By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
COVINGTON
Covington Commissioners got an update on the plans for the Duro property by City Manager Sharmili Reddy. The property, located at Martin Luther King Drive and Madison Avenue, was purchased by Covington, Kenton County, the Catalytic Fund and the Port Authority. As Reddy noted, site control is important, so buyers felt it was vital to secure the site as they figure out what is the highest and best use for the property. She said it is an eight acre site, and it is challenging with a lot of different components, but she thinks that in the next 3 to 4 years they can pull off a good development.
Cindy Lewis from the Human Resource Department presented the resignations of firefighter Glenn Caminiti, Police officer John Mairose, and Police Officer Jeffrey Tolliver.
Fire Chief Corey Deye announced the retirement of Battalion Chief Joe Bowman. Also several people were up for promotions due to the retirement. Captain Kaleb Miller was promoted to Ballalion Chief, Captain Doug Veselsky was promoted to Fire Inspector, Lieutenant Brian Grady went to Captain, and Lieutenant Ben Erdman went to Captain. Engineer Pete Doherty was promoted to Lieutenant, FirefighterJosh Davis was promoted to Lieutenant, and Firefighter Brandon Kersting was promoted to Engineer.
Allison Hermes was appointed to the Human Rights Commission, and Hugo Biondo was appointed to the Devou Park Advisory Committee.
ELSMERE
John Chamberlin, from Chamberlin and Owen Accounting firm, came to the Elsmere council meeting to give an annual audit report.
Council passed a municipal order allowing participation in a cost sharing program where SD-1, the city and the homeowner each pay a third of the cost of a Storm Water related project. The home addresses involved in the project are 320 and 322 Swan Circle.
Another municipal order passed which authorizes Mayor Marty Lenhof to enter into an authorization deed to be able to complete the sale of the property that was formerly the Elsmere Police Department at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Dixie Highway. The amount of the sale is $475,000, and the contract ensures the price will not be less than $450,000.
The first reading of an ordinance was held which amends the zoning ordinance and adopts the changes for manufactured houses recommended by HB160.
Another first reading of an ordinance was held which raises the occupational tax from 1.25 percent to 1.75 percent.
CAMPBELL COUNTY
A first order of business at the Campbell County Fiscal Court was to present Carl Biery with the inaugural First Responder of the Year award, given by the National Association of Convenience Stores Foundation. Biery has had a 55 year career serving in over 4500 disasters across the country, including the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire,the aftermath of Katrina, and the Pentagon. Biery is still leading a rescue team over an area that is 1200 acres in 6 counties.
He was selected from over 70 nominees from across the nation to be the First ever grand prize winner for his unprecedented record of service. Biery will receive free gasoline for a year, as well as free beverages for a year. The award was established in 2025 to bring national recognition to local heroes who demonstrate extraordinary courage and commitment to their communities.
In a special second award, Judge Executive Steve Pendery awarded a Certificate of Achievement to Sheriff Mike Jansen for becoming the new Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Kentucky SWAT organization. Jansen said he appreciated the award and will continue to work to keep Campbell County safe.
A motion appointed Rick Buster as the Campbell County Road Supervisor.
Another motion by commissioners allowed them to accept the resignation of Police Officer Daniel Bailey.
Commissioners appointed Angela Johnson, Michael Sutton, and James Morgan, Jr, to the Ethics Commission.
Justin Verst was re-appointed to the Campbell County and Municipal Board of Adjustments.
Jeff Schuchter was re-appointed to the Campbell County Planning and Zoning Commission.
Eight people spoke against ICE, recommending the dissolution of any agreement the county may have made with ICE.
ERLANGER
Erlanger City council met Tuesday to discuss 6 different topics, a significant amount for a caucus meeting. Council member Tyson Hermes brought up the subject of future pay for the city’s mayor and council, and also whether the job itself should be reclassified as a full time job in the city, instead of the part time classification it currently has. During a spirited discussion that was sometimes contentious, Hermes spelled out why he thought the city was big enough and growing enough to have a full time mayor at the helm. He showed council the numbers of how the population of the city is related to having a full time mayor. But when those numbers are run through a reverse breakdown, it didn’t seem that the numbers supported the requested information. Hermes said that whichever way it was sliced, there was no support for the fact that a mayor of a city the size and level of industry and business growth of Erlanger should only be $15,000 a year.
The subject is not an easy one for council. Some council members felt that Hermes needed more information, and the information he presented was a bit porous, but added to that is a belief that the subject is being raised again because Hermes would like to see the current mayor, Jessica Fette, or even himself, to be able to somehow take advantage of the raise in pay.
Hermes said that is not his intention; he stated that he is looking at the future of the city, and any pay raise would only take place after an election, but the air of suspicion tends to verge on distrust at times.
Council member Rebecca Reckers is on the small business task force, and she wanted to introduce an ordinance to council. The program she would like to see initiated offers a property tax assessment moratorium in order to incentivize rehabilitation, repair, and redevelopment of existing property. It would freeze the city’s portion of the assessed value at the pre-improvement value for a period of five years. Other council members asked some questions, including one by Michele Fields, who asked about the incidence of gentrification in neighborhoods where people would take advantage of improving their property. Fields wanted to know if the program might inadvertently price some people out of the neighborhoods, but Reckers said she hadn’t seen any information on it, and instead focused on the initial goal being to improve the aesthetics of the neighborhood, and she wanted to see a six-month trial of it.
Parking of an abandoned vehicle was discussed, especially in light of a recent incident where a resident had his car fined and eventually towed because it had been on the street, with a flat tire and rear end damage, for a long time. It was determined that that case was isolated, and the Police Chief, Mike Leming, recommended that the city should not make any changes in its current law of vehicles left on the street for 48 or 72 hours being evaluated for abandonment.
Advantages and disadvantages of speed bumps were discussed, taking in information from the city of Edgewood, and feedback from residents who would like traffic calming measures. Public works has recommended against speed bumps at this time.
The lowering of the Insurance Premium tax was discussed, and Mayor Fette recommended that instead of making a change this March that would take the tax percentage down from 9.5 percent to 9.25 percent, they should abudget the change into the next fiscal year’s budget and build it into the entire process. Council member Jennifer Jasper-Lucas said she supports the reduction wholeheartedly, but with an election in that space of time, there is no way of predicting that a new council/and or mayor would agree with a pre-determined plan. Council member Hermes also brought up the possibility of altering or abolishing the franchise fee. Council member Reckers brought up that the franchise fee was originally initiated because of dispatch, and there is no dispatch anymore. Since the plan recommended by finance is to basically table the issue until next year, it was decided to discuss the insurance tax and the franchise at next month’s caucus meeting.