KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT
M I N U T E S
OCTOBER 24, 2006, 9:00 A.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; Public Safety Director Bill Dorsey; Police Chief Ed Butler; County Engineer Charles Meyers; Jailer Terry Carl; Colonel Rodney Ballard; Fleet Management Director Roger Wells; County Sheriff Charles Korzenborn; Assistant County Attorney Stacey Hege; Special Projects Manager Ralph Bailey; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
The invocation was given and pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Barbara Black.
Approval of Minutes
Judge Drees asked the court for approval of the minutes dated October 10, 2006. Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Black. The motion was unanimously approved with the vote of aye.
Delegations
Permission to go out for bid for the Administrative Office of the Courts for the eighth floor of the Kenton County Justice Center, Ralph Bailey reporting: The renovation of this floor is because of the family court that is being paid for from state funds. The fiscal court is actually a conduit and an overseer for these funds. Mr. Frye said as soon as the bills are received they will be paid so the county will not be holding any funds.
Commissioner Black made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Koenig and the motion was unanimously approved with a roll call vote.
General Business
No general business items were brought to the court's attention.
Resolutions
Resolution No. 06-07D
Budget adjustments recommended by the Kenton County Treasurer to provide necessary funding, Ivan Frye reporting: This is a typical housekeeping effort to move money into accounts that have shown to be inadequately funded at the beginning of the year. The major one is the recognition of donations that have been received for the animal shelter that is being put into a separate account to keep count of it. This is the total through June 30 and there are monies that have been received since June that will be in addition to this amount.
Commissioner Humpert asked if this amount included the recent fundraiser held for the animal shelter by the non-profit organization and Mr. Frye answered no. Commissioner Humpert said when over half of the money was received it would be a good time to start thinking about the building of the adoption center and we are getting in the ballpark of having half of the money.
Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Koenig and the motion was unanimously approved with the aye vote.
Ordinances
Ordinance No. 924.32 (Action postponed until November 14)
Second reading amending the zoning map for an approximate 94 acre parcel located at the Southeast corner of the intersection of Taylor Mill Road with Manor Lake Drive from R-1B (single family) and A-1 (agricultural) to R-1B, single family residential zone with a planned united development overlay zone.
Consent Agenda
Claims List-County Treasurer Ivan Frye: Commissioner Black asked about the Beacon Electric Company item on page two and the IT network connection. Mr. Frye said the major part was to rewire the computer room and wire it down to the large switch in the basement and to connect that to the emergency generator. Heretofore the computer room was not on the emergency generator and the servers would go down, and this had to be put on the emergency generator because there is an emergency operation upstairs that cannot be opened if there is no computer network.
There being no further questions, Judge Drees said that warrants will be issued and the bills paid.
Administrative Actions
Handout No. 06-61
Intergovernmental agreement for the Kenton County Public Safety Communication Center on behalf of the county and the city of Covington: Judge Drees said there is a written agreement with the city of Covington with a few amendments to be added. Any difference in pay between the city and county employees including the benefits will be picked up by the city and not by the county.
Commissioner Humpert asked if new employees would be hired by the county rate and Judge Drees said yes. Commissioner Black said she did not see this in the agreement and Judge Drees said they would not be hired at a higher rate than the county.
Judge Drees said that if the mayor is not going to be the appointee, the city council would have the approval of that process and would confirm the appointment. Mr. Kimmich said Mr. Fossett and he inserted the language on the phone line by line and this is the general text, and it is recommended going forward with this language inserted.
Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve with the amendments inserted and Commissioner Black seconded the motion. Judge Drees asked for questions and Commissioner Black asked about the board of overseers in regard to the Mayor of Covington. The city council wanted to be able to approve who will serve if it is not going to be the Mayor. Commissioner Koenig said given that Covington is evidently not going to be approving this anytime soon but sometime next month, he did not want to approve the agreement and give it an open-ended date for approval by the city but to put a deadline in the agreement for the approval. He asked if the deadline could be December 31 and Judge Drees said yes that he thought this was a good idea.
Commissioners Humpert and Black said they wished the deadline to be added to their motions and Judge Drees said yes. Commissioner Koenig said it was his understanding that when the two groups go together that the union would be dissolved and not be party to the new dispatch center and Judge Drees said yes they would be part of the county. Commissioner Koenig said that when the merger occurs that at that point they will be given a raise in the neighborhood of two and one-half percent payroll tax and Judge Drees said this would be taken care of. Mr. Kimmich said the county police officers pay a blended rate because they travel through multiple jurisdictions, but because the dispatchers are assigned to the office at Nicholson which is outside of any incorporated jurisdiction, they pay no occupational tax other than the county. Commissioner Koenig said if the court does not see this new version today he would like to see it before it goes down to the Governor's office and Judge Drees said this is not a problem.
There being no further questions on this issue, Judge Drees asked for a roll call vote and the motion unanimously passed.
Commissioner Humpert said he wished to commend the Judge and the Deputy Judge for pushing this agreement through because it has been a long time coming and it took a lot of negotiations and effort. Judge Drees said that in the long haul it will save money.
Judge Drees said that after finishing with the agenda a short recess could be taken to read the document over and the court could come back into session for questions.
Handout No. 06-62
Interlocal agreement creating the Kenton County Joint Code Enforcement Board: Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Humpert. Commissioner Black said she was in favor of the board if the county had a seat at the table as a regular voting member. The law from the state says that all entities are to be represented and have a board member, yet there are eight entities and only seven board members; therefore, the county does not have a person on the board other than an alternate. The concern is that there will be meetings when all other representatives can attend but the county will not have a spokesperson attending. A population of 14,000 live in unincorporated Kenton County and the issues are a little bit different.
Judge Drees said he looks at this as one county and no matter where you live in it, you are a Kenton County citizen so we do have a seat at the table. There are two alternatives from the unincorporated area and more than likely they cannot all make the meeting every time. Commissioner Black said she agreed that we are all Kenton County citizens but it bothered her that there only seven seats on the board with eight entities and it has everything to do with the way the law is written.
Mr. Edmondson said we do need a joint board and he really doesn't know how this language got in there except that most counties do not have this many cities. By the time this gets through all of the cities and approved by everybody and gets approved by the attorney general, the law may be fixed anyway and we need to get this going.
Since there were no further comments, Judge Drees asked for a roll call vote with the following results: Commissioner Koenig, aye; Commissioner Humpert, yes; Commissioner Black, no; Judge Drees, yes.
Handout No. 06-63
Request permission to advertise for bids for the sale of property located at 635 Watkins Street, Covington, Kentucky: Commissioner Black made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Koenig and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.
Handout No. 06-64
Requesting approval from the Kenton County Public Works Department to purchase a patching machine: Mr. Kimmich said this is a machine that will enable public works to literally cuts out a section of street, air blow it to get the debris out of the way, and to patch it. This is a piece of equipment the county has been looking at for about four years and have had a number of discussions on it, and this will be used on all county roads as well as those roads on which the county performs maintenance for the Commonwealth.
Commissioner Humpert asked how this operation had been done in the past and Mr. Kimmich said it was a lot more labor intensive and if the area is not dry before the patch is put back in, the patch is more likely to be torn up again and this gives a much cleaner, tighter seal to the project. This will enable the county to patch holes with less labor and a patch that will last longer and reduce the need to return to the site on a recurring basis.
Judge Drees said pricing is there but without the electric activated emulsion valve and there was a big difference between $44,900.00 and $55,777.75. Mr. Kimmich said the vendor submitting the higher bid has been on site and demonstrated the equipment to the county and references have been contacted that they used. The other vendor does not completely meet the specifications, but in a sense of fiscal responsibility, has been invited to demonstrate their product and has been unable after two weeks to provide the equipment to be looked at and they gave a vague list of references without names or telephone numbers. This is why the highest bid is considered to be the lowest and best bid. It was further explained that Heights Machinery's bid did not include the electric activated emulsion valve, so basically, the high bidder did not include the emulsion valve and the low bidder did not meet the requested specifications and that left Leader Machinery as the lowest and best bidder.
Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with a roll call vote.
Executive Orders
Executive Order No. 06-81
Resignation of Mike Riley as seasonal employee for the golf courses, effective September 22, 2006: Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Humpert. The motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.
Executive Order No. 06-82
Resignation of Mary G. Leming as Dispatcher I at the Kenton County Police Communications Center, effective October 28, 2006: Commissioner Black moved for approval; seconded by Commissioner Koenig and the motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.
Executive Order No. 06-83
Employment of Billy Snipes as entry level police officer for the Kenton County Police Department, effective November 8: Commissioner Humpert made the motion for passage; seconded by Commissioner Koenig and the motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.
Citizens Address
Mayor Tom Holocher, Fort Mitchell, came forward to address the court regarding the dispatch center issue. Over the years this may be a dynamic agreement and there will be changes but one question is how these changes will take place. The mayors' group does not think the fire departments from the cities should be appointed by the fire chiefs' organization. The mayors think the elected officials should be making these appointments versus non-elected officials. Commissioner Humpert said this is included in the agreement and read the pertinent paragraph. Mayor Holocher asked who appoints the person and Mr. Kimmich said the fire chiefs' association and Mayor Holocher said this is where the problem lies.
Mayor Holocher said the employees will be nonunion and if they want to go to the union five years from now, how will this work? Mr. Edmondson said that under state law the appointing authorities as well as the board will have to agree to negotiate with a union. There is no obligation deal with a union if they do not choose to and the Mayor asked if the oversight board approves this or is it the fiscal court. Mr. Edmondson said the oversight board would be the ones that would agree to bargain with a union but the appointing authorities appoint the people to the board. All and any employees have the right to form a union and this cannot be stopped and the board would decide whether or not to negotiate with them. Mr. Kimmich said it was his understanding that the three member panel would negotiate which includes the Judge Executive or his designee, the Mayor of Covington or his designee and the representative of the mayors' group, and for budgetary purposes, they would have to recommend that back to Covington and the fiscal court.
The Mayor said it was the concern of the citizens as to what this would cost. Today we are paying $1.50 for 911 service and he said he had looked at the cost study from 2004 and he was able to get a copy of the latest one and it looks as though the fee will have to be $4.50 to $5.00 in order to cover the cost. Is it wise to enter into this agreement where no one knows the actual cost of a 911 land line? Commissioner Humpert asked the Mayor if he was saying that one center would be more expensive than two? The Mayor said that no one knows what the fee will be. Commissioner Humpert said he knows that if you take two entities and combine them into one, it has to be cheaper and said that he thought the $1.50 rate was too cheap and it would take some effort by this combined authority to come up with what the number is and should be and he thought that $4.00 was too high. Mayor Holocher said the number has to be somewhere between $4.50 and $5.00. Mr. Kimmich said that number is based on the assumption that neither the city nor the county would infuse any cash into the system. The county is now putting in $800,000 and the city is putting in $1,200,000, so the question of what the fee will be is based upon the determination of the city and county as to how much subsidy we are receiving from the general fund. The agreement that was put together 13 years ago by the mayors' group show that the fee was to be $1.50 and any money in excess to that was to be shared by the cities and the county. That is exactly what this agreement provides for and Mayor Holocher asked if anyone knew what this was. Judge Drees said it was impossible to get down exactly what this would cost, but overall it will save money in the long haul, and hopefully, would get the state law changed and the county can get some money off of cell phones. All of these dynamics are happening at the same time and, hopefully, the state law will get changed and the county can pick up dollars from cell phone lines.
Mayor Holocher said he wished to remind the court that if the rate gets too high, there are other options and some cities will go someplace else, and as soon as that happens, the cost for everyone else will go up. There is a fine line as to how high you can raise a 911 fee and if this goes past $1.50, this will not be viable.
Judge Drees said he thought that Mayor Holocher would be the one to represent the mayors' group on the board Judge Drees thanked Mayor Holocher for his input on behalf of the majors' group.
Administrative Reporting
DEPUTY JUDGE EXECUTIVE-Scott Kimmich: There is a discrepancy in the November meeting calendar and in order to clear this, it is being asked of the court to set the November meeting calendar to November 14 at 9:00 a.m. and November 21 at 7:00 p.m. This will be the two meetings for the month of November. Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Koenig and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.
COUNTY TREASURER-Ivan Frye: Nothing further.
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR-Joe Shriver: Nothing else.
COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT-Garry Edmondson: Nothing else.
Commissioners' Reports
COMMISSIONER BARBARA BLACK-Said she wanted to update everyone on the animal adoption fundraising. The budget line item had shown an amount of $368,796 and an additional $15,232 that had come in through September 30 that brought the total to $384,028. With the money raised, the budget as approved for the current fiscal year brought the total line item to $734,000. If the approximate amount of $60,000 is added that was raised at the humanitarian league diva day several weeks ago, once that money is received minus any donations I know the citizens will continue to contribute, there will be approximately $794,000. The point of redoing some of the plans is being approached and Dan Evans has already found over $250,000 that can be saved and the county is getting close to the goal. Hopefully, by the end of November the county will have a more realistic cost per square foot and there will be sufficient funds so this project can move forward with the next budget. The center is sorely needed because there is not enough room for people to get acquainted with an animal they wish to think about adopting. This is not about animal lovers, it is about the third largest county in the state having a facility that can serve the citizens when they want to come there, and we need it but do not have it. Commissioner Black said she would like to see this project come to fruition before leaving office and thanked the citizens and the court for their support to this worthwhile project.
COMMISSIONER DAN HUMPERT-Nothing to report.
COMMISSIONER ADAM KOENIG- Commissioner Koenig said he wished to congratulate Commissioner Black on her work on this issue.
Judge-Executive's Report
Update on Cincinnati Bell Wireless contract: Judge Drees said he thought the county was close to putting this contract together. Judge Drees asked Mr. Bailey if he had any comments and he said the only thing lacking is the final construction plans. Mr. Bailey said the building was walked through a couple of weeks ago with a Cincinnati Bell representative and there are some minor things that need to be changed. There is not anything that would hold up the contract and we are finally at the point of seeing this resolved.
Commissioner Black thanked the court for seeing this through. Judge Drees agreed and said the county needed the money and it does not cost the citizens anything.
Judge Drees called a recess for the court to be able to look over the public communications center agreement to see if there were any questions.
Commissioner Black made the motion for the recess; seconded by Commissioner Humpert and the court was recessed with a unanimous voice vote.
Judge Drees called the court back into session and requested a motion to reconsider action on the public communications center following the court reviewing the new printout. Commissioner Humpert made the motion with a second from Commissioner Black and there was a unanimous vote of aye.
Commissioner Humpert made the motion to approve the document with the additional amendments as provided by the county attorney and Commissioner Koenig; seconded by Commissioner Koenig. Judge Drees asked for a roll call vote whereupon the agreement was unanimously approved.
Executive Session
There was not any executive session called.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the court, Commissioner Humpert made the motion for adjournment followed by a second from Commissioner Black, and court was adjourned with the unanimous vote of aye.
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