BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — A vote on a new Kenton County Jail site could come as early as tonight has the three votes needed to pick a site.
But that prospect appeared doubtful Monday when only one of the other three Kenton Fiscal Court members would commit to a location.
Since being sworn in as judge-executive in March, Mr. Cain said he and other Kenton County officials have spent much of their time evaluating 40 potential jail sites.
“There is nothing else to look at, nothing else to study,” Mr. Cain said, adding the county recently spent $80,000 for consultants to evaluate three leading jail sites.
“I don't know when I'll call for a vote,” Mr. Cain said. “But whenever I feel like I have a consensus, I'll do it.”
A vote by the current Kenton Fiscal Court must take place by the end of the month. A new fiscal court will take office in January.
Commissioner Bernie Moorman said he would support the site known as 3L, a Covington tract south of Interstate 275 and east of Ky. 17. The 129.6-acre site, of which 51 acres would be required for a jail, was one of three leading sites recently evaluated by consultants.
Mr. Moorman cited the site's central location in an industrial zone, and access via I-275 and Madison Pike, as factors in its favor.
Edgewood Council member Bill Grady and Fort Wright Administrator Larry Klein said that they'll attend tonight's fiscal court meeting to express their concerns about the 3L site. The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. at the courthouse in Independence.
Commissioner Nyoka Johnston, who would say last week only that she was leaning against a proposed site off Boron Drive in Covington, would not commit to a jail site Monday.
And while Commissioner Steve Arlinghaus described the 3L site as “the most promising one at this point in time,” he said he would not vote on a jail site before leaving office.
“I would be willing to openly state that I prefer the site, but I will not vote on it,” Mr. Arlinghaus said. I think it should be up to the next fiscal court, which is going to have to take the next two to three years working this thing through, and will take the brunt of the criticism.”
Mr. Moorman said that the Boron Drive site in Covington “is totally out of the question,” because of its lack of expansion room, the higher cost to build and operate a jail there, and environmental problems that would require a costly cleanup.
He added a real estate appraiser also has said that the best future use of the remaining leading jail site — a 111-acre tract off Webster Road in Independence — would be residential.
While Mr. Cain has made no secret of his preference for the Webster Road site, he said that he would support the 3L site if he could get a consensus on fiscal court.
While the county could address flood control, irrigation and recreational issues with the Webster Road site, Mr. Cain said the 3L site would work “from a raw jail point of view,” because of its land costs, ability to build on, and its proximity to area police agencies and emergency services.
