By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Park Hills councilmember Pam Spoor asked council for a motion to move $15,000 from the Capital Improvement Fund to pay for a retaining wall at their newly purchased building.
The request happened at a special meeting held this week instead of the city’s customary caucus meeting.
The council unanimously approved the expenditure.
Spoor explained that the new property which houses the police department, needs a retaining wall built in the back of the building.
“At the last meeting you discussed that . . .a structural engineer we advised (us) to build a retaining wall behind the new police department,” Spoor addressed Mayor Kathy Zembrodt. “The wall by the way, will be four feet tall by 40 feet in length, and it will run the whole back of the building.”
Mayor Zembrodt thought the amount of money was more than either of the two bids they received, but Spoor said she intentionally put in some ‘fluff’ of a few thousand dollars so that they can also purchase some evergreens to be able to green screen the property from its nearest neighbor, whose view of the property is a roof that has a lot of apparatus on it.
“We are required by our zoning ordinances, and frankly by just wanting to be a good neighbor, to greenscreen off our city building from the residences,” Spoor agreed with Zembrodt’s proposal of screening off the building.
Spoor said if they take the money out of the Capital Improvement fund, there will still be enough money in the fund in case the city would need something major, like a police cruiser.
In addition to the wall and the evergreens, Spoor proposed buying limestone gravel to put in the ten foot area between the back of the building and the retaining wall once it is built.
Public Works Director Dan VonHandorf had fixed some of the incipient water problems by re-plumbing the downspouts so that they now drain into the parking lot to empty into the storm drain instead of draining into the ground. With the wall and the gravel and re-directed downspouts, the city is confident the new city building is good to go. Adding evergreens to shield the building from the neighbors is the finishing touch.