By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
For the most part, Monday’s Covington mayoral debate was respectful, but the two presumptive frontrunners managed to get in a few jabs.
With just a week until the primary election that will narrow the field from four candidates to two, Mayor Sherry Carran and former state legislator Joe Meyer, seemed to already be preparing to face off in the November general election.
Political novices Alfonse Mele II and Matthew Winkler face an uphill battle in their efforts to advance past the primary.
Carran was elected Mayor in 2013 and served six years on the city commission prior to that. Meyer served a total of 14 years in the Kentucky House and the Senate and was also secretary of the state’s Education and Workforce Cabinet.
Mele, a wine consultant is making his first foray into politics, as is Winkler, a pizza delivery driver and Marine veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan.
Panelists for the forum included Bennie Doggett an Eastside activists and community leader, former Covington resident and School Board elected official Col Owens and Michael Plummer, also a former Covington resident and Covington business owner.
Owens and Plummer are members of Madison Avenue Christian Church, which hosted the debate.
Judy Clabes, publisher and editor of the Northern Kentucky Tribune and KY Forward, was the debate moderator.
About 100 people attended the forum.
Topics ranged from discussion on how the candidates would deal with the region’s ongoing heroin epidemic, to plans to address some of the city’s declining neighborhoods.
Meyer said the region’s heroin problem is far larger than the city has the capability to deal with and he does not support a needle exchange program administered in Covington’s neighborhoods.
“Covington’s response has to be driven by collaboration with the other police departments and the other communities in Northern Kentucky to address this problem,” Meyer said.
The Covington City Commission voted in March to approve a needle exchange program in the city. Carran voted with the majority, but the measure requires approval from three other municipalities in Northern Kentucky.
Currently, only Williamston in Grant County has an active needle exchange program administered by the Northern Kentucky Health Department.
“Covington needs to be a part of the solution, but it can’t just be Covington,” Carran said.
The candidates were also asked how they would address the city’s homeless and low income populations and the consistently low performance ratings by Covington’s public schools.
Meyer said he would establish a mayor’s office of early childhood education to help prepare children to enter the school system.
“You can’t have a great city unless you have great schools,” Meyer said. “For the last 40 years, city of Covington has pretty much chosen to step back and point a finger at the school district.”
Carran took exception to that comment, saying the city has worked with the schools during her administration.
“We have an excellent relationship with the school system,” Carran said. “We provide money for summer school programs.”
Carran saved the strongest criticism of Meyer for her summation, suggesting that if he were elected it would halt the city’s progress.
“We’ve come so far in recent years and I have a very strong worry that we are going to go back to old politics,” Carran said. “I’ve worked hard to keep politics out of city decisions. My worry is that old politics are going to go back and will be (a) self-serving interests that rules the city.”
Meyer’s summation followed Carran’s but he chose not to directly address her comments, instead focusing on the concerns that he has heard from the city’s residents.
“I’m running for mayor because I know how government works and how it should work,” Meyer said. “The failure to address basic important issues, like council policies, like poverty, like our schools, is a source of frustration. People are upset.”
While the other candidates used the full time allotted to respond to question, Mele responded with short answers and at one point was encouraged to elaborate on his responses.
He emphasized revitalization of the Covington riverfront and wants to increase access for kayaks in the city’s river system.
“As mayor, I will use all of my powers of persuasion to make the Licking River and the Ohio Riverfront (a) pipeline,” Mele said. “The river is Covington’s untapped gold mine.”
Winkler, 27, said Covington residents need to work together to improve the city.
“The only way that we are going to move forward is to work together, collaborating,” Winkler said. “Everybody bring their opinions and ideas to the table, figure out what’s best and move forward one step at a time. It has to be a group collaboration from every neighborhood from MainStrasse all the way to South Covington.”
The non-partisan Covington Mayoral primary takes place Tuesday, May 17.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com