KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

M I N U T E S

April 25, 2006, 7:00 P.M.

The regular meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court was called to order at the Independence Courthouse.  Present at the meeting were Judge Executive Ralph A. Drees; Commissioners Dan Humpert, Barbara Black and Adam Koenig; Deputy Judge Executive Scott Kimmich; County Attorney Garry Edmondson; County Treasurer Ivan Frye; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Emergency Management Director Ed Burk; Police Chief Bill Dorsey; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; County Engineer Charles Meyers; Deputy Jailer Rodney Ballard; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

The invocation was given and pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Adam Koenig.

Approval of Minutes

Judge Drees asked the court for approval of the minutes dated April 11, 2006.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.  The motion was unanimously approved with the vote of aye.  Commissioner Black abstained from voting because she was absent from that meeting.

Delegations

There were not any delegations to appear before the court.

General Business

No general business items were brought to the court's attention.

Resolutions

Resolution No. 06-07

Resolution for budget adjustments, Ivan Frye reporting:  This is the time of the year when accounts start to run thin and some unusual items have come along that need to be funded.  This is a list of accounts that need money and the accounts from which the monies are to be taken.  Commissioner Humpert said he saw that the golf carts were purchased and wanted to know if there wasn't a line for this budget item and Mr. Frye answered no.  Mr. Frye said the carts were bought out of the CDBG fund and the county will reimburse the fund with golf proceeds.

There being no further discussion on the resolution, Judge Drees asked for a motion.  Commissioner Black made the motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Humpert and the motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.

Resolution No. 06-08

Authorization of an application to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for reimbursement of expenditures of the transportation of non-public school students, Ivan Frye reporting:  This is an annual agreement that the county has with the county school board, the city of Covington and St. Agnes for transportation provided by the county.  Reimbursement is requested through the Department of Transportation and this resolution is asking for approval to apply.

Commissioner Koenig moved for approval with a second from Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.

Resolution No. 06-09

Approval of commitment in the amount of $22,000 from the Kenton County Fiscal Court for a grant application to install a new fence at the Linden Grove Cemetery, Scott Kimmich reporting:  This is a request to apply for a grant through the Governor's Office for Local Development jointly with the city of Covington.  The total for the fencing project is approximately $73,000 and we will be putting up part of this money, the city of Covington will be putting up part of the money and we will ask the state cemetery preservation grant program to fund the balance.  Assuming the state approves the grant, we will go to bid for the fencing to match what is currently there.  This is an ongoing project since about a third of the fencing is already up but it is necessary to go ahead and complete the project, and we would have to use some of the money out of the CDBG fund in order to cover the cost should the grant application be approved.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Resolution No. 06-10

Approval of county road aid contract with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the Fiscal Year 2006-07, Scott Kimmich reporting:  Requesting authorization to proceed with the execution of a contract in the amount of $239,944 for the county road aid program.  Kenton County is the third lowest recipient of road aid funds in the Commonwealth.  The formula is broken down by population, miles of road and a number of other characteristics.  The bottom line is that these funds would be going into the county road aid program for distribution in Kenton County.

Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval followed by a second from Commissioner Humpert.  The motion was unanimously approved with the aye vote.

Ordinances

Ordinance No. 924.29

Regulation of the zoning of sexually oriented businesses, Garry Edmondson and Mike Schwartz reporting:  The final version of the ordinance has been distributed and went to the county planning commission to be considered for a recommendation and this has been done.  Essentially, it is the same as we have been talking about for years.

Judge Drees asked about the policing of the ordinance and how the county will be involved.  Mr. Schwartz said the county has the licensing regulations and it would go through the county attorney's office.  If this is adopted and a business came into the county and wanted to locate, the zoning would be regulated by adoption of this ordinance and the zoning administrator, NKAPC staff, would evaluate and make sure it met all of the requirements, especially licensing, through the county attorney's office and it would be the staff that would regulate the use.  If something was to go wrong in one of the businesses, it would probably come under the licensing arrangement as opposed to the zoning one.  The zoning has to do with location as opposed to distance and size of the stage and the separation of the dancer from the patrons, etc.

Mr. Edmondson said that Kenton County's licensing official is the one who issues the license and does the regular inspections to make sure the business is living up to the licensing regulations.  This has been in effect for several months.  The zoning aspect is like any other zone in that an application would have to be made for a permit.

Commissioner Humpert asked who would receive the zoning permit and Mr. Schwartz said the NKAPC would receive it.  Commissioner Humpert asked if this was true for all of the cities including the unincorporated ones and Mr. Schwartz said that it would be true except for the cities who did not adopt the one stop shop and they would have to go to that individual city.  Commissioner Humpert asked what if someone was in violation and did not have the permit and started to open up one of these businesses?  Mr. Schwartz said they would be notified that they do not have a permit and the county attorney's office would be consulted on the appropriate way to get this into the court system.  Mr. Edmondson said this could be prosecuted criminally or civilly.

Mr. Kimmich said the enforcement provisions of the operations were vested in the occupational licenses department when this initially passed and now the zoning is put in place so the potential for an applicant to make application would be there where heretofore there has not been much opportunity for this to occur.  Shouldn't the county examine whether the enforcement of the standards should remain in an office where they are generally dealing with the collection of taxes and issuing the business license versus the county police or a city authority to make those types of checks just as the county police department does inspections of the 231 permits to ensure they are not operating in a rowdy manner.  Should the county vest the inspection authority in those individuals who have police powers versus a taxing agency?

Mr. Edmondson said this is something that will be looked at in the future but right now we are still in federal court on the occupational license aspect of it and would like to leave it alone until we get a decision from the judge.  We have received and will continue to get assistance from the Covington police as well as the county police, sheriff's department and all of the others to help with the inspection efforts until the litigation aspect is over.

Chief Dorsey said that currently the only places to be inspected would be in the city of Covington and the policing of this ordinance is not going to be any different than it is now as far as inspection services.  The rules will be changed but the police have been inspecting these places all along and one of the arguments for making these changes is the ill secondary effects and the times it takes for police to run the services.  The police service is already there and all this zone does is change the rules of what the police are going to be looking for and it is believed that Covington intends to continue their inspection effort in these places.

Commissioner Humpert said the ordinance shows a lot of restrictions as far as distance and where these businesses can locate in Kenton County and asked if there is any permissible area in Kenton County where they can locate.  Mr. Schwartz said these areas were not mapped out because we did not advertise the locations where these places could go and some preliminary analysis was done and there are areas based on the distance requirements that would allow these businesses to locate within the zones identified.  Mr. Edmondson said this only applies to unincorporated Kenton County and there are also five cities where this would be possible and fifteen cities where this would not be possible at all.

Commissioner Black said there were a lot of studies that had been done in this area and the court had been deluged with information.  The county is now doing exactly what it should be doing.for the citizens and working with area planning to get the final mechanism set up to put the hedge of protection around our citizens and businesses.  This is the final step and this is what we are allowed to do by law according to what the Supreme Court has said and it is being done exactly as they said it should be done.

Judge Drees entertained the motion for passage and Commissioner Black made the motion.  Commissioner Humpert seconded the motion and the motion unanimously passed with a roll call vote.

Consent Agenda

Claims List-County Treasurer Ivan Frye:  There being no questions asked of the claims list, Judge Drees said warrants would be issued and the bills paid.

Administrative Actions

There were not any administrative actions to come before the court.

Executive Orders

Executive Order No. 06-28

Reappointment of Barbara Carlin to the Kenton County Municipal Planning and Zoning Commission for a four-year term, expiring December 31, 2007:  Commissioner Koenig made the motion for passage; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 06-29

Approval of Mary Middleton's reappointment to the Rosedale Manor Board for a three-year term, effective April 1, 2006:  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to pass with a second from Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 06-30

Retirement of Bailey Petty from the Department of Public Works, effective April 28, 2006:  The commissioners mentioned that the county was losing a good worker and he will be missed.  Commissioner Black made the motion to pass; seconded by Commissioner Koenig and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 06-31

Resignation of Joe Yaden as equipment operator in the Department of Parks, effective April 25, 2006:  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to pass the resignation with a second from Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with a vote of aye.

Citizens Address

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

Administrative Reporting

DEPUTY JUDGE EXECUTIVE-Scott Kimmich:  We have reached the end of the term for the current fiscal court as it relates to the setting of salaries that are mandated by state statute.  A resolution is being offered establishing the salaries for Kenton County Commissioners for the term to commence January 1, 2007 at a rate of $34,919.  It is directed that the salary shall be adjusted annually equal to an amount by which the Commonwealth of Kentucky calculates the annualized adjustment of other constitutional officers, provided that said amount shall not exceed the salary of the annualized increase established by the Kenton County Fiscal Court on an annual basis.  The salary is the current salary with the cost of living the commissioners have always received.  This basically says that the cost of living is all that is going to be given for the next four years.

Commissioner Koenig made the motion to pass the resolution; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

COUNTY TREASURER-Ivan Frye:  Nothing further to report.

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR-Joe Shriver:  Nothing to report.

COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT-Garry Edmondson:  Nothing else to report.

Commissioners' Reports

COMMISSIONER BARBARA BLACK-Wanted to remind and encourage the citizens to take their recycling products to the Kenton County Animal Shelter and deposit them in the recycling bins to contribute to the adoption center.  Also, wanted to encourage individuals that would like a memorial to their loved ones, or to honor a person, or as part of their wills or anything else they would like to contribute toward the adoption center that a program has been instituted where a person can bequeath money to the adoption center and that person will be recognized in the new center.  Call the animal shelter if there are any questions.

COMMISSIONER DAN HUMPERT-Nothing to report.

COMMISSIONER ADAM KOENIG-Nothing to report.

Judge-Executive's Report

Nothing to report.

Executive Session

An executive session was not called.

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the court, Commissioner Humpert made the motion to adjourn; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The court was adjourned with the unanimous vote of aye.