By Patricia Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Independence Fire District Assistant Fire Chief Nick Russell covered several topics when addressing the Kenton County Mayors’ group Saturday morning, but the Kenton County Public Safety Training Center was at the top of the list, mainly because the center is in urgent need of funds to help it continue on the journey to reality.
On August 21, the Fire Chief’s Association approved spending up to $600,000 to make the Ft. Wright site ready for the new building.
The funding will allow for site excavation, the installation of underground utilities — including a water main and hydrants, a storm water main, underground detention, and sanitary sewer. A three-story live fire training structure will also be added to the site.
Russell explained that the engineering plans for the site have been completed, and the bid for completing the work has been awarded to Klassic Industries. Work will begin when permit for the work has been issued.
The organization received a grant which has to be used by the end of the year, so the three-story facility will be completed by the end of 2025.
“The Northern Kentucky Police and Sheriff’s training center lead personnel are interested in partnering with us on this project,” Russell said. “They will be helping to approach legislative folks for potential funding.”
Some work is already underway. SD-1 has agreed to provide a location for a joint trench and confined space training device, which should be able to commence early next year.
However, money is being used up faster than the building can be constructed. Estimates for construction that they have received so far put the cost of the building at $2,600,000 to $3,400,000 to be placed on a building-ready site.
Russell asked the group the big question — did anyone have any ideas of how to fund the building.
Initially there was silence.
A question was asked if the Fire Chief Association was just the departments and the fire districts in Kenton County, and Russell said yes, there are 13 departments.
Director of Homeland Security Steve Hensley brought up the fact that Judge Executive Kris Knochelmann negotiated with the landowners of the former training center and was able to come up with $1 million to acquire the land for the new training center. He did admit that a million dollars doesn’t go very far.
Working on the roadways for the center will take up all the rest of the money they have.
Someone asked if the State Fire Commission had any grants that they could apply for, and Russell said that they do, but typically their grants are limited to $100,000 or less, and they already have one of the Fire Commission grants that they have to use before they will be able to apply for another one.
County Administrator Joe Shriver asked if there would be any way to build it in phases, as they are able to obtain the money.
“We’ve talked about it, and determined that we could build it as a shell and hold off finishing the inside,” said Russell. “This could be phase one for us. We would probably have to stop there. Phase two would be divided into building the bay area, and an addition of classrooms, we don’t have a classroom addition yet.”
He said he hates to keep kicking the can down the road. They also want to add the police training in, so the police have a place to train, and to possibly open up more grant funding.
Covington Mayor Ron Washington asked if they have considered municipal bonds. Russell said they haven’t really, because the Fire Chief Association is a non-profit, and they don’t have much money to put up to get any kind of loan or bonding.
Washington thought there might be a way to do municipal funding through a city, and then the Fire Chief association could pay it back. Villa Hills Mayor Heather Jansen mentioned that Villa Hills and Crescent Springs worked on bonding for their new firehouse, and it was noted that the Boone County training facility was possibly funded through bonds.
Steve Hensley said the main owner of the former training center was the city of Covington, and the county leased it for a dollar a year.
“I think you ought to bond it and build it,” said Washington. “Get it done.”
Russell was willing to look into any possibility, and he thought they would have to keep working on it.
Electric scooters and bikes
The other topic of the meeting was electric scooters and bicycles. From a firefighter’s point of view, the lithium ion batteries are a major problem. Russell said if the batteries catch fire, they burn fast and hot. He said his kids have bikes and scooters that have the batteries, but he said they are only permitted to charge them outside, during the day where they can watch them while they charge. The charging places for all electric vehicles are becoming a problem, because they can’t be located inside a building, since these batteries are volatile, so if charging stations are scheduled to be included in buildings, the developers are rethinking where they will be putting the stations.
But from the mayors’ point of view, it is the kids flying down the sidewalks or the streets on scooters or bikes that are causing the problems for them. Most of the mayors related stories of how the kids on scooters and bikes clashed with the people who walk and drive.
Ft Mitchell Mayor Jude Hehman told how he has considered widening the sidewalks in the city.
“As a parent, my son has a bike and a scooter, and the bike can go 28 MPH and the scooter can go 32 MPH,” he said. “I took my son, Mitchell is 12, to a safety meeting, and I asked him what he thought. He told me that if he was on the sidewalk, people yelled at him. If he was in the street people told him to get on the sidewalk. He told me that he didn’t know where he belonged. And these bikes are 130 pounds, so I think we are going to have to start looking at regulations.”
Steve Hensley said as an old guy walking, when one of those kids buzz past it is startling.
Most of the mayors agreed that there needs to be rules, because this is a whole new spectrum of problems. Mayor Jansen asked that anyone who was going to the Kentucky League of Cities meeting this week should ask what their position was on the electric vehicles, and report back to the group next month.