COVINGTON, Ga. – The community development department (CDD) is set to add two new positions to its team.
At the Jan. 16 Covington city council meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve a special events coordinator position as well as a facilities and permit specialist position.
Community development director Ken Malcom spoke at the latest council meeting in hopes of receiving both positions for his department.
According to a prepared presentation by Malcom, the special events coordinator position would be responsible for the “planning, execution and record maintenance of all large-scale, city sponsored events.” Two events specifically listed in the presentation were the Fourth of July event and Lighting of the Square event.
A budget adjustment was also requested in hopes of funding the position. According to Malcom, this would be done through the hotel-motel tax.
“What we’re asking tonight is sort of like a reinvestment of those funds that are coming into our community.” Malcom said. “We’re basically a 9-to-5 staff that, we’re coming in, we’re working these extra activities and it is our goal if we work a Friday night to take off early the next week. It sounds good, but you know, we have the next project, we have other duties. This would ease some of the stress on our current staff that have been presenting all of these projects over the last year.”
The CDD is responsible for a number of projects in the city of Covington, including the visitors center – which registered over 100,000 visitors in 2023 – and several community events.
According to Malcom, the CDD is set to host 75 events this year. But that number was subject to change depending on the help that the department could receive.
“I can not ask staff to work as many weekends, nights and holidays as we did last year,” Malcom said. “This is something they were all wanting to do. I’ve got a very dedicated staff, but they asked that we look for alternate ways of working.”
Malcom also affirmed that the CDD would keep the 75 planned events if the council approved the special events coordinator position.
The motion to add the special events coordinator was made by mayor pro-tem Susie Keck and seconded by East Ward, Post 2 representative Travis Moore.
Next, Malcom discussed the facilities and permit specialist position that was proposed. This position would be the primary point of contact for all non-city special event permits and facilities.
Previously, the position was filled unofficially by ICMA fellow Langston Leake, an employee for the city who has since departed.
Malcom mentioned that 150 events were held at Legion Field in 2023, with the high rate of events expected to continue into this year.
A motion was made by Moore and seconded by Keck to a 6-0 vote.
The vote included a budget adjustment resolution that includes both new positions. The resolution included $55,246 taken from the buildings and improvements fund and transferred into the hotel/motel fund.
The budget resolution also includes an increase in operating transfers by $55,246 with an expense of $81,388 going out of the salary and related expenses fund. An amount of $26,142 from the city manager’s department – which is the remainder of the salary and benefits budgeted for the outgoing ICMA fellow – will be used to cover the remaining funds.
