The ongoing saga on what to do with the mayor’s office in Covington just might have come to a fruitful end this past week.

 The Covington city council voted to 2-4 last Monday to decline a bid to redecorate the elected officials’ office.

 As we have said before, we agree that the Covington elected officials’ office is in desperate need of a refurbishing.

 This office is not only used by the mayor, but also as a meeting place for businesses and industries that might want to make Covington their home.

 We strongly disagree with the idea of having to pay for the services of a professional, especially someone who operates outside of our city or county, to transform the mayor’s office into an office that reflects the traditions and ambiance of our city.

 The costs to update the office and pay the designer is estimated to be approximately $28,000.

 There are plenty of talented people in the city or county who, if asked, would be proud to serve on a committee that would be responsible for making recommendations for this project.

 These community folks could probably work with some of local furniture and fixture dealers to secure a fair price. We also encourage any local resident with commercial interior design experience to submit a proposal for how to lower the price of the office renovation to the advisory committee.

 We suggest that a committee be appointed now, so that this project can be completed by spring at a much better cost.

That being said, we know that the council would not be considering a redecoration if they were not enjoying a budget surplus for this fiscal year. We applaud the council for operating in the black this year, unlike many other large and small municipalities, including Atlanta, which are now asking for emergency loans from the federal government.