COVINGTON, Ky. — Sharmili Reddy, current executive director of Kenton County Planning and Development Services and former city administrator of Fort Mitchell, has been named as the new city manager of Covington.
Reddy will assume the role on Aug. 19, at which point she will be the first woman and first woman of color to occupy the position.
“That is not just symbolic, it’s substantive,” said Mayor Ron Washington at Tuesday’s meeting of the board of commissioners. “It speaks volumes about who we are as a city and the future we are building together. Her leadership has already been recognized by our peers and the broader civic community.”
Reddy is well-qualified for the position.
She has a master’s degree in city planning from the University of Cincinnati, and served as Fort Mitchell’s city administrator from 2015 to 2020. She started as the executive director of Kenton County Planning and Development Services in 2020, where she manages planning, zoning, building inspections, code enforcement and other public services for the county’s many jurisdictions.
“I am a community planner at heart,” Reddy said. “What that means is that I’m educated, trained and experienced in respecting the values of the community that I serve.”
Under Covington’s city manager form of government, the city is required by law to have a central administrative officer, the city manager, that is largely responsible for managing the city’s professional departments on a day-to-day basis.
Covington voters approved a ballot measure last year to convert Covington’s government to the state’s more common mayor-council form, which is slated to take effect in 2027. The board of commissioners established a committee to advise on the transition late last year.
Reddy’s contract states that she’ll continue to occupy the administrative position even after the transition. Cities under the mayor-council form of government are not required to have administrative officers, but many of the larger cities in the region employ them anyway since elected positions are often not full time. The city has not yet passed an ordinance that would enshrine an administrative officer under the new form, and both members of the transition committee and city staff members confirmed with LINK nky the committee had not yet reached that point in their deliberations.
If the city eventually decides not to pass an ordinance for an administrator, then Reddy will be need to leave the position. Given the positive comments from elected officials at Tuesday’s meeting, , however, this seems unlikely to happen.
The meeting also saw the approval of both the retirement of Police Chief Brian Valenti and the appointment of Justin Wietholter as the new police chief. Valenti announced his retirement earlier this month. Wietholter will officially begin his role as chief on Aug. 1.
Reddy’s appointment follows the sudden resignation of Ken Smith, who was named to the position in 2021. Keith Bales, the city’s public works director, was appointed to the position on an interim basis last week and will continue to occupy the office until Reddy starts in August. Bales’ appointment to the position came after over an hour of deliberations in closed session.
LINK nky reached out to Smith for more information about his resignation, and he directed us to a statement he put out on social media in which he thanked his coworkers at the city and expressed gratitude for his time as the city manager. He declined to comment further.
Usually, cities undergo a national search for a new city manager upon a vacancy. In an email statement sent to LINK nky before Tuesday’s announcement, a city representative stated that because “a national search for a city manager typically takes at least three months, and understanding that Covington’s form of government will transition to a mayor-council structure beginning in 2027, the city has opted to pursue local candidates who are already making an impact right here in our region.”
“She brings a regional mindset, a deep commitment to good governance and a reputation for professionalism and integrity,” Washington said Tuesday night. “She has led initiatives that focus not just on infrastructure but on community, on people. Her background in community planning and development is exactly what we need during this period of transformation.”
