FLORENCE, Ky. — In the coming election for Florence City Council, there’s a possibility some familiar faces keep their seats. Citizens could opt to elect a new, more inexperienced cast of council members. Somewhere in between those two outcomes could be the case as well.

Spectrum News 1 spent time with three candidates to get a feel for how the race could affect the future of northern Kentucky’s retail capital. How important the handling of the city’s aquatic center is to the race depends on who is asked.

In November, Florence residents will vote for up to six of these 12 candidates to serve council: Jonathon Trimble, Mel Carroll, David Osborne, Gary Winn, Jenna Kemper, Lesley Chambers, Kelly Huff, Brian Kinross, Page Tubesing-Beetem, Patricia Wingo, Aaron Gillum and Jonathan Sterling.

Five of them — Carroll, Osborne, Winn, Huff and Wingo — are incumbents, many of whom have been on council for many years.

For Carroll, it’s been almost 30. He’s seen Florence grow from a city of 10,000 people to nearly 35,000.

“I love giving back. As a school principal in my other life, I became very familiar with the families and kids, and this is really my hometown,” Carroll said. “There are people running who probably want to make a point. I serve to make a difference. And I think I’ve made that difference over the course of time I’ve served here in the city. People know me. They trust me.”

Julie Metzger Aubuchon, the other sitting member of city council, is running for mayor. She’s aiming to succeed Diane Whalen, who after 24 years in office, is opting for retirement instead of running for reelection.

The other seven candidates come in as challengers.

Two of them, Brian Kinross and Aaron Gillum, each come into the race with no experience as elected officials, but eager to bring fresh perspectives, albeit with completely different approaches.

“I think this is a repudiation of the stagnation of those who served in city council. They served many years, and I appreciate their service,” said Kinross. 

Gillum spoke with more admiration.

“We have been very blessed in Florence for having people that are in elected positions that are approachable, that are engaged. They keep getting re-elected. They must not be doing too bad of a job,” he said. “I hope, as someone who would be newly elected, to have the opportunity to have those kind of people mentor me.”

Gillum said he’s been involved in local government and hasn’t been afraid to reach out on issues he disagrees with.

“Respectfully, ‘Hey, I don’t agree with this. Explain this to me. Help me understand it.’ And that has led to getting involved in things,” he said. Those include the Kentucky Center for School Safety board, and the Boone County Parks board.

While Spectrum News 1 couldn’t talk to every candidate for this story, the goal in talking to Carroll, Kinross and Gillum, all with varying platforms, was to take a wider view of the race and some of the common issues raised by candidates.

For Kinross and two others running, one issue was their inspiration.

“What got me interested in running for city council is the awareness that was heightened by the city council vote to demolish and replace the aquatic center. It was upside down with the constituents of the city of Florence,” Kinross said. “It’s really the best entertainment venue we have in Florence.” 

Kinross, Chambers and Kemper all submitted their candidacy based on saving the Florence Family Aquatic Center. The pool avoided demolition and reopened for at least one more year this past summer. It was a decision the city council made after surveying citizens and the efforts of a vocal group of pool supporters, which includes Kinross, Chambers and Kemper. All three have children who have swam at the pool. Kinross’ wife has also worked there as a manager.

Kinross, an engineer by trade, said he’s been canvassing Florence citizens, asking what issues are important to them.

“I found that theirs were very much like mine. That this was overlooked by our elected officials, that this is a treasure to the people of Florence,” he said.

He said he thinks the aquatic center can be more than 10-week venue.

Carroll is the council member who moved to reopen the pool, but he said it’s far from the most important issue to voters in this election.

“The aquatic center is a drop in the bucket, figuratively speaking, as far as our overall budget and services that we have to offer. You can’t get tied up on one issue, and if you’re tied up on one issue, perhaps you’re running for the wrong reasons,” he said.

Gillum said his desire to be an impartial representation of the wants of Florence citizens inspired his run, as well as who else was running.

“There’s three people that are big on one issue going to council. As a voter that scares me a little bit. I need objective people with varying, contrasting opinions on things. I support what they did. I think it’s the government working the way it’s supposed to,” Gillum said. “Bringing that issue and saying this is the most important thing in our town, I’m not hearing it. I’m knocking on doors. I’m not hearing it.”

Better funding for the city’s police and fire departments, along with the public works department, are more common concerns Carroll said voters have brought up to him.

“Those are things that people care about. They want to move into the city and have a safe place to live. A convenient place to live. An attainable place to live,” Carroll said. “We want to be involved in bringing businesses and jobs to the city.”

Gillum mentioned other topics as issues voters have talked to him about far more often than the aquatic center.

“There are complaints about traffic. There are complaints about development. There are complaints about noise. It’s things that we all see, and things that we all hear,” he said. “I’m not walking into pursuing this office with any selfish intent. I’m not bringing any issue in the door.”

Funding the pool for summer 2023 is a conversation that will be had in coming months, candidates said. While the pool inspired Kinross, he said his candidacy comes down to a more general question.

“How does that benefit our families? That’s the main question that I will ask,” he said. “My interest is to truly represent the residents of Florence and their interests, and how they want their tax dollars spent.”

There is also variance among candidates on how they view city tax rates, as well as the city’s surplus funds, which amount to about $80 million.

“My question is how much more do we need to stockpile? That’s a lot of money to have,” Kinross said. “Taxation on our families needs to cease. Those rates need to be brought in line with other communities.”

Florence’s resident income tax rate is 2%. That’s higher than Louisville’s rate of 1.45%, but lower than Lexington’s rate of 2.25%, according to the USDA.

Covington, another northern Kentucky city, has a rate of 2.45%

Gillum, who said he’s attended every city council meeting as a citizen since submitting his candidacy, sees things differently than Kinross.

“It’s very easy to kind of collectively say we have this huge surplus, and we should be taking less money. It’s like, if you think about it for a minute, we are actually spending more money this year than we’re taking in. So we’re dipping into that surplus a little bit,” Gillum said.

Carroll said he’s spent much of his last three decades on council on economic development. He said the city hasn’t raised real estate tax since 2008, and that a majority of the city budget is supported by income tax from people who don’t live in the city.

“Having a surplus in a city budget is a wonderful thing. And if you don’t believe that, go back to 2008 when we had an economic turndown, and COVID. We were able to weather that, because we did have a surplus,” Carroll said.

Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.