By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Boone County Fiscal Court is expected to approve a new board member for Sanitation District No. 1 (SD1) at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled business meeting.
Allesch
Dolf Allesch, a semi-retired Union businessman is expected to fill the vacant Boone County spot on the Board that was vacated when Adam Chaney was hired as executive director of SD1.
Chaney, who has served on the SD1 Board since 2014 and acted as president since July 2015, has resigned from the board and will begin working with the utility in his new capacity Tuesday.
Allesch has 25 years’ experience in public accounting and consulting, specializing in enabling modern process and innovation.
His business and IT consulting experience includes stints with IBM, Deloitte, Ernst and Young and Capgemini. He also has utility experience, working with Florida Power & Light, Enron, nPower and Scottish Power.
Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore said he was not familiar with Allesch until Commissioner Charlie Walton mentioned him as a possible successor to Chaney.
“(Walton) said, ‘I think this might be the kind of guy we may be interested in looking at,’” Moore said. “I’m always amazed at how much talent there is here in Boone County that are people that are not in the forefront or that I may not have come into contact with.
Allesch has served as a board member on the OCEAN Business Accelerator in Cincinnati and Breaking Every Chain, a Grant County nonprofit, as well as on the boards of software companies in California and Virginia.
Moore said the county is always anxious to reach out for new talent in the community.
“In many cases in the past, it has kind of been the same people in leadership positions that get recycled from board to board,” Moore said. “I was very excited about (Allesch’s) resume and our conversation, and we continued to go through the process. We shared his information with County commissioners Cathy Flaig and Charles Kenner to make sure he was someone they could support and they both gave positive feedback.”
In his letter of interest for the Board position Allesch indicated he has led and participated in more than 100 client engagements in various industries around the world.
“I am now committed to staying local in Northern Kentucky,” he stated.
Moore
Allesch also has real estate and property development experience, including current or recently completed investments in projects in Park Hills, Bellevue, Ft. Thomas, Ft. Mitchell and Mt. Lookout.
“Having a personal interest for real estate investing, I have created a focused business in property and land development centered in Northern Kentucky,” Allesch said in the letter. “A Board position with SD1 would allow me to bring my business, technical and property development experience together to better service the community.”
Allesch demonstrated his knowledge of SD1 processes recently when he was unable to locate a plumber to get a sewer tap for one of his real estate projects.
He went online and discovered how to do, it, went down to SD1, took the test and passed it. He told Moore in their meeting that he had only done one and probably would never do another, but he needed it done quickly, so he did it himself.
“That is the kind of initiative, intelligence and proactiveness that I think we need,” Moore said. “He also came up with some very good observations about SD1 while going through the process. His life experience is great background for just what we need at SD right now.”
SD1 is responsible for the collection and treatment of Northern Kentucky’s wastewater, as well as regional storm water management. It is the second largest public sewer utility in Kentucky, serving more than 290,000 residents throughout Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.
SD1 is probably the most demanding board, in terms of time commitment, in the region. Allesch recently met with Chaney and Bob Boswell, the other Boone County board member for the utility, to get an idea of what the appointment entailed.
“I wanted him to be able to ask them questions about time commitments and those kind of things and that meeting went very well,” Moore said. “That was the final hurdle and we circled back with Dolf and confirmed that he was willing to serve if appointed and he indicated he was, so we’ve got him on the agenda for Tuesday.”
No board appointment is final until a vote by the Fiscal Court, but that appears to be just a formality.
Allesch has lived in Triple Crown for 15 years, has two sons and is a longtime member of Grace Fellowship Church.
If approved by the Fiscal Court he will serve a full four-year term.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
