Monday, August 29, 2011

Alexandria weighing flea market idea

We’ve been told the person that approached the mayor on this wants to run a full time business.

Why doesn’t the person proposing this great idea take it to Cold Spring, Highland Heights or the county?

Because we don’t believe that they would want anything to do with it.

If Alexandria really gets serious about this (we hope they don’t) and wants to entertain the guy (we’re pretty sure we know who he is) that’s proposing this nutty idea then say hello to problems and issues that some may consider insensitive and too politely incorrect to mention here.

We can’t believe one of our elected officials would even bring something like this up much less support it.

Posted on nky.com

Alexandria weighing flea market idea

By Chris Mayhew • 11:59 am, Aug 29, 2011

ALEXANDRIA – Mayor Bill Rachford said he’s been approached about the idea of having a flea market in town at the Aug. 18 meeting

Rachford said it’s only an idea, but what has been suggested was to allow flea markets on four or five-acre plots of land by a private operator.

One of the locations that was brought up as a potential site for a flea market was at the old Thriftway grocery store lot, he said.

Council member Stacey Graus said he thought if there was going to be a flea market use allowed in the city it should be something special and only held a couple of times a year.

“I mean I’m fine with it,” Graus said. “I don’t want to make it every week.”

Council member Dave Hart said if the city were to allow any flea markets in city limits the cost for police protection needed to be considered.

City Attorney Mike Duncan said if the city were to consider ever allowing flea markets it would require a text amendment to a zone.

“By omission, they’re not a permitted use in any of the zones,” Duncan said.

First comment posted on nky.com following the article –

By: INSPCALLAHAN

2:56 PM on August 29, 2011

I thought the last Mayor was a joke, this guy is even funnier. Why don't we let the circus come to town, never mind, the real circus is happening when the city government meets.

The city government ought to think of how to get real business in town and keep them. Why do you need a flea market, when you have all of these Street sales poping [sic] up? One that is coming up is the Wood Stone Subdivision Annual Sale, and this is a pain in the butt if you live in this Subdivision. You have all types of people from all walks of life coming into a neighborhood to case it, you have Streets so congested, that if there was a fire, the Fire Department could not get to the fire, you have people selling food prepared food items like they were a resturaunt [sic], and much more.

Come on City Government of Alexandria, do something that is going to bringt [sic] possible jobs in the area. You want a Flea Market, you are only going to add to the probelms [sic] that already exist.

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Friday, August 5, 2011

Consultant to look at possible merger of the Alexandria and Campbell County police departments

According to an article written by Jeff McKinney on nky.com the Campbell County Fiscal Court and the city of Alexandria have agreed to hire a consultant to offer advice on how the governments could possibly merge their police departments.

Alexandria Mayor Bill Rachford said Thursday that the city has asked the county to develop a study that would determine if the two entries should merge.

He said a time frame has not been determined when the study will be completed or how much it will cost.

Rachford and Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery in recent weeks have discussed a possible merger of Alexandria’s and Campbell County’s police departments.

“A study of this sort will determine if a merger is feasible or not,” Rachford said.

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Alexandria considering a new public works position

According to Chris Mayhew in the Alexandria Recorder a proposal by the mayor to elevate a public works position into a supervisory role was met with skepticism by two of the three members of council’s public works committee during an Aug. 4 meeting.

Mayor Bill Rachford said the proposed idea is still in the discussion phase, and he intends to continue talks about a foreman position. Rachford said he and public works director Sam Trapp came up with the idea for a foreman as a way to improve the department’s operations.

The new position wouldn’t mean hiring anyone new, Rachford said.

“You’re just giving somebody a little more responsibility,” said Trapp during the public works committee meeting.

Trapp said with the administrative duties he has going on, he’s sometimes in a meeting with the mayor and others or in the office filing reports and not at a job site.

“I’m just saying I can’t be there every minute of every day,” he said.

Council member Dave Hart, public works committee chairman, said the committee had been offered the opportunity to help write the job description for a foremen position. There was no discussion of the job description.

Adding a foreman position likely also means a salary increase, said council member Stacey Graus during the public works committee meeting.

Graus said if a supervisor puts forth a weekly set of priorities of what’s supposed to be done, then the employees should be able to carry everything out.

“I’m having trouble with the idea of having a foreman for three people,” Graus said.

Trapp said he didn’t disagree, and that public works employees are able to carry out tasks on their own.

Trapp said it’s not like the entire crew of three workers are always on the same job at the same time, and a foreman will have control of a job site.

“Well, the foreman controls all aspects of the job – not just one person,” he said.

Council member Barbara Weber said the idea of a foreman is kind of a duplication of responsibilities.

“I don’t really see the necessity,” Weber said.

Trapp said the department is now using daily time cards and tracking how much time each person spends on each job.

“Now we’re accounting for every minute of the day because some people feel like we’re not here every minute of every day,” Trapp said. “That’s just how I feel.”

Weber said the city has other reasons to track time including making sure the public works department runs as efficiently as possible and to see who is doing what kind of work.

“There’s more of a reason for it than we’re just basically poking over their shoulder,” she said.

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Dollar General coming to Alexandria

According to an article by Chris Mayhew of the Alexandria Recorder a Dollar General store is in the works for the City of Alexandria.

The company has submitted a preliminary site plan for a store in Alexandria and the fees have been paid, said John Jewell, chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The proposed 1.9-acre location for the store is on north side of Summerlake Drive at the intersection with Alexandria Pike, Jewell said.

Previously this year, Dollar General built and opened a store on Ky. 8 in Silver Grove. There are also store locations at 13042 Alexandria Pike south of Grant’s Lick and 1841 Monmouth St., in Newport. For information about Dollar General visit the website www.dollargeneral.com.

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