FERNDALE – On Jan. 13, at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the 39th Ferndale City Council, members unanimously elected Councilman Craig Covey as Mayor Pro-Tem for a two year term.
Covey, 46, was first elected to Ferndale City Council in 1999. He was re-elected by a wide margin to his second term in November 2003. He was one of the first openly gay persons elected to office in metro-Detroit and has been a popular, if sometimes controversial office-holder.
The office of mayor pro-tem is elected by the city council members themselves, and serves as "vice-mayor," chairing meetings in the absence of the mayor and filling in at events that the mayor cannot attend.
Ferndale is a fully-developed inner ring suburb incorporated in 1927. It has a population of 23,000 and has seen a resurgence during the last decade in downtown business activity and an influx of professionals, singles, young couples, and lesbian and gay persons buying homes in the four square mile suburb. Ferndale has led southeast Michigan in increasing home values during the past nine year.
Covey is the founder and CEO of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project (MAPP), a non-profit education and advocacy state-wide organization.