In her inaugural State of the City address Tuesday, which she tweaked to include the "State of the County," Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton zeroed in on opioids and economic development as targets for improvement.
"We're just getting started, but I've already discovered I really like being mayor," she began.
Just 17 days into her tenure, Gorton laid out an agenda that builds on many of the initiatives launched under her predecessor, Jim Gray, and put her own spin on one of the most stubborn problems facing Lexington.
"We have no time to waste on this. We have to address it now," she said, referring to the ongoing drug abuse epidemic that claimed 187 lives in the city in 2017.
Gorton’s plan involves a broad data-gathering operation, led by Andrea James with the mayor's office, which will culminate in what the new city leader calls a “comprehensive action plan.”
The mayor pointed to data showing Fayette is the second hardest hit county in the commonwealth when it comes to addiction and overdoses, trailing only Jefferson County. In the few weeks she’s held the office, Gorton said residents are already sharing their stories, including at a recent screening of "Beautiful Boy" at the Kentucky Theatre.
"Several people came up to me at the Kentucky to tell me about the specific people they had lost to an overdose," Gorton recounted. "People are desperate for help and hope."
That hope may come in the form of a multi-disciplinary group Gorton will task with developing the city's new action blueprint.
"Sometimes we leap into initiatives, leap into problems, without doing our homework before we get started. I think (with) her approach we're doing all the homework up front," 1st District Councilman James Brown said.
Despite a decrease in the number of opioid prescriptions, overdose deaths in Kentucky jumped more than 11 percent in 2017.
In her address, the mayor also warned of a “tight budget” this year, in part due to lingering uncertainty over pension costs for cities. But she highlighted several bright spots – including progress on a $10 million dollar fiber optic network feeding downtown and suburban areas, along with a dip in the crime rate. Gorton reported serious crimes, like murder and rape, dropped by 16 percent last year.
"While we can be happy that our overall numbers are declining, we know there's more work to do," she added. "Those who have been personally affected by violence in our city often look at a different set of numbers."
Gorton said work will continue on Town Branch Commons and Rupp Arena, while the council reboots discussions about a new city hall.
Debate about the latter went largely dormant last year, after the council failed to coalesce around a proposal to move city operations to a reinvented Herald-Leader building. Following that near-miss, the council opted to take a breather while a new administration moved into 200 East Main Street. But fresh talks are on the horizon.
"It's really just a discussion among council members and so I'll not be in the middle of that," Gorton told WUKY.
One council member who has been eager to reset the search for a new government center is the 4th District's Susan Lamb. She says 2019 is a chance to take a wider view.
"Each one of these individual conversations that we've had over 20 years... they have been just that, very individual conversations," she explains. "Now I think we take those and collectively use that information to make a better decision and I think we will be able to finally move forward."
Government operations are currently housed in the century-old Lafayette Hotel and four other buildings. All told, deferred maintenance is estimated at around $22 million.
The council restarts talks on February 7th.
