Labor and Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

And this store at 10 years old would lead to family and swag, a business and a community.

It's so thrilling to be here and to see what's happened here. I love the Beachmont area. I've always thought this was such a neat little area right here. And I believe that what they're doing here could just be a spark plug for this whole community here.

To support businesses that support this running lifestyle, I think is critically important for our community. And there's no better example of that in Louisville. then swags and what it has meant for generations and now what Laney and Ali are doing with bringing it into the next generation.

My whole life I had goals and one of my goals was to own my own home before I turned 30. I really wanted to jump on it this year since I'm 29. I have four kids, a nine-year-old, a three-year-old, and one-year-old twins. I was with Healthy Start and I told my caseworker at the time that I was interested in owning my own home and she connected me with the Louisville Urban League.

She originally reached out to the Financial Empowerment Center with the hopes of becoming a homeowner. I started working with her. So day one, we're looking at her credit, you know, we're looking at her budget, her income, what's coming in, what's going out, assessing where things are financially, you know, what barriers may need to be overcome to get to that destination.

We'll go ahead and start with the check first. Okay.

getting to the table today, you know, to get into the closing table.

$25,000. All right. To help with your down payment assistance. Made sure that my credit was where it needs to be. Debts was paid off that I had. So after that, It was maybe April or May is when I was like, I'm done with getting everything together. And I wanted to start the journey of applying for a home loan.

I'm really happy today. I'm really happy for her and Anthony. It's rewarding. You know, the time that we put in is very rewarding, very gratifying. It gives the work purpose, meaning.

especially as a teacher and a mother of four saving money. I can do it but it takes a longer time so the program really helped me accomplish that goal of being a homeowner.

Today we are celebrating an important milestone with a great program that's designed to help families like the Garrett family here in Wyandotte neighborhood.

I'm nervous, but I'm also excited. My children have a place that we can call home and not have to worry about not having to move. You just grow old in it, so I love it.

That's why we've put a million dollars behind this Healthy Start Delta Home program to help families like Decoriana and Anthony find places that they can call home. because we know that we're better. It's an opportunity to build wealth. It's an opportunity to make memories, to strengthen communities and strengthen families. And Delta Dental is very proud, very proud to be here today to celebrate our first family that has purchased a home as a part of the Delta Home program. And we look forward to many more in the future.

It is a journey, but it's well worth it though.

I think I had a really great team that was really supportive with my goals.

We are having a back-to-school batch. Do you want it in your right or your left? vaccinating kiddos from birth all the way to 18 years old. One, two, three. We are fully booked. Vaccinating our kiddos with recommended vaccines is important because it will keep them healthy and strong. You did awesome. And not just keeping them healthy, but keeping the whole community healthy. Missiles right now is big news with the outbreak that we have in the country. So it's important to vaccinate our kiddos before they're being exposed to any diseases. So that way we have protected them. You know, it's kind of like a school checklist, taking the kiddos to the store to buy their school supplies or taking them shopping to buy their new outfits, new shoes. Giving that opportunity to the parents that, hey, we're here for you too. The school is going to be requesting a vaccination record and we want to help you with that checklist. Five to seven minutes and then we'll get those records out for you. There we go. So we do encourage vaccinations for adults as well. We follow the recommendations provided by the CDC. We are here for everyone. We are not turning anyone away. We are doing another event on September the 3rd from 8 30 to 6 pm. Our clinic is located at the Southwest Government Center 502-574-5380. Just call us to make an appointment and we will schedule you to come and visit us as soon as possible.

Before this park was just born, it was two basketball courts, a small swing set. It wasn't like it is now. With the Wi-Fi that's here, it's just great for the community. We've basically taken it from start to finish with Louisville Metro Parks.

Metro TV, 30 seconds. All right, good afternoon. This is the regular meeting of Labor and Economic Development Committee for Tuesday, August the 18th, and the time is now 3.02. I am Vice Chair, Councilwoman Crystal Bass. This meeting is being held pursuant of KRS 61826 and Council Rule 5A. Today here I am joined by Councilwoman Josie Raymond, Councilman Kahlil Bashan, Councilman Jeff Hudson, and we are joined virtually by our chair, Councilman Ben Reno-Weber. And I think that is all we have in here today. So it looks like we have a special discussion today. The first item on the agenda is a special discussion regarding the American Federation of State and County and Municipal Employees Pay Scale issue. Do we have a speaker? And will you please state your name and title?

Good afternoon. My name is Cody Jones. I'm a staff representative for the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, Council 962. Good afternoon. My name is Cody Jones, as I just said. I represent both AFSCME Local 2629 and AFSCME 3425. I'd like to thank you for your invitation to come speak today. After two of our members spoke out at the Metro Council meeting back in July, it made me particularly hopeful when I heard Metro Council members express concern about the fairness issue with the language in our collective bargaining agreement. These employees behind me make this city run. Without our parks employees, zoo employees, corrections employees, and our Louisville Free Public Library employees, your constituents would suffer a severe lack of services. Many of our members have served this city for decades, but given language on seniority and our wage schedules, if they have switched classifications, they will not be compensated for all the years they have devoted to the city and its people. This has been a long running problem for AFSCME employees and we would like help in correcting this problem. Would you like a moment? Okay, thank you. Like I said, this has been a long running problem and we do very much need help with this. Currently, in three out of five of our local 2629 contracts and the single contract with local 3425, the language in the CBA states that members will move through the wage schedule based on years of service and their respective classifications. To clarify, this language is in the collective bargaining agreement for the zoo, parks, and corrections supervisors, and the Louisville Free Public Library. Our members need your help advocating for new language in our CBA. New language would not be unprecedented. Already, in the AFSCME Master Contract, members move through the wage scale based on years of service with Louisville Metro Government. In the AFSCME Corrections Civilians Contract, members move through the wage scale based on years of service with Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. not based on their time and their respective classification. The only other metro labor contract outside of AFSCME that has language moving people along the wage scale based on time and classification is the Carpenters. They also move, again, based on their respective time and their classification. FOP captains and lieutenants move based on member's seniority date. FOP officers and sergeants move based on member's seniority date. Teamsters EMS contract states that they move based on their seniority and seniority begins with the most recent date of employment with EMS or OMB EMS billing service. Teamsters MetroSafe employees are, quote, placed on scale of salary schedule based on member's length of service with Metro government or its predecessor governments. Firefighters are placed on the wage schedule based on member seniority date, which is defined as first date of employment with the Louisville Fire Department. IBEW radio techs move based on member seniority, which is defined as, quote, length of continuous service with Metro government. Teamsters master employees move based on members' length of service with Metro government or its predecessor governments. FOP police captains and lieutenants move based on their members' seniority date. And finally, Teamsters civilian police move along their wage schedule based on length of service with Metro government or its predecessor governments. Now, in contract negotiations, we have tried to change this language to match up with the overwhelming majority of union contracts that Metro has with other labor unions. However, what I was told was that this, quote, opens Pandora's box. I mean, if you would just look at all of the, again, the vast majority of Metro's union contracts, the box is open. We've only got a couple of our contracts that are lagging behind to value people based on their service to this city. It has been very clear to our members that being stuck with this unfair language in our contracts shows a clear lack of respect for the years that they have devoted to the city. Why is it that employees in some departments are compensated fairly for all of their years of service and some are not? This was not acceptable to AFSCME in past contract negotiations where we had advocated changes to this language. It is not acceptable now and it will never be acceptable to us. We need your help to make sure that the employees in our parks, our zoo, our corrections facility, and our public libraries are fairly compensated for all of their years of service. We have been attempting to fix this issue by seeking MOUs, but we have not managed to gain much traction as of late. If there is anything that Louisville Metro Council can do to help the city's employees, we need it. I have with me today a few of our members that can show you how this issue has personally impacted them. After they speak, I or they will be available for any questions you might have.

Let the record reflect that we have been joined virtually by Councilwoman Paula McCraney and joined by Councilman, I can't remember if I mentioned you, Ken Herndon, just so we have you on the record, and for J.P. Leninger. And do we have anyone that would like to speak on this? Looks like we have Jeff Hudson in the queue. You can go ahead.

Yes, I do. Oh.

My apologies. Yeah, I had stated that I will be available for some questions after a couple of our individuals speak on their personal impact.

Okay, if you'd like to step on up and state your name for the record.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Haig. I work at the Portland branch of Louisville Free Public Library, and I'm here to tell some stories of what some of our employees go through. This is from someone who's worked for Metro government for 17 years. In all of my time with Metro government, this is 17 years, I have never had more difficulty with Metro government since leaving my Teamsters contract for an AFSCME one. The majority of this problem has not been with the department's administration, but with Metro government itself, devaluing the efforts of myself and my peers at the library. Despite being a longtime Metro employee, I'm only paid as if I have worked here for four years. Aaron, who wrote this, has been here for 17. He's being paid for four. This is due to the insistence by Metro negotiators that AFSCME contracts have to remain on years of classification for compensation. We were told in recent contract negotiations that moving our pay scale from years in classification to years with Metro government was completely non-negotiable. Meanwhile, looking at the contract signed in 2025 alone, only AFSCME contracts were kept on years in classification, while Teamsters contracts added or kept the years with Metro government language. It's unclear why AFSCME was treated so differently when we were told that Metro government was looking to standardized language across all contracts, since this appears to not be the case. We were told by the chief negotiator for Metro Government that moving to years with Metro Government would only benefit a small number of employees. By design, though, the scale applies to everyone, and thus benefiting everyone working for Metro Government. Similarly, looking at my old department from 2021 to 29, my position with the Teamsters contract will have seen $12 an hour in hourly wage growth. For the position I am at LFPL, which requires a college degree, my position will have seen less a third of that growth, despite being asked to take on increasing challenges every year. Instead of spending paychecks on improving my life, I have to focus solely on buying food and gas just to get to work. This is survival. This is not living. I do not feel like Metro government understands or cares about chasing away skilled, knowledgeable employees, despite being told that every decision made was about being fiscally responsible to taxpayers. Retaining skilled employees should be considered in the best interest of the taxpayers in Metro government, but it does not feel like these are ever factored into decision making. Ultimately, this kind of treatment drives away experienced employees to the detriment of Metro citizens. I am actively seeking employment outside of Metro because I cannot afford to make less by 2029 than I did when I transferred from a different department in 2021. As one of my coworkers said before they ultimately did leave the library for a better job, it is fiscally irresponsible to work for the library any longer. I can only hope that Metro Council understands this and makes the necessary steps to save people like me from taking our experience elsewhere. All right, we have a few more. As a part-time employee, I'm not even eligible for step raises at all, but I would like to write to protest the stress placed upon library and all AFSCME workers by connecting their step raise schedule to job classification rather than years of employment. The predicament, which has spared Metro employees belonging to the Teamsters, limits rewards based on times of service. It punishes those who choose to change careers to better fit their changing lives, including for promotions. It's hard to understand the reasoning behind this. Why would some Metro employees be disincentivized from staying with Metro or be treated differently than others? Do our lives require different things? Are we appreciated less? I have been a longtime supporter and patron of public library services. Now being an employee myself, I hate to say that my appreciation of the services that we provide is outshone by the dejected state of the employees who provide those services. It seems like the library has somehow become disfavored by Metro government in terms of what they believe their public library workers deserve to live as outside of work. It's clear that they believe the other departments, not under AFSCME, who are being paid according to their accurate service length to Metro deserve to live more comfortably than we do. This strikes me as counterproductive considering the amount of economic growth and stability the libraries provide to the community through our services, us, the experienced, certified, highly degreed workers that Metro acquires of these positions. My summary is this. If Metro expects or even wants the best services and workers to enhance the community, then they should respect us enough to uphold and provide the libraries with the same standards of economic well-being and growth as within other departments. Otherwise, the qualified people that want to provide services to your community will be forced to abandon their position for companies that choose to uphold a scale of pay that is humane enough for a full-time worker and to give us a chance to do more than just live. All right, last one. I started at LFPL in January 2022. Since then, I've promoted twice, once in August of 2022 and again in December of 2024. In less than five years, I have learned the system inside and out, yet under our current pay structure, my salary is reset based on classification, not years of service. Because my promotions came quickly, my years of experience do not count toward my pay step. I am being compensated as if I am brand new to LFPL despite having nearly five years of institutional memory, patron relationships, and operational expertise. It is incredibly difficult to reconcile the feeling of being undervalued when I see every single day how much the community values the library. Our patrons trust and rely on us, but our system does not provide the means for the staff to thrive financially. And it directly impacts our ability to serve patrons effectively. As a result, pessimism rampantly runs throughout LFPL. Staff are burned out and numb because they believe the institution doesn't value their time. Recently, a coworker told me something that gave me pause. Despite ongoing circumstances, they expressed faith that the library has been renewed and they credit that entirely to the newfound relationships they've built with the team at our branch. This is Highlands Shelby Park. Those relationships proved their worth when we came together to pull off a successful send off for the branch before closing for renovations. This shows that our staff want to love their jobs and it proves how camaraderie can help our colleagues hold on a little longer. but we are asking that connection to do the heavy lifting. We're depending on supportive coworkers to make up for the failures of a broken pay structure. Transitioning to years of service would secure that faith rather than simply rekindle it. It would tell my coworker and everyone else in the system that the city values their longevity as much as their colleagues do. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have anyone else that wants to speak? Please state your name for the record.

My name is Nick Keene and I'm with Metro Parks. I wasn't planning on speaking today but I have something here. Basically what this boils down to is a contract was put in place to raise underpaid employee wages up and certain employees were denied historic wage increases because of outdated language that was left over from the old contract that penalized employees who moved or transferred, even if they performed the exact same work duties, And failure to correct the situation through an MOU or special letter agreement or one-time position adjustment is telling these employees that they are not worth paying what everyone else is being paid for an arbitrary, illogical, and petty reason. I have to work a whole day extra worth of overtime in a week just to make my paycheck match that of my coworkers with similar seniority. What is the purpose of this contract? Is it to raise wages and increase employee attraction and retention? Yes. Is it to make sure a seven-year employee gets paid more than a 22-year employee? No. Was the purpose of a better contract to slow down the high turnover rate and keep experienced workers? Yes. Was the intention to erase years and in some cases even decades of loyal, hardworking employees' careers? I'm assuming no. What we're asking for is not unreasonable and it's not anything we haven't worked for and invested years of our lives and career into. What is unreasonable is asking us to be okay with receiving less than other employees with less time and experience and who are doing the exact same work and expecting us to be okay with it and be quiet about it. That's simply not going to happen because the same hard work I apply to my job with Metro and time with the AFSCME union will be applied to this situation until it's rectified. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Dana Pryor. I've worked at the zoo for 30 years, and I've been proud to be a part of it. I brought a penguin to these counselor chambers to meet you. I was excited a few years ago when an opportunity to promote appeared. I thought I was going to better myself and be able to provide more for my family. Sadly, it has turned out that the promotion was instead detrimental to me. Our union contract was delayed for various reasons. I could not have known what language it would have contained, but I trusted it would be fair and equitable. The wage adjustments the contract did contain are a wonderful addition and are needed to keep attracting top candidates for these metro positions. I, however, am one who has fallen through the cracks. I paid the price for moving from a veteran keeper two position to a new keeper three position. I would have been placed in a step 12 of the wage schedule due to my many years of service if I had stayed a keeper three. As a newly appointed lead keeper three, I was placed in a step four of the wage schedule. Keepers with less years of service and in a lower job classification now make more per hour than I do. But that's a separate issue. What I really want to bring to your attention is the punch in the gut that came a few months later. My situation worsened when administrations added a memorandum of understanding to that contract. This document granted staff who temporarily cover my position on my scheduled days off to receive a higher rate of pay that aligns with their years of service. Thus, someone as a step 12 of a keeper two wage schedule gets an upgrade to a step 12 of the keeper three wage schedules for the hours they cover me when I'm off. Again, I'm in a step four. The next senior keeper in my department has 25 years of service. Her regular Keeper 2 hourly wage is 55 cents more than mine. When I am off, however, and she works at that higher Keeper 3 classification, her hourly wage is $4.38 more than mine. This memo has cost my family several thousands of dollars of yearly income. This will also affect my highest five years of service when I retire. This will affect me for the rest of my life, even when I am off the metro payroll system. This little bit of extra income could quite literally be the difference between me being able to afford a prescription drug or not being able to pay for it and doing without, all because I took a promotion. This contract did some good things, but a few of us were overlooked. With a few adjustments, we all could benefit. I ask you to pass another memo or an addendum that rewards all union employees for their years of faithful service, not just some of us. Long-term employees deserve fairness and equity just as much as anyone else. Thank you.

Thank you for listening to all these members. These are real people with real pay issues, with real families. I have a feeling that you may have a couple questions about the handouts that you received. That details some of the costs that would go into this. We were comparing the people who are affected by this issue, what their step on the pay scale is right now versus what it could be if we had changed the language to, let's say, time within Metro or time within their respective departments. And then at the very end of it, you can see the annual salary differences. And at the very bottom of the scale, you can see what that might cost annually for each contract that we would like to change. I do not have figures for the library at the moment, but we are working on that. And I can get that to you if that's what you would need.

We're going to move along to these questions now because we had one speaker signed up, so we're going to get through these as quickly as possible so we can get to the legislation here. Jeff Hudson, you're in the queue first, if you'd like to go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Chair. I'm not unsympathetic to your cause, but I do have a few questions. Sure. Was this contract not voted on by your union membership?

It is, but whenever people are considering whether they're going to vote yes or no, obviously there are some things in the contract they don't like, and people were just really wanting to go ahead and see some pay raises. When I would go and speak to a lot of these union members, they said, yeah, I'm going to vote yes, but I really wish that we could have gotten this changed in the bargaining process. It's a shame we didn't. And that's why we are continuing to try to fight on this specific issue right now.

OK. Which sort of gets me to my second question. What is it you would have us do? This seems like... an issue between the union and the executive branch. It is. The legislative branch doesn't have a dog in this fight.

We are hoping for some kind of support. I don't know exactly what you might be able to do for us. That is why I'm here. Obviously, it is our job to negotiate with the executive branch, and we have been doing that. But we just do not have a lot of traction at the moment. We are unable to get this through in an MOU.

Yeah, I'm just confused. But thank you for coming. Thank you for the information. And again, I'm not unsympathetic to your cause, but I just don't know what we can do at this point. Thank you, Vice Chair.

All right, looks like we have J.P. Littinger in the queue. You can go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. I want to say first of all that I want to thank all of the workers that spoke at the Metro Council meeting the other night and all the workers that are here right now to speak before us on this issue. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I think this being the people's house and the legislative branch of government that is the most open place for people to interact with Louisville Metro government in public, that it's very important that you are raising this issue here. And I want to start by saying thank you on that. So for parks, zoo, and correctional support, we are talking about approximately $204,000 difference in the annual salary difference between what is current on the contract and what would be going forward. Is that correct, sir?

That's correct. That's mainly just for the three 269 contracts. It would be different if I had that information for LFPL and Local 3425, which I can get that for you.

Do we have a ballpark of what that looks like from LFPL?

If I had to just guess, and please don't take this as my word, it would be, I would guess, maybe approximately equal to what it would cost annually for the zoo.

Okay.

There's a similar number of employees.

Right. So in that case, if everyone will bear with me for a moment, we are talking about 203,000 plus 124,000. That's 327,000 out of... a $1.2 billion budget, we are talking about less than three one hundredths of a percent of the total Louisville Metro government budget that we are currently balancing on the backs of workers. I think that's entirely unacceptable. I think that the workers have clearly engaged in good faith throughout their bargaining process and by bringing this to our attention. A lot of people don't realize that public union employees give up the right to strike when they form a union to work with our government, whether that's in state government or the local government. I think that means that we have an extra responsibility to these workers to hear them when there is a problem, to come to terms that take care of our workers, I find this to be a really, really disappointing place where we are, but we have a great opportunity to correct this in Metro government. I personally am hoping that the administration is listening, that they are going to work with AFSCME to correct this. And I think that we, as the representative members of Metro government, have a part to play in helping make sure that happens. And I just wanted to say to all of the union employees and Metro government, and especially the ones here today, thank you for your service. Your service is valued. And I would like to do whatever I can to help correct this. Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Councilwoman Josie Raymond. Thank you, thank you for being here. I represent two of these headquarters and I'd like to see this fixed. I'm gonna ask this question, I don't know if you have the answer or if anyone in the chamber does and I'll certainly follow up with HR but I wanna raise the question. Has an analysis ever been done to see how many Metro employees qualify for public benefits like SNAP or Section 8 because they do not earn enough?

That is not something I know the exact figure of, but I know in contract negotiations, we did speak to a lot of our members and I can tell you for a fact that many of our members are on public assistance.

And then secondly, I wanted to follow up on Councilman Hudson's question. I'm looking for, not being well-versed in this, I'm looking for the solutions that we can enact at the same time. The contract goes through 2029, correct?

That's correct.

So Mr. Keene had thrown out some ideas that I wrote down. MOU, one-time adjustment. I'd love follow-up with some concrete proposals of things we can do because I think we may not understand what is and is not in our capacity.

Yeah, absolutely. So as I was speaking originally, I was kind of detailing how some of the other labor contracts that Louisville Metro has negotiated, you know, based their seniority language on the pay scale. And it basically boils down to most of them based their, their, your position in the pay scale on your years of service within Metro. and not by classification as it is dictated in the correction supervisors, the zoo, the parks, and the LFPL contracts. So switching that language to go from time and classification to years of service within Metro, that's what we're seeking. We want an MOU that states that for these contracts.

Okay, one more, Madam Chairman, please. Is there any mechanism in a public employee's union to call for new negotiations prior to the end of a contract period?

We can always call for it. It's just whether or not the mayor's office wants to engage.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you for that.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Councilman Khalil Bashan.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you all for your service and everything you do. And as the chair of the Parks and Sustainability Committee and a lot of your purview comes under those directors and leadership, I echo a lot of everything they just said. So I don't want to be the broken record here, but who in the administration have you been working with in regards to this particular situation in that contract negotiation because if you're asking us to go to bat, we need to know who to go to bat with and to Councilwoman Raymond's point, get us those details of MOUs and such so we can look at that. But again, I think this is a big, issue that I think the union rep needs to address and negotiate harder to make these things whole. Because every single one of you all deserve it and have worked for it and are definitely deserving of it. So we appreciate the work and the leadership that you all are bringing this to our attention. We wanna make sure that if we're gonna advocate for it, we know who to do that with.

Yeah, we negotiate directly with labor liaison Jeffrey Stanfield.

Thank you. Thank you for that.

With that said, we'll move on. Clerk, can we read the next item into the agenda?

A resolution pursuant to the capital and operating budget ordinance is approving the appropriation to fund the following non-competitively negotiated professional service contract for the Louisville Zoological Gardens for its mentor internship program for the Jefferson Community Technical College students, $140,000, read in full.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on this? I see this comes out of Councilwoman Josie Raymond. Would you like to speak on it?

Yes, I'll just add that this is a longtime partnership between the zoo and between our community college students, and it's for those ones who really enjoy spending time with the goats. I think we have a speaker.

Good afternoon. I'm Steve Taylor, one of the assistant directors at the zoo. This program has been in place since 1998, and it's been a great... I think success both for the zoo, for Metro, and for the college, we've had a number of people come through that program that eventually have become employees at the zoo. So all we're asking is to be able to continue that.

Thank you, sir. All right, is there any further discussion on this today? Jeff Hudson, if you'd like to speak.

Thank you, Vice Chair. I'm not opposed to this at all, but I ask this same question on every non-competitively bid contract. Why is it a sole source contract?

it the local community college has given us the opportunity to be able to work very closely in trying to help young people in this community especially to be able to have the opportunity to come out and and learn at the zoo about things from animal care to gas relations and everything in between, how to interpret educational aspects, right to work, students have been able to come out. And so the closeness has allowed us to be able to work very well together.

not arguing a bit of the value in any of that. My only question is why can't other parties enjoy that same benefit? Why can't we bid this contract out and see if maybe there's somebody else better that can do it?

We've never been approached or have any other university in the area interested in being able to come out and perform a program like this. And again, going back to 1998 when Dr. Green was the head of JCTC, there's been a real commitment on their part and our part to work together to be able to give these young people opportunities. And like I said, eventually some of them have been able to actually get employment at the zoo. Fair enough, thank you so much. Sure, thank you.

All right, thank you for that. Not seeing anyone else in the queue, this resolution requires a voice vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? This will be sent to the consent calendar upon unanimous approval.

Great, thank you.

All right, clerk, can we read the next item in agenda, please?

Item three, a resolution pursuant to the capital and operating budget ordinances approving the appropriation to fund the following non-competitively negotiated professional service contract for Louisville Metro Police Department concerning forensic medical services for abused and neglected children, Community Medical Associates, Inc., doing businesses, Norton Children's Medical Group, $200,000, read in full. Motion.

Second.

All right, with a motion and a second, is there any discussion on this today?

I'll jump in and say that this is another long-time contract. I confirmed beforehand that it's non-competitive because Norton is the only entity in our area that's capable of providing this and I also asked how it relates to our child advocacy centers and got the clarification that the child advocacy centers are handling child sex abuse investigation and this covers child physical abuse investigation.

All right, thank you. If you'd like to state your name for the record, please.

Hello, good afternoon. I'm Lieutenant Andrew Meyer with the Louisville Metro Police Department's SVU Special Victims Unit.

Correct?

Correct, yes, yes.

Thank you. Do you have anything you'd like to add to this?

No, I'm just here to answer any questions if you all have any.

Is there any discussion? I withdrew from the queue, thank you.

All right, seeing none, This looks like it's going to require a voice vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Aye.

All right. With that, this will move the consent calendar. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you all.

Clerk, could you read the next item on the agenda, please?

Item four, a resolution pursuant to the capital and operating budget ordinances approving the appropriation to fund the following non-competitively negotiated professional service contract for Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness concerning wastewater monitoring, University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc., $150,000, read in full.

Thank you. Got a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on this today? Would you like to state your name for the record?

Sure, hello, Connie Mendel. I serve as Chief Health Strategist and Director at Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness. I want to apologize for my sunglasses. I left my regular bifocals in the car. We understand. So this is $150,000 professional services contract with the University of Louisville Research Foundation. So this would be a continuation of three years. So they do the sampling and testing of wastewater throughout Jefferson County for communicable diseases and vector-borne diseases, including, which currently right now is much needed, is measles. They also do surveillance for Ebola, West Nile virus, through the fall, and we do it continually, but we work more with the numbers with RSV and COVID and flu. They are the only entity in this area and region equipped, qualified, and able to do the work with their collaboration and partnership with MSD, so that's where a lot of the sewer, the wastewater is collected. We share a staff person with the University of Louisville. Our lab director is a half-time at the health department lab and half time at their infectious disease lab. There is a potential for this to be done in another region out of state, but the results that we're able to work with them are within 48 hours. So again, this would be a continuation of the work that they've been doing and there's not a greater need, not a time where we have a greater need for this.

All right, thank you for that. Looks like we have Councilman Jeff Hudson in the queue if you'd like to talk.

Thank you, same question. Yes. But I take from your testimony there that since University of Louisville is the only one in the region that can do this, that University of Louisville does it for St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville?

They have some work they do with the state health department. I don't know as far as other cities that they work with. I know they've done work with even within correctional institutions, state systems. Again, it's early detection, so they're able to detect like measles before someone gets their itchy red bumps. I can check with them as far as outside of Louisville. We just look to see if anyone else could do it and there's not.

Okay, I'd be interested in seeing what some of those other cities, who they use. If they use a local university for theirs, then that satisfies me. Thank you.

All right, thank you for that. Seeing no one else in the queue, this resolution requires a voice vote. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? All right, clerk, this will go to the consent calendar. And would you read the next item on the agenda, please?

Item five, a resolution approving the granting of local incentives to KPFF Inc. and any subsequent assignees or approved affiliates thereof pursuant to KRS Chapter 154, Subchapter 32, read in full.

Motion. Second.

With a motion and a second, is there any discussion?

I'm trying.

Hello, sir. If you just state your name for the record, please.

Good afternoon. Ron Burse, One Louisville. KPPF is an engineering consulting firm that provides civil and structural engineering solutions for projects across market segments. The company operates in 17 states and D.C. and is licensed in all 50 and calls Louisville home at 500 West Jefferson Street in District 4. In October of 2022, KPPF was granted preliminary approval by the KEDFA board for the KBI incentive, which included a total investment of $2,770,500 and created 20 jobs with an average hourly wage of $54.76 to support this expansion of their downtown office and hire new engineers. They've completed their expansion and are requesting final approval for the KBI incentive, which is 1% of the wage assessment from Louisville Metro. The company complies with all program requirements established and monitored by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, and One Louisville is supportive of this incentive.

All right, thank you for that. Looks like Councilman Jeff Hudson is in the queue. You can go ahead.

Sorry to make this the Jeff show today. So I'm a little confused on the match that Metro would be providing. I understand... I lost my screen. I'm going to defer because I lost my screen here. I'm going to have to go back.

Okay. Is there any further discussion or questions? All right.

Sorry about that.

Did you find it? No. No? Okay. All right. With seeing none, this resolution requires a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any oppose? This will move to the consent calendar. And clerk, could you read the last and final item on the agenda, please?

A resolution authorizing the mayor and the Department of Economic Development to request a Kentucky Product Development Initiative grant from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority for the benefit of the Louisville River Port Authority in the amount of $1,178,295 to accept said grant if awarded and to provide local match funding if said grant is awarded, read in full.

Motion.

Second. Having a motion and a second, is there any discussion? Would you like to announce your name for the record, please?

Good afternoon, committee members. I'm Katie Lippman. I'm the deputy director of the Louisville Metro Cabinet for Economic Development. here today to discuss this resolution that will authorize the Economic Development Department to accept this grant from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative. So this is a state program where they provide funds to help economic development sites invest in the infrastructure that's needed to actually either expand an existing tenant or attract a new tenant. And so in the case of Riverport, they have been preliminarily approved for a $1.18 million grant to improve infrastructure at the Little River Port Authority site. And so this project is specific to the existing railroad tracks on the site, helping to basically increase the capacity of the railroad tracks on the site to help them be able to serve more businesses. And the grant has to be approved by we have to provide a local match, which we included in the fiscal year 27 budget ordinance, our local match of $117,829.50. So that is already included in the fiscal year 27 budget, and so this resolution just authorizes us to officially apply and accept the grant.

All right, thank you for that. Looks like we have Councilman Kahlil Bashan in the queue, if you'd like to go ahead.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Katie. And as Riverport is a much needed and great asset to our community, you mentioned this goes towards the tracks. Is it going to go towards any other infrastructure there to improve the crane and other necessity things that can attract bigger not bigger, but businesses and things of those natures to keep flow moving efficiently. I know I recently seen a photo of the crane and it looks like something built in the 1930s. So we need to improve that infrastructure so anything we can do on the state and or local level to make it better of an attraction, that would be helpful.

All right.

Good afternoon. My name is Miguel Zamora. I'm with the Louisville Riverport Authority. I'm the executive vice president. Thanks for your question, and I can answer any questions about maybe some more specific things, and Katie can. The program that's before you today is specifically for the railroad tracks. It's going to rehabilitate two loop tracks that hold two unit trains there on the dry side of the wharf, and it's going to move the mainline railroad track off of that double loop track as the original design was made back in the 80s, but it was never built. We're scaling out. It's gonna improve flow and allow for more capacity. With respect to the other improvements, you mentioned the crane specifically, the authority obtained a $700,000 grant from KYTC three years ago and another $750,000 the following year to invest in that crane. We've already made the first investment. The crane is now operating basically as if it were new, a little bit better than new actually. And the remaining $750,000 of that grant will be adding other new material handling equipment to the crane to bring it back up to speed. So there's that going on. With respect to other investments, we're in the midst of a master planning process. We engaged BFW on the back of a million dollar federal grant that we received from Congressman McGarvey, the authorities investing $250,000 of our own capital into that plan. The plan should be ready around the middle of first quarter next year and will guide the decisions that our board makes in terms of what we're gonna focus on rehabilitating and building new.

All right, it doesn't look like we have anybody else in the queue, but having been back there with you guys recently doing the tour, you are doing some amazing things back there, and I look forward to what the future is going to hold for back there. So thank you for coming today.

Thank you. I appreciate being here.

All right. With that said, no further discussion in the queue here. This resolution requires a voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? This will be sent to the consent calendar. All right, there's no further business before us, so if no objections, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming today.