COVINGTON, Ga. – The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to spend $50,000 to implement its recently unveiled Strategic Plan.

The money will be paid to Organizations By Design, LLC, the consulting firm that facilitated the focus groups and the strategic planning process. County Manager Lloyd Kerr said the money will be used to help county’s department heads as they implement the plan.

“They will actually assist the department heads in the implementation, particularly when it comes to equating things to the budget,” he said. "And then also to help them develop a plan of action that will be inside the department - those strategic action items that we will be doing - to help them prioritize what comes first, what comes second and so forth. And helping them see a logical and efficient way so we can stay on track.”

According to numbers received from Finance Director Nicole Cross last month, the county spent $196,000 on the Strategic Plan between October 2017 and January 2019.

The additional $50,000 expenditure was approved by a 3-2 vote with District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards and District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson dissenting.

The Strategic Plan is available on the Newton County website at http://www.co.newton.ga.us/.