Did Covington commissioners violate ethics laws?

If you were at the meeting of the Covington Board of Commissioners in late November, where the board voted to investigate the safety and financial risks of establishing a public common consumption area – or CCA, where residents could legally drink alcohol outside with some stipulations – you may have noticed something.

One Commissioner, Tim Acri, recused himself from the vote because of what he said was “a potential conflict of interest.”

What conflict of interest?

Acri and another Commissioner, Shannon Smith, have become the subjects of questions from the public about potentially benefiting, either directly or indirectly, from setting up a drinking area in the Covington Central Business District. But how?

Tim Acri’s wife, Kara Acri, owns Scarlet Begonia’s Flower Truck, a mobile pop-up store that occasionally does business in the proposed drinking area. Smith, on the other hand, owns Revival Vintage Bottle Shop and Bar, which has a brick-and-mortar location within the proposed zone. Both Kara Acri and Smith spoke out in favor of the area at a public forum on Oct. 21.

Since then, Tim Acri has willingly sought out an opinion from the Northern Kentucky Regional Ethics Enforcement Committee, according to documents LINK nky obtained through public records requests, in order to inform how he should act in any future legislation related to the CCA.

The documents reveal the nature of the potential ethics violations and how the officials have responded. So, what specific rules could they be breaking? And what happens next?

Drinking during business hours

The potential violation concerns the city’s pursuit of a common consumption area that includes part of Madison Avenue near Braxton Brewing and Agave & Rye.

The city officially designates this area as the Central Business District. The exact dimensions of the area has varied since it was first proposed, but the most recent proposal includes much of the area near City Hall. There are 134 businesses within that area, according to internal records from the city.

Tim Acri initially proposed the idea back in April, purportedly as a bulwark against the economic downturns that might afflict Covington businesses with the impending closure of the 4th Street Bridge and closures related to the Brent Spence Corridor Project.

In July, the commission held a first reading of an ordinance that would have established the area. However, on Aug. 12, the city commission zagged, deciding instead to table the ordinance after a business owner voiced opposition to the CCA at a meeting. At the time, Mayor Ron Washington said that postponing the vote would give the commission more time to consider the ordinance’s details. On Aug. 26, the commission voted to remove the ordinance from the city’s legislative agenda.

The city then hosted the public hearing in October to gather community input on the drinking area. Several Covington business owners and residents shared their opinions – both positive and negative. Attitudes among the commissioners was inconsistent, but Smith effusively expressed her support for the measure over video teleconference.

“If this doesn’t work, I’m going to be the first person to cut it off because I’m going to be the first person that is sitting on the street adversely impacted by it,” said Smith in October, “and I’m willing to take that risk because I want to see if it works.”

Public records indicate that businesses and residents had previously begun reaching out to the commissioners, both in support of the initiative and against it, before the October hearing, but it wasn’t until after the hearing that the commissioners started getting contacted about the ethics concerns.

Covington has several ordinances aimed at preventing conflicts of interest between elected officials, city employees, their family members and their business interests. More specifically, as it relates to this case, it bars elected officials, like Tim Acri and Smith, their families, and their businesses from directly financially benefiting from a vote or other “discretionary action.” Additionally, under Covington’s ethics code, the city is legally required to report suspected violations to the city’s ethics watchdog, in this case, the regional board.

Once the Board receives a complaint, it has thirty days to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if there are enough facts in support of the complaint. If it determines there is enough of a factual basis for the complaint, it then calls a hearing where it will weigh the evidence and level a decision.

City Solicitor Frank Schultz drafted a brief in early November informing the board of a possible violation, according to records, but Acri later sought out advice from Former Mayor Joe Meyer on drafting his own letter, which he submitted to the Ethics Board in an email on Nov. 3.

Additionally, an anonymous business owner wrote LINK nky on Dec. 29 informing us they had submitted a complaint to the Ethics Board asking for an investigation into the matter. LINK nky has reached out to the Ethics Board to confirm they received the complaint.

Special treatment?

Records LINK nky obtained indicate that members of the public had contacted Commissioner Tim Downing with their concerns about Tim Acri in the days following the October hearing. Schultz drafted his letter shortly thereafter, and text messages in LINK nky’s records request show that Smith had begun communicating with people who had expressed concerns in early November.

Smith owns a law practice, in addition to Revival. Tim Acri, on the other hand, is a VP at O’Rourke Wrecking Company, which is based out of Cincinnati. Kara Acri’s business, Scarlet Begonia’s Flower Truck, is a mobile business (operating out of a truck as its name implies) that sets up shop at various locations throughout the city, depending on the day. Scarlet Begonia’s has “popped up” about 30 times in the proposed CCA over the past six years, according to Tim Acri’s letter. Tim Acri does not appear as a co-owner or manager of Scarlet Begonia’s in business filings submitted to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office, with which every business in the commonwealth must register.

Smith’s business is the only business mentioned above that sells alcohol. In spite of this, much of the ink and correspondence in the records LINK nky obtained has focused on Tim Acri and his wife. When contacted, Acri declined to comment about the case while it was still pending; however, his actions in November indicate he may be preemptively recusing himself to avoid issues.

He did offer one tangential comment, however.

“I think the 2026 campaign season has started,” he said, declining to elaborate.

In his letter, Tim Acri argues that he is not in violation of the ethics ordinance for several key reasons: Scarlet Begonia’s doesn’t sell alcohol, it doesn’t operate in the evening when the drinking would mostly likely be in effect, there are no laws against the operations of flower trucks in the proposed area and “any benefit that might accrue to Scarlet Begonia’s is the same that’s available to any business that operates or will operate within the CCA.”

Smith did not attend the meeting in November, where the commission voted to do more research on the CCA, but text messages in LINK’s records suggest that she planned on recusing herself in the future.

“I do not want this initiative to be tainted,” Smith wrote to a resident in November.

When contacted, Smith affirmed this.

“From the outset, I stated my intention to recuse myself from this vote,” Smith wrote to LINK nky. “While I have been advised that recusal is not required, I believe it is important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety where a reasonable perception of benefit could exist.”

LINK nky will report on this story as information becomes available.