By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
There’s the parking authority, the Ethics Committee and the IRS site.
Oh my.
It’s true there’s a lot going on in the city of Covington, and the commissioners are busy. But it’s possible that nothing got more discussion Tuesday night at their regularly scheduled legislative meeting than the proposed creation of a communications director job.
Twice the position was discussed – once as a first reading approving the job description, and again after the official business of the meeting concluded, during Mayor Joe Meyer’s closing remarks.
It was during the first reading that Commissioner Bill Wells again disagreed with the need for the position, pointing out that, with benefits, the job would cost taxpayers $108,000 to $164,000 per year. Just like at the previous week’s caucus meeting, Wells described the job as another “P.R. position.”
“I just don’t think this is money well spent at this time,” he said, adding that he thought the former public information officer performed those duties well.
Commissioner Jordan Huizenga asked City Manager David Johnston (who is requesting the creation of the position) if he had ever worked with an outside contractor for the needed work, which Johnston explained would consist of managing the public information officer and improving the city’s external, as well as internal, communications.
Johnston said the job would be outside the scope of a contractor, noting that the person will be working on issues for many years – not individual projects.
Mayor Meyer noted that this was not a vote in favor of hiring someone – it was just a vote on a job description. It passed 4-1 with Wells dissenting.
Then, when the meeting was wrapping up and the commissioners were giving final remarks, the Mayor again brought up the issue when he questioned Wells on comments the commissioner made last week regarding payroll statistics.
Last week, as Wells argued against the creation of the communications director position, he cited a statistic – that the city was currently $1.5 million over payroll as compared to the same time last year.
Meyer questioned where Wells received that information, asking if he’d gotten it from the city. Wells replied that he had asked but not heard back from the city, so he instead went to a third-party website that supposedly offers accurate financial data for governments.
Meyer expressed doubt that the numbers were correct, explaining that the city has 14 open positions – and Wells agreed that he thought the numbers were surprising, and said it was why he brought them up in the first place.
Meyer suggested the city do some follow-up within their own finance department before “accepting these numbers as gospel.”
“It leaves a very misleading impression,” he said. The numbers need to be correct, and it must be communicated to the public, “especially now, since we’re getting into an election season.”
Ethics Committee recommendations
Commissioners heard a first reading to approve ordinance revisions made by the city’s ethics committee, which includes Mayor Meyer, Commissioner Huizenga and Commissioner Tim Downing.
One recommendation included a change to 35.40 of the current code, which states “All employees of the city are prohibited from being a candidate for Mayor or City Commissioner while employed with the city. An employee must resign within five days after filing candidacy papers.”
Essentially, the change states that those running “can be candidates without giving up their position,” Meyer said.
Other additions or changes include:
– The addition of this verbiage: “Any officer or employee shall not accept any employment or enter into any contracts that result in a conflict of interest with his or her duties as an officer or employee of the city.”
– The monitoring of meeting attendance.
– The Board of Ethics being expected to “provide training and education on the city ethics code to officials and employees.”
– The Board of Ethics to annually review financial disclosure statements of city officials.
Parking Authority
Commissioners also heard a first reading of an ordinance to develop a Parking Authority.
Acting on recommendations from the Covington Economic Development Authority, Johnston explained that in order for the city to keep growing it must keep redeveloping. But that is difficult to do – because of parking.
“Parking availability is a limiting factor to many of those seeking to invest in our community,” he said. “We just don’t have the parking supply.”
After talking with some experts, including from the city of Louisville (which has used an urban parking authority model since the 1960s) Johnston explained that they can make sure the Authority continues to work with the city in various ways, including:
– The City Manager could head the Authority.
– The Commission could approve the Authority’s budget.
The authority would essentially have five members, made up of three residents and two investors (who would ideally also be residents), appointed by the Mayor.
IRS Site Strategic Planning RFQ
Johnston also developed an RFQ for a “best qualified” candidate to help create strategic planning for the 28-acre IRS site, which is supposed to close by 2019.
He explained that what the city needs is a “community-based vision for re-integrating the IRS center into the fabric of our community.”
As part of a way to keep the community involved, an advisory team made up of local residents will help whomever is chosen, Johnston said. As per state law, the RFQ will seek out the most qualified entity. Then the city will try to reach an agreement with that entity.
Johnston said he hopes to have a selection made by the end of February.
Commissioner Wells noted the RFQ was “very well thought out.”
“It’s probably the finest piece of property from Pittsburgh to New Orleans,” Wells said.
Also Tuesday, Commissioners:
– Approved ordinances creating the positions of project engineer and neighborhood services director.
– Approved the employment of Wesley Cook and David Finan Jr. as patrol officers grade VI; Rachel White and Aaron Ashley as patrol officers grade II; and Samantha Fieger as patrol officer grade I.
– Approved the reappointment of Cole Imprei to the Board of Overseers for the Linden Grove Cemetery.
– Approved the reappointment of Ed Faulkner and Fritz Kuhlman to the Code Enforcement Hearing Board.
– Approved the appointment of Holly Young to the City Employees’ Non-uniform Civil Service Commission.
– Approved the appointment of city commissioner Michelle Williams as the city’s representative to the Planning and Development Services Council, along with commissioner Tim Downing as the alternative representative.
– Accepted the resignation for retirement (for health reasons) of light equipment operator Kenny Hamm, who had worked for the city for 15 years.
“I enjoyed working for the city over the years,” he said. “I learned a lot. My spectrum has broadened immensely.”
“If there was anyone who left a mark on the city of Covington, it was Kenny Hamm,” Commissioner Wells said.
The next Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., Jan. 23 at the Covington City Hall at 20 West Pike St.
