COVINGTON, Ga. — Covington City Council has voted to advertise for a sound technician the city would hire to assure live concerts at Legion Field stay within previously set noise limits for the venue.

But the council split on a second vote to limit the users of the city-owned facility to federally-recognized nonprofits and community "partners" after July 1 — voting 3-2 to do so at the special called meeting Monday, Feb. 13. 

The council voted to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from prospective sound providers that includes a provision that anyone whose bid is selected agree to comply with a long-recognized 60-decibel limit. 

Council members' actions Monday stem in part from complaints about heavy bass noises emitted from a multi-act, reggae and pop music festival in September. Council later voted to halt Sunday concerts and car shows at Legion Field.

Concert promoter Michael D. Jamison then told members Feb. 6 that noise restrictions in a rental contract for the venue prevented him from producing a show planned to coincide with the Juneteenth holiday in June. 

He asked council members to relax some of the noise restrictions because his performers had complained they could not properly perform their music. 

However, Councilmembers Susie Keck and Fleeta Baggett told Jamison the noise level could not be increased because Legion Field is near a residential area. The council has required that all concerts comply with a 60-decibel limit on sound from the venue since the renovation of the decades-old facility was completed in 2016.

City Attorney Frank Turner told council members Monday that someone other than Jamison involved with producing the Juneteenth concert had alleged the city was racially biased against a minority-owned sound provider who disagreed with the noise level requirement. 

City officials had suggested to the promoters that they hire a sound provider who had been able to comply with the required level at the venue in the past — but it was not minority owned, Turner said.  

Community Development director Ken Malcolm asked the council to hire a sound provider who would install devices that measure bass and voice levels — along with other parts of sound — measured from the Legion Field property line.

All promoters then would be required to comply with the noise limits the city's provider placed on the show — similar to a method used at other small venues in Metro Atlanta, officials said at the meeting.

On the second vote, a majority of council members seemed ready to limit outdoor events immediately to nonprofits and "community partners" like the Arts Association — which sponsors an annual concert series at Legion Field. 

However, Turner said the council needed to set a date to remove the appearance the vote was being taken to target specific promoters.

Turner also warned that anyone could form a nonprofit specifically to produce a concert.

Councilmember Kenneth Morgan said the council needed to discuss making changes to prevent the council from possibly seeing the need to reverse the decision later if there are problems with implementing it.

"We need to come together as a council, have a work session (and) really vet through this thing," Morgan said.

Councilmember Fleeta Baggett said she did not believe any changes should be made to accommodate any promoters' calls for a higher sound level because of its proximity to a residential area.

"It is not Chastain," she said, in reference to the amphitheater that hosts major national touring acts in the middle of Chastain Park in Atlanta. 

"(Legion Field) is a park that happens to have a stage," Baggett said.

The vote was 3-2 to limit the use of Legion Field’s outside public events to the city’s "community partners," nonprofit 501(C)3 agencies and Georgia nonprofit corporations beginning July 1, 2023. East Ward members Baggett, Keck and Don Floyd voted for it while West Ward members Kenneth Morgan and Charika Davis voted against it. Anthony Henderson was absent.