By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
It’s time to deliver some help.
And after the Commission’s regular legislative meeting Tuesday night, the city is ready to deliver.
Commissioners approved an order that will give Covington non-union and FOP employees a one-time stipend. Firefighters and Public Works employees have already received their payments.
But because the FOP declined to approve their latest contract agreement, Mayor Joseph U. Meyer said that ARPA (America Rescue Plan Act) funding could actually take several months to come through — because it can only do so when there is an agreement.
That is, unless a change is made. Last week, Meyer suggested they do just that.
“Tying the ARPA funding to the contract negotiations was an error,” he said. “We shouldn’t have done it.”
Instead, he directed the city manager to use a model based on one used by Lexington/Fayette County to disperse $5,000 stipend payments to police officers and other non-union workers who had come into close contact with the public during COVID, as well as $3,500 stipends to others.
Part-time workers in those categories would receive half the amount — a difference from the Lexington/Fayette plan, City Manager Ken Smith said. It was “not as fair,” he said.
Mayor Meyer also noted there was one other difference from that plan. There, elected officials took the full premium. In Covington, the Commissioners did not, he said.
Commissioner Michelle Williams did ask if those who contracted COVID would receive extra funds, but Smith said that was not part of the plan.
Police cars and amendment
Commissioners heard the first reading of a proposed budget amendment to transfer $500,000 and purchase 10 police cars for the city.
Last week, Chief Robert Nader explained that five out of the last 10 years, the department had purchased no cars, and that he’d “been able to band-aid it together” by buying older vehicles from other area departments and only running half the normal time.
In January, Commissioner Ron Washington asked the City Manager if he could come up with a plan to purchase 10 new fully equipped police cars for the fleet.
But there was also an amendment to the amendment Tuesday night.
As the City Manager explained, some city workers were not eligible to receive ARPA funding, so in order to provide stipends for all, officials added another $90,430 to the amendment.
The amendment will get a vote in two weeks.
VS Engineering
Commissioners agreed to enter into an agreement with VS Engineering for an additional $69,900 to complete new tasks necessary to implement the city’s Stormwater Management Program.
Last week, Public Works Director Chris Warneford said their investigation actually discovered triple the number of complaints and Mayor Meyer explained that VS Engineering will actually have a report in about 4-6 weeks to try and identify the “systemic cause” of the flooding in the city, including all findings and recommendations.
Contract Renewals
The Police Department received contract renewals for:
• James Donaldson
• Corey Warner
Downing thanks road crews
Commissioner Tim Downing made a point to thank the city road crews for their help in combatting the recent ice and snow storms, and it was echoed by the other Commissioners.
“If anyone deserves a warm cup of coffee and a big thank-you it’s them,” he said.
Smith absent
Commissioner Shannon Smith was absent Tuesday night.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., Feb. 15, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meetings can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, the TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline, and the TBNK Roku channels.