us a regularly updated list of non-compliant organizations and If we received an application with one of those organizations listed as a producer, a permit applicant, we would let them know that they are on that list and that they need to contact OMB to resolve the issue. How that happens, that would definitely be a question for OMB, and I think it would probably depend on the reason that they are on that non-compliant list. Makes sense.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Drew.

I have a question for Michelle, if you don't mind. Sorry. And then I'll go to Tammy and Jennifer. How do you all handle permits currently?

We receive an application and review for any number of criteria to make sure that all the information that's required is there. Right now, there is not a requirement or a step to check this particular list that OMB would need to provide to us. I understand it does exist. That would be added to our checklist of things that we would review to make sure that there is a complete application in hand. That would include things like the security plan, compliant vendors. So for example, inflatables are often a part of park events. We have a list of approved vendors for that. We check to make sure that what's listed on the application fits with that list. So this would be just another check in that same application process.

if someone was getting an NDF for, if a council office was getting an NDF for said event, does the permit go to The NDF holder or does it go to the council?

So if a event is sponsored by a council member, that is who the issue is, the permit would be issued to. And that's why I believe the purpose of the revision that has been introduced is to specify the producer of the event as well must be in compliance.

Councilwoman Hawkins.

Thank you. OMB, I spoke with OMB, and OMB sends this list out, and they've been sending it out for quite some time, and they had a very hard time with being able to reconcile someone from two years back a nonprofit that we have given money to. So that's what urged me to do this. I'm a firm believer that we was elected to watch taxpayers' dollars. And if I'm not mistaken, as a council person, we should be looking as well. And we should be the center as to be able to alert parks if we know or if we see that a nonprofit that is working with anybody or that's on this non-compliance list, we should alert the department as well. So I would also encourage us as council members, because a lot of things could be an oversight or parks wasn't able to catch it, but OMB said they just send the list out. and they do try to contact the nonprofits. But in the event if they're not able to contact the nonprofit and the nonprofit is working with the council person, I would think that the council person would be able to contact them and get them connected with OMB. So it's just a few moving parts, but The nonprofit definitely would feel comfortable because they're working with the council person if the council person is a sponsor, but they're not in compliance with OMB. So I would also encourage any of my colleagues that if they're working with nonprofits, they should be looking on the list to see if that nonprofit is in compliance that they're working with as well. Thank you.

Councilwoman Chappell.

I have one question and one request. The first question, I don't really have an issue with this. I think that good questions have been brought up thus far about how they're handled, how they're reviewed. I think that that's very important. My question is more to do with clarity on this, and maybe a suggestion would be no permit to rent any park facility special event permit shall be issued to any person, business, or event sponsor whose event producer is actively not compliant with the terms. And the reason I feel like that word would benefit being in there is just because I think if I was not compliant once before, is that justification or grounds for not issuing that complaint? So I just think clarity is not actively, or is actively not compliant would help clarify things. County attorney could also. Oh, or whoever. Yes.

I don't have a problem with making an amendment. I mean, if parks don't, I've talked to the parks department about this just to make sure that they didn't have any issues or concerns. So I definitely don't have any issues with adding or taking anything out. I just kinda wanna make sure that Everyone understands that when a permit is, when a person puts in an application for a permit, it goes all the way down the pipeline. So it goes to Parks, Parks looks at it, and then I believe the LMPD approves it. So it goes through a series of hands and LMPD says, yes, we're gonna do this or not. I believe that when it first is submitted to parks, so it won't have to go all the way down, that they should be able to look at the list and say, no or yes. Nobody shouldn't even be able to put in an application if they're on that list until, you know, until they're in compliance. We should not be doing business with entities that owe OMB.

This is Amanda Baker, Assistant County Attorney. I think that certainly an amendment could be made to insert the word actively. One of the challenges with inserting an adjective like that is that it can be open to interpretation. And typically when departments are looking for compliance or not compliance, they're looking for are they or aren't they. So when you add some, we can certainly amend, but if you add the word actively, I think that that could possibly open this up to interpretation that maybe council is not looking for here.

Interesting. As a non-esquire, I would have thought differently. So if that's something that you recommend against or if there's a different way of saying it, I'm open to it. But otherwise, not a cross that I'm going to die on. Understood.

I have a question for Parks again. How does this fall into your wheelhouse of oversight? I mean, how are you... How are you going to maintain this and keep accountability of this?

The compliance list is entirely within OMB's wheelhouse as far as the determination of compliance or noncompliance. We would just simply be going from the list that they provide.

Well, then how do we address issues as in open fires and... Let's see here. people that don't have a permit that's in the park, how are we gonna police this?

So if... I don't know if that's related to the compliance, that is the check before giving the permit.

So if someone is just to, sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but if somebody was to just go and host an event or just throw a party at Nick Rodman Park, for example, and they didn't follow the permits and procedures process, what's the policing mechanism there?

That is an issue that we do sometimes find and we work with LMPD in those instances. We also now have our park rangers that have both them and LMPD have access to our permitted events list regularly so that they can help us assure compliance with those kinds of activities and parks.

Thank you. Councilwoman Chappell.

I forgot my request. Director King, could you remind us of the qualifications an event would have to have in order to require them to have a permit? I think just a refresher for myself and everyone else, it's always good to hear. When does it become necessity to get an event permit?

Well those are listed on our website. I don't necessarily have them committed to memory but there would be instances like events that are expected to have say over 250 people. Obviously that may be dependent on the park size. If it is going to be open to the public and advertised to the public, if there is amplified sound involved, if there are vendors involved, there are a number of different criteria that are listed on our website.

Thank you so much. Councilman Reno-Weber is going to get them with that sound, though.

Councilwoman Hawkins.

Yes. I'm not sure if you all were or not. I do a lot of business with parks and have been since I've been in office and have had to go through a series of permits. The process is, every case is different. If someone walks in a park and if they decide to do some outlandish, I'm sure that they didn't get a permit to do that. They just came in the park. But we would hope that good citizens, when they wanna have events in our parks, that is why we have that permitting process in place. I'm speaking for... when someone goes to fill out a permit, if they're not in compliance, I think some of the things that you were saying was irrelevant to what I'm asking for right now, and I'm just simply asking for just another check of the box of what they already do, which shouldn't really be a big deal.

Any other questions or speakers? All right. This calls for a... Oh, we need to make a motion on the amendment? I'm following your lead, you tell me.

So there's an amendment over here that we need to...

Yeah, there's an amendment by, I read the motion, the amendment by substitution in the record, but I don't recall a motion being, there you go.

Motion moved. All right, and now we are voting on, I think Crystal did. Now we need to vote on the amendment, please.

Roll call, voice vote.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. And anybody opposed? All right. Amendment moves. And now we need to vote on the ordinance itself. Councilman McCraney?

Aye.

So you have six yes votes.

All right, and it moves to old business. Thank you. Item number three is still being held, waiting on some documentations, and that concludes our meeting today. Thank you all.

Thank you.

as often as we can. If you have open bags of dog or cat food or