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For the fourth and final time, the candidates for Covington City Commission answered questions together in front of an audience.

Monday night’s event was sponsored by the Covington Neighborhood Collaborative, the Center for Great Neighborhoods, the Mainstrasse Village Association, the Latonia Business Association, the Friends of Covington, the Awesome Collective of Covington, and the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky. It was hosted by Holmes High School and moderated by The River City News‘s Michael Monks.

Questions ran the gamut from the redevelopment of the 501 Main Building in Mainstrasse Village and the Latonia Shopping Center to working collaboratively with the mayor and city manager.

“The mayor doesn’t talk to me,” said incumbent Commissioner Mildred Rains when asked about how she would work with City Manager Larry Klein and Mayor Sherry Carran, after two years of consistent bickering. “You have to talk to people in order to understand them and see what they have to say, and discuss whatever can be changed but if they don’t talk to you…”

“I guess I plan to work the best I can.” Rains reiterated her concern over the amount of city funds used to rehab and market a rundown pair of townhomes on Fifteenth Street that were priced for a loss, as well as recent raises to granted to some employees while the budget did not allow for the hiring of additional police and firefighters.

Incumbent Commissioner Michelle Williams has also had difficulties working with the city manager and mayor. “I’m not the problem. I can tell you right now, I’m the one that tries to solve the problems and I will continue to,” Williams said. She suggested that the new commission could socialize more. I socialize and hang out with two of the commissioners, and of course, Chuck (Eilerman), my door is always open.”

“I support the mayor and the city manager and I think they’re both doing a good job,” incumbent Commissioner Chuck Eilerman said. He added that he meets with Klein two to three times a week and that he has been very impressed with his work ethic and professionalism. “I don’t agree with him on everything but I think he’s doing a good job.”

Incumbent Commissioner Steve Frank said that he had come close to voting with Williams and Rains to fire Klein after the nearly $800,000 embezzlement by former finance director Bob Due came to light last year, and again a few months ago.

“I tend to work very closely and well with the city manager and the mayor,” Frank said. “(During the embezzlement fallout) I was ready to fire him and maybe made a mistake by keeping him. … He should have been signing those checks, should have instituted a methodology where things were checked.” Frank was concerned though that if a change were made, the city’s progress may have stalled. “We probably made the right choice, but to this day, I have my reservations.”

Challengers Warner Allen, Christi Blair, Jordan Huizenga, and Bill Wells also weighed in.

“I think at the moment I have a good working relationship with both of them,” Wells said. “There is a bit of an accountability problem and I think every person and department head in the City of Covington needs to have a job description of what is expected of them. … But I think Covington is on the right track. For the first time in thirty years, sidewalks are being re-paved. We’re on the incline after thirty years on the decline.”

Allen was not happy that a recently adopted job description for the city manager was written by Klein, though Eilerman said it borrowed heavily from other cities and the Kentucky League of Cities. “Let’s be frank here, the city manager has no business writing their own job description and salary ranges and vetting it between each other,” he said. “Would your boss ask you to write your job description and attach a salary range to it?”
 
“Part of the reason I’m excited to be on commission is because I do work well with others and I don’t care if they like me or not,” Blair said. She added that she does not know Mayor Carran personally but has found Klein to be responsive and easy to work with. “He’s short and to the point. It’s how I like to be, too. We don’t have to hug and kiss and be best friends and go to dinner all the time, though I do like to socialize. You don’t have to be friends with everybody you work with. I think I might just balance it out. We have a real nice race going and I appreciate that.”
 
Huizenga also cited a good working relationship with Carran and Klein. “Respect has to be built and built often through relationships,” he said. He said it is tough for commissioners to socialize because there are so few of them and that any time three or more meet, it has to be a public meeting due to regulations.
 
Redeveloping 501 Main Building and Latonia Shopping Center, and the need for more men in the economic development department?
 
The city purchased the building at 501 Main Street and it has remained mostly and then entirely vacant since. Meanwhile, the Latonia Shopping Center, owned by the Schottenstein Group in Columbus, Ohio, is outdated and decaying on prime centrally located real estate.
 
What’s to be done?
 
Every candidate agreed that 501 Main should be sold and developed. Strategies for the shopping center and Latonia overall varied.
 
Frank suggested finding other partners to work with the Schottensteins to redevelop the site but said the area is challenged by competition in Taylor Mill and Ft. Wright. “That doesn’t mean we stop working,” he said. A new state office building will locate hundreds of workers in the area next year. “That’s going to create some life. We need to get people moving back in the community to be able to support retail there and attract people from off the hill (in Taylor Mill).” Frank did not think the city could afford a full-time employee dedicated to developments in Latonia.
 
Huizenga cited the shopping center and Latonia as being among the city’s greatest assets. “I would like to see (the shopping center) completely re-imagined,” he said. “It’s another gateway into Covington. What does it say for people coming into Covington that way?” Huizenga also called Ritte’s Corner an amazing asset and a big opportunity. “Latonia is a beautiful amazing residential area with a lot of solid families out there, people who have been in Latonia a long time, so how do we provide them with a Ritte’s Corner similar to (Cincinnati’s) Hyde Park Square?”

“Ritte’s Corner is a beautiful area,” Rains said. “The shopping center needs to be cleaned up. It used to have a Value City. Now it’s got a Burlington Coat Factory, and there’s hardly any customers there at all.”

Wells suggested the creation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district for the area. “It’s the quickest way to spur development,” he said. He added that the city needs to spend more time on business development. “Last year our economic development agent addressed eighty-five businesses, that’s less than two a week. I think we need to increase that.”
 
Williams said she recently toured the shopping center. She said she is supportive of any redevelopment effort. “As far as hiring a staff person specifically for Latonia, I wouldn’t agree with that at the moment. But I do agree with hiring a new economic development person that would bring skills in to offer big business incentives to come to Covington,” Williams said.
 
“It’s been a shame to see what has happened to (the shopping center) over the years,” Allen said. “We need to refocus and redevelop that entire project.” He said it is important to nurture the families that live in the neighborhood by bringing about more amenities for them.
 
“I don’t know what’s up with the Latonia Shopping Center,” Blair said. “I loved Value City, and I went to the candy store, LaRosa’s, Skyline. I have kids. What’s the story? Let us know. Tell us why people are leaving. Not enough shoppers? Better deals in Taylor Mill or Ft. Wright?” She said her stepfather moved his business from Covington to Boone County because it is cheaper to have more parking and a larger space. Meanwhile, Blair believes that the two women who work on business development and management should be joined by some men. “I’m a little old school,” she said. “I think you need a couple men on there, too. Men are a little more aggressive. Let them work as a team and get some more people.”
 
“When you go to Latonia, it looks like a little downtown because, of course, it was. Latonia was its own city,” Eilerman said. “Some folks have never gotten over that,” he added to laughter. “Clearly the development at Taylor Mill and Walmart in Ft. Wright sucked a lot of the shopping activity out of that area. To a large degree we have someone committed there.” He noted Suzanne Gettys of the economic development department who is well versed in all things Latonia. 
 
All the candidates agreed that the tax base needs to grow to support the hiring of more officers in the police department and more firefighters, as needed, though some noted that the fire department’s infrastructure is of greater concern. They all also agreed that Covington needs to be represented on the board of directors at Sanitation District 1.
 
As for the widespread heroin problem facing the region and related to much of the criminal activity in the city, all the candidates are open to exploring treatment options and favor tougher penalties enacted in Frankfort for drug dealers.

Lastly, a point of contention at several city commission meetings was addressed: the make-up of the various city boards. Williams often opposes or abstains from reappointments of board members, instead calling for newer faces. 

“I feel we have to have diversity on boards,” Williams said. The city should better encourage participation and applications she said. “If you like gardening, anything in the city, please come and put your resume in for these boards. I definitely think it’s an issue in the City of Covington. We have to get these boards back before the control is taken away.”

Allen also supports more diversity on the boards and suggested that term limits could be enacted. Blair called for better promotion of the openings.

“It’s on our website, what the boards do, the terms, the openings and availabilities,” Eilerman said. “I would encourage people to look at that.” He added that he also supports more diversity on the boards but that there is a benefit to having experienced board members, too, particularly those with specialized skills.

Frank, Rains, Huizenga, and Wells also support pushing for newer faces on city boards.
 
Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher of The River City News
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