Choose footnote symbols for multiple authors and multiple footnotes

Question

I am trying to modify the footnotes for author citations on a paper but am running into trouble setting the symbols for the footnotes. My issue is that I need the * symbol reserved for a specific author and not defaulted to the first footnote set. I want to either be able to choose any symbol I want for the footnotes or try omitting the * symbol from being the first symbol called by default.

I followed the guide on the following tex exchange but wasn't able to make it work for me yet perhaps because of some loaded packages conflicting: Symbols instead of numbers as footnote markers

Any ideas on how this can be done with the current setup (and example code if you have it)?

Here is a stripped down code I am testing this on:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{setspace}
%\usepackage[hyperfootnotes=false]{hyperref}
\usepackage{verbatim}
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage[a4paper, total={6in, 8in}, margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{natbib}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subfig}
\usepackage{authblk}
%_________FOOTNOTE CODE___________%
\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\myfnsymbolsingle}[1]{%
  \ensuremath{%
    \ifcase#1% 0
    \or % 1
      \dagger
    \or % 2

      \ddagger
    \or % 3

      \mathsection
    \or % 4
      \mathparagraph
    \else % >= 5
      @ctrerr

    \fi
  }%

}

\makeatother
\newcommand*{\myfnsymbol}[1]{%
  \myfnsymbolsingle{\value{#1}}%
}
% remove upper boundary by multiplying the symbols if needed
\usepackage{alphalph}
\newalphalph{\myfnsymbolmult}[mult]{\myfnsymbolsingle}{}
\renewcommand*{\thefootnote}{%
  \myfnsymbolmult{\value{footnote}}%
}
%_________FOOTNOTE CODE___________%
\begin{document}
\title{Literature Review Paper}
\author[1]{Author 1\footnote{Current affiliation: Department of Stuff, The First University, Place, Townplace ZIPnumber}\footnote{These authors contributed equally.}}
\author[2]{Author 2$^*$}
\author[2]{Author 3}
\author[1]{Author 4\footnote{Correspondence to: Author 4 (E-mail: email4@TU.edu)}}
\author[2]{Author 5\footnote{Correspondence to: Author 5 (E-mail: email5@TOU.edu)}}
\affil[1]{Engineering Department, The University, City, Town ZIP}
\affil[2]{Other Engineering Department, The Other University, Another City, Different Town ZIP}
\date{}
\maketitle
\doublespacing
\section*{Abstract}
Abstract section...
\end{document}