Lexington Council with Hannah LeGris!

What does it take to go from university career counselor to three-term city council member? We sat down with Lexington's Hannah LeGris to find out. Hannah walks us through the question that launched her campaign, how she built a values-first team, and what it really means to govern a district that stretches from downtown to UK's campus.

We get into the nuts and bolts: how eight votes move policy, the story behind Phoenix Park's $4.6M revival, and how she steered $1.5M into Lexington's tree canopy, prioritizing the neighborhoods that need it most. Hannah also breaks down her no vote on expanding the Urban Service Boundary and makes the case for smarter infill and transit before the city grows outward.

Plus: how to make local government actually accessible, managing criticism with empathy, and surviving marathon meetings. Whether you want to run for office or just make your city better--this one's your primer.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Sounds great. We are back with the Inside the Block podcast, and I'm here getting to interview Hannah LeGree. Council woman, Hannah LeGree. Is that what we say? Yeah, council member, council member, whatever you, or you can just call me Hannah. You know what? I'll do just that. That would be perfect. That's great. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Tell us about your work on council. Just in general. Yeah, or like, you know, how I'm really fascinated in how you came to be on council. So, like, what were you doing before? What prompted you to want to run? What was that process like? I have a billion questions, but you could start. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

That's why we're here.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Um, so I'll start uh with kind of my story in terms of how I got to be on council, and then we can talk about the work of council too.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Oh, great.

From Career Counselor To Candidate

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Um, so before I was on city council, I was working at the University of Kentucky. I was a career counselor. Um, but one of the big parts of my job that I really loved was working with college-age students to help them figure out what they cared about, to discern kind of their values and how they wanted to put those into practice, beyond or in addition to what they were doing to make money. And uh one of the most rewarding parts of what I was doing was getting young people connected to the Lexington community. So getting them involved with nonprofits, with local government, volunteering and getting connected here in our city and in our county. And um I had started my career as an AmeriCorps Vista, so very service-oriented. I'd worked in childhood literacy. I'd always tried to weave some of that, you know, community connection into whatever job I was doing. And what I found when I was working with college students was that the more they got rooted here in Lexington, the more they understood how things worked, the more involved they got, um, they saw that they could make a really positive impact. And at that time, I was in my own kind of discernment process. I was doing less work with students, getting them connected to the community. And I started to think about well, that really drives me. What could I do with that energy? And frankly, a friend of mine said to me, Have you ever thought about running for office? And that's a really simple question, but being asked that question can be really powerful because it helps you think differently about yourself and your possibilities and maybe how other people could see you. And so I hadn't thought about running for office, but my council member was someone who was really accessible. So I would see him around town, like at art events. It's not walking around all the time. And I was like, I like Jake. You know, maybe he would have lunch with me. So I just emailed him and I said, you know, I'm really curious about what's your job? Like, what do you do? What does service on council look like? He said, I'd be glad to talk. And so we sat down. It was in the summer, it's like in June. And I just said, I just want to know more about it. And he was like, Hannah, he had a background in teaching as well. He said, Hannah, it's great work. You get to meet so many people. You get you get to talk to them about their city and what they want in their community. You get to meet so many smart people who work in government, and you get to try to put your values and their values into practice. He also said to me something like, Oh, and I take a nap every day, which made it seem really relaxing. Sign me up. I thought, oh, I'm not a big napper, but you know, I'm okay. It sounds like there's flexibility. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So it was great to talk to him. And he helped me kind of imagine what that world would be like. And so he said, Well, probably run for re-election, but if I don't, you know, um it'll be an open seat. Yeah, you should think about it. And, you know, there'll be other people who are running, and um, and that's okay. So when he announced, I thought, okay, well, I guess I guess I'll go for it. And I think that sometimes people feel like you have to have a certain kind of background to run for office, you have to have a certain set of degrees, you have to have a certain life experience. And we have a whole diversity of people on council, people with all different educational backgrounds, people with all different work backgrounds. And I think that's really, really good because it helps inform um the democratic process and it helps there to be um multifaceted representation on council. So I think it's good for people to know you don't have to take a certain path. You don't have to have a certain degree or have a certain career before you run for office.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah, that's absolutely the perception. I mean, I would have assumed on some level everybody on council had some sort of like service-oriented or like political science kind of thing or anything that would be, I don't know, like geared more towards like I'm running for office or something. But that's, I mean, you're such a great point. I mean, you want as many different diverse perspectives to be able to inform what's so that's really neat.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Yeah, and I think it's powerful when people learn that, right? Because I thought the same thing. I thought, well, I didn't study political science. You know, I have an undergraduate degree in English and a master's in English. And we have people with PhDs, we have people with high school degrees, with associates, you know, people who have come from many different fields. So I just want people to know there is a path toward running for office, and you don't have to just take one route there.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, most definitely. So you so his seat did open up.

Deciding To Run And Mentorship

SPEAKER_02 5:30

So it's an open seat. Okay. And we had a competitive primary. We had a lot of really good candidates. And I ran for office in 2020. Now, when I first filed to run, we didn't know that a pandemic was coming.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

COVID was coming, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

So, um, you know, with any kind of campaign, you have to be flexible, right? You have to think about what strategy is gonna work, you know, how are you gonna connect with people? A key part of running for office is listening to people. So talking to them about their experiences, what they want to see for their community, understanding their perspective. And in a pandemic scenario, that just had to look different. Um, so I'm in my third term now, and each term is two years in length for a district council member.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Okay, good to know. I was gonna ask that. I probably should have already known.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

No, that's I think that this is good to talk about. So they're there are 12 district council members. Okay. I repres represent the third district, and that's where we are now. Yeah. In the warehouse block, yeah, is part of that.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

And um But you have a pretty big district though, right? I mean, yeah, you're UK, or like you border UK.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

That's no, yeah, all of so I have the majority of downtown.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

You have the majority of downtown.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

I have all of the University of Kentucky and the surrounding neighborhoods. Okay. And then if you think about Nicholasville Road and Tate's Creek as kind of like a slice, I have everything between Nicholasville Road and Tate's Creek all the way out until New Circle. Dang. So it's like 27,000 people.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Um, and a lot of different kind of types of neighborhoods. Um, and you know, there's a lot of diversity in each council district. It just looks different from district to district, but we all represent roughly the same number of people. And then you have four at-large members, and they have four-year terms, and they're elected, like the mayor, by the entirety of Fayette County.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

I see.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Um, so that's kind of the the breakdown in terms of um constituent parts of the council.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Okay, great. Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt. So you were that's really good information. Again, I probably should have already known, but you um you run, but it's how did it look different? You said it was different for because you had to run during the pandemic. So, like how and in what ways was that like a different situation?

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah. So I was able to have a kickoff. Okay. A big party. Yeah. Where you kick off your campaign and you generate um energy and you get, you know, you get your message out there, you're raising funds, you're connecting with people. So I was able to have that. And then um, you know, we had to build a digital strategy. So instead of going door to door and knocking doors, for example, in my most recent competitive race, uh, you know, you're knocking probably at least 7,000 doors. So thousands of doors, right? Instead, you couldn't do that during the pandemic. So I had um different ways of trying to uh generate with rapport with people. One of those ways is I had this uh weekly segment called Let's Have a Chat. Not dissimilar from this. Yeah. I would bring someone in from the community who I thought was doing really interesting work and talk to them about that work, you know, and some of that is trying to elevate someone else and what they're doing. And then also listening and understanding, you know, their perspective on the community. Um we had to, we did text campaigns, we did um digital ads, we had to do a lot more on social media. And, you know, the challenge with social media is that in some ways it can be depersonalizing. You know, you don't get to have the same kind of energy or the same kind of rapport. In other ways, you can expand your reach and uh work on, I guess, your branding and framework of your campaign just from a different perspective.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

So a typical campaign, I mean, like let's say that somebody wants you're you're mentoring somebody that wants to run like you did, is like how did you know that you would typically knock on door? Like, is there like a playbook that a typical person would use to be able to run?

Campaigning In A Pandemic

SPEAKER_02 9:43

I think that people kind of start into the campaign world in all different ways. Sometimes you have candidate incubators or training programs that you're involved with. So um, New Politics is an organization that helps people who have a background in public service. Number one, go through the discernment process of figuring out, okay, what do I want to run for? Why do I want to do it? Right, what's my story? How can I tell it? Being really grounded in your why is really, really important as you're going through the campaigning process. So that's something that we don't always talk about when we talk about the structure or the foundation of a campaign. But honestly, that grounding of your why, your driving force, your values, your mission, um that really matters. So I think everyone should start there and get really clear on that. Um, and then from there, you want to think about building a team, right? So you need a campaign manager, you you likely need a finance director, someone who helps you with fundraising in various ways. Uh you need some, in my opinion, some really good branding and marketing. So you want to think about people who can help fill in some of the gaps. Like I really enjoyed writing. Um, I like writing. I thought a lot about my messaging. I wrote a lot of my own messaging and was really hands-on with that. Other people are not gonna wanna do all of their own kind of narrative building. So, you know, you want to think about who's gonna do my photography, who's gonna do my graphic design, like who's gonna coordinate my volunteers? You know, how do we bring people in and get them connected? What about house parties or events? So you start to build your team and your campaign manager typically helps you with that strategy. So you're mapping out kind of the course of your campaign from your launch all the way through to your primary and then beyond the primary. Because if you have a primary, you're basically running two campaigns. Right. Right. So the second post-primary campaign is gonna look different, you know? Um, and then the other thing that's important is like your treasurer because you want to make sure that you track all your money and that it's all handled properly. So you're really thinking about building a team and helping that team build strategy. I I usually build my own team with all different people. Sometimes people hire groups of people or they hire a firm. It can take a lot of different forms. And then sometimes people self-manage their campaigns.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Wow. I mean, it just sounds like you have to think of so many things all at once, though. I mean, it's a big, it's a big moment.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Yeah, it can be exciting and nerve-wracking. I'm sure. But I also think that it's nice to think about your network and people in your orbit and what their strengths are. And a really great thing about a local campaign is that people are really immediately connected to your work.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

And and you're accessible, you know, unlike exactly in the state or the national level. So that's really special too.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah. And so you actually get to meet the candidate. Yeah. You get to walk around and knock doors with them. You get to have meaningful conversations, you know, about things that you care about. And um I think a key thing with anything as you're building a team or you're thinking about your campaign, it's like seeing potential in other people. They see potential in you, you know, they think, okay, this person can run for office. Like I believe in them. And like, likewise, you know, you get the chance to help people get connected to your campaign or to the district or to issues that they care about by seeing potential and passion in them.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah. Oh, I love that. I love that, you know, it's almost grassroots in that, in that sense. I mean, you're you're relying on the strengths of the people around you that already believe in you.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

So that's really and hopefully building some more ring. Yeah. Like, no matter what the outcome, I think the way I thought about it was that this process is really worthy, right? Like we're all gonna do this together. I'm gonna run for office. And that process of running for office has its own worth. Of course, you have the goal of winning and getting into office. But, you know, I think that you've probably seen when people get involved with something. And I think when we were at the the civic happy hour, we talked a little bit about this with the the filming of or the showing of um join or die. Yeah. When you get to connected to something in your community that's bigger than yourself, where you're meeting different people, you're, you know, you have overlapping values, you know, you're doing something that you care about, that's energizing. And I think that at its best, a campaign can be one of those spaces.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Yeah, most definitely. So you um what was I mean, did anything about the campaign process like surprise you? That that first one especially. Gosh.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

I mean, I guess I am I I imagine if I think back, I'm sure there are a number of things.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah.

District Map And Council Structure

SPEAKER_02 14:51

I think one thing is like going back to that why, you know, you just have to know yourself and be comfortable with yourself and and hope that you can be authentic and connect with people. And I think that for me, any kind of insecurities, you know, that I had from like high school or whatever else, like I had to kind of grapple with some of those because, you know, you have these things where it's like, well, what if people don't like me or what if I'm not popular? Or, you know, what if uh someone asks a question and I won't know. And I don't know navigate it. And I I just think like, you know, having a network around you of people who they don't have to be your cheerleaders, but who aren't involved in your campaign and who just know you as a person, I think that's important, right? And I hadn't thought about that that much before running for office. But I think just making sure that you take time out to be grounded in the rest of your life and and be an everyday person who's not totally preoccupied with this big project you're doing. And I think this goes for any big project when people get really enmeshed in something. I just think that has so much value. And this is something, you know, like I felt this way about graduate school. It could take up all the space that you give it. So making sure that you have space where you're um kind of exercising or engaging with your hobbies, that's really that balance is important. Um and and I guess the the other thing is, you know, I met a lot of really cool people. And um a lot of my team, like I had I had never met them before we got involved with the campaign, right? So there were there are some people I met out in the community who said yes to getting involved, and I got to know them over the course of the campaign. It wasn't just like, you know, a big group of my friends. There are people who became my friends. And I guess like I didn't expect that to get to meet so many cool people.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Yeah. Well, what a great outcome though.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yeah, it was. It was refreshing. Yeah, oh, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

So election night happens, like your first one. Were you like super stoked? Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Well, it was weird because during the pandemic, we didn't get all the results back uh uh immediately.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Oh, I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Because people could vote in so many different ways.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Oh no, so it was like pens and needles that holds up.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

You didn't find out on election night. Um but but you know, I found out it was delayed. Um, yeah, and then I uh, you know, then I did a speech like on my front porch because you couldn't really be by anyone. And had it like recorded and then sent that out? Yeah, like on Facebook Live. Yeah, but you know, in um subsequent cycles, yeah, you can have a party, a watch party.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

And did you feel like the wind was taken out of your sails a little bit with like you're like, okay, I guess I'll go out on my porch and thank everybody.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I mean, I didn't, you know, the whole season was so strange. And I just thought, well, we've been creative this whole time. Why we'll have to be creative here too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I'm like making history right now.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, you just have to mark the occasion differently, just like we all did for everything for so long. But you know, uh, you asked about um what is the what is the job, right? And um, and once you get elected, you realize like, well, it's time to do the job.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So does it did it immediately start?

SPEAKER_02 18:15

No, you have a you have a couple of weeks, well, you don't get sworn in until January. So you find out in November and you get sworn in in January.

unknown 18:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Um, and I think the main thing is like you have to figure out, well, I did this whole running for office thing and worked really hard for a whole year. Uh, because you're basically running for office for an entire year. And now I've got the job. Well, what kind of representative do I want to be?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Because there's a transition point from like running for office to being in office. And of course, you're still going to put your values into practice and you have everything that you imagine that you want to do, and then you move into office and you figure out, well, what is how do you translate that imagining and all these conversations into action? And what and what's pragmatic and and how does this all work?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

So what's the answer to that? I how did you translate it all?

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Um well, it's a process. I'm sure. Um, I think you know, when you first get into office, some of it is figuring out, okay, who are all these other people who I serve with? Right? You have because you it on council, for example, you need eight votes to make anything happen.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Okay.

Digital Strategy And Voter Outreach

SPEAKER_02 19:29

So you're not just an island, you're someone who has a vision, who has plans, who has has values, you have all your constituents who you're responsible and responsive to. But then you have to figure out well, what's the whole kind of ecosystem that I'm a part of, right? Uh a lot of things take money and time. So I found that actually an understanding of people and listening to them and not just your constituents, but your colleagues, and understanding their perspective is really important. And being on a nonpartisan governing body is great because we all have to talk to each other about everything. So there could be one person who you really connect with and agree with, and you guys are in alignment on one thing, on one issue, and then a totally different set of people on another issue. So you have to talk to people and try to understand their perspective. And I think that's a big part of being in office. So listening to your constituents, listening to your colleagues, and then figuring out what are all the departments where everything happens? How much money does everything cost? You know, it's of course getting things done is expensive. So it's like, where does the money come from? Like project management. If I want to do this big project, and we talked about, we've talked about, you know, some of these things like Phoenix Park. If you want to do a$4.6 million parks project, it doesn't just start with that end product, like you have to get a redesign. There has to be public input. You know, the redesign might cost$75,000 or$100,000. So it's getting your colleagues to say yes to that. Then once you have the picture, okay, well, how does it come together to kind of put all these parts in place to make this new park happen? And that can be a years-long process, right? And I think that it's a learning curve to recognize what that process could look like and then figure out how it relates to what everybody else is doing, and then um to also like communicate that out into the world, you know, to your constituents, to other people, to tell the story of the thing because that's a big part of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

No, I'm sure. So, like, for example, Phoenix Park, is that is that one of your most like proudest things that you've been able to be a part of? Like, what are some other things that since you've been in office that you've You know, you've seen come to fruition.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah. I'm very proud of Phoenix Park. Yeah. And of course. And it's it's it's really cool to see it come alive. Um, I also was involved with a big initiative um for the tree canopy. I'm on the tree board. I've always been really involved with kind of environmental and tree-oriented work. And um we allocated uh$1.5 million to the tree canopy. And then we got to, I got to be very involved with shepherding those funds through. So not only um making the pitch and helping with a buy-in to get that fund allocation, but also imagining uh what it could look like in practice. So we ended up giving out um a lot of large-scale grants to community organizations. We're talking about$100,000 grants, for example, to do tree planting, education, and community engagement and tree maintenance all throughout Fayette County, especially in areas where you had lower canopy coverage. And then we did private property planting. So we planted hundreds of trees for free in people's yards. And um, a big part of what we wanted to focus on was um like that education part, because we want everybody to feel empowered to um take care of a tree, to want to have a tree, to know what kind of tree could be happy in a certain space and to make it so that trees can be a positive thing and not something scary, you know, where a limb could fall on your house.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Right. So like equity of access to those resources was important for us, um, trying to make a big impact across lots of different parts of the community and making sure that education was a part of it so that if this is a positive thing for everybody involved. And, you know, it's like when you go to schools and you and you have like a community garden and everybody has their hand in the garden, like you you learn about it and you're more invested.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Oh, definitely.

Building A Campaign Team

SPEAKER_02 24:03

So we had some of that mentality as we were um helping to put forward those grant funds. Like, how do we get more people involved to take ownership and to engage with our canopy? So Phoenix Park was a big one, our tree canopy. Um, in my first term, I helped with um this at-home composting initiative, which you know, which is small, but it's like you get more people composting and you make it easier and you give them um like really discounted composting um kind of setups. That's something that was quite positive. Um I was the chair of the public input subcommittee, and we had a lot of uh a whole set of recommendations from Civic Lex that we had um presented to us as council members. They did this big survey about how we can make it easier for people to interact with government.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, I was just about to ask, you were talking about the education piece, and I think that so many Lexingtonians don't, or just people in general, just don't know how to find more information, what's going on, like how and in what ways they can have public input. You know, it just seems so you know, just the process itself just seems difficult, convoluted almost. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Yeah. And and you know, some of that came out in that survey. And so they had this big um set of action steps. What can we do to make it more manageable for people to interact with government? How can we make it more accessible? How can we lower barriers? So it was my goal as a chair of the public input subcommittee to um go through that entire document, work with my colleagues who were on it, and they did a great job. And we all came together around the recommendations and and put it into action. So, for example, we changed our public comment process so that when you get there, you have ambassadors who are there. Hey, um, you know, legislative aides, for example, who work for us. Hey, is your item on or off the docket? Let me show you the docket. Oh, who's this is what a docket is.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Here's what a docket is.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Exactly. You know, okay, here's a banner up with all the council members. Uh, let's see where you live and find out who your council member is. You sign on an iPad, so it's not handwritten. So then if you want to get more updates from us or you want us to follow up, you can put your information there. You know, um, small access points can make a big difference. Absolutely. When public comment happens, at formal council meetings, we used to have public comment for all items on or off the agenda at the end. Well, we could have voted on something that someone came to give comment on. It's like they should be able to speak before we give our vote. Of course. So that was something that we changed, you know. We hired a public information officer so that we had someone who could help explain what council was doing, put out social media, put out a newsletter. Um, so we had all these different things that we worked on collectively to help lower the barriers. You know, um we have Engage Lexington now, which is a big site where people can find out what's going on uh in local government. Engage Lexington. Engage Lexington.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Oh, engage okay, cool. I need to look at it.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

And then they can sign up and get updates from us and they can engage with surveys about big issues that we're working on. So I think some of this is about like making the information that's there more accessible. There's a ton of information on the government website, but for some people, like the access point is not clear, right? Where do you get started?

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Where do you go? Yeah. How how would I find my council members' information to be able to ask? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah. So we're trying to make it easier through design and through different access points for people, whether it's in chambers, in in the building, or um online. And you know, Civic Lux, they also do a great job.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

They do a great job. They're weekly newsletters. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

So good.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

So good.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

And, you know, I think for a lot of people, if that's where they want to start and that leads them to the governmental pages and they start digging deeper and they start coming to council meetings, that's great. We just we want someone people to start somewhere because we want people to know like things don't have to happen just around you. Like you can be engaged in the process. And if you are, it can be really powerful and empowering. Um, because like we're responsive to you. Definitely. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So there's been a couple of times where I've watched council meetings and it's been times where there's been public comment, which is wild to me. I mean, because sometimes you'll be there like hours, right? Or like an extended amount of time. Yeah. Because everybody who wants to speak can absolutely from the public. And sometimes it's like I was I just found it so fascinating because it would be like some people go up and have they'd say like a sentence, and then other people will come up with like a diatribe of things. So what's that like? Like, do you always like kind of depending on the topic or the issue, kind of brace yourself for like longer sessions? And are those more um, I don't know, do you get more out of those than other types? I mean, what do you get from public comment?

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Yeah, so in addition to public comment, we also receive lots of emails and voicemails. So sometimes people come and they give public comment and they speak to us, and then sometimes they write in, they'll send letters, they'll call. So there are lots of ways for people to give input. They can um use Engage Lexington. So we're trying to create more access points. Now, in terms of public comment, you're right. Anybody can come up and they have three minutes.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Three minutes. That's that's the limit. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

But you can bring a friend, and as long as your friend is there, you could have um them cede their time to you. So you could have six minutes.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Is there a limit on how many minutes could I bring in like 10 of my friends?

SPEAKER_02 29:56

You get a total of nine minutes.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

30 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

The total used to be higher, but wow. Um, because council members have um only 10 minutes that they get to talk. We thought, because we're timed in all of our remarks too. Okay. Um nine minutes is the max, which is quite a bit of time.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Um, and in terms of expectations for each evening, yeah, sometimes you'll go in and you'll think, oh, this will be a pretty straightforward or shorter meeting, and it won't be. And sometimes you'll go in and you'll think, this will be a really long meeting, right? Because you know there's a big issue on the agenda. And you're just you're gonna be there for as long as it takes. Yeah. And um there are some cities that limit public comment. So the number of people who can speak in a session, or the number of times you can speak in one month or in a period of time. But Lexington is unique or it's out, I guess, outstanding in that anyone can come, you get your full three minutes, and there's no cutoff in terms of the number of people who can come and speak.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yeah.

Election Night And Transition To Governing

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Um, so we want to make sure that people have their space um to share their perspective. And you're right, people have all different approaches. And I think it's important to remember that, you know, in a lot of ways, it's um kind of it's courageous to get up there and give public comment because, you know, you you're in a formal setting.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Um sometimes it's a big room.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

The physicality of the space is like um where we're sitting at what we call the horseshoe is kind of elevated. So you're if you're giving comment, you're looking up at us. We're looking down toward the crowd, the crowd's behind you, you're on video. I've had to give um, or I've chosen to give public comment in other spaces. And even I felt nervous, even though I speak on microphone and I'm in that space all the time. Yeah. So it's good to get up there and decide. Yeah. Cause then you're like, oh yeah, that's you know, you're putting yourself out there.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

It's intimidating, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

It can be. We want to make it less so. Yeah. But uh, what I want people to know is like when people get nervous, like we're all rooting for them, you know?

SPEAKER_00 32:14

And and you genuinely want to hear what they have to say.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Yes, exactly. And we want them to not feel nervous and to and to feel like I can get up here and do this. And these are the people who represent me and they want to hear from me.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

So are if for those people that would be like, I just can't, I could never, I'm gonna send an email anyway, or instead of that, is that looked at with as much, I mean, there's something to be said for somebody standing up, you know, with a microphone. Is that do you give the same weight to an email?

SPEAKER_02 32:43

I think whatever works for you, you should engage, right? Yeah. I mean, I I give um, I try to give equal weight. Yeah. Um, you know, I think if people are taking their time to write in and to share their thoughts, I mean, they don't have to do that. And we we want to know where they're at on the issues.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

So I'm sure you've dealt with a lot of negativity. It just comes with it's like the nature of the beast. Yeah. So walk me through that. Like, what's has that anything been surprising to you about any sort of like reactions that you've had to think or to the council in general? Or I mean, what's is is Lexington a pretty easygoing town in regards to that kind of stuff, or is there always sort of some conflict at bay?

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Uh I I think that I have a very engaged district. So I have a lot of people who follow along with the issues, who pay attention to what's going on, who write in, who call in, who reach out to me.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Well, you have UK. Do you think that that has something to say for it a little bit? I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Yeah, I think so. And also downtown, so you have lots of different types of constituents. Sure. Um, and just people who yeah, want to know what's going on and they they want to give their thoughts and input. So I can only speak to um my experience. Sure. So people are really involved in my district. I think that's a good thing. Um I think you asked about uh negativity or anything that's kind of surprising.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yeah, yeah, and how how you've dealt with that.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

I think that so I worked in a couple of customer service type jobs. Like I've worked in the restaurant industry, um, I worked as a recruitment person, like as an admissions counselor, where I was uh the only person whose web whose name was on the website if your child did not get into this competitive admit program.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

So, or if they did. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Okay.

How Council Work Gets Done

SPEAKER_02 34:38

And so I have in my life, I fielded a lot of phone calls. I've taken on a lot of energy. And what I always try to remember is that sometimes it's about the issue, sometimes it's about what you represent as an elected official. Sometimes um people need to be heard. Um, and I just think trying to approach these types of conversations where people are upset with like empathy and with awareness that, you know, I'm not gonna take it too personally. I think that one of the most important things if you're in elected office is to do a lot of self-management. You need to do a lot of filtering, you need to be very, very thoughtful, you need to show up for people and listen. And you need to make sure that you can be your best self when you do that, right? And I just when I interview for my legislative aid position, the the person who staffs my office, we always end up talking about empathy because sometimes when someone's asking a question or they're coming with energy, it's about something a lot bigger. You know, it's a maybe about the thing at hand, or maybe it's about like um places where they felt like they haven't been heard, or they feel like this is a place where they can have control, or they are really, really invested in the outcome. And I think usually people are upset because they care and I think it's on us to figure out how to help them uh channel that energy. Um I guess um I haven't received too much negative energy. Good. Um, you know, I've I get I get I get some I've gotten some nasty emails or messages or what have you, but I just try to um think that, you know, for example, I love Jake as a council member, right? And I would see him all the time and I would be like, oh, there's Jake. I like really like him. Like I was always happy to see him, but I never told him, right? I wasn't like, hey, I I like you. Yeah, I like really like what's going on, or I noticed this thing and it was really great. There are lots of people who notice things and they think, this is great, but you you just have to know and believe that that's out there.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yeah, because they're not saying that as much as maybe they have the courage to say something on the other side.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Right, exactly. So, but every now and again you'll get an email where someone will say, I had this great experience with government, or I went to this place and it was like, it really blew me away. Or there was an op-ed recently where someone was like, Oh, I thought I I questioned how Phoenix Park would actually be, but it was great. Yeah, you know, and so I think that you just have to remember that even if you're receiving a lot of negative energy or feedback, that's not everyone. There are so many people out there who have positive feelings, you know?

SPEAKER_03 37:37

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

So I I I work with that reframing, I guess, for myself.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

I think your mental health has to be so um strong for a position like that. I mean, like very even keeled, and like I would take everything personal.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

I would take everything personal. So the fact that you don't I've had five years in this role.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Okay, okay. So there were things I used to get really upset about. And it, but it wasn't helping me be the kind of representative that I wanted to be, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Like you're just you were just able to like turn it off, or did you I just had to work on it? Work on it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

You know, and have conversations with people close to me and do some reframing. Um, but that example with Jake, you know, that's one of those things that a friend of mine was like, well, imagine before you were on council, like how you felt. And it's like, oh, okay, I've got it. The world is so much bigger, you know. And I just think there are a lot of people out here who really care about Lexington. They think it's a great place. And, you know, we're aligned and that we all want to make it better. And what that looks like can vary. But um, you know, when people are giving criticism, that's sometimes comes from a place of wanting to make something better, wanting to protect something.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Absolutely. And that's a really good point. Um, one of the something that I did in grad school is a project on the urban service boundary, which I think is one of the most fascinating things about our town. And I, so through all of my research, I had realized, or I had found out that Lexington was one of the the first city to like um implement that, like in like 1955, I think. Um, and so those were the council meetings that I would watch because it was like two, three years ago when it was decided to expand. I mean, it was like it was a hot, hot topic back then. Can you speak to that? Like your thoughts on the urban service boundary if you'd like, or just like the the hubbub that surrounded that at that time to be able to expand it and what what you think?

SPEAKER_02 39:33

So that was one of our biggest votes. Um, I was one of the few people who voted um against it not to expand the urban services boundary. And um, you know, I I think it's one of the most important land use decisions that we can make here in Lexington, right? There are all different ways to approach um our need for housing, our need for commerce. Um and when you think about levers or mechanisms that can be pulled in order to create more space for that, you know, you have infill, which is um developing on the interior of the urban services boundary, and then you have expansion, which is taking uh undeveloped land and developing it. Developing it. And um I think something that we're looking at right now is a process for how to do that in the future. So rather than it being kind of incumbent on the um planning commission and the council to make that judgment call, they're looking for ways to use data, um, population data and the like to figure out when and how and where the urban services boundaries should be expanded in the future. So I think that's a good conversation.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Definitely.

Phoenix Park And Tree Canopy Wins

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Um, and I think really valuable. Um, for me, you know, I represent um, I guess, the most dense district in Lexington. And um I'm an urbanist. I think, you know, having solid and multifaceted public transportation that works well, um, having the ability to uh walk and bike, and if you want to drive in a connected kind of urban environment is really important. Um I think you probably saw some of my statements at that time um talking about my quota chance. Oh, thank you. Um with the urban services boundary. And my thought was that, you know, just like the simple rule of supply and demand, I don't know if that's going to meet the need that we have, but we need to make sure that we're getting as creative as possible in the space that does exist within our city so that we can have um infrastructure that's supported where our city already exists. And we're filling in some of those gaps, you know, with housing, with commerce, with some of the infrastructure that we need to make Lexington the best place it can be. So I also grew up in a rural area in Mason County, Kentucky. And the way I feel about the environment is like, you know, once it's gone, it's gone. Totally. Right. So we need to be really, really, really thoughtful about how and strategic exactly about how and when and where we do that expansion. And so I felt like this it wasn't the right thing. But I think that, you know, now that we are moving forward, we have the opportunity to think about how we build thoughtfully in this expansion spaces and um it create a process for how we move forward. And I love that it's database.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Like I love that it's heading, I mean, it it should be, it should be imperial, you know.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

That's right. Yeah. And so I think that whole conversation created like a good opportunity for us to think about the future differently. Um yeah. And I think that people comported themselves um really respectfully um during the whole expansion process. And that was a great example of like we can be in really different places on this issue, and we can say and share our perspective, and we can do that in a way that's mutually uh respectful.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Absolutely. Um, I mean, there's so many the public comments on that too were just um there's like every like all of these thoughts about either expanding or not expanding that I would never have thought. You know, everything from like wildlife, you know, and so it's it means all of these different important facets that I mean, it's it's just public comment again, it's just like so wildly important because it's like, oh, I didn't realize. I mean, at one point there was a woman that went up and said something like, um, you know, if if you if you do this, like it takes away, you know, this ecological system that we have, and you know, we have everything from bad. To bears on my property. And I remember being like, bears like in fake county. So it's like you're just learning like things left and right when you have the community really come together on and discuss like the different points of these issues. So that's right.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Yeah. And then it usually is multifaceted. Yeah. I think it's really easy, you know, with some issues for people to say it's this or that. But there's but there's a whole range of experiences on the in-between, or people who maybe have conflicted feelings or, you know, they're imagining what could be, and they're trying to think about where we are now and what the future would look like. You know, because that's what we're trying to do too. Like, how are we building the city that we want to be in, not in five years, but in 10 and 20 years, because these types of land use decisions, um, I mean, that's the kind of uh expanse of time that we're looking at. You know, we're we're looking at decades into the future.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Absolutely. And is that what the comprehensive plan is really supposed to do and be? And what is the comprehensive plan for anybody like myself that needs a refresher?

SPEAKER_02 45:03

The comprehensive plan is the the guiding land use document um for the future of Lexington. So, you know, we're thinking 20, 25 years into the future. Um, and um on the table it was the initiative that helped drive this comprehensive plan. So people were coming together talking about what they wanted in Lexington, and all that data um and all of their input was gathered all across Fayette County in order to inform the comprehensive plan. Now, they had a lot of other input sessions, but that was one of the major kind of uh factors in informing that comp plan. Um, so you know, that drive toward infill, um, protection of the environment, um, you know, uh areas of the plan around equity and access, um, those things were all community driven, you know, as well as, you know, shaped by our planning department and commission and council. So yeah, it's really a document that's formed by the people. And that's another thing. Like we have our downtown master plan right now, um, which is something that I helped push forward. And one of the reasons why it's so expensive is because we have a big allocation for public engagement and public input, like meeting people where they are, getting their input, understanding their perspective, getting that all down, helping to put that into a big comprehensive document. You know, that takes time, people, and money, but it's so essential because we don't want a situation where it's like, well, you plan about us without us, you know? And because that's not what we want. We want the people to help build their community. Um absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

So your the other council members, do you guys like go out and like hang out a lot together or you good friends?

SPEAKER_02 47:07

Or we don't hang out a lot. I mean, we spend a lot of time together.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

So you're like, I'm good. I mean, we I mean, you know, sometimes yeah, um you get close with counseling you kind of have to because you're together so much.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Yeah, you have people that you you have all different types of relationships with. Like sometimes you're really connected over certain issues, sometimes you're friends, you know, sometimes um you you you hang out together, I guess, outside of work. But um I I've thought about this a lot recently. Like, council's an interesting group of people, and you know, and it's been different. Um, you know, my first term was different, second, third term. So there are people who, you know, maybe I would never have gotten to work with otherwise. Yeah. Right. But it's like we're all kind of in this together and we're doing our best to represent our districts. And um, and so we have a unique understanding of each other and our workflow. And like you said, sometimes there are really long nights, you know? Or sometimes you're in meetings, you thought, oh, this will be quick, it's like three hours, you know. So I think that you have a lot of time and together, but also like empathy for other people and like what they're trying to balance with their districts, with their own values.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Um yeah, so and but everybody's up for re-election next year. Yeah. I feel like I heard you say that.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

So 2026 um means that yeah, everybody is on the ballot. So for the for those of us who are district council members, it's every two years, but for the mayor and at large, because it's every four years, it syncs up, you know, so that so 2026 is everything is synced. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Some councils have it, you know, they have it staggered, but we don't.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Okay. So are you gonna be starting up a new camp? Can you tell us?

SPEAKER_02 48:52

I mean, that's everybody is starting to announce it's like the time, but you know, you people don't file until January.

SPEAKER_03 48:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

Um, so this is the other two that's part of the process. In order to get your name on the ballot, you have to do what we call passing the petition. And so you have a petition signature sheet. And um, if you're running for state office, you only have to get a couple of signatures, but if you're running for local office, you have to get um a hundred plus.

SPEAKER_03 49:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

So you have to go door to door and connect with people and um and you know that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Yeah. I put yourself out there. I figured you just like leave yours at like mirror twin or something like that. No, no, no. You go door to door. Go door to door. Well, what's that like though? I mean, you just show up and knock, and they're like, I and are most people pretty much.

Making Public Input Easier

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Yeah, I mean, yeah, most people are pretty nice. Okay. When you first run for office, you're an unknown and they're like, Well, who are you? And like, why are you selling? Yeah. Yeah, why do you want to do this? Yeah. Um, but it's a good way to check in with people. You get to talk to them about what's on their mind and answer questions. And it's like when you go to neighborhood association meetings, like you have a different kind of rapport because you're around the table chatting. So there are people who maybe wouldn't have like emailed or called, but they have questions and you get to answer them. So I think about that kind of door knocking as in a similar space. Like you're coming to them.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

So how long do you give yourself to go door knocking?

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Like four hours a night, and then how many Well, it depends on it what time of year it is because sometimes usually you do like two or three hours at a time. Okay. Yeah. Um but you don't want to get into like, you know, dinner time, bedtime. Right. So you just have to be thoughtful about people and the flow of their day. Uh, people don't like it when you knock during a UK game either. Oh, I'm sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:53

It's like not a good time to go.

SPEAKER_02 50:55

Yeah, like they're like, oh number one, why aren't you watching the UK game?

SPEAKER_00 50:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I'm not voting for you. Yeah. Are you not a fan? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

Or like, why did you interrupt my, you know, my viewing?

SPEAKER_00 51:08

So So one other thing that I wanted to ask you too, though, is um you'd mentioned balance. What does that look like for you? I mean, well, first of all, and you told me the other day that it's that being on council is a part-time position. It is. Yeah, so it's like a part-time job, essentially. You're paid part-time. You're paid part-time. Yeah. But really, you're not working part time.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

I mean, you're yeah, especially depending on your district or like for me, I'm on nine different boards. So um, in addition to all of our standing meetings, I serve on downtown Lexan Management District Board, Arboretum Board, Tree Board, Land Trust Board. Um, so I have all of these additional service aspects that I do. And then sometimes you get, you know, um additional work or you're working on projects with those boards. So um in my first term, I worked another full-time job in addition to council. And now I do like freelance work. Um, and I've done some teaching while in while being on council. So my balance is a lot more managed now. That's good. Um, so I think that it's important that you do things that make you you outside of your work. That goes through a new job, I think.

SPEAKER_03 52:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 52:21

But um you do things where, you know, for me, I like to exercise.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

What does Hannah Legree look like outside of my life?

SPEAKER_02 52:29

I love to walk my dogs. Okay. I like reading. Um, I've had some moments where I've gotten very involved with pickleball. You know, I hear that. Good third space in the community.

SPEAKER_00 52:40

It's a very important thing, the third space.

SPEAKER_02 52:42

Yeah. Um, so I try to be active. I love being outside. And then um, you know, spending time with with my friends and family. And I like having some friends who are like don't know much about, you know, they're not interested in my work. Yeah. Right. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Yeah. That has to be like a decompression. Different conversations. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Um, and so I just think, you know, having other activities that you do, it's important.

SPEAKER_00 53:09

Yeah. And you're right here next to the warehouse block, which is really good.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

I can come over. Yeah. I can have a beer at your twin or um slice of pizza or two different types of barbecue.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

I know. There's two. No.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

Yeah. Wild. Yeah. Yeah. I've, you know, I used to live next to Billy's barbecue. Then I moved over here and have had two different barbecue places. So I'm, you know, no matter where I move, I've there's got to be a barbecue.

SPEAKER_00 53:35

I think they're following you. Yeah, they're like, where's hands going? She's walking her dog.

SPEAKER_02 53:39

Yeah, she needs to smell that barbecue smoke.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

She's not a sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

She's hungry. She's sitting in chambers, you know, performing the trees. Okay, that's the one thing. Like, you I I'm not great at this, but if you're gonna be uh good on counsel, you need to be packing lunches or something. Because sometimes you don't know like how long you're gonna be there. Yeah. And we we have we have some snacks, but yeah, you know, there's only so many like uh Cheetos or whatever you can eat. It's not good for you.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

No, no, no, no. So you're gonna be packing like a little mini charcuterie, something to sustain it.

SPEAKER_03 54:13

Yeah, right. Fancier totally, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just a sandwich, peanut butter and jelly, whatever. Whatever it takes. Yeah, be prepared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me. Oh, thank you. It's fun. Yeah, I learned a lot. And yeah, who knows? Maybe one day somebody I know will run for counsel, definitely not me.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

Well, I just think asking that question, have you ever thought about running for office? Yeah. Is like I said, it's a really powerful question.

SPEAKER_03 54:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

And so I think as people are getting more involved in politics at every level, just kind of, you know, again, tuning into the potential in other people and asking that question. Because even if someone maybe they run for office, or maybe it causes them to get more involved, or maybe they volunteer on a campaign. And all of that is like so, so important to our democracy and and just to the health of our the civic health of our communities.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

Completely agree. Well, thanks again.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Thank you. Appreciate it.