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The Independence City has raised over $ 75,000 to procure a canine agent (K9) for its police department.
The announcement was first made during the city’s Independence Day festival last weekend.
At the special city council meeting on Tuesday, City Councilor Dave Shafer said the Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association had a donation jar at a booth during the festival, which added an additional $ 1,001 to the cash register.
The money keeps coming in, he said.
Meanwhile, council listened to a presentation on the county-wide zoning reassessment, a project dubbed Z21.
The planning and development departments of Kenton County’s senior zoning official, Krista Martin, and senior planner Patrick Denbow outlined the program which aims to reduce the current number of zones from 26 to 16.
Mayor Christopher Reinersman told council that the Z21 would serve the needs of the community much better than the current system.
“We are already seeing the benefits,” he said.
Questions have been asked about an implementation schedule, and the program appears to be in about two months.
Villa Hills is the only town in Kenton Co. to officially adopt the program so far.
Council passed a resolution that allows the town to request a text amendment, to send the entire Z21 update to the Kenton County Planning Commission. Amendments to the text will follow normal channels, starting with the August 5 meeting, and once approved by the KCPC, it will return to the city for an ordinance to be read at two different meetings.
Council awarded the bid for the 2021 street program to JPS Construction for an amount of $ 600,500. The contract includes the uprooting of the road and the reconstruction of concrete for Bedford Court, Peach Drive and Walnut Hall.
City administrator Chris Moriconi said the city will handle the complete concrete reconstruction of Sylvan Drive in-house.
Another offer was made to Riegler Blacktop for the repaving of Cody Road from the Trestle Bridge to Independence Station Road, for $ 386,563. It was explained that this relates to a grant that would take care of Cody Road and the replacement of the bridge there.
It’s an 80/20 match, but last year’s Covid quarantine delayed the grant, so this year the city will continue with the road repaving and next spring an offer for the bridge replacement.
Moriconi noted that this offer includes the addition of a bitumen product that will help it last longer.
-Patricia A. Scheyer, RCN collaborator
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