City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, October 19, 2020. Due to circumstances necessitated by emergency conditions involving public safety and preservation of public services, public access to the meeting was limited to teleconference. To watch the video of the meeting, select the button below.

There was also a called meeting held on Friday, October 23, 2020 but it was strictly a teleconference meeting. The minutes for that meeting will be available soon on the City of Covington website.

In conjunction with the City Manager and the Department Directors, Human Resources helped host a "Work Glove" Lunch on Tuesday, October 20th, to serve lunch to the crews in the Utilities and Public Works departments. The "Work Glove Lunch" was held to show appreciation to a group of employees with tough jobs and long hours. Thank you to each of these employees for their hard work and tireless efforts!

ONGOING EVENTS

The Human Resources Department is currently conducting Diversity Training classes at Legion Field for the entire City. This event will be ongoing through November 10, 2020 to give all departments and employees an opportunity to take the class.

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS

• Police Officer
• Electric Line Worker

A drop box has been installed at City Hall for customers wanting to drop off payments, occupational tax renewals or if customers need to drop off something for employees. The box is located in the second drive thru lane at City Hall.

ACCOUNTING

• Staff entered 259 invoices for payment to vendors
• The city issued 141 checks for 366 invoices
• Accounting department entered 77 journal entries to record transactions of the city
• Staff sent 25 invoices to customers for miscellaneous transactions
• The city issued 311 payroll checks to employees for the bi-weekly payroll

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Total Transactions Completed By Customer Service Representatives: 1,448

UTILITY BILLING / METER READERS

• 4,396 bills processed
• 85 work orders completed
• Six meter/ert changes
• 141 non-pay disconnects
• 135 reconnects

PURCHASING

• Total purchase orders issued – current month - 274

• Total purchase orders issued – current budget year - 1,346

*CURRENT/UPCOMING RFP'S/BIDS*

• HVAC System: Out for bid
• HAPCO Poles Bid: Under Review
• Broker Services RFP: Out for Bid

COVINGTON MUNICIPAL COURT

1. There were no court sessions during the week.
2. There were 48 new citations processed and filed in the court.
3. A total of $4,003.00 in fines and fees were collected from mail/web payments and in-person counter payments.
4. One warrant dismissal was verified that warrant removal was completed accurately.
5. There were four open record requests, 10 certified disposition requests and 0 DDS suspension withdrawal(s) processed.
6. A total of 38 separate case files for the week were scanned into Courtware Software.
7. A total of 111 cases were disposed of.
8. The office has received 203 emails and responded to internal and external customers accordingly.
9. Telephone customers: 234 calls made and received
10. Mailed out 50+ packets with solicitor’s recommendation for entering a plea.
11. Meeting with judge and solicitor regarding court guidelines for starting in-person court sessions and day to day operations.

• Attended October 19, 2020 City Council meeting
• Prepared October 19, 2020 meeting summary and minutes
• Attended October 23, 2020 called meeting
• Fielded 51 phone calls

• Completed 28 lighting service orders
• Installed eight LED lights
• Disconnected two lights
• Replaced 12 security lights- LED light conversion
• Reconnected two services
• Replaced an overhead service
• Disconnected/reconnected a service for maintenance
• Replaced a three-phase reject pole
• Installed 2 three-phase temporary services (New Eastside High School)
• Installed an underground service
• Performed preventive maintenance (Arbor Bluff subdivision)
• Repaired a single phase termination cabinet
• Installed two bores (Legion Field Ice Skating Rink and Mason Drive)
• Completed 12 outage/trouble calls
• Cut and removed a large dead pine tree from the right-of-way
• Trimmed and bush hogged 2000’ of right-of-way on Washington Street

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

• 17 CCTV advertisements
• Scheduled local programming
• Updated the local access channels with COVID-19 information
• Spliced fiber for a Versa collector
• Ran Category-5 cable for the collector to a new location
• Answered/returned customer calls

STREET DEPARTMENT

Tyler Marshall's crew scrapes the edges of roadways throughout the city to allow for better storm water run off. Pictured below are (L-R) Larry Baines, Pat Wilson and Louis Robinson.

Total CAD Calls Received: 1,768

Total Agency Calls Generated: 2,005

Total Law Calls Generated: 1,542 (76.90%)

• Covington Police Department: 518 (25.83%)
• Covington Marshal's Office: 0 (0.00%)
• Newton County Animal Control: 7 (0.34%)
• Newton County Sheriff's Office: 908 (45.28%)
• Oxford Police Department: 34 (1.69%)
• Porterdale Police Department: 75 (3.75%)

Fire Calls Generated: 182 (9.07%)

• Covington Fire Department: 55 (2.74%)
• Newton County Fire: 127 (6.33%)

NEWTON EMS CALLS: 241 (14.01%)

Jonathan Jones, 911's Emergency Communications Field Coordinator with Georgia Emergency Communications Authority, a division of Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, visited the 911 Center.

OPERATIONS

Congratulations to CFD C-Shift Captain James Cox for being elected as Vice President of the Local Emergency Planning Committee!

MAJOR INCIDENT STATISTICS FOR THE WEEK

FIRE MARSHAL

• FMO Fuqua working on suppression
• Completed 10 plan reviews
• Completed five compliance inspections
• Completed 12 annual inspections
• Issued five burn permits
• FMO Canady preparing for Arson 2 class

ACCREDITATION

• Approved purchase orders and invoices in BS&A
• Compiled and submitted weekly report for CFD
• Processed open records requests
• Ordered office/station supplies
• Logged confined space activity into ERS daily log
• Reviewed new contact information uploaded into Accreditation Manager SharePoint site
• Attended Strategic Plan meeting for first draft review. All admin members were present along with members of suppression (pictured above right)
• Attended Kiwanis meeting via Zoom (pictured above left)
• Completed transposing Category 11 for the new FESSAM

PATROL

1. On October 20, CPD officers responded to Tara Drive where a male stated that he left $4000 in the glove box of his vehicle which was parked in his garage. His girlfriend was at his residence the evening prior but left after he went to sleep. He woke up during the night and saw that she had left. He later checked his car for the money and found it missing. This case was turned over to CID for further investigation.
2. On October 20, CPD officers and CID responded to the Turner Lake Trailer Park in reference to someone being shot. CID investigated and discovered a male resident fatally shot himself in the head during an argument with his girlfriend. He had been depressed and suicidal for some time.
3. On October 20, CPD officers responded to Walmart for an argument. Subsequently, two females were written citations for disorderly conduct and released on the ticket. Both stated that they had been in a loud argument inside the store over money. One female stated she slapped the other after the other female "got in her face."
4. On October 21, CPD officers responded to a Flock alert of a stolen tag at the Walmart exit. Officers found the vehicle unoccupied at Home Depot and confirmed the tag from the alert. Officers then compared the VIN number on the truck with the tag and determined that there was a clerical error with the tag being entered into GCIC by Lamar County SO. The driver was put in contact with Lamar County SO to resolve the issue and have the tag removed from GCIC. The driver was also given a business card by Sgt. Chris Cain in the event there was an issue in its removal from GCIC.
5. On October 25, CPD Officer Malcolm was patrolling the old Walmart parking lot located at Hwy. 278 and Hwy. 142 in reference to a large group assembled there. He noticed a car driving too fast for conditions and the car was squealing its tires. Officer Malcolm stopped the vehicle and a 46-year-old male was arrested for DUI.
6. On October 25, CPD officers responded to Spillers Drive in reference to an overdose. A female stated she left for 20-25 minutes to get dinner and left her 2-year-old with the father. When she returned, she found the male unconscious, overdosed on heroin. The child was in his lap and the needle was still in the male's arm. The male also had more baggies of heroin and two other loaded syringes near him. Narcan was administered to the male and after he regained consciousness, he was transported to the hospital by EMS for treatment. Warrants were taken and he was charged with possession of a schedule I drug, possession of drug related objects, and cruelty to children first degree. He was booked at the Newton County Jail.

CID

CID Sgt. Allan Seebaran examined Person Crimes and Property Crimes CID detectives worked for October 19 to October 25, 2020 and compared them with the previous two years. He found the following results:

i. PERSON CRIMES: From October 19 – October 25, 2018, there were five reported person crimes; from October 19 – October 25, 2019, there were six reported person crimes; and from October 19 – October 25, 2020, there were six reported person crimes.

• There was a 20% increase (from five to six) in reported person crimes from 2018 to 2019.
• There was no change (six) in reported person crimes from 2019 to 2020.
• There was a 20% increase (from five to six) in reported person crimes from 2018 to 2020.

ii. PROPERTY CRIMES: From October 19 - October 25, 2018, there were 25 reported property crimes; from October 19 - October 25, 2019, there were 20 reported property crimes; and from October 19 - October 25, 2020, there were 15 reported property crimes.

• There was a 20% decrease (from 25 to 20) in reported property crimes from 2018 to 2019.
• There was a 25% decrease (from 20 to 15) in reported property crimes from 2019 to 2020.
• There was an 40% increase (from 25 to 15) in reported property crimes from 2018 to 2020.

Welcome Center, Tourism, Downtown, Special Projects and Marketing

• Finalized and ordered Voices from the Past Cemetery Tour brochures
• Continue working on state brochure
• Set meeting to discuss additional Dukes of Hazzard memorabilia
• Continue to work on over door signage
• Beginning placement of brochure racks
• Muralist continues working on benches for Welcome Center (pictured below)
• Compiled and create Weekly Report
• Designed logo for Covington on Ice
• Updated social media and website
• Attended Stormwater Training
• Toured Berry Tree Farm
• Secured Movie Licenses for Magnolia Drive-In
• Attended Ribbon Cutting for Fenice Dry Bar and Salon
• Secured ad placement in the 2021 Explore Georgia Travel Guide

Economic Development

Economic Development Manager William Smith is at it again, scouting surrounding areas to find unique and delicious ideas. Where's William this week?!?