KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

MINUTES

APRIL 27, 2004

The meeting was called to order at the Independence Courthouse at 7:00 p.m.  The following members were present:  Commissioners Dan Humpert, Barbara Black and Adam Koenig; Kenton County Judge-Executive Ralph A. Drees; Deputy Judge-Executive Scott Kimmich; Assistant County Attorney Brandon Voelker; County Treasurer Ivan Frye; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Emergency Management Director Ed Burk; Police Chief Bill Dorsey; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Assistant County Jailer Rodney Ballard; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.

Commissioner Dan Humpert gave the invocation and led the pledge of allegiance.

Approval of Minutes

Judge Drees asked for approval of the minutes of April 13.  Commissioner Black moved for approval with Commissioner Humpert's second.  The minutes were approved upon vote by the court.

Delegations

The Judge read a proclamation to the court designating the month of April as fair housing month in Kenton County.

Financial and Budgets

Claims list, Ivan Frye reporting-The claims list had been presented to the court and the court was asked if there were any questions.

There being none, it was announced warrants would be issued and all claims would be paid.

Old Business

There was not any old business presented to the court.

New Business

HANDOUT NO. 04-23-Approve employment contract with Jim Liles and the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force, Brandon Voelker reporting:  The Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force is made up of Boone, Kenton and Campbell Counties.  Mr. Liles has been selected to replace Mr. Payne and this is an agreement for one year.  There are a couple of changes to be made that Chief Dorsey and I are working out.  I am asking the court for approval to enter into the contract and have the Judge sign it under the condition that the changes in the contract meet the approval of Mr. Kimmich, Chief Dorsey and me.

Commissioner Black asked if the changes had to do with possible relocation and those kinds of items.  Attorney Voelker answered this was not needed in the contract.

Commissioner Black asked if there were other parts of the contract that would be changed or altered.  Mr. Voelker said there was a date that needed to be changed in section 20.  It is only a one-year contract and he wants to have the contract renewed and reviewed each year which, I think, speaks a lot for Mr. Liles.

Commissioner Black then stated we added on the second page at the top in the final paragraph before section two that there are five days off per year.  Mr. Voelker said this was correct.

Judge Drees said that under performance evaluation it states that the employee shall be entitled to discuss the evaluation fully with the board.  What board is it?

Mr. Voelker said this would be the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Task Force that is made up of the three county police chiefs and the three deputy judge-executives or county administrators depending on the office of each county.

Mr. Kimmich said the reason for the contract is that unlike in past situations, everyone on the board agreed that the director should have police powers.  If they are on a raid, he can engage in police activities.  The only way to do that is to have this individual as a sworn police officer.  While our county attorney feels very strongly that we have created a police authority by interlocal agreement and the drug strike force in swearing in police officers, the other two county attorneys do not agree.  The most logical way to resolve this dilemma is to have the strike force to employ the director and bring the contract to this court so he can be an employee of the court with the drug strike force responsible for his actions.

Commissioner Humpert asked if the drug strike force was also responsible for his salary? 

Mr. Kimmich answered yes.

Commissioner Black asked if they were also responsible for the fringe benefits.  Mr. Kimmich answered that the drug strike force was responsible for everything in the contract.  She also asked if we reimburse the county since he is under contract with the court, and Mr. Kimmich answered yes.  Kenton County is now serving as the fiscal agent for the drug strike task force, and collects a nominal fee for paying all of their bills that will be paid through the payroll account.  Then, she asked if he would be sworn in by our police chief and Deputy Judge Kimmich said he would be sworn in by the Judge-Executive's office.

Attorney Voelker said he would be a member of our police department by contract much like a school resource officer.  The Department of Justice in Frankfort wanted to make sure that if he is involved in a bust or something, that he is a sworn officer so nothing could be thrown out of court on a technicality.

Judge Drees asked if the expenses would be prorated by population or equally by the county.  Mr. Kimmich said each of the three counties would put $30,000 into the drug strike force and the remainder of the budget is made up of federal grants that pass through the state justice cabinet and as a forfeiture which are the funds we can recover by selling cars, houses and other valuables owned by those involved in the drug trade.

Commissioner Koenig moved the contract be accepted with conditional approval; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

HANDOUT NO. 04-24-Authorize Judge-Executive Ralph A. Drees to sign agreement to provide the professional services of the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area, Brandon Voelker reporting:  This is an agreement that would allow Boone County to serve as solid waste coordinator for Kenton, Boone and Campbell County.  The ADD district formerly performed this service.

Mr. Kimmich said this was done for budgetary reasons because Boone County currently has a full-time coordinator as well as administrative staff, and they can file the annual reports and maintain the necessary paper work without contracting with the ADD for those services for a savings of about $22,500 per county per year.

Commissioner Koenig asked if this was being currently done and not formalized by contract.  Mr. Kimmich said this was correct.

Commissioner Black asked if the resolution would be identical to Campbell County.  Commissioner Humpert asked if we had a resolution.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said each county does it differently and Campbell County always authorizes the Judge to act only with a resolution.  If the court chooses the words Kenton County to be inserted, we can adopt a resolution as was passed in Campbell.

Commissioner Humpert said he felt very comfortable with the resolution if Kenton County could be inserted in the place of Campbell County and he would make a motion to pass the resolution.  Commissioner Black seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved upon a roll call vote.

HANDOUT NO. 04-25-Request to bid road stabilization services for Marshall Road, Joe Murphy reporting:  There are two landslides occurring on Marshall Road located between Stewart and Klete Road for a total of 350 feet.  All of the plans and paperwork have been done and we are requesting to go to bid.

Commissioner Humpert asked if this was the one discussed last year that was authorized to go to engineering.  Mr. Murphy's answer was that it was one of those, and Mr. Kimmich said it was one of the bond issue slips.

Commissioner Black asked if this was the final slip and Mr. Murphy answered this was the most active and this should take care of all the active slips on Marshall and that section of the road.  She then asked if this was the one where the bridge was done and Mr. Murphy answered in the affirmative.

Commissioner Koenig moved that the request be accepted; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.  The request was unanimously approved on roll call.

HANDOUT NO. 04-26-Award bid submitted by Bluegrass Investments for vacant lot located between Cody and Independence Station Roads, Ivan Frye reporting:  There was only one bid received for $60,000.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to award the bid; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The motion was unanimously approved following roll call.

HANDOUT NO. 04-27-Request to extend contracts for paving, sand, Ford and GM automotive replacement parts, gasoline and diesel fuel.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to approve the contracts with Commissioner Black's second.  The request was unanimously approved upon roll call.

HANDOUT NO. 04-28-Authorize purchase of communications equipment from Mobilcomm as a sole source and authorize purchase of equipment from state contract, Chief Dorsey reporting:  This a project being conducted between the fiscal court and St. Elizabeth Hospital.  In a recent radio survey for fire departments, it was discovered that the Central Kenton and the area of Dixie Heights High School was sorely lacking in coverage from the fire dispatch.  In the building of the system, there should have been one additional transmitter placed somewhere, probably in Kenton Lands Road, that somehow got missed.  This will replace the missing transmitter in the fire frequency atop St. Elizabeth's new building of seven or eight stories with a cupola on top and the transmitter antenna will go on top of that.  This is a total of $88 - $89,000 project with committed funds of $45,000 from the Fire Chiefs fund from Kenton County Fiscal Court and $45,000 from St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The first request is from Mobilcomm, Inc. that is a sole source bid for labor and small items to make installation work.  The second request is on state contract from Motorola, Inc. for the transmitting equipment.

Mr. Kimmich said in the initial discussion the cost was for $135,000 and negotiations were done with the vendors and the cost was brought considerably down.

Commissioner Koenig asked if it was known what happened to the missing transmitter and how it occurred.  When the system was redone, there were supposed to be four and one was supposed to go on Kenton Lands Road.  Is this the same transmitter we were talking about or is this something different?  Chief Dorsey said he was not here at that time and could not answer that and there is not a transmitter out anywhere, and that piece of the equipment was never bought and installed.

Commissioner Black asked if this was in the original text and if it was paid for?  Chief Dorsey answered that it was never paid for but listed in the original specs as needed.  There was discussion that it was needed but there was some trouble about placing it on a tower still owned by Mobilcomm that is not a free tower.  If you go on this site, there is a monthly fee for site space and, apparently, some discussion or disagreement arose over that particular payment, and for some reason the site never got installed.

Commissioner Black asked if, in the bid, was this particular site figured in the cost.  Chief Dorsey answered that it was not and we never paid for it or received it.  The original engineering spec calls for it but it was never received.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said that as close as he could tell in reviewing the situation it was in the specifications that were put out for bid, but between the time the project was bid and the time it was installed, it was removed from the document.

Judge Drees asked for a motion to declare the sole source of Mobilcomm for an amount of $34,784 and approve the amount of $54,000 for Motorola that is under state contract. 

Commissioner Black made the motion to approve the items with Commissioner Koenig's second.  Following roll call, the motion unanimously passed.

HANDOUT NO. 04-29-Permission to seek request for purchase of various emergency management equipment, Ed Burk reporting:  Asking the fiscal court to allow the seeking of proposals for personal protection equipment with money that is being spent from homeland security funds funneled down from the Department of Homeland Security through the state.  This is the first of the equipment DES says that we need to get and this will provide every law enforcement officer in the county with the necessary equipment to escape and protect themselves in the event there is a terror attack with biological agents.

Commissioner Humpert asked if the equipment will be bought with homeland security funds and Mr. Burk answered yes.  Commissioner Koenig asked how much of these funds we have?  Mr. Burk stated in the first round there were a little over $50,000 and there was approximately $140,000 on the second one.

Commissioner Black asked if we had had any other expenditures and how are we spending the money.  Mr. Burk answered that the DES Council sat down and proposed a list of items that has been prioritized and it is cheaper to buy the equipment and do the testing than it is to have the testing done.  The next recommendation they had was to get an accountability system for all first responding agents in the county.  This would give us the ability to electronically track who is and is not at a scene.  This could also allow us to track the bar code on a driver's license to get information, so it is a very robust system.

Commissioner Black asked if this would take all of the funds and Mr. Burk said it would exhaust the funds.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said he attended a meeting last week in which Rueben Borales, Special Assistant to the President for Local Government Affairs, was speaking and he said they have released $130,000,000 in homeland security dollars to Kentucky.  So far, there is still over $85,000,000 laying in the account in Washington.  Is there any discussion at the state level as to how they are going to get this money out to the local units of government and what the time line is for that?

Mr. Burk said the state has developed hoops that have to be gone through for the 2003 funds that are being currently spent, part of which is putting together a council and you have to have the mayor of each city to sign off on the agreement.  The list that was put together after the council was developed had to be sent to the state for approval who in turn sends it to the federal government for approval and then it comes back to us.  He stated he did not know how the state is dealing with the money.

Judge Drees said part of the problem in Kentucky was because of the administration change.  Mr. Burk said that was true and it was still being determined how the '04 money was going to be divided and spent.  Twenty percent of the funds go to the state and 80 percent is supposed to go back down to local government and the question is how they are going to divide and put it out.  The funds received this time were based on 70 percent of existing as a county and 30 percent based upon population.

Commissioner Humpert asked who would be responsible for training to use the equipment.  Mr. Burk answered that it would ultimately be his responsibility.

Judge Drees asked for a motion.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to authorize the request; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.  Following roll call, the motion was unanimously approved.

HANDOUT NO. 04-30-Award a bid for Wolf Road stabilization to NeCamp Construction Company, Ivan Frye reporting:  This is another one of the slips that is part of the bond issue and we took bids on these and this is the low bidder.  The bid was reviewed by Thelen who prepared the specs and they have also recommended that the bid go to NeCamp.

Judge Drees asked for the engineering price and Mr. Frye said he did not remember but he could look it up and tell the Judge tomorrow.

Commissioner Black made the motion to approve with Commissioner Koenig's second.  The motion was unanimously approved following roll call.

Ordinances

There were no ordinances to be presented to the court.

Resolutions

RESOLUTION NO. 04-09-Authorize an application to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for reimbursement of expenditures for transportation of non-public school students:  The amount of $700,000 has been appropriated in the 2003-04 budget for this item.  Judge Drees asked for a motion to approve the authorization.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Executives Orders

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04-29-Reappointment of Louis Howard as a member of the Kenton Fire Protection Board:  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve with Commissioner Black's second.  The motion was unanimously approved.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04-30-Appointment of William Kreutzjans as a member of the Assessment Appeals Board:  Commissioner Humpert made the motion; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04-31-Appointment of Jim Liles as the Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Task Force:  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to approve with Commissioner Black's second.  Following roll call, the motion was unanimously approved.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04-32-Appointment of seasonal maintenance workers for the Public Works Department:  Judge Drees asked if these were part-time workers.  Mr. Kimmich said they were part-time seasonal and would work up to six months.

Commissioner Black made the motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04-33-Seasonal employees with Kenton County Golf Courses:  Commissioner Humpert asked the difference between part-time maintenance and seasonal workers.  Mr. Shriver answered that basically these had an effect on the retirement system.  The retirement system uses these definitions, and what it means, is that we can work a person for 40 plus hours a week for up to six months, and after that period, we would have to put them into the retirement system based upon their rules.  However, if they are declared seasonal and work under six months, they are classified as a seasonal person that we do not pay benefits toward.

A part-time individual is someone that works under full-time status but for a longer period of time throughout the year and they are more beneficial to some of the seasons that do not quite fit within the six-month range.  Sometimes at the golf courses, people are needed into the fall to help with aeration and other issues.  It is the same in parks.

Commissioner Humpert asked if this could be a 12-month employee but not work 40 hours per week.  Mr. Shriver said it was very unlikely they would be a 12-month but they could be 10-month employees.  They would not work through the winter.

Commissioner Humpert asked how many hours per week they would work and Mr. Shriver answered they would work less than 25 hours per week.  It is a give-and-take process as to whether or not you would want the person for a full week and work them six months or would you want the person to work less than a full week.

Commissioner Humpert asked if the most they could work would be 25 hours per week up to 12 months out of a year and the most seasonal maintenance could work would be 40 hours per week but they could work for only six months.  Mr. Shriver answered we could work them as much as we want for up to six months.

Mr. Voelker said that if you tabulate what Mr. Shriver is telling you, it would be 1,000 hours in the retirement system and this would come out to be 25 hours per week.  Mr. Shriver also stated that we very rarely have a seasonal employee that goes over 1,000 hours in a year.  In the retirement regulations, six calendar months is defined as one-half year and this is very closely monitored.

Judge Drees asked for a motion for the hiring of the employees.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Judge Drees asked how long the wages stated on the order had been in effect.  Mr. Shriver said we used to have a scale that was a flat $8.00 per hour no matter how many years an employee worked here.  We did want to do a small enticement without breaking the budget so we went to a tiered system where each year an employee gets a .50 cent raise for coming back to us and this has been in place for three years.

There being no further discussion, Judge Drees asked for a motion of approval.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to approve with Commissioner Humpert's second.  Motion was approved upon roll call.

Citizen Address

There were not any citizens present to address the court.

Staff Reports

Deputy Judge-Executive Kimmich – Nothing else to report.

Human Resources Director – Nothing to report.

County Attorney's Report

Attorney Voelker said he wished to congratulate Mr. Shriver on passing the bar exam and that he would be sworn in on Friday.  The rest of the court members congratulated him.

Commissioners' Reports

Commissioner Koenig – This weekend is the world's largest disk golf weekend at Banklick.  We have it every year on the first weekend in May.  It usually starts at 10:00 a.m. and for $10.00 you get a shirt and a disk and you can have a lot of fun around Banklick Park.

Commissioner Black – Said one item she wanted to make sure was on the agenda for the retreat is the discussion of the various developments utilizing industrial revenue bonds occurring in cities across Kenton County and the effects they are having on Kenton County schools and on the county.  There are now three that have been approved and the cost to citizens and businesses paying their fair share is going to be enormous over the next 20–25 years.  We as a court need to face this and talk about it and, I believe, need to take a public stand and make a statement because I know the law has not changed.  This is hurting our county and school children, and over the next 20-25 years will have an enormous impact on the businesses that are already there.

Judge Drees said that he certainly agreed with this.  Commissioner Humpert asked what the total amount was for the three.  Judge Drees said the bond they were going to sell for Crestivew Hills was $90,000,000 but it may not have been valued that way.  The one in  Crescent Springs was for $45,000,000 and the one in Ft. Wright was for $21,000,000.  Commissioner Humpert then stated that we were looking at $155,000,000 worth of property that we are losing county and school taxes on because of a city giving this away without the county having a say in it.  This is why the law needs to be changed. 

Judge Drees said the state has to change the law.  Crestview Hills said we will get some payment in lieu of taxes and we will not lose it all.  The total amount of taxes from the other two cities for schools, the county and other taxing districts will be lost, and we will get very little from Crestview Hills.

Commissioner Humpert said the original intent of this law was for good job generation such as manufacturing for economic development reasons.  Now, we are doing this for all kinds of reasons.

Judge Drees said this would be discussed further.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said Secretary Rudolph was very responsive to the Judge's questions and concerns over this project.  An eye-opener for Secretary Rudolph was that it is a policy of the state to approve these without notifying all of the parties.  The representative for the city of Crestview Hills said the city did not know why the state personnel was listening to the county.  The Secretary said the city and county need to work this out among themselves.

They are now on notice in the Finance Cabinet that Judge Drees wants to be notified when an application for bonds is made that affect Kenton County.

Commissioner Humpert – Nothing else to report.

Executive Session

There was no executive session called.

Adjournment

There being no other business to come before the court, Judge Drees asked for a motion to adjourn.  Commissioner Humpert made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Commissioner Black.  The meeting was adjourned upon unanimous approval.