By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
The need has been there for years, officials say. Now, the city commission is officially calling for a new Department of Criminal Justice police training facility for Northern Kentucky.
At their regularly scheduled caucus meeting this week, Commissioners called for a resolution that asked for “a new training facility in Northern Kentucky to aid in alleviating the time required to get newly hired police officers trained and in service to the communities throughout the Commonwealth.”
“The current training facility for Basic Training of new police recruits is located in Richmond and is the only option available to the majority of Kentucky police departments to train new recruit officers,” the resolution states. “The current wait time for agencies across Kentucky to get newly hired recruits into the required Basic Training program is approximately six months after the completion of the hiring process.”
And the combination of the hiring process (required under Kentucky law), the wait time to start basic training and the length of the training “routinely leaves agencies across the state without a trained officer for a period of at least one year.”
Mayor Joseph U. Meyer said a new area facility will “help alleviate the time required to get newly hired police officers trained and then service to the communities throughout Kentucky.”
The resolution was placed on the consent agenda for next week’s legislative meeting.
Short-term rental app fees
Also Tuesday, Commissioners discussed suspending the change in fee structure for short-term
rental applications. On Nov. 1, when short-term rentals would change to permitted use from conditional use, the yearly license was scheduled to increase from $30 to $500 due to the applicants no longer having to pay the $600 application fee for the conditional use permit.
The zoning change — which must go through the county zoning agency — has not yet occurred. Hence, the suspension until the change.
Commissioner Ron Washington asked if there was any way to know a timetable for the change, but City Manager Ken Smith said he’d know more Wednesday.
“It would remain $30 until we get some of the details of the zoning back,” Smith said.
The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.
Streetscape Updates
The Commission heard proposals for two agreements with Adleta Construction for:
• The Madison Avenue Streetscape project (from 8th to 11th Streets) in the amount of $2,964,331.93 to be paid for 80 percent in Federal SNK funds and 20 percent matching TIF funding.
• The 7th Street (from Washington to Greenup) Streetscape project in the amount of $3,328,293.28 to be paid for 80 percent in Federal SNK funds and 20 percent matching TIF funding.
Construction is set to begin once the Notice to Proceed is received from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Central Office.
Commissioners placed both proposals on next week’s consent agenda.
Hires
Commissioners heard proposals for these hires:
• A Human Resources Manager
• Christopher Bussell — Police Officer, Police Department
• Heather Justice — Clerk Typist, Police Department
Each was placed on next week’s consent agenda.
New City Hall Presentation
At the end of the meeting, Mayor Meyer requested that the City Manager prepare an update for next week on the City Hall project.
“The purpose of the presentation on City Hall is to inform the public of where we are on this particular project,” Meyer said. “It’s just to inform the folks — after all, City Hall is the people’s house — and letting them know where we are on somewhat of a timely basis.”
The presentation will be at the beginning of next week’s meeting.
OKI Council
Mayor Meyer noted there is a vacancy on the Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments — the representative from the city of Covington.
Commissioner Steve Hayden agreed to be the representative. He will be officially approved next week.
Halloween hours
Commissioners reminded everyone that Halloween hours are always set for 6-8 p.m.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., Oct. 17, 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.