Covington's Third Century: Shaping Our City's Future

"If you don't know where you're going, you probably will end up somewhere else."

-- Laurence J. Peter

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

                                                            -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Before you can take a trip, you first need to determine your destination.  Once that is determined, you can then get directions on how to get there.  Without either - your destination or directions - you are simply lost.

Two years ago, the City of Covington and other city stakeholders did something unique:  it asked its residents, business owners, and others to help determine the city's ultimate destination as a community and to create a "road map" that will get the city to that destination. As the City of Covington heads into its third century as a municipality, that road map is much more important in today's large and complex world than it was in 1815, when our city was founded.

To create this road map, the city -- in conjunction with its partners, the Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington, the Covington Business Council, and the CovingtonIndependentPublic Schools -- conducted a community visioning process that led to frank conversations and generated numerous ideas that coalesced into a community-created strategic plan.  This plan, titled "Covington's Third Century: Shaping Our City's Future," can be downloaded from the City's Web site at www.covingtonky.gov.  In addition, the city can send you a CD version or hard copy of the strategic plan by contacting my office at jfossett@covingtonky.gov.

Since its inception, this strategic planning process has placed a great deal of emphasis on public participation.  Citizens have participated in all facets of the process. They attended community gatherings and retreats. They met as action teams to create the vision, goals, strategies, and projects in nine topic areas: Housing and Neighborhoods, Arts and Culture, Preservation, Education, Downtown, Greenspace, Safety, Transportation, and Rivers. They actually drafted the strategic plan itself.  And now these citizens are working to implement the plan and its goals and objectives.

In his best-selling book, The World is Flat, author Thomas Freidman examined the great changes that are taking place in our time, fueled in large part by swift advances in technology and communications, changes that are "flattening" the world in which we live.  In his book, Freidman discusses two important concepts - the self-directed consumer and collaboration - as dramatically changing the world in which we live.  Both of these concepts are incorporated into and are important components of the Covington strategic plan.

In today's flat, Internet-savvy world, because of an abundance of choices, consumers now have more control over companies (and cities, for that matter) and the products and services these entities provide, and these consumers have adapted their choices accordingly.  By allowing citizens to determine the city's future through a community visioning and strategic planning process, these self-directed consumers are more likely to continue live and work in Covington and continue to work to improve the city in which they have invested their time and energy.  In addition, others are more likely to move into a city that is listening to its residents.

The second issue discussed by Friedman in this book is the essence of the entire community visioning and strategic planning process: collaboration.   In his book, Friedman recognizes that the best companies in the world are also the best collaborators.  The same goes for cities.  The process that led to this strategic plan has involved collaboration from start to finish - and will continue to require collaboration in the future to accomplish the goals, strategies, and projects set forth in the plan.

Collaboration started at the very beginning with the four partners who conceived and directed development of the plan.  However, the collaboration really kicked into high gear when the city's residents, employees, neighborhood associations, businesses, civic organizations, social service agencies, and other stakeholders got involved in the process.    

The end result is a strategic plan in which Covingtonians, as self-directed consumers and collaborators, have told their local government -- not the other way around -- the type of community in which they want to live, work, play, and pray.  Those same citizens are now contributing their time and energy to achieving this vision in the future.

Eight action teams are now working to implement the goals and objectives set forth in the strategic plan.  We plan to have a public retreat later this year to measure how successful how our community has been in achieving these goals and objectives.  If you are interested in participating in one of the eight action teams, please contact me at jfossett@covingtonky.gov.

Construction of the Covington Artisans' Enterprise Center is now complete -- on time and within budget! The center will serve as an information, planning, and educational facility to support Covington artists and their businesses.  Funding for the project was made possible by the 2006 Kentucky General Assembly through the support of Senator Jack Westwood and Representative Arnold Simpson.  Kinzelman, Kline, Gossman (KKG) architectural firm, owners of the building, will occupy the first floor along with the arts center. KKG relocated from Cincinnati to the newly rehabbed facility at the end of November. The building will be ready for visitors in this month. For additional information, please contact:

Code Enforcement has recently added a new position to further enforce the City's building, nuisance, and zoning codes.  John Coulter was hired in November as the city's first Code Enforcement Specialist.  John is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University, where he obtained Associate's and Bachelor's degrees in Construction Management.  John's duties primarily consist of performing systematic building and code enforcement inspections throughout the City in various neighborhoods.    The Specialist position will greatly enhance Code Enforcement capabilities because John is not assigned to any particular area of the City, but instead will focus on problem blocks and streets city-wide as an additional initiative toward blight removal.  This position brings the total number of Department inspectors to eight, including six Code Enforcement Officers and a Housing Inspector assigned to addressing primarily criminal activity.

Covington's Levee Certification and Flood Insurance Rate Map Modernization Efforts

The aftermaths of Hurricane Katrina left the nation with several concerns pertaining to the sustainability of our nation's natural disaster protection systems.  As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers embarked on an aggressive initiative to determine the condition of known flood protection systems and to document deficiencies nationwide.  Concurrently with this effort, FEMA continued to push forward with updating the nation's Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS) in an effort to more clearly identify flood hazard information and modernize the outdated system of paper maps used to determine the need for flood hazard insurance.

Early in the coordination process of the Map Modernization program for Kenton County, it was discovered that Covington's flood protection systems would require certification under the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 44, Section 65.10 (44 CFR 65.10).  In accordance with this regulation, it is the responsibility of the community to provide design and construction data to prove the levee system is capable of withstanding a 1-percent-annual-chance flood (base flood).  This certification is required prior to showing an area protected by a levee system on the new maps. 

Realizing this requirement would be a huge burden by many levee-protected areas, FEMA provided for an extension of time for communities to acquire the necessary information for certification and to correct any known deficiencies.  Many communities, including Covington, undergoing Map Modernization procedures were given until May 15, 2009, to provide a letter of certification.  During this time, levees will be labeled as a Provisionally Accredited Levee (PAL) to convey to map users that levee certification is underway. 

In the next 12 months, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Covington's Engineering department will be taking steps to evaluate, analyze, and correct deficiencies with Covington's flood protection systems to meet federal requirements for certification.  This includes a tree removal project, which is already in progress, repairs to the concrete flood walls, flood-protection piping inspections, levee stability analysis, embankment protection, and others.

In the upcoming months, representatives from FEMA and the Kentucky Division of Water Floodplain management office will hold an open meeting to allow the public to see the new flood insurance rate maps and how they may be affected.  Residents will be notified in advance of this meeting and additional information will be presented at that time.

Payroll Taxes for the 4th Quarter 2007 are due January 31, 2008.

More Ambulances In Service
For more than 20 years, the City of Covington has been served by three ambulances: Ambulance One in the downtown area, Ambulance Two in the Latonia area, and Ambulance Three in South Covington.  Due to increasing run volume, the Fire Department has added two ambulances, one that runs out of Company Six at 15th and Holman and a second ambulance that runs out of Company Eight in Latonia.  Theses new ambulances have been in service for three months and have already dramatically decreased the amount of times the City has had to depend on outside agencies to handle ambulance responses.
Run Volume At All Time High
In 2007, run volume for the Covington Fire Department hit an all-time high for the number of dispatched responses -- 10,843!
More Records
The 118 members of the department completed more than 24,000 hours of training in 2007 -- another record!
 

The City of Covington annually receives HOME program funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The cities of Bromley, Ludlow, Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton have not historically received HOME funding.  However, this all started to change in June 2007 when the six cities formed the Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium.

Approximately $350,000 in HOME funds now will be available to these communities.  This will be in addition to the $450,000 allocation that will remain with the City of Covington.  The Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium is fostering regional cooperation in the creation of quality housing.

The HOME Fund offers assistance based on income and household size. An individual making under about $36,200 would qualify for the assistance, as would a family of four that earns less than $51,700.

HOME funds can be used to assist in purchasing, renovating, or building homes. 

The Consortium won't know the exact dollar amount of its allocation until after Congress approves a federal budget.  Covington and the other Northern Kentucky river cities are actively proceeding with plans to establish the Consortium.  The first meeting of the Board was held on November 29, 2007.  We anticipate that the Consortium will begin to implement its programs starting on July 1, 2008.  All meetings are open to the public.  The next meeting will be on January 17, 2008 at the office of Southbank Partners (second floor conference room), 421 Monmouth Street in Newport.  Please call John Hammons at (859) 292-2188 if you have any questions. 

Bob Stark is the new Risk Manager for the City of Covington.  He retired from the Northern Kentucky Water District after 26½ years, where he was the Safety Coordinator. During his years in this position, he held other positions as Safety Chair for the Ky/Tn AWWA (Kentucky / Tennessee American Water Works Association) for eight years and as Vice President of KMESHA (Kentucky Municipal Environmental Safety and Health Association), which is the safety training division of the Kentucky League of Cities. Bob also volunteered as fireman/EMT-B for the City of Fort Mitchell for 21 years and HAZMAT Technician for Greater Cincinnati Hazmat Unit from 1997-2006.

He enjoys camping, hiking, fly fishing, canoeing/boating, and both snow and water skiing.

In 2005, an ordinance dividing the city into four wards was passed by the City Commission. Under the ward system the candidates had to live in the ward they were going to run in.  This was in effect for the 2006 elections.

In 2007, the City Commission voted to eliminate the ward system and the voting will again be an at-large field race, effective for this election year.  A Covington resident may register to run for City Commission, regardless of where in Covington they reside.  If more than eight candidates register to run for City Commission, there is a primary election in May.  Voters, regardless of where live, may vote for up to four candidates in the general election in November.

CITIZENS POLICE ACADEMY

The Police Department is now taking applications for the 24th Citizen's Police Academy. The Academy will begin Thursday, February 21, 2008, and will meet every Thursday until May 8, 2008. The class meets from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm.

Contact Capt. Bryan Allen at 859-292-2203 to obtain an application or e-mail him at ballen@covingtonky.gov

Covington is home to many parks. The City's Neighborhoods, Parks, and Recreation Programs and Maintenance Department oversees the programs and maintenance of all City parks. Covington has more than 16 playgrounds with tot-lots and swings, the Bill Cappel Youth Sports Complex, hiking/walking/jogging/biking trails, two modular skate parks, eleven baseball/softball fields, five soccer fields, two football fields, and 20 outdoor basketball courts. There are 42 gardens, nine picnic shelters, and 16 passive parks.  If you want to get, wet don't forget about our four swimming pools and the  Covington Water Park Sprayground at the Bill Cappel Youth Sports Complex.   Fishing is available at Prisoners Lake in Devou Park. There are also walking trails in Devou Park, Goebel Park, and at 30th & Decoursey Park in Latonia. Don't forget the Devou Park Concert Bowl and the great views from the Devou Park Overlook viewing area. Covington is also home to the Police Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.  For more information about any of these parks, programs, or events, please call 859-292-2151 or email us at recreation@covingtonky.gov.  Call now to sign up for Knothole Leagues and Softball Leagues!