By Pat Lafleur
Fort Thomas Matters, City Beat Writer
Mayor Mary
Brown put in her closing remarks, this was a busy meeting.
One might consider it, however, more of a busy-work meeting. Much of it was rather procedural, including
re-readings of ordinance amendments and role-call votes on a number of
expenditure-related issues.
But here are the two highlights worth noting.
The first third of Council’s attention this week was duly
directed toward the Fort Thomas Police Department. The meeting began with Police Chief Michael Daly awarding Officer Chris Goshorn the Samaritan Citation Award. The award
recognizes Off. Goshorn’s above-and-beyond service toward an elderly woman
stranded in her own home without food, family/friends’ support, or even the
ability to call 911 in an emergency.
“Chris has always shown compassion while wearing this uniform,”
Chief Daly remarked, commending Off. Goshorn’s 18 years of service.
Officer
Goshorn’s family was present to celebrate his achievement, making up – as he
himself was sure to quip – more than half the residents in attendance (the
whole right side of the room is there to celebrate Goshorn).
Chief Daly continued, to deliver the FTPD’s 2012 Annual Report, which outlined a number of issues faced
in 2012. Among those were:
1. The
FTPD recorded a case-closure rate of 44% for the year 2012, beating the
national average for municipalities by roughly 19 points. He attributed this to
the FTPD’s dedication to treating every case, whether misdemeanor or felonious,
as central to ensuring Fort Thomas’s safety and security.
2.. FTPD
training now includes preparation for mass shooter situations. Chief Daly made
sure to inform Council of the rising cost of firearms and the effect on the
FTPD’s rigorous ammunition training and diligent inventory.
3. That
said, Chief Daly also made sure to commend Fort Thomas’s SWAT members for
placing 2nd in a state-wide SWAT competency and preparedness competition,
falling short only to the KY State Police.
4. Chief
Daly applauded collaboration between FTPD’s patrol and investigation units for
successfully preventing 2 burglaries in Fort Thomas through data analysis and
criminal activity prediction in 2012, a strategy the Police Chief seems eager
to explore further.
The FTPD 2012 Annual Report should post to the FTPD’s website in
the coming days. We will hit the highlights at FTM, once again.
The other noteworthy topic this evening was the continuing effort
by the City to acquire the VA homes
located in Tower Park. At long last, City
Administrator Don Martin was able
to offer a time-table and budget estimate for renovating these houses into
inhabitable homes.
After a final, minor revision to the contract, we’re looking at a
January 2014 start-date for the removal of hazardous materials (primarily
asbestos and lead) from the properties, renovation and rehabilitation by Fall
2014, and occupancy by Fall 2015.
(To slightly editorialize for a moment: I moved to Fort Thomas
over 20 years ago, and I don’t remember ever seeing so much as a porch lit on
one of those houses. As such, it was a surprise to hear Mayor Brown react to
the 2015 occupancy estimate by asking, “It’ll take that long?”)
As Mr. Martin expressed, this is all assuming there are no more
set backs and that the VA keeps on its promised schedule. He did seem
encouraged by the near-completeness of the agreement between the City and the
VA.
This encouragement is shadowed, though, by Mr. Martin’s
revelation that, since their last appraisal in 2007, these houses have depreciated in value by nearly 80%. Even more
staggering, given the City’s estimate of roughly $500K for biohazard material
abatement and property re-sale, that’s nearly $2 million in lost property value over the last 5 years alone.
It doesn’t take a math whiz to know that’s a load of money.
All that said… Lengthy (but warranted) discussion of those two
items shortened discussion of these:
1. The
announcement of an upcoming study to
re-measure the deer population in Fort Thomas (a report Mayor Brown hopes
will validate new action taken toward controlling the deer population).
2. A
partnership between the City and Ft. Thomas Independent Schools to renovate Woodfill Elementary’s softball
field.
3. Highland Park’s trails are to be renovated.
4. Council
approved a re-zoning of industrial park space to include physical fitness
facilities (welcome to Ft. Thomas,
Cross-Fit).’
5. WeatherSpotters will conduct a training
session this Thursday from 6:30-9:00 in the City Building (walk-ins
welcome).
6. Oh,
and not to mention that the city will
probably escape being sued by the Kentucky Concealed Carry Coalition for failing
to remove from its website a municipal ordinance that Council actually repealed in 2007 prohibiting guns in
public parks. (The K3C, as their called, allegedly has seven or eight similar
lawsuits filed against other KY municipalities, according to Ft. Thomas legal counsel
Jann Seidenfaden.) Council approved a motion to submit the case for dismissal.
Busy meeting. Lots of things that could warrant their own
stories… Stay tuned.
