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Covington City Commission: Social media policy, Covington West 7th, Riverfront Commons and more


By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter

Residents, you’re going to have to silence those tweets and posts.

At least, you will if the city of Covington approves its new Social Media Policy, which was presented to commissioners at their caucus meeting Tuesday night.

“After reviewing our current social media usage, city staff determined it is in the city’s best interest to utilize social media as another way of conveying or disseminating information to the public rather than as a forum for conversations,” wrote Michael Bartlett, the senior assistant city solicitor, in his staff report.

That means no more writing your comments when the city makes a post. Or a Tweet.

City Manager David Johnston said he encountered a similar situation a few years ago in the Washington state suburb where he previously worked.

He and Bartlett explained that in order to prevent “misleading or untrue commentary,” and other forms of “hijacking” of social media threads, the city will just turn off those comments, making residents unable to do so.

Instead, Johnston said, the city will encourage the public to interact with the city more, either with a phone call or a personal appointment, or discussion at city meetings. Of course, residents could also still post comments on the city’s website, and they will still be able to direct message the city via social media as well.

Unfortunately, when social media comments are turned off, those third-party sites also delete all previously posted messages – which by law must be archived by government entities. So the city will have to archive all previous comments once the commenting function is disabled.

The new policy is about “ensuring positive messaging to the public,” Bartlett said. When asked if the new policy would limit sharing or re-tweeting of posts, Bartlett said he would have to check.

A revised version of the policy will be on the city’s regular agenda next Tuesday.

John R. Green Development Project:

In May 2017, commissioners entered into a development agreement to redevelop property from 409-415 W. 6th St., known as the John R. Green property.

The $36 million project in the Mainstrasse neighborhood will redevelop 1.5 acres, create 170 market-rate apartments, add 6,000 square feet of retail space and renovate 18,000 square feet of office space. The project will include a three-level, 295-space parking garage – 92 of which will be available for public use.

Tuesday, commissioners heard an order to enter into a development and pilot agreement with Ky Covington West 7th LLC to provide $2.5 million in general obligation bonds (or other funding sources) for the project.

City officials pointed out that the city will earn revenue from the 92 public parking spaces, which could go toward paying off the $2.5 million.

It was also determined that if and when the city creates a Parking Authority, the responsibility for those spaces – as well as possibly the debt – could be transferred to the Authority.

Once financing for the John R. Green Development has been approved, Green will leave the property May 18, which would then pave the way for construction to begin.

The remainder of the timeline looks like this: Construction could begin anywhere from June 30 (at the earliest) to December (at the latest) with completion coming 17-22 months later.

Mayor Joe Meyer pushed hard for answers on the timeline, noting that the construction of a $36 million project is “inherently disruptive” for residents.

Riverfront Commons:

A much longer-awaited project is Riverfront Commons, and the city took major steps to finishing a phase of it Tuesday – mainly because if they don’t by the end of the year they’re going to lose a nearly $4 million grant.

Since 2007, the idea of the Commons has been talked about, originally quoted at $70 million, including walkways, staircases and plazas.

The project was cut back significantly, and Tuesday, an even smaller scale, redesigned version was presented by Public Services Director and Assistant City Engineer Rick Davis. This version would feature a 50 percent smaller scale plaza at a lower elevation – one that could flood 10 percent of the time, mostly in the non-peak seasons, Davis reported.

The new, lower plaza could bring the price down to $6 million for the project.

Of course, that would mean more money spent on the back end paying for flood damage.

Still, the idea seems to be to get the project moving, with one of the main reasons being that if they don’t, the city stands to lose a $3.9 million grant in December.

“Let’s get a good project moving forward,” City Manager David Johnston said.

Other redesign highlights include:

– Amphitheatre seating for 1,275
– Removal of the Greenup sculpture area
– A continuous landscaped and stabilized shoreline
– Two levels of walkway through the park and
– Retaining of the small landing for overlook, vendors, entertainment, etc.

“This is fantastic,” said Commissioner Jordan Huizenga. “A great start we can build on.”

Mayor Meyer agreed.

“Let’s go with what we’ve got,” he said, noting that after this phase is complete, the city can look at another philanthropic effort to raise funding for more improvements.

“It’s reality,” he said. “This is the money we have. Let’s spend it while we have it.”

Also Tuesday:

– Commissioners heard an update of the general fund financial report, which found that the majority of departments are under budget so far for the year, including 12 at less than 45 percent and six at less than 40 percent as compared to last year.

– Commissioners officially hired Tom West as the city’s Economic Development Director. West, who had been appointed to the position in December under an emergency need for management, has “demonstrated the ability to effectively drive the City’s economic development initiatives,” reported City Manager David Johnston.

– Commissioners heard a recommendation to hire Maggie Volkering to the position of Finance Technician.

– Commissioners heard a recommendation to hire Gary Dean Johnson II to the position of Staff Accountant.

– Commissioners heard an RFP for a parking study to allow the new Parking Authority to issue bonds. The cost of the study would be somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000, new Economic Development Director Tom West reported.

The next Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., Feb. 13 at the Covington City Hall at 20 West Pike St.


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