Metro Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

All right, hello, I am Councilman Jonathan Joseph, Chair of the Appropriations Committee. This is a regular meeting of the Appropriations Committee on September 16th, 2026. It is currently 3.05 p.m. This meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5.8. With me is my Vice Chair, Marilyn Parker, and joining us in chambers are committee members, Councilman Herndon, Councilman Leninger, Councilman Sim, Councilwoman Shanklin and Councilwoman Hawkins. We also are joined virtually by Councilman Winkler. We do have a quorum and we will begin. The first item of business is an ordinance appropriating $28,500 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $10,000 each from districts 22 and 24, $5,000 from district 20, and $3,500 from district 10 through the Office of Management and Budget to the Fern Creek Fire Protection District for costs associated with the purchase of hazardous material response equipment. This comes to us from Councilman Bratcher. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Hi, how are you doing? I'm John Bingham with Councilman Bratcher's office. And yes, we have compiled some of the funds, most of the funds from various districts. The districts that are directly impacted by Fern Creek Fire Protection are District 2, 10, 20, 22, 23, and 24, although we'd be glad to have support from any district across the board. This is specifically for a response trailer as well as four level A hazmat entry ensembles and an Indian Springs leak kit. the combination is roughly about forty thousand dollars and so far we have twenty eight thousand five hundred toward that which will certainly help them so uh we appreciate the consideration and look forward to this being able to move forward and help them with the funding okay thank you are there any questions or concerns councilman

District 13 would like to add 500 to the request.

So we need to take a motion to amend? Motion. And a second? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Hearing none, we will now take this to a roll call vote.

Councilman Winkler?

Yes. Yes.

Chair Joseph, you have seven yes votes.

Thank you. Legislation passes and will be added to old business. Thank you. Item number two is an ordinance appropriating $50,000 from District 1 Neighborhood Development Funds to Louisville Parks and Recreation to fund the District 1 Park Activities Account for the following community events to be held between September and December 2026. Algonquin Music Festival, Parkland Day, Pumpkins in the Park, Turkey Day Giveaway, Juice Bowl Parade and Community Event, Light Up Park Duval, and Christmas over District 1. This item comes to us from Councilwoman Hawkins. Do we have a motion? Motion. Second, thank you. Properly moved. Councilwoman, would you like to speak to this?

Of course I would. First, I want to make a correction on the record. I am not doing the juice bowl parade. Councilwoman Purvis, I believe, is doing that parade. I will be hosting the juice bowl itself. So I want to make sure that we're clear on that part. And everybody knows that I invest a lot in parks. I do a lot for the community, and this is probably the second or third annual year every year that I do these events. I want to say thank you for the support. Hopefully I can get everybody's support on this. Thank you.

All right, thank you. We have questions first, and then we are going to need to take an amendment to change the language. Councilman, do you have a question? So I'll move to change the language. And just to be clear, the language that you want removed is?

This, yes, it's literally, this is Sonya Harwood, the clerk. We are removing parade and from the title. We have updated the packet completely to remove that also. And there will be no funding for that.

Got a motion on that and a second? Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Are there any opposed? Okay, hearing none. that the amendment passes are there any questions or concerns for councilwoman hawkins councilman

thank you uh mr chair obviously i'm in support of this appropriation from your office i am curious i felt like during the budget process in the spring we were specifically discouraged from the parks accounts as a way to do uh fund these sorts of events obviously we do a lot in six in central park here in district six so i just wanted clarification about that because It is a convenient mechanism, but I was under the impression that Beth and the other people in the budget office didn't want us doing these anymore.

Councilwoman, would you like to speak to this?

Yeah, you are correct. We are discouraged not to do that. On the other hand, this is taxpayers dollars and they went through the procedures of procurement to secure those funds and they went through the protocol for that. So that's why, and yes, we are discouraged to do that. Um, but again, this is for the taxpayers. I've done this for several years. Um, and I'm going to do what the community wants me to do for them as I've been doing since I've been in office. and we go by procurement, whatever the new rules are, and as long as they follow the process, I'm gonna do exactly what my constituents asked me to do.

Chairman May, I'll respond. Yes, please. Yeah, I 100% have no problem with any of that. I just wanted clarification for what my office does, because like I said, we do a lot in the parks, and this would be, a way to free up a lot of my staff time, frankly, of filling out a bunch of NDF forms. So that's all I wanted to check in about. Thank you.

All right, can I? NDFs are different than sending, I have several people that send NDFs for a lot of different things. Since I've been on council, I've always done things in the park. And I'm quite sure that you understand that I do serve one of the most vulnerable districts out of all 26, right? And they look at parks as a safe space, right? And I don't think at this time that we should be comparing what different offices do. You serve a totally different set of constituents than I do, right? You know... and I'm just gonna keep my other comment to myself.

Thank you. Councilman, anything else? I just wanna reiterate that I had zero criticism for what District 1 is doing. I was just asking for clarification from budget that we can continue doing these. That's all. I have no problem with what you're doing, Councilwoman.

Okay. Are there any other questions or concerns?

Christina Scotland, financial analyst. I know there was some talk in regards to maybe possibly getting rid of the parks account, but nothing has been finalized. So please, if you want to fund your parks account, until there are some changes, there might not be.

All right, thank you. Are there any other questions or concerns? All right, seeing none, this item requires a roll call vote.

Councilman Winkler?

Yes.

Chair, just if you have seven yes votes.

Legislation passes, and this will be sent to old business. Item number three is an NDF appropriating $5,000 from District Three Neighborhood Development Funds through the Office of Management and Budget to Trees Louisville Inc. for costs associated with the community-wide planting day in the Jacob neighborhood to be held on November 14th, 2026. This item comes to us from Councilwoman Parrish Wright. Do we have a motion? Motion. Is it second? Second. Properly moved. Please.

Ben Harland, Legislative Assistant, Councilwoman Shemeika Parrish-Wright, District 3. We are allocating these funds to Trees Louisville for a community-wide tree planting in November. This will help with purchase of trees and volunteer lunches.

Thank you. Are there any questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Legislation passes. Thank you. Item number four is an ordinance appropriating $14,668.54 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $7,334.27 each from districts two and five to the Office of Social Services for costs associated with credit to Louisville Gas and Electric on behalf of Eldersville Inc. This item comes to us from Councilwoman Purvis. Do we have a motion? And a second. Properly moved. Hello.

Hello, how are you?

Good.

Good afternoon, I'm Carmen Washington, legislative assistant for Councilwoman Donna Purvis, District 5. And this appropriation is for ElderServe, which is an adult day center which provides senior wellness, social, nutrition, and memory care for Metro Louisville. The offices of Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin and Councilwoman Donna Purvis work together to provide financial support for ElderServe to prevent a disruption in their LG&E. And so each office appropriated $7,334.27 to prevent the disruption of their power.

Are there any questions or concerns? Councilwoman, would you like to speak to this?

I just want to say that a lot of my constituents, senior citizens, go to the Elder Serve building downtown. They go have events together. And I just want to be a part of helping out, even though it's not in my district. But my seniors go to different events together. Thank you.

Are there any other questions or concerns? Okay, seeing none, this item requires a roll call vote.

Councilman Winkler. He didn't say anything. Chair Joseph, you have six yes votes.

OK, thank you. Legislation passes and will be sent to the consent calendar. Thank you. Thank you. Item number five is the CIF appropriating $18,024 from District 9 capital infrastructure funds to Public Works for installation of four speed humps and seven speed hump signs post on McCready Avenue from Frankfurt Avenue to Lexington Road. This item comes to us from Councilman Owen. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Hi. Thank you, Chair. Regina Gar, Legislative Assistant for Councilman Andrew Owen, District 9. We are installing four speed humps and seven posts with 14 signs for this area.

Are there any questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. The odds have it legislation passes. Item number six is the CIF appropriating $8,696 from District 9 Capital Infrastructure Funds to Public Works for installation of two speed humps and three speed humps signposts on Hull Street from Cooper Street to Breckenridge Franklin Elementary. This item comes to us from Councilwoman, Councilman Owen. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Hello again. Virginia Gard, District 9 Legislative Assistant. We are installing two speed humps, three posts, and six signs for this street.

Are there any questions or concerns? Please.

About $4,000 each. And they sent out a list this morning of all the speed bumps. And I mean, that list is so long. that is unbelievable. It'd be a couple of years before they get that done, but look how much money is involved. It's a lot of money and the speed bumps think they'd be no way. But that's my concern.

Are there any other questions or concerns? Okay, seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it, legislation passes.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item number seven is an NDF appropriating $5,000 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $2,500 each from districts 10 and 19 to the Louisville Zoo for Candy costs for their annual Boo at the Zoo event to be held throughout October 2026. This item comes to us from Councilwoman Raymond. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello. Hi.

Justin Silver, Legislative Assistant for Councilwoman Josie Raymond, Metro Council District 10. We are co-sponsoring this with District 19, Councilman Piazzantini's office, and it'll go for the Astro Disco there as well. So we're excited to sponsor it.

Thank you.

Are there any questions or concerns?

Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed. Aye. To be honest with you, legislation passes. Item number eight is a conditional NDF appropriating $3,250 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $1,500 from District 3, $1,000 from District 10, $500 from District 21, and $250 from District 15 to the Office of Management and Budget to see Forward Ministries Corporation for sponsorship of their annual Taste of Africa fundraising event to be held on October 23rd, 2026. This item comes from Councilwoman Raymond. Do we have a motion? Motion.

properly moved hello would you like speaking into this might as well uh we're celebrating the uh the taste of africa event which will be a lot of uh african culture and foods and things like that with the other district offices including district 3 district 21 and district 15 as well thank you are there any questions or concerns about this saying oh councilman are they seeking more funds on this item

Sonja, any more funds, or are we?

No, unfortunately, he said that he had already reached out to all the offices and requested, and he said he wanted to move forward with it as it did. I gave him the opportunity to ask for more money, but he didn't at that time, unfortunately, but yeah.

Are there any other questions or concerns? This is not number three.

This is Sonya Howard, the clerk. There are sponsorship levels. The paperwork specifically, we were given for $3,250. If people wanted to give to it, as long as we did not go over $5,000, they could. I'm not sure if it requires any kind of giving your tickets back or anything like that. Do you know? I don't know.

I do know. I think at the $250 level, there's no tickets. I don't know how much you were maybe wanting to give. I do know at the $1,000 level, it's eight tickets that you'd have to do and keep it under that amount. Yeah.

There's a $500, a $1,000, a $1,500, and you could do any of those three.

Okay. Councilman, do you?

So this is actually a non-ordinance NDF, so it won't go to outside of this meeting unless you are sure you want to do it, then we'll send it over to old business. You said there was a $250? There's a 500 is the lowest that I see. Am I wrong? Am I just not seeing it? No, you're correct.

The $250 was more, she just wanted to give that amount. Oh, okay, so one person might have just gave $250. So it wasn't a sponsorship level, but yeah.

Yeah. District 6 will do $500 for the event. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, so we will need your tickets, the name of your five guests, okay? Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

All right, so we will need to take, we need a motion to amend. Motion. Thank you, thank you. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, properly moved. So now we need to take this to a full vote, correct? This item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, the ayes have it, legislation passes. Thank you. Item number nine is an NDF appropriating $5,000 from District 14 Neighbor Development Funds to Louisville Parks and Recreation for the District 14 Parks account to cover their costs associated with events including Southwest Festival, rescheduled movie nights, and trunk or treat from September through December of 2026 in District 14. This item comes from Councilwoman Bass. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Thank you, Chair. Brad Beardin, legislative assistant, council ambassador, District 14. So this is an appropriation that we are moving funds to our parks activity account to help cover costs such as port-a-pots, hand wash stations for different events. Are there any questions or concerns?

All right, seeing none, the sign allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Legislation passes.

Thanks, Brad.

Item number 10 is a CIF appropriating $30,000 from District 16 Capital Infrastructure Funds to Public Works for full-depth sidewalk repairs on Trail Ridge Road from Falls Creek Road to Trail Ridge Court. This item comes from Councilman Reed. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Low.

Jared Towns, Legislative Assistant, District 16, Councilman Scott Reed's office. This is an extensive sidewalk repair that we are doing on Trail Ridge Road in the Polish Creek neighborhood.

Are there any questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? As have it, legislation passes. Thanks, Jared. Item number 11 is an ordinance appropriating $8,000 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $5,000 from District 21, $1,000 each from Districts 10 and 15, and $500 each from Districts 9 and 13 through the Office of Management and Budget to the Americana Community Center, Inc. for operational costs for fiscal year 27. This item comes from Councilwoman Rui. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Good afternoon, everybody. Excuse me. Ashkan Rezaei, Legislative Aide for Councillor Betsy Rui, District 21. Most of us has moved before, at least once in a lifetime, I would think. And it surely can be exciting, but it's also exhausting, that deep, quiet feeling of starting over. Now imagine putting all your life in a suitcase and going to an unknown country. It changes your life forever. Americana Community Center acts as a true home away from home for a lot of these immigrants and refugees who want to assimilate to our community. Day Americana helps them to bridge the gap from surviving to thriving. And the NDF request is for $20,000 for their operational costs, which covers about 2% of their entire budget. And we need additional $12,000 to help them reach their goals. And I want to thank District 9, 10, 13, and 15 for their kind contributions. And we ask for your support as well to help these families. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any questions or concerns? Okay, seeing none, this item requires a roll call vote.

Councilman Winkler?

Yes.

Chair Joseph, you have seven yes votes.

Legislation passes and will be sent to Old Business. Item number 12 is a CIF appropriating $30,000 from District 21 Capital Infrastructure Funds to Public Works for design and construction of a parking lot at 4105 South First Street for Houston Quinn Park. This item comes from Councilwoman Rui. Do we have a motion? Motion. And a second? Properly moved. I probably butchered that name.

Houston Queen Park. Yes.

Oh, I had the O missing on my paper. I apologize. Would you like to speak to this? I apologize.

As it stays on the CIF, it's just adding 25 new parking spaces in that Houston Queen Park, additional two ADAD spaces. And we are just trying to improve accessibilities and safety for the community. It's part of the initiative to enhance the Houston Queen Park in general. So thank you for the support.

OK. Are there any questions or concerns? Is it H-U-S-T-O-N?

Yes, H-U-S-T-O-N.

Okay, okay. Please don't make me, okay, yes, thank you. If there are no questions, we're gonna take this to a voice vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it, legislation passes.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item number 13 is an ordinance appropriating $5,500 from neighborhood development funds in the following manner. $5,000 from District 24 and $500 from District 13 to the Louisville Free Public Library for the Artist in Residence Collider Program at the South Central Regional Library. This item comes to us from Councilwoman Molly Woolridge. Do we have a motion? Properly moved. Hello.

Hi, Heather Blazes, Legislative Assistant, District 24, Councilwoman Mulvey-Woolridge. The Louisville Free Public Library Collider's Artist in Residence program is proudly hosted at the South Central Regional Library and is the only one in the city. It's a month-long residency program for local artists. They use various mediums. They are provided studio and gallery space at the library and they offer three free public programs during each residency plus free studio hours. The artists give us $800 stipend plus up to $200 for materials. This program has been recognized outside of Louisville including national conferences and just in 2026, This program reached out and was a total reach of 618 residents that used this program, participated in it, and over the last nine years of the program, 4,874 residents from all over the city have used it. So this program is open to and impactful for all residents across the city. Councilwoman Mulvey-Wolbridge is proud to again support this program and ask for your support. And we've got our friends from the library here that I know would like your support as well. And we do need to make an amendment on the floor for an additional sponsorship from District 20 for $250. Okay.

So let's go ahead and take that amendment. Okay. Should we? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that, yeah. Does anyone else want to give to that before we take this amendment? Okay. You will?

Councilwoman? I'll give $500 from District 2.

$500 from District 2? OK. Any other right now? OK. Hearing none, we will take a motion to amend. Second. Thank you. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? OK. We will now go to a roll call vote. Clerk, would you please open the roll?

Councilman Winkler?

Yes.

Chair Joseph, you have seven yes votes.

Legislation passes and will be sent to Old Business. Thank you. Item number 14 is an ordinance appropriating $10,000 from District 26 Neighbor Development Funds to the Office of Arts and Creative Industries to fund a public mural project within District 26. This item comes to us from Councilman Ackerson. Do we have a motion? Properly moved.

Hello. Hey, how are you? Charles Welles, Councilman Brent Atkinson's office, Metro Council District 26. The funds here are to be used to do a mural on the side of a building at 3705 Klondike Lane as part of a beautification project going on in District 26.

Thank you. Are there any questions or concerns? Okay, seeing none, the sign requires a roll call vote.

Councilman Winkler?

Yes.

Chair Joseph, you have seven yes votes.

Legislation passes and will be added to the consent calendar. Item number 15 is an NDF appropriating $2,410 from District 26 Neighborhood Development Funds through Brightside Inc. to Surmershine Landscape Company for a beautification project at Ross Boulevard in Hikes Lane. This item comes from Councilman Ackerson. Do we have a motion? Motion. Properly moved.

This is another project doing some beautification projects in the city and in our district. Right on the corner of Ross Boulevard and Heights Lane, there is an island that we want to do just like we did the one on Furman and Taylorfield Road. So this is through the office of Brightside to Sherman Shine to do this island for us.

Are there any questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it, legislation passes. Thank you. Thank you. Item number 16 is an NDF appropriating $1,185 from District 2 Neighborhood Development Funds through Brightside Inc. to Lovett Landscaping for landscaping and beautification of a newly constructed curb, flower bed in the median at Kilmer Boulevard and East Indian Trail. This item comes from Councilwoman Shanklin. Do we have a motion?

Second.

Properly moved. Councilwoman, would you like to speak to this?

Yes. We've had a brand new planner built in the Allen and the reason why we had to have it. Had to have a bill was because one we had so many cars would hit it as they went through. And I mean sometime you find the flowers and stuff down at the other unit. So we had a public works come in and build a big stone plan I mean very big and if they come through and hit it their car is going to be messed up. And so we have to have, I mean, they put the sign up and everything, so we just have to have somebody landscaping. And we can't get it landscaped right now because it's too hot and the flowers would die. So they're going to be doing it a little bit later, but it will be landscaped. I love it. And hopefully nobody will run into it.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it, and legislation passes. Item number 17 is an NDF appropriating $2,000 from District 6 Neighborhood Development Funds for the Office of Management and Budget to Germantown Mission, Inc. for costs associated with the 2026 Shotgun Fest to be held on October 17, 2026. This item comes to us from Councilman Leninger. Do we have a motion? Motion. And a second?

second properly moved councilman would you like to speak to this thank you mr chair this is a community block party by the people in germantown our office is happy to support it i just want to invite everyone out to the party unfortunately i will be out of town on that date but i think they're going to have a good time and appreciate your support on this item okay are there any questions or concerns

I want to ask the question. Councilwoman. It's named Gunshot Fest, so do they have gunshots or what?

Shotgun Fest because of the style of house common in Germantown, shotgun houses.

Oh, shotgun houses. Yeah.

Okay. They are proud of their heritage there in Germantown.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other questions or concerns? Seeing none, this item allows for a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it, legislation passes. If there is no business, we stand adjourned.