One of the requests items we saw for 2011 SPLOST funding was a $3 million request from the city of Covington for a new city hall.

That one certainly came out of the blue; in our opinion, the last thing we need right now is a new city hall.

Many of the people of Covington are hurting and can barely pay their bills now. The cost and maintenance of a new building with, of course, new furnishings is impractical.

Building a new city hall at this time would be akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.