LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Lexington Nonprofit Coalition hosted a forum Wednesday evening for candidates running to be the 11th district councilmember for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.
Those who participated included sitting councilmember Jennifer Reynolds, her challenger on the ballot, Rock Daniels, and write-in candidate Brittanie Price.
The forum itself focused on issues involving nonprofits and the community, but in interviews after the event, the candidates discussed the rise in shootings that's been on a lot of people's minds this year.
Councilmember Reynolds serves on the city's planning and public safety committee. She said she's heading up a task force to figure out if there's another anti-violence approach the city should adopt.
"Is there a program that Lexington can adopt that we haven't yet to address gun violence? We've talked about GVI, but we haven't looked at it as a community and said, should we adopt this or maybe there's something out there better. I'm trying to keep an open mind as I start to form that, but I think the idea is to give council and the administration some specific steps and recommendations," Reynolds said.
Challenger Rock Daniels said if he were elected, he would push for more funding to focus on recruiting and retention at the police department.
"Right now, we're 115 police officers short. We've got 150 police officers that could retire tomorrow. We need to fund our police. They're paid $48,000 a year. When you look at every city surrounding us, every single one of those cities are paying their officers more. We look at Louisville and the starting salary's $75,520. They're also offering $8,000 sign-on bonuses and $3,000 moving expenses. We're not offering that," Daniels said.
And Brittanie Price says family should be a focus.
"I believe we need to make sure there's no break-up of the family. I think problems occur within families because they're unstable and that families who are living in poor neighborhoods may not have enough income, which might create violence," Price said.
The city's 11th District is comprised of an area of western Lexington from Leestown Road to Harrodsburg Road. Election day is Tuesday, November 8.
