In 2017, Renaissance Covington was named the best in the country for creative place-making. Today, City officials praised the work of its departing director, Katie Meyer (at left in the line of people, holding the plaque), and said they hoped her replacement builds on Meyer’s work. 

City praises departing director Meyer

COVINGTON, Ky. - If you’ve been downtown over the last few years, then you’ve seen, visited, interacted with, or admired Renaissance Covington’s work.

 

From the weekly Covington Farmers Market to the free public WiFi network, from the Covington Night Bazaar to the 2016 Curb’d “parklets” initiative, from the “Make Covington Pop” shops to MadHatter (pop-up) Park, the non-profit organization has led the effort to energize the City’s urban core through creative place-making, special events, community programming, and small-business support.

 

With the pending departure of RCov’s executive director, Katie Meyer, officials from Covington - which helps fund the organization - said they hope Meyer’s replacement understands and builds on the authenticity of the attractions that make Covington unique.

 

“One of the most valuable aspects of the City’s contract with Renaissance is the fact that they not only understand the quirkiness that makes our city so special but also that they embrace it and amplify it,” Covington Economic Development Director Tom West said. “The new director will need to understand how important that is in order to build on what Katie has established.”

 

Added West, “Katie has been such an incredibly talented asset and a force behind what makes downtown so cool. She has taken the stale model of what a typical Main Street program looks like and blown it up.”

 

Meyer has led Renaissance Covington for nine years. She began her tenure in 2010 as Covington’s Renaissance Manager and oversaw its transition from a City agency to an independent 501(c)(3) organization.

 

In January, she is taking a job as the Smart Cities Policy Advisor for Cincinnati Bell/CBTS, but she will remain with Renaissance Covington in an advisory capacity until its Board of Directors hires a new director. The job will be posted in January, RCov said.

 

Covington City Manager David Johnston noted that the board had invited city staff to help find Meyer’s replacement and said the City looked forward to the process.

 

In 2017, Renaissance Covington was picked by the organization Main Street America to receive its highest award, one of only three winners nationwide.

 

“The quality of the work Katie Meyer did for the City of Covington is obvious by the fact that her peers named her and the group the best in the country,” Johnston said. “She just continues to put Covington on the national map, so to speak, and that attention has tangible impact.”

 

Johnston thanked Meyer for her work on the behalf of the City, saying “Covington’s loss is Cincinnati Bell’s gain.”

 

In the release announcing her pending departure, Meyer cited the excitement of working in Covington and being a part of its transformation.

 

“I’ve spent nearly nine years in my role as Renaissance Manager and later executive director of Renaissance Covington,” she said.

 

“Over the course of those years, I’ve worked with hundreds, maybe thousands, of passionate individuals who all believed in our community and a stronger future for our city,” she said. “It’s been the joy of a lifetime to see our downtown progress and evolve, breathing new life into our historic buildings, creating jobs, and staying true to our legacy of arts, inclusion, and small business growth.”

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