Mayor Greg Fischer announced today that he’s appointed Dwayne Clark as the new Director of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections (LMDC).

Clark replaces Mark Bolton, who announced his retirement in May, after serving as jail director since 2008.

Clark previously served as Bolton’s chief of staff from 2009 through February 2019, when he retired. He had joined the LMDC in July 2004 as Deputy Director, after moving here from Illinois, where he worked for the state Department of Corrections for nearly 25 years.

In the 1970s, he studied Criminal Justice at A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois.

“I am pleased that Dwayne has agreed to take on this critical job,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “Like his predecessor, Dwayne has proven himself over the years to be more than capable of dealing with a challenging population in a professional and compassionate manner. And I believe he will continue our efforts at offering jail inmates more opportunity when they leave than when they come in.”

Clark said he is honored by the appointment and the opportunity to lead the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections.

“I am looking forward to working with the LMDC staff and senior leadership team to continue their good work and commitment to sound, compassionate correctional care,” he said. “I am pleased to return to Louisville Metro Government, working with Mayor Fischer and his staff and serving the Louisville Metro community.”

As LMDC Chief of Staff, Clark was responsible for jail operations and security, and served as director when Bolton was away. Clark also worked with Bolton and the rest of his senior leadership team to earn accreditations from the American Corrections Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

He begins his new role on Aug. 1, 2019.

 For the tenth year in a row, the Shawnee Ministries and Community Collaborative is bringing a community celebration to the Shawnee neighborhood!

“The Shawnee CommUNITY Celebration is for the whole family,” says Councilwoman Donna Purvis (D-5). “It is a great way to start Father’s Day weekend off on Saturday, June 15 by celebrating with family and friends at this fun-packed afternoon event.”

From 1:00pm-4:00pm you can enjoy a car show featuring the 502 Corvette Club and the Derby City Truckers, free grilled hot dogs provided by the American Legion, music and entertainment from Louisville’s own band, The Connection, as well as other local musical and spoken word artists. 

There will also be kids’ games, health screenings including mammograms, health and information booths, a yard sale, and lots of door prizes! The car show and other activities will be at French Plaza, located at the corner of West Market Street and Amy Avenue in the Shawnee neighborhood.

Louisville Metro Government’s work to replace and improve the city’s work order system, business portal and 311 reporting system is nearing completion and will launch on June 19. 

The new systems from Accela will: 

• Greatly improve the efficiency of the city’s work order system used by multiple agencies, including Construction Review, Codes & Regulations, Planning & Design, Air Pollution Control, Public Works and Metro Parks.
• Improve how business customers submit and track progress on permits, licenses and applications.
• Improve how citizens report and track issues to Metro 311 online and use a new mobile app, such as property maintenance cases, reporting potholes and traffic light issues.
• And allow Louisville Metro to more easily bring new services online in the future.

Before the launch, outages for all systems are planned on the following schedule: 

Louisville Metro Business Portal
Our current business portal will be offline from Thursday, June 13 at 5 p.m. until Tuesday, June 18 at 8 p.m.  During the outage period you can reach these Metro departments the following ways:

Construction Review: (502) 574-3321
Codes & Regulations: (502) 574-2508 (Rental Registry accounts)
Public Works (Right of Way): (502) 574-3121
Planning & Design Services: (502) 574-6230
Special Events: (502) 572-3467

Note: Users with existing business accounts can expect to receive log on information late Tuesday evening, June 18.

Metro311 Service Request Portal
The current Metro311 portal and the Metro311 mobile app will be offline from 7 p.m. tonight until Tuesday, June 18 at 8 p.m. After June 18, there will be a new mobile app for reporting issues to 311.  The link to download the app will be available on the Metro311 website.  During the outage period you can reach Metro311 at:

• Call: Just dial 311
• Email: metro.311@louisvilleky.gov
• Chat: Look for the chat link in the lower right corner on every page of this site.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is this Saturday, June 15, 2019. This annual day of awareness calls attention to a growing population of elderly people and some of the abuses they face. As longevity increases, abuse of the elderly is an increasing and serious problem that affects health and human rights and can cause death, so it is vital to raise awareness to prevent it whenever and wherever possible.

Older people are often dependent on the care of their relatives who might be unable to cope with the challenges that often come with caring for an older adult. Many times, the older adult is seriously ill and not able to defend themselves. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day aims to encourage the public’s awareness so more people can identify and report elder abuse. 

Elder abuse can take different forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Knowing a few simple signs can help community members identify potential abuse. Possible signs of elder abuse include:

• Physical abuse: Frequent injuries; multiple bruises in various stages of healing; individual appears frightened.
• Sexual abuse: Fearful of a particular person; upset when changed or bathed; irritation or injuries of the mouth, genitals or anus.
• Neglect: Obvious malnutrition, dehydration; dirty and offensive body odor; lack of glasses, dentures or hearing aid.
• Financial exploitation: Unusual activity in bank account; lack of food, clothing and personal supplies; missing personal belongings such as jewelry, TV, art.

Age-Friendly Louisville, through their Social Participation, Respect and Inclusion Workgroup has been working to raise awareness of elder abuse in Louisville. Specifically, this group seeks to improve community cohesion to guard against elder abuse by identifying and improving elder abuse trainings. This effort is being done in coordination with a wide variety of stakeholder and social service agencies.

“It can be hard to imagine that anyone would deliberately want to harm an elderly person, but unfortunately, elder abuse does occur” says Chris Clements, Louisville Metro’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) coordinator and facilitator for Age Friendly Louisville. “Some instances of elder abuse are intended to exploit the person, such as scams, and in other cases, neglect can be unintentional, as when sometimes an older adult’s caretaker does not provide them with basic necessities.” says Clements. “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is an opportunity to educate each other on the signs of elder abuse so that we can all be advocates against potential harm to older adults,” he says.

Join Age-Friendly Louisville this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day by doing the following:

• Wear a purple solidarity ribbon
• Learn about the types and signs of elder abuse
• Submit an editorial to discuss elder abuse to radio station, television show or newspaper.
• Host a training or have a community gathering to focus and discuss the issue.
• Establish or join a local group or network that is addressing elder abuse, such as the Age-Friendly Social Participation, Respect and Inclusion Workgroup.

The Age-Friendly Louisville Social Participation, Respect and Inclusion Workgroup, supported and facilitated by staff with Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Services, meets on the second Tuesday every month from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Thrive Center, 204 E. Market Street. To learn more about elder abuse and other Age-Friendly Louisville initiatives please visit www.agefriendlylou.com or by contacting Natalie Pope at (502) 852-7733 or Natalie.pope@louisville.edu  

Mayor Greg Fischer, Police Chief Steve Conrad and Louisville Metro Government Chief Equity Officer Kellie Watson today launched the Synergy Project, a community engagement initiative aimed at further strengthening police and community relationships grounded in trust and legitimacy.

By bringing together people from all parts of the community – residents, academia, business, youth, faith-based organizations, law enforcement, and political leaders – this project creates an opportunity for police and community to work together in a safe, open, and respectful environment to identify root causes of distrust and find actionable solutions to move the city forward.

“Like communities across the nation, Louisville has challenges when it comes to police and community relations. We need to address that, and we believe that real, honest conversation is a good place to start,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “I’m excited about the prospect of sessions planned throughout our community to really delve into complex issues and find solutions.”

The Synergy Project will explore the tensions that exist between the significant societal values of public safety and individual rights and determine how to create and maintain a balance between the two. Synergy will explore these tensions in order to mobilize actions for city-wide systemic change so every person in every part of the community can thrive.

The Synergy Project is modeled after The Illumination Project, an initiative undertaken in Charleston, S.C. after the 2015 hate crimes at Emanuel AME Church. During a year-long process, dozens of facilitated community conversations were held to discuss tensions between police and residents. At the end of the year, a strategic plan was unveiled, which continues to be revised and implemented today.

Each step of the process seeks to build greater understanding and agreement. Watson said that while the conversations may be challenging, the effort has the potential to forever change police-community relations in our community.

On Thursday, Mayor Fischer and Chiefs Conrad and Watson introduced the community members who have volunteered to serve on a Steering Group for the project.

“I’m grateful to the many officers and community members who have agreed to help guide and develop this process,” said Chief Conrad. “We need everyone in the community engaged to make our city safer, and we can’t do that unless we build better trust. This process is to help us do that.”

Chandra Irvin, Executive Director for the Center for Peace and Spiritual Renewal at Spalding University, participated in the development of the Charleston project and is lending her expertise to the project here in Louisville.

“This work is about what we do and what we achieve, about who we are and who we are becoming,” said Irvin. “Based on my work in Charleston and my belief in the people of Louisville, I believe we can achieve a shared greater purpose of building trust between police and residents. This effort is going to take the investment of the entire community.”

The Synergy Project is being initiated as part of Mayor Fischer’s Lean Into Louisville initiative.

“The goal of Lean Into Louisville is to have a more equitable city; a more unified and compassionate city where everyone can thrive,” said Chief Watson. “This is the beginning, by having difficult but honest conversations on issues that impact our entire city, such as police and community relations.”

Costs for both Synergy and Lean Into Louisville are being covered through generous donations from The Papa John’s Foundation for Building Community, the Humana Foundation, the Gheens Foundation and other donors, as well as through in-kind donations from Spalding University and other Metro Government agencies.

“I’m impressed with the city leadership’s commitment to creating programs that promote equality, fairness, respect and opportunity for all. These values are consistent with the mission of The Papa John’s Foundation,” President and CEO of Papa John’s International, Inc. Steve Ritchie said. “Working together to heal and move forward takes courage, which is why we are proud to support The Synergy Project.”

A fun – and free – family event will take place on the banks of the Ohio River in southwest Louisville on Saturday, June 15th as Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing hosts “Family Farm and Forage Day” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event will explore historic and present-day farming with a variety of activities, workshops, talks and booths for children and adults.

Families can enjoy a milking demonstration featuring “Bluegrass Bessie” the cow; a petting zoo; farm-to-table cooking demonstrations at the Thorobred Mobile Kitchen; outdoor play activities at Jefferson Memorial Forest’s ECHO Mobile; 4-H Fair Exhibits; 4-H Goat Show; a Kentucky Proud recipe tasting; horse-drawn wagon rides; barrel train rides; and music from the bluegrass band “Hog Operation” at the pavilion from noon to 2 p.m.; as well as tours of the 1837 Farnsley-Moremen house.

All events and demonstrations are free, although donations to tour the historic house are appreciated.

Featured topics for demonstrations and talks include: hay cutting and forage crop demonstrations, growing grapes for wine making (10:30 am – 11:30), rainfall simulator, beneficial insects, invasive species, forest mushrooms and urban water issues.

“Please come out for a fun-filled day to learn and experience farm life at the Farnsley Moremen Historic Home this weekend,” said Councilwoman Cindi Fowler, who represents District 14, where Riverside is located. “This is a great opportunity for folks from across the region to bring their children and grandchildren to see and pet farm animals, ride the grounds on a horse-drawn carriage and participate in a fun scavenger hunt! Of course, there will be tours of the historic home. I hope to see you there!”

This event is held in partnership with the Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service and the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Kentucky State University, 4-H, Future Famer’s of America, Jefferson County Farm Bureau. In addition to Councilwoman Fowler, Metro Council sponsors include David Yates, D-25; Mark Fox, D-13 and Rick Blackwell, D-12.

Food Vendors at the event will be: LaRue County Pork Producers and Ehrler’s Ice Cream.

Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell released his annual publication of delinquent child support obligors on Monday, June 10.

“Louisville, we need your help to find these individuals who are not meeting their obligation to their kids,” O’Connell said. “Please call, visit or email my office if you know the address or the employer of someone on this year’s delinquent child support list.” 

This year’s list of 4,272 names can be found online at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/county-attorney/2019-delinquent-child-support-list. A shorter list of 638 names appeared in a printed insert in the June 9 edition of The Courier Journal. This year’s list shows more than $96 million in total arrearages owed.

“These amounts often build up over years and my staff works tirelessly to connect kids with the child support dollars that are rightfully theirs,” O’Connell said. “The information you share with us could be vital to a child in need.”

Child support collection offers a strong return on investment of public dollars. For every $1 spent nationally, federal child support programs collect $5.33. That figure rises to $6.32 for every $1 spent in Kentucky.

Anyone with information that could help locate someone on the list should call the Jefferson County Attorney’s child support tip line at (502) 574-0821, go online to www.louisvilleky.gov/countyattorney or visit the office’s Child Support Division at 315 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.