SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Campbell County
COUNTY RECORDER
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Volume 31, Number 49 © 2010 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Clerk’s office cuts budget, not services By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
The Campbell County Clerk’s office budget for 2010 fiscal year has about $113,000 less than the previous year while still providing the same exact services. There are two fewer full-time staff positions in the 2010 budget, but the same amount of work will still get done, said Campbell County Clerk Jack Snodgrass. The total operating budget for 2010, approved by Campbell County Fiscal Court Jan. 6, is $2.054 million. A longtime clerk’s office employee retired in 2009 and another employee left and wasn’t replaced, Snodgrass said. “We’re trying to get by without
replacing them,” he said. The 2010 budget for the clerk’s office includes $1.295 million for employee salaries, retirement accounts and insurance, and $350,000 for office expenses. There is an additional $50,000 for equipment purchases. The clerk’s office has 23 fulltime employees in offices in Newport and Alexandria handling vehicle registrations, elections and voter registration, and the maintenance of property and marriage records in the county. The number of part-time employees fluctuates with he workload, and there were two part-time clerk employees in January, he said. About 60,000 people visit the clerk’s auto registration office in
Newport each year, and there are about 15,000 visitors annually to the clerk’s Newport office, Snodgrass said. Snodgrass’ office is also responsible for distributing the about $19 million a year generated from property tax collections to the various taxing districts including the biggest, school districts, the Fiscal Court, fire districts and the library and extension districts. Multiple employees are crosstrained to work in the records room and vehicle registration departments, and to also work elections, Snodgrass said. Unlike most other clerk’s offices in the state, because Campbell County has a population greater than 70,000, by law Snodgrass manages his own
Local children took advantage of the area’s first significant snowfall of the season last week. For more photos see inside. LIFE, B1
budget instead of the Fiscal Court. But, his office is also audited at least twice a year by the state, Snodgrass said. Snodgrass said if there are missing plates or auto registration decals he has to pay for that out of his own pocket at $6 each. The responsibility to bring in enough money through fees charged at the time a service is provided, like auto renewals, to cover payroll, benefits and other expenses, Snodgrass said. To make purchases, the clerk’s office has to put in a purchase order with the state, so there is extra accountability there, he said. “We keep a pretty close eye on where we spend,” Snodgrass said.
Girl’s cookie wish to remember brother By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
LEGO builders
Campbell County Schools students continue building a winning Lego robotics tradition by focusing on teamwork. Teams from Campbell County Middle School, Reiley Elementary and Grant’s Lick Elementary compete at the FIRST LEGO League State Robotics Championship at Western Kentucky University Saturday, Jan. 10. The Grant’s Lick “Team Cruisin’ Cardinals” placed second overall at the state championships after placing first overall at the regional tournament. SCHOOLS, A4
Working with kids
When it comes to questioning young children about the sensitive subjects of sexual and physical abuse and witnessing a crime, investigators turn to the Children’s Advocacy Center. The center, the only one of its kind in Northern Kentucky, works with families on abuse cases referred not only by police, but by social workers, physicians, other agencies and parents with concerns who contact the center. NEWS, A2 For the Postmaster
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A cup of tea
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
Highlands Middle School seventh-graders Ava Vardiman and Taylor Webster enjoy a cup of tea while discussing the book “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver. For more see A4.
City aims to curb juvenile pranks By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Cold Spring is considering reviewing its teen curfew times and communicating with residents and parents more in the Sturbridge subdivision about bad juvenile behavior. Cold weather and school being in session are the likely causes of a downturn in juvenile disturbances compared to last summer, but warmer weather will likely change that, said Cold Spring Police Department Sgt. Brian Messer, who is assigned as the police liaison with the Sturbridge and Springside neighborhoods. Messer gave council a presentation about progress and plans in the neighborhood at the Jan. 11 meeting. “Our biggest problems back there were basically juveniles throwing eggs and knocking on doors,” Messer said. There were even cars egged while officers were back in the
neighborhood last year because the teens, mostly age 15 or younger, could see the cruisers or police bicycles coming into the neighborhood, he said. The teens even post lookouts to let each other know where the police are likely at, Messer said. While there were some car break-ins last year, those were done by people outside of the neighborhood, but most of the juvenile disturbances are children living in and around Sturbridge, he said. Messer said he is planning to personally send a letter to all the residents reminding them how they can call in and report something that’s going on properly. Some people, while they have good intentions, call and report a disturbance like juveniles outside yelling and screaming. But then when the police show up and the resident comes outside and tries to talk with the police who are interacting with the juveniles, it makes the resident a tar-
get for retaliation, he said. The right way to report a disturbance is to call the police and stay on the phone with police until they arrive, but then to let the officers responding handle the call. The police won’t identify who made the call, Messer said. Messer said he would like to start holding parents accountable and citing parents for their children’s curfew violations if they are repeat offenders. Also, Messer said he thinks the 1 a.m. weekend curfew for teens is a little late. In response, council members Sandy Ross, Brenda Helton, and Lou Gerding asked if other cities have a graduated curfew by age. Cold Spring Police Department Chief Ed Burk said he will explore graduated ordinances for curfew times by age for council. And police will be letting parents know that the city will be enforcing curfew a little tougher this year.
Shelby Doyle, 11, of Melbourne, is remembering her brother Aaron, who died two years ago at age 8, with an ambitious cookie sale goal. “I am trying to sell 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies so that the Girl Scout Council will place a memory of my brother at Cookie Lane,” Shelby Doyle said. Doyle is a member of Troop 1368 of the Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road Council. Aaron died May 13, 2007, from a seizure, said Susan Doyle, Shelby’s mother. Since then, Susan has worked to put a park bench and memorial plaque in Aaron’s honor at Pendery Park in Melbourne. Susan said she’s proud of her daughter for taking the Shelby Doyle initiative all on her own tried setting to remember the same her brother. Shelby goal during got the idea last year’s for the cookie sale when sale, but she was reading an didn’t get the article in a word out Girl Scout magazine early enough. about the memorial bricks at the national Girl Scouts’ Cookie Lane, Susan said. “I think it was really touching,” Susan said. Shelby tried setting the same goal during last year’s sale, but didn’t get the word out early enough, said Susan. Now Shelby is printing flyers, knocking on doors and has set up an e-mail address for people interested in buying cookies so she can reach her goal. The cookie sale is currently under way and the e-mail to contact Shelby at about buying cookies is Cookie.Wish@gmail.com.