By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
Six times, as a woman in this area, is “concerning,” said Commissioner Shannon Smith.
So, she asked city Police Chief Brian Valenti to give an update, to possibly help identify and apprehend the male suspect that has allegedly been groping women in the MainStrasse area since last August.
“I’ve received a lot of (messages from) folks concerned that it’s happening and that nothing’s been done, and my fear is that there’s some misinformation floating about,” Smith said near the end of the Commission’s regularly scheduled caucus meeting this week.
“I’d also like — if the board is okay — for us to have the Chief come up,” she continued. “I realize that there’s an active investigation — there’s not a whole lot that you can say, but anything that you can share with the public at this time about what’s being done, or any best practices or advice or anything like that, that you have to kind of alleviate some of the concern.
Valenti said the individual appeared in August, then reappeared in January.
“Then kind of disappeared for a while,” Valenti said. “He disappears for months of time, and it creates kind of an investigative issue for us … we don’t have anything like identifiable pictures.”
And while on social media it may seem like there are dozens of reports, the police have received just six.
“We have talked to those victims, and not one of those victims have been able to positively identify the person who we believe it is,” Valenti said. “So, we’re kind of stuck in this weird pattern — we think we might know who it is, but we can’t prove it.”
The old adage appears to work in this case too: If you see something, say something. “Please call us, because the more information that we get about this, the better off we are,” Valenti said.
“My question to you would be, ‘Is there anything that these women should be looking out for? Is there a common sort of approach?’” Smith said. “Because my goal is to help folks feel safer, and then, if there’s something that you’re looking for — is there some sort of corroborating evidence that you need?”
“I will tell you this, he generally tries to strike up a conversation with somebody — he’s not just walking up to people, he’s trying to communicate with them in some way, shape or form,” Valenti said. “So, if you happen to be out and somebody comes up to you that you don’t know, walk away.”
Fourth Street Bridge Aesthetics Committee
Mayor Joseph U. Meyer had updates for the Commission after attending the latest Aesthetics Committee meeting for the Fourth Street Bridge project.
“The state has selected a contractor, it’s PCL, and that contractor has hired Miguel Rosales as the bridge architect,” Meyer said. “Mr. Rosales was able to present images of a dozen bridges that he had been engaged in that completely fell within the parameters of our expectations, so our hope for a really decent bridge is very high.”
The Mayor said it is the goal to announce the bridge type by the fall. He also noted some other updates:
• None of the land on the north side in Covington will be affected so the old
unemployment insurance building in that area will be untouched.
• The expansion will be purely to the South side, where the parking lot is.
• There will be separated pedestrian and bicycle lanes on both sides of the bridge,
including the possibility of the viewing area opportunity — a bump out on the north side of the bridge to enjoy more of the view across the river.
“For our bicycle friends and other advocates, I think we can tell them that this project is going on in full agreement with their wishes, given the public comments that we’ve had around this,” Meyer said.
Affordable Housing
“We all know that we have a very strong homeownership program,” Meyer said. “We also
know that homeownership is sort of a bedrock benefit to the community and questions of affordability are regularly a problem, so we’ve been leaders of the Home Consortium, which is a group of our river cities, and in the last couple of years we added both Erlanger and Florence.
“Last night the Independence City Council asked to join the consortium so we’ve added the three largest cities in Northern Kentucky after us, to the consortium so that we can attract extra money from the federal government into our region to use it to help people become home buyers.
“This is an example of the type of leadership that Covington can offer.”
Budget
Commissioners heard a proposed amendment to an ordinance for the city budget that would:
• Add $1.5 million to general fund transfer revenue and expense
• Add a new fund, Fund 13 — National Opioid Settlement, with revenue of $800,000
• Add $1.5 million to Self-Insured Employee Health Plan Fund revenue and expense.
The proposals will get a first reading at next week’s meeting.
Noise ordinances
Commissioners heard a proposed change to noise ordinances that will try to address noise problems in the city — especially in relation to bars.
This ordinance change will “empower the ABC administrator to get involved in regulating noise if it is coming from bars and to try to deal with those issues,” said City Solicitor David Davidson.
The proposals will get a first reading at next week’s meeting.
Demolitions
Commissioners heard four proposals for demolitions of vacant buildings:
• 1815 Jefferson Avenue
• 2718 Madison Avenue
• 4205 Decoursey Avenue
• 4309 Huntington Avenue.
Each were placed on next Tuesday’s consent agenda.
New hires
Commissioners heard the proposed hirings of:
• Peter Hager, Procurement Officer
• Maxwell Brinkley, Police Officer
• William Gonzales, Police Officer
• Wade Webster, Police Officer
• Luke Moser, Police Cadet
• Dallas Hedger, Laborer I, General Maintenance Division
The proposals were placed on next week’s consent agenda.
Resignations
Commissioners heard the proposed resignations of:
• Richard “Scott” Menefee, Police Officer VI
• Stephanie Patrick, Clerk Typist
• Benjamin Johnson, Firefighter/Paramedic IV
• Mark Antrobus, Solid Waste Coordinator
• Andrew Wilhoite, Director of Special Projects & Intergovernmental Affairs
The proposals were placed on next week’s consent agenda.
Retirement
Commissioners heard the proposed retirement of:
• Lisa Roaden, Urban Housing Specialist
The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.
Reappointment
Commissioners heard the proposed reappointment of:
• Jessica Spencer — Urban Forestry Board
The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.
Absent
Commissioner Nolan Nicaise was absent Tuesday night.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., June 13, 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.
