SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Northern Kenton County E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, J u l y 2 3 , 2 0 0 9
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Crestview Hills selects administrator By Regan Coomer rcoomer@nky.com
Volume 13 Number 39 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
$1,500 cash giveaway
Through July 24, you can win daily cash prizes and get entered for a $500 jackpot from CincyMomsLikeMe.com. Go to MomsLikeMe.com/cincycontes ts for all the info.
Share your fair photos
The Kenton County Fair and Horse Show is in full swing and we’re looking for your best photos from the event. To get started, go to NKY.com/Share to share your photos with the community. Your shot will be published online and may even make it into The Community Recorder.
Kings Island bound Readers who won tickets to Kings Island as part of our Readers Choice survey are: • Mark Class of Alexandria • Michael Brunner of Cincinnati • Tara Reese of Hamersville • Darla Hartmann of Cleves Watch the newspaper for more Readers Choice announcements in coming weeks.
Training
Local parents are being trained up to assist in their schools once the new school year starts. Under the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership program, parents are learning how to lead in their schools and how to get other parents involved. SCHOOLS, A5
Fantastic ponds
Pond-A-Rama returns to Kenton County this year with a tour of two neighborhood backyards that highlight the landscaping work put in by area residents. The homes are part of a larger tour taking place this weekend in Greater Cincinnati. Read about what Pond-ARama is and what residents put into their aquatic waterscapes. LIFE, B1
To place an ad, call 283-7290.
Crestview Hills may have found a new city administrator. City council authorized Mayor Paul Meier to enter into contract negotiations with former Boone County Assistant County Administrator Tim Williams at a special meeting Wednesday July 15. Council voted unanimously to negotiate with Williams after an hour-long executive session. Current city administrator Rick Lunnemann resigned earlier this month to become the new Florence City Coordinator. Lunnemann’s last day will be Aug. 4. “He has previous city experience, he knows Northern Kentucky, he’s just come from Boone County and after discussion with him and a look at the candidate list from less than a year ago, besides Mr. Lunnemann, we feel he is the best candidate for our city,” Meier said of Williams. Meier said he hopes to complete negotiations with Williams in the next few weeks. If all goes well, Williams could start his new position in the beginning of August. Williams worked for Boone County government for the last two years before the fiscal court eliminated his position in fiscal year 2010 budget. Before working as assistant county administrator, Williams was a local government adviser in the Governor’s Office for Local Development in Frank-
REGAN COOMER/STAFF
Crestview Hills may have a new administrator. Council member Frank Sommerkamp (left) congratulated candidate Tim Williams after a special meeting July 15. Williams recently left Boone County, where he served as assistant county administrator. The city will negotiate a contract with Williams and hopes to make his appointment official in a couple of weeks. fort. Williams also was the city administrator in White House, Tenn., a Nashville suburb.
“This is an outstanding community,” Williams said of Crestview Hills. “It’s a commu-
nity that values professional management, which is important as an administrator.”
Crescent Springs approves sign changes By Regan Coomer rcoomer@nky.com
Crescent Springs City Council modified its sign ordinance to allow electronic signs within city limits. Council voted unanimously to approve the sign ordinance amendment at its regular meeting Monday July 13. Although no business had approached council asking for electronic signs, Mayor Jim Collettt said it was time to “modernize” the city’s sign ordinance, especially in regards to gas stations, which may have to change prices
several times a day. “We don’t want to have signs that are eyesores, but it’s impractical in today’s world to change signs that frequently when there is technology out there to make it easier,” Collettt said. Electronic signs will be allowed in the city’s Neighborhood Commercial, Shopping Center and Limited Highway Service zones. The ordinance stipulates messages can change every eight seconds, but must be “substantially instantaneous” to the human eye. No movement, flashing or any other effects will be permitted on electronic signs.
The eight-second rule is “pretty standard,” said City Attorney Joe Baker, who added the Federal Highway Administration requires the same time frame for changeable electronic signs. Electronic signs will also need to have automatic level controls to reduce light levels at night and under cloudy or other darkened conditions. Amendments such as this one are preferable to city council as opposed to adopting the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission’s model sign ordinance that was proposed last year, Collettt said.
The NKAPC proposed the sign ordinance to provide cities with an updated, constitutionally-sound document. Many changes were made, including the removal of any language concerning political signs because cities cannot regulate a sign’s message in any way. However, council is reluctant to adopt the model sign ordinance, Collett said, because the city’s current sign ordinance has been court-tested and will only have to be changed with the times. “We feel comfortable with our sign ordinance as it is versus the model sign ordinance,” Collett said.
Fort Mitchell passes KLC resolution By Jason Brubaker jbrubaker@nky.com
The Fort Mitchell city council approved a resolution at its July 20 meeting asking for more accountability and oversight of Kentucky League of Cities’ finances, including posting expenditures online for public viewing. Following a series of articles in The Lexington Herald-Leader that detailed questionable expenses by the KLC in recent years, councilman Will Terwort proposed a similar resolution a little over a month ago, but that resolution was ultimately voted down by the council. “I don’t know that we need to have a resolution for this when we can just ask the mayor to follow up with the KLC and clear some of this up,” said council member David Stoeckle at the time.
However, Terwort proposed the resolution again following a July 15 Herald-Leader article that revealed an $80 charge on a KLC credit card at a Las Vegas strip club in 2006. This time, the resolution passed by a vote of 5-1, with council members Stoeckle and Denny Zahler absent from the meeting and David Schrand casting the dissenting vote. “Since the KLC is funded by taxpayer dollars, it is clearly inappropriate for KLC employees to spend it’s members’ money at strip clubs,” said Terwort. “I was outraged to hear this.” Councilman Chris Wiest agreed, pointing to the explanation by the KLC executive, where he claimed to be unaware the business was a strip club, despite large lettering near the entrance that said “Nude.”
“Do they think we’re stupid?” asked Wiest. “I’m disgusted by the arrogant attempt at making an excuse by the KLC officials who were behind this.” Wiest even suggested the city should look into withholding their 2010 dues to the KLC until they’re positive that the KLC has cleaned up their expenditures. The city currently pays $2,000 in dues and approximately $90,000 in insurance premiums each year. Mayor Tom Holocher said that while he couldn’t condone the strip club expenditure, he does feel the KLC is in the process of cleaning up their expenditures and becoming more financially accountable. The KLC is also currently set to undergo an audit by State Auditor Crit Luellen’s office. “(The strip club expense) was wrong, and there’s no way to jus-
tify that,” said Holocher. “But the KLC does do a lot of good work for us, and I would like to see us take a step back and let them fix their mistakes before we make any decisions.” While the city has already paid the insurance premiums for the current fiscal year, Holocher said the dues for 2010 likely wouldn’t be due until next spring, meaning the city could have more assurance by then about the KLC’s finances and spending. “I just want to see their attitude change with regards to accountability, so we know that this stuff won’t be happening anymore,” said Wiest. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be August 3 at 7 p.m.