COVINGTON, Ga. – The first meeting of 2024 saw new mayor Fleeta Baggett and new council members Kim Johnson, Travis Moore and Jared Rutberg take their new seats for the first time.

The group of new electees joined the existing group of council members to discuss a number of items.

While the meeting was brief in nature, council members conducted a significant amount of business, including the appointment of a new mayor pro-tem, Susie Keck as well as a new mayor pro-tem elect, Johnson. 

Keck will be filling the role of mayor pro-tem in 2024, which was formerly held by West Post 3 representative Anthony Henderson.

The mayor pro-tem role is a rotational role on the city council, with the seat alternating between east post and west post seats each year. Should the mayor be absent for any reason, the mayor pro-tem would step in as acting mayor. If both the mayor and mayor pro-tem are absent, the mayor pro-tem elect would step in as acting mayor.

The city also appointed Frank Turner Jr. as the city attorney, Qader A. Baig as municipal court judge and Piedmont Physicians as city physicians.

Additionally, the council opted to approve a revocable license agreement between the city of Covington and the Newton Campus of the Georgia Piedmont Technical College concerning power supply.

“They have a new addition that’s going on for a commercial driver’s license range,” said city manager Tres Thomas. “They need additional power supply over there and this revocable license agreement basically gives the city permission to run the lines across their facility and connect additional power that they need.”

The vote was passed unanimously 5-0. Henderson was not present for the vote, as he showed up late to the meeting.

A number of other items passed 5-0 and those are as follows:

• An amendment to the agenda that pushed back a vote and subsequent discussion for the community development department to add a new special events coordinator position.
• Approval of an alcohol license for Walgreens on 3188 Hwy. 278 NE.
• The re-appointment of Heather King, John Conklin and Janet Goodman to the Historic Preservation Commission.
• The re-appointment of Bess Dobbs and Lekeisha M. Thurman to the Tree Preservation Board.

Council members also got to hear from Bill Ross, the attorney assisting the county with its impact fee discussions. 

Ross gave a detailed presentation during the work session before the regularly called meeting, going over the impact fees from start to finish to assist the new council members. However, this was cut short as Baggett requested that Ross “move to the numbers part” of the presentation due to time constraints.

The council is set to re-discuss impact fees during a meeting in February.

Also just right after the meeting went underway, Baggett administered the oath of office to two new Covington police officers Dominique Dunn and Wentz Obei. 

The next meeting for the new council will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at 2116 Stallings Street NW.