Florence City Council February 4

All City Council members and Mayor Aubuchon-Metzger were present.

Agenda Point One was administering the oath of office to newly appointed councilman David Schneider.

Agenda Point Two was a presentation on the Florence Transportation Group Study.  This presented by the Montrose Group, LLC.  This involved KRS 184.353 (2); KRS 184.350 (8) addressing costs; KRS 184.350 (22) defining projects; and KRS 184.457 defining the process. This defines funding opportunities in the City of Florence at the Federal, State, Regional, Local, and private investment.

Strategic Project Selection is defined as Safety and Connectivity; Economic Impacts; Feasibility of the Project; Interconnectivity.

Identification of Projects: top funding priorities; secondary projects; identified economic impacts.

Agenda Point Three addressed the Rumpke Solid Waste Contract. This contract can be continued every two years and is currently on its third extension. While there will be a rate increase, Director Hall recommended an extension as he believes a complete renegotiation would lead to even higher rates. 

Agenda Point Four addressed traffic code updates. These were related on the following points: snow emergency updates (to match Boone County); street name changes; new street name of street off Weaver; speed limit changes in areas of the city.

Agenda Point Five addressed snow emergency updates; a separate ordinance to enforce parking issues in the city; Florence ordinances that need updating. Florence snow emergency updates will match Boone County’s to help eliminate confusion in the city.

Agenda Point Six addressed a discussion on occupational taxes within the city. Several points were addressed: potential centralization of fee collections; 86 of Kentucky’s 120 counties are doing this at this time. State Collection was discussed. Councilwoman Whalen mentioned that the last time the state centralized collections, all local governments were cut out of this source of funding.

Agenda Point Seven addressed the City of Florence credit rating. Moody’s rates the city’s credit as AA1, and no changes are foreseen at this time. Given comparisons to other cities like Florence, the credit rating is considered good. The briefer stated the only way he could figure out to make the rating better is for the city to increase its debt load. No one on the council was receptive to the idea of more debt.

Agenda Point Eight addressed a review for the local parks.

Agenda Point Nine was a briefing by Mayor Aubuchon-Metzger. The following points were mentioned: Hoxworth Blood Drive; POTUS Day display on February 17; Literacy Festival on February 28; children’s programming on March 1.

Councilwoman Chambers requested consideration for a victim of bullying that had resulted in a suicide attempt and to keep in mind the mental health needs of local citizens

This council meeting was largely a briefing of the council by different parties addressing the points above. No votes were brought forward. There seemed to be perception of positive movement towards actual parking enforcement in the city. Social media comments have been made on the lack of enforcement and were picked up by several parties on the council. In past meetings, Florence City Police Chief Mallory has mentioned his department does not have the manpower to constantly patrol the city and enforce parking, so how the city will enforce this basic ordinance has yet to be fully addressed.