We love to feature current City employees on the cover of the Team Covington Chronicles, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to include an important and transformational retired member of the COV team, Retired City Manager Frank Turner. Mr. Turner is pictured with Planning & Development team member Renee Criswell who is the current City Planner.
Presented by the Covington Placemaking Collaborative, join us at the Covington Square on Sunday, April 24, 2022 to watch the Braves play the Marlins on a big screen in Square Park. Grab some food from your favorite restaurant, set up a picnic blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the game at your leisure. Or if you have someone in your party who'd rather shop, they can take in the stores while you kick back and enjoy a sunny afternoon root root rooting for the home team, our 2021 World Series Champion Braves! First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. so make sure to grab your spot on the lawn of Square Park early!
The inaugural Gnomadic Rhythm & Rides Fest is Saturday, May 14, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Square in Covington and along a portion of Floyd Street. The morning will kick off at 9 a.m. with a car show organized by Kaleb's Cause. All proceeds from the car show will benefit Brayden's Fight Against Neuroblastoma. If you are interested in entering a car, please contact Kale Waddleton. If you want to be a vendor for the day, fill out a vendor form here. Awards for the car show will be held at 3:30 p.m. and there will be raffles throughout the day.
And we can't forget about live music! Starting at 11:30 a.m., we will have different musicians playing on the porches and/or lawns of houses along Floyd Street. The line up includes:
- 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Groovy
- 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Crest and the Motels
- 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: The Bad Neighbors
- 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Tedo Stone (@ City Pharmacy on the Square)
Mark your calendars for this festive day of rhythms, rides and fun!
Pictured: Mayor Steve Horton at the April 4, 2022 Council meeting presenting a proclamation designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month to Lauren Gregory of A Child's Voice Advocacy Center.
- Meeting with Sustainability Consultant
- GCCMA Board Meeting
- Conclusion of Warming Shelter
- On March 28, the Administrative Department welcomed new Deputy Clerk Amanda Huggins
- Attended March 29 City Council meeting
- Prepared agenda and packet for April 4 City Council meeting
- Attended April 4 City Council meeting and prepared summary
WELCOME NEW EMPLOYEES AND CONGRATS TO BARRY SCHELL ON HIS PROMOTION!
The City of Covington would like to congratulate 17+ year employee Barry Schell on his promotion to WRF Operations Supervisor and welcome the following new employees:
- Ashlyn Raines, Customer Service Representative (Customer Service)
- Hunter Little, Engineering Technician (Engineering)
- Sarah Bolam, Customer Service Representative (Customer Service)
- Donnie Gilliland, Water/Sewer Construction Inspector (Engineering)
- Monica Ellis, Permit Technician (Engineering)
- Scott Oglesby, Energy Services Technician (Electric)
- Roxie Willey, Customer Service Representative (Customer Service)
Pictured: New Hire Orientation
• Employees continue to participate in Management Development Program/Leadership Training which will run through September 2022.
• HR is currently planning the employees' Open Enrollment and Health and Wellness Fair for May.
• HR has schedule the 2022 Employee Appreciation Luncheon for Thursday, June 2. from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Legion Field. City Hall will be closed during these hours.
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
After starting to repair a sinkhole at the entrance of Ivy Street from Monticello Street, further investigation proved that there was a sewer leak causing the sinkhole to form. Members of the Water/Sewer team worked with members of the Transportation Department team to get it fixed and patched.
WATER SEWER DEPARTMENT
Emergency Service Unit Tryouts
Candidates had to meet the following qualifications:
- Minimum of two (2) years of law enforcement experience
- Ability to shoot a pistol qualifying score of 90 or better
- A physical fitness assessment, which may include, but not be limited to: 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups and 1.5-mile run
- Tactical firearms skills assessment
- Tactical scenarios assessment
- Oral interview with current ESU Team members
- Selected or active members must maintain a passing score on the Bi-Annual Physical Fitness Test and shoot a minimum of 90% on the Firearms Qualification. Each member must have a passing score in each category of the Physical Fitness Test (2.0).
- ESU members who fail to meet the minimum criteria will be placed on probationary status and will have two attempts to meet the minimum scores in a six-month period.
- Any ESU member who has three disciplinary actions in a one-year period will be removed from the Team at the discretion of the Chief of Police.
The Covington Police Department would like to congratulate Officers Chardelle McFarlin, Kinsley Nichols and Ryan Barrett on their selection to serve on the Covington Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit.
911 & Eastside High School Career Fair
Covington-Newton County 911 participated in the career fair at Eastside High School on Tuesday, March 29. Kei’ana Sims and Andrew Gutierrez were the smiling faces behind the 911 table. Director Trudy Henry brought Annie, the 911 therapy dog, to make an appearance at the 911 table as well.
ACCOUNTING
- Staff entered 612 invoices for payments to vendors.
- The City issued 234 checks for invoices.
- The Accounting department entered 157 journal entries to record transactions of the city.
- Staff sent 36 invoices for miscellaneous transactions.
- Staff issued 554 employee payroll checks.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
- Check Ins: 111
- Check Outs: 37
- Disconnects for Returned Payment: 3
- Disconnects for Broken Agreement: 18
- Reconnects: 237
- Phone Calls: 2,656
Total Transactions completed by Customer Service Representatives: 3,275
*BILLING FOR CYCLES 3, 4, 91 & FINALS: 3,380*
MUNICIPAL COURT
- There were two court sessions during this period.
- 219 new citations were processed and filed with the court.
- 127 citations were disposed of and closed.
- A total of $53,195.00 in fines and fees were collected from mail, web and in-person counter payments.
- Processed (0) refund requests and entered and processed nine failure-to-appear warrants. Processed one court appointed attorney invoice.
- 15 criminal records were updated.
- There were 20 open record requests / certified disposition requests and two verifications that warrants were removed properly.
- A total of 266 separate case files were scanned into Courtware Software.
- The office received 279 emails and responded to internal and external customers accordingly.
- Telephone customers: 248+ calls made and received.
- Responded to two leak calls and completed investigations.
- Completed five check meter requests.
- Completed eleven rectifier system inspections.
- Completed one service request.
- Installed four new services.
- Relocated two services.
- Responded to seven after-hours leak calls.
- Sixteen operator qualification tests were completed by staff.
- Mike Jewell attended the 2022 Georgia Pipeline Safety Conference in Macon
You just never know who you might run into at the Covington Welcome Center! Merman from Legacies stopped by for a few pictures and a quick look around before taking the Mystic Falls Tour.
There was quite a jumpstart for Spring Break as the Welcome Center's numbers were up 186% with a total of 6,931 guests (this is compared to 3,725 in March of 2021). There have been 43 US States represented and our international visitors are increasing as well: Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand and United Kingdom!
Pictured: Getting ready for the Gnomadic Rhythm and Rides Festival with our Bicentennial Gnome
- UGA Management Development Program
- Bicentennial Committee Meeting
- Fourth of July Logistics Meeting
- Braves Yearbook Meeting
- Aspiring City Managers Luncheon
- Staff Meeting
- Updated social media and website
- Filmed March 29 City Council meeting and April 4 City Council meeting and added to website