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NKyTribune reporter

Newport residents will notice revitalized sidewalks near the Monmouth Street underpass in the near future.

The board of commissioners on Monday night authorized Newport city manager Thomas Fromme to execute a contract with Tms Construction for the stamped concrete/paver replacement project, which is expected to begin this spring. The sidewalk on the west side of the underpass is deteriorating and will be replaced in the spring.

“We have funds available called a program income fund, from an old grant, so revenues received were reinvested back into the community,” Fromme said. “It has to meet certain criteria. In this particular case, it’s on Monmouth Street, so it’s an economic development issue.”

Fromme said needed renovations other than the sidewalk have already been successfully completed on Monmouth Street.

“Our lights, our garbage cans, our benches, our sidewalks were all starting to deteriorate, so the board allocated a certain amount of money from the program income,” he said. “We replaced all the lights on Monmouth Street with LED lights, so that saves a lot of money, and all the light poles and garbage cans were painted.

“The last piece to the puzzle was doing the sidewalk. What we bid out the first time on the pavers, they were just so costly we couldn’t do anything. So we went ahead with the stamped concrete, which arguably will have a much longer life expectancy and we will have to do it block-by-block just because it’s so costly. We’re going to spend $100,000 for that one block.”

Fromme pointed out that the 1000 block of Monmouth Street by the underpass — right where the underpass starts going north and on the west side — is in definite need of repair, and the stamped concrete will provide the remedy.

“The sidewalks are so bad up there right now we have barrels up,” Fromme said. “It’s a trip hazard.”

In other business Monday night, Newport Mayor Jerry Peluso praised the city’s public workers for their performance in clearing ice and snow from the streets during the recent arctic blast that hit the region. “We experienced frigid temperatures for several days with snow and ice, and our public workers did an outstanding job under very adverse conditions,” he said.

Several personnel items were approved, including the appointment of Robert Hug to the position of firefighter/EMT and the promotion of Michael Goodridge to engineer/medic in the Fire/EMS Department.

During the public forum, Dr. James Schack, M.D., urged the board to begin implementing the syringe exchange program to help combat the HIV crisis. Syringe exchange programs are designed to mitigate a number of public health issues, including emergence of a new HIV epidemic.

The board will further discuss that issue in detail when it reconvenes on Feb. 12 for a caucus meeting at 7 p.m.

NEWPORT HOSTS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK: The Kentucky Division of Forestry is hosting a conference this week (Tuesday through Thursday) at the Newport Hampton Inn & Suites.

On Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., Mayor Jerry Peluso will be on hand at The World Peace Bell to officially welcome the group from the Kentucky Division of Forestry to Newport.

This is the first time the Kentucky Division of Forestry has held its conference in the area. Urban Forestry South event coordinator Sarah Gracey has previously assisted with East Row Garden Walks and tree plantings in Newport, and she said the city’s “community spirit” prompted her to recommend Newport as the site for the conference.