A number of the city of Covington's volunteer committees have been dissolved or are in the process of being retooled with several new appointments to the city's major committees already in place.

Covington Mayor Kim Carter said the decision to replace members on several committees had nothing to do with member performance but a desire to give more residents the opportunity to serve on committees. All committee members are appointed.

 "We have a whole list of folks who want to be involved in the community," Carter said. "So we're giving new folks an opportunity to participate."

Of the city's 26 committees, 11 have been dissolved, Carter said. The ones dissolved were ones which had already served their purpose and hadn't met in years, she said.

 Among those committees dissolved were the Building Code Board of Appeals and the Flood Plain Board of Appeals. The functions those two committees served will now be served by the city's Board of Adjustments and Appeals.

The Cable Television Committee and the Animal Control Advisory Board have also been dissolved as the city now offers neither of those services.

"Some of these ad hoc committees have been on the books and have long since served their purpose and have now been disbanded," Carter said.

Carter said City Attorney Ed Crudup has been tasked with revising the city's ordinance where it pertains to those rules governing the operation of the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustments and Appeals and the Historic Preservation Commission to make the committees more consistent with one another

"We've asked [the city council] to look at the notion of staggered terms in all three cases and consecutive term limits in some fashion and a city residency requirement so that every thing is easy to follow," Carter said.

Carter said she would like to a Covington residency requirement for all individuals serving on committees as well as a Covington Historic District residency requirement for individuals serving on the city's Historic Preservation Commission. Currently only one committee has a requirement that members must live in the city she said.

Carter said she expected Crudup to have a revised ordinance ready for consideration and adoption by the city council in a month's time.

Carter said the rules governing the operation of the city's Tree Preservation Board, Parking Authority and Downtown Development Authority will also be revisited in the near future. The city council is also weighing the possibility of creating a Board of Ethics she said.

Three new members have been added to the city's Planning Commission. They are Bob Furnad, Greg Shy and Chris Smith. They are replacing Walker Campbell, Rucker Ginn and Zelma Stewart whose terms have expired.

Fred Harwell, Liz Pope and David Waller have all been appointed to the Board of Adjustments and Appeals. They are replacing Louise Adams, Bobby Myhand and Oscar Holmes.

On the Historic Preservation Commission Delia Nisbet, Allene Burton and Hal Hoffman have been replaced with new members Judy Hooton, Linda Shore, Jeanette Perry and Jennifer Long.