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With 2019 in the rearview, Covington County Commission chairman Greg White said there are several things that made the past year a great one.

“I think the first thing that hops out at me is the additional new revenue that we will have to take care of road projects,” White said. “We haven’t had those revenues in an excess of 25 years. So, that will definitely make our abilities to meet the needs of the county easier.”

White said that taking ownership of the Covington Arena and the Point A Park are both highlights of 2019.

“I think that it is exciting that the county ended up with the arena and the park,” White said. “Each of those has been under private ownership for the past 10 years. Those operators did a great job with them, but for various reasons, they came back to the county within this past year. The commission now has an opportunity to improve on those and make them available to the citizens.”

Though there have been frustrations, White said that overall 2019 was a good year for the county.

“We saw a good amount of employers come to the South Alabama Regional Airport, which means additional jobs for Covington County,” White said. “We have seen our tax base continue to grow slowly but steadily and we have also seen a record unemployment rate achieved during this past year. That is taking us into the new Year at a great place so we will continue to look for new ways to enhance the job opportunities that are in the county already, encourage the growth of our employers and try to find ways to train our workforce to have even better-paying jobs going forward.”