By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
EDGEWOOD
Edgewood Mayor John Link gave all the council members a chance to talk first about the Flock cameras in the city Monday night at the regular council meeting. They have been turned off and covered up until council members had a chance to find out more about the cameras and the company. Six of the 7 council members present talked about how they thought the Flock cameras were a good tool for the police, but almost all the council members felt the company was not honest with them, and trust issues were evident. They also felt that the other cameras in the city could probably do the same job of helping the police fight crime. Due to their reasoning, all six voted to take the funding for the cameras out of the budget.
City Administrator Brian Dehner said that because of the terms of the contract with the company, the city had to show that there was no money allocated in the budget for the cameras so they wanted to get out of the contract. However, since Flock installed the cameras, Dehner said they should take them out, but he told the audience the cameras are turned off and covered, and it might take a month or two for the company to take them down.
The people in the audience, who had come to fight the cameras, applauded.
Mayor Link announced that the Letters to Santa program will be from November 16 through December 11, and the annual Tree Lighting ceremony will be November 29 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
BOONE COUNTY
Commissioners listened to three residents Tuesday morning who would like for the Fiscal Court to contact SD-1 and tell them to pause their sewer project that will destroy Gayle Pille’s property. Kim Barrios said everyone talks about clean energy but it couldn’t be good to have a sewer pipe cross Woolper Creek over and over. And she said it can’t be good to have all the trees cut down.
Jennifer Watts begged to have a letter sent to SD-1 to pause the project, saying the project isn’t right, and isn’t Christian. Tim Johnson reiterated what Watts said about praying to do the Christian thing before meetings and then help destroy a nature preserve isn’t right.
No one responded to the requests.
Judge Executive Gary Moore congratulated the members of the Public Works department for their awards at the American Public Works Association. Public Works Supervisor Michael Martin won an award for outstanding response to the snow storm last year, and was given the Public Works Hero award. Harry ‘Butch’ Burns received a posthumous lifetime achievement award, and Kenny Crocker also received a lifetime achievement award. Bin Moore received Crew Leader of the Year, and Sheldon High received Young Professional of the Year.
Commissioners approved the purchase of a tractor for the Parks Department through the approved purchasing network Sourcewell for $60,516.14. They received three bids and Kabota Tractors Tristate LLC was the lowest bid. Parks Director David Whitehouse said they only have one tractor and they have 37 baseball fields and 43 soccer fields plus the rest of the parks.
FORT WRIGHT
Fort Wright Mayor Dave Hatter again thanked council for making Fort Wright such an affordable city to live in by keeping their taxes low. He said the $1.85 per $1000 is the lowest property tax since 2017, and it has been further reduced by 34 percent since then.. He said it keeps more money in people’s pockets. He also said that the city is the third lowest in property tax rates, slightly behind Crestview Hills and Edgewood.
Council member Margie Witt has been in charge of the Banklick Creek property to make it usable to residents for walking trails. She gave council a report on what she was doing, telling them about how she will treat the honeysuckle that is prevalent, and the several pear tree stumps. She told about someone from a land clearing company who has volunteered to clear the brush and level the paths a little, and suggested $2500 as a price for the help. She also told council there is an invasive species, Japanese knotweed, that needs to be cleared out by the creek, and the Banklick Watershed Council has grant money to get rid of the weed, but council needs to approve the council doing that in the spring, with no cost to the city, since Witt has the equipment. Council made the motion to fund the $2500, and give permission to clear the knotweed, with the permission of Duke, who is scheduled to grant the city easements.
City Administrator Jill Cain Bailey talked to council about an 80/20 grant from OKI in the amount of $221,906, a Federal Surface Transportation Block grant, to pave Amsterdam road to the train trestle. This is scheduled to begin next fiscal year, in July of 2027. Council voted to accept the grant.