Here’s what candidates in Lexington’s at-large race say about crime, cameras and growth
.png "The candidates for Lexington Urban County Council At-Large seat are (clockwise, starting with left corner): James Brown, Chuck Ellinger, Arnold Farr, Bill Farmer Jr., Dan Wu, Richard Moloney, Matt Miniard and Lillie E. Miller-Johnson.")
The eight people vying for three Lexington at-large council positions include four current or former council members and several familiar faces.
The top six vote getters May 17 will move on to the November general election. The top vote getter in November will become vice mayor, who runs the 15-member Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. The second and third place finishers will serve at-large.
The non-partisan office serves for four years and is elected city-wide.
Council members make $35,605 a year. The vice mayor makes $38,895 a year for the part-time position.
Crime, affordable housing and growth are dominant issues in this year’s race as the city is struggling with rising housing costs, increases in crime and the 2023 Comprehensive Plan.
Richard Moloney, a long-time councilman, has raised the most money in the race, according to Kentucky Registry of Election Finance reports filed May 4. Moloney has raised $80,381 and had $57,403 left to spend according to his campaign finance reports.
James Brown
A Lexington native, James Brown was first appointed to the council in 2015 to fill an unexpired term for the First Council District, which includes downtown neighborhoods and stretches north to Interstate 75. Brown, 45, a graduate of Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School, has worked in various fields including 13 years at Toyota in Georgetown. He is now in real estate.
“Improvements on one side of town, affects the other side of town,” Brown said of the reason why he chose to enter the at-large race. “This will give me the opportunity to address issues across district boundaries.”
Brown chaired the Neighborhoods in Transition work group that came up with recommendations on how to keep people from being displaced from rapidly changing neighborhoods. That task force recommended the city have a separate department that focuses just on housing, which Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton created last year.
Brown said more needs to be done to address affordable housing and housing affordability.
“I continue to support more investments in affordable housing,” Brown said. “But we also need to do more to encourage more housing types, duplexes, condos and apartments.”
On crime, Brown said he supports the work of One Lexington, the city’s crime prevention programs. But to reduce crime, more partners need to be involved.
“(One Lexington) are just one component of many,” Brown said.
The use of Flock Safety Cameras, or automatic license plate readers, has been controversial. The city plans to deploy cameras throughout Lexington as part of a pilot project. Lexington police have not released the location of the cameras city safety reasons, and some have raised concerns the cameras will be placed in Black and marginalized communities.
“It’s a pilot program,” Brown said. “We can look at what are the impacts and whether it is not effective.”
Lexington police and corrections have been hit hard by staffing shortages during the pandemic. Brown said the city has re-negotiated those union contracts, upping starting pay and giving current employees substantial wage increases. But the city has to increase recruitment efforts and advertising year-round, he said.
Brown has raised $58,148 for the race, campaign finance reports show. He had $11,128 left in his campaign coffers ahead of the primary.
Chuck Ellinger II
A Lexington native and lawyer, Ellinger was elected to serve at-large in 2018, and previously served in the same role from 2003 to 2014. The University of Kentucky College of Law graduate also is a former small business owner who owned the now-closed Rogers Restaurant.
Ellinger, who previously chaired the council’s budget committee and now serves as vice chair, said the city has been fortunate to receive federal coronavirus relief money to help plug holes in its budgets over the past two years. Ellinger, 58, said the council will need someone with prior experience to help it manage some possibly rocky financial times in the years to come.
“Our expenses are going to go up and we are not going to meet our revenues,” Ellinger said. “We need to be fiscally responsible. I’ve been chair and vice chair of the budget committee and have the experience managing the city’s finances.”
Ellinger said his top priority is public safety. He, too, believes the city is going to have to do more to up recruitment of police officers and corrections officers.
Ellinger said the council put in $10 million for affordable housing from American Rescue Plan Act funding, but he would support adding more. Gorton’s proposed budget also includes an additional $2 million.
Ellinger said he supports Gorton’s proposal to put $3 million into a fund for no-interest loans for developers to do infill and redevelopment projects and another new program that would use $1 million for nonprofits to rehab and convert abandoned and dilapidated properties.
Ellinger reported $55,550 in campaign contributions according to his May 4 campaign finance reports. He loaned his campaign $30,000, reports showed.
Arnold Farr
A South Carolina native, Farr is a professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky. He ran unsuccessfully for council at-large in 2018 and for the Fayette County School Board in 2020.
Farr, 57, said he continues to want to serve in public office because he feels not everyone is heard at city hall.
“Racial minorities, Hispanic and African-Americans, people who live north of New Circle Road feel like they have been ignored by the city,” Farr said.
Farr said Lexington could end homelessness: “A lot of other cities in the country are doing it. We need to go to those cities and figure out what they are doing.”
Lexington police should work more with mental health professionals so they can address acute mental health crises and direct services to those people rather than have police do a job they aren’t qualified or supposed to handle, Farr said.
The city has seen a rise in gun violence among youth, he said. Lexington could fight against that trend by having more programming for kids and teens, as well as opening the community centers for youth activities.
Farr said he’s not convinced Flock Safety Cameras should be used in Lexington.
“They have said they are in high crime areas and that usually means they are targeting minority communities,” Farr said. “I don’t care to be watched wherever I go and whatever I do.”
According to campaign finance reports, Farr has not raised any money for the race.
Bill Farmer, Jr.
Farmer’s tenure on the Lexington council spans decades. Farmer, 62, served on the council from 2011 to 2021. He was beat in the 5th Council District race by challenger Liz Sheehan in 2020. He also has previously served as 5th District Councilman from 1997 to 2006. Farmer co-owns Farmer’s Jewelry in Chevy Chase and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.
The city has done a great job tackling homelessness but it needs to do more and look at different approaches to ending it, Farmer said: “I think it’s a different time and we need to look at different solutions.”
Lexington also should look at re-instating the mayor’s training center, a one-stop-shop for employment and job training, Farmer said, which could help stem the rise in teen crime. The training center was shuttered in 2011 due to concerns it was duplicating other job training efforts during a time when the city needed to shave costs due to declining revenues.
The city also needs to look at expanding its police force from three to four sectors, Farmer said. Former Mayor Jim Gray started hiring additional officers for a fourth sector several years ago, but those plans were paused due to monetary constraints.
“We have instances now where fire gets there before police,” Farmer said.
The use of license plate reader cameras needs to be fleshed out and made transparent, he said.
“You can’t surveil some people and not all people,” Farmer said of the lack of information about where the cameras are located.
The city needs to leverage more partnerships with nonprofits to get more affordable housing units, he said.
Farmer has raised $53,905 to date, according to campaign finance records. He has $20,161 left to spend.
Lillie Miller Johnson
Miller Johnson has been elected and served for 12 years on the soil and water conservation district. She is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and has a degree from the University of Kentucky. She previously ran unsuccessfully for council at large in 2018.
Miller Johnson, 67, said housing affordability is one of her top issues.
“Rents are so high now,” Miller Johnson said. “People are renting one bedrooms who need roommates.”
Lexington should look at what other cities are doing to address crime. Crime is typically directly connected to substance abuse issues, she said. Miller Johnson declined to say what types of programs or cities Lexington should model.
“We have to go and look at what these cities are doing but I don’t want to mention them now,” she said.
Miler Johnson said she doesn’t like the idea of using automatic license plate readers to help police gather evidence.
“They say it’s to catch people,” Miller Johnson said. “They have information on your car. They know where you are going. They can target you.”
Miller Johnson has raised no money in this election, according to campaign finance reports.
Matt Miniard
A long-time real estate appraiser who has twice had his license suspended by state regulators, Miniard also ran unsuccessfully for council at large in 2018.
Miniard is the subject of a lengthy trail of court documents, which include everything from numerous tickets for speeding and running red lights to more serious charges. His domestic violence issues began in 2012 with his then-girlfriend, with whom he had a daughter. The girlfriend received a protective order against him in July 2012, according to court documents. By Aug. 1, Miniard was arrested for violating that order; the next day he was arraigned for two violations of the order.
On Sept. 27, 2012, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail for 4th degree assault, terroristic threatening and violations of the protective order. He reported to jail on Oct. 8.
In 2013, Miniard served 90 days in jail for fourth degree domestic violence against the girlfriend. In the meantime, he filed a complaint against her, claiming that she knocked his glasses off his head and destroyed them. Miniard said in 2018 he entered Alford pleas to the various charges against him. In an Alford plea, a defendant asserts innocence, but admits the evidence could lead to a conviction.
His troubles with the Kentucky Real Estate Appraisers Board began in 2001, when he was fined $1,500 and required to get 40 hours of training for failure to follow “professional practice rules.”
In 2009, he lost his license for a year after a hearing board found him in violation of several standards, including appraising a Magoffin County property for $189,000 when it had sold two years before for $89,000. In 2012, the board suspended his license for six months and required him to pay a $2,000 fine for more violations. He appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the Franklin County Circuit Court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Miniard has said he has been treated wrongly by the courts, the appraisers’ board and others and it is one of the reasons why he is running for office.
A real estate company Miniard owns has also sued the city over code violations the city issued for a tract of land on Boston Road in 2021, court records show. That case is ongoing.
Miniard, 65, said the biggest issues facing Lexington is the rising cost of living.
“Due to lack of effective leadership by the current elected LFUCG administration, the cost of living is dramatically accelerating at a greater pace than at any time in recent years,” Miniard said.
Miniard said he will also work to cut taxes.
“In the past decades LFUCG has increased property tax rates over and over again and the time has come to reduce property taxes,” Miniard said. The city has not raised property taxes in decades. The tax rate is actually lower in 2022 than it was in 1994, according to city property tax records. The Fayette County School District, which receives the bulk of property taxes in Fayette County, has raised property taxes in the past 10 years.
The city needs to tackle gun violence by addressing underlying issues such as racial discrimination, poverty, underfunded public housing, poorly funded social service programs and easy access to firearms. Miniard said he supports the use of Flock Cameras and said he would vote to expand the urban service boundary so it will create more affordable housing.
MIniard has not raised any money to run in the at-large race, campaign finance reports show.
Richard Moloney
Moloney served seven terms representing the 11th Council District before returning to the Lexington council in 2015, when he was first elected at-large. He was re-elected in 2018. Moloney, 62, has also served as chief administrative officer for the city, environmental and public works commissioner and was formerly the head of the state Department of Housing, Building and Construction under former Gov. Steve Beshear.
Moloney said the most pressing issue facing the city is chronic understaffing at the Fayette County Detention Center. Moloney has pushed the city to hire a consultant, the National Institute of Corrections, to look at the detention center to determine if the way it is staffed should be changed. The jail currently operates on direct supervision, which means officers are in the pods with inmates. That model may need to be revisited, Moloney said.
The city should consider re-instating the mayor’s training center to bring more job training for youth, Moloney said of one tactic to stem a rise in gun violence over the past two years.
“That was one of the biggest mistakes we made,” Moloney said of closing the center.
Moloney said he’s not opposed to looking at the group violence intervention model, which is being pushed by BUILD, Building a United Interfaith Lexington Through Direct Action, an interfaith group.
“I’m willing to look at it,” Moloney said. The cost — which is north of $200,000 a year — would be something the city would have to weigh carefully before it agreed to it.
Moloney voted against banning no-knock warrants. Moloney said he talked to Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and three former police chiefs before voting against the ban.
“They said it was a tool they need. That’s why I supported it,” Moloney said.
Dan Wu
Wu, who was born in China, moved to Lexington when he was in the sixth grade. He attended Henry Clay High School and the University of Kentucky. He lived out of state for several years before returning to Lexington and starting a popular restaurant Atomic Ramen, now closed.
Wu, 48, said he decided to run for the at-large council position because he felt he could make more of a difference inside city government.
“I want to represent people who have never been represented on council,” Wu said.
Public safety, housing and growing small businesses are his top issues, he said.
Police are currently down officers with many of them leaving to take better paying jobs, he said. The city has to up its recruitment efforts to stem the loss of officers, he said.
The city should also look at the types of calls police are answering. Ones that are mental health-related and other types of calls don’t always necessitate a police response, he said.
“It takes partnerships,” Wu said. “This needs to go beyond pro-cop or anti-cop. This is about how we can get the best results.”
As a small business owner, Wu said he would also like to see the city focus on minority businesses. Many immigrants are small business owners, Wu said and U.S. Census data shows. Many do not have the same resources and knowledge he had when he started Atomic Ramen. The city needs to do more to encourage and nurture small businesses that are the backbone of Lexington economy, he said.
Wu has raised more than $56,721 in campaign donations, according to campaign finance reports. He had $11,347 left to spend, according to his 15-day pre-election day report.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
