Main Street OKs early termination of agreement
The Main Street Covington board of directors agreed Tuesday morning to waive a 90-day notice of termination of its intergovernmental agreement with the city and county.
Source: Newton Citizen
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City mulls tougher grass, weed laws
Covington City Council members want a cleaner city, and putting more restrictions on the unruly growth of grass and weeds is up for discussion.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street vision shared
Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston has a big vision for Covington. He wants his city’s downtown to be more popular than nearby Madison’s, its Christmas displays to shine as brightly as Callaway Gardens,’ its businesses to thrive, and its residents to be employed and entertained.
Source: Covington News
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Covington denies Madison’s request
Madison City Manager David Nunn shared with the City of Covington a request for Madison to receive an equal third of the cost and revenues for providing natural gas to Baxter and Stanton Springs.
Source: Morgan County Citizen
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Main Str not ready to OK mayor's idea
The board of directors of the Main Street Covington program expressed displeasure at being kept out of the loop, and its members are not yet ready to OK a proposal to move the program, which is responsible for downtown development and marketing, under the local Chamber of Commerce.
Source: Covington News
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Mayor to hold Main Street town hall Fri.
By Staff Report news@covnews.com
Given all of the recent discussion about the future of the Main Street Covington program and its possible move under the Covington-Newton County Chamber of Commerce, Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston has set up a town hall meeting at 5 p.m. Friday at The Center, 2104 Washington St., Covington.
Source: Covington News
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Cities negotiate over future gas profits
While Baxter International builds its $1 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant at Stanton Springs industrial park, other companies and governments are working to ensure the company will have the water, sewer service, electricity and gas it needs to operate. It’s the last one that’s proving to be a little complicated.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street may move under Chamber
Operations of Main Street Covington may be transferred to the Chamber of Commerce, and it looks like the city of Covington could become solely responsible for funding of the program.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Chamber could take Main St. program
The Main Street Covington program is set to undergo some major changes as local officials, led by Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston, seek to consolidate and improve efforts to increase tourism and retail business growth.
Source: Covington News
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Covington council, mayor to get raises
For the first time since 1977, Covington City Council members and the mayor will get pay raises, as members say their workload has greatly increased and the economy is improving.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street director Kelly resigns
Main Street Covington Director Josephine Kelly has resigned, effective June 7, to pursue starting her own company.
Source: Covington News
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OED unveils new high-tech office
The new Covington-Newton County Office of Economic Development had its grand opening Tuesday, unveiling a conference room with state-of-the-art technology that will play a role in the recruitment and retention of industries and efforts to improve the local workforce.
Source: Covington News
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Officials push for retail incentives
Mayor Ronnie Johnston continues to push for more active recruitment of retail businesses, including restaurants, movie theaters and the like, and he’s hoping the city of Covington and the Newton County Industrial Authority may be able to bring some major companies to the area.
Source: Covington News
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Officials discuss what CPD offers
Covington’s population and the number of people needing help from the police are growing, even if the police force isn’t because of a string of tight budgets in recent years.
Source: Covington News
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Mystic Grill plans move forward
Creating the real Mystic Grill restaurant — named after the popular restaurant from the TV series “The Vampire Diaries” — won’t be cheap at a cost of $2.27 million, but the owners are hoping to get a low-interest loan from the state to cover at least a fraction of the cost.
Source: Covington News
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City to redo Legion Field as entertainment venue
Mayor Ronnie Johnston cast the tie-breaking vote Monday night in favor of the city terminating an intergovernmental agreement with the Recreation Commission for the leasing of Legion Field.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Visitors Center gets $5K facelift
The chamber hopes to make a better first impression on visitors by giving the Covington/Newton County Visitors Center a facelift.
Source: Covington News
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Chamber seeks new tourism director
The chamber is aggressively courting the film industry, but the task of bringing more films and more tourists to town will fall to a new tourism director, as Clara Deemer is retiring after 10 years.
Source: Covington News
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City to replace some parallel parking
The city of Covington is going to remove some parallel parking spots downtown and replace them with the diagonal parking spaces found elsewhere.
Source: Covington News
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Revised temp sign ordinance passes
Every business and organization in a commercial area in Covington will now be able to have one — and only one — temporary sign on its property at all times
Source: Covington News
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Mayor breaks tie on sign ordinance vote
Mayor Ronnie Johnston cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the final reading of an amendment to the city's temporary sign ordinance Monday night.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Council seats up for election in 2013
Though there are no county, state or federal elections in 2013, all of the cities in Newton County have council seats up for election.
Source: Covington News
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Council supports new fueling station
Covington is moving ahead with plans to build a compressed natural gas fueling facility, and now city officials must decide how big of a station to build, how to pay for it and who’s going to build it.
Source: Covington News
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Covington talks retreat, airport, CNG
The Covington City Council had one of its shortest meetings ever Monday, lasting just under 20 minutes, but upcoming work sessions and the city’s annual retreat will keep members busy for the next two months.
Source: Covington News
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Covington amending temp sign ordinance
The first reading of an amendment to the city of Covington’s temporary sign ordinance was approved by the City Council at its March 18 meeting.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Covington officials support Mystic Grill
The Covington City Council approved Monday night a resolution authorizing Mayor Pro Tem Janet Goodman to execute a Downtown Development Authority Revolving Loan Fund application to the Department of Community Affairs on behalf of 2 By 4 Holdings LLC, the group that is planning to convert the office building that serves as the Mystic Grill for "The Vampire Diaries" into a real restaurant.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Council OKs temp sign ordinance
After months of discussion, the Covington City Council finally reached a consensus on allowing temporary signs at businesses.
Source: Covington News
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Bigger Christmas light display for city?
Downtown Covington could become the next Christmas lights extravaganza destination if some local business owners can convince the city council to invest in the project.
Source: Covington News
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Mayor lays out plan to attract retail
Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston rolled out a three-point plan at Monday night’s Covington City Council meeting to attract new residents, put exiting residents to work and attract more retail stores to the city.
Source: Covington News
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Body shop use allowed without permit in city
The city of Covington’s legal team has decided a special-use permit is not required for an auto repair and body shop to continue to operate at the former Covington Ford site.
Source: Newton Citizen
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City officials to reach out to community
On Saturday, March 23, Covington officials from a wide array of city agencies will be ready to help residents find solutions to problems and answers for questions.
Source: Covington News
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After 80 years, residents may get sewer
Bryant Thomas told the city council that his family first moved into their Robinson Street house 80 years ago. And today, "after paying our taxes on time all these years', they still are not connected to the city sewer line.
Source: Covington News
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Covington council welcomes new manager
The Covington City Council welcomed its new city manager Monday, approved new speed limits for two neighborhoods, donated a vehicle to the Newton County College and Career Academy and took another step toward having a compressed natural gas fueling facility.
Source: Covington News
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Councils ban tobacco use in area parks
The Covington and Porterdale city councils have both approved ordinances banning the use of tobacco products in city parks and recreation facilities as a part of the tobacco ban ordinance recently approved by the Newton County Board of Commissioners.
Source: Covington News
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Goodman attends Mayors’ Day
Covington Councilwoman Janet Goodman was among nearly 800 city officials to attend the Georgia Municipal Association’s annual Mayors’ Day Conference in Atlanta recently.
Source: Covington News
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Knight becomes Covington city manager
Leigh Anne Knight will be the next city manager for Covington, and she’s already made history as she became the first female ever to hold the city manager position for the city.
Source: Covington News
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City manager finalists rejected
Covington will remain without a permanent city manager for a while longer after the city council rejected its initial three finalists at Monday’s meeting and asked the consulting firm it hired to bring back another group of candidates for consideration.
Source: Covington News
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City manager search continues
The city of Covington has requested for additional candidates to consider for the position of city manager as the search for the position continues.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street chair airs objections to review
The chairman of the Main Street board of directors is questioning the methodology used by a consultant hired by the city of Covington to review the program and defending the board against claims that members were not readily available to assist in the review process.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Council still split on city manager
Covington still has no city manager, as the Covington City Council did not vote on anything Tuesday night following an hour-long executive session.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street board to review report in March
The Main Street Covington Board of Directors will discuss a recent review of the program by a consultant at its spring retreat in March, according to Chairman Dan Walden.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Divided council to vote on next city manager
The Covington City Council is nearing a vote on its next city manager, which could happen as soon as Tuesday after the council’s executive session meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Source: Covington News
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Nearly 14K people attend events downtown at end of year
Nearly 14,000 people attended events in downtown Covington in October, November and December, according to a quarterly report provided by the Main Street Covington board of directors to the county commissioners Tuesday.
Source: Newton Citizen
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CPD starts neighborhood watch program
The Neighborhood Watch program is becoming a thing of the past in Covington. But in its place is a program that combines public safety from a variety of sources and community involvement that will hopefully work with the city's strategic action plan to promote Covington as a safe environment.
Source: Covington News
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Covington picks top 3 for city manager
Covington City Council has selected its top three candidates for the position of city manager, which includes two internal candidates and one from out of state.
Source: Covington News
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Main Street review complete
A consultant hired by the city of Covington to evaluate the Main Street Covington program presented his findings to the City Council on Monday night.
Source: Newton Citizen
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Bouchillon named interim city manager
Covington City Council continues to look for a replacement for the position of city manager, but the seat was not empty at the council's meeting on Monday night
Source: Covington News
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City manager Horton honored at council
Citizens, family and friends gathered at city hall on Monday night to honor Covington City Manager Steve Horton as he attended his last council meeting as city manager.
Source: Covington News
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