Louisville Metro Committee on Committees Meeting – August 11, 2026
Louisville Metro Committee on Committees Meeting – August 11, 2026
The Louisville Metro Council's Committee on Committees met on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, at 4:03 p.m. in Council Chambers and via video teleconference, pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. Council President Brent Ackerson (D-26) called the meeting to order; a quorum was present. Committee Member Tammy Hawkins (D-1) was excused, while Jennifer Chappell (D-15) and Khalil Batshon (R-25) attended virtually. The committee referred legislation to standing committees, approved funding to resume hard-bound archiving of legislation, and recommended a policy amendment on image usage and mailings to the full Council.
New Business – Committee Assignments
- Council President Ackerson read the committee assignments; no changes were requested.
- Appropriations Committee: O-204-26 ($40,000 District 16 Neighborhood Development Funds (NDF) to the City of Prospect for a Putney Pond boardwalk); O-211-26 ($10,000 combined NDF to South Louisville Community Ministries for the Taste of South Louisville fundraiser); O-215-26 ($10,000 District 6 NDF for Central Louisville Community Ministries' low-income LG&E bill assistance); O-219-26 ($5,440 District 2 NDF via Brightside for landscaping at three rights-of-way at Shepherdsville and Newburg Roads); O-220-26 ($6,580 District 15 NDF via Brightside for landscaping five medians); O-221-26 ($2,000 District 14 NDF for the Southwest Community Festival); O-223-26 ($7,410 District 23 NDF for Highview fall/holiday events and website maintenance); O-224-26 ($9,000 combined NDF for the Boots, Badges, and Bids event).
- Budget Committee: O-213-26 ($35,000 District 3 NDF to Council general operations); O-222-26 ($136,336.49 from unallocated Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grants to Emergency Services for the USDA streambank stabilization project); O-226-26 (transferring/consolidating funds within loan-fund projects for administration); O-231-26 ($83,555.70 transferred from two existing projects to establish two new District 15 projects); O-232-26 (renaming three capital project titles); O-233-26 ($70,000 District 9 capital infrastructure funds to District 9 NDF); O-234-26 ($50,000 District 9 NDF to Council general operations); R-110-26 (authorizing acceptance of up to $13,470,000 in federal appropriations).
- Government Oversight/Audit and Appointments: ID 26-1042 (Danita Cheatham, Deputy Sheriff Merit Board); ID 26-1043 (Renesha Martin new appointment and Yvonne Jones reappointment, Human Relations Advocacy Board); ID 26-1044 (Daniel Corrie Shull, Kentuckiana Works/Greater Louisville Workforce Development Board); ID 26-1046 (Dr. Kaveh Zamanian, Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau).
- Labor and Economic Development: R-103-26 ($200,000 for Norton Children's Medical Group forensic medical services for abused and neglected children for Louisville Metro Police Department); R-106-26 ($150,000 for University of Louisville Research Foundation wastewater monitoring); R-107-26 (local incentives to KPFF, Inc. under KRS Chapter 154, Subchapter 32); R-109-26 ($1,178,295 Kentucky Product Development Initiative grant request for the Louisville Riverport Authority).
- Planning and Zoning: O-225-26 (Detailed District Development Plan for 8803, 8805, and 8807 Old Bardstown Road, about 7.02 acres, Case 26DDP0005); O-227-26 (Land Development Code amendment regarding package liquor stores, Case 26-LDC-0003).
- Public Works: R-101-26 (declaring property at 3705 Stone Lakes Drive surplus and authorizing its transfer).
Pending Legislation – R-096-26: Image Usage and Approval of Mailings
- R-096-26, sponsored by Council President Ackerson, would amend Metro Council Policies and Procedures regarding image usage and approval of mailings. Discussion explained that Section 1 restores language that had been inadvertently removed from the policies, and Section 2 codifies guidance on using images in newsletters: use Metro-licensed images, images created by Metro offices or employees, or images with the owner's express permission, with a sample permission form attached.
- Council Member Piagentini asked whether images produced by other Metro agencies or the mayor's office can be reposted without additional permission. Hollie Hopkins of the Jefferson County Attorney's Office and Council President Ackerson said Metro-owned images are permissible, and that relying on another Metro agency's verification would be a defense if challenged; Ackerson said he would confirm details by Thursday, August 13, 2026.
- A motion by Piagentini, seconded by Ackerson, to recommend approval carried by voice vote. The resolution was placed on the Consent Calendar for the August 13, 2026 Metro Council meeting.
Special Discussion – ID 26-0745: Updating Bound Hard Copies of Legislation
- Committee Member Piagentini presented ID 26-0745, explaining that the Clerk's Office used to maintain hard-bound volumes of ordinances and resolutions but stopped in 2013. The Clerk's Office can produce the books; the main cost is materials.
- Beth Stenberg, Metro Council Financial Analyst, said the cost is approximately $10,475 for 50 books, which would bring the archive current from 2014 through 2025. She recommended using the restricted admin account; a second funding source from Metro TV was no longer available.
- Piagentini recommended approving the catch-up purchase and planning about $500 per year in the Clerk's budget going forward. A motion by Piagentini, seconded by Batshon, to approve the funding carried by voice vote with no opposition.
Key Outcomes
- No objections were raised to the committee assignments; all listed legislation was referred to the assigned committees.
- The committee approved approximately $10,475 for 50 hard-bound volumes, updating the library from 2014 through 2025.
- R-096-26 was recommended for approval and sent to the Consent Calendar.
- The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
Note: The transcript indicates that R-096-26 was discussed before the special discussion on bound books, while the minutes list the special discussion before pending legislation.
Meeting Transcript
MSD, ensuring safe, clean waterways for Louisville and the surrounding region. It is our mission to provide quality wastewater, storm water, and flood protection services to protect public health and safety. Let's talk about MSD's three key services. First up, wastewater treatment. This is the water we send down the drain from sinks, showers, tubs, and toilets. What happens when we get heavy rains or after it snows? All of that water has to go somewhere. Metro TV will start in fifteen seconds or twenty seconds, whatever it takes. All right, this is the regular meeting of the uh Metro Council's committee on committees today. It's August eleventh, two thousand twenty-six. The time is currently about uh four oh three PM. This meetings will be held pursuant to care SSD one point eight two six in Council Rule five A. Madam Clerk, a call the roll. President Ackerson, President, Councilmember Hawkins, Councilmember Piacentini. Councilmember Chapel, President, Councilmember Batchon. Here. Fantastic. We've got a quorum. Uh councilman Hawkins has an excused absence. Folks, I'm going to read the legislation assignments assignments we have. If anyone has an objection, make it known. If not, we're going to roll with them. First item of business is new business. The following legislation will be assigned to committees. Items one through eight will be assigned to appropriations items nine through sixteen will be assigned to the budget. Committee items 17 through 20 will be assigned to government oversight audit appointments. Items twenty-one through twenty-four will be assigned to labor and economics developments. Any questions, concerns, or comments? Hearing none. So assigned. What's that? Can we do the legislation first? Yes, we can. Your resolution amending the Louvre Metro Council policies and procedures procedures regarding image usage and approval of mailing spreadsheets. Second. And it was in the old policies and procedures in about four places, and in taking it out of the extra places, it inadvertently came out of all the places. Everybody's still been adhering to that policy, which is good, but we wanted to be sure it was baked back into the policies and procedures. So we're just putting back in something that was inadvertently removed. So that's part section one, section two of the legislation puts into the policies and procedures guidance that we have sent to council members for the last three or four years over using images in your newsletters. Um it's easy to go online and see images, a great picture. This will look great for whatever in my newsletter, but often those are not free despite the fact that they say they are. And then you wind up with the situation that we found ourselves in a couple of times with uh someone uh bringing a claim saying, You didn't pay me for it, you got to pay me, you used my image. So we thought the guidance has been helpful for members and their LAs, but because of turnover, particularly among the LAs here, it needs to live somewhere permanently. So this section two spells out that policy, lets you know where you can get items uh for free, truly for free. Metro has a license you can use for images. Any images you take yourselves, you can always use, not an issue. You can also use images if you get express permission from the image uh owner. Uh and that's it's the guidance put into a permanent policy with a sample permission slip uh to get somebody's permission if you want to use an image that you did not create, your office did not create, LMPD did not create. So any questions? Council Media.
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