C AMPBELL COMMUNITY RECORDER
HONORING SERVICE Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day.
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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Bellevue, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Newport, Southgate
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012
BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Police merger talks end between Alexandria and Campbell County By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
ALEXANDRIA — The exploration into a merger of the Campbell County and Alexandria police departments has ended. Alexandria Mayor Bill Rachford received a letter Thursday, May 17, from Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery, ending the talks of a potential merger. In the letter, Pendery thanks the Alexandria officials for being open to the discussions and said he hopes to explore other oppor-
tunities with the city in the future. “However, as has become apparant in our most recent discussions with our consultants for this effort, there are issues internal to the Campbell County Police Department that ideally should be resolved before any further exploration regarding police services proceeds,” Pendery said. “I hasten to point out for the record that these issues do not impede the delivery of police services to county citizens and businesses, nor do they involve any improprieties.”
The issues, Pendrey said, are management related and came up during confidential interviews the consultants held with officers that are not being disclosed to the public. Pendrey said no action has been taken yet to address the issues, but that he feels can be successfully and fairly quickly addressed internally. Rachford said he always knew not merging was one of the possibilities and thinks the merger was something worth looking at regardless. “I feel good that we went
through this a found out some more information,” Rachford said. Since the county is ending the merger talks, Pendrey said in the letter that Alexandria will not be held responsible for any of the costs associated with the consultant work commissioned for the merger exploration. Rachford said as part of the merger discussion, a survey was held asking 477 citizens about their feelings about current police service. Of that number, 71 percent said they are satisfied with the
current police service and 9.3 percent said they were dissatisfied, which Rachford said reflects well on the police departments. “The thrust behind all of this was to improve services, it wasn’t about the budget,” Rachford said. Rachford said there is a possibility that, several years down the road, the city and county may look into a possible merger again. Since the merger is no longer being discussed, Rachford said the city will no longer be holding its town hall meetings to discuss the merger with citizens.
CATCH OF THE DAY
Juliana Mardis, Evan Brondhaver, and Brooke Eckert, of St. Joseph, Cold Spring cast their nets at the Cincinnati Nature Center while on their field trip. THANKS TO LINDA GABIS
Moyer Principal accepts superintendent position with Dayton Schools By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
FORT THOMAS — Moyer Elementary School Principal Jay Brewer has accepted the position of superintendent at Dayton Independent Schools and will be leaving Fort Thomas Independent Schools at the end of the fiscal year in June. Brewer, who has been the principal at Moyer for eight years, said there isn’t one reason in particular that led him to accept the new position. “I just think I’m ready for that next leadership position,” Brewer said. “With my background, Dayton seemed like a good fit for me.”
Before coming to Fort Thomas, Brewer worked at another independent school district, Ludlow Independent Schools, where he taught for eight years and was principal for four. Brewer said while he’s excited to begin the next chapter in his career, it is hard to leave Moyer, where he said he has enjoyed working and has always received 100 percent support from the community. “We’ve all left places we truly enjoyed,” Brewer said. “It was certainly not an easy decision.” Unlike when he left Ludlow, Brewer said since he lives in Fort Thomas, it will make the transition a little easier since he’ll still be able to see the Moyer students
in the community, at school events, and while he’s running through the city. “I think living in this community will help me get my fix of seeing all the kids,” Brewer said. Brewer said he is confident that Moyer will continue its level of academic excellence that was in place even before he came to the school. Brewer said in Dayton, he plans to be very involved and continue to have a high level of interaction with students like he has at Moyer. With Dayton schools being on such a small campus, Brewer said it will allow him to be more involved and active at the schools. Brewer is taking the place of
MORE THAN SUBS B1
THOMPSON HOUSE OPENS
The North Fort Thomas Ave. Subway has a history that goes beyond just grabbing a bite to eat.
Newport’s most visible historic mansion again playing host to music acts and their fans. Full story, A3
Dayton’s current Superintendent Gary Rye, who is retiring after serving in his position for 15 years. “This is my 42nd year in education, and I’m just ready to retire,” Rye said. Rye’s wife, Pamela Rye, interim superintendent of Newport Independent Schools, is also retiring and the two plan to move to western Kentucky, where they have family, Rye said. While he wasn’t involved in the school board’s process to hire a new superintendent, Rye said he is familiar with Brewer. “I tried to hire him here as our elementary school principal 12 years ago,” Rye said. “I think he’ll do very well here in Dayton.”
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Moyer Elementary School Principal Jay Brewer hands pencils to students on the first day of school in 2011. Brewer is leaving Fort Thomas Schools to become the new superintendent of Dayton Independent Schools on July 1. FILE PHOTO Vol. 16 No. 14 © 2012 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED