The state of things at Covington City Hall in terms of interpersonal relationships was on display during the emotional farewell of Mayor Sherry Carran, defeated in November in her bid for a second four-year term.
After ten years, six as a city commissioner and four as Covington’s first female mayor, Carran departs the city building.
Though her reelection campaign was unsuccessful, Carran stuck to the core message that she preached across the city that handed her a 56 – 44 percent loss: the current staff at City Hall is the most qualified, and that the transformed perception of Covington as a development destination with a booming downtown is the result of “positive energy”.
That positive energy is dwindling, though, she warned in her remarks at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Covington City Commission, the last regularly scheduled meeting of her term.
Carran cited the positive energy of the Awesome Collective, a group of city boosters that preached positivity for several years, and the “Love the Cov” message that reigned during a time in which projects like Hotel Covington, Braxton Brewing Company, and dozens of new residential, commercial, and restaurant projects emerged in a city that was recently highlighted in VOGUE magazine.
“I feel like in the last couple years, things are going in a different direction,” Carran said of the tone in the city, despite the positive growth. “I feel that the negative vibe that is out there that started a little bit before 2015 seems to be growing.”
The outgoing mayor confessed that she struggled with what she would say in her closing moments at the helm of Northern Kentucky’s largest city. During the campaign, she characterized her opponent and soon-to-be successor Joe Meyer as a self-serving politician while she advocated to “stay the course”. Ultimately, Meyer’s “change” argument prevailed and the former state legislator and longtime Frankfort bureaucrat will take over as mayor in January.Â
The change has startled some folks, Carran suggested.
“I love the city and I love the staff. I love coming to work every day and working with the staff here who stay engaged,” Carran said, “but I feel that those who care about the city and are investing in the city have basically been bullied into being quiet and not speaking up. I feel there is this bully mentality out there right now that people are shying away from being public in their caring for the city and their wishes for the city to do well.”
Editor’s note:Â During the public comments portion of Tuesday night’s city commission meeting, The River City News owner, editor, and publisher Michael Monks spoke and thanked the Covington government for its transparency and willingness to cooperate with a new media operation in the city. The remarks were given on the occasion that when the new city commission takes office in January, it will represent the first time since RCN’s founding in 2011 that none of the city’s elected officials will have been part of the government when the newspaper was founded and began its coverage of City Hall. Monks, the author of this story, was also a member of the Awesome Collective of Covington cited by Mayor Carran in her remarks.
Carran’s distaste for City Commissioner Steve Frank was also apparent. Frank has long been an antagonist of Carran during his frequent posting on social media – as evidenced by posts that emerged late Tuesday night and in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after the meeting. Prior to the primary election in May, Frank called Carran “a bag lady”.
The mayor offered thanks and appreciation to City Commissioners Chuck Eilerman, Jordan Huizenga, and Bill Wells, and city manager Larry Klein and other key staff members. She did not mention Frank. In a Facebook post just before 2 a.m., Frank said, “Best part of tonight’s final meeting was being passed over for any congratulations or bon hom (sic) by the outgoing Mayor… I plead being only too helpful in her early exit…” He also referred to Carran as “the Red Queen.”
“Final word for tonight… I went out as the WINNER!!!,” Frank wrote.
Frank, an enthusiastic supporter of Meyer, did not seek a fourth term on the city commission.
In his own remarks at Tuesday night’s meeting, Frank talked about how difficult it can be to be a public person and the “unfriendly commentary” one can be subjected to. “You have to develop a bit of a thick skin,” he said. Frank cited his successes in office as helping to steer the city clear of the prospect of bankruptcy in 2011 and 2012. “This town is in much better shape than it’s been since I was a child,” Frank said. “Through the diligence of the city managers, attorneys, commissioners, mayors, and most dedicated staff, I think we have perhaps put in motion a growth agenda that will survive all of us.”
Commissioner Eilerman also did not seek reelection to a third term in November, and took time in his final remarks to thank the city staff and his fellow elected officials. He singled out the city manager, whose future with the city is cloudy as a new commission takes over. “(Larry Klein) is one of the best city managers the city has ever had and he has been a leader of this group (of city staff) and I hope you have a great future with the city,” Eilerman said.
Commissioner Huizenga, who was reelected to his second term in November, thanked Frank for “a great service being a bulldog when we need a bulldog and being a knowledgeable voice on financial issues when we need a knowledgeable voice on financial issues.” He also thanked Eilerman for “an enormous amount of statesmanship” and being “an intelligent, thoughtful voice on this commission.”
“Mayor Carran, you have served with class and integrity and charm and it has been truly an honor and privilege to work with each of you, and thank you for serving this great community that I am now fortunate to call home,” Huizenga continued. For his part, he cited accomplishments such as retiring the city’s long-term debt (tax anticipation note) this year, investing in the city’s vehicle fleet, parks, and other public spaces, and projects like Hotel Covington and the forthcoming Duveneck Square mixed-used development.
Looking to Commissioner Wells, who was also reelected in November to a second term, Huizenga said, “I think I will always look back on this commission and working with you all with great and fond memories, and then we get to make more, Young Bill. I’m looking forward to the next two years.”
“After about my third commission meeting,” Wells stated, starting off one of his now-familiar folksy end-of-meeting tales, “I was over at a friend’s house and he said, tell me about the commission, and I said, it’s two Democrats, two Republicans, and a woman. He didn’t ask me much more.
“I said, it was good conversation, a lot of good legislation, and the city is a lot better for what everybody has done and I thank you for that.”
Wells said that he and Eilerman were leaving the Hotel Covington recently and he asked Eilerman whether he had ever seen Covington grow like it had in recent years. “And he said no,” Wells stated. “I made him a promise to keep up the good work.”
City Solicitor Frank Warnock thanked the outgoing mayor and commissioners. “One thing I do know is that this job is hard, your job is hard,” Warnock said, “and people don’t know and you live in a fishbowl and you’re under constant scrutiny.”
Klein thanked Carran for her role in his hiring in 2008 and giving him “the most challenging and rewarding job” of his life. To the mayor, he said, “I speak for every city employee when I say how much we appreciate your constant and very public praise of city staff. No matter what goes on in our city, you make sure that you mention the great city staff that we have.”
“We’re gonna miss all of you,” Klein continued. “The city has come a long way, especially in the last two years.”
Carran’s remarks closed the meeting. Her unlikely arrival at City Hall began with an upset victory for a seat on the city commission in 2006, the only year the government was elected by district, or “ward”, and she defeated incumbent Alex Edmondson in a head-to-head race. She was reelected in 2008 and was the top vote-getter in 2010. In 2012, with the city riding a positive high during the temporary reign of “accidental mayor” Chuck Scheper who took over when Denny Bowman resigned amid a financial crisis, Carran defeated fellow city commissioner Steve Casper to become mayor.Â
The first half of her mayorship was marred by conflict with city commissioners Michelle Williams and Mildred Rains, and the revelation that finance director Bob Due had stolen nearly $800,000 from the city coffers over a dozen years. Progress on the development front continued, in spite of the challenges, and Rains and Williams were replaced by voters with Wells and Huizenga. The city enacted new policies to protect itself from theft and recovered nearly all of the stolen funds. The narrative in the city changed in the past two years with weekly ribbon cuttings at new and newer businesses, groundbreakings on significant housing projects,  and hundreds of new jobs coming downtown to RiverCenter and Huntington Bank.Â
But a declining Latonia business district, a difficult transition to paid parking in Mainstrasse Village, public criticism from police and fire unions, and the devastating announcement that the Internal Revenue Service would close its processing center, eliminating more than a thousand positions by 2019, buoyed the campaign of change brought by Mayor-elect Meyer.
In defeat, Carran thanked the city manager. “Commissioner Eilerman is right. He’s the best city manager this city has ever had,” Carran said. “He does his best to keep politics out and make the decisions that make the city better overall.” She thanked Eilerman for his honesty and maintaining a positive relationship with her in spite of having “our little bouts”. She also complimented Huizenga and Wells, and said the past two years had been the best of her time at City Hall. “I used to dread coming to commission meetings,” she said, recalling the first two years of her mayorship, “and I don’t dread coming to meetings anymore because of them.”