By Patricia Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
PARK HILLS
Park Hills City Council listened to the first reading of an ordinance changing the council meeting time from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. It was listed on the agenda as an emergency ordinance so that it only needed one reading, but council member Sarah Froehlich asked why it had to be an emergency, and the result of the discussion was that it should be a first reading. After the second reading the time will change officially.
A municipal order passed which allows Mayor Kathy Zembrodt to sign a contract with Covington Catholic High School for their SRO. Council member Froelich read a statement that explained why she was going to vote no on the issue, but the vote was still 4 to 1, so it passed.
A municipal order passed which authorized the mayor to sign a contract for trash collection which only raises the cost $9 for residents.
The subject of the Park Pointe gate was brought up, and Mayor Zembrodt said she talked to Covington Mayor Ron Washington about an incident last Friday night involving teenagers and graffiti that got out of control. There apparently is a residence that has a pool, but there is no fence around the pool. Zembrodt said the house is in Covington. Council member Froehlich stated that she wanted residents to be clear on the fact that the street belongs to Park Hills, so the ultimate decision to close the street at night belongs to Park Hills, even though the Mayor wanted to make sure the other cities involved were on board.
Council discussed some residents having golf carts, and Mayor Zembrodt said if there was no ordinance the cities have to follow state rules, which say that drivers of golf carts have to be legal drivers, and the golf cart has to be a licensed vehicle.
Council wanted Attorney Daniel Braun to look into creating an ordinance about golf carts, and possibly include mopeds and other motorized vehicles.
LAKESIDE PARK
Lakeside Park Mayor Paul Markgraf announced that May 30 is the 95th anniversary of the city’s founding.
“This is very important and I would like everyone to be aware of it,” he said.
He also said that next week the citywide work on the sidewalks would begin. Once the work is completed, the public works director will go out and measure what was done on each property, and after that the bills will be sent to the residents.
June 7 will be a big day for the city, because there will be a shred event as well as the annual Police Department car show at Thomas More University. More information is on the city’s website.
Attorney Greg Voss read an ordinance amending the budget for this year and the vote was 5 to 1, with Councilmember Cassi Schabell as the only dissenting vote.
COVINGTON
The Covington Fire department announced three promotions in the city. Lieutenant Dylan Meyer was promoted to Captain, Engineer Kyle Vogelpohl was promoted to Lieutenant, and Firefighter Pete Doherty was promoted to Engineer.
Mayor Ron Washington gave a presentation on income-aligned housing and suggested the city form a committee to stabilize the neighborhood and form a strategic land use. He said the median income of Covington is $58,814, and 60 percent of the population in the city are renters. He said they have a strong stock of affordable housing but it is aging. In the next five years Northern Kentucky will need 6,650 new units, and Covington alone will need 891. The need is for 1 and 2 bedroom units and workforce housing that people can afford. Washington said they have 200 vacant or abandoned properties in the city and the city owns 50 of those.
He would like to put people in the vacant properties. He wants the city manager to identify the ten top performing lots or vacant buildings and have complete appraisals of those properties within 30 days. He would like RFP’s within 15 days after the appraisals. He wants to reinvest the sale proceeds in acquisition and redevelopment.
“Times are tough, and we do have land that we are in control of,” said Washington. “I am asking our staff to go out and look at these properties. I want to establish a Housing Development Committee with five voting members, with myself as Chair, and have the members appointed by myself and confirmed by the commission.”
He said the way to get money for the committee is to sell the lots that the city owns. That will reduce the city’s maintenance costs, and the city can build equity.
Washington noted a foreclosure fund of $150,000, but he stressed that this is not for occupied homes and only for the houses that the city is taking care of, but are vacant.
Commissioners moved the issue to the front of the agenda, and voted to form the committee as well as to identify the ten top vacant lots so they can sell them. They asked for clarification on several issues within the project, but they all seemed to be in favor of the project.
The commissioners did want assurance that there won’t be people who come in and rehab homes but don’t align them to income, and Mayor Washington assured them that this project will have the goal in mind to provide affordable homes and anything else would not be aligned with that goal.
KENTON COUNTY
Several residents again attended the Fiscal Court meeting to oppose the county’s plan to put industrial companies in southern Kenton areas, also known as the SRI plan.
Kimberley Clayton Code challenged the court’s assumption that 97 percent of the area residents said they were in favor of light to medium industrial development, saying that number came from a survey in which ‘none of the above’ was not an option, and most people viewed it as what would be the least disruptive, and it should not be viewed as approval for the industrial development.
She was also concerned about the eminent domain situation, challenging the court to pass a resolution stating that they are against any type of eminent domain, and if they don’t, residents will know where they stand on the matter. Code also said that the statement from members on the court that the development is coming from Boone County is wrong, and the Boone County Comprehensive Plan shows that the area should stay mostly rural.
Heather Grotehaus said it would be absolute madness to put more industrial traffic on the already overloaded roads. She also pointed out a huge warehouse that has been empty since April of last year, and she suspects there are more empty warehouses, so why would the county put up more warehouses. She said it is irresponsible to keep putting up warehouses.
When the rural land is gone, it is gone forever, she stated.
“The Fiscal Court has already heard from the residents,” she said. “They don’t want this!”
Judge Executive Kris Knochelmann read proclamations for national Police Week and National Public Works week.
Steve Hensley, from Emergency Management, said that the state transportation cabinet wants the county to move one of the emergency sirens to the Bristow Road/Calvary Road area, so work will begin on that project soon.
Commissioners listened to the first reading of an ordinance which provides a partial credit of its occupational license fee for a time as part of an economic development project with the Fischer Group, which has moved their headquarters from Boone County to Covington.
Officer Daniel Preder from the Kenton County Police showed off one of the new rifles that the department purchased with money from a Homeland Security grant. Preder said that the department’s old rifles were definitely aging, and these 45 new rifles will standardize the rifles in the entire department.
FLORENCE
Florence Mayor Julie Aubuchon administered the oath of office to three new police officers in the city, two of them new, and one a lateral transfer. Aaron Spencer, and John Martini are the new officers and Dakota Brady was a transfer from the city of Independence.
Scott Spicher, in his last duty for the Honor Half Run in the city of Florence, presented a check to the organizers of Honor Flight.
“This is a project that grew out of a car trip to Chillicothe, Ohio,” he said. “It was a pipe dream. My wife said what this city needs is a half marathon. That was over ten years ago. When we first approached the city they said no, but then Mayor Diane Whalen said let’s think more about it. We have helped 800 local veterans, and raised $430,000 because the city had the courage and conviction to sign onto this. I am extremely proud and thankful.”
His voice broke as he handed over the check, knowing it was the last official duty as Executive Director for him, but he quickly recovered and said he would still be around.
Planning and Zoning Director Kevin Costello came to council to report that they are working on a new comprehensive plan, and he laid out a schedule of how everyone should communicate as the plan comes together.
Second readings of two ordinances will allow an old bank building at 6809 Burlington Pike, behind the Lee’s Chicken, to be able to sell medical marijuana, and a property at 7303 Turfway Road, between the Chipotle and the old Frisch’s building, will be renovated to be a coffee place and a storage/cooler accessory structure, because the council vote on both items was 4 to 0.
ELSMERE
Elsmere Police Chief Russell Woods told council that the Kentucky League of Cities presented the department with a beautiful award for scoring 100 percent on the audit that the KLC performed. Teresa Finke, who was the administrative assistant, has moved over to the Senior Center to be the manager there, and she has come up with new methods of gaining membership for the center.
Mayor Marty Lenhof reported that they will be going out for bid on the city’s entry sign for the area by the old police department near Eastern avenue.
A municipal order was approved which allows the city to take advantage of an extension on the trash contract from Rumpke for the next two years with the same conditions.
TAYLOR MILL
Taylor Mill Commissioners voted Wednesday to accept the lower bid of Rumpke for their trash collection for the next year. They also had to vote how the service will be billed to the residents, and after some back and forth discussion, the commissioners agreed to have the charge billed on their city tax bill.
A resident asked a question about the estimated ending revenue sum on the current budget, and the corresponding beginning number on the new budget, and wondered about how the disconnect between the two numbers can be resolved in the next month. CAO Brian Haney and Treasurer Tonya Mohnen both stated that the numbers are much closer, and when Commissioner Rose Merritt joined the query, Mohnen said she could print a report and get it to her on Thursday. Merritt asked if she could get reports out that had real numbers, instead of estimated numbers for clarity sake.
“As long as our audits are good, which they always are, I am happy,” said Mayor Daniel Bell. “We are probably one of the most squeaky (clean) cities in Northern Kentucky, in terms of our financials.”
A resident, Marcia Roush, came with pictures to show how the milling and repaving on Eureka Drive has changed how the water comes down the street, and residents who never had a problem with water and water damage before now have water in their yards, and basements.
Mayor Bell said they would look into the problem.
Commissioners voted to approve the reappointment of Roger Braden as the Taylor Mill representative on the joint code enforcement board.
CAO Haney reported that they have taken the equipment out of the little playground at Pride Park, and will be putting the new equipment in starting next week.
Police Chief James Mills announced that the Ladies’ Auxiliary held a fundraiser and presented the Police Department with another AED, working toward the department’s goal of having an AED in every police cruiser. They now have three.