Margaret Harto has been Mayor of Covington since January 2006; she also served a two-year term as Mayor ProTem. Harto was appointed to the City Council in February 2002 and elected to a full term in 2003. She served four years as a member and chair of the City's first Youth and Family Service Commission. Harto recently earned recognition as a Certified Municipal Leader from the Association of Washington Cities.
Prior to her involvement with the City of Covington, Harto served in leadership positions at local, state and national levels of the Parent Teacher Association, including President of the Washington State PTA and the National PTA Board of Directors. She has been involved in the organization and operation of numerous local and regional family advocacy and human service programs including:
* South King County Health and Safety Network;
* South King County Youth Violence Prevention Committee;
* Kent Drinking Driver Task Force;
* Reach Out Covington;
* Council for At-Risk Children and Youth; and
* Kent Youth & Family Services Lighthouse.
Harto also served eight years as a member of the South Community Council for United Way of King County. Harto is a charter member of the Foothills Kiwanis Club in Covington and past Lt. Governor of Pacific Northwest Kiwanis Division 32. In 2001 she organized the first American Cancer Society "Relay For Life" for the Covington/Maple Valley/Black Diamond communities and chaired that event for three years. She currently volunteers with Friends of the Covington Library and her church.
Harto has worked as a consultant to non-profit groups in the areas of organizational infrastructure, leadership development and strategic planning. She and her husband have been residents of Covington since 1969, and raised four children in the community---all graduates of the Kent School District. Their family now includes three grand-daughters and two grandsons.
