Tagged: Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer

State and local officials, including Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, came together in Frankfort today to press for action to address rising pension costs. It’s a problem they described as fast approaching unsolvable.

David Draine, a senior researcher with the Pew Center on the States, made his case for adopting some or all of the recommendations made by a state pension task force.

"Without real reform, rising pension costs are going to threaten key public investments and things like education, public safety and infrastructure," Draine said.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced Monday he will deliver this year’s State of the City address at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage in the Russell neighborhood.

The speech is scheduled for January 24 and is traditionally delivered before the Rotary Club in downtown. According to the mayor's office, Fischer wants to move the address to different parts of the city each year and the Rotary accepted the suggestion to move it to west Louisville.

"The annual speech is about the state of the entire city, so it’s only natural that it’s delivered in different areas of our great city," Fischer said in a news release.

The mayor also asked the group to open the event up to the public.

Mayor Greg Fischer is halfway through his first term in office, and he is marking the mid-term by highlighting job creation and making Louisville a more compassionate city.

Despite his optimism and business acumen, much of Fischer’s tenure has been gobbled up dealing with "cleaning house" at different departments, auditing city services and steep budget deficits.

Then there is the surge in homicides, which increased by 28 percent in 2012.

The mayor's task force issued a report that says there’s a need for violence prevention director and other serious intervention from Metro Government on a number of fronts. But some Metro Council members have question if that's the best use of city resources and many residents are taking a "wait and see" approach.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer says the city is working to correct problems with using inmates from Dismas Charities’ halfway houses.

Earlier this month, an internal audit showed there was no written contract for using ex-convicts for volunteer in various city departments. The report said the lack of a signed agreement puts the city at risk, and also found that inmates were not consistently signing in at their work assignments and aren't being properly monitored by supervisors.

Fischer says the partnership with Dismas is a worthy cause that helps rehabilitate inmates, and a corrective action plan is in the works.

"Remember, these folks are in halfway houses and they’re re-integrating into society as well. So that’s part of the issue. But from my perspective what we need is a uniform policy from the city and that’s what you’ll be seeing," he says.