Tagged: Louisville Metro Council

The Louisville Metro Council’s Public Safety Committee will discuss a proposed ordinance this week that would take out guns in the city’s definition of deadly weapons.

The ordinance seeks to change Metro Government's safety codes to include such things as knives, nightsticks, ninja star, nunchuck karate sticks and brass knuckles as violent weapons, but not firearms.

Louisville Metro Council President Jim King, D-10, announced Thursday the chairs and vice chairs of the council's committees for 2013.

Along with the standing committees and two ad hoc panels created last year, King says a new Intergovernmental Committee will be formed. 

Councilman David Yates, D-25, suggested the creation of the new panel, which will work to strengthen the council's relationship and ties with state lawmakers in Frankfort and federal leaders Washington D.C.

"This  will work to build a relationship with our Jefferson County legislative delegation and make recommendations for change to our state governance statutes under (state) law that created merged government," King said in a news release. "I anticipate this committee will also work with the mayor’s office to review other statutes that affect Metro Louisville, such as local option taxes and federal issues as well."

The committee leaders are as follows:

The Louisville Metro Council has the most female members since 2007 with the addition of two new members: Democrat Cindi Fowler and Republican Marilyn Parker.

The freshman lawmakers were sworn-in this week and both hope to add new perspectives for their districts and respective political caucuses.

Fowler and Parker come into council with very different backgrounds.

Fowler is a former legislative aide and replaces her old boss, Bob Henderson, who retired. She is a graduate of Emerge Kentucky, which helps train Democratic women to run for office and won a seat that the GOP had hoped to pick up last fall.

Asked about the biggest difference between her and Henderson, Fowler says her predecessor served his constituents well, but didn't always have an open ear.

"I would say probably I would listen a lot more," she says.

In a unanimous vote, Louisville Metro Councilman Jim King has been re-elected to a third consecutive term as council president.

The council held its organizational meeting Monday, and elected King to the one-year term. He has been council president since 2011, and also served in the position in 2008.

No other member has been council president as long or as often

Among the accomplishments that King's supporters point to is his leadership in helping the council close a $20 million budget shortfall and overriding a mayoral veto for the first time in council history.

King says the body faces a number of challenges in 2013, and lawmakers need to be united in order to accomplish their goals and remain relevant in city government.

"And don’t we want our council to be respected and seen as relevant? I know one thing. We can’t be relevant if we are divided or if we are seen as parochial. I happen to know that we are much more relevant when we function in a unified way," he says.