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by Michael Monks
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COVINGTON DISPATCHERS OFFERED EMPLOYMENT IN KENTON CO
It was announced Tuesday night that all twelve Covington dispatchers seeking employment in the new consolidated emergency dispatch center in Kenton County will be offered conditional employment. The conditions include background checks and drug screenings. The newly named director of the center, Ed Butler, told The River City News after the meeting that while the salaries are lower than what Covington offered, the pay will be comparable due to the facts that there will be no city taxes and no union dues deducted from the paychecks.
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The city commission unanimously approved declaring property belonging to the Covington dispatch center as surplus property, including its top-of-the-line CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system. The new county center, which expects to take over 911 emergency and police dispatch services for the City of Covington on or around September 30, will use the CAD and current county dispatchers will being training on it the week of September 17 with the goal of implementing it on September 25.
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The new dispatch center received 85 applications for employment, including twelve from Covington (there are fifteen dispatchers employed in Covington) and expected to have five additional spots to fill once the Covington dispatchers join the county center.
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Covington dispatchers are used to being represented by a union and Butler said that he has no concern that the new employees will try to form a new one in the county.
It was announced Tuesday night that all twelve Covington dispatchers seeking employment in the new consolidated emergency dispatch center in Kenton County will be offered conditional employment. The conditions include background checks and drug screenings. The newly named director of the center, Ed Butler, told The River City News after the meeting that while the salaries are lower than what Covington offered, the pay will be comparable due to the facts that there will be no city taxes and no union dues deducted from the paychecks.
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The city commission unanimously approved declaring property belonging to the Covington dispatch center as surplus property, including its top-of-the-line CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system. The new county center, which expects to take over 911 emergency and police dispatch services for the City of Covington on or around September 30, will use the CAD and current county dispatchers will being training on it the week of September 17 with the goal of implementing it on September 25.
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The new dispatch center received 85 applications for employment, including twelve from Covington (there are fifteen dispatchers employed in Covington) and expected to have five additional spots to fill once the Covington dispatchers join the county center.
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Covington dispatchers are used to being represented by a union and Butler said that he has no concern that the new employees will try to form a new one in the county.
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POLICE CHIEF SPELLS OUT SAVINGS PLAN
Covington Police Chief Spike Jones presented to the City Commission Tuesday night his plans for cutting $500,000 from the police department's budget. "We are a back to basics police department now," Jones said. "You call the police, we respond and provide good customer service." Part of the plan, instigated by a departmental review conducted by Cincinnati-based consulting firm Management Partners, includes the eventual elimination of the rank of captain within the department. That process will happen gradually, though the commission heard a first reading of an ordinance that would reduce the number of captains from five to four in the coming weeks.
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The administrative restructuring was presented as a chart that place the chief at the top with an executive officer directly below him with three captains overseeing the day-to-day operations at Twentieth & Madison with one in charge of patrol and SWAT, another in charge of administration, and another in charge of criminal investigations. "By working through attritions and engaging in a "hiring frost" it was possible to preserve our current staff without having to layoff junior staff members," Jones's presentation said. "This attrition strategy also moved us closer to the command structure model proposed by Management Partners."
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Following the reduction of officers through retirements and resignations over the past two months, the department was able to retain seventy-four sworn officers on the streets, the number on the force at the beginning of the process assigned to patrol shifts. Meanwhile, officers previously assigned to the former narcotics unit and community relations unit were combined to create a tactical unit called the D-Team as recommended by Management Partners.
The administrative restructuring was presented as a chart that place the chief at the top with an executive officer directly below him with three captains overseeing the day-to-day operations at Twentieth & Madison with one in charge of patrol and SWAT, another in charge of administration, and another in charge of criminal investigations. "By working through attritions and engaging in a "hiring frost" it was possible to preserve our current staff without having to layoff junior staff members," Jones's presentation said. "This attrition strategy also moved us closer to the command structure model proposed by Management Partners."
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Following the reduction of officers through retirements and resignations over the past two months, the department was able to retain seventy-four sworn officers on the streets, the number on the force at the beginning of the process assigned to patrol shifts. Meanwhile, officers previously assigned to the former narcotics unit and community relations unit were combined to create a tactical unit called the D-Team as recommended by Management Partners.
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The total savings from the plan come from $150,000 saved from leaving positions open, $120,000 saved through the changes to the captain position, $100,000 from changes to the sergeant position, and $180,000 from changes to specialist positions. Removing the $150,000 lost when Covington Independent Public Schools moved to using the Kenton County Sheriff's Office as school resource officers instead of the Covington Police, the final total arrives at the hoped-for half million in savings.
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REPORTER OBJECTS TO LATE AGENDA ITEM ABOUT FIRE DEPT CUTS
"The commission is not authorized to consider this." A reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer took exception to an item on Tuesday night's city commission agenda and took his case to the podium. One commissioner threatened to have him removed from the meeting. What went down, and what the agenda item was about, at the link.REPORTER OBJECTS TO LATE AGENDA ITEM ABOUT FIRE DEPT CUTS
Full story: The River City News
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COMMISSION VOTES TO KEEP PROPERTY TAXES AT SAME LEVEL
Property taxes collected by the City of Covington will remain at the same 0.2995 rate that has been for at least the past five years, keeping the city around the middle of the pack in relation to other NKY cities and their property tax rates. Commissioner Steve Casper explained that there was discussion to take what is known as the compensating rate, as the Covington School Board likely will, but it was never on the table to take a full 4% increase.
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CITY TAKES OWNERSHIP OF CITY CENTER PARKING GARAGE
The Commonwealth of Kentucky gave Covington a free parking garage which the City Commission unanimously accepted. The City Center parking garage is the one adjacent to City Hall between 7th & Pike Streets along Scott Boulevard. City Manager Larry Klein explained that the garage was built and owned by the Commonwealth but was declared surplus property. "This is a great economic development tool to have a parking garage Downtown," Klein said. "We feel very fortunate to link that garage to make it a permanent attachment to City Hall, and as an economic development tool."
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RIVERCENTER GARAGE TO GET A PAINT JOB
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RIVERCENTER GARAGE TO GET A PAINT JOB
Another garage owned by the City of Covington will be freshened up thanks to a $153,931 contract awarded to Covington-based Flannery Painting. City Engineer Tom Logan expects the paint job to take approximately forty-five days.
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UPPER FLOOR RESIDENTIAL REHAB FUNDS SPOKEN FOR
UPPER FLOOR RESIDENTIAL REHAB FUNDS SPOKEN FOR
It was announced Tuesday that one of the incentives to lure more development Downtown have been entirely claimed by four applicants. The City of Covington has been offering $20,000 matching grants toward the development of upper floors of Downtown buildings so that more market-rate housing would be available. The city commission adopted the guidelines for furnishing those funds, though Commissioner Steve Casper announced himself as "present, not voting" because his landlords are among the applicants that promise thirteen new apartments.
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$100,000 INVESTMENT YIELDS $1.8 MILLION RETURN FOR CITY
$100,000 INVESTMENT YIELDS $1.8 MILLION RETURN FOR CITY
The city commission voted to extend its working agreement with the National Development Council, in the amount of $60,000 payable from CDBG funds. The NDC oversees the Grow America Fund in which the City invested $100,000 and which, according to assistant community development director Rebecca Volpe, has yielded a $1.8 million return. Volpe explained that those funds are used to help Covington-based small businesses in their expansion efforts. "With everything we're trying to do in terms of economic development, we need to leverage these funds even more," Mayor Chuck Scheper said.
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Volpe, meanwhile, confirmed that she has accepted a new position with Northern Kentucky University as the director of the Small Business Development Center and will be leaving the City. Her final city commission meeting appearance will be September 4 and will mark the exit of the top two managers of Covington's community development department this summer. Director Jackson Kinney resigned June 28.
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Volpe, meanwhile, confirmed that she has accepted a new position with Northern Kentucky University as the director of the Small Business Development Center and will be leaving the City. Her final city commission meeting appearance will be September 4 and will mark the exit of the top two managers of Covington's community development department this summer. Director Jackson Kinney resigned June 28.
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MORE TRAFFIC TROUBLE COMING TO SOUTH COVINGTON
In addition to the massive effort at expanding Taylor Mill Road and Old Taylor Mill Road, the city commission approved work to begin on nearby Wayman Branch. Pipes underneath the road are separating causing damage to it. In fact, the damage is so bad, that the road would have been shut down were it not for the hard work of the city's road crews. "This road would have had to be shut down but road crews were able to widen it and keep traffic moving," said engineer Tom Logan. The work of replacing a culvert and restoring the roadway will be performed by Straight Edge Construction in a contract worth $126,305. Sanitation District 1 will reimburse the city half that cost.
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OTHER NOTES
-Bryce Rhoades was named assistant city solicitor, replacing Alex Mattingly who is now city administrator in Elsmere. Rhoades, a resident of Covington, was most recently a law clerk at the Kentucky Supreme Court.
-Constance Norman resigned from the police department for personal reasons
-A contract was awarded to Joseph Decosimo and Company, LLC for the city's auditing services
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