Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Good good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today for our first city council meeting for the month of May. For those of you who do not have a packet, a um agenda packet, there may still be some in the foyer, but there are there is a QR code at the back of the rotunda, this glass enclosure here where you can scan and follow along with us on your electronic device. Our council meeting is going to start off with an opening prayer to led by to be led by Pastor Jonathan Brothers of the Greenacres Baptist Church. And our pledge of allegiance will be led by Mr. Jaden Duncan, the valadictorian of North Side High School. If you all will please stand while Pastor Brother starts us off in prayer. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts, acknowledging that every good and perfect gift comes from your hand. Thank you for the blessing of liberty, for the opportunities we enjoy in this community, and for the freedoms we are privileged to exercise today. We lift up the leaders of Warner Robbins. Grant them wisdom that reflects your justice, courage that reflects your strength, and compassion that reflects your heart. Guide their decisions so that this city may flourish in peace, unity, and integrity. We thank you for those who serve, our first responders, law enforcement officers, firefighters, medical personnel, and all who stand ready to protect and care for others. We thank you as well for the men and women of our military whose sacrifice safeguards uh the freedom we cherish. Strengthen them, protect them, and bless their families. And Lord, above all, we thank you for Jesus Christ, your son, our savior, who gave his life on the cross and paid for our sins. Because of his sacrifice, we have hope, forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life. May his love and truth shine through the people of this city. Lead us in this meeting. guide every word, every decision, and every action so that they

honor you and serve the good of our neighbors. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You You may be seated. Council and I will now join Pastor Brothers and Mr. Duncan in a photo. If Pastor Brothers, if you will come up first and we will join you for the photo. Thank you so much for leading us in that wonderful prayer and thank you Mr. Duncan for uh your success at Northside High School with being validictorian and for leading us in our pledge of allegiance.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Good job. All right, we now officially call today's meeting to order. We will first start with an adoption of the agenda following a proper motion. I make a motion to accept the agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as is. I second. I second it. Motion by Councilman Lawrenson, second by Councilman Curtis. All in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries. That caramel is important. So for those of you who who don't often come in person, uh we have a a certain cadence when it comes to approving the agenda and we have our leader when it comes to that mostly every meeting. So there was a delay. It was only because we were waiting on that cadence to pick up. Uh but that's it.

All right. So now we'll move on to proclamations, awards, and presentations. I have three proclamations to present today and one is for the National Salvation Army week. Then we have the Siliac Awareness Day and the 57th annual Professional Municipal Clerks Week. So if anyone is here to accept one of these proclamations, when I begin reading yours, I ask if you'll please come forward and stand right here in the middle so that once I have completed, I can come and present the proclamation to you and take a photo. All right. So, the first one up is National Salvation Army Week.

Hi. So good to see you, my friends. Thanks for all that you do inside of our community and thanks for always showing up inside of our community. And I hope you know just as much as you support us, we support you just as much. So thank you so much and it's my honor to read this proclamation and present it to you. So we have National Salvation Army Week May 11th through 17th 2026. Whereas the Salvation Army has been serving the people of Wana Robbins for 62 years physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And whereas the Salvation Army is present wherever needs are greatest, especially during times of crisis where vulnerable citizens are more at risk of becoming homeless, food insecurity, addicted, or spiritually tired. And whereas the Salvation Army invites the people of Warner Robbins to show love to their neighbors and help the organization continue to provide life-changing aid to those who need it most. And whereas it is fitting and proper during National Salvation Army Week to recognize the tremendous impact of philanthropy, volunteerism, and community service in the city of Warner Robbins. And whereas National Salvation Army Week is an opportunity to encourage citizens to serve their neighbors in need alongside the Salvation Army with their resources and time. And now therefore, be it proclaimed by myself on behalf of council and the great citizens of Warner Robbins. do hereby proclaim the week of May 11th through the 17th, 2026 officially as National Salvation Army Week in the city of Warner Robbins. I encourage all citizens to join together to give back to the community in any way that is personally personally meaningful. So, let's give a round of applause for National Salvation Army Week.

God bless you all. All right. So, up next is Celiac Awareness Day. If anyone is here to accept this, please come forward. We have one of our wonderful and talented and intelligent queens in the building, Miss International City Teen. So, let's give her a round of applause before I even start. So, Celiac awareness day, May the 16th, 2026. Whereas, celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disorder in which the ingestion of gluten causes damage to the small intestines, affecting children and adults across communities, including those in Warner Robbins in greater middle Georgia region. And whereas celiac disease affects approximately 1% of the global population, including an estimated three million Americans, making it one of the most common lifelong autoimmune conditions. And whereas despite the despite the prevalence, it is estimated that a significant number of individuals with celiac disease remain undiagnosed and misdiagnosed often enduring years of symptoms before realizing proper disease and receiving the proper medical care. And whereas individuals with celiac disease must maintain a strict lifelong gluten-free diet as there is currently no cure. An untreated disease can lead to serious health complications such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, infertility, and other autoimmune disorders.

And whereas firstdegree relatives of individuals with celiac disease have a significantly increased risk estimated at 1 in 10 underscoring the importance of awareness, early screening and access to knowledgeable health care providers within middle Georgia. And whereas increasing awareness, education, and community support along with improved access to safe gluten-free food options in local schools, restaurants, and businesses can greatly enhance the quality of life for residents living with ciliac disease in Warner Robbins and surrounding communities. And now therefore, be it proclaimed by myself on behalf of city council and the great citizens of Warner Robbins, do hereby proclaim officially May the 16th as ciliac awareness day in our city. I encourage all residents to learn more about celiac disease, support those affected, and promote inclusive practices that ensure safe and accessible gluten-free options throughout our community. Let's give a round of applause for Ciliac Awareness Day. supposed to come Yes, ma'am. I'd also like to acknowledge Miss International City's dad, who's the principal at the high school, Dr. Dikes.

We're glad you're here. Thank you so much. All right. So, we had our the principal at one of the best schools on this side of the universe, Dr. Dr. Dykes here. We love our Eagle Pride. We had Eagles lead us off today with the pledge and now we have Dr. Dykes here himself. So, I had to say that. And uh on a serious note, when I was reading about the ciliac disease, I was thinking about my time at a high school in Hston County, particularly North Side, and the lunch options. So, I have a question. Uh, have they introduced as the proclamation noted glutenfree options for lunch at our school system or do we need to advocate?

There are some gluten-free options um and I eat the nachos and they are delicious. Yeah, I mean there are options um soups and but I like wraps and sandwiches if there was gluten-free bread or something like that. Okay. But they're doing good right now.

All right. So, I guess the nachos are just as good as they were when I was in school because I love those, too. But I I did want to specifically ask that since it's inside the proclamation and you are a student at our school system, so I had to know. But thank you for sharing and bringing this to our attention and thank you Dr. Dykes for being here and for all you do for the Eagles. All right. Now, back to the regularly programmed schedule. All right. So the next one is for the 57th annual professional municipal clerk's week. If anyone is here to accept this, if you'll please come forward so that I can read it to you. All right. So this is Mandy Stellar, our city clerk on the spot. Let's get a good look at who our clerk is and thank her for all she does. She's totally embarrassed, but uh the municipal clerk's week is May the 3rd through the 9th, 2026. And it goes, whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk, a time-honored and vital part of local government, exists throughout the world, and whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants. And whereas the office of the clerk provides a professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies, and agencies of government at other levels. And whereas the municipal clerks have pledged to be everminded of their neutrality and impartiality, rendering equal service to all. And whereas the municipal clerk serves as an information center of

functions of local government and the community. And whereas the office continually strives to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meetings of their state, provincial, county, and international professional organizations. And whereas it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of the professional municipal clerk. And now therefore, be it proclaimed by myself on behalf of council and the citizens of Warner Robbins, we dear hereby proclaim the week of May the 3rd through the 9th, 2026 officially as professional municipal clerk's week. I further extend my appreciation to our professional municipal clerk, Mandy Stella, and all professional municipal clerks for their vital services that per they perform in their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent. So, one more round of applause for our clerks throughout and especially this one. And we have the best clerk. Even the city administrator agrees. And council agrees, too.

So, we're going to take a picture and we're going to have council come down, too.

Okay. Here we're good, right? All right. So now that we have completed the proclamations, we are now going to enter our work session and Mr. James Strinkard, our city administrator, will conduct this discussion for us as we go over the current agenda as well as a specific subject regarding the chapter 10 amendment for short-term rental ordinance, which is something that we will be discussing, and I do not believe it is on the agenda items. It

isn't. So, this is clearly uh purely an item for discussion. Mr. Drinker.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. uh council tonight. Um the bulk of our items are actually in the consent agenda. I'll try to run through those very quickly and then get to the the meteor items. Uh so of course on the consent agenda, we have the meeting minutes from your last meeting. We have three employee promotions. As a reminder, uh these are folks who all competed in uh for for the positions. They were publicly advertised inside and outside the organization. And we were fortunate enough to have three existing employees who who uh uh were chosen for these respective SL slots. For the record, uh Jake Cooper, who's currently uh utilities locator, is going to become the zoning assistant. Uh Takario Dawson is a utilities maintenance worker one. He would advance to utilities maintenance worker two. and Akira Williams uh who's currently a utility maintenance worker one uh would be uh a meter reader uh within the organization. We have a uh inventory certification for our aircraft loan. This is something we have to do uh annually uh with the department of the air force to confirm that we do still have in fact an F-15A uh in the in in front of city hall and a T33A aircraft out by the interstate. Um the current agreement began in April 2024 and runs through March 2025. Uh then we start to get into purchasing items. The first of those is with Southland Organics for $7,26.70. This is for annual mosquito spraying uh to try to control the mosquito population. We love it when folks uh move to Warner Robbins. Not so crazy when the mosquitoes do. uh making supply uh at $102,62620. Uh this is for valves and meter boxes for our utility department. Um the recommended vendor is the low low bidder on that. We have a task order for Falcon

Design. That's one of our on call engineering firms. It's task order for $12,000 uh for the engineering design for replacement and upgrade of our irrigation system at the International City Golf Course, including the pump station and control system. So, this is a complete and total uh re uh replanting of that system. It's one of the biggest issues we have out at that golf course uh is irrigation. Then we get into standard purchasing items. Uh the first is not technically a purchasing item. Um it's with Voya. Voya is our stoploss medical insurance provider. They actually erroneously issued payment to us of $488,923.72. That was issued in error. It's not our money. They would like it back. So we thought we'd give it back to them. Um seemed seemed like a reasonable request. Um, Hston janitorial supply $21,430.40. This is for the purchase of paper towels and uh toilet paper for city facilities. Um, I will point out that the recommended vendor is slightly higher uh than the lowest quoted price, but they were the only vendor who has a physical presence within the region and can provide same day uh uh supply of items uh when we need them. Up next is ballistic armor defense and equipment at $53,9935. This is for the provision of ballistic armor plates for the backs of our uh police officers vests. Um this same provider uh is who we purchased the plates for the front of the vest, but we want to make sure that our officers are fully protected. Next, we have the 2026 pipeline safety user fee assessment. This is $11,45014.

This is something that we have to do annually. It's a mandatory fee that we pay to the US pipeline and hazardous material safety administration for natural gas pipelines. The assessment is based on the total mileage of pipe, natural gas pipe that we have in our system. And then we have uh a right-of-way maintenance agreement. Uh this is uh 2025 rightway maintenance agreement. It's a cost of $67,23342. This is an intergovernmental agreement that we've had uh with the county uh for a few years now. Uh they help us out by maintaining 8.11 miles of public rideway along Hston Lake Road, Moody Road, Lake Joy Road, and Cohen Walker roads. um kind uh it covers 19 visits uh every other week from March to October uh for mowing, edging, blowing, and removing large debris. Okay. Then we get into regular business items. The first of those is actually the retirement of K9 Dixo. Um so we'll be en enjoying that uh ceremony uh in a few moments. Then we have a correction of funds. Um this is from FY 2024 and FY2025. There were funds donated uh by entities to support startup Warner Robbins week. Uh those were uh erroneously placed in uh or assigned to engage Warner Robbins. So we need to do a journal entry to clarify that. Uh it's really a bookkeeping and accounting function. Um let's see. Then we have our 2026 community development block grant final statement. This is uh the final approval uh of our uh action plan and funding allocations uh for uh for this year. It's 5 uh83,532.

That includes both the CDBG funds and then uh income from the program itself. Uh it covers year two of our five-year funding period. For the record, our basic fund allocation breakdown is $316,826 for housing, $150,000 for clearance and demolition, and $114,26 for program administration. Next, we have a road name change. This would change the name of Golden Boulevard to Luke Kenny Parkway. This is in a uh area uh currently under development off of Watson Boulevard and uh out near BJ's and all of that. Doesn't have any direct impact on any existing business or uh residential property owner because it is all still under the the ownership of the developer. Um then we have an uh two appointments to the joint development authority. We we do have that joint development authority with Peach County. uh and the city has has uh provided two appointments to that. Uh the first of those would be the reappoint of Mayor Patrick. Uh she has been serving on that board. And then the second is the appointment of Mark Yarborough. Mark, you'll recall is one of the newer members of our development authority. Um and traditionally the appointments have been development authority members. Um then we have filing of condemnation orders. Um, this involves uh a handful of properties. Uh, they're necessary temporary. I want to stress temporary construction easements uh for sewer line extension that we commonly refer to as the Bonire sewer line project. Um, it comes at a cost of $2,300. Effectively, what we're doing is we're renting uh small strips of property along our easement so that while crews are working

on uh the pipeline project, they could have equipment or could be on uh the the temporary construction easement working in the actual easement. So this is temporary uh and upon completion of the project we return the property uh to the same or better condition uh than what it was provided in. We're doing these condemnations uh as condemnations because in spite of long uh long-standing efforts to make contact with property owners, those property owners have been non-responsive uh both to our contractor and to our uh legal counsel. Um and so this is the next step in that process. Um just because I will stress just because uh we filed that condemnation, it does not prevent us from continuing to try to negotiate. But in many cases you have uh where it's a mortgage holder or somebody like that that's just not responding. Um up next is uh an ordinance amendment to chapter 24 article one of the city code. disregards is in relation to the regulation of utility accounts. So currently when we have a delinquent utility account and we place that into collections uh there is a fee that is charged by the collection uh agents uh for collection of the funds that is currently at 18%. Unusually uh the city has been paying that collection fee instead of passing it on to the account holder which is best management practice and a more typical way of doing things. So this amendment would take that fee and would pass that on to uh the account holder of the account that is being collected upon. Uh then we have classification plan update. Uh this involves a total of three positions. It would update the

classification plan including one uh impacting one position in uh my office uh and then two positions in the police department. The first of those uh would be changing the marketing and communication specialist to the communication engagement manager. That is uh a change in the position description and elevates that. Um then we would deactivate uh the position of criminalist in the police department. There are two uh of those positions. Um and Chief Fischer has determined that those are not the best use of those FTE slots. So what he'd like to do is create uh the position of victim advocate within the police department. Uh and then the second position would actually be created uh in our IT division. It would be a network administrator position dedicated to supporting uh the police department and their technology needs. Uh and what we would do with that is we would enter into um an internal service level agreement uh between the IT division uh and the police department to ensure uh that that relationship is memorialized uh for that position to be dedicated to the police department. Uh so those are all of the items on your regular agenda and then of course we do have an executive session scheduled for personnel. Uh with that uh staff and I stand ready to respond to any questions or provide additional information. Council member Mack.

Thank you. Uh Mr. Draker. I just had one question in reference to uh consent agenda item 3D. Is there a schedule to notify the public when there would be spraying going on and how often in what areas and how frequent? Mr. Clifton, could you come forward please? I'm not sure as to the answer to that, but if Mr. Clifton will be able to help us out. Mr. Clifton, the question has been raised with respect to mosquito spraying if there is going to be a set schedule and if any kind of information will be provided to the public as to when mosquito spraying will be occurring in specific areas. We should set a schedule

if if you could for the record. He hates the spotlight. We uh set a schedule every year and we keep track of uh basically the city's uh put in the zones and we hit a zone every day with two individual trucks that go out and that that any person in the public can call at any time and we can let them know at what time their neighborhood or their area is going to be sprayed. We can if you'd like we can also put together a zone map um and we can highlight which zone they'll be active in. We can work with uh Mr. Furman on that.

That's also put out to Mr. Ferman. So he puts something out every year also to let everybody know that the spraying is taking place on what date. The reason why I asked because it was just recently asked of me, do we still do that? So I just wanted to go on record and say that we do. Yes, sir. We have to wait. We basically wait. We try to base it on the weather uh because mosquitoes don't come out in the cold. So we usually start in May is when we start this. So you it'll be coming out here shortly. Thank you. Mhm. Thanks. You're welcome. Additional questions. Uh regarding the uh aircraft loan inventory. So the F-15 looks great. The T33.

T33 needs some help. Yes. So um does anybody want to take a guess at what it costs to uh to to clean and maintain those aircraft? I would say more than it's worth. It's $40,000 in aircraft. Yeah. And so last year Yeah. So last year we were not able to do it because of our our our budget position. Um it is a item that is in uh the new initiatives for uh the FY27 budget. Um interestingly enough, does anybody want to take a guess since we're playing games? Does anybody want to take a guess as to which department is responsible for maintaining the aircraft? Parks and Recreation. Nope. Yours?

Nope. I guess technically they're all my department. So, sure. The police department. What's that? The police department? No. I'm just Well, the director of the department responsible for aircraft maintenance. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, human resources. We makes perfect sense. So, uh, yeah, that's one of those odd things that happened over the years because, uh, human resources covers our risk insurance program and so we have to insure the aircraft. So, at some point, somebody stuck them with it. Mr. Drinker, what is the total cost then to maintain those two aircrafts a year?

Two aircraft would be $80,000. And I will go ahead before before we go too far down that that particular rabbit hole. If we decide we want to end that contract under the agreement, we are responsible for returning the aircraft to the Department of the Air Force, including all expenses associated with it. And how much does that cost? That I do not have. If you would like me to look into that, I'll be glad to do so. I would like you to look into that. Yes, sir. And I have a question. Yes, ma'am. Um, how often do we have to maintain their aircraft? It seems like we can skip a year. So they have not been maintained in a number of years.

Oh, okay. So now this sounds not this doesn't sound as bad. Yeah. Um it probably would not cost us quite as much. Um we did get quotes uh from a so interestingly there's a small number of firms that do this kind of work. Uh you would think you know we have a whole base here that deal but that's not how that works. We have to hire a firm. Um we we talk with the same firm that does the work for the Museum of Aviation. Um they are the most uh they're they're the most proxmic. Um and uh so we got pricing from them.

There any is there any way that we can develop a relationship a foster one? First question was with the Museum of Aviation as most of their maintainers are volunteers or if we can tap into some of these local um facilities that do structural aircraft maintenance in schools, Central Georgia Tech, and they can do some um I'll have to dig in contract uh to be able to to provide a response to that. Let me let me look at the agreement that we have and then we can um we can dig into it a bit because they're often looking for uh static displays to work on to improve battle damage repair. They're always looking for that because it's a part of their training mechanism. Sure.

And I know that the 653rd CLS, they used to do a lot of that. So I think there's resources out there where we can foster some type of relationship where they can get volunteers to do that work as long as we provide the materials. Sure. Yep. I will be happy to look into that. Um, great idea. Yeah, I appreciate that. Lot of uh over the years I've learned a lot of things, but I've never learned about maintaining a uh because because no one no one wants a student that's just learning to work on their live aircraft said they're often looking for static displays to work on. Okay, very good. I think the only other thing about that that little piece of land is totally landlocked

out. Uh which we do have access of course, but within the within the property boundaries of our land if we could possibly look at removing some of the trees because you can't even hardly see the thing anyways anymore. Yeah, there's there's actually not many trees within our property boundary that we have access to. Um it'd be helpful. It's uh pray for additional questions on the agenda items. Yes, sir. Mr. Holmes, will you bring down the block grant? I have

uh so I will ask Miss Hogan to come forward. Uh she is she can do that in her sleep. For those of you who do not know, Miss Hogan is our director of community and economic development. Her department leads this program. I missed the question. Uh, he would like a breakdown of our CDBG action plan. Um, let's see. Those are the main categories, but within that, I don't know if you want to.

So, we help Habitat for Humanity and then also rebuilding together. Some of it also goes towards our salaries as far as staff members go. But then one of our biggest um opportunities for our CDBG grant is actually over $100,000 for um clearance and demolition to assist in our operation reawaken program which is demolishing commercial blighted structures in commercial circle. And then we also have some additional funds that set aside for emergency grants. Those emergency grants go to help homeowners who need new roofs or HVAC systems to ensure everybody has a safe and warm place to live. Will you talk a little bit about allocations for blight?

As far as us demolishing blighted structures in commercial circle, well, you you just went to commercial circle, but I'm talking about city Robbins. We don't currently leverage our community development block grant for um any blight removal outside of the commercial circle program. Um but we can definitely look into future strategies to leverage our commer our community development block grant for blight removal on a broader citywide basis. So it can be used for that though. It can. Yes. I apologize. Thank you. to piggyback on his questions. When did it get solely directed directed to the commercial circle demolition?

So in the past two program years, we've leveraged some of those funds towards demolition of commercial circle blighted structures. There's a significant amount of hoops that we have to overcome as far as leveraging federal funding towards our um our demolishing blighted structures. And so really it helps that the city's the owner of the structures that we're demolishing. Um but then we've I think previously historically and I can provide broader um context but we have used it in partnership with our code enforcement office to work on plate removal as well. It's just not something that we I've had experience with in the past five years. We can look into leveraging that strategy in the future. All right. Thank you.

Thanks. Thank you.

Additional questions on agenda items? All right. Uh so seeing none, uh the other item that we want to talk with you about tonight is it's um kind of prep for a future discussion and this deals with um uh short-term rentals um sometimes called vacation rentals. Uh currently the city does not have any ordinance on the books uh regulating them whatsoever. Recently, uh, over the past several months, we've seen Hston County and other area cities, uh, all bring something onto the books. Um, the purpose of having it is twofold. One, uh, while uh, having vacation rentals in a community can be a positive thing, um, especially in certain tourist destinations, etc., Um, it can also become very quickly a problem within existing residential neighborhoods. Uh, because unlike having a rental house, just a standard rental house in a neighborhood, uh, where you may see the same person renting that for a year, two, three, four years, whatever. Uh, with short-term rentals, they are in fact shortterm. So, you're talking about one, two nights, constant turnover. It functions more like a hotel. Um, and that bring can bring with it a lot of things. That's when you start to can start to see issues with the party house down the street. You can see issues with parking problems, uh, property maintenance issues because oftentimes you'll find that the vacation rentals uh, are owned by entities outside of the city. It's not an individual owner. It's it's a commercial owner who buys these properties strictly for the use of them as vacation rentals.

So you put an ordinance like this on the books to help regulate some of that some of those very issues. The other thing is to create a level and even playing field. Right now what you have is some people playing by the rules, some people not uh some people maintaining uh the properties within uh certain parameters and conditions. Uh others letting the property go. um some collecting hotel motel tax, some it's off the books, so they don't collect it, so then they have an unfair advantage within the market. So, it's really about uh creating consistency throughout the community, uh protecting uh residential neighborhoods, the the residential character of those so that they don't start to become more commercial in nature, uh and so that any negative impacts on adjacent property owners are mitigated. That's what this is really about. Um the ordinance uh that that we have prepared that's in your packets um that is largely based uh and very consistent uh with the ordinance that the county adopted. So the terminology is is similar. Uh the terms and conditions are similar. Um and we've seen uh uh adjacent cities adopt very similar or ordinances. So again, trying to to create a level and even playing field and be fair uh to those involved. Miss Mice, to put you on the spot, um is there any part of the ordinance that you uh think that we should particularly call out that may need some uh explanation? Nothing's really coming to me. So

Oh, yeah. I think that would depend upon what area of concern there might be in this regulation. I don't know if there's any particular issue that might be of concern. So, the way this is set up um if somebody is going to operate a short-term vacation uh short-term rental home, short-term vacation rental, uh they would have to apply for a certificate from the city. So, basically they're registering and that serves uh as kind of a business license uh tax certificate. um so that it's on the books. We know what we're looking for. We know who's supposed to be paying hotel motel tax, etc. Um let's see. We have some basic standards put together. Um working smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, uh fire extinguishers, solid waste collection, parking facilities, things like that. Those are the types of things that you frequently see causing problems within neighborhoods. Um, so they're designed to address that. Um, there's a whole section in fact on parking. Um,

would that also be known as Airbnbs? Yes. Yeah. Um, Airbnb or VRBOS. I try I was trying not to use Airbnb because it's a company name. So, I think short short-term rental is defined in the ordinance as anything less than 30 consecutive days would be a short-term rental. That could be independently through the owner himself or herself or through Airbnb, VBO or whichever entity they might use, but it's characterized by the number of consecutive nights. And Mr. Drinker or Attorney M, can you uh explain the enforcement of such ordinance?

Yeah. So, it's it's twofold. Um, you'd have certain actions that would fall under code enforcement and certain actions that would fall under the city marshall. If it's tax related, it's going to fall under the city marshall. If it deals with the actual operations um and impacts on the community, it's going to be code enforcement. Then there are some things in there that would naturally fall under the fire code. I will just say there is a mechanism that if the unit is not in compliance with the ordinance that I think the license the accommodation excise tax certificate can be revoked and there's a process and a procedure for that and the unit cannot operate without an accommodation excise tax certificate. So if there's any issue with compliance then there is a mechanism and a process for that um tax certificate to be revoked or denied if there were an improper or incomplete application received. So while some of the frontline issues, if there's a noise violation, a parking violation may be addressed by code enforcement, the larger issue as to the property owner's use of the property would be addressed via the accommodation excise tax certificate, which they must maintain and be in good standing with the city to continue to operate.

So Mr. Dre, we're quick to say code enforcement is going to take care of this problem. Are they staffed to do that? they they they are already dealing with some of these issues. Um it's just they don't have a regulation that they can fall back on in certain cases. So they're trying to make do with the ordinances that we have in place, but those ordinances are not necessarily sufficient to meet the need. But in terms of of staffing, they're already dealing with it. We're trying to give them uh better tools to use as they deal with it.

Mr. drink it. Understanding what you're saying about giving them better tools, how do we determine if it's a in and out, if it's a 30-day, 20 day uh rental, if it's a vacation? I mean, how do we set that? How do we determine who who they are, where they are, and and and what are we going to do from our standpoint? Sure. of being sure they are registered,

right? So, there's a few a few different uh ways to approach the problem and you it's like a layer cake. You use all of them, right? So, you're going to have some neighbors who are going to quickly raise their hand and go, "Hey, this is going on. I don't like it." They're going to call, right? Um we we actually I I've had experience where uh uh uh I had the spouse uh call. I'm like, "Oo, I'm not getting in the middle of this one." But uh we've seen that happen. So, you will have folks turning folks in. You will have uh as code enforcement and other city employees are going about their day-to-day duties. You will notice things, right? Wow, there seems to be a lot of cars there. What's going on with that? Um you will see advertisement uh for for some of this, right? They tend to advertise in some pretty standard ways. as we get into it. Um, you know, if we if we see the need a uh an obvious need to go this route, there are firms that we can contract with that will actually uh spider the the the ads, crawl the ads, uh, and whatnot, and they will help us identify um, and then, you know, if there's fines or anything like that, they they take a portion of that. But I have not seen that have to happen outside of some larger vacation uh and tourist destinations uh very often. Typically, it's something that can be handled uh with existing staff.

Have we had a lot of complaints prior to this concern? So, we have had complaints with things like homes being uh utilized uh for uh large parties uh lasting a day, two days. We've had complaints related to uh excessive parking, especially on grass and lining streets, making it difficult for people to get through. Um the the complaints typically come as complaints about symptoms, uh not I have somebody using a vacation rental. We get complaints about the system or or the symptoms. We investigate the symptoms and then we discover what's what's being what what's causing those. I just wanted to add to Councilman Holm's question that the ordinance does also include a right to audit. So, if there is any question concerning the legitimacy of the operation of the short-term rental, the city does have the right to audit the books and financial records. So that would be a way to fact check and ensure that it's not being let out more than is provided or utilized in any other way that's not provided. Thank you, Madam Attorney. Uh I asked that question because I want to know. But also along those lines, we right now we have people complaining. You know, I don't I'm sure all of us get calls uh the noise, the partying and what have you. It's parking on the side of the road, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a vacation home or it's a nonreal home. And that's I want to know how are we going to round up and put a rope around the

Sure.

vacation home. So, um, again, when you're dealing with especially code violations, um, and things that are negatively impacting residential neighborhoods, you're usually attacking a problem from multiple fronts. So, you are correct. Not every house that has a big party going on or has noise is necessarily a short-term rental. Sometimes you just have a neighbor who is loud and likes to have a lot of parties. That's fine. we have noise ordinances, things like that that the police department can use to address that. But that's when it's a recurring type of issue that it really uh works for those types of ordinances. Uh again, this is this is another angle that we can attack those types of symptoms with when they are in fact short-term rentals. Um but the other piece of it is establishing a level playing field so that everybody who uh is operating uh a short-term rental within the city is playing from the same set of rules has has to pay the same taxes etc. Right now so under Georgia law um there is a requirement for short-term vacation homes uh those operators to pay local hotel motel taxes. However, if you don't have uh the tax certificate requirement and some of those things, they operate in the shadows and there's no way for us to enforce the payment of those taxes. And so you have some who are paying and some who are not, which means from a competitive standpoint, they're offkilter, right? Uh some are not having to pay their fair share while others are. And so you want to create that level playing field. So it's a two-fold piece, right? And I don't want to I don't want to completely gloss over

there is a financial aspect to this um you know and it is creating that level playing field but the bigger issue is dealing with uh you know mitigating negative impacts that can come uh from short-term rentals within established residential neighborhoods. I don't I just wanted to add Okay. I'm sorry council. Go ahead. Just one other question to piggy piggyback on that. All I'm going to ask that as we make plans and we write up items or rules to govern each other by

that we've also we are fairly good in communicating. We're much better than we've been being in communicating that we communicate this to the public ASP.

Right. And you know, part of what we're doing tonight, and this is this is kind of a more common way that we're going to be rolling these types of things out. We'll start with a work session just like this. Right? Purpose of this work session is so that if you guys have questions, uh if there's information that we don't have readily available that you feel you need in order to be able to make a decision, we have time to get that together before we come back and ask you to take a vote on something. The other thing is if we're standing here tonight and you I'm looking across the DAS and I'm seeing a lot of head shaking and no, we don't want this. Then we'll drop it and you'll never see it again. Right? Once we know, okay, they generally seem to have interest in this. We know we're going to be bringing it back. Then we start to ramp up public communication. we start to work with area media sources, our own uh public communication channels, and start getting that word out starting with the fact that it's going to be on an agenda uh and and would be something that would be uh available for the public to comment on, etc., etc., and then here's the roll out schedule. I think I think the concern is um structured sustainability with the ordinance to make sure that we are covering our bases and being diligent

in and in and holding people's foot to the fire.

Absolutely. Since it was raised as a concern, I just want to point out that in regards to noise, section 10-52 and the operation of short-term rentals, it provides that between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., uh, the unit shall not exceed the maximum ox occupancy rate, which is 15 persons 12 years or older. I also want to point out that no commercial events under this ordinance can be hosted in a short-term rental. Um, so those are two mechanisms by which it would, as Mr. Drinker said, uh, enhance the current noise ordinance that we have because it has specific requirements for a short-term rental.

Uh, Mr. Trick, I is it not 1000 p.m. and not 11 p.m. in our city? I think the NOR's ordinance is 10 p.m., not 11. Yeah, I think you're right. Uh council, I think we moved it up to 11 on the weekend or something of that nature. Okay. But the you uh you were right. It was been 10 10 o'clock for you. You're looking that up. I will verify that. And that's an easy change. So if we want to make it 10 to 6, I like it. 10:00's great. Do that. Especially when you're 57 years old. 10:00's really good.

It just also ties in that other I would say the distinction is it it ties in that other requirement of how many people can be in the unit. So it is a a difference between the noise ordinance which would be uniform across the board. This is providing the additional layer that between those hours there cannot be more than 15 people 12 years or older. So we can certainly be more restrictive if you would like but it does not necessarily conflict with the current noise ordinance which would apply to all people equally and that's just for short-term rental properties. Right. Yes. And it's tied to the max maximum occupancy um so forth.

Okay. So this might be another legal question, but HOAs have the right and legal to not allow these in certain subdivisions with established HOAs. Correct. Yes. HOAs and property covenants can be more restrictive but not less restrictive than city code on things like this. So you could have uh because it's a restrictive covenant that a property owner has signed and agreed to, you could have a neighborhood that says no, we will not have these at all. that is then up for to the HOA to enforce.

Those agreements are private party agreements and those are separate and distinct from what the city is doing here with the an ordinance that would apply to all property owners in this uh situation. So we don't enforce uh private party agreements, but certainly if there is one, this would recognize that the property owner should recognize that and act in accordance with it. Yeah. Keeping in mind that we do have a lot of neighborhoods within the city that do not have HOAs or POAS. Sure. Uh and and currently have no protection. This provides some.

And we and I wanted to ask another question. Um I want to make sure I heard you correctly. Um um we are asking all the short-term rentals to come to the city and apply for a business license. It's it's not a business license. It's Juliet the exact terminology. It's an accommodation excise tax certificate. Yes. Is what it is. Which is now required by state law. Correct. Yes. And so ostensibly they could operate as a private party. I think it makes financial and legal sense that they would operate as an entity. But if they choose not to, I guess they still would probably

need a business license in order to be in compliance with our city code. Um we may have to look at that a little bit further. I think the clerk may have input on that. But certainly uh we'll make sure that both the business license or occupation homebased business, however it's classified, is complied with. But this this ordinance does not speak directly to that. It speaks to the accommodation excise tax certificate. Okay. I would think that we would make these uh short-term rentals actually apply for a business license because that's what they are is a business. Why would we let them not why would we charge everybody else in the city of water robins a business license to operate in our city and not them? That seem you talk about leveling the playing field.

That doesn't seem like we're leveling the playing field for all businesses in our city. So I mean if you know if we're looking at doing this I think huh hotels definitely have business licenses. Yes. Hotel if if you could use your microphone, sir, just so it's on the record. I'm sorry. Do hotels have a business license and occupancy license?

Um, they pay they pay excise tax. Um, what we have currently, again, it's it's really hard not to see a hotel, right? Um, you drive by, it's pretty hard to to miss it. It's big. It's got a sign out front. When you when you're dealing with these short-term vacation rentals, they're harder to to identify. You're not just necessarily going to drive by and see them, right? Um Yeah. Sure. I just want to piggy back off what Charlie was saying. If we're if they're having to pay business license, you know, seems fair. I don't I know it'd be harder to enforce.

Yeah. And just because it's not reflected in this ordinance, it does not necessarily void the other ordinances that apply. Just like they all work together. So our business license, our fire codes, our parking per, you know, ordinances, our noise ordinance, they'll all work together in concert. I think you may think of this as an addition rather than a subtraction.

To to the mayor's point, wasn't there something just recently about some legislation about these type of establishments at the state level? So there was legislation that was being pursued under the gold dome that started about three years ago. Um there were efforts uh by certain members of the legislature to prohibit any local ordinance uh that uh that dealt with short-term vacation rentals. That didn't really go anywhere. But there has been um several efforts over the past couple of years uh just as there has been with other aspects of local control and local governance efforts under the gold dome to to restrict our ability uh to regulate what goes on in our own community. Uh so there there there have been efforts along those lines. There were some limitations put in place as to what we can and cannot do. Um, and this ordinance is reflective of what the state uh state does allow local government uh to do.

I got one more question. Got to be quiet. If these people are acting as a hotel and we're going to tax them as a hotel, how are you going to regulate their property? And how are you going to regulate fire codes like you would do any other business that would operate as a hotel if you're charging them a hotel tax? So would they I mean so you the way I see we're putting a lot on the fire department putting a lot on the code force department. This seems like you're you're adding a lot more responsibility for for this when you enact it. you're I mean

it's it's actually not as much additional as you would think, right? Um and I say that because I've been I've been through this before, right? Um this is, you know, we we we saw a lot of this occurring in in the metro area, a lot of local ordinances being enacted. Um, and so we have a a a lot of trend information to guide us, right? Um, now I'm not going to say that code enforcement or fire will not see some additional activity. Um, but it's relatively minimal because to a large degree, like saying before, the largest impact is on the code enforcement side and they're already dealing with the symptoms of these in neighborhoods. So, it's providing them an additional tool to help them address the problem that they're being faced with.

And Councilman Bib, sometimes ordinances are proactive and sometimes they are reactive. And I will say that in applying for the accommodation tax, excise tax

certificate. I want to call it a permit, but it's a certificate. Um, the owner has to affirm that they're in compliance. So, it puts the onus on the owner to say, "Yes, I'm in compliance. Yes, I'm aware of my obligations." And then if there is a situation encountered where they are not in compliance and there is an issue, it gives the city an additional tool to be able to say you are not in compliance and that your fire extinguisher is out of date. You have too many people in this building. It's not safe. You know, you're not carrying the proper insurance. You're not doing this. So, it gives some additional teeth to make sure that it's being done in a safe way and it's being done in a way that's compliant with the law. And I will one more and I'm going to be quiet.

Okay. I said that last time, but I am going to be quiet on this one. So, we get in charge of all this. We enact that. What stops somebody from suing us for if something happens at a home? I'm just saying. And they say that we're not we haven't we haven't monitored that. We weren't correctly monitoring this home.

The owner has affirmed and signed that he or she is in compliance with our ordinance. and unless and until the city sees otherwise and certainly we would take appropriate uh and responsible re reaction if that were determined but the onus is on the property owner to comply with the law. I think we all know that ignorance of the law is no defense. So, it is uh the onus of the property owner and certainly the city will work with them to make sure that there is no barrier to success uh in them being able to be compliant.

And based on uh the information we have available uh to us and and research that has been done, you're really talking about 10 to 15% of uh folks who are operating these that aren't making honest efforts to comply. So, it's just like anything else, right? you point, show me a rule, show me an ordinance, show me a law, and somewhere I could probably find somebody's name that gets attached to that because it was because of, you know, Bob that that law exists. So, Councilman, it seems like you're generally interested, but you you want a little additional information uh when we bring this back for a vote. Would that be a fair representation of where we sit today?

If I may, mayor, uh I think we all concur with that. My my concern is and my question and my request not a question a request is that the next time we bring this before us is that we bring those houses that we know are operating right now because this conversation has gotten real good. It's been real long and it's longer than I thought we would discuss it. So that tells me there's something going on and I want to know where.

So just a quick search, you can search both VBO and Airbnb. There's 97 houses in one Robbins that are operating that way. The majority of those are actually probably used from short-term employment on the base. I've got right now six different families that are in one from a insurance claim. That's I mean not to cast dispersions on Warner Robins, but it's not a big tourist destination, right? Certain times of year it is, but not just regular coming in. Yeah.

And uh but most of those owners will probably, like I said, I mean, any cost that's associated with this, you know, where it's going to be passed along to. So, it's it's going on to the tab of the person that's going to be doing the rental. The biggest concerns that we have, I think the biggest ones I have also, not only with the short term, but the long term, is the actual maintenance and care of the property. Those those uh we have landlords all over town that don't take care of their properties. They put it on the tenant who probably has no means.

I'm not talking about you. No, you good. Okay. But no, um but anything that we can keep in the ordinances and possibly looking future-wise into um some kind of controls over the landlords where they build in just general care of the exterior of the home would be something I would really like to delve into. Um I've fielded numerous calls over the past couple of weeks for people that uh complaining about grass not being cut, things like that. Um, one of them is a little lady that can't even walk

and but she has nobody and the landlord doesn't take care of it and it's, you know, knee high. Luckily, uh, one of my friends went over and they cut it for her and everything, but having something as a mechanism that we can add where if you are going to be doing a rental of any sort where you have to supply the charges for upkeep. Yeah. If it's only every other week or once a month even. So, but that's just making sure that they're keeping the houses in orders in these neighborhoods because these are most of the people that live in those neighborhoods. This is their largest investment they have in their portfolio and keeping that up is very important. Exactly. So,

um I'll work with Miss Mai, Mr. Curtis and others and see what may be available to us to address some of those issues in a separate uh document. Any additional questions on this item? I think we've pretty well beaten this horse. Okay, he's kidding. All right. All right, mayor. Uh, with that, uh, the work session items have been addressed. Uh, thank you and, uh, good luck with the rest of the meeting.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Drinker. Uh, this concludes the work session of our meeting today. We will now move on to the other numbered items of our agenda for our council meeting. Starting with number two, which is for public comments regarding a numbered agenda item only. There's anyone here who would like to make a comment, have a question or voice a concern, uh, or anything in general about item number three through 11 on our printed agenda. You will have your opportunity to approach the podium. Please be sure to state your name and address for the record. You will have three minutes to make your comments uh at the top of the rotunda. And please note that council and I are listening to you, though we may not respond to you at this moment, but we will can respond to you at a later time. Uh the floor is now open for those who want to make comments about numbered agenda items only. There will be another opportunity for general comments about anything uh for the public to voice. Going once. Going twice. The door is now closed. Moving on to item number three of the agenda, which is the consent agenda to be discussed by Councilman Lashley.

Uh thank you again, Madame Mayor. Uh, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda items as they were presented, including uh the employee promotions, which I'm scrolling back to real quick so I can say these wonderful people's names out loud. Give me one second. There we go. Okay, so our promotions are as follows. Uh Jake Cooper promoted from utilities locator job class 952 grade 14 utility department to zoning assistant job class 851 grade 15 building and inspections department to be effective May 11th 2026. Takario Dawson promoted from utility maintenance worker one water job class 917 grade 8 utility department to utility maintenance worker two water job class 918 grade 9 utility department defected May 11th 2026. and Yakira Williams promoted from utility maintenance worker one job class 917 grade 8 utility department to meter readader job class 940 grade 9 utility department to be effective May 11th 2026 and I do make a motion to have this approved

I second motion by Councilman Lashley seconded by Councilman Curtis any discussion all in favor please state I and raise your hand I motion carries unanimously. If there's anyone here that's on that promotion list, if you'll please come forward so that we can congratulate you. Sometimes they're here and sometimes they aren't. We'd like to offer the opportunity just in case. All right, moving on to item number four. Item number four is a resolution for the Juan Robbins Police Department regarding a K-9 retirement to be discussed by Councilman Mack. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh, I'd like to make a move to resolution that Dixo is a K-9 service animal that has dutifully served the Warner Robbins Police Department and is ripe to begin his well-deserved retirement and the mayor and council of the city of Warner Robbins find that Dixo is no longer needed for the city for public use, that the value of animal is less than $500. Be it further resolved that the mayor and council authorize the police department to deliver ownership of the animals to his respective handler.

I'll second that. Mayor motion by Councilman Mack, seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? Thank you for your service, Dixo. Appreciate you. Yeah, this is Dixo. So, Dixo, one of our canines here with what's your rank? Sergeant man, uh, the handler. Uh, he will, pending a proper approval of this, he will be going home with his handler and retiring his badge in our canine unit. The way the way he was sniffing that tail, it don't look like he wants to retire.

Yeah, he looks good. But for those of you who are not aware, Yeah, I know. I know. I played with Dixo. For those of you who are not aware, K9 are actually on our staff sheet. They are our personnel. Um, so they're one of us and, uh, we we appreciate having our K9 just as we appreciate having our humans. Uh, so they were get to retire just like the rest of us get to retire whoever make the proper uh, marks. So yes, this is Dick. So any further any further comments? All right. All those in favor to retire Dixo, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. Congratulations, Dixo. And thank you, Sergeant Nan. Did you get a proper photo? We need it. Okay. All right. Moving on to item number five, a resolution for correction of funds to be discussed by Councilman Bib.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I make a motion to approve the resolution to authorize the finance department to record a correcting entry in the current fiscal year to reclassify $8,000 in the startup Warner Robbins donation for the economic development department that were previously mclassified in the engage Warner Robbins fund during the fiscal year 2024 and 2025 and that such correction shall be recorded through the approp appropriate journal entries and to ensure the proper fund accounting and accurate financial reporting. And I'll second that, mayor.

Motion by Councilman Bib, seconded by Councilman Mack. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. Item number six is a resolution for the community block community development block grant to be discussed by Councilman Holmes. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I present to you a motion to approve the resolution that the FY2026 action plan annual action plan is hereby adopted and shall be submitted to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development better better known as HUD for the use and application for and guidance of the federal formula grant program funds specifically for G CBDBG funds. as outlined in 24 CFR 91.2.2. and the mayor and city council hereby grant the community and economic development director the authority to correct any errors found in the adopted five-year plan consolidated plan and one-year action plan and to make minor modifications as requested by Hood. The found documents shall be provided to the mayor and city council for review. Further resolve that Laura W. Patrick as mayor of the city of Wana Robbins is duly authorized to execute this resolution on behalf of the mayor and city council. Again, I move for adoption.

I'll second. Motion by Councilman Holmes, seconded by Councilman Lashley. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number seven is a resolution for a road name change to be discussed by Councilman Curtis. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I motion to approve the resolution of the mayor and council recommendation of renaming Golden Boulevard to Lou Kenny Parker Way. I second that motion. I'm sorry.

Okay. I thought and that the municipal roadway system for the city of War Robbins be amended to change the name of Golden Boulevard to Li Kenny Parkerway New Parkway, I'm sorry. Second motion by Councilman Curtis, seconded by Councilman Holmes. Any discussion? I thought for sure you said Little Kenny. I'm happy you corrected it. Any further discussion? What's the What's the new name of it? Lou L O U Lou Kenny Parkway. Lou King Kenny Lou Kenny. I got you.

Uh just for uh transparency, there was a road that was already named Lou Kenny Parkway. Uh that is right next to BJ's in in the Peach County portion of Warner Robbins. Um that road was extended uh way down to almost going to Russell and it was named the name was changed to a different name. Uh so we the person who named Luke Kenny Parkway requested this other road be named that name instead

and that's what we're voting on now. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I motion carries unanimously. Item number eight, a resolution for the joint development authority appointments to be discussed by Councilman Lawrenson.

Thank you, mayor. I motion to approve the resolution pursuant to the official code of Georgia 36625.1. appoint mayor Laur Patrick and Mark Yarbururo who are currently appointed to the Warner Robbins Development Authority DBA Gage Warner Robbins by the mayor and council of the city of Warner Robbins as elected as officers of the Warner Robbins Development Authority DBA engage Warner Robbins to the joint development authority of Peach County and the city of Warner Robbins to act on behalf of the city of Warner Robbins. I'll second that. Mayor

motion by Councilman Lawrenson, seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? Yes, ma'am. I would just like to thank you and all those that serve on these authorities um as they play a extremely important role in the operation of our city and and uh they're very valuable to us and we appreciate their service. It's my pleasure. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. Item number nine is a motion for authorization of filing condemnation orders to to be discussed by Councilman Lashley. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I make a motion to approve the authorization of filing orders of condemnation orders of temporary construction easements of three parcels recorded in the names of Alvin Beal Jr. and April M. Beiel, Aras L. Hegler, and Deborah Panukio. A second. Motion by Councilman Lashley, seconded by Councilman Curtis. Any discussion?

All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number 10 is an ordinance for chapter 24 amendment to be discussed by Councilman Mack. Thank you again, uh, Madame Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to approve or amend chapter 24 article 1 section 24-9 of the city code of Warner Robbins by adding an additional section 24-9- C collection of delinquent utility accounts and I'd like to wave the second readings and if you'd like to see the full list of the packet it should be in your packet and online and I'll second that. Mayor.

Motion by Councilman Mack, seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number 11 is an ordinance for a city of Warner Robbins classification plan update to be discussed by Councilman Bib.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I make a motion to approve the ordinance for the changes in the city of Warner Robbins classification plan by the governor authority of the city of Warner Robbins that the city classification plan be amended as follows with the changes to go into effect at the beginning of the next pay period which would be May 11th 2026. Number one, reclassify and change the title of the position of the marketing and communication specialist job class 14, grade 18, office of the city administrator to communications and engagement manager, job class 24, grade 21, incumbent to receive a 10% increase. Number two, deactivate the position of criminalist job class number 622, grade 16, police department, authorized strength of two. Create the position of vict victim advocate job class 654 grade nine police department authorized strength the one and increase the authorized strength of the network administrator position job class 210 grade 19 general administration by 1 to five. I'd like to wave the second reading.

I'll second motion by Councilman Bib waving the second reading. Seconded by Councilman Lawrenson. Any discussion? Think I think these are all great moves. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I

motion carries unanimously. All right, we have completed the numbered items on our agenda. We now open the floor for citizen comments. If anyone here would like to make a comment, you have a question or want to voice a concern uh regarding something in our city, you do have your opportunity to approach the podium. Please be sure to state your name and address for the record. You will have 3 minutes to make your comments. The timer is at the top of the retunda. Please note that council council and I are listening to you, though we may not respond to you. The floor is now open. How you doing?

Evening, mayor, councilman, and staff. I got a few things. First, my first question is, does the retired dog get a pension every month? There's a bit of humor there. But anyways, secondly, I just want to say thank you for getting the Russell entry started for Russell and Lake Joy. I want to thank everybody for that. And uh let's see what else I got on here. Can you state your name and address, please? Johnny Johnson, 103 Hablock Circle. Yeah, we know you, but still for the record.

Okay. Uh, also, yes, I want to thank you about that Airbnb thing. You said you want to know where some of them are. We have two of them, just to let you know of that 90 something in Hatcher Estate subdivision. Uh, that's a thorn in my side, the Airbnb. It is a party house and cars and trailers. They have race trailers parked on the street, big 42-footers. So, it is a problem for us. So, I want to thank you about instituting something for Airbnb. Now, my question about that Airbnb, will they have to put a sign in their yard saying they're going to run a business from their home? Like, you know, for a regular business because I know that's required when you're running a business from your home. So, that's one of my questions. Uh, also I want to talk about the speed limits in subdivisions. Now, I've looked it up and I tried to research it. I haven't asked the policeman yet. However, somebody told me that if it's not posted, but it's 35 and if it's posted, it's 25. So, I'm pointing this out because the subdivision where you stay, Mr. Bib, there is no speed limit signs yet. So, I'm trying to inquire because we have 25 in ours. So, I guess I'm liking to see 25 in yours because as I mentioned to the chief before, the uh guys are speeding and we're having a lot of problems with the guys on your backside and I got residents parking vehicles on the street now for a maze and I really don't want that to happen. Uh let's see. And also I'm just trying to inquire if a plan was submitted for vertical construction on the Russell and Lake Joy area.

And that's it for me. And I just want to say thank you again. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Will there be any others? Going once. Going twice. The door is now closed. Thank you all so much for being here today. Thank you for uh the comments that you all have uh provided and just for being here uh for a council meeting. We will now move into council comments and Lawrenson, you're up first.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that. Uh a couple things. Uh Mr. JJ, thank you for handling that situation uh previously so professionally. you you provide a great leadership to your community, to your neighborhood, and and we admire that. Um, also would like to say uh Mr. Ferman, we appreciate what you continue to do for our city, and I'm I'm glad that we are you're classifying these positions and and future plans for this area uh like we're supposed to. We're a little behind as a city in some in some areas, and that's one of them, and it's not your fault. It's because we got we got into the game late. Um but but we're quickly getting where we need to be and I appreciate you. Um also in the uh in the consent agenda, there was a uh an item for the evaluation of the golf course irrigation system and design of a new plan. And I think that's outstanding. I'm telling you, this is a quality of life issue for our citizens just like any other recreation. It costs money and we need to make sure that we have a nice golf course. Um, we have hundreds of people that rely on that course as an affordable way of recreation and I would love to see us um use some splice funds in the future to really get this thing going in the right direction. And that's all I got. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Lashley.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, again, um, congratulations, Dixo. Um, I get to see dogs retire before I ever will retire, which is awesome. But welld deserved. Welld deserved. Um, I'm not chasing down a criminal either, though. So, how about that? Um, nothing else really exciting. We did uh we did represent Middle Georgia very well down in uh Orlando last weekend. uh our girls uh they ended up they came in fourth out of the top eight teams in the country. So they finished fourth which is not bad. Uh the level of competition that they were competing against is insane. Um whenever you see like cheer stuff on TV, what you're seeing is what they were competing against. And of all the girls, I think there's 23 of them on the team, only one had ever had any experience at that level. And we still came in fourth. And it was debatable about that. Um, if you looked at social media, there was uh thousands of people that thought we actually came in third. But hey, it was our first time there. We represented well. We're going down again this week with the rest of our teams. Uh, so we'll have three more teams competing in Orlando at uh, Summit, which is the World Championships, National Championships. And uh, just wish us all luck and safe travels. Thank you. going. He said going to go broke.

No, that's why I'm not retiring ever. I know it. Hey, but I'm going to tell you right now, the joy and the happiness and the excitement that I see in those kids' eyes is worth every penny. So, every penny. So, yeah.

He's our best cheer. He's our best cheer dad in in Warner Robbins. So give a hand up for the cheer dad on council.

Mayor Mayor, I bet he can do some tumbling and in in cartwheels, too. We do have good health insurance, right? Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Holmes.

Thank you, Mayor. I would first like to thank each and every one of you that is present public here today physically here for this meeting and those who are watching us by whatever source you're watching us thank you also uh congratulations to on the retirement uh thank you for what you continue to do and has done. Thank you to our our leaders, our department heads and their department heads for being so effective in helping keep W Robbins beautiful and help keeping Warner Robbins growing. Uh keep being the fertilizer in the water for this city. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Curtis. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I didn't want to prolong the conversation about the aircrafts, but I think I know I said something to you, Lashley, the aircraft on um the interstate, the trainer, maybe we should look into getting a model aircraft like we do on base, they're not real aircraft, they're just model aircraft. They'd be a lot cheaper for the city of Winter Robbins. So, that's something that we could look in as mayor and council. Um, also, uh, it's firefighter appreciation day, correct? That's right. Can we get a applause for our firefighters?

Also, I just want to recognize the great ladies of the Deltas that's out here in the um, if y'all could please stand up for us. Thank you. So, I just want to say thank y'all for everything that y'all do in our community, all the partnerships that we have done in the past, and I'm looking forward to more partnerships to come in the future. So, thank you for everything that y'all do. Thank you. Thank you. And um that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Mack.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, Madame Mayor, first of all, I want to say congratulations to everyone that was promoted. Welld deserved, especially um Jeremy Ferman, all the hard work that he does. He's elevated his our city publicly since he's been here. So, thank you for all that you do. You deserve it. Thank you for your hard work. And um in short, I want to say um by wow wow, yippi yo yippy yay to Dicko, the K9 officer. Good luck in your retirement, Dixo. wherever you with going to be barking at the moon tonight. And also um thank you to our public safety personnel and the grace and mercy that God provided for our children at One Robbins High School today. So I want to say um thank you them to them for all that they do and is God's grace is sufficient and I'm just so thankful for that. Thank

Thank you Councilman. Now Councilman Bib.

Thank you Madame Mayor JJ. We do have a speed limit sign. It is. As you come into our neighborhood, it is posted 25 there, but it's not on the long stretch. And I know that's probably what you're talking about. There's not a sign down there, but I'm pretty sure we're going to get one installed, okay? Just not in my yard. I'm just kidding. You ain't messing my You ain't messing my grass up. I'm just kidding. So, um, congratulations, Jeremy. As all of us know, welld deserved on your promotion today. And everybody knows this that uh your communications and what you've done over the internet and what you've done to push our city out there can't be said enough. We thank you for that. You've done you've brought us up to where we need to be and where we know. Now that we gave you a raise, we're going to put a lot more pressure on you. Okay. Just want you to know that. All right. So, I appreciate it, Jeremy. I'm going to I'm going to piggyback off of what um Councilman um Loritzen said about the golf course. We do have a beautiful piece of property over there and we need to there was there was a lot of talk about that. We just needed to make a decision what we were going to do with it, right? If it's going to be a golf course, we needed to pour the funds into it to be a golf course and make it to be profitable. There's two things that a golf course needs and that's water and sunlight in order to grow grass. And so without those, you're not you're just defeating the purpose. And I'm glad to see us move in the direction to make our city course uh a great course and a course that people want to play just not locally but people to come and spend their money so that we can keep the golf course up and I think that's a well investment into our city. Mandy, uh congratulations. If anybody has worked around you with you in any capacity, they understand how great you are. You are very very sharp administrative assistant in everything that you do. Um, I thank you for keeping this councilman straight in my stuff. And I mean that. I appreciate you and I know they all do in

their in their own way, but um um you're you're a joy to work with and I appreciate you sitting in that position and serving your community. Now, I told Derek not to do this and Larry, I knew he was going to do it, but Delta Sigma Thea and Corporation sisters are in the house and we have recognized and seen you sitting over there the whole entire time and your nice red jackets and all that stuff. And I know I know I believe your wife is one, right? Correct. Correct. Yeah, he made me be quiet. He's a

Don't you say nothing. I did. He wanted to say something, but I said, "Don't you say nothing." Larry already got it in. But I glad to see y'all in the house. Thank you for what all you do in your in in the community in Water Robins and making your presence felt and um keep up what you all do. Um keep us straight. That's right. Keep us straight. And so I appreciate that. Um I love serving. Love being in the city of Warner Robbins. No matter what people say, we are the greatest greatest city in the world because this is our city. Happy birthday, Derek. Yeah. Yeah. D there. Happy birthday. I forgot today. That's Friday.

All right. Thank you, Councilman. Well, we had a lot of things that um have been stated that I'll say ditto to, but I do have to say one thing. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

Got him. Got him. We we like to have fun. We're family. So, uh but they gave you they gave you your love. You have love for me, too. Thank you all for being here, for what you do in our community. Um this month is you heard a lot of the proclamations today that I gave out. Um but it's also military appreciation month. The entire month is military appreciation month. Um so to all of those who have served our country, thank you so much for your service and your sacrifice. and even for some of you your continued sacrifice. I'm an Air Force brat. I proped up for military kids last week. Um, and I'm always appreciative of those who serve just like my father did and my mom and me and my brothers too cuz we we served with him. But thank you all for what you do and what you represent. So, if there's any uh military members, veterans in the room, I'm going ask if you could please just stand up for us. Thank you so much for everything. And we have some that work for the city of Warner Robbins as well. So, and they they did stand up in the back, too. Uh early voting is taking place right now. Make sure you exercise your civic duty as a citizen of our great nation and vote. Do your homework and vote. Choose someone that aligns with your personal values and vote. Uh you can't complain if you're not a part of trying to to exercise this this right. So uh I want us to remember that part two. So whoever you vote for, just do your homework, pick wisely, and vote uh the person that you would like to see. We do have voting locations across our county. Um, we have one at one of our city build two city buildings, three early voting is at one of our city buildings right now, which

is North House and Sports Complex on North Davis Drive. Um, as well as some others, but I'm calling out the one that's on city property. Um, also want to give a a round of applause for one of my partners in progress up here, brother from another mother, because he had a promotion and didn't tell anybody. Bib, congratulations on your promotion at work.

I I'll tell you, I I called my wife today and she got tickled. I said, "Look, I I made my first file today. I stuck some papers in a file and put it in a filing cabinet and filed something today. I've been doing production for 57 years of my life and I've never created a file." She was uh um well maybe not that long but um she just got tickled. She couldn't do nothing but just laugh on the other end that I made a file. So you're my new contact now. Okay, I got you.

Mayor Mayor, if I can go I want to give a special shout out to the Salvation Army. They deserve a huge round of applause. And I have a tangible reference because I was deployed in the desert when my grandmother passed. It was a Salvation Army that found me to know me and their their their arm reaches so far around this globe. So I'm just so thankful for them for what they do.

Thank you. And lastly, the uh mayor's health initiative is starting soon. So it's getting hot. you know, we're we're being more in tune with our health, the way that we look and the way that we feel. And the health initiative will be starting soon. So stay tuned to opportunities to learn how to be more healthy with our seminar series in partnership with Emory Healthcare and some other providers. Also, get fit in the park. We have fitness in the park that'll take place and other fitness opportunities at various locations throughout our city. So, look out for that. It's going to be fun. Um, and it's also going to keep us fit and healthy. So, um, I always like to share that because many people don't even know we have it. So, you can participate in different fitness classes. For example, um, Hotworks for free. You can go to is it Pure Bar? Another example of somewhere you can go for free. Um you can do some golf courses, some golf lessons for free, pickle ball, tennis, all these opportunities to be exposed to something you've not tried before and not have to financially contribute uh through the health initiative. So stay tuned for that. A lot of great fun, a lot of great opportunities. And with that, um we are we have completed our our comments for tonight. Now, we have one more thing to do um before council and I and others can leave this building and that is executive session to discuss personnel following the proper motion and approval.

Mayor, I make a motion to move into executive session for personnel and I'll second that. Mayor motion by Councilman Lawson, seconded by Councilman Bib. All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Now, we will be exiting for executive session. You all are free to sit here and wait for us to come back if you so wish. Uh we cannot say if action will take place when we get back from executive session. But if you do not stay here for however many minutes it takes us to get out. Uh we look forward to seeing you at our second meeting. And please come back again and visit and have a wonderful rest of the week. Until we meet again. Thank you.

All right, we are back from executive session. May I have a motion? Yes, ma'am. A motion return. I'll second that. Motion by Councilman Lawrenson, seconded by Councilman Bib. All in favor, please state I. raise your hand. Motion carries. Back in session, we have no action to take place following our executive session and discussion of personnel. Uh our meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.