City of Covington, Kentucky

Photos from today's groundbreaking ... #CovingtonKY #CovingtonKYCityHallGroundbreaking #NewCityHall #groundbreaking

BREAKING GROUND: The ceremonial first shovels of dirt – and a large excavator scoop – were thrown today at the site of the soon-to-be-built City Hall, the first permanent home for City operations for over 50 years. The site lies in the 600 block of Scott Boulevard on the east side of the street between the Kenton County Public Library and the U.S. Post Office. City Hall's current location on Pike Street in a converted department store is its fifth location in 54 years, Mayor Joe Meyer said. “It’s been very difficult to describe how this nomadic existence and those poorly equipped buildings have interfered with our ability to provide the top-notch quality of services to residents, businesses, would-be businesses, and visitors – and believe me, they have,” Meyer said. “Everybody who has ever interacted with us at City Hall knows the limitations that we face there. So, when I became mayor, one of my goals was a new permanent home for our City government.” The new building – which will be about 40,000 square feet – was designed by Brandstetter Carroll and Elevar Design Group. It will be built by Pepper Construction, and J.S. Held is operating as the City’s agent. Along with the mayor, representatives of the companies also spoke today during the short ceremony, and the City’s Director of Special Projects and Intergovernmental Affairs, Elizabeth Wetzel, served as emcee. City officials said they hoped to move into the building by summer 2026. Meyer lauded the 17-member Bespoke task force of citizens and City officials who held a year-long visioning effort in 2018 and 2019 that engaged the public on the role of a City building. He said the building will have improved civic meeting space and customer service facilities … it will be centrally located and scaled for the neighborhood … it will have outdoor spaces for local public art … it will reflect Covington’s character as welcoming and our ability to both look to the future while acknowledging our long history … and it will be uniquely beautiful.

MAYOR'S READING CHALLENGE RETURNS FRIDAY FOR PRE-K THROUGH 3RD GRADE KIDS. Starting this Friday, Covington kiddos can qualify for prize raffles by reading stories and playing learning games for 75 minutes each week. The challenge, now in its fifth year, runs Nov. 1 through Dec. 13. It is open to all Covington students in Pre-K through Grade 3 who are enrolled in the free bilingual apps offered through the City’s Read Ready Covington early childhood initiative. The apps are CleverKidsUniversity (for ages 3 to 5) and Footsteps2Brilliance (ages 5 to . Details at the link below. #earlychildhoodliteracy #earlyliteracy #earlybraindevelopment #MayorsReadingChallenge #CovingtonKY #LovTheCov https://bit.ly/3NL7y8k

Covington Finance Director Steve Webb, along with other Northern Kentucky finance officers, attended last week's Kentucky GFOA Conference in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The association promotes the improvement of methods of government finance in Kentucky as developed by the GFOA.

With election season in high fervor, the City of Covington is reminding candidates and their supporters that political signs are not to be placed on public property. This applies to ballot initiatives as well. That includes parks, medians, promenades, tree wells, the trees themselves, utility poles, streets signs, and strips of grass that run between public sidewalks and streets. https://bit.ly/4eYF6vl CAPTION: Here’s a photo taken in the 1970s by a photographer for the now-defunct The Kentucky Post. The image is used courtesy of the Kenton County Public Library.

CCR DRONE SHOW! Encore! For your viewing pleasure, here's some of the magnificence of last Wednesday's CCR "Topping Out Ceremony" in only a minute! And dare we say a mystery is solved? (See for yourself in this video!) The "Topping Out Ceremony" may well have revealed an otherworldly answer to the mystery surrounding Billy the Goat. Many will recall that, several years ago, Billy the Goat suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from his spot on the City of Covington’s award-winning, artsy picnic table in Mad Hatter Park on Scott Blvd. The City issued statements, APBs were put out, Renaissance Covington even put his picture on a Milk Carton. To no avail. Poor Billy’s fate and whereabouts have never been determined. For years, the Strange Disappearance of Billy the Goat has remained the CPD’s top Unsolved Mystery… that is, until last Wednesday night. Billy’s fate played out by the mysterious lights that hovered over the CCR site, and in an almost arrogant manner. As otherworldly music blared from speakers, a space ship appeared in the sky. Then, in near cinematic fashion, strange lights re-enacted the “beaming up” of poor Billy! Then, in a revelation, they communicated with flashing lights and AC/DC music, that Billy, The Cov’s beloved goat, had transformed into a green alien we all have been told is “Clive” (whose backstory could be easily debunked!) Further evidence: In an effort to get as close to his original home as possible, Clive has made his home on Scott Blvd within eyeshot of where Billy lived and was abducted by aliens! OR… Is Clive a real alien who is holding Billy hostage as his own personal pet? If so, should we try to negotiate his release? BILLY’S DISAPPEARANCE MUST BE RE-INVESTIGATED! And Solved! J.S. Held LLC Bray Construction, Inc. KZF Design Spotted Yeti Media Braxton Brewing Company Craft & Vines

The stabilization of world-famous painter and sculptor Frank Duveneck’s childhood home in Covington will be handled by a company that has worked on everything from Cincinnati’s Music Hall to the foundation of Hotel Covington to a fire-damaged Jim Beam Rickhouse. https://bit.ly/4hl0ZH2

A pumpkin carving event, a Jack-O'-Lantern Festival, a spooky tour, a bar brawl, a "live action role play" event, a scary stitching workshop, Halloween parties and costume contests aplenty, a creepy cabaret, live music, devilish libations, art exhibits, a quilling workshop, bingo, karaoke, belly dancing and brunch, and so much more happening This Weekend in #LoveTheCov. https://bit.ly/3UiZvDh

... on trick-or-treat hours, being safe, and two Covington Parks & Recreation events: pumpkin carving (tonight) and a Saturday festival. https://bit.ly/3NBE7VQ

BLINK FOOT TRAFFIC: The peak night – Saturday – is more than double the two previous highs during the year, which we think came during St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities in mid-March and the Labor Day riverfront fireworks show in early September. Covington Manager of Analytics and Intelligence Todd Sink, Ph.D. provides interesting insight into last week's four-day BLINK event in this CovData Short. https://bit.ly/48gE4bL