Circuit Court Clerk.

 

And, County Attorney, to an extent. They have to be an Attorney.

 

I think most realize County Attorney has to be an attorney...I didn't know until a few years ago the PVA has to take a test before they can file to run. I didn't know Circuit Court Clerk had to take a test to run, our current clerk (in office over 20 year) was a forklift driver at a local factory when he was elected.

I think most realize County Attorney has to be an attorney...I didn't know until a few years ago the PVA has to take a test before they can file to run. I didn't know Circuit Court Clerk had to take a test to run, our current clerk (in office over 20 year) was a forklift driver at a local factory when he was elected.

Hey, I once wouldn't state the obvious, but found that it wasn't always obvious to everyone so I added the County Attorney to the list.

I would agree with most of your opinions on most of the candidates, but not this one. I like Daley, good guy, lots of experience in law enforcement, but a career public entity. I don't think you can hire the guy the fired from the Grant County jail, just because he was a State Trooper and Jailer, and put him as your number 1 guy in the day to day operations of the CC Jail. Kellam is a non-performer and should not be there.

 

The jail has some significant issues that are not being addressed and many people know it. The medical department is one more accidental death lawsuit away from bankrupting the county, prisoners are lost or misplaced all the time, the overhead for hiring staff is through the roof.

 

The jail is poorly run, period. With the proposed addition of the SAP program it's about to get way out of control, just that NorthKey will be able to pad their pocket more.

 

CC Jail is marginal at best. Nothing against Daley personally, great guy, not sure that Guidigli is the guy either so it's a lesser of two evils.

 

County Commissioners have done little to nothing in the county over past 4 years. Painter is non-existent. I believe it's time for a change in that area. This county needs to have business brought in and stimulate the economic growth, not be worrying about a bridge that we have no control over the tolls or no tolls.

 

Thanks Bird Brain for the response. Because I take voting pretty seriously and really try hard to make informed decisions, I checked into some of the negatives you posted about Daley. Here's what I learned (from a pretty knowledgeable source....and no it wasn't Daley for anyone wondering):

 

Daley did not make the Kellam hiring decision on his own. He was vetted pretty thoroughly and senior County personnel was involved in the hiring decision. Kellam was not fired as the Grant County jailer and there was never a finding made that he did anything wrong at the Grant County jail (but there admittedly were issues at the jail). Given the heroin problems at the CC jail, Kellam's past experience with a SAP was a positive since the county had been mulling over starting a SAP for some time prior to Kellam's hire.

 

The medical department at the jail is out-sourced to a private company which provides the personnel and does the work. The County actually has less liability exposure with this arrangement since the private company has liability insurance to cover its negligence. While there have been lawsuits and the private company has had to pay on a couple of them, I was told the County has not had to pay (or if it did, it was a minor amount to settle).

 

As for the lost or misplaced inmates, I am aware of one incident where some inmates were mistakenly left at the courthouse. The sheriff is responsible for the movement of inmates to and from the jail. That screw up is on Kidwell; not Daley. If there are other incidents you are referring to, I'd love to learn the details.

 

Northkey has not been in the conversation concerning the operation of the SAP. I understand the County is talking to Transitions.

 

As for the overhead of the jail staff being through the roof, in an effort to keep overhead down the jail is being operated with 85 employees. 100 employees are authorized. So in an effort to keep overhead as low as possible they are trying to do more with less. Compare that with Kenton County, which has roughly the same number of inmates, yet has 130 or so employees.

 

Bottom line: operating a jail is no easy task; particularly with all the heroin using inmates. I'd much rather have someone with significant law enforcement experience, who can understand the numerous administrative regulations affecting jails, running the place. That's Daley in my opinion. I know you said Daley was the lesser of two evils, but I'm not convinced that Daley is an evil.

 

As for Painter and the other County Commissioners, I'll disagree with the "done little or nothing" in the past 4 years. The County continues to progress forward. Not as fast as you and I would like, particularly when we are talking the creation of jobs. But I think if we are being reasonable in our assessment, we have to acknowledge the impact the economy has had. Ohio has done a great job creating jobs, but they have a Governor and a legislature that is very forward thinking when it comes to the attraction of jobs. The County has very limited tools in its toolbox when it comes to the creation/attraction of jobs. As a former Tri Ed Board member, I know that to be the case. They can reduce the payroll tax and that's about it. The rest of the necessary incentives come through Frankfurt. And the Ky General Assembly hasn't been real responsive to the call to reform Ky's tax structure (we will be losing some GE business to Ohio soon because of the existing tax structure). Nonetheless, I'm reasonably optimistic about job growth in Campbell County. With the economy improving, I expect to see Ovations, Manhattan Harbor and other big job producing projects in CC happening/really moving forward in the next 4 years. The Health Innovations Center (a kudo to the Ky General Assembly for its approval of the funding) will, I believe, attract high paying jobs close to NKU.

 

I know you didn't mention this, but others have: Industrial parks in southern CC? Nah. Not going to happen. A large percentage of the residents of southern CC don't want them, plus access stinks. Hell, a long time CC business, McD Concrete, is leaving CC for Boone County I believe because of the lost time and cost of getting to their facility down on 27. As I understand it, the owner of McD did a study conducted and determined that the cost of the lost time getting to and from their facility was a lot more than the cost of relocating to a location much closer to the interstate. Job creation will occur in the northern part of the County near NKU and along the river. Pendery has been pushing those type of projects hard for quite some time.

 

Peace.

I don't really see any good choice for CC Sheriff.

Good points Leatherneck, I'll give it to you on some, others we probably agree to disagree. The Tri-Ed issue is a big one though. 1 of 21 total initiatives have gone somewhere besides CC. As for development in the southern part of the county, the problem is that there is not even discussion going on to attempt to attract anyone. The only thing that has happened in the past 30 years is Kahn's and that's no boon to the county.

 

Overall I think we probably agree on several points, but I do think it's time for a change in some areas.

 

As for the Kellam issue, vetting by county entities doesn't necessarily give me a warm fuzzy. I've known Steve since he was playing AAA baseball for the Pirates and personally like him, but I don't know that his track record at Grant County lends itself to good management in CC.

 

Good discussion. That's what makes us all better voters and citizens. Thanks.

One more point: The medical department at the jail, while it alleviates the overall liability of the jail, is not a competent group. I say this from first hand experience. I have worked in the jail, for JD, as a contract agent and there a multiple issues with the medical group. The primary issue is the inability to keep an MD that oversees the administration of medication. The mental health issues and care at the jail are sub-par at best and that is the root of a lot of problems with inmates.

 

As for Transitions, yes they are a stalwart in CC, but whether or not they should be handed the contract in lieu of a fair and competitive bid should not be an option. They have never been in the business of losing money and this situation should be fairly opened to bidders.

There is severe structural damage to his home from when the drain pipe under the foundation was found to be crushed. This allowed all the drain water to run under the house & be absorbed in to the N. KY clay and swell thus pushing the house up in the middle. His builder has been trying to fix the problem for 3 years now with little success.

 

To the other point. THe PVA does not assess his own property. Each PVA and deputy has their property reviewed ANNUALLY by the board of appeals and the value set by them. This is a simple matter of actually looking at the KRS to see this. The board of appeals set the value, not the PVA.

There is severe structural damage to his home from when the drain pipe under the foundation was found to be crushed. This allowed all the drain water to run under the house & be absorbed in to the N. KY clay and swell thus pushing the house up in the middle. His builder has been trying to fix the problem for 3 years now with little success.

 

To the other point. THe PVA does not assess his own property. Each PVA and deputy has their property reviewed ANNUALLY by the board of appeals and the value set by them. This is a simple matter of actually looking at the KRS to see this. The board of appeals set the value, not the PVA.

 

Welcome to the site. I thought I had heard there were issues with Braun's dwelling. I should have asked him when he came knocking on the door for my vote last weekend.

There is severe structural damage to his home from when the drain pipe under the foundation was found to be crushed. This allowed all the drain water to run under the house & be absorbed in to the N. KY clay and swell thus pushing the house up in the middle. His builder has been trying to fix the problem for 3 years now with little success.

 

To the other point. THe PVA does not assess his own property. Each PVA and deputy has their property reviewed ANNUALLY by the board of appeals and the value set by them. This is a simple matter of actually looking at the KRS to see this. The board of appeals set the value, not the PVA.

 

Just curious how they could tell the internal foundation floor of his house was heaving from a "drive by" assessment ? If not a drive by, then I will have to assume he had to wait for the micro-window to appeal the rate ?

 

The other part of this that smells a little funny: The assessed rate is a comparative based rate to similar homes, or a comp, correct ? Given that it is a comp and that the builder is attempting to rectify the problem, how can the overall taxable value be decreased ?

 

If the problem is corrected, then the rate would return to the initial assessment ?

 

I'm not sure I'm buying what's being sold. Unless there is external structural damage, for instance bricks with stair step cracking that is visible from the road, how did anyone know this without an appeal ?

 

The valuation process is suspect at best, in particular given the drive by valuations and changes….not sure this one passes the test without some further information.

Just curious how they could tell the internal foundation floor of his house was heaving from a "drive by" assessment ? If not a drive by, then I will have to assume he had to wait for the micro-window to appeal the rate ?

 

The other part of this that smells a little funny: The assessed rate is a comparative based rate to similar homes, or a comp, correct ? Given that it is a comp and that the builder is attempting to rectify the problem, how can the overall taxable value be decreased ?

 

If the problem is corrected, then the rate would return to the initial assessment ?

 

I'm not sure I'm buying what's being sold. Unless there is external structural damage, for instance bricks with stair step cracking that is visible from the road, how did anyone know this without an appeal ?

 

The valuation process is suspect at best, in particular given the drive by valuations and changes….not sure this one passes the test without some further information.

 

Some fair questions/comments. But as CampbellPolitics pointed out, Ky law (specifically KRS Chapter 132) requires the County Board of Assessment Appeals to specifically review the assessment on the homes of the PVA and his deputies. So my guess, and yes it's just a guess, is that the Board of Assessment Appeals did much more than a drive by in the fulfillment of their statutory duty. If you have proof to the contrary, I love to see/read it. But until then, I have zero reason to believe that the members of the Board of Assessment Appeals violated state law and didn't properly assess Braun's property.

 

The members of the County Board of Assessment Appeals are not appointed by the PVA for those wondering. See http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statutes/statute.aspx?id=28330 One is appointed by the J/E, one by the Fiscal Court and one by the mayor of the city having the largest assessment in the County. So a whole lot of people would have to be corrupt (and risk major ramifications) for the County Board of Assessment Appeals to intentionally under-assess Braun's home.

 

If the Board of Assessment confirmed that there was indeed severe structural problems at Braun's house decreasing it's current FMV (actually the phrase in the law is "fair cash value"), then the current assessment is legally required to be reduced.

 

If and when the problems are fixed by the builder, then the assessment should be raised.

 

Like every other elected official, I'm sure Braun has his political enemies. Actually I know Braun has at least one.

 

The smoke or smell might be nothing more than some political enemy trying to stir up crap to get back at Braun.

 

Besides, if Braun and the Board of Assessment had done something as wrong as suggested in this thread, you and I both know that a certain person would have reported it to the State Auditor for investigation and it would have been front page news if the allegation was legit. Perhaps I missed it, but I have not read or seen anything indicating that the State has found that the Board of Assessment Appeals did anything wrong or that a request has even been made to the State Auditor (or anyone else) to investigate the matter.

 

Nothing personal and you can be as cynical as you want (actually a bit of cynicism towards elected officials is a good thing) but based on what I know, the smell you are smelling is not coming from Braun or the County Board of Assessment Appeals, but from someone upset with Braun for political reasons who is trying to stir up a stink where there really isn't one.

 

Just my take on the matter based on what I know at this point. Unless I get proof that Braun did something wrong between now and Tuesday, I'll be voting for Braun.

Fair enough Leatherneck, good information.

 

Maybe I'm just cynical because my assessment was raised but nobody did anything more than a drive by….I probably have an issue with providing the assessors that work for his office a vehicle that they can drive around anytime on my tax dollars…but I have that issue with many of the county employees.