City to Honor Ukraine in Special Ceremony Wednesday
Commission will vote on 2:30 a.m. liquor fees next week
By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
Sometimes, things are bigger than a town, or a city.
Some issues are important to the world — and Covington is asking its citizens to come out and show their support, too.
At the end of the city Commission’s regular scheduled caucus meeting Tuesday, Mayor Joseph U. Meyer made sure to publicize the special event.
At 3:30 p.m., Wednesday (today) at Sixth and Main Streets in MainStrasse Village, the city will hold a ceremony “to raise the first of a dozen Ukrainian flags it intends to hang in a one-block area of MainStrasse Village to show symbolic support for the beleaguered country of Ukraine during its time of crisis,” a city release said.
Speakers will include Meyer, as well as City Commissioner Shannon Smith, who has ties to Ukraine, the release said.
Less than a month ago, Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine, a European democracy of 44 million people. Nearly three million Ukrainians have been forced to flee the country, while almost 600 civilians have reportedly been killed.
“We’re going to hold a little ceremony and a brief program to show our support for the people in Ukraine who are defending freedom and giving their lives for the right to select their own government,” Mayor Meyer said. “So, we invite you all to be there with us when we do that.”
Parks and Rec Master Plan
After presenting a Master Plan over the course of the last month, Parks and Recreation Manager Ben Oldiges delivered an updated version Tuesday night, and he will seek approval or adoption of the plan next week.
The Mayor said there were a few other items the Commission would need to see.
“We would like to have a drop-dead date where — after 10 years or five years, whatever, the appropriate timeframe, the Master Plan is no longer enforced,” Meyer said. “Secondly, we talked about how this is as much of a wish list as it is a Master Plan document, and so the next step after this is adopted — it’ll be up to you all to give us a specific implementation plan based on the resources that we have through ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) and the city for the next three or four years.”
Oldiges agreed, and said he looked forward to doing just that in the coming weeks.
The Master Plan will be on the consent agenda next week.
Presentation requests
During the meeting, several presentation requests were made for next week, including:
• WSP USA Inc., to discuss the ongoing Madison Avenue Streetscape Project
• WSP USA Inc., to discuss the Seventh Street Streetscape Project
• A flooding presentation by VS Engineering, which will detail the process and findings of the historical flooding report. “To bring you up to date on what they’ve done so far in research and reaching out to the citizens of Covington,” said Chris Warneford, Public Works Director.
“They’ll review the historic flooding documents and tell us about all they’ve found and then their plans for next steps.”
2:30 a.m. liquor fee
Next week, commissioners will hear the second reading of an ordinance that would lower the 2:30 a.m. liquor license fee from $5,000 to $3,000.
City staff are also using the opportunity to revise the ordinance to align the annual permit term with the ABC license renewal schedule, which is Dec. 1 to Nov. 30.
In February, Commissioner Ron Washington suggested lowering the 2:30 a.m. liquor license fee to help those with businesses that have been hurt because of COVID.
The ordinance will have a vote after that second reading.
New hires
Commissioners heard proposed new hires for:
• Erin Callery, administrative assistant to the Commission and Mayor
• Heather Justice, Section 8 Service Representative
Both will be on next week’s consent agenda.
Resignations
Commissioners heard proposed resignations for:
• Trisha Block, Risk Manager
• Scott Owen, Code Enforcement Inspector
Both will also be on next week’s consent agenda.
Williams absent
Commissioner Michelle Williams was absent Tuesday night.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., March 22, 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.