KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

M I N U T E S

September 27, 2005, 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; Jailer Terry Carl; Assistant County Attorney Stacey Hege; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Assistant Police Chief Ed Butler; 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 for approval of the minutes for the last meeting.  Commissioner Humpert moved for approval with a second from Commissioner Black.  The minutes were unanimously approved with the vote of aye.

Delegations

There were not any delegations to appear before the court.

General Business

Authorization to proceed to secure requests for proposals/qualifications for health insurance brokerage, Scott Kimmich reporting:  In past years the county has had a broker that sought proposals and quotes on health insurance, and this is a service that has not been bid in the last four years.  It is felt that the county should proceed with receiving qualifications of individuals who are qualified to provide this service to insure we are maximizing the utilizations of dollars spent.  Permission is being asked for the county to go forward with requests for proposals/qualifications for the brokerage of this service.

Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.

Mr. Shriver said the county did secure the broker prior to our current procurement code that requires requests for qualifications.

The motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Resolutions

There were not any resolutions to come before the court.

Ordinances

Ordinance No. 531.97

Second reading for the correct spelling of Teegarden Lane, Scott Kimmich reporting:  Commissioner Black moved for approval followed with a second from Commissioner Humpert.  The motion unanimously carried with the vote of aye.

Ordinance No. 924.27

Second reading to amend the county's flood plain ordinance, Ed Burk reporting:  There are two parts to the ordinance and the first part is to update the flood plain to get in compliance with FEMA standards and the second part is the swimming pool ordinance.  Commissioner Black had questions regarding what was is being changed in the ordinance.  Mr. Burk said he had talked with Michael Schwartz and he said he was trying to close holes that are in the county zoning ordinance to make it match the state building codes.

Commissioner Black said she did not have a problem with the flood plain section and her concern is checking the building code on the items that were changed.  She said she still had problems with matching the building code and the changes and how those changes will be communicated to the appropriate people.  Is it possible to do one section of the ordinance for a second reading without voting on the pool regulations and look at these at the first meeting in October?

Mr. Edmondson said there could not be another ordinance and publication and it would be better to put if off and do both at the same time.  Commissioner Black said she would like to get some more answers to questions.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to table the ordinance until the next meeting; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion passed with a unanimous aye vote.

Consent Agenda

Claims List-County Treasurer Ivan Frye:  Judge Drees asked if the yellow page item listed under the animal shelter for $159.00 was a quarterly fee or how long did it apply.  Mr. Frye said it was an annual charge for their telephone listing.  Since there were no more questions, the claims list would stand as presented and the bills would be paid.

Administrative Actions

Handout No. 05-58

Sell of property to the Kentucky Department of Transportation for reconstruction of KY 17, Scott Kimmich reporting:  The county has been in negotiations with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet about requiring an easement across the county's property behind the police department.  They are now at a total of $187,000.00 for the easement and the county believes it is a fair and equitable price.  The county is asking for approval of the court that the judge be allowed to enter into a grant of the easement with the Commonwealth in exchange for a check for this amount.

Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.  The motion was unanimously approved upon a roll call vote.

Executive Orders

Executive Order No. 05-91

Accept resignations of Eric Mauer, Justin Kinman, Kyle Hoover, Ryan Fossett, and Jeff Eastham as seasonal employees for the golf courses to return to school:  Commissioner Black moved for approval with a second from Commissioner Koenig and the motion was unanimously approved with the aye vote.

Executive Order No. 05-92

Employment of William Stone as seasonal maintenance for golf courses, effective September 19, 2005:  Commissioner Humpert moved for approval; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion was unanimously approved with a vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 05-93

Appointment of Bradley Harris as police officer for the Kenton County Police Department, effective October 9, 2005:  Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Black.

Judge Drees asked Colonel Butler to list his qualifications, and he said he would be entering the police academy on October 31.  There being no further questions, Judge Drees called for the vote of the court and the order was passed with the unanimous vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 05-94

Promotion of Melissa Eddy to Dispatcher II in the Kenton County Communications Center, effective September 27, 2005:  Commissioner Black made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Humpert and the motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.

Executive Order No. 05-95

Appointments of Greg Rouse as crew leader and Joseph Niehues as equipment operator in the Parks and Recreation Department, effective September 27, 2005:  Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval followed by a second from Commissioner Black.

Commissioner Black asked Mr. Shriver if these positions were included in the reorganization.  Mr. Shriver said these were vacancies and the two individuals were park trustees that had worked extremely well and after going through the interview process, Mr. Spiegel thought they were the two best candidates.  Mr. Shriver also said that new individuals would be hired for the park trustee positions.

The motion unanimously passed with the aye vote.

Citizens Address

Mr. Kent Kelso, Northern Kentucky University (NKU) Dean of Students, said he wished to speak to the court as an Independence City Council member, the NKU Dean of Students, and as a citizen of Kenton County.  He thanked the court for meeting with city council members and citizens following fiscal court regarding the city's strategic planning.  He said the city of Independence's vision committee has scheduled more than 20 meetings with various groups in Northern Kentucky that have an interest in the city such as the Kenton County school district, Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Ed, churches, etc., and the one with the court is obviously a very important one.

Mr. Kelso said that as dean at NKU he wanted to issue a personal invitation to the court for November 11, Veteran's Day.  On this date NKU, the Disabled American Veterans Association, Xavier and the NKU ROTC, the American Legion and Sons of the American Legion are going to be sponsoring a large Veteran's Day celebration that will begin at 11:00 a.m.  A formal invitation will follow in the mail.  The master of ceremonies is Captain Steve Tribble who just returned from Iraq and the keynote speaker will be Congressman Goeff Davis.

As a citizen, Mr. Kelso said that he was originally from Southeast Texas.  He said his father-in-law was sitting in the same chair there as Judge Drees was here and had spent the day with President Bush reviewing the devastation from the hurricanes.  He said he had sent an e-mail a few weeks ago asking for support for efforts to raise donations, fund raising, etc. to be sent to Southeast Texas.  Mr. Kimmich said the e-mail had not been received at the Kenton County Fiscal Court and that the county was advised of the message via a reporter at the Kentucky Enquirer.  Mr. Kelso said he would send another one.  Mr. Kelso said he was asking for an endorsement from the court and also from Campbell and Boone Counties saying they were behind the fundraiser that will raise aid for flood and hurricane victims to be held on the NKU campus on October 23.

Administrative Reporting

DEPUTY JUDGE EXECUTIVE-Scott Kimmich:  Mr. Kimmich said the court had received a letter from W. Robert Lotz, attorney-at-law, requesting that the fiscal court give consideration to changing the retail sale liquor hours in Kenton County so they would be available to be open from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight on Sundays.  A number of cities in Northern Kentucky have adopted this ordinance and it is being presented to the court for review.  Action is not being asked and the county has advised attorneys for the petitioners that it will not be presented at this meeting.  Mr. Kimmich advised that based on prior circuit court rulings on the requirements for a valid petition, the attached petition is invalid on its face because the petition has to cite the issue being raised with specificity on each page and the signatures have to be original and printing a name is not considered to be an original signature.  Mr. Kimmich further advised that a petition is not required for this action and the petitioners have been notified that Judge Drees may have a potential conflict and will be recusing himself from participation or discussion on this issue until research on that matter is complete.  The potential conflict is that a management company the judge is involved in owns property that leases to an individual who would be a competitor of this company and any action he might take could be seen as prejudicial.

Commissioner Black asked for the names of the petitioners and Mr. Kimmich said they were County Line Liquor who is represented by Robert Lotz and Philip Taliaferro, attorneys-at-law.

Mr. Kimmich asked the court to amend the administrative code, section 360.6, that currently says a full-time employee shall be entitled to all benefits as provided in this code and part-time, seasonal or temporary employees shall not be entitled to benefits unless specified in writing by the Judge Executive.  There are contractual employees who are currently working that have benefits.  On the advise of counsel, the county is recommending that in addition to saying part-time, seasonal and temporary, we simply insert the word contractual so those employees can receive benefits if it is the will of the court.  It will require a motion to approve this on first reading and the second reading will be presented at the next meeting; that is, to insert the word contractual after the word part-time so it would say part-time, contractual, seasonal or temporary employees shall not be entitled to any benefits unless specified in writing by the Judge Executive.  We do have some employees that are already receiving this but the administrative code was never changed to provide for the word contractual and on the advise of counsel, it is believed that word needs to be added to the code to protect the county from contracts we have and with those we may enter.

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

Deputy Judge Kimmich asked for approval of executive order number 05-96 accepting the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Patricia Krohman as executive assistant to the Kenton County Judge Executive effective October 30, 2005.  Commissioner Koenig made the motion for approval followed by a second from Commissioner Black and the motion unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

Mr. Kimmich introduced to the court executive order number 05-97 authorizing the County Judge Executive to employ Patricia Krohman as administrative specialist in the office of the County Judge Executive on a part-time basis at a rate of $11.00 per hour.  Commissioner Black made the motion; seconded by Commissioner Humpert.

Judge Drees said Ms. Krohman would be working three days per week at a savings of over $40,000.00 per year and, as long as the county finds that this situation will work, this will be ideal.  Mr. Kimmich said the contract allows for a 60-day termination if either party wants to terminate it and the rate of pay is substantially less than what she is currently making.

Commissioner Black said when you have a person that has worked this long for the county, who has this type of background and works well with other employees, it is good that she is willing to work for the county.  Judge Drees asked for a vote on the motion and it unanimously passed with the vote of aye.

COUNTY TREASURER-Ivan Frye:  Nothing further to report.

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR-Joe Shriver:  Nothing else to report.

COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT-Garry Edmondson:  There is another set of jail policies to be acted upon if everyone has read them.  Commissioner Humpert said he had a number of questions and asked the court to put this off until the next meeting.  He said that he had read every policy and there were a number of changes he had already made that could be handed over now, but there are two overriding issues that needed to be discussed.    Mr. Edmondson said there was also another one that had been sent out last week regarding the weapons policy and Commissioner Humpert asked to be sent another copy.

Commissioners' Reports

COMMISSIONER BARBARA BLACK-Nothing further to report.

COMMISSIONER DAN HUMPERT-President Bush issued a challenge to the citizens of the United States to conserve energy and said he would like to echo that and challenge the department heads in the county to conserve energy by cutting down on side trips to limit the amount of gasoline used.  With the month of October coming, energy could be saved by cutting back on heating and air conditioning in the county building by turning the thermostat up or down as the weather changes.  Mr. Kimmich said it was a good thing to keep in mind there are over 450 inmates lodged on the top floors of the building and the county has a water cooled system, so one of the problems is that when we think the weather is finally cool enough to shut the system down, we have to drain all of the water pipes down and start using the heating system.  When the weather turns warm again, we have to turn the system back around and it takes 48 hours to turn the system around.  The inmates on the upper floors can get very warm and agitated in a very short period of time when there is not any cool air blowing through the vents.

Commissioner Humpert said he would also like to challenge the citizens of Kenton County to conserve energy and to do the same thing by turning the air conditioning up and the heating down, cut down some side trips, and do park and ride through the TANK system.  A serious effort needs to be made to conserve energy right now with all of the other things that are going on down at the Gulf Coast and other areas.  Commissioner Humpert said he would be doing this to conserve energy.

COMMISSIONER ADAM KOENIG-Reminded everyone of the noncompliance hearing of the communications board on Thursday night at the offices in Latonia and also on TV.

Judge-Executive's Report

Nothing else to report.

Commissioner Black said she wished to thank all of the volunteers, particularly Patty Krohman, for the job done on the seniors' picnic.  Everything was very well organized and there was a great turnout and lots of volunteers should be thanked and also the people who had donated prizes.

Judge Drees agreed that a good job was done for the picnic.  He also said that Sue, the receptionist in the Judge's office, mother had passed away and that the funeral would be on Thursday at 10:00 a.m.

Deputy Judge Kimmich said he had a resolution for the endorsement ready and read it aloud to the court.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion to pass the resolution; seconded by Commissioner Black and the motion passed with the unanimous vote of aye.

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 the meeting was adjourned with the unanimous vote of aye.