COVINGTON — This rapidly growing river city has a city planner for the first time in 18 months.

        Annalee Duganier, who has local and regional planning experience, was the unanimous choice of Covington City Commission on Tuesday. The Sharonville resident was chosen from more than 40 applicants.

        “She's from OKI (Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments) and she has an extensive background in planning,” said Covington Mayor Butch Callery. “I was really amazed at her qualifications.”

        Ms. Duganier, who starts the$45,000-a-year job on April 15, will be responsible for dealing with short- and long-term planning.

        The city planner's position had been vacant since Susan Conrad left to take a job with the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Com mission.

        Ella Frye, Covington's economic development director, said Ms. Duganier was the top choice for city planner because her undergraduate and graduate degrees in planning are from the University of Cincinnati, she has extensive and diverse planning experience in Northern Kentucky and Ohio, and she is recognized as a certified planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners.

        Ms. Duganier is in charge of developing a green space master plan for eight Greater Cincinnati counties served by OKI.

        She has been with OKI since July 2000. Before that, she was a supervisor for the Clermont County Department of Community Planning and Development for three years, serving as the county's enterprise zone manager and helping the local Chamber of Commerce with development projects.

        “We wanted someone with a very broad perspective and a good basic fundamental background in planning,” Ms. Frye said.

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