Scott Smith, current city administrator and former police chief of Ludlow, tendered his resignation as city administrator on Wednesday. Mayor Sarah Thompson made a social media announcement confirming his impending departure Friday morning. Smith’s last day as city administrator will be Wednesday, March 18.
“Thank you to the City of Ludlow and its citizens for letting me serve as the police chief for ten years and the city administrator for seven,” Smith wrote in his resignation letter, which you can read here. “It is with much sadness that I have decided to move on to another city.”
LINK nky is working to confirm which city. We have reached out to Smith for more information and will update this story once he responds.
“I appreciate his service to the city and wish him well,” Thompson wrote in her social post. “Transitions are a normal part of any organization, and our focus remains on continuing the work that serves the residents of Ludlow. City operations will continue as normal, and I appreciate the work our employees do every day to serve our community.”
Smith was first hired as the chief of police in 2015 and assumed the role of city administrator in 2019. Mayors and other elected officials usually do not serve in their roles full-time, so even under Ludlow’s strong mayoral form of government, the council may appoint a full-time city administrator to manage the affairs of the city on a day-to-day basis.
Scott took on the role after the preceding administrator, Elishia Chamberlain, was terminated. There was tension around Chamberlain’s dismissal. As reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer before LINK nky was launched, former Mayor Josh Boone fired both Chamberlain and former City Attorney Fred Johnson shortly after taking office.
The city was in the midst of a nearly $200,000 budget shortfall at the time, and conflicts between Chamberlain, other city staff and elected officials seem to have been brewing for a long while.
Smith, who has a master’s degree in public administration, took on the role while also serving as the police chief. While proponents of this arrangement argued the combined roles were a way to save the city money, it proved to be a source of disagreement among the city’s elected leadership. Smith would later resign from both roles before getting hired on as the full-time city administrator at the end of 2024, which also proved to be unpopular among some of the city council.
“In the coming weeks the city will begin the process of identifying the next city administrator to continue strengthening city operations,” Thompson wrote in her post.