KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT
MINUTES
MARCH 23, 2004
The regular meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court convened at 7:05 p.m. at the Independence Courthouse. Present were Judge-Executive Ralph A. Drees; Commissioners Adam Koenig, Barbara Black and Dan Humpert; Deputy Judge-Executive Scott Kimmich; Assistant County Attorney Brandon Voelker; County Treasurer Ivan Frye; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Police Chief Bill Dorsey; Interim Animal Shelter Director Dan Evans; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Engineer Charlie Meyers; Jailer Terry Carl; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and guests.
The Invocation was given and Pledge of Allegiance led by Commissioner Adam Koenig.
Approval of Minutes
Judge Drees asked for approval of the minutes for March 9, 2004. Commissioner Humpert made the motion with Commissioner Koenig's second that the minutes be accepted. Commissioner Black said the word of not should be inserted in front of "be proactive" on line 280 on page six. Judge Drees asked if the correction was accepted and all Commissioners and the Judge voted aye for the minutes to be accepted with the correction.
Delegations
There were no delegations to appear before the court.
Financial and Budgets
Treasurer Ivan Frye reporting: The claims list was acknowledged with no objections or questions and the claims list stood as approved for payment.
Mr. Frye introduced a budget adjustment list to the court. He pointed out that a large number of the items are not increases but a transfer between line items where the money was originally put in the wrong account at the beginning of the year. Some are also new accounts and were not funded.
Commissioner Humpert said some of the line items were taken out of reserve funds. Is it true that when money is moved out of the reserved funds we are lowering our reserve fund? Are we in the situation where we have gained in the reserve fund and we are taking down some of our gain?
Treasurer Frye said the transfers must be in balance based on the budget submitted and approved last June. It is in balance when submitted and there is a line item called reserve. This is the line that money is taken from to put into others if an account is underfunded and there is no other account from which to take it. The number is lowered that would have been left over at the end of the year if both revenue and expenses were exactly as budgeted. Our revenues will be a little lighter.
Commissioner Humpert asked if there were any revenues on the plus side that would offset the reserves on the negative side.
Treasurer Frye answered yes and we will have the same reserve with which we started the year because there are additional revenues. We don't recognize them as such because this would require a budget amendment. The transfer between line items is a much more simple process.
Commissioner Black said that maybe we should keep in mind the areas where transfers are needed when looking ahead to the next fiscal year because these only read as contingent appropriations and she did not know what these were. She stated this did not show the specific areas where we need additional funds.
Mr. Frye said these were the reserves being talked about.
Commissioner Humpert asked if it was correct that the ones that have a direct match are pretty much within the same line, and are the ones that do not have a direct match being pulled from the contingency reserve funds?
Mr. Frye said this was correct.
Commissioner Black said the reason for the gasoline increase would be self-explanatory. She asked if there were other areas that would need to be kept in mind for next year's budget for additional funds.
Mr. Frye said that utilities have hit us very hard and would need to be increased. The Justice Center Building is one place where we get recouped in this area where the utilities are 50 percent higher than last year. The parking garage and our own building are areas where we do not get recouped. When the budget is redone, we will see in the line item the adjusted amount. What we base the budget on is what we end with at the end of the year in expenditures, and adjust up or down as we see any necessary changes.
Judge Drees asked about the line item of fiscal agent charges for $100,000.
Mr. Frye answered that this was an account that did not previously exist and, when the bond issue was done, he had to pay the cost. This is a line that will be totally recouped from the bond issue and this was the total cost.
Judge Drees said the court would entertain a motion to approve Resolution 04-09-A.
Commissioner Koenig made a motion to approve the resolution with Commissioner Humpert's second. The resolution was unanimously approved upon roll call.
NEW BUSINESS
Handout No. 04-12
Authorize County Judge-Executive to sign an agreement between the court and the Independence Soccer Club for the lease of soccer fields, Brandon Voelker reporting: The Independence Soccer Club has come forward and is willing to take on the responsibility of maintaining Mills Road Park one and two soccer fields. This is an agreement that will basically take our maintenance out of having to mow the fields which further saves the county money.
Commissioner Black asked if this was also for scheduling purposes on the two fields and if this was a conflict with other teams that need to be scheduled.
Attorney Voelker said this was an agreement that came as a recommendation through the parks committee.
Deputy Judge Kimmich said the other soccer leagues had agreed to this contract. The Independence soccer group will handle the schedule and maintenance of Mills one and two, and the other soccer leagues are in concurrence and communication has been received from them to that effect.
Commissioner Humpert asked that since they are providing liability insurance, would this allow the county to reduce the liability insurance for Mills Road Park?
Mr. Kimmich said they are self-insured and it does not impact our rates.
Commissioner Black moved the resolution pass; seconded by Commissioner Koenig. The motion unanimously passed following roll call vote.
Handout No. 04-13
Approve request by County Jailer to surplus three restraint chairs, Terry Carl reporting: Mr. Carl said these chairs were used for behavioral problems that were purchased five years ago and are outdated. No parts can be ordered for them and we have a new one. Another jail wants to buy these and this will bring a few dollars back.
Mr. Kimmich asked why another jail would be eager to buy them if they cannot purchase parts. Judge Drees asked why we only need one now when we had three before?
Mr. Carl said he did not know why the other jail wanted to buy the chairs and the new one is more mobile and the others were stationary.
Commissioner Black moved that the chairs be put in surplus with Commissioner Humpert's second. Following roll call, the motion unanimously passed.
Handout No. 04-14
Approve request by County Jailer to bid detention center psychiatric services, Scott Kimmich reporting: In July of last year, the current provider was put on notice that we intended to bid for services in June of this year. This is consistent with our plans expressed at that time and consistent with the county's procurement policy that requires us to bid all contracts if they exceed $20,000 per year.
Commissioner Humpert asked if this would be effective January 1 or July 1.
Deputy Judge Kimmich answered on July 1 and the contract is between the fiscal court and the provider who will do the work in the jail and report to the court on a monthly basis.
Commissioner Black made a motion that bid services be approved; seconded by Commissioner Humpert. The motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.
ORDINANCES
No ordinances were presented to the court.
RESOLUTIONS
Resolution No. 04-08
Kenton County accept title to ownership and maintenance responsibility for Brightleaf Boulevard for a distance of approximately 0.369 miles upon completion of construction. The Judge asked for a motion to table the resolution until the state is notified that we have received the documentation, but are tabling action pending review of the County Attorney's office as to the relationship between the county and maintenance on roads within cities.
Commissioner Humpert asked that if we were talking about the old Narrows Road, which is a county road, and if we had upgraded that road, normally, we would enter into a deal with the city to turn the road over to them after it had been upgraded.
Mr. Kimmich answered in the affirmative.
Commissioner Humpert said the state had upgraded the road and it was in perfect condition, so this would be a good time to turn the road over to the city much like would have been done if we had done the maintenance on Narrows Road.
Deputy Judge Kimmich said we told the state it would be tabled and asked them to send the same documentation to the city of Erlanger.
Judge Drees asked for a motion to table the resolution. Commissioner Koenig made the motion with Commissioner Black's second. Motion was unanimously approved upon roll call.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Executive Order No. 04-19
Reappointment of individuals to the Rosedale Manor Board, effective March 23, 2004: Judge Drees announced that he had talked with Steve Wolnitzek about the members of this board and he said they were all good members and had served the board well.
Commissioner Humpert made the motion the reappointments be approved with Commissioner Black's second. Upon roll call of unanimous ayes, the motion carried.
Executive Order No. 04-20
Reorganization of the Kenton County Police Department, effective March 23, 2004: Judge Drees said this executive order had been pulled because of pending action.
Executive Order No. 04-21
Appointment of Dan Evans as Animal Shelter Director, effective March 23, 2004: Judge Drees said he thought Dan was a very conscientious person and he is willing to work on the budget and save money wherever and whenever he can.
Commissioner Koenig made the motion to approve the appointment with Commissioner Black's second. Roll call was called for and the motion was unanimously approved.
CITIZEN ADDRESS
There were no citizens present to address the court.
STAFF REPORTS
Judge-Executive Ralph A. Drees
Judge Drees announced that he would like to briefly speak to the court regarding changes in the meeting schedule. He said the staff had complained that they could not get everything done because of always preparing for the court meetings. The Judge asked the Deputy Judge to make comments about what he had heard from the staff.
Mr. Kimmich said that in meeting with the staff, there had been concerns about department head meetings on Friday and fiscal court on Tuesday, and on Fridays the agenda was being prepared for the meetings on Tuesday. The fiscal court is being asked on the first reading by summary and title, an ordinance of the Kenton County Fiscal Court to amend the schedule so that the court will meet three times monthly on the second, third and fourth Tuesdays. The first meeting will be in the morning and the last two will be at night. This will not affect our caucus, because we will basically have two business meetings and a town hall meeting. On the first Tuesday of the month we will not convene in regular session.
Judge Drees asked for comments.
Commissioner Humpert said that if we have a month that has five Tuesdays and if we don't meet on the first Tuesday, there would be three weeks before a meeting. Is this okay?
Mr. Kimmich said the treasurer would send out a claims list to the commissioners and ask for comments and enter them in the record to be presented at the next regular meeting. This is a mechanism in place for the treasurer to proceed with payment of the bills.
Commissioner Black asked if town meetings continue throughout the year.
Deputy Judge Kimmich answered there was not a town meeting scheduled in November or December and there is not one scheduled for July.
Commissioner Koenig asked how this affects the Friday staff meeting. Mr. Kimmich said the Friday staff meeting would continue but would be more about operational issues rather than getting agenda information ready to go out for fiscal court meetings.
Judge Drees said preparing for this meeting took a lot of time and it was hard to always get work done, and asked for a motion and a second for the meeting schedule change. Commissioner Black made the motion with Commissioner Humpert's second. The motion was unanimously approved following roll call.
Mr. Kimmich advised the court that because of advertising requirements, we will have our first meeting in April on April 6. On that date, we will have the final reading of this ordinance and the new schedule will begin in May. The County Attorney will have drafted a formal ordinance and present it for your review.
Roads and Improvements: Judge Drees stated that he was very pleased to see the ones that had been completed so far.
Commissioner Humpert said we had two that had just been completed and asked Joe Murphy to comment on them. Mr. Murphy said one was on Highland Pike and and one on Cruise Creek.
Commissioner Humpert then asked what the estimated total of construction was for both roads. Mr. Murphy answered that it was $161,000 for Highland and $61,000 on Cruise Creek.
Commissioner Humpert asked if photos were taken when the roads were finished. Mr. Murphy answered in the affirmative. Commissioner Humpert commented this may be something that could be put on the website. Judge Drees said this was a good idea but sometimes they do not show up too good, but if you have one that shows up real good, this would be great. Mr. Murphy said they usually take one before construction and after.
The Judge said that one of the more expensive ones was on Erlanger Road for a total of $500,000. He asked what the problem is on this road. Mr. Murphy said it was when you come off of Sycamore Lane where the concrete plant is located. Judge Drees asked if this is the same road that goes up to Cherry Hill. Mr. Murphy said yes and it is the one that goes up into the subdivision.
The Judge said there was a developer trying to develop the park and the entire area and that maybe it was best if they leave the road as is for now and keep in contact with Erlanger and see what is going to happen. It would not be good if the road is repaired now and torn up in a year or two. He had talked with the owner of the concrete plant and he is trying to get the plant moved. Mr. Murphy said it was on the ten-year plan and could be widened in the future.
Commissioner Humpert asked if this was a state road and Mr. Murphy said the city of Erlanger has part of it and the state owns part of it. The section we are looking at is on past the subdivision. Judge Drees asked if there was one house right after the subdivision and Mr. Murphy said yes and that there was another house past the bridge. Mr. Murphy said one reason this was costing so much is because of the need to shore the road along the creek.
Commissioner Black asked Mr. Murphy if he foresees a different kind of usage for the road because of the potential development in the area. Mr. Murphy answered that it is a narrow road but a lot of people cut across it to Turfway.
Commissioner Black asked if he thought this would continue to happen.
Judge Drees said if the people who live in the area need this road, we obviously have to repair it. He said we should hold off on this road project and take a good look at it.
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR
No report.
COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
There was no report given.
COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS
Commissioner Humpert – No report.
Commissioner Black – No report.
Commissioner Koenig – Nothing to report.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
There was no call for executive session
ADJOURNMENT
Judge Drees said there being no other business to conduct at the present time, he would entertain a motion for adjournment. Commissioner Humpert made the motion to adjourn with Commissioner Black's second. Everyone voted to adjourn.
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Ralph A. Drees
Kenton County Judge-Executive
ATTEST: _________________________________
Kenton County Fiscal Court Clerk
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