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COV commission hears reports on architectural firm for new City Hall; talks bike friendly city, more


By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter

Perhaps Andrew Wilhoite said it best.

The city’s director of special projects and intergovernmental affairs introduced himself to the Covington Commission at their regular caucus meeting Tuesday night, and he did so by describing how City Hall has had a “migratory existence” over the past 50 years.

He outlined how the Commission’s home has existed in five different locations in 10 years.

“This temporary fix is still here,” he said, referring to the current address at 20 W. Pike St.

“In 2019 the city Commission began the process looking for the principles that would guide us in developing our new City Hall,” he said.

In 2020, the city purchased property at 620 Scott St. and a space analysis was conducted determining that 35,000 square feet would be needed to facilitate growing staff needs. On Sept. 6, 2022, an RFQ request for qualifications was issued looking for a for an architect for the new City Hall building.

Wilhoite said 13 submissions came into the city from all over the world. They cut the list to six, and those firms were interviewed, then cut to three. Renderings were submitted and further interviews were conducted.

The committee chose Brandstetter Carroll, Inc., and the Elevar Design Group, which have extensive experience, including 40 city halls, more than 100 fire/EMS/police stations, and 47 courthouses, including the Kenton County administration building, the Delhi Township Town Center, the Campbell County administration building, the Newport City Hall and recently, the Kenton County jail.

The design phase is to last through July 2023 with completion of construction in March 2025, Wilhoite said.

“This team demonstrated the competency to deliver a top tier City Hall,” he said.

City officials made sure to note that the request was not to approve the contract, but to approve the negotiation of the contract. An actual contract will be brought back to the Commission in the future.

The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.


Tri-State Trails

Commissioners heard a proposed agreement between the city and Tri-State Trails, which will work with Covington and Newport staff to “develop a Bicycle Transportation Plan” which will include:

• Data collection and review
• field investigation
• inventory and mapping
• safety and needs analysis
• project evaluation and prioritization
• a public involvement process
• budget development and
• identification of funding sources

The cost will be covered by a third party.

The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda. 


Finance Review

In November, an outside review of the city’s Finance Department revealed 55 high-priority recommendations for change — including major upgrades on everything from creating standard operating procedures for employees, to providing more training on in-house software.

Commissioners heard a proposal Tuesday to adopt the Chicago-based Baker Tilly firm’s recommendations.

“I am only asking the Commission to adopt the plan,” Finance Director Steve Webb said. “Adoption of the plan does not authorize any incremental expenditures related to the plan. Any new positions, contracts or other engagements relating to the plan would continue to come before this Commission individually in the same manner as they would in any other circumstance.”

Webb did not address each recommendation, but he did describe how his team prioritized the items.

“We started by looking at which recommendations would get the most return on investment with respect to time,” he said. “There’s so many things to do and staff stretched thin.”

The proposal was placed on next week’s regular agenda.

BusinessFlare LLC

Commissioners budgeted funding from the Economic Development Fund to “develop marketing strategies, messaging and appraisal oversight associated with the development parcels being created in the Covington Central Riverfront redevelopment area.”

After an RFP the city received two proposals and a selection committee determined that BuslnessFlare LLC provided the best proposal for the services.

Staff recommended the city hire BuslnessFlare LLC for $60,500.

The proposal was placed on next week’s regular agenda. 


Goebel Park Design

Commissioners heard a proposal for design and engineering improvements for Goebel Park.

“Goebel Park is in dire need of improvement — sooner rather than later,” city documents say. “And while the 1-75 project will impact the park significantly, the front part of the park (Glockenspiel, playground and shelters) will not be affected nearly as much. Therefore, to ensure that the park is functioning at the highest level, we would like to request ARPA funds to start this process. We will be looking to install new play spaces, new/improved picnic spaces, restroom facilities and drastically improved landscaping.”

The city will be using $40,000 in America Rescue Plan Act funding for community engagement, survey work, design and engineering services, as well as assistance with contractor management. The plan is to complete design and engineering by July 2023.

The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda. 


Voting Issues

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Joseph U. Meyer wanted to bring up the topic of elections.

“We went through an election last November that by most accounts was very challenging,” Meyer said. “People had to wait two, three-plus hours in line in order to cast their ballots, so it was very difficult.”

He noted one of the challenges was the change to polling stations from the traditional precincts, which resulted in some places having too many voters — the Convention Center had more than 10,000 while the Calvary Baptist Church had more than 7,000.

“One of the facts of the changes last year is that voter participation in Covington was significantly down,” Meyer said. “We can’t help but think that it’s because of two reasons — one, people didn’t know where to go vote; and the second thing is, they couldn’t get there.”

Commissioners noted that lack of transportation and long wait times added to the frustrations.

Why is it important now? Because in about a month, the election board will be accepting recommendations for change.

“There shouldn’t be a barrier for them to (vote),” said Commissioner Ron Washington, who then asked if the body could write a letter to the board.

“To say that we as a city are against this, that we believe that our access to voting should be opened up more,” Washington said. “This is wrong.”

Meyer agreed and said the city would draft the letter. 


Occupational License Fee

Just like last week, the Mayor talked about the rising occupational license fee in Kenton County.

“I mentioned the fiscal court’s decision to triple the occupational license fee and its impact on us,” he said. “Now I went looking for a lot of detail and description about what’s going on.”

He says he couldn’t find two pieces of information: How much money the county plans to make on this increase, and what exactly they will spend the money on. He did note, however that some estimates have placed the number between $15-$20 million.

“Our motivation for being concerned about the fiscal court’s action and increasing the occupational license fee is its impact on our competitiveness in our desirability as a place to attract jobs and economic development,” the Mayor said. “We have been told, literally for decades, that our occupational license fee (which was 2.45 percent) is an impediment to our economic growth … With the fiscal court’s decision our rate will now be north of 3.36 percent — it’ll be by far the highest in this region. If 2.5 was an impediment to economic development what in the world is 3.36 going to be?”

He said a group of mayors will attend the next executive meeting to discuss the issue.

“We will hear lots more about that in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

Retirement

Commissioners heard the proposed retirement of:

• Eric Deardorf, fire department


The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.

Reappointment

Commissioners heard the proposed reappointment of:

• Bradie Bowen, Housing Authority of Covington

The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.


New Hires


Commissioners heard the proposed hiring of:

• Alicia Chappel, Recreation Program Coordinator 

The proposal was placed on next week’s consent agenda.

Next Meeting

The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., Jan. 24, 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.


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