The City of Park Hills has a mayor-council form of city government. In this form of city government, City Council, as the legislative body, performs legislative duties such as enacting ordinances, levying taxes, and adopting a budget. Council may take action only upon the approval of an appropriate majority of the duly constituted body. The members of the legislative body possess no individual municipal powers.
Learn more about Kentucky city government structures and responsibilities here: https://www.klc.org/InfoCentral/Detail/33/form-of-government
Over the 2019–2020 Park Hills City Council term, Sarah was present for and voted in 24 of 25 Business and Special Council meetings and in attendance for discussions at 10 of 10 Caucus meetings. She voted on 48 of 52 pieces of legislation and proposed one ordinance and one resolution. Of those 48 pieces of legislation, Sarah voted aye 41 times and nay 7 times. See more details below.
Municipal Order No. 1—Tree Board: Aye
Resolution No. 1—Park Pointe Development Agreement: Aye, after much deliberation and term negotiation (Link to the Park Pointe Development Agreement and Park Pointe Stage 1 Plan)
Resolution No. 2—City of Ethics: Made motion and aye
Resolution No. 3—Pension Crisis: Made motion and aye, after correcting the text in a previous meeting
Resolution No. 4—Appoint Kyle Winslow City Attorney: Aye
Municipal Order No. 2—Appoint Mark Koenig to Board of Adjustment: Nay, due to unclear qualifications for the role
Municipal Order No. 3, 2019 – Tree Board Appointment amendment: Aye
Ordinance No. 2, 2019 – Tree Board: Aye
Resolution No. 5, 2019 – Proposal to Planning Commission: Aye
Resolution No. 6, 2019 – Open records request procedures: Aye
Resolution No. 7, 2019 – Authorize the execution of a MOA between the City and CondoView, LLC: Nay, due to the lack of new businesses, industrial facilities, or central business districts on the site; also, even though Park Hills and Covington retain 100% payment in lieu of property taxes, Kenton County and Kenton County Schools will lose a portion of their funds over the 30-year life of the bonds
Resolution No. 8, 2019 – Authorize the execution of an Agreement in lieu of taxes with CondoView, LLC: Nay, for the same reasons as Resolution No. 7, 2019
Resolution No. 9, 2019 – Consent to closure of Amsterdam Road in Covington: Aye
Resolution No. 10, 2019 – Authorize School Resource Officer agreement with CCH: Nay, due to the fact that council was not presented with a clear budget for the role and, while it’s not unconstitutional, it’s not appropriate for our city to fund a role for an already well-funded private institution; CCH should fully fund the role
Resolution No. 11, 2019 – Amended Resolution No. 10, 2019: Nay, for the same reasons listed for Resolution No. 10, 2019; we also still hadn’t been presented with a clear budget for the role
Ordinance No. 3, 2019 – Amended 2018-2019 Budget: Aye
Ordinance No 4, 2019 – 2019-2020 Budget: Aye
Ordinance No. 5, 2019 – Rumpke fee: Aye
Municipal Order No. 5, 2019 – Appoint Cathleen Matchinga to the BOA: Aye
Resolution No. 12, 2019 – Authorize the Mayor to execute a first amendment to the MOU with CCH: Nay, due to not supporting the original legislation
Ordinance No. 6, 2019 – Stop signs at the intersection of Old State and Alhambra: Aye
Ordinance No. 8, 2019 – Public Utility Notification: Aye
Resolution No. 14, 2019 – Verizon Franchise: Aye
Ordinance No. 10, 2019 – Closing portion of Amsterdam Road: Aye
Ordinance No. 11, 2019 – Telecommunications Franchise: Aye
Resolution No. 16, 2019 – TAP Agreement: Aye
Municipal Order No. 7, 2019 – Re-appoint David Gray to County CEB: Aye
Municipal Order No. 8, 2019 – Declare real property surplus and authorize transfer: Aye
Resolution No. 1, 2020 – Accept donation of real estate: Aye
Resolution No. 2, 2020 – 100th anniversary of KY’s ratification of the 19th amendment: Sponsored, second, and aye
Resolution No. 3, 2020 – Appoint Brian Dewaine to full-time officer: Aye
Resolution No. 4, 2020 – CERS: Second, provided a summary, and aye
Resolution No. 5, 2020 – Mt. Allen Road and Mt. Allen Lane Easement: Second and aye
Ordinance No. 1, 2020 – schedule meetings: Aye
Municipal Order No. 1, 2020 – Committee meetings: Aye
Ordinance No. 2, 2020 – Amended 2019-2020 budget: Aye
Ordinance No. 3, 2020 – Proposed 2020-2021 budget: Nay, due to lack of information and the need for a better system for the budget preparation
Resolution No. 6, 2020 – Object Duke Energy rate increase: Aye
Resolution No. 8, 2020 – Text amendment re: pervious grass parking pads: Made motion and aye
Resolution No. 9, 2020 – COVID-19 Reimbursement: Made motion and aye
Resolution No. 10, 2020 – Agreement with Covington for Montague paving: Aye
Resolution No. 11, 2020 – Declare 2 police cruisers surplus: Aye
Ordinance No. 4, 2020 – Rumpke fee: Aye
Ordinance No. 5, 2020 – 2020 tax rates: Aye
Resolution No. 12, 2020 – Appoint Daniel Braun as City Attorney: Second and aye
Municipal Order No. 2, 2020 – Re-appoint Rob Sweet to BOA: Aye
Resolution No. 13, 2020 – Make application for Text Amendment: Aye
Details for legislation not listed above
These pieces of legislation were withdrawn:
These pieces of legislation were read and passed on 8/12/2020 during the only meeting Sarah missed:
See more meeting details on the City Council Meetings page of the city website.
In 2019, Sarah served as chair of the Communications Committee—leading 10 meetings—and served as co-chair of the Economic Development Committee—attending three and leading two meetings. She regularly reported for each of these committees and served as editor for two city newsletters produced by the Communications Committee: Spring 2019 and Summer/Fall 2019. She also helped the new website designer with the transition to the new city website.
For 2020, Sarah served on the Tree Board, attending monthly meetings and reporting regularly.
See details about these committees on their pages of the city website:
Note that the Communications, Economic Development, and Parks, Beautification and Recreation committees were dissolved by Executive Order No. 2, 2020 with the intention of having discussions of these topics at Caucus meetings.
The qualifications to be a candidate are quite minimal—must be at least 18 years of age, a resident of the city for not less than 1 year prior to the election, a qualified voter in the city, and shall reside in the city throughout the term of office. Once elected, education for the role is what each candidate makes of it.
After being elected, Sarah attended the City Officials Orientation and also the City Officials Academy (COA) organized by the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC). Sarah found the KLC COA—an intense two-and-a-half-day training packed with practical information for city officials with all levels of experience—to be very important. She also attended KLC conferences, in Covington in 2019 and virtually in 2020.
Sarah also attended several Kenton County mayors group meetings. In these monthly meetings, mayors representing the cities of Kenton County gather to share current projects and experiences and hear from local organizations.
Want regular updates from Sarah? Enter your email address here or send Sarah a message at sarahforparkhills@gmail.com.