COVINGTON, Ga. — City leaders are seeking more bonus pay for public safety employees.
During its recent Nov. 1 meeting, the Covington City Council unanimously approved a resolution to apply for a public safety officials and first responders pay supplement grant that would provide a $1,000 bonus to its employees.
Councilman Don Floyd, who is Covington’s former fire chief, first brought up the idea of applying for the grant at the end of the council’s Nov. 18 meeting.
“If anybody deserves this, those folks deserve it,” Floyd said.
Assistant Finance Director Ashlan Webb said the grant program was created by Gov. Brian Kemp after the state received its allocation of federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act. If awarded, Webb confirmed the pay supplements would be a gross $1,000 per employee on record as of Aug. 31. The city may be subject to providing a match amount, Webb said, but exact details were still forthcoming.
“It’s essentially a bonus — kind of like hazard pay — a ‘thank you’ for working through COVID,” Webb told the council.
Should the city be awarded the grant, $1,000 supplements would be the second of its kind since the pandemic began.
In June 2020 — during the height of COVID — the council approved a one-time, monetary hazard incentive payment in the amount of $625 per public safety employee to boost morale and help avoid potential turnover during “a time of civil unrest.”
“That’s for their continuous efforts and everything that they are going to continue to do for us,” City Manager Scott Andrews said in June 2021. “Because during all of this, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take a toll on morale. I think this is a gesture that would go a long way.”
In other business, the council:
• Approved the appointment of Rev. Barbara Brown, nominated by Councilman Anthony Henderson, to the Citizen Review Board. Brown takes the place
of Michael Syphoe. Syphoe chose to resign due to a conflict with work obligations, Mayor Steve Horton said.
The board’s first meeting is set for Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 6:30 p.m.
• Approved 5-1 (Councilman Kenneth Morgan opposed) the final reading of an ordinance amendment to Section 16.16.020 (Permitted Uses) and adoption of Section 16.20.615 (Recreational Goods Rental).
• Approved 4-2 (Councilwoman Fleeta Baggett and Floyd opposed) consent to an access and temporary construction and slope easement between the Covington Housing Authority and TRG Washington Street LLC. Per the city attorney, apparently the CHA has some land that the city, by title search, is the lien holder on, and so for the easement to be signed between CHA and TRG Washington Street LLC, the city had to consent to it, Horton said.
• Approved license to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption only for City Pharmacy, El Chaparro, Mystic Grill, OSAKE and Tello’s Mexican Grill.
• Approved license to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption only for Beverage Mall and Hester Package Store.
• Approved 5-1 (Morgan opposed), pending legal review, a contract with Darnel Quick Recovery, Inc., to provide collection services for and through the city’s finance department.
• Approved a Build Back Better Regional Challenge Application Approval Letter expost facto. If awarded, the grant would be up to $28 million and could fund a plethora of infrastructure needs, Public Works Director Kevin Sorrow said.
• Approved a resolution asking to apply for a grant from the 2022 TIP Solicitation program to fund the utilities and construction portion of Phase I of the Hwy. 278 CID Master Plan from Exit 90 to Emory St.
• Approved a ECG Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Year-End Settlement (YES) and Contract Payment Reimbursement totaling $9,940.23.
• Approved 5-0 (Councilwoman Hawnethia Williams abstained) the Covington City Council meeting calendar for 2022.
