Planning for Covington's shift to a mayor-council form of government is underway.
The nine voting members of the group met for the first time Wednesday night.
They'll meet monthly — with potential additional subcommittee work — into spring, 2026.
Voters approved Covington's change from a city manager form of government with a four-member city commission to a so-called "strong mayor" model with a city council last November.
The volunteer group will work with the city's administration and commission to decide how many city council members Covington will have, how much they and the mayor will be paid and whether they'll represent wards or be elected at-large.
But committee administrator and Covington Assistant City Solicitor Sebastian Torres says the group's tasks go well beyond those choices, extending to a broad reconsideration of how the city's government is structured.
"Currently we have a single city manager," he said. "Will that become a single city administrator? Some cities have multiple city administrators. How will our departments be structured? Will every single department still exist, or not? How many leaders will we have within those departments?"
In addition, the committee will look at the city's various boards and whether they need to be restructured. It is also responsible for recommending changes to the City of Covington municipal code related to the change in form of government.
RELATED: Covington voters approve change to mayor-council form of government
The committee members come from corporate, economic development, small business and other backgrounds and live in eight Covington neighborhoods. They are:
- (Chair) Mayor Ron Washington of Lewisburg
- Michael Beeby of Licking Riverside
- Billie Mocabee-Kegley of West Latonia
- Angie Taylor of Latonia-Rosedale
- Lisa Desmarais of Licking Riverside
- Ginger Dawson of Old Town/Mutter Gottes
- Fritz Kuhlman of Westside
- David Davidson of Licking Riverside
- Ella Frye of Wallace Woods
In addition, several non-voting members from Covington's government sit on the committee:
City Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Shannon C. Smith, Commissioners Tim Downing, Tim Acri and James Toebbe, City Manager Ken Smith, City Solicitor Frank Schultz and City Clerk Susan Ellis.
The committee must make recommendations about how many members the incoming council will have, its salaries and whether it will be elected at-large, from wards or some combination of those by October of this year. It will issue its final recommendations in May, 2026.
The Covington City Commission must give final approval for the committee's recommendations.