COVINGTON, Ga. - The Covington-Newton 911 Center found a new home inside the Covington Fire Department Station 22 and with all-around smiles, celebrated the new location with a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 22.

CFD Chief Jeremy Holmes, who had been on board with the move, thought Station 22 made sense for the new location as it was "already designed as the back-up center and had a lot of the groundwork already completed," he said.

"Previous administration thought out the design of Station 22 when it was originally constructed with equipment to staff Station 22 as the 911 Center if something went wrong," he said. "With the growth of Covington Airport, the city will have to have a fire station at the airport eventually.  It makes financial sense to build a station in the future at the airport, and Station 22 - in its current location - may not be necessary to best serve the community."

In late 2018, the 911 Center's Board of Governors unanimously approved the department's move to Station 22 after complaints of raw sewage, snakes, mice and break-ins at their location in the Carlton Trail building, which formely housed Cousins High School and Cousins Middle School.