Four finalists have been named for the City of Covington City Manager position. In total, the City received 37 applications, narrowing down its final round of interviews to four candidates.
The finalists are:
Bryan Long – Long is a third-generation public administrator with over 10 years of combined senior executive experience in municipal and federal government. He served as City Manager for the City of Lawton, OK, Oak Grove, MO, and City of Spencer, OK. He also has experience serving in the Commissioned Office of the U.S. Marine Corp.
David Johnston – Johnston has served as City Manager in Maple Valley, WA, Village Administrator in Rantoul, IL and Coal City, IL, and Town Manager in Westfield, IN. He has also served as the Administrative Director for Indiana Health Centers, Inc. and was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Purdue University.
Liz Swearingin – Swearingin has spent most of her career in the private sector, including experience in U.S. Steel and the Aerospace Industry. She most recently served as County Manager in Lewis County, New York. Additionally, she served as the Vice President of Sales at EmpowerMX in Dulth, MN.
Rick Finn – An experienced public administrator, Finn has served as City Manager for the City of Bay City, MI, City of Peekskill, NY, City of Takoma Park, MD, City of Sandusky, OH, and City Administrator for the City of Sun Prairie, WI.
For full biographies of each candidate, click here.
Finalists were selected based on their qualifications, likely fit for the community and organization, and a compelling reason and desire to be in Covington.
On Thursday and Friday, as part of the final round of interviews, City Manager candidates will be invited on a tour of Covington to be hosted by City staff. Candidates will also meet with City officials and staff, as well as business and community leaders at a private reception.
Additionally, finalists will then interview with a small group of City staff and citizens. Finally, each candidate will interview individually with the City Commission.
Interim City Manager Loren Wolff stated, “We’re looking forward to welcoming each of the candidates to Covington. It’s important that they meet with City staff and area leaders to get a real feel for the position and Covington as a whole.
“There’s so much positive momentum and energy taking place throughout the city, we want to make sure we hire someone who is able to continue moving Covington forward.”
Municipal Solutions CEO & Principal David Evertsen stated, “This is a very experienced and diverse group of public administrators. Each of them has an impressive resume with extensive backgrounds and experience. At this point, we are now most interested in the opinions and observations of City staff, citizens and City Commission serving as evaluators.”
Applications were submitted from 16 different states, ranging from Washington, Colorado, and Utah to New York, Florida, and Minnesota. Additionally, the City has received international applications from Kenya and Japan.
In March, the City contracted with the consulting firm Municipal Solutions, LLC to launch an international search to recruit qualified candidates for the City Manager position.
Municipal Solutions is a premier consulting firm with more than 120 Senior Associates and has conducted over 200 searches nationally for small towns and large cities. The firm’s CEO and consultants have provided searches for numerous municipalities including the cities of Syracuse NY, Arkansas City AK, Daytona Beach FL, Fort Collins CO, Port Arthur TX, Greensboro NC, Norwich CT, Elmira NY, Salina KS, Miami FL, Scottsdale AZ, Roanoke VA, Fayetteville NC, Flagstaff AZ and many others.
