KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

APRIL 13, 2004

MINUTES

The regular meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court was called to order at the Independence Courthouse at 9:09 a.m.  Present at the meeting were Judge Ralph Drees; Commissioners Adam Koenig, Barbara Black and Dan Humpert; Deputy Judge-Executive Scott Kimmich; County Attorney Garry Edmondson; County Treasurer Ivan Frye; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Emergency Director Ed Burk; Special Projects Manager Ralph Bailey; Assistant County Attorney Brandon Voelker; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Information Technology Director Fred McKinley; Jailer Terry Carl; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.

The invocation was given and the pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Barbara Black.

Approval of Minutes

Judge Drees asked for approval of the minutes for April 6.  Commissioner Adam Koenig stated that he had one change to make on the minutes for the executive session.  The change was so noted and Commissioner Koenig made a motion to approve with the appropriate change; Commissioner Black seconded.  The minutes were unanimously approved following roll call.

Delegations

There were no delegations to appear before the court.

Finance and Budgets

Mr. Frye said a claims list had been given to the court for consideration, and if there were any questions, he should be called.

Commissioner Humpert asked about the quarterly report and Mr. Frye said it would be available next week.

Old Business

There wasn't any old business presented to the court.

New Business

Handout No. 04-19-Permission of the court to surplus computer equipment, Fred McKinley reporting:  There are some old monitors on the sixth floor that have been sitting there for six months to a year that need to be recycled.  This will be done through the Hamilton County Recycling Center whom we have an appointment with on April 16.

Commissioner Black made the motion to approve with Commissioner Humpert's second.  Following roll call, the motion was unanimously approved.

Handout No. 04-20-Request to advertise vacant lots owned by Kenton County Fiscal Court for sale, Ralph Bailey reporting:  Mr. Bailey presented the list of properties acquired by various means that had been passed out earlier to court members.  The accessed values run from $100 to $15,000.  Recent inquiries have been made on these properties so it was thought this would be a good time to advertise them and see if we could get them back on the tax rolls.

Commissioner Humpert asked where the 2.59 acres is on Webster Road.  Mr. Bailey answered it was on both sides of the road where Richardson Road intersects.  Commissioner Humpert then asked the value and Mr. Bailey answered that on the assessment it was $100.00.

Judge Drees asked when this was normally done if we got bids on all of the lots.  Mr. Bailey said these were advertised two years ago and we did not receive very much in response to them.  Mr. Bailey further said he was going to send a copy of the property list to adjacent owners in the area and maybe it would bring in more bids.  Judge Drees then asked what happens if no bids are received.  Mr. Bailey answered that two lots had been donated to Habitat for Humanity and they now had property on them.

Commissioner Black made a motion to advertise for bids; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.  After roll call vote, the motion was unanimously approved.

Handout No. 04-21-Request permission to extend service contract with Advantage Lawn Care for lawn care and landscaping, Ivan Frye reporting:  Mr. Frye said this contract was currently in place and expired at the end of the cleanup that had already taken place.  It is requested this contract be extended under the same terms through November of this year.  In September, we will be sending out bids for all lawn care for the coming year.

Commissioner Humpert made a motion the service contract be extended with Commissioner Koenig's second.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Handout No. 04-22-Request permission of the court to authorize Judge Ralph Drees to sign a bid acceptance for uniform and laundry services, Ivan Frye reporting:  This was approved from last week's agenda but we failed to have the step in of authorizing the Judge to sign the contract.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion with Commissioner Black's second to approve the signing of the contract.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Ordinances

There were not any ordinances presented to the court.

Resolutions

There were not any resolutions presented to the court.

Executive Orders

There were not any executive orders brought before the court.

Citizen Address

There were not any citizens present that wanted to address the court.

Staff Reports

Deputy Judge Scott Kimmich had nothing further to report.

Human Resources Director Joe Shriver had nothing to report.

County Attorney's Report

Attorney Garry Edmondson stated the court had a copy of a letter from CDS Associates that is a proposal for engineering services in conjunction with the improvements to Kyles Lane and Valley Drive, including a preliminary cost estimate for the construction.  Mr. Edmondson advised the court that it was unlikely other engineering professionals would have interest in this job.  He further advised the first step is to hire engineering services to do all the necessary engineering and let it out for bid.  We need a motion to authorize the Judge-Executive to enter into the contract for the engineering services.

Commissioner Humpert asked if this service was for a cost of more than $20,000.  Mr. Edmondson answered this was a few dollars more than $20,000 and he recommended the contract be approved for an amount not to exceed $20,000.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said that we now have out a proposal where we are bidding technical engineering services for all the roads in the county and, given the time sensitive nature of this issue, he feels it would be necessary for the court to declare an emergency to proceed pursuant to court agreement.  This will make it clear in the record how it was determined to use this engineer while we have bids currently on the streets.  The court needs a motion to declare an emergency on the recommendation of the county attorney and then have a separate motion to accept the proposal of CDS Associates based on the county attorney's recommendation.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to declare the emergency; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.  The motion was unanimously approved following roll call.

Judge Drees asked for a motion to accept the proposal of CDS Associates not to exceed $20,000.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion with Commissioner Black's second.  Following roll call, the motion was unanimously approved.

Attorney Edmondson also stated the court had a draft copy of the sexually-oriented business proposal that is almost in final form, probably by the end of the week, and asked that it be read by each member for next week's public hearing.  He asked Commissioner Black, because she will be out of town, to submit her comments in writing to be made part of the record.

Commissioner Humpert asked how the public hearing would be advertised and Attorney Edmondson answered that it would be put in the paper as a special meeting and there would be a first voting of an official ordinance.  Attorney Edmondson also announced the persons who did the study will do a presentation, the chief of police, and probably people from the industry will testify.

Commissioners' Reports

Commissioner Humpert – No report

Commissioner Black – Said she did plan to submit written comments for the next meeting and said she had made a lot of public comments about protecting our citizens against all the negatives of secondary effects of these types of businesses.  When these businesses come to an area, it decreases property value, increases crime and increases drug activity.  It also has harmful effects on families and businesses and there are many, many negative secondary effects.  This is why the Supreme Court has given government the ability to protect their citizens, businesses and property values.  She further stated she would like to applaud the efforts of the court to act in a preemptive way to put these type of licensing requirements in effect so that the problems can be prevented in the long term for our citizens and businesses.  This is a destructive industry on behalf of women, children and families in addition to all of the other effects.  This is a natural first step in the process toward sexually-oriented businesses.  I feel we are on the right path.

Commissioner Koenig – No report

Executive Session

There was not a call for executive session.

Adjournment

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to adjourn; seconded by Commissioner Black.  Motion unanimously carried.