By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
FLORENCE
Council approved the reappointment of Janet Kegley, Charlie Rolfsen, and Tom Szurlinsky to the Boone County Planning Commission for a four year term.
Council member Gary Winn was reappointed to the board of directors for OKI.
J. Kelly Huff, Lisa Wilson-Plajer, and Teresa Kraft were reappointed to the Airport Noise Abatement Committee for a two year term.
Several residents wanted to speak at the meeting.
Trevor Nelson, president of the Orleans South Neighborhood Association, came to inform council about how bad the traffic is in their neighborhood. He said on Orleans boulevard they get traffic from North Orleans, Gunpowder Trail, Ballyshannon, and Hocks Landing, and there are 25 to 50 more houses set to be built in front of Cooper High School, plus Drees homes in Aberdeen is planning on more homes, and in October, the Boone County Planning commission has discussed a zone change on 78 acres to allow for an 882 unit development. He said they have three major schools in the area, and all the traffic comes down their street.
With the help of Public Works director Eric Hall, he found out that the cars going down the street on average go 10 miles over the speed limit of 25 MPH. During the 7 to 8 am hour they have 318 cars per hour, and from 4 to 5 pm they get 285 cars per hour, and they get garbage thrown out into their yards, and mailboxes damaged. More importantly, people keep having near misses with the cars that are moving too fast. The cars repeatedly refuse to stop for school buses, which puts children in danger. The city has recently installed a stop sign and some digital speed limit signs, but cars sometimes just ignore them. He praised Captain Mike Geis for his responsiveness.
Nelson said he has worked with Boone County commissioner Chet Hand to try and reroute Longbranch road, but in the meantime he is concerned that more housing will be coming to the already overcrowded streets.
“I am here to express our opposition to the upcoming apartment complex,” Nelson said, indicating the number of residents at the meeting. “We need your help to get a lot of these drivers out of our neighborhood so that our children can play safely.”
City Administrator Josh Hunt said their comments won’t go on record until there is a public hearing on the project, and that hasn’t been set yet. He said he would let Nelson know when that comes up. Nelson said the area is part Florence, part Boone County and a little bit of Union mixed in, which means there has to be collaboration on this issue. He said Longbranch Road used to be straight, but developers made it curve into Orleans boulevard now, creating the problem. Nelson thinks Longbranch road should connect directly with US 42, which it could do. He told council he presented this to the fiscal court 6 months ago. When he finished, there was a round of applause from his neighbors.
Brittany Fritsch also came to talk about safety on Orleans Boulevard, because she is frightened for her family, as well as her neighbors, due to excessive cars whose drivers don’t seem to care. She said conditions are very bad, and it ‘stinks’, because someone is going to be hurt, not if, but when. Eric Hall said there is a lot to look into to get the fix done right.
Joe Berkshire again came to complain about the amount of deer in the neighborhood of the Florence branch of the library. He said the city should get rid of the bushes that are where they hide, but they come out and don’t know not to go into the street. Statistics from the Farm Bureau show 8600 deer hits in the last year, and 6 people were killed. CAO Hunt said he would notify animal control, but Berkshire said he should cut the bushes.
“If you drain the lake you get rid of the fishes,” he told Hunt. He even brought a picture to share. He also mentioned garbage on US 42, and the rather depressing results of the Library meeting.
Jim Leach came again to talk about fencing, and parking, and unfair penalties.
PARK HILLS
Park Hills City Council were officially presented with the first reading of an ordinance adopting the new zoning code and zoning map for the city. After months of looking into every detail of the Z21 zoning, it looks like the zoning change is happening for the city. PDS Senior Planner Patrick Denbow was on hand to answer questions, and a main question was the HB 160 law that will go into effect on July 1, 2026 about manufactured housing being required to be added as single family homes.
They also discussed the 21 day agreement which is an alternative to the property adoption process. Council felt that that was not a good alternative for the city.
Council member Sarah Froelich passed on a compliment to Fire Chief Scott Rigney for being on top of the situation and providing a resident with all the information he needed. There were two structure fires in the city recently, and both houses had floors that were being refinished at the time of the fires.
LAKESIDE PARK
Lakeside Park Mayor Paul Markgraf proposed the partial payment of $15,000 per year for the purpose of helping to fund an SRO for Blessed Sacrament School. He cited the fact that 27.2 percent of the students in the school live in Lakeside Park. He said Ft Mitchell is substantially contributing also. Markgraf stated that in his opinion, it is the same as providing school buses, saying it is not promoting religious instruction in any shape or form. It is designed to keep children safe. He stated he thought it was an obligation as a city to protect their children.
Police Chief Degenhardt explained a little more about what is required of a School Resource Officer, and why it protects the students, the faculty and anyone visiting.
Not everyone agreed. Council member Tom Bernheimer spoke up and said not everyone in the city has children and the ones that have children don’t all go to Blessed Sacrament. He asked when would the idea of protection stop and suggested that if they provide for an SRO, what is to stop churches from asking for protection. He said the money is not just $15,000, but it is $15,000 for three years which is $45,000. He said he has to think about what is good for all the people of Lakeside Park.
Mayor Markgraf said that through the taxes every resident pays, they are paying for an SRO in the Kenton County schools, and said it was the same as paying partially for school buses, a safety issue. He noted that Boone County is paying for an SRO for Mary Queen of Heaven school, and Erlanger is helping to pay for St Henry’s SRO. Markgraf explained that Lakeside Park has never been asked to do anything like this before.
Council member Brian Waite, who attended Blessed Sacrament and is in the parish now, said he had some reservations about using municipal funds for this purpose. He said he thinks there are children from the city who attend other schools, like Notre Dame, or Covington Catholic or St. Henry, and he wondered where the extra funding would stop if they asked for monetary help. He said he broke the cost down to basically a little over $11 a child, and suggested they should raise the tuition to cover that cost.
Council member David Wolfer said he really liked the idea at first, and he likened it to the police department, who protects all the people in the city, acknowledging that the city pays Crestview Hills for police, so he thought that the city should help protect their children. But he didn’t want to pay all other schools. He did think it is the right thing to do to contribute to an SRO.
Council member Dennis Landwehr told about a grandmother who contacted him and said her grandchild attends Blessed Sacrament and she was irritated that the council hadn’t already passed the issue. He felt the city should do it.
Council member Mary Ann Thaman said she thought it was like protecting residents against fire. She thought it was something the city should do.
In the end it did pass, with Bernheimer and Waite voting no, and Thaman, Wolfer and Landwehr voting yes.
Another municipal order passed unanimously giving certain people in the government year end wage adjustments. Councilmember Wolfer boosted the amount for City Clerk Theresa Bruck to $500 from the original $100, and that change passed also.
KENTON COUNTY
Kenton County commissioners listened to a presentation of an award plaque to Bradley Creech for his expertise in handling the mini excavator in the American Public Works Association state roadeo. He was invited to go to the regionals in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 19 and 20 next year.
Pat Frew came to give an update on the Covington Business group, telling the court they now have 580 member companies and have quadrupled their membership in 15 years.
Commissioners approved a term order for the Kenton County Clerk, and a term order for the Kenton County sheriff.
They also approved the redevelopment fund agreement with Ft Wright.
Jailer Marc Fields announced that his department won Law Enforcement Agency of the Year from the Kentucky Law Enforcement Women’s Network when they attended their meeting in November. Fields outlined employee friendly events that he has started in the department to celebrate life events, and have a potluck dinner every three months, as well as an interdepartmental newsletter. He told the court that it is a different atmosphere in the department now, more employee oriented.
TAYLOR MILL
Taylor Mill Commissioners listened to State Senator Chris McDaniel who talked about next year’s legislative session. He said that the budget will be the main topic in his opinion, and he is the author of one of the budget versions. He said on even years they have a longer session, and on odd numbered years they do a short session. He mentioned the road plan, which will be on the agenda, as well as housing and childcare. McDaniel talked about getting the money for a new bridge, which is very nice, but with it comes the traffic that could be a headache. He said centralized collection of tax is still on the table, as is short term rentals. Commissioners felt that short term rentals are not good for Taylor Mill, and McDaniel agreed that every house that is rented means one less house that is lived in. He promised to see if he can get the numbers of all the short term rentals in Taylor Mill.
Kristina Niergarth and Jennifer Wiehl from the Cabinet for Health and Family services, came to talk to commissioners about the severe need for foster families.
Ed Kuehne was appointed to the TBNK board for a two year term.
A major change has occurred with the planning for an event in 2026 to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, and the city’s 70th anniversary. Mayor Daniel Bell announced that they won’t be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the city because they wanted to combine the two but the city’s celebration isn’t technically until 2027, and commissioners were split on even holding the event. The commissioners had to decide what they actually wanted to do to celebrate next year. Bell said a lot of cities are having celebrations, and he thought they could possibly tie into one of those, or they can just take one of their events with a band that they hold anyway during the summer and expand it a little. Earlier this year commissioners agreed to hold aside about $33,000 for the combined celebration, so now they weren’t sure what to do with the money. No decisions were made, except that the original plan has been scrapped. Commissioners will discuss the matter more, but due to the holiday they did cancel their caucus meeting, so they will take up the discussion in the new year, when they have more information from the other cities.