By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
PARK HILLS
At the beginning of the regular Park Hills council meeting, Mayor Kathy Zembrodt read a set of rules that were a common sense way of control for a divided group of people. Almost all of the rules were descendants of the Roberts’ Rule of Law, a guideline of rules that most cities abide by in order to have a productive meeting.
This was done because meetings have been out of control recently, and as the leader of record, Zembrodt felt she needed to remind people of the ground rules.
Council member Sarah Froelich wanted to add a new ordinance, number 7, that she said clarified ordinance six, which was passed at the last meeting. The ordinance 6 that passed nullified ordinance 5, removing the RM zone and with it the density that three council members were against.
Mayor Zembrodt said that Froelich’s ordinance was unnecessary, because the ordinance that was passed was perfectly clear, and Froelich’s version changed the minutes, which council did not agree about. A motion was made to add Froelich’s new ordinance, and when the vote was taken, three members were for it and three were against it, so it failed.
Mayor Zembrodt also motioned to take out the second reading of an ordinance which lays out rules of order and conduct so that council could discuss it further, and that passed.
The rest of the meeting was peaceful and cordial. Council did vote to go into executive session.
FORT MITCHELL
Mayor Jude Hehman honored a longtime volunteer, Jeff Bethel, who has been the city’s representative on the Planning and Development services for the last ten years. Hehman also said before the ten years he spent 3 years on the city’s code enforcement team.
“This is an amazing man of faith and integrity,” he stated.
Bethel accepted the plaque graciously.
“This has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” Bethel said. “I tried to do what I thought was right at the time.”
PDS Executive Director Josh Wice was present for Bethel’s award, and then he proceeded to introduce himself and tell council about himself and what he wants to do in his job at PDS. This is a project where Wice visits all 19 cities in Kenton County.
Two ordinances received second readings and both passed. The first was to add ordinances to the code of ordinances, and the second raises the rate of pay for the mayor and council after the next election.
FLORENCE
Mayor Julie Aubuchon administered the oath of office to two new police recruits, who also happened to be veterans of the US Marines. Nicholas LaBella, and Kenneth Brayden Shobe are working on their online portions of their training to become an officer, and they will then go to the academy in Richmond, Kentucky for 18 weeks.
Mayor Aubuchon announced that the police department will again have a no-shave month, with the goal of raising $2,500 for Childrens’ Hospital.
She also said that the tree lighting will be on December 2, from 5-7 p.m.
Public Works Director Eric Hall gave a report on how his Code Enforcement team works throughout the city. He said that three of his four code enforcement officers have six individual routes in the city, and those routes cover 9200 locations in 380 streets in the city. They each have two routes and they visit those routes every 2 months or 6 times a year. The fourth officer has 12 routes and he visits those routes every month or 12 times a year.
He related that in the period of time between January 1 of this year to October 31, 2050 cases were worked, and they break down into 1300 proactive cases which were discovered by the officers, and 750 cases that were from customer complaints. Ten years ago, Hall noted, those numbers were flipped, and residents were not happy that the city didn’t care to fix problem areas.
The problem now, however, is that people are spreading rumors online, and the department as well as the individual officers are feeling increasingly frustrated, because there isn’t much they can do to counter the rumors with facts, since it is online. He said the rumors are not only untrue, but they are increasingly personal.
Hall stated that residents can call his department if they have a problem and he will talk to them about it. His number is 859-647-5416.
Joe Berkshire, a resident, came with some complaints and some pictures. One picture was of two male deer, that were standing at the intersection of New Uri and US 42, and because there are two male council members, he named the deer Gary and David. These deer are a problem, he said, because they don’t know how to cross the street. But he contends they wouldn’t necessarily be there if the city would cut the brush by the intersections so they were not attracted there.
He also touched on the homeless problem, and the Florence branch of the public library, which he would like to see expanded, and he would like to see hours on Sunday, like all the other branches.
Then the 85-year-old resident said he was filling out papers to run for city council.
Another resident, also a veteran, Jim Leach, said it was ‘rude and insulting to have a meeting on Veterans’ Day,’ despite the fact that the city had a veterans day program on Saturday, as well as their special Honor Run on Sunday, which raises money for veterans to go on the Honor Flight, and despite the fact that several references and rounds of applause had been given at the meeting. He said the army takes the day off and he did not like the fact that Florence had a meeting on this day.
Then he said he cannot find anything on codes on the site that Eric Hall cited, and he said a checklist for people to find out what they might be cited for would be very helpful for residents. He said it would be helpful for the officers, too, to be able to know what they are looking for and to tell people what they need to fix.
Naomi Liebson echoed the sentiment about having a meeting on Veterans’ Day and reminded the city that questions about the city’s processes were good.
Jonathan Andrews was agitated as he ran down a list of his complaints, which also included annoyance at the meeting on Veterans’ Day. He said at one time he wanted to see an ordinance that was read at a meeting and was told he had to fill out an open records request. He deplored the lack of transparency, and asked how the residents could trust their government when they try to keep things out of the public eye.
Brad Cable said that the code officers come down his street every week, and three officers have given him a courtesy letter.
Sarah Baker said she is the mother of four and when she moved into a house off Kentaboo, she had a lot of trouble dealing with the brush when she first moved in, and her husband hurt himself trying to get rid of a tree. She said they didn’t know the way to get rid of things, and said they could have used some help. She also said the city could use a boys and girls club.
TAYLOR MILL
Mayor Dan Bell read a proclamation honoring Andrea Sullivan for being the Scott Volleyball team coach and Art Teacher for many years and leading the team to several championships.
He also read a proclamation honoring the entire Volleyball team for being the 10th region champions and qualifying for state.
Officer Jeffrey Hoppenjans and firefighter Trent Hanson were hired by the city.
PDS Executive Director Josh Wice came to introduce himself and run down the specifics on what the organization does and what he hopes to do in his new position.
Commissioners passed the second reading of an ordinance specifying street schedules for parking.
Mike Blackburn came to the commission meeting to talk about the retention ponds behind Vincent Drive, and he said the second retention pond is leaking from the bottom. That flow of water plus water from all over makes the small creek in the area overflow. He also said the party in the park budget is a lot of money, and he didn’t think all the money should be spent on the party, but if they do, he thought businesses should be contacted to help.
Mike Busse came to discuss when the work on Vincent Drive would be started.
Commissioner Caroline Braden asked if everyone had looked at the sponsorship form for the anniversary event next July, and everyone agreed to adopt it as the official form.
Conversation drifted to what band the city would like to hire for the anniversary event. The Derek Allen Band is $4,000 for two hours, but commissioners wanted to see what other bands are available.
Commissioners decided to move the caucus meeting from the day before Thanksgiving to Monday, November 24 at 10 a.m.
City Administrative Officer Brian Haney asked for direction on obtaining a company to tear down the two houses that the city recently purchased. Commissioners decided to let Director of Public Works Jerry Jump work on destroying the houses with his crew.
The annual tree lighting ceremony will be on November 30 from 3 to 5 p.m., with the trackless train, visits with Santa, bouncy houses, games and hot chocolate, and fun for everyone.