Tech Issues Daunt Year’s First City Council Meeting

Unforeseen problems with Zoom forced the delay of Monday night’s Kenton City Council meeting by 23 minutes, by which time all voting members except Pegg Wren were able to participate.

In the 15-minute session which followed, only one item of old business was discussed: Ordinance Number 20-043, regarding the lease of space at the West Kohler Street water tower for telecommunications use. The ordinance will have its third reading at City Council’s next meeting.

Also included in Monday night’s agenda were year-end reports on income taxes and K9 deployment. The tax report shows that deposits in April 2020 were just over half the monthly total of one year prior, and similar droughts in June, September, October, and December all contributed to an eight-percent decrease in income-tax deposits for the City of Kenton from 2019 to 2020. Kenton Police’s K9 report shows that December was the busiest month for their dog Christo, with 19 deployments, followed by February (17), September (15), and January (14), and that 66 of the year’s 105 K9 deployments were for narcotics detection.

While Kenton City Council President Joel Althauser expressed a bit of fear for the future–regarding both the technological issues and the continuing threat of the coronavirus–councilwoman Patti Risner advised those present to “take a deep breath” and look forward to the future.

Kenton City Council is scheduled to meet again in council chambers Monday, January 25, at seven p.m.