Alexandria expects sale of condemned building

In a recent article by Chris Mayhew on Campbell County Connects The owner of a building condemned by the city on East Main Street has communicated with the city for the first time in more than a year, expressing an intent to sell the property rather than have it demolished.

Alexandria and Campbell County to merge Police Departments?

Discussions are taking place concerning the possibility of Alexandria and Campbell County merging their police departments.

This issue has now become a matter of public record.

In our original post we were questioning what seemed to be the hush-hush nature of discussions.

Thanks to Barbara Weber, councilmember and chair of Alexandria’s Safety Committee this issue has now reached the light of day.

We’re looking for more details as this matter develops.

What we do know is that this “merging” or “consolidation” if it does occur will forever change the City of Alexandria and the citizens of Alexandria must decide if they want this change.

The city needs to go slow on this matter resisting at every turn any attempt to speed up its decision to go forward.

Many, many details need to be worked on how this would benefit the city.

We’re looking for more details as this matter develops.

This above post was edited Thursday, July 21, 2011.

The following story by Chris Mayhew was published on Campbell County Connects Wednesday, July 20, 2011.

Alexandria, county considering police merger

By Chris Mayhew • cmayhew@nky.com • 8 :02 pm, Jul 20, 2011

ALEXANDRIA – It’s possible southern Campbell County will be served by one unified police force with an announcement of a potential merger of the Alexandria and the county police with the city in the lead.

Mike Ward, Alexandria’s chief of police, and Alexandria Mayor Bill Rachford discussed the idea of combining the two departments at a meeting of the City Council safety committee Wednesday, July 20.

Ward said he and the mayor met with Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery a couple of weeks ago at the county’s request. The idea of the city taking over police services the county provides was raised.

“We discussed the possibility that the city might be interested in a merger of the county and city police departments,” Ward said.

Ward said he and the mayor felt they should inform the safety committee if the city was going to move forward with examining the idea.

“At this point I don’t know what in the heck I can tell you other than the question was raised and we’d like to look into it,” he said.

Ward said details of funding a joint budget and managing services provided by a merged department are not difficult duties for police administrators.

“The hard part is having two governments come to an agreement,” he said.

Barbara Weber, chairperson of the safety committee, said the 15-minute closed session at the start of the July 20 meeting was the first time the idea was ever mentioned in a meeting.

Prior to the closed session, Weber said any changes affecting the public should always be in an open meeting and the private meeting was going to be limited to a talk about police personnel.

“This closed session will be to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of individual officers,” she said.

Later, in open session, Weber said pension funding was something that was on her mind when it comes to any potential merger.

“That’s a ton of money, and it’s going to bankrupt a lot of cities,” she said of Kentucky’s pension system.

Ward said pensions are always at the top of the list of police lobbying groups when the Kentucky General Assembly meets.

“They know they’ve got to do something, and they’ve got the long session coming up next year,” he said.

And with any merger the county will have to pay a share of costs to run a combined department, Ward said.

“Depending on the agreement that you reach with Fiscal Court, the Fiscal Court has to pay their fair share as well,” he said.

Rachford said he sees four options for any consolidation discussions including:

• The city taking over the county police

• The county taking over the city police

• Creating a police authority with its own independent board

The option to do nothing is also on the table, Rachford said.

Rachford said it was too early for a public question-and-answer session in response to a request by Weber for a public forum on the merger issue. Rachford said the city was just beginning to gather information about the county’s pension costs and other financial costs of the county’s department.

Rachford said he was scheduled to meet again next week with Pendery. The city will go forward and see if the idea makes sense, Rachford said.

“At this point it is merely exploratory,” Rachford said. “No decisions have been made, but it’s something worth looking at.”

This story will be updated.

* * End of Campbell County Connects article * *

Comments can be made by clicking on “Comments” below.

Alexandria councilman’s taxes delinquent

UPDATE

Alexandria councilman’s taxes paid up

2:43 pm, Jul 15, 2011 by Chris Mayhew cmayhew

ALEXANDRIA – Joe Anderson, an elected member of Alexandria City Council, has paid his delinquent 2010 tax bill in full.

Campbell County Attorney Steve Franzen said Anderson was paid in full as of July 11.

The Alexandria Recorder published this article (also shown below) on July 1 revealing Anderson’s 2010 tax bill was declared delinquent by the county.

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Wait until you hear this excuse!

As reported by Chris Mayhew on Campbell County Connects.

Alexandria councilman’s taxes delinquent

By Chris Mayhew • cmayhew@nky.com • 2:27 pm, Jul 1, 2011

ALEXANDRIA – Joe Anderson, an elected member of Alexandria City Council, is among the list of people who didn’t pay their 2010 Campbell County property taxes.

County property tax bills collect taxes for government entities including the county government, fire district, school district, and library district.

The Campbell County Clerk’s 2010 delinquent property tax list includes an amount of $1,514.86 for his property at 81 Viewpoint Drive.

Anderson said not paying his property taxes was an experiment.

“I did that for a particular reason, just to see what would happen with that,” he said.

Anderson said he didn’t pay so he could see the process and how the county sends out tax notices and delinquencies. Anderson said he will pay his taxes.

“Oh yeah, you can’t not pay it,” he said.

Anderson’s annual salary as an elected member of city council is $3,600. Alexandria Mayor Bill Rachford said he believed Anderson had paid his city tax bill, which is separate from the county tax bill.

Campbell County Attorney Steve Franzen said it is his office’s responsibility to follow-up on delinquent property taxes.

“We take it very seriously for a number of reasons, not inconsequentially for how we fund the office,” Franzen said.

Public officials are charged with overseeing tax money, he said.

“I’m not sure what the great mystery is for Joe Anderson,” Franzen said.

Franzen said he wouldn’t recommend anyone not pay their taxes.

“It’s not an experiment that I would advise people to undergo,” he said.

Anderson, like anyone else on the delinquent list, still has time to pay up before the delinquent taxes are sold at auction soon, he said.

“The first thing that happens is that his tax bill will be thrown in the sale of all delinquent tax bills that occurs in late July or early August,” he said.

A 10 percent penalty and 12 percent interest is assessed as standard procedure to any late payment, but paying before the delinquent bill is sold avoids having to pay additional attorney’s fees, Franzen said.

Private companies that buy delinquent tax bills in bunches at public auction file lawsuits to collect the bill, and upon receiving payment remit what is owed to the county, he said.

Anderson’s delinquent bill will likely be purchased by a private company, but in the event it is not, Franzen said his office steps in and prosecutes.

In an effort to collect a delinquent tax bill a property will even be foreclosed upon if a bill ultimately goes unpaid, he said.

“It happens all the time,” Franzen said.

Source document: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/campbellcountyconnects/2011/07/01/alexandria-councilmans-taxes-delinquent/

Comments can be posted by clicking on “comments” below.

More on the budget

Alexandria adopts revised and balanced budget

Alexandria erases red ink from new budget

Alexandria plans pay raises amid shortfall

Alexandria is facing a proposed budget with a $182,000 shortfall

Budget Lessons

Alexandria’s Farmers Market set to open for the season

The Campbell County Farmers Market will reopen in its usual location in the parking lot of the Southern Lanes Sports Center on Friday, May 20.

The hours of operation will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and continue through October, 28.

They have good fresh vegetables and purchases support our local farmers and the local economy.

Other locations include Highland Heights and Newport.

The market in Highland Heights located in the parking lot of the Campbell County Senior Center is already open for flower sales every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will continue through May 29.

Vegetable sales will begin Tuesday, May 17 and continue every Tuesday through October 25.

The farmers market in Newport, at 709 Monmouth St., next to the Pepper Pod Restaurant, will begin Saturday, July 2, with sale hours running from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday through Oct. 1.

Will Nixle system alerts come to an end in Alexandria?

NIXLE is a communication service that allows local, county and state law enforcement and government agencies to connect with local residents over cell phone, email and web with information delivered in real time to a geographically targeted audience. The information is to alert the public about things of an urgent nature such as traffic disrupting auto accidents, missing persons, crime developments and other important time sensitive public safety announcements.

The great part about this service is that it was available at no cost to the governmental agency or the subscriber.

It appears the no cost part has come to an end.

Without previous notice, the service sent the Fort Thomas Police department an invoice for $3,000.

According to the blog Fort Thomas Matters a message from Lt. Ken Fetcher of the Fort Thomas Police department states:

“The Fort Thomas Police Department regrets to advise that Nixle is not going to be a viable avenue of communication. This change took place April 26th. Nixle has announced that Departments using Nixle will be charged $3000.00 per year for their service. They will allow us to continue free, but we would ONLY be able to use it for emergency crisis situations. Fort Thomas Police Department is not immune to the current economic difficulties, and our agency is unable to budget for this service.”

Fort Thomas, a much larger city than Alexandria has decided that they will no longer participate in the service due to cost.

Let’s see what Alexandria with a much smaller budget than Fort Thomas decides to do.

Sections of East Main Street to be closed for 6 to 8 weeks

Beginning today (May 9, 2011) sections of East Main Street between US27 and Riley Road will be closed for 6 to 8 weeks.

Contractors are installing a new 24" water main 7 to 9 feet deep in the center of the road. Large construction equipment will be moving in and out along with heavy gauge pipes. Hazardous conditions will exist during operational hours and it is advisable to seek alternative routes.

Traffic closures will start sometime between 7:00 am and 9:00 am in the morning and opening back up between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm.

Local traffic will be maintained to St. Mary, Bishop Brossart and Campbell County Middle School although traffic backups may occur. Arrive early and be patient when leaving.

Attached is a map of the affected area for the next several weeks.

If you are not sure of alternate routes of travel, please contact the Alexandria Police Department assistance.

City Brew Coffee is moving

The City Brew Coffee kiosk which has been doing business in the Alexandria Shopping Center’s parking lot is relocating to Village Green Shopping Center.

Their new location will be in the area where Harry’s Dinner once stood.

A large crane will literally pick up the small building and with an escort from the Alexandria Police Department it will be moved to its new location.

They’re hoping to be open in Village Green by May 16.

We hope they continue the cruise-ins that they promoted at their previous location.

We wish them well and hope for their success.

Alexandria extends start time for mega housing development

How are things going in Alexandria?

It’s been 4 months now since the new administration has taken charge.

Are things going as you expected?

Are you happy with the change?

We’ve been quiet for a while to give the new administration time to settle in. We think 4 months has been more than fair.

Are there any comments or concerns that you would like to share?

Sit-down dining coming to Alexandria

Some things are just not explainable

Recently an email originating from an ex-Alexandria council member and ex-Campbell County judge executive made the rounds and was brought to our attention. The subject line was “Where is Dave Otto” and it contained only this graphic.

Village Green offers reward for copper theft and damage

The owners of the Village Green Shopping Center will be offering a reward in connection with the theft of copper and damage of property in connection with the theft.

Details will be posted here within the next few days.

UPDATE:

Reward offered in Alexandria copper thefts

1:39 pm, Mar 15, 2011 | Written by Chris Mayhew

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of suspects or accomplices in the theft of copper coils and compressors from a vacant store space in Alexandria Village Green Shopping Center sometime between March 1 and March 4.

The copper and compressor thefts were from six heating and air-conditioning units damaged beyond repair on a 50,000-square-foot vacant space in the shopping center, according to an e-mail from Scott McFall, regional property manager for Phillips Edison & Co. No surveillance images were obtained, according to McFall.

To provide a tip call McFall at 513-746-2553 or e-mail:

smcfall@phillipsedison.com.

There are currently no suspects in connection with the copper thefts, said Alexandria Police Department Lt. George Schreiner. The thefts from heating and air-conditioning units at the shopping center have similarities to other thefts in Cincinnati, Schreiner said. Investigators are working to see if there are any connections linking the Alexandria thefts to suspects in the Cincinnati copper thefts, he said.

Source on Campbell County Connects

Spring Shopping Fling at the Community Center

This commercial ad is currently running on the web. Since we have heard that the Alexandria Community Center is probably running at a deficit we think the ad should contain a disclosure statement –

Activities at the Community Center may be underwritten by the taxpayers of Alexandria.

In August 2010 we posted an article, Community Center finances, questioning financial sustainability in regard to operating the Community Center. No one seems to know if operating the Community Center pays for itself or if it is a drain on the taxpayer.

Let’s see: Become a promoter, rent the Community Center, sell table space to vendors who wish to participate in your event, sell food, charge admission at the door, at the end of the day count your money and go home.

We don’t know if the city broke even but we do know that someone made money.

$16,000 Street Study