By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
FLORENCE
Florence city council listened to a presentation on a project to put a Quik Trip gas station and convenience store on the site of the old Frisch’s at the corner of Ky 18 and Turfway Road. The two-acre site would be the home to a 6,445 square foot convenience store with a fuel canopy covering 14 gas pumps. A traffic study was provided, but KYTC made a few suggestions, and didn’t have a recommendation. Boone County Planning and Zoning recommended the project, but Florence Planning and Zoning decided to send it to council without a recommendation. As a result of the information given to council, and the findings of fact, they unanimously voted to reject the recommendation of the Boone County Commission and say no to the project. The findings of fact explained that the project did not conform with the 2040 future land use plan, or the 2045 future land use plan.
Another change in concept development plan was introduced for a project of a Dutch Brothers Coffee drive through restaurant on .8 of an acre to be located in the Village at the Mall shopping center. The menu shows drinks and limited food items. This is the center that houses Mi Salon, and Dollar Tree. Once again the Boone County Planning Commission recommended approval with conditions, and the Florence planning and Zoning recommended approval with conditions. Mayor Julie Aubuchon said they will bring the item forward for a first reading next week.
Susan Daniel will be appointed to the Urban Forest Commission.
Council went into executive session after the main part of the regular council meeting, and when they came back, Council member Diane Whalen spoke up asking for council to join her in repealing ordinance 05-24 which was passed by council two years ago to raise the mayor’s salary to $86,937 from $51,710, a raise of $35,227, or 68 percent. She pointed out that in comparing salaries to keep them current with other similar cities, the comparison is usually among other cities in Northern Kentucky, or relatively near. She said the comparison for the mayor’s salary was made comparing it to Georgetown, Elizabethtown, Shelbyville and Jeffersontown, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and other cities not that close to Florence.
Apparently those cities were used for comparison because there aren’t any cities nearby that are comparable to Florence and what it offers. Whalen thought the raise in pay was excessive, especially with the administrative support team the mayor has, and she told council she would like the ordinance to be repealed, and the salary reevaluated. The city attorney, Tom Nienaber, said it didn’t need to be repealed, that it could be changed to the amount of a raise council would like the raise to be, both for the mayor and council. Whalen brought up the subject before asking that it be changed because she wanted to see what other council members thought about it. When asked, council members Pat Wingo, Gary Winn, and David Schneider said they didn’t want to change the raise, and Whalen, Angie Cable and Lesley Chambers all wanted to change it. With a 3-3 tie, the motion from Whalen went down to defeat. This extreme raise may be the wave of the future because recently the city of Covington also raised the pay for their mayor starting in January of next year, from $33,395.58 to $95,331.76, a raise of 185 percent, and the city of Erlanger is currently trying to raise the salary of their mayor. Whalen said first of all, Florence should be compared to other Northern Kentucky cities, and secondly, more emphasis should be placed on the aspect of service to the community rather than high salaries.
Council also voted for a municipal order to engage the legal services of DBL Law related to the suspected diversion of city revenue.This happened after council went into executive session to discuss the matter, and the municipal order was not posted on the agenda.
CAO Joshua Hunt said that no more information will be released on this matter until after the federal investigation is finished.
PARK HILLS
The first two ordinances on the agenda for the Park Hills council meeting had to do with creating, establishing and adopting an internal procurement policy, and then creating and establishing a procurement code.
It didn’t get very far.
As soon as the first ordinance was read, Council member Sarah Froelich said she was going to put the brakes on the issue and she thought they ought to postpone the whole thing till July or August. She said HB392 was just signed in Frankfort, and that affects the procurement issue, and she thought the city should have time to think about the procurement policy and get it right. Council member Pam Spoor clarified that this is the internal procurement policy, and Froelich said she knew that, but she still felt that it needed to be postponed.
“I disagree with that, I think we have talked this matter to death,” Spoor said. “I think we need to agree to disagree, and go ahead and proceed with this. It leaves the city in the lurch without a procurement policy.”
Froelich objected, saying that they have talked about the process for adopting the policy, not the policy itself, so she recommended reviewing the policy. She also had notes on the next first reading, which was creating the procurement code.
Both council members Greg Claypole and Steve Elkins said they depend on the city’s Attorney, Daniel Braun, for creating and eliminating paragraphs from legislation, and other changes, and they also thought the issues have been thoroughly talked about. Froelich said she didn’t feel that a lot of her thoughts and suggestions have been considered up till now and she wanted council to at least listen to her suggestions. Council member Laura Cardosi joined in with Froelich and wanted to make changes to the legislation because she had read the Kentucky League of Cities book of rules and recommendations and felt that she should bring those recommendations up.
Developer Greg Berling addressed council on his plan for the Szechuan property, which is a plan that became stalled in council last year. Berling is trying to get the plan working again, for 24 homes, and realignment of Arlington Road. He gave an overview of the plan, which includes a text and a map amendment, and then Patrick Denbow, Senior Planner from PDS also walked council through the steps that would happen to make sure Council members had a good feel for the project, and consequently it would not get bogged down again.
LAKESIDE PARK
Lakeside Park city council pondered the second reading of the ordinance that has a text amendment making an allowance for fences that are solid privacy fences if the property in question is next to a public facility like a church. Paul Darpel has represented the Rizzo family in trying to get the exception for their fence, and he was again at the meeting Monday night offering positive reactions from the neighbors of the family, as well as from the church for the change. Kenton County Planning and Zoning approved the change unanimously also, and it appeared at first that all the signs were there for council to approve the change. However, only four of the six council members were present at the meeting, and as soon as the remaining council members started talking, it was obvious that there was going to be a problem. Council member Dennis Landwehr objected to the change, and Tom Bernheimer joined him in the opposition. Council member Dave Wolfer voted yes for the change as did Council member George Best. With the vote on the text change left with a 2-2 tie vote, the issue failed, because Mayor Paul Markgraf cannot break ties about zoning.
Another ordinance had a first reading, and deals with littering and fines for littering.
A municipal order passed which appointed John Nienaber to the Lakeside Park Ethics Committee.
FORT MITCHELL
Fort Mitchell Mayor Greg Pohlgeers read a proclamation for the Beechwood High School Boys Indoor Track team who won the KHSAA 2025/2026 1A State Championship. He declared Tuesday April 14 as their day in the city.
Representatives from Duke Energy came to explain how they are going to address the problem of frequent outages. The area in question is Harvard Drive and Georgetown Road. Jeremy Timmerding explained how they are going to fix the problem, working on it this summer while school is out.
Council approved a motion to join the Kenton County joint code enforcement board.
Mayor Pohlgeers said the new wider portion of sidewalk across from Blessed Sacrament should be open this week.
BOONE COUNTY
The issue of a car wash to be located at 6597 Utz Lane brought out approximately a dozen people Tuesday evening at the Boone County Fiscal Court meeting who stated several reasons that the car wash should not be located in this location. These reasons had also been stated at the public hearing, but the Boone County Planning Commission voted to recommend the project 12-2 anyway. Commissioners stated their intention to look into this issue further, and they voted to take the first reading off the agenda so they can study the issue further. More action should be taken at the May meetings of the fiscal court, since the deadline for having the BCPC’s recommendation take effect is June 2.
An ordinance passed which finally deals with the truck parking issue. Text amendments passed which regulate and define commercial parking. No parking will be allowed within 1000 feet of a house, and freight containers are prohibited, clearing up two issues of contention.
A resolution passed which set the salaries for certain officials. Comparing the salaries to those of Kenton and Campbell counties, officials recommended keeping the commissioner salary as it is at $54,026, and the attorney’s salary at $65,259, but they also recommended increasing the coroner’s salary from $61,354 to $64,000. Other salaries were also evaluated and the state CPI adjustment was utilized.
KENTON COUNTY
Judge Executive Kris Knochelmann read a proclamation for telecommunicator’s week which was April 12 to 18.
Sheriff Jude Hehman honored Bill Steinborn on his advancement to Major, and then he gave an update on things happening in the Sheriff’s office.
Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity act in conjunction with Boone, Campbell, Grant, Pendleton, Carroll, Owen, and Gallatin counties.
Commissioners passed an executive order appointing Holly Danneman to the Northern Kentucky Board of Health.
COVINGTON
Covington Commissioners passed an order which authorizes the issuance of taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds in one series, to be issued in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $75,000,000. It will be used for Industrial building, and will be used in compliance with the pilot agreement.
In the consent agenda, an order passed which allows Mayor Ron Washington to execute a home program development agreement with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati to build two single family homes at 1039 and 1041 John Street for affordable home ownership.
Another order was passed approving the job description for the new position of revitalization manager.
An order authorized the mayor to execute an agreement with ROVEIQ for the purchase, installation and programming of a video kiosk for the Latonia Business District.