By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
The Kenton County Mayors’ Group met Saturday morning in Ludlow with Villa Hills Mayor Heather Jansen presided.
When the mayors started talking about the activities in their city, Ft Wright Mayor Dave Hatter talked about the potholes in his city.
“I don’t know how many of you have the same problem with the Transportation Cabinet not maintaining their streets and the infrastructure in the community,” said Hatter. “I mean, let’s be real, when you drive through Fort Wright, do you know which roads are state roads? Probably not. You just drive through the city and think, this place looks like hell, what are these clowns doing?”
He said they have had conversations, talking about at what point do cities just do some of the stuff themselves, because it makes the city look bad. He acknowledged that he had to walk a delicate balance with the state because of the bridge project, where the state has told Fort Wright that they will replace the overpass and as of now will probably install a few roundabouts in a row on the new overpass, so he told the group, “Granted, if you have to drive through there good luck, it looks like it is going to be straight from hell.”
He said he was curious as to how many mayors had the problem, and he thought that if the decision was made to take over filling potholes and maintaining the integrity of those roads, the state might never take them back.
Park Hills Mayor Kathy Zembrodt agreed with Hatter, saying they have a bus stop right on Dixie Highway that was dangerous for anyone waiting for a bus there.
“They weren’t going to do anything, so we said we are going to extend that down and make it ADA accessible,” she stated. “There was a car that overturned on Sleepy Hollow, and they said they weren’t going to do anything. You have to just keep after them and after them, even if it is a dangerous situation.”
County Administrator Joe Shriver told the group they have an interactive map on their website and if people go to road maintenance, there is a map that specifies which roads belong to the state, right down to neighborhood levels, and if they click on the area it will say who to call to get attention for those particular roads.
“We also got tired of people calling us and saying, why do you pick up your plows and not plow this street or this road?” Shriver said. “So we went into an agreement with the state where we said if you reimburse us for the supplies and cost of clearing the roads, we will do minor maintenance, and do it in a more timely manner. At the time they were truly short-staffed, but they have since gotten more people. We still have the agreement in place because our guys are already out there doing the work.”
Kentucky Senator Shelley Funke Frommeyer said there was an agreement with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the city of Fort Thomas for clearing out debris from the rains that hampers traffic.
Hatter said he would really like to have a reimbursement agreement for his city.
Then he brought up the subject of the bridge project and talked about the fact that they are talking about at least one roundabout, and possibly two roundabouts placed on Kyles Lane, which, although he said he isn’t against roundabouts, he is very concerned about the spacing of them.
“Obviously they are going to do what they want to do, but I would like to have some information,” Hatter said. “I’m not getting anything from them recently, but I know the project is coming, and our area is going to be interesting.”
Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman said there will probably be 13 roundabouts on Kentucky 536 when it is all finished. He said there will be a major one at the end of 1303, which is Turkeyfoot, and 536, which is partially open at the moment, but the entire roundabout is not finished.
“When I used to visit my son in the Marines in Buford, South Carolina, they had a lot of roundabouts,” he said. “They are supposed to cause a 72 percent reduction in accidents, and I think when all is said and done people will think they are not bad.”
Homeland Security Director Steve Hensley told the group that there is going to be a meeting on Monday morning, August 25, at the KYTC building off Buttermilk Pike from 9 to 11 am for certain officials.
“Initially they just wanted to include communities between Erlanger and Covington, but I said that isn’t going to work because this bridge project is going to impact everyone in the region,” Hensley said.
Taylor Mill Mayor Dan Bell said that the problems getting the state to help with their roads is well known, and the road that goes up to Fidelity is a good example.
He did say that a major problem as this bridge project looms is the fact that the area has no alternative route. Right now, he said that expressways are getting to be bumper to bumper every day.
“Is this going to get worse when the construction of the bridge starts? Absolutely!” he said. “We need an alternative route. In the meantime, the state spent $40 million on a bypass in Somerset. Now there are 12,000 people in Somerset. I’m glad they got it, but we need an alternative route too. There should be a study done. All I’m going to say is traffic is terrible, it’s going to get worse, and KYTC needs to plan improvements for us up here.”
At the beginning of the meeting, a motion was made to elect Crescent Springs Mayor Paul Meier as the representative to the Northern Kentucky Area Development District for cities with populations under 8,000 people. The matter was brought up at July’s meeting and resolved at this month’s meeting.