COVINGTON: "WHAT'S HAPPENING"?

by Michael Monks

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What's happening, exactly? Read below and find out.

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BREAKING:

ELIZABETHTOWN AIMS TO SURPASS COVINGTON



Butch Callery



The capital of Northern Kentucky may drop out of the top 5 most populous Kentucky cities. That was news Tuesday night at The Carnegie during an academic lecture featuring a veritable who's-who among the... municipal merger circuit? More on this seemingly unprovoked examination of whether Covington should merge with Kenton County or if Kenton County should merge with Campbell and Boone Counties or whether Erlanger should do police dispatch for the entire Eastern time zone, or something, coming up at the bottom of this post. There will be a test. No, seriously, there was a test at the end, I took it, and you should have to take it, too. Plus, Butch Callery was there!

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LET'S START INSTEAD WITH...

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FIREFIGHTERS UNION TAKES MESSAGE TO FIRE TRUCK



"Out of service due to brownout" reads this sign on
Pumper One
at the firehouse on the corner of Scott & Robbins



A less muddled message was blasted on the front of a fire truck outside the Carnegie following the lecture. Local 38, the Covington firefighter union, has already made their opposition known to the recent move by the city to reduce staff per shift from 30 to 27. Local 38 alleges that that is a breach of contract. The city disagreed. The situation led to a court hearing. Monday, union secretary/treasurer Mike Clendenen wrote on The River City News Facebook wall an open letter to the citizens of Covington, promising that the union "will fight to the end".

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FAKE FACEBOOK PROFILE MOCKS CITY MANAGER, COMMISSIONERS



From Facebook profile of "Larry Decline". Get it?



The operator of an apparently fake profile on Facebook also has some harsh words for City Manager Larry Klein and Commissioners Steve Frank and Steve Casper. Its name is "Larry Decline", get it? The juvenile page compares Casper to Boss Hogg from Dukes of Hazard, features a mock-up of a Frank campaign flyer that includes his DUI mugshot, and claims to work for a company called "assholes". The operator also writes such prose as:

"At least Casper had enough sense to take down all of his campaign bullshit and yes he did cry again. I don't mind a guy being in touch with his emotional side, but my lord man up just a little. Is there a foo foo juice fountain in The Ascent that you guys bathe in together or what?"

This may be a modern way to vent frustration, but it's not a good way to keep dialogue civil or a way to keep citizens on your side. Reminds me of a time when puiblic employees thought Commissioner Frank was behaving badly on Facebook. Speaking of, let's see if Steve Frank has improved his social networking skills...
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FRANK'S FACEBOOK COMMENTS GET PICKED UP BY ENQUIRER


Facebook diarrhea is a serious problem in Covington.

 Of course not! Frank proclaimed on his personal Facebook page that he wants to "go Taliban"  on the Occupy Cincinnati protesters and that he is proud to be something called a 1%-er. The comment was  picked up by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and we're not talking Mike Rutledge, here, the Enquirer reporter assigned to Covington. We're talking Mr. Politics Extra Carl Weiser who lumped Frank with Hamilton County Auditor/disc-jockey Dusty Rhodes who also had something assholish to say about the protests. Frank returned to Facebook to explain by telling his familair story that always begins with "I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth" and always ends with "I will not let the unions bankrupt this city". I could have written it myself from memory. Same with Denny Bowman's recollections of the early nineties.
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THOUGHTS ON POSTING INFO ON MAYORAL CANDIDATES

The effort to replace Mayor Denny Bowman is a task before the four city commissioners. The effort to inform the public on who may be the next mayor is a task before me. It was suggested to me Tuesday night by someone close to the process that the mayoral candidates being interviewed by the commissioners should remain private because that is what some potential candidates were promised. My position is that candidates would not be able to run for this office from the shadows and in secrecy, neither should they be appointed that way. So, again, here is The River City News exclusive report on candidates being considered to replace Bowman. The citizens of Covington have the right to know who is being considered, what their stories are and what their connections are. It is not the behavior of a transparent government to insist otherwise. Please keep the tips coming and I will work to confirm them: Email Michael.

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AND NOW BACK TO OUR BREAKING STORY FROM THE TOP OF THE POST

Did you know that there is something called The Kenton County Government Study Group? Me neither. But there is, and it commissioned a study by UNC-Charlotte Professor Dr. Suzanne Leland who took to the Carnegie stage in an event sponsored by Northern Kentucky Forum to speak on various government mergers that she either worked on or studied. Following that, a panel consisting of NKU Professor and co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky Paul Tenkotte, Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier, Erlanger & Taylor Mill & Edgewood (seriously) City Attorney Frank Wichmann, strategic planning consultant Luke Schmidt, and former Louisville-Jefferson County economic development director Bruce Traughber. Newsmakers host Dan Hurley moderated and fielded questions from audience members including former Covington Mayor Butch Callery, former Covington Commissioner JT Spence, and Kenton County Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn. (The question session was somewhat awkward, with the questions being written on cards and presented to Hurley, but the questioners still being beckoned to microphones that some never spoke through.) This event is why the Covington Commission's Tuesday meeting was cancelled.

Anything at the Carnegie is fun because the building is beautiful and full of history and this lecture truly was interesting with explanations on how Louisville handled its merger with Jefferson County, how Erlanger handles police duty for Crescent Springs, and especially how there was a time when Ft. Mitchell and Park Hills sought to be annexed by Covington. (Can you imagine? Other cities wanted to be Covington...)The harsh reality of today, however, was examined with a story from Hardin County and the effort there to merge Elizabethtown, Radcliffe and the county into one government. The recent expansion of Ft. Knox there helped boost Elizabethtown's population 26% to 28,000. That's smaller than Covington, the fifth largest city in Kentucky (E-town is eleventh) but following a merger, Elizabethtown would be the third largest city in Kentucky and Covington (which lost 6% of its population from 2000 - 2010) would drop out of the top 5.

There does not seem to be any immediate plans for an effort to combine Covington's or Kenton County's government with any other (though there is a quiz, so take it if you're interested) so I'm not sure what to make of the presentation. What I do know is that Covington is facing some troubling times and where some cities are working to improve their situation, ours is taking on the role of its own worst enemy. Again. Want proof? Read again every entry above this one. I've called for civility before, and hope for it still. There is light at the end of the tunnel for Covington but we have to keep walking toward it together. Cut the bullshit, please. There's a city at stake.