The Mayor of the City of Ashland, Kentucky is elected for a four-year term and is not term limited. The mayor presides over City Commission meetings, is a voting member of the City Commission and represents the city at major functions. The current mayor is Matt Perkins.

The City of Ashland operates under a City Manager form of Government. Under this form of government the people of Ashland elect a Mayor and four Commissioners, who together, make up the Board of Commissioners, which possesses the legislative and executive powers of the city. The Mayor, as a member of the board, presides over all meetings, calls special meetings, and executes all bonds, notes, contracts, and written obligations authorized by the board.

The Mayor and four commissioners are elected by the citizens to act as their representatives in all legislative matters. Their primary duties are to enact ordinances and make policies that are for the ultimate good of the community as a whole. The mayor is elected for a four-year term and the Commissioners are elected for two-year terms. In home rule class cities with the City Manager form of government non-partisan elections are mandatory.^[1]

List of mayors

  Democratic (6)   Republican (13)

Order	Image	Mayor	Term Began	Term Ended	Political Party		Birth and death	Notes
1		Henry Bishop Brodess	1876	1881		Republican	(1830 – October 20, 1881)	Before being elected, he was a local judge, and published an outspoken anti-slavery newspaper called the American Union. In 1860, Brodess was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. IN 1861, Brodess became a member of the Ashland Home Guard, an organization formed for "the defense and protection of our families and homes" from guerrilla raiders. Starting around November 15, 1862, Brodess served as a first lieutenant in Company A of the Fourteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. He tendered his own resignation and was honorably discharged on November 17, 1862. During his third term, Brodess died in office and John Means was appointed to serve the remainder of his term.[2]
2		John Means	1881	1882		Republican	(September 21, 1829 – February 14, 1910)	He organized the Cincinnati and Big Sandy Packet Company and vice-president of Ashland National Bank.[2]
3		William Wirt Culbertson	1882	1883		Republican	(September 22, 1835 – October 31, 1911)	He also served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.[2]
4		William Henry Harrison Eba	1883	1883		Republican	(November 5, 1831 – August 31, 1911)	During the Civil War, Eba enlisted in Company I, Fifth West Virginia Regiment; was promoted to sergeant-major, March 1862; first lieutenant. He declined the post of adjutant after being acting adjutant two months. He was commissioned a month later by Governor Pierpont captain of Company F, same regiment. He was in various engagements, but none of the great battles of the war. Later, he became city truant officer.[3][2]
5		Thomas Russell	1883	1886				Before becoming mayor he was a street commissioner.[2]
6		William Worth Patterson	1886	1889		Republican	(November 3, 1849 – March 28, 1921)	He was a Freemason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias.[2]
7		Patrick Moriarty Jr.	1889	1889			(January 7, 1851 – October 25, 1928)	Previously served on the City Council for a number of terms. Moriarty served as Park Commissionaire and was one of the charter members of the first Chamber of Commerce, then known as the Commercial Club of Ashland.[2]
8		David A. Fisher	1889	1892			(August 14, 1840 – January 19, 1911)	He served in the American Civil War for the Union as a Private. During the War, Fisher was promoted to a full first sergeant.[2]
9		J. C. Whitten	1892	1894
10		Thomas S. Newman	1894	1897			(October 10, 1851 – October 3, 1930)
11		William Arthur Ginn	1897	1906
12		Joseph Oscar Mathewson	1906	1910			(February 4, 1871 - February 28, 1926)
13		Dr. Albert Harrison Moore	1910	1913			(1871 - September 26, 1913)	A graduate of Jefferson Medical College in 1896, he was a member of the American Medical Association and the Kentucky State and Boyd County Medical Societies. He is recorded to have "died suddenly at his home, on September 22 [1913], aged 42 years."[4][2]
14		J. M. McCleary	1913	1913
15		William Arthur Ginn	1913	1914
16		Dr. William Monroe Salisbury	1914	1917
17		Henderson Richardson Dysard	1917	1921		Republican
18		Dr. William Monroe Salisbury	1921	1925
19		William M. Nicholson	1925	1926				A plumber by trade, later was appointed as plumbing inspector of Boyd County in 1930.[5][6]
20		William Boggs Whitt	1926	1926		Democratic	(September 17, 1867 - December 19, 1926)	Whitt was previously a member of the Kentucky Senate.[7] He committed suicide on December 19, 1926, by shooting himself through the heart. He had been in ill health.[8]
21		Ernest E. Ramey	1926	1927
22		Charles F. Weaver	1927	1928		Republican	(1858 - October 21, 1932)	In 1904, Weaver was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Kentucky.[2]
23		William C. Frailie	1928	1932		Republican
24		Edgar Browne Hager	1932	1935		Democratic
25		William C. Simpson	1936	1940		Republican
26		Henry D. Shanklin	1940	1943		Democratic
27		Clyde R. Levi	1944	1947		Republican
28		William C. Simpson	1948	1951		Republican
29		David Aronberg	1952	1955		Republican
30		Wilburn Caskey	1956	1959		Democratic
31		David Aronberg	1960	1964		Republican
32		Wilburn Caskey	1964	1968		Democratic
33		Charles Henry Gartrell	1968	1972		Democratic
34		James J. Webb	1972	1976
35		David O. Welch	1976	1980		Democratic		[9][10]
36		Jack T. Thompson	1980	1984		Democratic		[11]

Notes and references