By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
Could it be time for recreation again?
If Ben Oldiges has his way, it will be.
Oldiges, the city’s Parks and Recreation Manager, is ready for the biggest season since before COVID-19 — and the department’s latest program guide (minus some final edits) will be ready to go out to the public soon he told the City Commissioners.
“A little bit of background — in 2020 and 2021 as you all know, COVID-19 ravaged the world of Parks and Recreation as it did with many other industries across the country,” Oldiges reported. “Covington attempted to keep recreational programming alive.”
He said they utilized outdoor festivals and drop-off programs. In 2021, they reopened their aquatics programs. They also tested two one-off programs:
• Urban Hike Series — urban hikes through the city of Covington
• Pickleball program — like full-size ping-pong, played outside
“We wanted accessibility — we wanted to provide recreational programming directly to the urban core that were walkable events,” he said. “And we wanted affordability.”
Oldiges said 99 percent of the programming they plan to offer is completely free. And they wanted to focus on diversity — “We wanted every neighborhood to have a piece of the recreational program,” he said. “We wanted to cover every age. We want to be innovative and come up with new ideas.”
Some of those new ideas include:
• Earth Day — teaches life skills topics like the importance of recycling and green space
• Covington Jack o’ Lantern Walk — illuminating the Licking River Trail with pumpkins
• Youth Soccer Program — for ages 5-7 (with a partnership with FC Cincinnati)
• Covington Basketball Club — combination of skills and drills, with structured games, as well as games of H.O.R.S.E. and P.I.G.
• Northern Kentucky Senior Games
• Senior Swim
• Men’s softball
Oldiges said they want to continue to increase their programming in the future.
“While this program guide is not as robust as we wanted it, it is the most robust that we’ve done in the last several years,” he said. “And we want this to kind of springboard us into 2023 and into the future.”
Police cars and amendment
Commissioners approved a budget amendment to transfer $500,000 and purchase 10 police cars for the city.
Two weeks ago, Chief Robert Nader explained that five out of the last 10 years, the department had purchased no cars, and that he’d “been able to band-aid it together” by buying older vehicles from other area departments and only running half the normal time.
In January, Commissioner Ron Washington asked the City Manager if he could come up with a plan to purchase 10 new fully equipped police cars for the fleet.
Façade improvements
• Commissioners approved a forgivable façade agreement for Mark Kohlhas for $1,834 at 17 W. Pike St.
• Commissioners approved a forgivable façade agreement for BrandFuel Co. for $3,667.57 at 17 and 15 W. Pike St.
• Commissioners approved a forgivable façade agreement for Jodie and Jeffrey Ganote for $3,943 at 604 W. 12th St.
Incentives
Commissioners authorized the Mayor to execute an agreement with BrandFuel Company LLC to facilitate the payment of a $6,000 commercial rent incentive for the property located at 15-17 W. Pike St.
Hirings
Commissioners approved hirings for:
• J. Kyle Snyder — Executive Director of the Covington Motor Vehicle Parking Authority
• Sarah Allan — Assistant Director, Economic Development Department
• Steven Willis — police officer
• Jeffrey Tolliver — police officer
• Michael Martinez — police officer
• Kennedy Sizemore — police officer
• Ryan Wielgus — police officer
Resignations
Commissioners approved resignations for:
• Meganne Robinson — Grant writer
• Misty Haas — Business analyst
Reappointment
Commissioners approved a reappointment for:
• Sean Pharr — Kenton Co. Municipal Planning and Zoning Commission
ARPA for senior shuttles?
Commissioner Tim Downing asked if the city staff could look into the possibility of leveraging ARPA funds to help subsidize shuttles for senior living facilities.
“To help with travel for some of our more elderly residents,” he said. “I know that used to be something that happened in the past but that has since gone by the wayside, and it would be nice if it’s possible within the scope of ARPA for us to find a way to help reinvigorate that — even if it’s only for a short time.”
City accepts award
On Friday, the city received the City Government of the Year award from the Kentucky League of Cities.
“It was a very pleasant event,” Mayor Meyer said. “This is a recognition that was based primarily on the city’s economic development performance during the previous year, which was outstanding, but this also is an external validation of the high quality of work that’s being done by our city staff and by our city government.”
Meyer went on.
“I make a point of talking about how our city government is in fact a lot more than just those of us who work here in the various buildings and that are on the payrolls,” he said. “But it includes dozens of people who serve on our various boards and commissions because they also have participated significantly to make Covington the type of city government and the type of city that we wanted to be. So, I would like to again express the appreciation of the full Commission for all the great work that’s being done by the people who are working for us and by the citizens who in this very challenging political time raised their hands and volunteer to do work to try to make this a better city.”
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., March 1, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meetings can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, the TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline, and the TBNK Roku channels.