Inside council chambers at Tuesday night's April meeting. Photo by | Braden White, LINK nky contributor

Highland Heights heard an update from City Administrator Michael Giffen on the status of funding for city infrastructure projects and the relocation of the Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

Giffen described the ending of the Kentucky legislative session as a “mixed bag,” discussing both the positive and negative aspects that could affect the city. 

The first thing he mentioned was the approval of funding for a $21M medical examiner crime lab, which will occupy a former city building in Highland Heights.

“That was great news for Highland Heights—we’re excited about that,” Giffen said. “They are going to be using the old city building for that project.”

A roundabout near NKU that leads into Wilder was among the other pieces of city infrastructure that received funding, which will go toward the full completion of the roundabout.

Giffen then discussed the relocation of the Chase College of Law School, which was approved to move into the former IRS building in Covington. 

“That was a little bit of unexpected news,” Giffen said when discussing the relocation. “The good news is there will be space for the university that [NKU] plans to backfill over the years. Even though Chase Law School will be leaving, there is an opportunity for NKU to expand their departments.” 

Council member Rene Heinrich brought up her concerns and thoughts on the relocation of the building.

“I was appalled at how that went down,” Heinrich said when discussing the relocation. “I thought the city was very much blindsided by that decision.” 

She continued by weighing in on using the site, known as Covington’s Central Riverfront, for the law school.

“I also don’t think that using that really great IRS building there in the city center for the law school that could be placed anywhere doesn’t really make much sense either,” Heinrich said.

Overall, Giffen said though there were high and lows, the end of the legislative session looked to be successful for Highland Heights.

”It was a mixed bag with highs and lows, but also I think it worked out pretty well in our favor, especially with the crime lab,” Giffen said.

Braden White is a contributor from Cincinnati, Ohio. He currently attends Northern Kentucky University and serves as the editor-in-chief for The Northerner, NKU’s independent, student-run newspaper....