By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
EDGEWOOD
Edgewood city council listened to an update on happenings in Frankfort by Representative Stephanie Dietz. She also presented a citation to City Clerk Belinda Nitschke who was City Clerk of the Year for 2026.
Ryan Wilkerson was honored for taking second place in the Skid Steer event for public works in their roadeo.
Council member Dr Scott Spille brought up that there are rumors that at the bottom of Dudley the left turns will be eliminated, and he wasn’t happy about that. City Administrator Brian Dehner said apparently the Kentucky Transportation District has had this plan since April and money has been assigned to it but no one has communicated with the city about it. Dehner said they have only had third party communication on it.
“We have been disrespected in the respect that they have not communicated with us on things that involve our community and our streets and our roads, and that somehow has to change,” Dehner stated. “We had a plan where KYTC was going to have to buy New Perceptions, and funding was in place they said.”
Somewhere along the way the plan was scrapped and a new plan was put in place and funded but the city of Edgewood was not notified. Dehner said it would have been nice if they had come and explained the new plan to the city and talked about the engineering and why they thought it was better instead of leaving the city with all the what if’s.
Dehner said that he and Mayor John Link were going to meet with Bob Yeager at KYTC on Thursday and Friday to see what will happen.
Dr. Spille said there is a pattern of miscommunication with KYTC and Dehner confirmed that the department has an attitude that they just don’t care, and they seem to have no customer service. Spille said he wanted to put on record that the city is against the plan for Dudley and Route 17.
Council voted to have Riegler Construction do milling on Dudley Road phases 3 and 4 for $408,865. Dehner asked council to add $300,000 to that process to be able to add turn lanes off Dudley if Riegler can do it.
Council voted to pass the second reading of the new budget. They also voted to cancel the July 6 meeting due to the holiday.
FLORENCE
The city of Florence honored Stephen Popovitch, a percussionist with the Florence Community Band for being inducted into the Northern Kentucky Music Legends Hall of Fame on June 11. He is the first classical symphonic timpani and percussion inductee for the organization.
Popovitch began his musical career playing Clorox bottles at the age of four, and because he attended schools that did not have music programs, he largely taught himself the music that he says he plays to ‘bring joy into peoples’ lives.’
Betty McGee, St. Elizabeth Emergency Department Educator, came to the special meeting of council to present certificates and brain pins to Danielle Eilerman and Taylor Schooler for recognizing signs of stroke in a patient they attended and making sure that patient was at the hospital in 37 minutes. This is phase 3 of a program called Target Stroke that strives to educate first responders to the fact that getting a patient to the hospital within 30 minutes to receive medicine to reverse stroke systems and prevent damage is vital to the survival of the patient. Danielle and Taylor both could not be present, but Taylor’s wife and daughter accepted the award for him, and Danielle’s award will be given to her later.
Three ordinances had their second reading and provided for change of concept development plans. The first was a 2.53 acre piece of land at 7544 Burlington Pike so that the Bark Patio would be changed to an outdoor living business called Bluegrass Backyard Recreations LLC.
The second is to provide two outlots for future development on the grounds of the Drury hotel.
The third is for 3.9 acres on the south side of Cavalry Drive to provide for the building of a Planet Fitness.
ERLANGER
Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette took to the podium Tafter a full caucus meeting to address the accusations of council member Jennifer Jasper-Lucas by reading a four-page memo that she had sent to council members, attesting to what she called Jasper-Lucas’ hostile, accusatory and demeaning attitude toward staff members and other issues. Mayor Fette said basically that she will not stand by and not protect the employees. At the regular Erlanger council meeting last week, Jasper-Lucas listed questions that she wanted official people to answer. She had said that the mayor asked her to only address her questions to her instead of to the staff, and Jasper-Lucas felt that she needed to get her questions out in a public meeting. Mayor Fette then read her memo aloud so that her side of the story could be spoken within a public meeting. Over and over Fette spoke of Jasper-Lucas’ bad behavior, and said that the questions she asked have been answered, the information has been given, and information has been given in writing. She said one employee quit due to Jasper-Lucas, and others have threatened to quit. At one point Jasper-Lucas stood and threatened to walk out, but was told to sit down. She did.
After the 45-minute speech by the mayor, council member Rebecca Reckers spoke up and stated that ‘using the lectern tonight to talk about harassment and abuse is really, really obnoxious.’ She pointed out that in the 8 years she has served on council, the city has gone through four city administrators. She said she has noticed a decline in responsiveness from administration and doesn’t know the genesis of the problem. She said she has experienced unsavory conversations, and they were not one-sided. She asked Fette why she had to send the memo through Attorney Jack Gatlin with her name on it instead of just sending it to the council members. While not justifying or getting involved, Reckers said she thought the residents of Erlanger deserved better than this ‘appalling’ display.
Jasper Lucas spoke then, trying to defend herself against the fact that the mayor had intimated that she was a bad person, a fact that Mayor Fette denied saying. Jasper-Lucas told the Mayor that she hasn’t known anyone with as many issues with control as she has. Despite interruptions from Fette and councilmember Tyson Hermes, who threatened to adjourn the meeting, Jasper Lucas continued her speech, highlighting emails she has sent to the administration which did not get responses. She also said council member Hermes has sent emails to departments and gotten responses, indicating a double standard.
Council member Michele Fields spoke up and said she was glad this entire animosity came out because she worked for the city before, and the changes that have occurred since the mayor has been in office have changed the atmosphere in the city building.
Council member Diana Niceley said she was shocked and embarrassed that a council member was treated in such a manner, and said they should all treat each other with respect. She said that there has been a high turnover in fire and EMS and public works in the last few years and she knew it was not because of Jasper Lucas. She agreed that people are asking specific money questions about Eons Preserve and other projects in the city. She also confirmed that Mayor Fette has cut staff off from council members.
Fette said she didn’t come and speak at the meeting because she wanted to – she did it out of desperation to help the staff.
The entire meeting ran over three hours and is on YouTube.
This meeting was not comfortable for anyone, but is indicative of the growing animosity that has been building for a number of years, and has now spilled over into public attention. The fact that it is an election year probably is not helping the deep division within the government.
NEWPORT
Five new police officers were sworn in Monday night for the Newport Police force, and it is the largest group of recruits that the city has ever sent to the Police Academy at one time. Gannon Torres, Caleb Smith, Noah Curry, William Stine and Nicholas Baldwin all had family members come up and attach their official pins.
Four properties in the city were approved to have assessment moratoriums. 1146 Columbia is 137 years old and the owner has proposed $304,596 worth of improvements. After the work is completed, the PVA will reassess the current value of $89,000.
The property at 708 Isabella is currently valued at $107,500, and is in line for $296,807 in improvements. The property at 737 Patterson, now worth $30,000, will undergo $290,961 in improvements, and the property at 901 Saratoga, which is valued now at $270,000, is scheduled for between $300,000 and $400,000 in improvements.
Commissioners passed the second reading of an ordinance which will vacate and close a portion of 11th street.
The first reading of an ordinance amending last year’s budget was held, as was the first reading of an ordinance introducing the new fiscal year’s budget.