By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
The city’s new home is getting closer to finding its architects.
At the end of the Covington Commissioner’s regularly scheduled legislative meeting, Mayor Joseph U. Meyer had an important update.
“I would like to bring the Commission up on the search for architects for the new City Hall,” he said.
He went on to detail how the city had gotten 13 submissions from architectural firms, which was then reduced to six, and will be further reduced to three.
“Those three will be invited to provide the committee and us with a site plan and maybe a couple of renderings for their concept of the building — which we hope to have sometime in mid-December or thereabouts,” Meyer said.
He also noted the committee was impressed with the candidates, saying there were many national and international firms.
“The next step is to give the three finalists the notice to proceed,” Mayor Meyer said. “Now, one of the things that we’ve had some discussions on, including with members of the selection committee, is to give the final applicants a little bit of extra idea of what our expectations are.”
For instance, Meyer noted that in the past decades, City Hall has been in a tower that looked like an office building, as well as a retail building.
“It’s really time for us to have a City Hall that is noticeably a City Hall,” he said.
Secondly, the building needs to be durable. “We want a building that will last for 100 years and so there are some design considerations that should be taken into consideration,” he said.
“And the third element is — we’ll just call it timeless design,” he said. “In other words, we’re saying we don’t want the fad of the moment — we don’t want brutalism architecture you know — we don’t want something like that, but something that’s timeless.”
Meyer said they would give these guidelines to the finalists, and let the firms decide how they will implement them into their proposals.
“You know the thing about it — when you travel to a new community, it’s very apparent where the government center is,” said Commissioner Ron Washington. “You know if it’s a county courthouse or if it’s a city building and that’s what I would like to see and I believe that’s what our citizens would like to see — that there’s no doubt what that building is, it’s our City Hall.”
Afterward, Meyer said they would then be engaged in more detail with the architects.
Speed Hump Policy
Commissioners heard the presentation of a new Speed Hump Policy, which will provide “an established and consistent method for responding to community requests for traffic calming devices,” city documents read.
Commissioners reviewed the proposed policy, then provided a few suggestions before sending it back to city staff.
They will hear responses to their suggestions at next Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
HR Review Passed Over
Commissioners passed over a proposal to hire an outside firm to review the city’s Human Resources department. Commissioners will instead hear the proposal in two weeks.
Last week, they heard a proposal for the hiring of the company — Chicago-based Baker Tilly — to come in and provide:
Review of policies and procedures against best practices
Review of nonunion position titles and job descriptions
Analysis of nonunion compensation and classification system and pay scale for internal parity issues
Appraisal of use of technology including forms and Human Resources Information System (Paycom)
Review performance evaluation process and forms
Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts
Review sick leave and vacation accrual practices
The city will be using American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for the review, which will cost $39,900.
The only issue was that Mayor Meyer said he hoped that a local business would be able to accept the job, which would then allow the city to create a relationship and potentially use the local firm for more advice and help down the road.
NKY Solid Waste Management Area Plan update
Commissioners approved a resolution for the city to actively participate in the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area (NKSWMA), which includes the counties of Boone, Campbell and Kenton and is governed by the Northern Ky Solid Waste Management Area governing body, consisting of members of the three fiscal courts operating under an Interlocal agreement, from 2023-2027.
634 Scott St.
In a surprise addition to the agenda, the city accepted the gift of property on 634 Scott St. from Kenton County, as well as an order terminating an interlocal agreement involving a Farmers’ Market that was scheduled to go on that site almost 20 years ago.
Promotion
Commissioners approved the promotion of:
Bryan Snider, stormwater structure specialist
Hirings
Commissioners approved the hiring of:
Assistant City Solicitor Sheree Weichold
Kaitlyn Bryan for the position of Historic Preservation & Planning Specialist
Resignations
Commissioners approved the resignations of:
Assistant City Solicitor Logan Todd
Rick Dames, Code Enforcement
Street sweeper
Commissioners approved the purchase of a Street Sweeper, for $345,579.42.
Appointments
Commissioners approved the appointment of Todd Duesing, vice president and chief operating officer of the Cincinnati Arts Association, to the Northern Kentucky Convention Center Board.
Halloween hours
The city of Covington will observe Halloween from 6-8 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31.
Smith absent
Commissioner Shannon Smith was absent Tuesday night.
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., Nov. 1, 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.
