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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Campbell County
COUNTY RECORDER
E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, D e c e m b e r 1 7 , 2 0 0 9
Annie Garcia and Sidney Bayless
Volume 31, Number 45 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Finding the beat
New weekly “Health Rhythms” sessions at Campbell County’s Senior and Wellness Center in Highland Heights are about relaxing and having fun, not technical ability. “The idea is we’re not teaching anyone how to play, we’re just giving them the opportunity to experience music and enjoy their own rhythm,” said Sarah Manhardt, wellness coordinator for the center. Playing music is healthy and fun, and something everyone ought to do every day, she said. LIFE, B1
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B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
New county building opens on Monmouth By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
The idea of creating a dual Campbell County and Newport government square area has been realized with the opening of a new county administration building. When the building at 1010 Monmouth St. is finished being demolished, only a parking lot and a street will separate Newport’s city building and the new county building. County officials introduced the new county administration building and health center at 1098 Monmouth St., Newport, during an open house Dec. 9. The three-story, 52,000square-foot building cost $13.5 million, a figure that includes buying the land, construction costs and the furnishings. The open house drew the judge-executives from Boone and Kenton counties, Newport officials, and contractors who worked on the building. The City of Newport and Phil Ciafardini, the city’s former city manager, guided the county to the site with the idea of creating a government square with the county and city buildings facing
each other, said Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery during the grand opening. Pendery said construction on the building also came at a good time for the local economy. “Most of the bids went to local contractors who were in need of the work,” he said. Pendery said he also wanted to thank the local health department for being patient and working with the county because the health department had identified their need for a new space in 1996. Having the health center, the county clerk and all the other offices in one place is good for customer service, but it’s also good for Monmouth Street’s growth, said Robert Yoder, Newport’s Main Street Coordinator. The new county building will draw more people to Monmouth Street, Yoder said. “One of the things you want to do is bring people downtown, and let them see what is available,” he said. Plus, people are often sent from the county offices to the Newport offices and vice-versa, Yoder said. Now, instead of going across town, they can walk across the street.
Graduating green
When Northern Kentucky University graduates walk across the stage at The Bank of Kentucky Center to receive their diplomas Dec. 19, they’ll be wearing green. The graduate regalia will be traditional black, but for the first time parts of that regalia will be sustainable. The gown fibers are harvested from renewable, managed forests and will decompose in soil within a year. The Eco-Zip coil zipper has tape and teeth made from 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephtalate. And the gown packaging will contain earthfriendly ECM BioFilms materials that promote the decomposition process. In addition, Jostens will contribute $1 for each student participating in its “give back” program.The resulting dollars will be contributed to an environmental sustainability project. Jostens is also looking into ways to make graduation caps, cords and hoods more sustainable. For the Postmaster
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Ft. Thomas to hire group to count deer By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
CHRIS MAYHEW/STAFF
A view of the main front lobby of Campbell County’s new administration building and health center in Newport during a Dec. 9 open house. Yoder said there is adequate parking in the downtown area near the county building with lots for the county building specifically. “I think it’s a great investment, it’s at the north end of the Renaissance District,” Yoder said. “It’s a nice capstone there.” The new county building puts Campbell County’s government in an up-to-date building for the first time, and is set up to be very customer-friendly, said Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore. “It’s a very common sense approach to providing facilities,” Moore said. Kenton County Judge-executive Ralph Drees said it’s an attractive building with open space, and the view of downtown area is spectacular. And it was a good price, Drees said. “It seems like to me the price was really right,” he said.
What’s inside?
CHRIS MAYHEW/STAFF
Kenton County Judge-executive Ralph Drees, left, talks with Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery inside the open house for the new Campbell County administration building and health center in Newport Dec. 9.
The new Campbell County administration and health building located at 1098 Monmouth St., Newport, has three floors. The following offices are located in the building: • Campbell County’s health clinic. • The county clerk’s offices (including the motor vehicle department, land records, voter registration, and marriage licenses). • The Property Valuation Administrator. • Campbell County Fiscal Court. • And county offices for planning and zoning, department of housing, assistance programs and occupational licensing. • The offices of the Campbell County Sheriff will remain at 330 York Street through the end of the tax season and will move to the new building in April 2010.
Fort Thomas City Council will soon have an idea of how many deer are living in the city. In a recent meeting, council voted unanimously in favor of hiring Vision Air Research Inc. to do the count sometime this winter. “They will use an infrared camera mounted on an airplane and will fly over quadrants of the city to count the deer,” said City Administrator Donald Martin. Martin said the company has the ability to distinguish Along with b e t w e e n counting the i n f r a r e d deer, the images that are deer and information those that are will also give people or other city officials animals. an idea Along with where the counting the “hot spots” deer, the inforare in the city mation will also give city where a lot of officials an deer are idea where the congregating. “hot spots” are in the city where a lot of deer are congregating, Martin said. The count, which will cost about $8,000, is the latest thing city officials are doing as part of their effort to reduce the amount of deer-related accidents. In 2007, city council adopted on ordinance allowing the discharge of a bow and arrow during certain days and times for those who wish to hunt deer. Martin said until now, the city has been watching to see if the number of deer-related accidents are going down to determine whether the hunt is effective. “In the future this count may be useful to seeing whether or not to continue the program,” Martin said. “This number will set the benchmark for this year.” The hunting ordinance is set to expire Feb. 1, 2011, which may be when the council will consider doing another count to see if the numbers are going down, Martin said. Until then, the council will review the program each year to see if any changes need to be made.
County preps for 2010 winter senior games By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com Seniors will soon have the chance to throw some “freezebee” and do some Nintendo Wii skiing at the winter edition of the Northern Kentucky Senior games. The one-day event offers local citizens 50 years or older a chance to participate and compete in a variety of activities. “The whole idea behind the senior games is to get people active,” said Paul Ankenbauer, chair of the senior games committee and program planner for the Boone County Parks and Recreation. “We have an indoor facility in Fort
Thomas, which is perfect for this time of year when the weather is bad.” For years, Northern Kentucky parks and recreation departments and the Northern Kentucky Area Development District have been coming together to host the senior games every spring, but this is only the second year in the recent past that the groups have hosted a winter edition. “The spring games are our biggest event, but we had a pretty good turn-out for the winter games last year,” said Dave Buerger, member of the committee and director of the Fort Thomas Recreation Department. “It helps keep seniors active, give them something to do and
offer them a social activity.” For the senior games, the committee have again teamed up with Best Buy, who is providing a television and Nintendo Wii game system for the seniors to use during the event. The event, sponsored by Cardinal Hill of Northern Kentucky, is at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 21 at the armory gymnasium in Tower Park, Fort Thomas. The cost, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch is $10 for those who register by Monday, Jan. 4 and $15 for those who don’t pre-register. Visit www.ftthomas.org and click on the Recreation Department link or call 781-1700.