City of Lakeside Park
Minutes of Regular Meeting on 6/9/2025
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Markgraf called to order the regularly scheduled meeting of Lakeside Park City Council at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, June 9, 2025, in the Lakeside Park City Building located at 9 Buttermilk Pike. Those in attendance were Mayor Markgraf, and City Clerk Teresa Bruck. The City Attorney Greg Voss was absent. The council members present were Tom Bernheimer, Dennis Landwehr, Cassi Schabell, Mary Ann Thaman, Brian Waite and Dave Wolfer.
PUBLIC HEARING: The mayor advised we received just under $53,000 in municipal road aid funds, and this year we projected and budgeted $55,000. Since there was no further discussion, the public hearing was closed.
AGENDA: With no corrections or changes to the agenda, Ms. Thaman made the motion to adopt the June 9, 2025, agenda, and Mr. Bernheimer seconded the motion. Voice vote was taken. 6 Ayes, 0 Nays; motion carried.
MEETING MINUTES: With no corrections or changes, Mr. Waite made a motion to adopt the minutes of May 12, 2025, meeting minutes, and Mr. Wolfer seconded the motion. Voice vote was taken 6 Ayes, 0 Nays and 0 abstain.
CITIZENS ADDRESSING COUNCIL: Rob Grimes of 334 Farmington Drive requested the council to consider sponsoring the 2025 Blessed Sacrament Boosters’ Corn Roast as many Lakeside Park children participate in the boosters’ programs. He was advised they would have to check with the city attorney to see if it is permitted to use city funds for sponsorship.
MAYORS REPORT: The mayor reported on the sidewalk projects as going well, the city hosted the mayor’s group on May 17th with the director of council on aging as the speaker and she spoke about aging senior issues; the mayor then stated he has had multiple traffic complaints and advised drivers to watch for pedestrians and children at play; and last, he is asking council to consider moving the July 14th council meeting to July 7th due to a conflict with his schedule.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT: The mayor conducted the Second Reading of Ordinance No. 6-2025, Amending Chapter 25 of the City of Lakeside Park, Kentucky Ordinance relating to the Code of Ethics. Mr. Landwehr made the motion to adopt Ordinance No. 6-2025, and Mr. Wolfer seconded the motion. Voice vote was taken. 6 Ayes, 0 Nays; motion carried.
Ms. Schabell inquired how a resident would go about filing a complaint to the ethics board. The mayor advised it would go through the Ethic Boards local representative which is the city clerk. The resident would provide a written letter in a sealed envelope to the city clerk, and she would have it delivered to the Board. She then made a motion to change the Ordinance to provide a city email for the Ethics Board Member(s) so citizens can reach them directly. Mr. Wolfer seconded the motion to change the Ordinance. Ms. Thaman asked if there could be a generic email for the Ethic Board group and the mayor advised there could be one set up for the chairman of the board. Mr. Waite commented on concerns about the task of asking the board members to check this email account on a regular basis and his concerns about missed emails. He said it would be more reliable to submit a written request to the city clerk as she would be able to draw the attention of the members to look at any concerns. Ms. Schabell then inquired if it would be more appropriate to provide their personal cell phones, and Mr. Waite commented that these individuals are volunteers and may not want their personal cell phones information provided to the public. Further discussion about the methods in which the Ethics Board members would receive complaints, and the current method of written complaint or by an inquirer requesting the city clerk to have an Ethics member return a call would be more appropriate.
Roll call was taken for the Amendment to Ordinance No. 6-2025
Tom Bernheimer No Dennis Landwehr No
Cassi Schabell Yes Mary Ann Thaman No
Brian Waite No Dave Wolfer No
Amendment does not pass by roll call vote of 1 Ayes, 5 Nays and 0 abstain.
Additional inquiry from Mr. Bernheimer regarding the Lakeside Park Crestview Hills Police Department being struck from the proposed Ordinance as we do not have authority over Crestview Hills, and the mayor advised they are a quasi-official part of the city as we have members on the review board.
Roll call was taken for Ordinance No. 6-2025 as proposed:
Tom Bernheimer Yes Dennis Landwehr Yes
Cassi Schabell No Mary Ann Thaman Yes
Brian Waite Yes Dave Wolfer Yes
Ordinance No. 6-2025 is adopted by roll call vote of 5 Ayes, 1 Nays and 0 abstain.
The mayor then proceeded to read the Second Reading of Ordinance No. 7-2025, Adopting an Annual Budget for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, by estimating revenues and resources and appropriating funds for the operation of city government for the City of Lakeside Park, Kentucky. The mayor advised the council that he provided the wrong document file to the city clerk for the packet. He provided the council with the correct final proposed 2025-2026 budget in paper form. Two minor changes, our city’s insurance premium increased but the police authority health insurance premium was reduced. Ms. Schabell inquired if the wage and salary survey figures were based on a city of our size that manages police and fire departments or were the calculations based on cities that do not manage those departments? The mayor advised the figures were based on the individual categories. She also inquired about the budget for the recreation director, and the mayor advised we are currently looking for a recreation coordinator and have advertised for this position so the budgeted amount for that position will need to remain. Mr. Wolfer commented that our budget has always been conservative and physically responsible. Ms. Thaman also commented that the Recreation Director position was discussed at the goal planning meeting. It was decided to keep that position and continue the program.
Roll call was taken for Ordinance No. 7-2025 as proposed:
Tom Bernheimer Yes Dennis Landwehr Yes
Cassi Schabell No Mary Ann Thaman Yes
Brian Waite Yes Dave Wolfer Yes
Budget is adopted by roll call vote of 5 Ayes, 1 Nays and 0 abstain.
CITY CLERK/TREASURER’S REPORT: Mrs. Bruck advised she submitted the UFIR form to DLG by the May 1st deadline; the office copier was upgrade with Walz Solutions; there was an issue with live streaming of the monthly meeting through TBNK for several months that has now been resolved; last month she met with mayor and finance committee regarding maturing CD’s; she participated in a webinar hosted by KLC regarding Cyber Training; she advised they had a disabled resident that needed help with her lawn and Ms. Bruck reached out to 4 local churches with great responses, and she wanted to thank the members who responded from Lakeside Christian Church, Lakeside Presbyterian Church, Immanual Church and Northern KY Baptist Church; she continued to advise in preparation of the upcoming Fiscal Year, they will be upgrading QuickBooks from desktop version to online version as the desktop version is no longer supported; she and Jeanette met with a representative from text.gov who had a great product, but was too pricey; she and the mayor met with Adam Howard of Kenton County Business Services regarding their new system changes; and last she advised the sign boards are not working do to some recent issues, but 2 new sign boards have been ordered.
FIRE/EMS: Fire Chief was not present, but the mayor said the council did receive the report, and the calls were pretty normal calls.
PUBLIC WORKS: Mr. Bernheimer reviewed the public works projects and advised they have applied for another grant for Bellemonte project; the cross walks & bench projects have no changes; Marlow Way & Shaker project starting this week; William’s trench drain project is being finished; the 5-year plan assessment will be done by a new program through Infer hub. The Public Works Director, Steve Greer has a to-do list that includes putting up flags; spraying for weeds; moving the radar sign to West Lakeside and Penwood; and monitoring the sidewalk work. Last, as Ms. Bruck stated the sign board are now not working.
POLICE AUTHORITY: The mayor provided the report details and advised they did approve the current police budget as well as amended the 24-25 budget. The next regular meeting will be on the 16th of June at 5:30pm.
PDS: Mr. Waite said PDS met on May 15th where they reviewed activity, proposed and passed a budget for this year. The list of permits and violations were in the council packets. Ms. Schabell addressed a fencing issue for 209 Applewood. She advised she received an email and there was a text amendment request for the following language to say, “Rear yard fences that include a swimming pool and abut a parcel with an institutional use may be permitted to be less than 50% open provided that the fence is located on the property line abutting the property with an institutional use, the property with the pool is provide written consent from adjacent property owners for the fence to be less than 50% open and that the fence complies with all other applicable safety and zoning requirements.” Ms. Schabell asked to address this matter at this time. The mayor advised that he expected the homeowner and/or his attorney to come to this meeting, but they were not in attendance. That decision was made in relation to their citation and appeal and was rejected more than 6 months ago. They have not shown up to present anything to the council. He also advised that currently our zoning laws do not permit a closed fence. This homeowner was aware of the restrictions when his permit was issued. Ms. Schabell felt this text amendment request was reasonable, and she made the motion to amend. The mayor advised the property procedure would be to have a municipal order prepared, discussed and sent to PDS if this is the action that the council would like to take. The mayor asked if there was a second motion and Ms. Thaman made a second motion for the text amendment. The mayor advised that one of the reasons all fences need to be opened is for security reasons, and to avoid police being ambushed if in pursuit of a suspect. If this text amendment is to be considered, then he would ask for more input and clarification from other sources such as the Chief of police as this was one of the reasons for the prohibition of closed fences. The text amendment motion did not pass with a voice vote of, 1 Ayes, 5 Nays and 0 abstain.
FINANCE: Mr. Waite reported he stopped last week to review the finances and everything reconciled perfectly. There are 2 tax bills still outstanding that went to Mr. Voss for processing.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT LEAGUE OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY (MGLNK): Mr. Landwehr advised the Municipal Government League group met last month and was very well attended by representatives from all over Northern Kentucky Region, also from Frankfort and the Kentucky League of Cities. He highlighted the topics of discussion which included human resource retention and economic benefits issues, also in attendance were members from the Police Chief’s Association who discussed the benefits of police training facility in Northern Kentucky, and how the Madisonville facility has helped; and discussion concluded with a topic about unified collection of occupational and payroll tax programs in Frankfort. The next meeting will be a social event next month.
RECREATION: Ms. Thaman reported last month we hosted a couple of dance fitness classes with little turn out, so we will postpone scheduling more now, but may revisit it in the fall. The yard sale last Saturday had 22 participants. The shred event went well, and she had positive feedback. We had the annual large item pick-up last Saturday. The scheduled babysitting class was postponed from last Saturday to this Saturday, June 14th and is hosted by the Fort Mitchell Fire Dept. Tomorrow, we are hosting the last Senior Bingo with Fort Mitchell here at the city building from 2 to 3:30pm. This is our last collaborated event with Fort Mitchell. However, we will host a Senior Bingo of our own in August and again in 6 months after that. June 20th, KY Recreation & Parks will be hosting a fundraiser at the Thomas More Stadium, details can be found on our website. The city office will be closed on July 4th in observance of Independence Day. Friday, July 11th we are hosting a Euchre tournament with proceeds going to our Adopt-A-Unit program. On Tuesday, July 29th we are having a youth-line dancing class instructed by Bre Reynolds. We have a block of seats for FC Cincinnati, Sunday Aug 3rd which is a double header. There are limited tickets but can be reserved on our website. Lastly, the August Senior Bingo will be $2 to play to offset the cost of refreshments since we are no longer collaborating with Fort Mitchell. She also advised that we are looking for a recreation coordinator as well as volunteer helpers with events. If anyone is interested in either, contact the office. Mr. Wolfer asked about the veterans’ memorial flags that Erlanger and Fort Mitchell hang on poles, to see if we have the cost information to have that done in our city. The mayor advised that he understood those memorial flags were donated by various businesses and he is having Mr. Greer investigate the cost. Ms. Thaman advised that we still have the paver program for the Memorial Park.
OLD BUSINESS No old business.
NEW BUSINESS No new business.
COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL: No comments from the council.
ADJOURNMENT: At 8:20 PM Ms. Thaman made the motion to adjourn the meeting, and Mr. Bernheimer seconded the motion. Voice vote taken 6 Ayes, 0 Nays; motion carried.