The Covington Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday evening to have City Manager Sharmili Reddy create a proposal for sidewalk improvements that could be enacted within the city’s current budget.
The idea was pitched by Commissioner Tim Downing, who said, “sidewalks are a bit of an issue for me,” near the end of the meeting when he shared an experience he had after watching the fireworks at Riverfest over the weekend.
Downing said that as he was returning to his car after watching the fireworks, he witnessed someone in a wheelchair get stuck because a sidewalk slab had seemingly become raised due to root undergrowth. Unable to surmount the raised slab, the person had to reroute and go out into the street.
“I’m going to ask that we put this on her priority lists,” Downing said. “That way, we can find a way within our current budget constraints to address this issue. It is consistently a hot potato issue because we’re always in budget constraints.”
The vote to have Reddy create a proposal was unanimous.
Reddy will examine available information from within the city’s departments and come up with something to present to the board at future date. Exact timelines for when this would occur were not discussed at the meeting.