COVINGTON — After Covington's mayor and Kenton County's top elected official expressed interest Wednesday in building a jail and county administrative offices on a downtown site, Southbank Partners announced the public will be able to have its say on Oct.22.

        On that date, details of a proposal to build a Kenton County Government Center in an area west and south of Pike and Washington streets will be discussed. The meeting will be from 6:30-8 p.m. in Covington City Commission chambers.

        For three years, Kenton County officials have tried to find a jail site — whether that means expanding and renovating the jail at 303 Court St., or building elsewhere. Meanwhile, the jail has been operating at or above capacity.

        In a statement issued Wednesday by Southbank, Kenton County Judge-Executive Dick Murgatroyd said: “I stated when this all began that I would consider proposals offered by the city of Covington so long as they met a criteria for building north of 20th Street. In my view, there is strong merit to building in the Washington Street corridor as Covington has proposed, and I believe Southbank has developed a comprehensive community revitalization plan.”

        Mr. Murgatroyd described theproposal as consistent with plans he had worked on in the past, and he added it deserved a public presentation.

        Southbank's presentation will include a review of a previously studied proposal to expand and renovate the current jail, as well as an earlier proposal to build a new detention center at Interstate 75 and 12th Street in Covington's Peaselburg neighborhood. Both generated opposition from the surrounding neighborhoods.

        Covington Mayor Butch Callery and Mr. Murgatroyd were among city and county officials who met with Southbank Partners on Wednesday to discuss the group's study of the possible jail site.

        In June, Covington City Commissioner Alex Edmondson suggested that the area be studied as a potential site for a new jail and county administrative offices. A month later, city and county officials authorized Southbank Partners, a nonprofit group promoting riverfront development, to do a free study on the pros and cons of the site.

        “The public meeting gives our citizens the opportunity to review the specific plans that may redefine the vitality of downtown,” Mr. Callery said in Southbank's release. “We believe this concept could be an injection of excitement to rejuvenate the area. Now it's time for the public to speak.”

        The decision of where to build a new Kenton County Jail ultimately lies with Mr. Murgatroyd and the three county commissioners, Scott Kimmich, Kenton County's deputy judge-executive said Wednesday.

        “Once the Southbank report is back and the judge has decided which of the sites he's most comfortable with, he plans to sit down with business leaders and explain how he made that decision,” Mr. Kimmich said. “The decision of where to build the jail is up to the judge and the three commissioners.”

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