By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
While it seems the problems associated with COVID-19 have delayed everything from entertainment to education, local government has also not been immune.
At Tuesday’s regularly scheduled caucus meeting, Commissioners were able to listen to one proposal that had been delayed — that for 2019-2020 RIPPLE Effect funding, which includes $200,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds that have been carried over from previous years.
Jeremy Wallace, the city’s Community Development Manager, explained that the RIPPLE program is a completely awarded program that assists neighborhoods by coordinating city services to implement public improvement projects. The efforts help beautify the area while also working with the community.
“Part of it is public improvements, like streetscapes,” Wallace said, “while part is also neighborhood activism.”
The city received two qualified applications for RIPPLE Effect funding, and a committee including representatives from Neighborhood Services, Public Improvements and Business Development reviewed them based on scoring criteria.
Wallace said the highest-rated application was “The Botany Hills Urban Junction” presented by the Devou Good Foundation, which focused on the intersection of Highway Avenue and Altamont Street.
Potential public improvements include:
• Boarding bulb stops
• Tree plantings
• Bike racks
• Garbage/recycling containers
• Dog waste stations
• Neighborhood gateway signs
• Improvements to existing neighborhood sign/landscaping
• Enhanced crosswalks
• Facade improvements to commercial buildings
• Repairs to Parkway Avenue Bridge/Underpass/access steps
The Devou Good Foundation will commit $50,000 to the project, Wallace said.
The proposal was placed on the consent agenda for next week’s legislative Commission meeting.
Property Tax Due for Second Reading and Vote
For the fifth consecutive year, the city’s finance department has recommended that Covington’s taxes for real and personal property remain unchanged: .327 upon each $100 valuation of assessed or assessable real property; and .349 upon each $100 valuation of all assessed or assessable personal property.
City Commissioners will hear a second reading and vote on the proposal at their legislative meeting next Tuesday night.
Commissioners and finance representatives have explained that by keeping the taxes low and unchanged they are actually making money — about $300,000 when you factor in the number of people who are improving properties or outright rehabbing them.
The low taxes attract buyers, who then come into the city to make improvements to the area.
HR Director Hire Moves Forward
Commissioners heard a proposal to approve the hiring of a Human Resources Director effective Sept. 13. The candidate’s name and resume were provided to the Mayor and Commissioners, but no one else, to protect the prospective employee’s privacy.
The city posted the opening on July 1 and received 65 applications. A committee, which included the Interim City Manager, the Assistant Police Chief, the Fire Chief, the Director of Public Works and Commissioner Tim Downing, interviewed the top candidates.
“The recommended candidate has a bachelor’s degree in Human Relations and Management from Trevecca Nazarene University, is a U.S. veteran, and has 24 years of HR experience including the last 11 in municipal government, where she was the HR Director since 2017,” city documents say.
The proposal will appear on the consent agenda next week.
Board Appointments
Mayor Joseph U. Meyer and the Commission proposed these appointments:
• DEVOU PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Begins 8/15/2021 – Ends 8/14/2024
Re-Appoint Michele Halloran
• COVINGTON URBAN FORESTRY BOARD
Begins 8/15/2021 – Ends 8/14/2024
Re-Appoint Rob Farrell
• BOARD OF OVERSEERS FOR LINDEN GROVE CEMETERY
Begins 8/25/2021 – Ends 12/15/2023
Appoint Pete Nerone
• ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL BOARD
Term: Begins 8/25/2021
Appoint Ken Smith (Interim City Manager)
Licking Riverside Parking
Commissioner Ron Washington said he has been hearing a lot of complaints about parking in the Licking Riverside neighborhood.
Ken Smith said he talked with the group, and they decided on a process where a group of representatives in the neighborhood would produce some solutions to the parking problem, which would then go to the city’s Parking Authority.
Relevant ideas would then go to the Commission for consideration, Smith said.
Preliminary Census Numbers Discussed
Mayor Meyer revealed some Census numbers that he’d gotten from The Louisville Courier-Journal.
He said the Census revealed that the city rose in population to 40,961 residents, and that the count was the largest in 80 years.
He also said the city has 1,000 newly occupied housing units, and that the poverty rate is down to 15 percent, while the median household income is up by 20 percent since the last count in 2015.
Commissioner Michelle Williams, who helped lead the charge for Covington residents to be counted, made sure to thank everyone for their efforts.
Next meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a legislative meeting held at 6 p.m., Aug. 24, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meetings can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, the TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline, and the TBNK Roku channels.