Eric Wilking, a resident of Hazelwood Drive in Fort Wright, came to the regular Fort Wright council meeting Wednesday night to see what can be done to secure a place on the city’s street program that won’t be bumped to a lower spot on the list.
“I have lived on the street 24 to 25 years, and very little maintenance work, a few minor potholes, etcetera, has been done on my street,” he told council.
He told council that at first his street was scheduled for the 2022 street repair, but because the city reevaluates the list of streets every two to four years, last year the evaluation pushed his street back to 2026. It wasn’t the first time.
“The street currently has sinkhole,” Wilking said. “I think you’re all concerned with pedestrian safety, so when the curbs along where pedestrians will be walking is deteriorating so people will trip because of erosion from drainage, etcetera, becomes a hassle, it is in front of my house, it’s in front of the other neighbor’s house…..it’s aesthetically—for having a nice house, I don’t want to have our street be the worst in the city of Fort Wright.”
Councilmember Jay Weber asked if he was aware of how the system worked, and Wilking said he did, but he didn’t like that more streets kept being more urgent to fix and at this rate his street would be on the list forever. Weber insisted the system wasn’t subjective, and their engineer, Mark Brueggemann, gives advice on which streets should be done next.
Councilmember Margie Witt said she thought she understood that he wanted some reassurance that the street didn’t keep getting pushed back.
Wilking said that if a street never comes up on the list to be fixed, and just keeps getting pushed back, he thinks there might be a problem with the way the system works. He feels that regular citizens don’t realize their street can be on the list forever and not be fixed.
He said since the city has a surplus reserve of $9.5 million which is not specifically earmarked for any projects.
Councilmember Bernie Wessels said he remembered when the city had no reserve, and he did not want to go back to those days. He told Wilking that the reserve would evaporate very quickly if they started to use it for the streets, because some of them are so bad, they will absorb all the money.
“The city taxes go to three priorities: Fire, EMS, and police and the streets,” Wilking said. “Infrastructure.”
He said the tax system is not adequate, because the task of fixing the roads is not going fast enough. He stated that he is in real estate, and he sees taxes being reduced all over. But less money takes away from infrastructure, he thought, and it is a requirement of the city to fix the streets, even if it means cuts in other things.
He said if the street program is lagging, council needs to re-focus on the streets in general.
Wessels reminded him that the last tax increase was soundly defeated, and the city considered it a message from the people. He said the city has cut things for the streets.
“The money belongs to the city’s residents, and the homeowners, and the property owners,” said Wilking. “You can’t save it for the what ifs, things we could possibly run into. At some point the money should be spent back into the city.”
Weber agreed, but said he didn’t agree with his logic.
Other items discussed at the meeting:
Kevin Atwell, attorney for the new Lexus dealership which is coming to Fort Wright, and Jay Bayer, Engineer for the project, came to the meeting to get council’s approval for a sign package proposal. Bayer said usually the sign package comes at the time of the approval of the development plan, but this was different, and now they had a package that they needed approval for.
Council said the signs looked good, and seemed to be in accordance with zoning laws regarding signs, so they approved it, with the exception that they want assurance that the lights will not be too bright for surrounding subdivisions.
Council talked about the Williamscreek development, which is on KY 17 by Pioneer park, and discussed their request for Industrial Revenue Bonds. Mayor Dave Hatter said this project is not affiliated with job growth. Attorney Tim Theissen said the way the statutes are written, he does not believe the city should issue IRB for this project because they don’t qualify. Council agreed and decided not to issue the bonds.
The issue of fencing along the side of Battery Hooper Park was discussed, and two bids were received. Mills Fencing bid $14,985, and R+M Fencing bid $15,975, but Public Works Director Bethell said he thought there was less fence included in the first bid. The fence will be a six foot chain link fence, and it will be installed along the side where the church used to be, and now an apartment complex is being built. The only stipulation is that if the apartment complex is going to build a retaining wall, with a fence on top, in addition to a planned berm, the city would like to connect their fence to the fence on top of the wall, in order not to duplicate efforts.
Bethell gave council a report on the Mt Vernon Drive drainage project, saying Humphries Construction will take care of that project. Paul Michels and Sons had bid $506,355 to do the work for the street program.
A resolution passed which allows the city to withdraw their application for a Community Development Block Grant for utility costs during the pandemic. As a result of too many parties in on the program, council felt the program was messy, and they were advised to withdraw applications for this grant, and apply for others that accomplish the same purpose.
Mayor Hatter brought up the subject of a bridge located by the Gateway property, across the street from the bottom of Dudley road. Originally, approximately 20 years ago, the bridge was built by Bob Robke, and there was a development agreement as to the ownership and maintenance. The property was sold to Gateway, and they use the bridge to bring large vehicles over to their school for programs involving semi tractor trailers and CDL’s and auto mechanics. There is also an asphalt company in the vicinity, so the bridge is already showing signs of deterioration from heavy trucks. Now there are plans to put a fire training center on some land over the bridge. Hatter said Kenton County has offered the site of an old jail on Pelle road, off KY 17, about 7 miles farther up the road, as a possible site for the training center, but it may be too far out for firefighters to travel.
Hatter wants to be sure that the city investigates the development agreement to ascertain that the maintenance agreement goes with whoever buys the land. He told council he does not want any confusion as to who is responsible for the maintenance.
The upcoming Blink event was discussed, and council decided they did not want to participate in the request to donate $1 for every resident in the city. The event will be in October, and the goal is to raise $2 million to be able to host the event in Covington and Newport.
