COVINGTON — City officials seeking an alternative to expanding the current jail say they are continuing to explore other sites in talks with Kenton County officials.

        “We've probably talked about 11 or 12 sites, all within the boundaries of the city,” said Covington Mayor Butch Callery. The 3L site that Covington officials had favored at Ky. 17 and Interstate 275 is not among those under consideration, Mr. Callery said.

        “Almost every site that's been on the table is out there (for consideration),” he said. “And people call all the time with more sites.”

        Mr. Callery declined to specify potential sites, saying it could affect their sale price, but he said the areas being discussed can be found throughout Covington.

        Originally, Kenton County Fiscal Court had planned to respond to questions and concerns April 24 about its plans to expand the current jail at Third and Court streets. However, Mr. Callery said he understood that the jail issues now will be addressed at a May 1 fiscal court meeting in Covington City Commission chambers.

        “We decided to put the meeting off until May 1, in case we found a site that was mutually agreeable,” Mr. Callery said. “We don't know that we'll agree on a site by then, but there's no sense in doing that meeting, if we have something else coming site-wise.”

        Since last month, representatives of the city of Covington, which has sued Kenton County over a payroll tax cap increase to help fund the jail, have been meeting with county officials to try to persuade them to consider alternatives to a downtown jail expansion.

        On Monday, Mr. Callery, Covington City Manager Greg Jarvis, Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd, County Treasurer Ivan Frye and representatives of Southbank Partners discussed various jail sites in a 2 1/2-hour closed-door meeting, Mr. Callery said.

        “We are continuing dialogue with the city of Covington on a variety of issues,” said Scott Kimmich, Kenton County deputy judge-executive. “I'm not going to go into specifics.”

        Opponents of an expanded jail in downtown Covington say a larger jail would be a costly, short-term solution that would hinder downtown development. Representatives of a 150-member group that includes Covington business owners and residents have said they plan to file a class-action suit against county officials if they proceed with the planned $27.3 million jail expansion.

        County officials have said a larger jail is needed because the current jail, with a capacity of 262 prisoners, averages about 100 more inmates per day than that.

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