May 23, 2025

• Friday Thoughts
• 'Coffee With Your Councilman' - Monday, June 9
• Budget Hearings Next Week
• Pop-Up Drop-Off - Saturday, May 31
• Office of Planning Weekly Activity Report
• Neighborhood Tree Champion Program
• Storm Debris Drop-off - Dates Added
• LMAS Pet Adoption

Friday Thoughts

Happy Friday! I hope this newsletter finds you well. The primary focus here at City Hall continues to be the budget. I'd like to talk specifically about three departments we heard from this week - Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and LMPD.

Much of the focus in Metro Public Works for the coming fiscal year is on expanding its capacity to manage paving, sidewalks, alleys, speed humps, and other right-of-way improvements. One of the major barriers to getting this work done is the lack of internal staff - particularly project managers - to oversee the work. The administration has proposed adding several more project managers and increasing salaries as our current pay rates are not competitive with comparable roles in the private sector. We also spent time during the hearing discussing alternate strategies in terms of hiring more entry level jobs and allowing people to ‘grow’ into these roles. (On a related note, if you know anyone who might be interested in this type of career, have them start here). As for the paving work planned for FY26, we are awaiting the final Pavement Condition Index (PCI) and will prioritize the streets in our district that are most in need of repair. As an aside, if you're curious what remains to be paved this fiscal year (ending June 30), the paving plan and map can be found here.

For Parks and Recreation, investing in critical quality of life amenities remains a priority. We've made significant investments already - adding new parks and addressing some of our deferred maintenance backlog - but much more is needed. Specifically, we need a master plan that looks at needs in fast-growing areas and continues a focus on our most under-resourced parks. As in Public Works, however, a shortage of project managers has made it more complicated to do some of these projects. 

While on the topic of Parks and Public Works, I think it’s worth highlighting an area where they overlap (and one everyone notices when we fall behind!) - mowing. We have separate mowing crews for Parks and Public Works. I understand the roles may be slightly different and don’t want us to prioritize median mowing at the expense of parks or vice versa. However, I think there are efficiencies that could be gained. For example, while crews are mowing Hounz Lane Park why not mow the medians on Hurstbourne Parkway? The administration has agreed to look into this issue and make recommendations on how shared services might be restructured across departments for greater efficiency. More to come on this as we get updates.

Finally, I want to spend some time on the LMPD budget. Did you know that LMPD makes up the single largest expense for metro, representing more than 25% of our total budget? We spent several hours with Chief Humphrey last night, and overall I was very pleased with the hearing. We are making progress on hiring (and have slowed attrition), leading to increases in force strength. I don’t want to oversell these gains - we are talking about a net difference of 10-20 positions - but they are certainly better than dealing with 50-70 fewer positions year-over-year. Given the current recruit class and attrition trends, we should continue to build our overall force and cut into the deficit of officers. That’s the good news. The bad news is it will still take several years of this trend to get back up to full strength.

The use of alternative policing tools to help augment our efforts was also discussed. These tools include technology like flock cameras, our diversion program, and other things to reduce the burden on our officers when a police response is not required. We also touched on the incredible benefits LMPD is seeing out of our investment in a wellness center a couple of years ago. These benefits are seen in terms of overall health and fitness, mental well-being, and in significant reductions in workers comp claims and days missed due to injury. All in all, the hearing was very positive and certainly led me to believe we're moving in the right direction. My hope is we'll continue to find what’s working and maintain this momentum.

As we head into Memorial Day weekend, I hope we'll all find some way to honor the men and women who died in service to this country. Whether it's attending a ceremony at Cave Hill or Zachary Taylor National Cemetery or participating in the national moment of remembrance at 3 p.m. on Monday, there are a number of ways to remember the sacrifice made by so many. 

Have a great weekend and don't hesitate to call if my office can be of service. 
 

Contact the District 17 Office

Markus Winkler
17th District Councilman
Louisville Metro Council
502.574.1117
Contact Councilman Winkler

Kip Eatherly
Legislative Aide
502.574.3462
Contact Kip

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Important Numbers

Animal Services  473-7387
Charmoli NP  574-5787
Codes & Regulations  574-2508
EACM  426-2824
Health & Wellness  574-6520
Jefferson Co. Clerk  574-5700
KY Science Center  561-6100
LG&E  589-1444
LMPD (8th Division)  574-2258
Louisville Water  583-6610
Louisville Zoo  459-2181
Mayor's Office  574-2003
Middletown Library  245-7332
MSD  540-6000
NE Regional Library  394-0379
Parks & Recreation  574-7275
Planning & Design  574-6230
Public Works  574-5810
TARC  585-1234