Volume 16 Number 10 © 2010 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Florence E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, N o v e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 1 0
A12
jbduke@nky.com
With the snip of the ribbon, the new location for Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky was celebrated Nov. 18 at the new Burlington campus. It is less than three miles from the previous Maplewood Drive location. STORY, A5
Send us tweets on Black Friday
Headed out on Friday to take advantage of postThanksgiving Day sales? “Black Friday” is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Some stores open as early as 3 a.m. If you’re brave enough to be there, we’d like to hear from you. Give us a call at 578-1059 and tell us how big the crowds are. How packed are the parking lots? Where are the best sales? What are the best deals? You can also tweet your “Black Friday” experiences by including the hashtag #nkyshop in your tweet, and we’ll share that info with other Twitter followers. Or send an e-mail to ndaly@nky.com. Recorder staffers will be out and about – maybe not as early as 3 a.m. but pretty early – and we’ll share what we see on NKY.com and Twitter.
W e b s i t e : N K Y. c o m
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
Bids for the future Florence Senior Center are $1 million over budget. A total of nine bids came in for building the center. “All of the bids were close and very tight – that’s the good news,” said City Coordinator Rick Lunnemann. “The bad news is all of the bids were over the budget.” The lowest bid came in at a little over $1 million more than what the city has budgeted for the project. Plans called for the 8,700square-feet facility to sit on U.S. 42 where the old Florence city building was. The original budget for the project was $1.8 million with $500,000 coming from a Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) and Florence funding the remaining $1.3 million. Because of the CDBG, Florence isn’t able to reduce the scope of the project, and city leaders are looking to see what kind of changes can be made without jeopardizing the grant, Lunnemann said. As of now, the city’s best options are to rebid the project or fully fund the difference, he said. “At some point a decision will have to be made,” said Mayor Diane Whalen. Rebidding may not bring the desired results. The nine bids the project received were so close that it is a good estimate of what the project will cost. None of the bids included kitchen equipment or furniture, which is estimated at an additional $300,000. If the CDBG allows for some
changes to the plans, city leaders may look at removing the planned geothermal HVAC system and the green roof. Both cost more than standard systems to install, but should save money over time. Council Member Julie Metzger Aubuchon said that measure could be shortsighted. “You only have one opportunity to make an energy efficient building,” Aubuchon said. Council Member Mike Apgar agreed and wants to see how long it takes for the energy savings to cover the added costs of the systems before deciding to scrap them. The common question council had was how the project’s budget was so badly underestimated. Originally the plans called for a two-story building and the building costs were estimated at price per square foot common for a two-
BASKETBALL PREVIEWB1
Ryle High School junior Deion Mullens (18) is wrapped up by Simon Kenton junior Trey Pinkleton (4) during their Class 6A regional football final Nov. 19 at Ryle. Ryle (12-1) beat Simon Kenton 35-14 and will move onto play Trinity (also 12-1) Friday, Nov. 26, at Ryle in the state semifinal game. See more on the game, B1.
JAMES WEBER/STAFF
Florence chef aims to be a master By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
To place an ad, call 283-7290.
CE-0000431812
story building, said Public Services Director Bob Townsend. A committee of senior citizens were asked to give input on the design of the building and they were strongly in favor of a onestory design, which has a high cost per square foot. The onestory design was chosen, which likely led to the low estimate, Townsend said. The city has two years from the time the CDBG grant was awarded this summer to administer the funds, so a decision doesn’t have to be made immediately, but any change in the city’s funding of the project’s budget would require an amendment to the city’s annual budget. Budget amendments have to be passed by a vote of council for two readings. For more about your community, visit www.nky.com/florence.
Wrapping up a victory
Share your news
Visit NKY.com/Share to submit your photos, news and events. It’s a one-stop-shop for submitting information to The Community Recorder, The Kentucky Enquirer, NKY.com and our other publications and websites.
50¢
Senior center bids $1M over budget By Justin B. Duke
Children’s Home opens new campus
RECORDER
A Florence man is eyeing a top culinary honor. Alan Neace recently returned from Hyde Park, N.Y., after taking a shot at becoming a Certified Master Chef. According to the American Culinary Federation (ACF), the Certified Master Chef is the “highest and most demanding level of achievement of all ACF certification levels, granted only after the candidate has passed an intensive eight-day test of culinary skills and knowledge.” “It’s a very, very rigorous test,” Neace said.
There are only 66 Certified Master Chefs in the country. Neace was one of 12 to take the exam that only five chefs passed. Neace As Neace was preparing to leave for the exam, he started to not feel well. “I could already feel something coming on,” he said. The night before he left for the exam, Neace was in the hospital receiving IV fluids. Doctors told him he wouldn’t feel better for days, but he said he had to go leave for the test.
After the first two days of the test, Neace was doing well, but his illness caught up to him. “I wasn’t on my ‘A’ game,” Neace said. On the third day, Neace was no longer able to stand up and had to withdraw from the examination. “They graciously allowed me to withdraw with full credit for the next test,” Neace said. Now that he’s feeling better, Neace can’t wait for the next test, which will likely be next fall. “I’m ready to do it now, next week, whenever,” he said. Becoming a Certified Master Chef is a goal Neace has worked toward for many years after getting a surprise start in cooking.
When he was 13 years old, Neace was mopping floors for a doughnut shop. One day, someone didn’t show up for work, and Neace was told to start making doughnuts. He’s been cooking ever since. Since then, Neace has gone on to run kitchens for hotels, country clubs and catering companies. Neace is currently a culinary instructor at the Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State College. Neace has earned more than 30 medals from ACF and World Association of Chefs Societies international culinary competitions. For more about your community, visit www.nky.com/florence.