How does a normal group of citizens get direct access to the police chief, the mayor, a councilmember, the director of the wastewater treatment facility, the directors of our solid waste and recycling divisions, plus a tour of the jail and social services facilities without making 271 phone calls? Enroll in Lexington 101.
Not only do citizens taking Lexington 101 at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning get access to all these people, attendees have the opportunity to tour many of the places where these individuals work-offices and facilities that are almost always funded by Fayette County taxpayers.
It was good to see and learn about some of the basic and extraordinary ways tax dollars are spent in Lexington. While participating in the class I visited McConnell Springs, the Fire Training Center, the Wastewater Treatment Facility (not the sweetest smelling place I've ever been, but interesting), council chambers, GTV3, and the traffic information center.
The cost for all of this? Ninety minutes of my time per week for nine weeks and $10. Not $10 a week, $10 total. Parking was free. I suppose with gas prices being what they are, perhaps I spent $2.50 in fuel, but as most of these places are centrally located, if I wanted, I could have walked or taken a bus.
Sally Sue Brown, assistant director of the Carnegie Center, came up with the idea for Lexington 101 after participating in a similar program in Columbia, S.C., called Richland 101 (Columbia is in Richland County.) She was in the first Richland 101 class in 1996, so when she was developing Lexington 101 in 2004, she called to get an update on the South Carolina program, and learned it had only grown since her experience.
"It had become the class to take, with a waiting list and lots of citizens wanting to participate," said Brown. "So that indicated to me there is interest and it's worth doing."
Modeling after Richland's program, but putting a more local approach on the lineup, Brown included as many aspects of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) as possible, plus a judicial component, since although the court system is under state jurisdiction, it works hand in hand with local authorities.
The fall 2005 session of Lexington 101 (the third so far) started at the top, literally. Mayor Teresa Isaac opened our series of classes with an overview of the city's structure. She explained how the Lexington and Fayette County governments merged in 1974 under a new charter that relied on a "strong mayor system," in which the city's leader is elected directly by the public and holds appointment powers over the six commissioners who oversee the city government's 3,500 employees. Isaac also pointed out that councilmembers and their elections are non-partisan.
Isaac also explained the seal of our city, something I hadn't previously examined very closely. Lexington's seal includes the year the city was founded, 1775, tobacco leaves and a horseshoe-a nod to our main agricultural crops in this area-and Old Morrison, which depicts the importance of education to our city.
The mayor also talked about a very important person in the LFUCG structure, the chief administrative officer, Milton Dohoney. His name and title came up a few times in the course of Lexington 101, but before this class, I hadn't really been aware that the city had a CAO.
That was a good start. Two city employees followed the mayor and did their best to explain how the city runs from a monetary standpoint, and how taxpayer monies are allocated. Bill O'Mara, director of revenue, and James Deaton, director of budgeting, did an excellent job in trying to give a complete picture of the city's finances. Frankly, it was pretty overwhelming. The LFUCG's budget for fiscal year 2006 is $411,515,420, which is a 15% increase from the previous year's budget. The public safety budget alone is over $135 million of that; social services accounts for over $11 million. Deaton handed out a booklet detailing every aspect of the budget; any citizen can have this booklet mailed to them by calling 258-3060, if you'd like to check it out yourself.
With the city's money covered, it made sense to move on to another essential item; water. The second week involved a tour of the Town Branch Wastewater Treatment Plant. This is tucked into a spot near downtown between Leestown Road and Old Frankfort Pike. This has been Lexington's treatment plant since 1918. A total of 141 people work there, and as many as 30 million gallons of water can move through the facility daily.
The wastewater facility does not treat any water that immediately becomes drinking water; this is where all sewage pipes lead so the undesirables included in that stream can be removed. Storm sewers lead to another location and that water doesn't undergo any treatment; it goes directly into the Town Branch Creek. A good reason not to pour chemicals into storm sewers.
I won't go into too much detail about the wastewater and its contents, but I will share a bit of what I learned. The city spends about $1.6 million annually on sludge disposal-that waste joins our regular garbage in landfills, so even if something can be flushed, it might save a trip through the pipes to put it directly in the trash.
After the wastewater angle was covered completely, we returned to the heart of Lexington's government, the city council. Councilmember George Brown led our class in a mock council session, complete with examples of one week's agenda and accompany paperwork (a huge stack). Brown clued us into the fact that much of the "real work" of council goes on in work sessions on Tuesdays, not necessarily in formal Thursday meetings where actual votes take place.
After that we headed downstairs to tour GTV3, the in-house television station that broadcasts council meetings, work sessions, and other local government programs. GTV3 reaches 83,000 area households via the Insight cable network and provides 700 hours of live meeting coverage per year, plus 625 hours of original programming like Close Up. I admit; I wasn't aware of the depth of GTV3 programming. Now I don't have any excuse for not knowing what's going on in council meetings.
The fifth session was possibly my favorite. That evening Commonwealth Attorney Ray Larson, Sixth Division Family Court Judge Jo Ann Wise, and District Court Judge Joseph Bouvier gave a great presentation that really spelled out the differences between circuit court and district court, and explained the role of the family court in Fayette County.
District court handles misdemeanor charges (which are prosecuted by the county attorney) or situations with $4,000 or less in dispute. The circuit court deals with felonies which are prosecuted on behalf of the state by the Commonwealth Attorneys' office. According to www.kycourts.net, 90 percent of all court cases in Kentucky are handled in district court.
Judge Bouvier said his court has a high volume of cases, but they are generally less complicated than the circuit court cases. The five district court judges in Fayette County handle about 10,000 cases per year. Bouvier said the most common cases in front of him involve driving under the influence or domestic violence.
Judge Wise talked at length about the development of family court and its advantages. This provides potentially a kinder, but also more specific outlet for domestic issues. In addition to detailing her work-which she clearly loves-Wise made a point to remind all members of the class that her position, and every judge in Kentucky, is elected. She encouraged us all to become informed voters and to visit the courts so we can watch our system and our elected officials in action (portions of family court are closed to the public, such as juvenile proceedings, but parts are open).
One of our last classes was something that affects everyone in Fayette County. Even if you travel solely by foot, the Traffic Information Center impacts your movements around Lexington. This room in the LFUCG building at 101 East Vine Street, is where traffic signal timing originates, and traffic cameras are monitored. It's a fascinating puzzle, trying to get vehicles in Lexington to and from locations with a minimal amount of congestion and accidents. Steve Cummins, a traffic engineer, spoke with great enthusiasm about this challenge, and about the long hours it takes-particularly when University of Kentucky football games and Keeneland are scheduled on the same day-to reduce the snarls that we encounter on the city's streets and roads.
Reading about Lexington 101 isn't nearly as interesting as attending the classes in person. The class structure gave just enough information on each topic to leave me wanting more, but stuck to its schedule, ending on time each night. After all, it's better to whet your appetite for knowledge than to drown in too much information.
Brown, of the Carnegie Center, said some of the 50 Lexington 101 graduates have suggested a subsequent class that would go a step further than this one, maybe called Lexington 102. "At the end of each session we've given people evaluation forms," she said. "Generally their suggestions have been to have more, not to take anything out, so we've had to prioritize and decide what people have access to as citizens."
"The participants have represented a range of citizens; retirees, professional people, younger people from all zip codes, and that's been the best part of it," said Brown. "Once they get into a room and start talking, they learn from each other too. The people who take it are the most interesting part; they are just average citizens who want to know more."