By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
PARK HILLS
Park Hills City Council met in a caucus meeting Monday to decide what to do with their procurement policy which has been causing some consternation. Council member Sarah Froelich had proposed a two-step solution to the proposal, but Council member Pam Spoor attempted to explain that Attorney Daniel Braun had drawn up a solution also, and she and Mayor Kathy Zembrodt thought the Attorney’s solution was simpler and less confusing than the one proposed by Froelich. Council members discussed it extensively, but in the end a solution seemed less likely. At one point council member Froelich said that she didn’t think the mayor should be in between the Attorney and the council, which Mayor Zembrodt denied, saying she found Froelich’s version to be confusing and would prove difficult for people to find if they wanted to look at it.
Finally, Mayor Zembrodt told all six members to send a separate email to Attorney Braun telling him what they thought he should do, and they will then put those suggestions together and see if agreement can be reached. To clarify, no one was disputing the procurement policy itself, the disagreement is in how to structure the search so that any resident who would like to see the policy can find it easier.
Another subject that was discussed was rules of meeting. Council member Pam Spoor said they need to address insufficiencies in the meetings, and make sure the term ‘quorum’ is specifically defined. Things like ‘a member shall not be excused, missing a meeting or simply leaving a meeting without a good and valid reason’ needed to be addressed and adopted as a rule. Also, no council member can demand the floor, or just exit a meeting while a vote is being taken. Spoor also wants the Roberts Rules of Order to be adopted and used as a guide, as council member Emily Sayers suggested.
“I added into my ordinance things that were important that happened (last fall) and resulted in litigation for us,” said Spoor. “Everyone in state and local government uses Roberts Rules of Order. It’s an old but established way of keeping order. Many, or most of the cities around here have them in an ordinance. In Independence, I looked at theirs, and since the process can be used as a weapon, theirs says if it looks like the process is being used as a weapon, the mayor can shut the whole thing down. Process can be used as a weapon and that is destructive. Process is supposed to be a tool that helps us do good things for our residents.”
Council member Froelich objected to the definition of quorum, saying the city has a definition of quorum in an ordinance already. Spoor thought it should be added to. Froelich asked which version of Roberts Rules of Order they were going to use, and it was decided that the latest form should be used.
Council also discussed the budget.
FORT MITCHELL
Jennifer Wiehe, supervisor of one of the Recruitment Certification Teams for the Cabinet for Families and Children, came to the Fort Mitchell council meeting Monday to talk about the serious need for foster and adoptive parents in Kentucky. Mayor Jeff Pohlgeers said they would put the information on the city’s website.
A resident of West Orchard, Mark Nienaber, came to ask council to put a speed hump on their street. Another resident of the same street made a case for not just putting the speed hump in but asked them to do a speed study to determine the problem and then seeking a solution. Mayor Pohlgeers said they do study every situation before they put a speed hump in place.
A representative of Bramel and Ackley, CPA, came to report on the annual audit for the city, and she pronounced that city good, with an unmodified opinion.
A resolution passed which authorized the mayor to sign an agreement to join the Joint Code Enforcement Board. Mayor Pohlgeers said the city did have their own code enforcement board, but when they joined PDS, there was no need for their own code board.
The first reading of an ordinance was held which amends two chapters of the Fort Mitchell code to the Joint Code Enforcement Board.
A municipal order appointed Anna Phaehler to the Tree Board.
In the mayor’s report, Pohlgeers said that the sidewalk from Pleasant Valley to Burdsall would be started on April 6 and finished that week which is the spring break for Blessed Sacrament.
It was also announced that the contract for Fire and EMS with Lakeside Park was over this year, and the two cities would be in contract talks shortly.
Programs and Communication Coordinator Joe Christofield said that the annual Easter Egg hunt event was held last weekend, and drew many more people than ever before. Because of this, Christofield said they will probably have to use the entire field next year, instead of just half of the field in order to accommodate the number of people.
BOONE COUNTY
Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore brought up the issue of truck parking at the regular fiscal court meeting, a topic which had been discussed at length by the court, and the initial proposal was sent back to the drawing board. This time Moore said they wanted to separate the truck parking from the truck storage to see if it allowed for a better reception.
It did. All three commissioners felt that this was what they wanted all along, and they listened intently. Commissioner Chet Hand said that including the truck storage in the search created a whole different problem to be solved. They needed a narrowly constructed solution to a narrowly constructed problem, and the problem was to get the parked trucks off the road temporarily.
Judge Moore said that the northbound and southbound rest stops on I-75 and I-71 are adding truck parking places, but he said “ours is to solve local origination truck traffic,” and not problems on the interstate. He said they want to deal with the truck parking problem, and he proposed that truck storage be eliminated in the C-3 zone.
County Administrator Matthew Webster explained that the new rule will be that a truck parking area can only be located 1000 feet or more from a residential structure, and if it is near a residential zone it can be 500 feet with enhanced buffering. His staff will come up with legislation to that effect, with the understanding that they will need to re-evaluate the rules at a later date.
Assistant County Administrator Rob Franxman then explained what was happening with the possible extension of the Bavarian land fill. After studying the previous interlocal agreement with Kenton and Campbell counties, Boone county staff found it unclear, and they have recommended adopting updated versions of the interlocal cooperation agreement as well as a cooperative partner agreement between the three counties. They already have an organization, known as NKSWMA, Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area, which oversees the landfill through the three counties. The organization has a board which includes the Judge Executive of each county plus a commissioner serving on it.
Franxman outlined the problem that the previous agreements did not define that Boone County has ‘exclusive rights to independently negotiate the statutorily required landfill host agreement.’ Bavarian, which is located on McCoys Road in Boone County, has asked for an expansion of 37.7 million more tons of trash, and Boone County would like to have a new, clearer interlocal agreement that lets Boone County negotiate the expansion of the landfill. There are many steps to be taken in order to expand the landfill, but the first steps will be to get the new, updated agreements approved by both the Kenton County Fiscal Court and the Campbell County Fiscal Court. NKSWMA will meet and look at the plans, then they will send them to the state of Kentucky, and then they will come back to NKSWMA. Judge Executive Gary Moore said the issue doesn’t have to go to the Planning Commission because the land involved is already zoned Agricultural and landfills are one of the uses.
COVINGTON
Barbara Drees and Pete Nerone gave a report on the Devou Park happenings and the amount of money raised by the Drees Pavilion. The money raised this year is $350,000. Over the last few years they have raised $7.5 million which Drees said makes her very happy.
Nerone ran down the list of programs for the park, including a new soccer league. He also said the money will be spent for the Volpenhein bathroom, the Band Shell, walking paths, and back country trails, and the disc golf areas.
In the consent agenda, William Matteoli was promoted to Director of Public Works and Brad Schwenke was promoted to Assistant Director of Public Works. Mayor Washington talked about being confident of the new team to lead Public Works, declaring them the unsung heroes of the city who do not receive the glory that they should.
Vice Mayor Shannon Smith continued her goal of recognizing women this month since it is Women’s history month. She recognized the first responders, including Sergeant Rachel White, Captain Jennifer Rudolf, Officer Nicollette Brown, Captain Amy Gray-Schaefer, Karly Egbers, Sara McPherson, Michele Westermeyer, and Natalie Neufelder from the Police and Fire Departments.
Smith also said that the Ion Center, formerly the Women’s Crisis Center, offers Bystander Intervention Training to try and avoid violence, which is a Green Dot program, and she made a motion to donate $10,000 toward that program. The other Commissioners agreed unanimously.
NEWPORT
Newport Commissioners passed an order to get programmable aesthetic lighting on the Kentucky 8 bridge, which crosses the Licking River. Because they share the bridge with Covington, there is a partnership with Newport, Covington, and the KYTC. Newport will pay $112,500,and Covington will be paying a similar cost. There are 156 color lights and they can be programmed to light up in a certain color for a certain holiday, or to commemorate a special day.
A companion order allows Newport and Covington and KYTC to keep up maintenance on the bridge lights.
Another order passed paying for the annual membership to Southbank Partners for $58,250, a $5,000 increase. Commissioners have seen their return on investment with the company and were happy to vote yes on the order.
An order agreeing to enter into a street paving contract with Riegler Blacktop was passed. This project will get several streets paved after the Water District helps with the pipes they have to install.
An order passed which will allow commissioners to replace the playground equipment at the 18th street playground. They had budgeted $50,000 for the replacement equipment, and DWA Recreation will install the new equipment for $49,907,94.