Covington’s new government structure began to take shape this week after the city commission heard the first concrete recommendations from the city’s committee on government transition.
Covington voters approved the transition from the city’s current city manager form of government to a mayor-council form of government following the passage of a ballot initiative in November. The recommendations, which Covington’s Director of External Affairs Sebastian Torres presented to the commission Tuesday night, come following a period of public comment, which included both in-person public fora and online surveys.
The committee recommended the following:
- Six council seats
- Non-partisan elections
- Primary elections for council seats, if 13 or more candidates run
- At-large council representation, meaning seats would represent the city as a whole, rather than particular districts for wards
- City-issued laptops and phones for council members and members
- A vehicle or a transport stipend, plus healthcare benefits and a retirement plan for mayors
- An annual council member’s salary of $17,787.15
- An annual mayor’s salary of $95,335.76
Recommendation documents from the committee state that council member and mayoral salary recommendations were based on the salaries of similarly sized cities. Torres called these cities “peer cities.”
Specifically, Torres said, the peer cities were Independence and Erlanger due to their proximity to Covington, as well as Florence, Georgetown, Elizabethtown and Hopkinsville, as these cities were the largest cities in the commonwealth that used the mayor-council form.
Besides the proposed changes in compensation levels, new council members would not receive healthcare and retirement benefits; they do under the current form. Healthcare costs for the current commissioners, including the mayor, run the city about $74,000 a year.
The proposed mayoral salary is the highest allowable salary for a mayor of a city of Covington’s size under Kentucky law. Commissioner James Toebbe later recommended amending the proposed ordinance to read as the highest allowable salary, rather than the specific figure, so the new council wouldn’t have to pass a new ordinance every time the cost of living increased.
If passed, the changes to the council seats’ compensation packages and salaries would take effect in 2027. The new mayor’s salary would take effect in 2029 after the close of the current mayoral term.
Torres spoke briefly about the results of the public comment period. One thing that came out in many responses was “the residents of the city would not prefer partisan elections,” Torres said.
Torres said the committee agreed that six council seats and at-large representation would enable the body to function smoothly and efficiently. He also touted the mayor’s increased salary as a way of attracting a wide pool of “high-quality potential candidates” who could dedicate full-time hours to the job, a sentiment that Toebbe echoed.
“I’m here a couple days a week, and I see the work load the mayor has…,” Toebbe said. “I think it’s well-deserved.”
Proponents of the mayor-council form purport it as a way of centralizing power under the elected executive rather than professional appointees. To that end, Torres indicated that the proposed mayor’s salary is less than the average salary of a city department head, about $128,000.
Commissioner Tim Acri inquired about the number of electronic public comment surveys after Torres had completed his presentation. In spite of the city’s best efforts, Torres said, it only received 200 responses, some of which seemed to be submitted by a single person on behalf of others. Torres admitted these factors may have skewed the validity of the responses.
Mayor Ron Washington asked City Solicitor Frank Schultz, “Is that a felony?” after someone submitted multiple responses to a government survey.
Schultz didn’t know if it was a felony, but it was “certainly a misrepresentation” and likely an intent to commit fraud.
The commission will perform a first reading of the ordinances to establish these new policies at its legislative meeting next week. The committee on government transition will continue to meet in the coming months and will issue additional ordinance recommendations in the future.