COVINGTON, Ga. – Two prominent public safety facilities received their next steps on Monday during the Covington city council meeting.

Council members approved progress in building a new 911 call center in a formal vote and design plans for the fire department’s new “Station 23” in a consensus.

Council members approve 911 update

Plans to move the new Covington-Newton County 911 center are now moving forward following Monday’s meeting. Council members voted 6-0 to allow an updated plan for the new center to move forward.

The city of Covington and Newton County governments are working together to create a joint 911 call center that will be more spacious, allowing the operators more room.

The initiative has been led by Trudy Henry, 911 director at Covington–Newton County 911. Last March, the city of Covington pursued a request for quote (RFQ) for the new site. 

The bid was awarded to Sunbelt Builders. According to Henry, the guaranteed maximum price of the project was presented to the council as being $5,673,924.

Henry showed council members the renderings for what the new and improved call center is going to look like. According to her presentation, there will be a building with the radio where calls are dispatched and a building with offices, a decompression room and a training room.

Henry was excited by the projected designs, saying they were “very nice.”

Last year, Henry told the county that the current 911 center, which they have been in since 2019, is a small space that lacks room for meetings and briefings.

“It’s just hard… we don’t have a dedicated space to do briefing,” Henry said in March 2024. “We pretty much just kind of stand in a circle, brief and put them on the radios.”

Per Henry’s presentation to the Board of Commissioners in March 2024, funding for the new 911 center would be collected through E911 revenue and a  30-year bond at a 3.5 percent rate.

The property would be a joint ownership between the city and the county, with the facility being owned by the county’s facilities authority. Once the bond is retired, the property would be deeded to the city/county.

The city or county would not have to contribute any additional funds for the building unless any other capital items are needed. Those would be budgeted for and paid in a split by the two governmental entities, with 75 percent to the county and 25 percent to the city based on calls.

Council agrees to CFD Fire Station 23 concept plans

Following the approval of the 911 plans, Covington Fire Chief Joe Doss presented concept designs for the Covington Fire Department (CFD)’s “Station 23.”

Station 23 is a prospective southside city development that is in its early stages.

According to Doss, the station would have one engine onsite. Doss said that he is currently considering staffing the site with one captain, one engineer, one relief driver and one firefighter per shift with three shifts working.

“The Fire Marshal's office is crammed on the end of the hallway,” Doss said. “The parking is getting less and less. They’re having bigger meetings. They don't have a conference room, et cetera. We can do all that here.” 

The current design would make the site a more comprehensive public safety center than a typical fire station. By allotting upstairs building space to EMS and police services, the city can work with the existing hilly topography rather than paying to level the ground.

“Whatever officer is assigned to this zone, say they get in a chase, something happens, they just need to get out of their car to eat lunch, they can go here and they’re still in their zone,” Doss said.

Fire services will occupy the lower floor of the building, with the Fire Marshal, EMS and police occupying the upper floor. 

Doss told the council that there would be no way to get from the EMS and police area to the fire services below without exiting the building and walking around. That way, the upstairs activity would not interfere with fire services, which remains the primary function of the site.

Along with the engine garage and accompanying two-story, multi-function building, the site will have a supply house for miscellaneous CFD equipment.

“The fire department has so much stuff stuffed in closets just from over the years,” Doss said. “We need to start consolidating that so we know where our stuff is.”

Doss said he has already hired three new employees and needs another nine to hit his goal of a dozen personnel. He added that it takes 18 months to train a new employee with no prior experience to the EMT standard and get them state-certified as a firefighter.

Between training new hires, building the structure and ordering the gear and engine, it will likely be some time before Station 23 is active. Doss and the city council did not share an estimated date for the station to become active.