By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
The Covington Commission continues to transform the city, property by property.
Tuesday night, at their regularly scheduled legislative meeting, Commissioners heard a proposal for two surplus property development agreements at:
301-303 Orchard St., for $47,500 to Aged Oak Properties, LLC, and
318 Berry St., for $12,000 to Rustbelt Properties, LLC
Both will be for single-family homes, City Manager Ken Smith said.
Commissioners approved both by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Michelle Williams voting against on both.
City Heights Residents Complain
In another neighborhood, residents are not pleased. Commissioners heard representatives of the City Heights neighborhood complain Tuesday night about issues like building maintenance and violence.
“I’m bringing the problems here that are very important to us,” said resident Penny Blevins.
Blevins and others highlighted issues with maintenance, insects, violence — and maybe most importantly, the fact that they say they have notified officials of these issues before.
“It concerns me,” Commissioner Shannon Smith said. “We need to do something to make it better.”
Commissioner Ron Washington agreed. “I think we have an issue of communication, also,” he said.
The Board said they would do more to address the neighborhood’s issues.
Part-time Parking Authority Executive Director
Commissioners heard a first reading of an ordinance for the Parking Authority to be able to set a salary for a part-time Executive Director. The city would like to transition power from the current Executive Director, which is the City Manager, but in order to do so, they must first be able to pay a candidate.
Of course, that salary would ultimately be approved by the City Commission, which signs off on the Parking Authority budget.
The ordinance will get a second reading in two weeks. Mayor Joseph U. Meyer encourages the public to review all proposed ordinances.
Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan
Commissioners approved an agreement with the Northern Kentucky Area Development District related to the development and implementation of a Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Police Hiring and Resignation
Commissioners approved proposals Tuesday for :
• The hiring of Neil Boshoff as a police officer, and
• The resignation of Officer Ryan Jones.
Firefighter Recruits
Commissioners also approved a proposal to hire eight new firefighter recruits.
City Hears Aquatics Centers Review
Commissioners heard a presentation from the Aquatics Centers.
The season, which ran from June 12 to Aug. 8, produced fully staffed sites, with 87 percent of those staffers hailing from Covington.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., Sept. 21, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meetings can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, the TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline, and the TBNK Roku channels.
