KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

APRIL 6, 2004

MINUTES

The April 6 meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court held at the Independence Courthouse was called to order at 7:00 p.m.  Present were Judge-Executive Ralph A. Drees; Commissioners Adam Koenig, Barbara Black and Dan Humpert; Deputy Judge Scott Kimmich; Assistant County Attorney Brandon Voelker; Assistant County Treasurer Conley Thompson; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Emergency Management Director Ed Burk; Police Chief Bill Dorsey; Information Technology Director Fred McKinley; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.

The invocation and pledge of allegiance were led by Commissioner Humpert.

Approval of Minutes

Judge Drees asked for approval of the minutes for March 23, 2004.  Commissioner Humpert made a motion to approve the minutes with a second by Commissioner Black.  The minutes were unanimously approved.

Delegations

Warrant and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Reports, Ed Burk reporting:    There were 717 warrants served with 599 warrants entered.  There were 981 warrants purged leaving about 9,259 warrants in the system.  Attorneys Edmondson and Crockett made the decision to purge some very old warrants, some as old as 1996.

Mr. Burk also addressed the squad reports for February and March saying that during the month of February five failures occurred in different areas in the county.  He also gave the response time for different areas.  Also, during the month of March there were ten failures in different areas and he gave the response times for separate areas in March.  Listed also was the number of times an area responded outside of their city limits.

Commissioner Black asked about the warrants that were purged from the system including three felonies, and if there was any way to track them such as someone repeating an offense.

Chief Dorsey answered that if someone was going to be purged from the system and they had other warrants, it was not expunged from the system, and all of the warrants remained.  The warrants that were purged were primarily people with traffic fines and they were never going to be caught, some people had died or officers are no long here to testify against them, and they just plug up the system.  This expunging will now be an annual event but there will not be any felonies in the mix.  On two of the three felony warrants, the persons were dead and on the third one the person who had brought the charges had died.  Everything else was a misdemeanor.

On the CERT report, Mr. Burk said he would like to bring to the court's attention that we are now getting ready to initiate our community emergency response teams which will be private citizens who will be taught the basic skills they will need to respond to their community's needs in case of a major disaster.  There will not be enough first responders to take action and this will be a way to basically teach the citizens to take care of themselves, their family, their neighbors and their neighborhood.  The first course will be taught in Covington starting May 5 and another course will be started in Erlanger on August 11 and in Fort Mitchell on September 1.  We are looking for input from citizens who would like to volunteer, and if any of the public is interested in becoming part of the CERT program, please call our office at 392-1488.

Commissioner Black asked Mr. Burk to please tell people about what kinds of things they would be called upon to do and the training they will receive.

Mr. Burk announced their awareness will be increased in the kind of potential hazards that may occur in the area such as earthquakes and tornadoes.  They will be taught things they can do such as turning off water and gas, basic first aid, learn to control breathing and shock, light rescue and how to put out fires on a limited basis that will be taught by fire department personnel.

The Judge thanked Mr. Burk for his report.

Commissioner Humpert asked if the agenda could be revised by letting the citizens who had come to address the court come up next instead of having to sit through the entire meeting.

Judge Drees granted the permission and Mr. John H. Pohlgrees came forward to speak before the court.  Judge Drees informed him of the rule of not going over five minutes.

John H. Pohlgrees-Mr. Pohlgrees stated the reason he was there was because of the town center project in Crescent Springs.  He said he had had conversations with the Commissioners as far back as December or January and in the past week regarding the project.  The problem is with the taxes we have to deal with because of the project.

When the project came about we were mostly concerned with the traffic issues that is felt to be almost insurmountable at the present time.  Now, we also feel that the industrial revenue bonds and the tax incentives the city of Crescent Springs is giving the developer are unrealistic and unfair.  The county and city are going to be deprived of the tax dollars if the mall is built.  The real estate taxes could amount from $520,000 to $600,000 that will not be paid for 25 years and we think this is grossly wrong.  There will also be traffic and safety problems and the people who have lived there for 30 to 40 years will also be displaced.

The tax incentive is a law that was passed by the state and the cities are latching on to it by building malls and office buildings.  The developers are more than able to get the bonds if needed because it is an advantage with low paying interest rates.

We were not given a tax incentive when our homes were built and these people should be able to stand on their own merits.  A petition is being circulated in Crescent Springs that is turning out to be very successful with approximately 80 percent of the population signing it.

Judge Drees thanked Mr. Pohlgrees for his comments and said this is a law that was passed by the state last November 19 and he did not know what, if anything, could be done about it.  He said they were told about the hearing for Crestview Hills and went to Frankfort to protest the way it was being paid and the state law needed to be changed because it is too easy for the cities to give money to the developers.

Mr. Dave Carnes-Mr. Carnes thanked the Judge and the Commissioners for permission to speak before the court and said they had one of the best cleanups out in the South end of the county by picking up 61 tons of trash.  A lot of elderly people are helped by the cleanup who could not otherwise haul away garbage and a lot of tires were also hauled away.

Judge Drees said he certainly appreciated Mr. Carnes' comments and that he liked to see things cleaned up.

Financial and Budget

Mr. Conley Thompson said a claims list dated April 6 had been submitted for approval.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said there were two different bills to the same vendor for the same amount going to the Municipal Government League for $125.00 and on page six there were two bills for A&A Safety for $170.10.  He asked that these bills be checked for duplicates before they were paid.  Mr. Thompson said these would be checked.

The claims list was accepted and warrants will be issued for payment.

Old Business

There was no old business to be presented to the court.

New Business

Handout No. 04-15-Authorize Judge Drees to sign an agreement with Standard Life Insurance for county benefits, Joe Shriver reporting:  Mr. Shriver said we had had problems with the previous carrier regarding billing and administration and they came back with a higher quote for this year.  We have a company that matched the current rates we had and would remedy some of the problems we had with the prior carrier, and have expanded the coverage for in the line-of-duty public safety officers that is tripled if an officer is killed while on duty.

Judge Drees asked how much the coverage was for employees.  Mr. Shriver said a base coverage was provided of $40,000 term life for each employee and $120,000 for a public safety officer if killed in the line of duty at no cost to the employee.

Commissioner Humpert asked what the cost for Union Central Life for that was shown on the claims list.  Mr. Shriver answered that Union Central Life was for long-term disability, that Canada Life was the current provider and we pay a month in advance for life insurance.  It has been arranged contingent upon court approval that this check be diverted to Standard Life for the upcoming months.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion the handout be approved with Commissioner Black's second and the motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Handout No. 04-16-Authorize Judge Drees to sign an agreement for Web Focus Report Writer software with Information Builders, Inc., Fred McKinley reporting:  This software will provide a single tool to write all reports for all of the databases in the county where we now have a different tool for each program.  The program is web based and runs on the intranet and anyone who has an IE browser can use this program to run a report after it is set up.  The most important factor is that it will read our Cobol file system and it is the only one that will read it.

Judge Drees asked if the license fee was a one-time fee of $16,296 and would we be paying the other fee of $2,820 for the maintenance.

Mr. McKinley answered yes and the maintenance fee is a yearly fee.  It is currently an even swap with what we are now paying.

Commissioner Black asked if this purchase was in the upcoming budget and Mr. McKinley said it is in the current budget.  Commissioner Black then asked if, with this program, the reports are easily shared and if it would cut back on the number.  Mr. McKinley said it may not cut down on the number but it will cut down a lot on the time and is user friendly.

Commissioner Black asked what the program was replacing and the cost currently versus what is in use.

Mr. McKinley answered the maintenance would be a wash but he is replacing a program on hand that no one in the county can now use.  Also, they would not have to write Cobol programs that would take two to three days but use the new program that would take about one day which would increase productivity.  The savings will be ongoing in employee time by not having to write programs.

Commissioner Black questioned if this would offset the IT position that is being repositioned in the police and dispatch departments.

Mr. Shriver said no and that this program actually maximizes the in users time and has nothing to do with the new position.

Commissioner Koenig approved the motion for the Judge to sign the agreement with Commissioner Humpert's second.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Handout No. 04-17-Award bid for uniform and laundry services to Van Dyne Crotty, Scott Kimmich reporting:  We are recommending to reaward the bid to Van Dyne Crotty for laundry services who currently have the contract for the county.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve the contract; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.

Commissioner Black asked how long ago this had been bid out and did the company have the option of extending it.  Deputy Judge Kimmich answered that it was a one year contract and had been extended for four years, but the ability to extend it lapsed, and we thought it was best to go on the market to see what price we could get.  This company still submitted the best bid.

Following roll call, the motion was unanimously approved.

Handout No. 04-19-Grant of sewer easement to Sanitation District No. 1 and to seek sealed bids for the property for which easement is being granted, Brandon Voelker reporting:  The sewer easement grant will serve the development next to the property and the second request is to grant permission to seek sealed bids for the property of 2.75 acres that will be declared surplus and sold to be put back on the tax rolls.  He also announced that Dave Bengal and Jay Bayer are present to answer questions.

Commissioner Black asked for the name of the development and Mr. Voelker answered that it is Cody Meadows.

Commissioner Humpert asked if anything was on the 2.75 acres.  Mr. Bayer answered that it was a slipping hillside that falls down from Independent Station to Cody Road.

Commissioner Humpert asked if the property would ever be needed for right-of-way purposes for Independent Station Road.  Mr. Bayer answered that he was not aware of any intention of widening the road.  Deputy Judge Kimmich said if we were to do any widening of Independent Station Road, we would have to go to the other side where we already own the property.

Judge Drees asked for a motion for easement and to put the property up for sale.  Commissioner Black made the motion to approve the easement and Commissioner Humpert seconded the motion.

Commissioner Koenig asked why we would go through the easement level and not put it up for sale.  Judge Drees said they had consulted with the developer and the sewer is already there and when someone goes in to develop the property, they can tap on the sewer.

The Judge asked for a roll call vote whereupon the motion was unanimously approved.

Judge Drees asked for a motion to declare the property surplus and seek sealed bids for the sale of the property.

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

Ordinances

Ordinance No. 121.16-Second reading of an ordinance amending the court meeting schedule for the remainder of the 2004 calendar year.  Commissioner Black made the motion to approve the ordinance; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Resolutions

There were no resolutions to come before the court.

Executive Orders

Executive Order No. 04-22-Order lowering the flags to half mast on April 1, 2004, in honor of former Kenton County Probation and Parole Officer Kevin Price, effective March 30, 2004, for notification only.

Executive Order No. 04-23-Reappointment of Jackie Sawyers and Bill Walsh as members of the Airport Aviation Noise Abatement Committee, terms expiring March 21, 2006.  Judge Drees said he had called the airport and talked to the chairman who said they had attended every meeting and this is their second term.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion for the appointment with Commissioner Koenig's second.  On roll call vote, the motion was unanimously approved.

Executive Order No. 04-24-Reappointment of Steve Hatfield as a member of the Police Merit Board, term expiring March 21, 2008.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve with Commissioner Black's second.  Upon roll call, the order was unanimously approved.

Executive Order No. 04-20-Reorganization of Kenton County Police Department, effective March 23, 2004, Scott Kimmich reporting:  The reorganization would provide for a full-time technology person to be assigned to the police department working under the supervision of the dispatch manger to be hired. 

Commissioner Humpert asked if this had to do with the continuing expansion of technology at the dispatch center and the new units being put in each of the police cars and when they will be installed.

Mr. Kimmich answered yes and that installation will be fully installed by July 1, and this is why we feel it is important to have someone onsite on a daily basis.  The cities have notified as to how many they will need, as well as the sheriff's office.

Judge Drees asked if every department will be paying their own share.  Deputy Judge Kimmich answered in the affirmative.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve the reorganization; seconded by Commissioner Koenig.

Commissioner Black asked if this person would be maintaining the units and the console and also be responsible for training the other dispatch individuals on what happens when the reports start coming in.  Deputy Judge Kimmich said the employee would facilitate the training and make sure it takes place, and the vendors providing the technology will do the training.

The motion was unanimously approved following roll call.

Executive Order No. 04-25-Resignation of Grayon Caulk as police officer for Kenton County Police, effective March 21, 2004.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to accept the resignation with Commissioner Humpert's second.  The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Executive Order No. 04-26-Retirement of Ray Ruedebusch as foreman for the Public Works Department, effective May 1, 2004.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve with Commissioner Koenig's second.  Upon roll call vote, the motion was unanimously approved.

Executive Order No. 04-27-Appointment of various seasonal and part-time golf course employees, effective April 6, 2004.  Commissioner Black made the motion to approve with Commissioner Humpert's second.  The order was unanimously approved upon roll call.

Executive Order No. 04-28-Appointment of Chris Fichlie as a dispatcher for the police department, effective April 6, 2004.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.  The order was unanimously approved following roll call.

Staff Reports

Deputy Judge Kimmich asked for a brief executive session following the regular meeting.

Mr. Joe Shriver had nothing further to report.

County Attorney's Report

Attorney Voelker had no report.

Commissioners' Reports

Commissioner Humpert had nothing further to report.

Commissioner Black:  Made comments on the developments taking place in the county in regard to what she is hearing from citizens and that industrial revenue bonds should not be used at all for shopping centers.  Another complaint is that one unit of government is able to give away revenue to be taken from another unit of government without that unit having input or approval.  Number three is when you bring in development, it increases pressure on the infrastructure and services that are provided by other agencies such as county government and schools.  Also, these jobs are not high paying jobs like the ones at Fidelity or Toyota but minimum wage jobs.

These malls are certainly not related to industry and, when these type of developments are brought in that produce added burden to the infrastructures and schools, the entities that provide these services should certainly have the funds to provide it.  It is very unfair for Kenton County schools or government to be asked to provide the infrastructure, education and all the various services because of this type of development if you are not going to provide the money for them to do so.  This also adds pressure to the people here who are already paying their taxes and to all the other businesses who pay their fair share if you forgive the taxes for 25 years that should be paid by a large development.  This is a total estimate of about $300,000 per year for every school year.

Executive Session

Deputy Judge Kimmich asked if the court could go into executive session pursuant to KRS 61.810, Subsections F and B regarding potential litigation and economic development.  Commissioner Black made the motion to go into the session with Commissioner Koenig's second.  The court voted to go into the session.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to come out of executive session with Commissioner Koenig's second.  The motion was unanimously approved.

Adjournment

Following the executive session, Commissioner Humpert made the motion to adjourn with Commissioner Black's second.  The court was adjourned following unanimous approval.