B OONE COUNTY RECORDER
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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Boone County
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013
Conner boys basketball team routs Ryle 74-48.
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Clerk wants you to phone it in
Brown looking for ways to improve efficiency By Stephanie Salmons ssalmons@nky.com
BURLINGTON — Changes in the works at the Boone County Clerk’s Office seek to make visits more convenient, if patrons even have to stop by at all. Clerk Kenny Brown highlighted changes that have been implemented since taking over the position two years ago and upcoming overhauls planned within the next year during a recent meeting of the Boone County Fiscal Court. Brown said the biggest
change is the office’s continued growth in online renewals. “We’re committed to giving customers as many options as we can and opBrown portunities as we can not to come in here unless they have to for motor vehicle renewal transactions,” the clerk explained in a later conversation. Renewals make up the brunt of the office’s transactions. Right now, patrons can do the renewal in person, by mail or the online renewal, which is currently only available for the standard passenger plate. This year, clerk’s offices statewide will transition to a
new system – KAVIS, or the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System – which will replace the 30-year-old AVIS (Automated Vehicle Information System). “What that will do for customers, it will allow them to renew nearly every plate online, even if it’s a specialty plate,” Brown explained. The only exceptions will be plates requiring a membership card. The new system will also be, for the office staff, “a much simpler system to use.” “This will be a more efficient, more timely process for in-person transactions,” he said. Boone County is also working to become the second county in the state to offer over-thephone registration renewals.
Brown said he has been working closely with the Jefferson County clerk’s office, the only county in the state offering this option. Its staff “has been very helpful helping me understand how to put this together the right way,” he said. According to Brown, Jefferson County now has more people using the phone renewal system than online renewals. “We look (at) that as another option that customers can have that will reduce foot traffic in here,” he said. “We’re a fast-growing county. We have two locations and I’m committed to giving customers every option ... to get their transactions completed without coming in here.” If the clerk’s office can reduce foot traffic during the
month, it expedites transactions for others who do have to come in, said Brown. “Boone County’s growing,” he said. “We don’t want to expand bricks and mortar or do any expansion of the office until we fully exhaust all the options to reduce the traffic here with our current staff levels and current facility.” This system will begin to slowly roll out during the first quarter. Once the kinks have been worked out, Brown said the office will “turn it up and make sure all of Boone County knows this is an option.” Brown has also worked with the office’s credit card vendor and the office is now able to accept Visa for all transactions.
Visit nky.com/boonecounty for more community news
The proposed layout of the Mt. Zion Road interchange. KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET
Big changes coming to Mt. Zion interchange By Stephanie Salmons ssalmons@nky.com
If you’ve traveled Mt. Zion Road around rush hour, you’re familiar with the problems that plague the increasingly crowded thoroughfare. A new interchange design proposed where the road and In-
terstate 71/75 meet is drastically different than anything seen around the Greater Cincinnati area and aims to improve congestion and safety in a growing area. Though still in the preliminary design phase, plans call for a double crossover diamond interchange to be constructed.
As vehicles approach the interstate on a road that includes this type of interchange, traffic briefly crosses to the opposite side of the road in both directions. This allows vehicles merging onto the interstate ramp to turn left from the inside lane without crossing traffic. Once past the intersection, vehi-
cle traffic returns to the traditional side of the road. The first double crossover diamond (DCD) in America was constructed in Missouri in 2009. More than a dozen are now open to traffic and even more are under construction and design. Kentucky’s first DCD interchange was constructed in Lex-
ington at Harrodsburg Road (Ky. 68) and New Circle Road (Ky. 4) and opened in August 2011. Since opening, crashes have been reduced by more than 40 percent and traffic queues have been cut in half, according to inSee MT. ZION, Page A2
Walton decreasing water maintenance fee By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
WALTON — While water bills will be going up around much of Northern Kentucky, they’re going down in Walton. City Council approved two measures that will reduce water service prices for Walton residents. The first is eliminating the $4 monthly line maintenance fee. “We looked at our finances and our expenditures for the
next several years, and we felt that the maintenance fee, which is going on 20 years, could be removed,” said Mayor Phil Trzop. The money collected from the fee was put into an account that paid for regular maintenance and repairs, but the account has reached a point where it can cover those expenses, Trzop said. “It’s sitting very comfortably,” he said. Council unanimously approved removing the fee, and it
CREATIVE COMMERCE
KIDS AGAINST HUNGER
Etsy an outlet for artists’ creations. B1
Ryle students send 7,000 meals to food banks in eastern Kentucky. A7
should be gone from bills starting in March. Along with striking the fee, Walton is also not passing rate increases from the Northern Kentucky Water District (NKWD) on to its residents. The city buys its water from NKWD, which is implementing a 2.2 percent rate increase this year and a 1.9 percent increase next year. Walton’s water operation is financially stable enough that there’s no need to pass on those
increases to residents, Trzop said. “It’s an efficiency of operations,” he said. “If you watch your dimes, the dollars take care of themselves.” Trzop With the removal of the line maintenance fee and rates remaining the same, most customers can expect their bills to go down, Trzop said.
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“Who this will impact the most is our fixed income folks who are getting the minimum bill,” he said. The current minimum bill for a Walton resident is $56.88, which now drops to $52.88. Trzop admits that’s not going to make someone rich, but fixed income earners are regularly having their costs increased. Having one bill go down can only help, he said. Visit nky.com/walton for more community news
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