Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming to our public hearing for the budget for our new fiscal year. We had a little late start. We were given some of our teammates' chance to get here. And we are all here now, so we're going to go ahead and get started. So I officially call today's public hearing to order. We will start first with a motion to adopt the agenda for this public hearing with a proper motion.

Mayor, I move to adopt the agenda for this public hearing. I second it, Mayor.

Motion by Councilman Lawrence and seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries. The agenda is now adopted. So I will start with just the welcome and the opening remarks. Again, this is the public hearing as we are required by charter to have for our fiscal year 2027 budget. We do have the draft budget to go over today. Mr. James Trinkard will be going over that budget. with us today and we do have our staff that made it possible. We have Dr. Sharon Hall and also Ms. Lydia Humphreys and the other members of the accounting team. If you are in the accounting team, if you could please stand. All right, so give them a round of applause for the hard work. I know there are many others that made this possible, but we always like to recognize the finance department for the heavy lift, all the numbers and all the hours and all the spreadsheets that go into building out a budget. And thank you, Mr. James Drinkard, for seeing us through this project and presenting the budget to council and I today. So the process of the public hearing is that Mr. James Drinkard, again, our city administrator, he'll be presenting the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. You see the screen right above my head. You can follow along by looking as he is speaking. And then we will have the floor open for any comments from the public on our proposed budget. So now I'm going to pass it over to Mr. James Drinkard to present the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Appreciate you taking the time to recognize the team members who've been working on this. I want to express my appreciation not only to our finance team, who have worked very hard on this, but also all of our directors and their team members. We had some challenges we had to face with this year's budget and really put a lot of emphasis on a few things we'll cover tonight as we were putting that budget together and our departments really stepped up um and work through a budget that is laser focused on uh the the priorities that mayor and council have outlined and also some of the things that we've been hearing from our residents for in some cases decades um so our our departments really uh took their charge to heart and uh in a way that You don't always see from governments around the state, but ours always steps up, and we have an outstanding leadership team here at the city that I'm very proud of, so I just want to take a moment to call that out. Jeremy's not here tonight, so let's see if I can run things. Yes. Okay. So a few factors driving this year's budget. The first off was to provide a balanced budget without drawing from the reserve fund. From a number of years now, The city has been pulling funds from reserve to accomplish a variety of things, and we needed to move to put an end to that. We also want to start to rebuild that reserve fund over a three-year period, and that's going to cost us about $4.34 million. year over the next three years to get the reserve fund back to where we want it to be in terms of best management practices. We also have to address some long deferred maintenance of existing infrastructure and facilities around the city. Now this is something that probably the thing we hear most from from residents it's the thing that touches them the most that they see the most Warner Robins is is not as young as it used to be and much like me they're starting to feel that you know some things don't work quite the way they used to and and we need to address that we have city facilities that have been built in the early 70s and to a large degree have not seen maintenance and upkeep. Now, I want to take a moment and address that issue because it would be very easy for people to think that I'm standing here and I'm finding fault with past administrations, and that's certainly not the case. Past decisions to defer maintenance may have actually been the exact right decision at that time. In fact, it may have been the only decision, the necessary decision at that time, as the community was facing different challenges. Different days bring different challenges. We always have to be careful that we don't look back on past decisions with the lens of today. Hindsight is easy. So we're not judging or questioning those choices. But the simple fact of the matter is that those choices were made for whatever reason. Those choices were made. Cans were kicked down the road. And today, we've reached the end of the road. And we can't continue to kick those cans. To do so we'll see failures in some areas, and it will certainly only see the costs to address those needs increase Things will never be cheaper than they are today So you know we have to deal with aging roads aging pipes and structures It's going to cost money. It's going to take time It's taken us decades to get to where we are it will take time and to dig our way out of it. And it's important to note, because I think the other question that some folks could ask, well, I look on the dais and these folks have been here for a few years now. Why didn't they address it before? Because just like some of those previous administrations, there were things that they had to address before we could do the work that we're bringing to you today. There were challenges that they inherited. And honestly, when I came here a little over a year and a half ago, I was impressed at the work that this mayor and council had done to address significant issues and needs that had to be addressed, to put our fiscal house in order. And it set the stage for what we're trying to do now. And then finally, another factor was providing cost of living increase for city employees for those of you who will recall and i know our employees certainly will you know last year we did not give any any pay raises to our employees we we wanted to hold the line and kind of get some things in order but it was a it was a budget that was very tight And so we did not give cost of living increases, which is always great when you're the new guy. Let me tell you, that made me real popular, I'm sure. But to remain competitive in the market and attract and retain the talent that we need to be able to run a modern city, we have to address salaries in this fiscal year. So we do have that planned.

economic and fiscal challenges that we had to overcome.

So I talked about some of the aging infrastructure. We won't touch on that again. But rapid increases in electricity, fuel, critical materials like asphalt, concrete, and pipe. Think about as you're sitting around the kitchen table, right? You're thinking about your own household budgets and you've seen costs rise. We've seen those same costs rise. Our electricity costs go up just like yours do. Our fuel costs go up just like yours do. Then we have some unique costs that the average household doesn't necessarily deal with. So the cost of asphalt has climbed 68% over the last couple of years. Concrete 10%. Pipe that we use for our water and sewer systems is up by about 60%. We had a 43% increase in what we pay when we purchase water from the county. Their rate hikes affect us just like they do you. We end up on a different rate because of the bulk of water that we buy. But 43% increase there. And then you combine that with the challenges on the revenue side. So on the revenue side, growth in the property tax digest has slowed. Development activity, which may be a surprise to some folks as they drive around the streets of Warner Robins, development activity has slowed down a little bit. And as a result, our property tax digest, while it grew, it grew at a rate that was 58% lower than we've seen over the last couple of years. So we had that combination of rapidly rising costs and slower growth on the revenue side. Probably sounds familiar to many of the people in this room. And then the challenge that local governments always deal with, unfunded federal and state mandates. And a good example of this one of the bills that passed through the General Assembly this year, it shortened the amount of time that local governments have to review site plans, so land development plans, right? It significantly shortened that clock. And to meet that, cities and counties are going to have to look at increasing staff, Outsourcing some things things like that our costs to provide that service is going to go up Because of that mandate that came down from the state and there's been others and of course we all saw during the session a lot of conversations around Tax legislation and what the future of that looks like so there's a lot of uncertainty around that and All right, so the city operates under a number of funds. The main one is our general fund. This is the primary fund that fuels day-to-day operations for the city. And our budgeted expenditures under the FY27 proposal for that is $86,862,321. Well, then you have capital projects funds, and you see that's at about $30.9 million. That's primarily splaft dollars, special purpose, local options, sales tax dollars. There's a few other things that get captured in there. There's some grants that we have that we pursue to try to bring outside money. into our capital needs as we work on them. And capital projects for us, that's everything from road improvements, sidewalks, improvements to water, sewer, natural gas, new structures, things like that. Then we have a series of what are called enterprise funds. Enterprise funds, they function separately. unto themselves. They have to operate like a business. So those funds bring money in, and the money that they bring in has to be used for those businesses. So, for instance, our water sewer fund. When you pay your water sewer bill, that helps fund water and sewer operations. Now there's some other things that go into that. There's some capital dollars, bonds and some other things to build out and develop our enterprise fund our water sewer fund same with natural gas and storm water sanitation is a little different because that's actually something that we outsource so it's basically a pass-through so whatever we're charged is what we charge so that we can pay the bill Then we have our special revenue funds, and those are things like hotel motel tax, the judicial technology fees that are paid when somebody pays a fine in our municipal court. There's an add-on fee for that. Our community development block grants that our community development department runs, that is also in there. at about 9.6 million total across all of our special revenue funds. And again, those monies are restricted. They have to be used for very specific things and nothing else. So in total, Our total budget for the year is going to be $184,866,680. That right-hand column gets into some transfers between internal funds. So it's kind of an accounting thing. Just pay attention to the left column. That's really where you wanna live. And really tonight, we're gonna talk primarily about that general fund, because that is where your property taxes go, and that is where, again, the day-to-day operations of the city are funded. And Madam Mayor, if I could, I'm going to pause a second in the presentation, because I see we have two of our state legislators have entered the house. So Chairman Blackmun and Representative Ballard have both joined us. Representative Ballard's here on the front row. And Shaw Blackmun is kind of back there. He just stood up. He's trying to not be seen. So of course, I'm going to call him out. So thank you both for being here tonight. So we're going to speak primarily to the general fund from this point forward. General funds, this is where you can really start to get a feel for how local governments compare. So I wanted to take a moment and just kind of give you a comparison. So what we looked at was primarily looking for cities comparable to us in size. But Warner Robins is now the 10th largest city in the state of Georgia. So outside of metro Atlanta, it gets really tough to find comparably sized cities. So we I'll get this to you, Mayor. This was a slide I added after we talked this morning. Sorry about that. But I'll get this to you. So it started off with Perry. And the last proposed budget that they published for 2027 is $33.3 million in their general fund. Significantly smaller city. Valdosta, 55,000 population is about 53, call it 54 million. They're doing quite well when you look at it at budget per capita. Albany, you start to see the numbers. You've got, Alpharetta is an outlier. I know if you're like me, you look at that number and go, what the heck is going on in Alpharetta? It's because during the day, the population of that city swells to about 130,000. So police, fire, all of those kinds of things has to be built around a population of 130,000 people. So they're always an outlier when you look at these. Then we get to the ones on either side of us in terms of population size. Johns Creek at $81,000 with a general fund budget of $84.9 million. And that is their current budget. They operate on a different fiscal year than most cities. Their fiscal year starts in October, whereas ours and most other cities begins in July. So that is their current budget. Now, I point Johns Creek out because they are generally recognized around the state as being one of the most fiscally efficient local governments in the state of Georgia. So you look at that per capita budget, $1,046, call it $1,047. And then look next on the list. And there we are, Warner Robins, $1,007 per capita. at $86.8 million. And then Roswell, which is the next largest city closest to us in size, at $105 million. I bring this out because it points to the efficiency with which we're actually operating, and that's not something we get a lot of credit for, quite honestly. You know, you don't see people on, you know, on social media saying, wow, Warner Robins is so efficient. In fairness, I could go to pretty much any city in the state and you're not going to find anybody on social media ever saying that their city is efficient. Doesn't happen. No matter how satisfied folks are, who here would not like to see lower taxes? Who here would not like to see more efficient operations? Our staff would like to be able to deliver lower taxes and a more efficient operation. And we work towards that every single day. It is a goal that we will never be satisfied with. But we're doing pretty darn well. And I think we need to be proud of that. And we need to recognize it. So now let's look at expenditures by function. And general government No big surprise, that's a lot of our departments, especially the internal facing, finance, human resources, IT, my office, city council, things like that. Basically anything that's not called out in one of the other lines falls under general government. judicial, that's our municipal court. Public safety, obviously our biggest expense. If we can't have a safe community, it's very hard for us to deliver on anything else. So 52% of our budget goes towards police and fire and everything that police and fire does. And just another quick call out, you know, you've seen it in recent meetings where we've had Some of our firefighters recognized as the best in the state Our police department is recognized and called out Frequently as being among the best in the state. I know that wasn't always the case But it is now we have excellent men and women in those departments and they're doing outstanding jobs public works at 11.63%. That's your streets, your sidewalks, and everything, you know, your right-of-way maintenance, all of that. Our recreation department at 6.13%. Now, Preston Kuser, our director for Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Services, He is gonna look at that and he's gonna tell me that that number is low, we've gotta increase that percentage. He wants to flip it with somebody. But I will tell you that's actually a pretty normal percentage, right around in that range for recreation. It's a little low, but we're getting there. And then city development, that's our community and economic development department at 6.63%. Now let's go across that bottom line. Salary and benefits, you'll notice, that is, as is the case with most organizations, our biggest expense. Our people cost. To have good people, you have to pay for it. And over the last couple of years, this mayor and council have made investments that actually have brought us to about the midpoint for the market in our area in terms of what we pay our personnel. and our compensation packages. We're not the highest paying, we're not the lowest paying, we're kinda right there in the middle. Which, as taxpayers, is probably right about where you wanna be. Because it gets you quality folks, but you're not overpaying. And the other thing I'll point out when we talk salary and benefits, the better staff we can hire, the fewer we need. Now, I saw some of my fellow employees, their heads popped up, wait a minute, right? But that's the truth. The better people you hire, the more effective, the more efficient, the smarter they work. And so you actually can do better with fewer people if you're paying appropriately. Our operations at 20.2 million, capital at 4.5 million now, Note, this is just general fund capital. This excludes SPLOST. It excludes what's in our enterprise funds. Monty Walter's over here with his water, sewer, and natural gas is building that infrastructure out and expanding it to meet the needs of the growing community quite rapidly. He's got projects going all over the city. But this 4.5 million is just in the general fund. That is not something we have traditionally done here, is have money in the general fund for specific capital instead of just relying only on SPLOST to fuel capital development within the city. So that's an important number. So that's how we get to that 86.8 million. All right, now, this is an eye test. How many of you can read it? None of you, right? I can barely read it. In this year's budget, we have a number of proposed capital and operating initiatives, right? So all that money we talked about in general fund capital, this is what we're talking about. And by the way, for those of you who are trying to read this, All of this is in the budget book that is online, so you can see all of it in great detail. But this is just a summary. So here you'll find things like improving security at city facilities, resurfacing pickleball courts out at Ted Wright. Those things get used massively, and they are warned. Shade structures at our parks. This is something we get a lot of requests for, is better shade in our parks as parents are watching their kids on playgrounds and whatnot. So putting some money in to start to build that. Fence replacements. Over here, Over here, between the Civic Center and Perkins Field, behind the old rec center, there are some just worn-out, sad-looking tennis courts. We're going to deal with that. Those tennis courts have not received attention in quite some time. We're going to deal with that. bathroom upgrades across Many of our parks at about three hundred thousand dollars. It is truly amazing. What a bathroom costs but As mr. Poozer will say in the recreation business you sell basically two things you sell grass and bathrooms If you if you have good good turf in your parks and your bathrooms are clean folks like your parks, right and How many of you stop at a Buc-ee's because you know that there's good bathrooms at a Buc-ee's? Those of you who aren't raising your hands right now are not mothers. But, replacement of some goals, basketball goals at North Houston, $100,000 for park playground maintenance and upgrades. We have playground equipment in our parks that have not received routine maintenance, just basic upkeep in quite some time. And so we've got to get that back into a consistent program, consistent maintenance program, and also make some improvements to those. Outdoor park furniture at $150,000. This includes everything from benches and seating to trash cans. um we don't have enough 217 000 for a grappler truck that'll go to our public works department and that will help us not only with the work that public works generally does but it will also help them with and our police department through code enforcement as they're working on cleanups around the city that grappler truck comes in play with that Rolling along, we've got our police tasers. Tasers have become a very important tool in law enforcement. Interestingly enough, they have a shelf life. Just like computers and everything else, they reach a point where they don't function. And so we need to address that. a software package that will assist our police department in internal affairs investigations and other activities to make sure those are done effectively, efficiently, and properly documented in accordance with various regulations. We have to meet thermal imaging cameras for our fire department so that they can find folks in structure fires, but also so that once they have extinguished a fire, They can use that to follow up and investigate those structures and make sure we don't have anything happening inside the walls that they can't see that may reignite. Storage buildings for fire stations 6 and 8, currently they're storing a lot of their supplies, reserve fire hose, fuels, things like that, in the same bays that their engines and aerial trucks are in. It creates some hazards. and slows response time and that is what we don't like slow firefighters that doesn't work the fire flow training box that's literally a training system that helps our firefighters better understand how fire can change the behavior of fire can change based on how oxygen is flowing through structures and what happens if you open this and how many of you have seen backdraft Backdraft, okay. Yep, Jason Mock over there is grinning right now. Every firefighter both cringes and loves hearing about backdraft, right? But that concept of a backdraft, when a door opens and suddenly fire expands. Extrication toolkits, so that we can get people out of wrecked cars, things like that. Scuba equipment, that is the breathing apparatus that firefighters use. Again, it has a shelf life. You'll notice that beside, well, you probably can't read it, but beside that it says recurring. Scuba gear, basically every year you're replacing a part of your inventory of your scuba equipment. But it's very important. The same with our portable radio systems, replacing those on a regular basis. And it is incredible how much the companies that make that, companies like Motorola, like their equipment. But it is essential for keeping our firefighters safe. Future budgets, you'll see line items like this with our police department will start to move towards recurring capital expenditures for things like their vests, their radios, things like that. It's just a different approach to budgeting. Now remember, all of that is separate from other capital that we'll be working on using other funding sources, things like our special purpose local option sales tax dollars. For instance, June 15th, we will have a item coming to council that would be part of the 2027 budget that is the complete renovation of Simpson PV Park. That is the park where our kids play baseball. And it has not received attention in probably 20 years or more. So we're going to be doing a complete renovation. It's about a $3.2 million project, somewhere in that range. Back to Monte over here. The replacement of our water meters across the city, every place where we have a water account, upgrading those meters. They are very old. They're mechanical. Some of them are failing. That means we're not getting accurate water readings, and that means Okay, if any of you have one of those non-functioning meters, I'm going to apologize for this project because it's going to mean we're going to start billing you accurately. And right now, we're probably under-billing you. But for those of you who have meters that are functioning, your rates may be a little higher because of the non-functioning meters. So this will get things back to where they need to be. Again, this is part of that, part of the... maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure that has been kicked down the road a few times. So all of those capital projects are in addition to all the stuff we're going to be doing with special purpose local ops and sales tax dollars. Then we have a few operating initiatives. Now, for us, capital projects are the ones that when we wrap up a capital project, there is a tangible thing there. that is going to exist for some period of time, right? Roads, sidewalks, structures, right? The things you can feel, the things you can put your hands on. Operating is the stuff you do. So right off the top, we want to put 300,000 in a blight remediation fund. Right, so dealing with blight around the city and in our neighborhoods is one of the things that we hear most about. I know it's one of the things that council members get calls about the most. And sometimes what we find is the people that have blighted properties, they can't afford to deal with the situation. And the city has to step in, or they could be absentee landlords. The city has to step in. Now, oftentimes we can recoup that money through fines and and whatnot but up front we have to pay it um so our code enforcement division has had some funds available annually this is 300 000 above and beyond what chief fisher had already put into the budget to deal with blight right-of-way mowing and maintenance So about 68 lane miles of travel, 23 acres of other city-owned properties that right now are not getting the attention they deserve. Craig Clifton and our public works crews are out there trying to maintain these right-of-ways along major corridors and whatnot, but Honestly, it's a battle that they can't keep up with. They have other things that they need to be doing, other infrastructure that needs to be worked on, sidewalk repairs that need to happen. So this would actually outsource that right-of-way mowing. By doing that, that's the low-hanging fruit, that's the least expensive piece of it. By outsourcing that, we can take existing staff and put them on higher level tasks, higher level functions that would cost us more to outsource. So it's a more effective, efficient way to address this. The same with park mowing and landscape maintenance. If you think about our parks across the city, and we've got a lot of them, we can do the same thing there. We have one crew that's out there trying to maintain parks, and they can't get to it, right? Preston's Mr. Poser's constantly calling Mr. Clifton. Hey, we need your help. Mr. Clifton's going, uh, man, I I'm overwhelmed as it is. Right. So we're going to outsource that. And the crew that, uh, Mr. Poser has will focus just on ball field maintenance. Cause that is a very different kind of mowing. It's not just mowing. It gets into striping, gets into all kinds of turf management, et cetera. so we'll do the same thing there those of you who were at our state of the city the mayor threw down a gauntlet mayor said enough is enough we are the largest community in the state without any form of public transit and it's time we do something about it that starts with analyzing exactly what the needs are and how best to meet them and putting a plan together that includes everything from operations to financing it. So that is in there. An emergency notification system at the North House and Sports Complex. This is the same kind of a system that you have at, you see at our schools. So it's a worn device so that any staff member can hit that device if something is going on to get the support and assistance they need. So let's say, okay, I just have a really upset customer that I can't help. I need a supervisor. One click gets you a supervisor. Okay, this is escalating a bit. I need a little more help. We may need to get PD to start thinking about maybe coming this way, or I may have a medical situation. We may need to get fire en route. Right? Three times, get them here now. So it improves our ability to respond to emergency situations at North House and Sports Complex. And this is the first installation of this system within the city. The game plan would be to expand that across city facilities. Unfortunately, it's just a need in the modern world. I'd love to say that we don't need technology like this Doesn't take long watching the news for us to know that we all do. Golf cart replacement program. So we have the International City Golf Course. Can't run a golf course without golf carts. And this begins a replacement program based on lease. Last year, and I'm probably going to blow these numbers, we did about 28, 29,000 rounds of golf out there. This is one of the few operations within our recreation department that turns a profit. It's not much of one, but it turns a profit. That helps us fund other things. 29,000 rounds, but here's the catch. We're running out of golf carts by about 10 o'clock in the morning. and folks are standing around waiting, they're getting mad, and they're going other places. So this is an investment in something that really does function like a business. And then a recurring operating initiative for EMR, EMT training and certification. This was something that was introduced this year. Chief Wright, Chief Mott, Chief Dixon came forward with the fact that The majority of calls that our firefighters respond to, they're not fire calls. They're not traffic crash calls. They're not the things you traditionally think of firefighters responding to. They're actually medical calls. But our firefighters were not necessarily trained for medical response. This program trains them for that so that now they can get there, they can stabilize patients, they can start working on patients, until a paramedic and an ambulance arrives. It shortens the wait time on medical response. Something where literally seconds can be the difference between life and death. So this is a program that we're really proud of and really excited about. A strategic plan for our fire department. Our community continues to grow. We know that in the next few years, we're going to have to put two new fire stations into operation. We have to build them. Well, we have to site them. We have to build them. We have to equip them. And then we have to staff them. So part of this strategic plan is looking at that. Where should they be sited? What sort of equipment should we use? What's the capital funding mechanisms and the capital plan for how we're gonna do that? Because does anybody have a ballpark guess as to what it costs for a fire engine? Pumper truck. About a million five, and you gotta order it two years in advance. A ladder truck, two and a half. Two and a half million dollars. Just a few years ago, a pumper truck would cost you about $500,000. The prices have tripled and quadrupled in short order. So we have to have a good plan for that. Classification and compensation analysis across all positions in the city. This hasn't been done in a few years. This will make sure that we are keeping pace with the market, that we are paying our people appropriately, that we're not overpaying, that we're making effective, efficient use of your tax dollars. And then personnel policies and legal review and updates. This was one of those things that when I arrived and learned when the last time we had had a legal review on our personnel policies, And and I got really I got scared quite honestly because nobody could remember the last time this had been done it's been that long and Typically you're doing this at least every five years because labor law changes constantly. So we have to update that so That's the game plan now, let's talk about a how it impacts you, aside from service delivery, aside from capital investment. As proposed, our 2027 budget is based on a millage rate of 13.8 mils. That is a 4.85 millage rate increase. Now, For those of you who went to the polls in Houston County and in Peach County and approved the floating local option sales tax, the FLOST in Houston County, that was just a couple of weeks ago. And it was approved by voters. Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing that. Because that means that in Houston County, that increase is down to 10.2, or that millage rate is down to 10.26 mills. Next slide, we'll get into why that means so much. Peach County, we don't see as much revenue coming in from the Peach County Floss. It's based off of population, is how the distribution is based. And we only have about 2,200 residents in the Peach County portion of Warner Robins. So we don't see much out of that. So there it's only down to 13.02 mils. Now that sounds like a lot. I know it sounds like a lot. I know just like me, just like everybody in the room, you're seeing costs go up. Right? And so anytime you hear increase, you get concerned. You hear tax increase, you get concerned, you may get a little mad. But the simple fact of the matter is that we've got expenses we have to pay for. And again, some of those cans that have been kicked down the road in past years to, in some cases, not have tax increases, we can't continue to kick down the road. So what does this mean for you? And this is a little more of an eye test than I really wanted it to be. So this runs down a comparison of FY2026 property tax versus FY2027 with that FLOST taken into account. And we've done it in $50,000 increments. The average home value in Warner Robins is around $211,000. um which equates to about 111 annual increase over last year um so we can't make the investments that have to be made without the money to do it last year we tried very hard We dipped into reserves in the hopes that the economy would improve and we would not have to see this kind of increase, but we're going to have to do it. So that is kind of where things sit. Madam Mayor. I'm open for questions from council, and then I believe we need to go into the public hearing after that.

Thank you, Mr. Drinkard, for the presentation of our proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. We've now opened up for any comments from the public. If you have any comments you'd like to make, you do have an opportunity to approach the podium and make those heard. And then council, if you have any comments, you can also make those. As we quickly wrap this up, we're going to go right into our city council meeting. and get our special guests taken care of. So, and there will be another opportunity for comments at that time as well. The floor is now open if you'd like to make any comments regarding the proposed 2027 budget. Going once, going twice, the door is now closed. All right, council, do you have any comments?

I have a question. I didn't see anything for improvements other than the golf cart program about the golf course. Are there any plans to make improvements there?

Yes, sir. There are some things that we have. A lot of that will be fueled under SPLOST dollars, under our recreation SPLOST dollars. We've got, you may recall, Was it the last council meeting before you approved about a $12,000 contract to redesign the irrigation system? That would be the next big improvement that we see out there. It's probably the biggest challenge we currently have out at the golf course. Mr. Puser also has plans to clear some trees around some of the tee boxes. Some of those are in pretty bad shape because there's so much shade, and that's Golf courses are interesting. You want shade in some areas and sun in others. And tee boxes are not where you want shade. So there's some things like that that will be improved. Some cart paths, things like that, will be some of the initial improvements. But then we'll come back with kind of broader improvements as we look at fairways, greens, and facilities. I just want to make sure that . Yes, sir.

All right, any other comments or questions? Yes, Councilman Mack.

Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Trickard. Yes, sir. For the grappling truck proposal, the grappling truck?

Yes, sir.

We have one currently, correct?

We do have grappler trucks currently. One of them is in pretty bad shape.

So to mitigate the cost of purchasing new and do we plan to sell it?

yes sir uh that particular one mr clifton no we are not planning on selling that one currently um so this this will expand our capabilities in the interim is there a partnership with gfl to help us until we bring that on board i thought i thought they were going to be helping us with their grappling capabilities as well So there is some stuff that they do. Mr. Clifton, would you mind coming forward and helping me with this one? That gets into a level of detail that you know far better than I do.

Can you repeat the question, please?

GFL helping with grappler truck type duties. GFL will assist.

I thought we had a partnership with them to help us mitigate those issues.

Yeah, GFL will assist basically the the grappler truck is going to be able to assist us with daily activities and also police department daily activities when it comes to code enforcement issues. And that's what the grappler truck is for. GFL does have accommodations that they help us with in times of emergency and such. Besides her normal day to day activities that they help with anything beyond what's.

What's in those day to day?

No not outside the norms of any emergency situation or some GFL will step up and help us out in those type of areas, but other than that it's normal what they're contracted to do on a daily basis.

Have we forecasted a costs to bring the current truck up to a several serviceable state. What is that cause wouldn't because we're going to occur with that.

We have two trucks right now. One of our trucks is working on a daily basis, no issues with that one, besides age and mileage put on it. The last truck that we have, you're looking at about $90,000 to repair, and that's the boom arm portion of the truck itself, which it really isn't, it wouldn't be worth the cost of trying to repair that. We have looked at it in years past when code enforcement was their own entity and looking about giving it to them and looking at the costs it would be and at the time it would have been a savings but now we're talking a couple years later talking about probably about four to five years later it probably wouldn't be worth the cost of trying to make any repairs of that vehicle yeah that's all we're not going to use it i don't see why we'll put the cost into that but um i just want to ask to get a clear understanding of what the plan is for that yes sir all right thank you would there be any other comments from or questions from council

All right, with that, if we could take a motion to end the public hearing.

Mayor, I move to end this public hearing on the FY27 budget. And I second it, Mayor.

Okay, motion by Councilman Lawrenson, seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. All right, the public hearing is now closed.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Good evening. Thank you all for joining us today for our city council meeting, which is the first one for the month of June. If you do not have a packet of our agenda in your hand, there are QR codes at the end of the rotunda and that glass door there. You can scan it and follow along with us on your electronic devices. Today we're going to start with an opening prayer to be led by Pastor Mac McCullough from Word and Season Ministries and a Pledge of Allegiance to be led by Lieutenant James Bish from the Warner Robins Police Department. If everyone would please stand so that Pastor McCullough can start us off in prayer.

Thank you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for this day and for this opportunity to gather together in service to this community. We acknowledge that wisdom, strength, and understanding ultimately come from you. Your word says in Proverbs 11 and 14, where no council is, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors, there's safety. Today we pray for our mayor, city council members, our city leadership, first responders, educators, and every citizen represented here. grant wisdom for decisions, unity in purpose, compassion in service, and courage in leadership. We pray for peace in our city, safety in our neighborhoods, strength for our families, and opportunity for every future generation. As this meeting begins, guide every conversation, every discussion, and every decision towards what is right. what is good, and what benefits all your people. And now, Father, we thank you. In your son Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 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.

Please be seated. All right, council, we're going to take a picture with Pastor McCullough and also with Lieutenant Bish. So don't go too far, Lieutenant. Thank you.

I'm not doing it.

All right, so I officially call today's meeting to order. We will first start with a motion to adopt the agenda with a revision in item number seven to be presented by Councilman Lashley.

Mayor, I make a motion to adopt this wonderful June 1st agenda with the amendment of number seven being presented by Councilman Lashley.

Seconded, Mayor.

Motion by Councilman Lawrenson, seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries. Now onto announcements. You all did get to hear some of the presentation for our proposed 2027 budget. Thank you to Mr. Drinkard for that great presentation you presented before everyone here. There will be another per charter. We do have to have more than one public hearing. The next one will be June the 9th at noon. Same place, June the 9th at noon. You can come and hear a second public hearing for the proposed 2027 agenda. Sorry, proposed 2027 budget. All right, so for proclamations, awards, and presentations, we do have a presentation from Sleep and Heavenly Peace. So let's give him a round of applause. He's going to get some stuff set up for us before he takes the podium.

Well, Mayor and Council Members, thank you so much for allowing me to speak today about Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a 501C-A nonprofit organization that builds and delivers beds for children that don't have beds. Our mission is very simple, but very powerful. No kids sleep on the floor in our town. We not only deliver beds to children in need, but we also partner with churches, organizations, businesses, individuals to build beds at events called Build Days. Now, Build Days are community events where we have volunteers from throughout the community come join us and build beds and we provide all the training and equipment. You don't need any prior experience and families and groups are always welcome to those events. Build Days provide great opportunities for community outreach, building events, to learn new skills. They're perfect for corporate team building and service projects, faith group outreach, for family volunteering. Every bed is handmade by volunteers willing to give up their time to help children in our community, and it's funded by generous donations of many people. The beds are delivered at no cost to children directly to their homes with a new mattress, a new pillow, bedding. It's complete. I've got a quarter scale model of the beds right here for your viewing. And when we leave, that child can literally get in that bed and go to sleep. We've got approximately 400 chapters across the United States. And we're looking to establish one, we're working to establish one here in Warner Robins. I want to tell you about this young family. This young family's got the parents, got a five-year-old little boy, a four-year-old little boy, and a three-year-old girl. The three-year-old girl, she shares the bed with her parents. The four-year-old sleeps on the couch. Five-year-old, there's no bed. He sleeps on the floor with linens. Sometimes they share the bed with their parents. When the dad goes to work, they rotate using the bed so they can get some sleep. His family's in trouble. His family needs some help. His children need some help. This scenario describes bed poverty Bed poverty is child bedlessness. We don't think about that much in our community. I know I never did until I got involved with this organization. But two to three percent of the children across the United States don't have a bed. Two to three percent. I can't believe it. There's a 2023 study done by the National Institute of Health. And it says this, the long-term effects of bedlessness on cognitive flexibility and overall mental health are significant. Sleep deprivation can impair cognitive flexibility, accuracy, and the brain's ability to process information. This can lead to attention problems, internalizing, externalizing behaviors, and higher susceptibility to stress and depression. Folks, bedlessness is very real and has a significant impact on our child's mental and physical well-being. There are a number of families struggling here in Warner Robins with bed poverty. The latest data that we have shows that there's 1,018 children waiting for beds here in Warner Robins. If you include Byron and Centerville and Bonair and Kathleen, you could add another 201 children to that. We want to establish a chapter here so we can help address child bedlessness. A bed is a basic essential for a child's physical development, emotional and mental as well. All children deserve a safe place to sleep and be comfortable. And we're not just providing a bed. We're providing hope and we're providing dignity and a message that the community cares about them. Our initial service area would be within the four zip codes of the City of Warner Robins, S31095, 98, 88, and 93. At a later date, we hope to expand to Byron, Centerville, Kathleen, and Bonaire. But among the many steps that we have to take to establish a chapter here, one of the major hurdles we have is finding a facility from which to store our raw materials, the tools and equipment, the jigs and fixtures, the transportation trailers, the bed components, and the bedding. We estimate we need a facility, a warehouse-type facility of approximately 4,000 square feet with garage door access. This could be a standalone facility, or it could be shared space with an existing facility. I've been in contact with Ms. Kate Hogan, the Director of Community and Economic Development, and at this time, the city doesn't have anything that aligns with our needs. However, you council members are also members of our community, as the folks are here behind me. I'm asking you to partner with us in finding a facility that we can utilize. Our services in addressing poverty will provide mutual benefit to both the city and to the children of our community and facilitate the primary purpose of city government, and that's to serve the needs of our citizens. In addition to your assistance in garnering a facility, you and the community can help us address child bedlessness in several ways. You can sponsor a bed. $250 provides a child with a bed everything they need for one child. You can volunteer at the build days, host a bedding drive, sponsor a build day through your business or organization, make a donation to many sites. Make an in-kind donation. We're always looking for mattresses, new beddings, pillow, tools, lumber, those types of things. Every contribution helps ensure that more children have a safe and comfortable place to sleep. And lastly, help spread awareness. I really appreciate your time. I hope I've familiarized you with sleep and heavenly peace and what we do. And I've provided you with quantitative data about the bed poverty in our city. I've also informed you of our needs and how you and our community can help. I'm open to questions, and if you want any more information, you can go to our website, shpbeds.org. And I thank you for your time and attention.

Thank you so much, Mr. Cornwell. That was a really awesome presentation. Thank you for bringing this to us. Thank you for your passion in the mission for Sleep in Heavenly Peace. We got a lot of parents up here, so you pull at our heartstrings when you start talking about how our little ones are sleeping on the floor and families wanting them to have a bed but not being able to provide that. I do have a question for you. I know council is probably going to be thinking the same thing, maybe even more, is how much does it cost To build a bed, how much does it cost for one bed?

$250, roughly.

$250 for a bed like this or a single?

A single, a single, and that includes the mattress, the pillow, and the bedding that goes with it.

Okay, thank you. Any questions for this gentleman, guys? All right. Councilman, you're right to say anything.

It's just ironic that was this brought before us today because I just had a conversation over the weekend how there are so many freshman college students that don't want to leave school and go home because they don't have beds to sleep in. I just had this conversation recently.

That's amazing.

That's amazing. all right well um can i say something mayor i was an elementary school principal for 15 years and i can tell you there were many kids that i knew of that didn't have their had their own beds um just reflecting back over the years and when you talked about the developmental part of it socially emotionally all those things you're spot on and it there's there's a lot to say about having your own bed and so we we support this initiative 100 and hope there's more that we can do to to get involved thank you very much

thank you and uh counseling council and i my my brothers from another mother uh my partners in progress we all got together while you were speaking and we would like to pledge together the seven of us two are missing but they agree to to come together out of our personal pockets to sponsor one bed together. And then also we would like to get with our human resources and see if it's possible for us to do a drive for city employees to donate out of their own personal pockets pockets to help sponsor some more beds. We did hear the pledge, everything that you needed, we heard you, but I did want to get those two ideas out really quickly just to let you know how much we connect and agree with you in counseling. I want to sponsor a bed together.

Well, on behalf of the children, thank you very, very much. We really appreciate it.

All right, thank you for the great idea, guys. All right, so next up, we have a presentation by the state of Georgia, our state of Georgia state representatives for our area. We have Representative Bethany Ballard here, who will be presenting something special to one of our very special employees. I know Representative Shaw Blackman is also here. So you have the floor, Representative Ballard. Representative Blackmon, you're free to come forward.

I'm not scared.

OK.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Council, for letting me take a few minutes of time in this meeting. This year, while we were in our legislative session, we got the call that no community ever wants to get, and that's one of our officers had been wounded, and I'm going to cry if I talk about it too much. But we did honor Officer Whitel with a resolution during this legislative session, and we wanted to honor his dedication and his bravery. It takes a very special person to run toward a dangerous situation. So I'm just going to read this before I get all teared up about it, and then we can have him up here for some pictures. Commending Officer Matthew Whitel and for other purposes. Whereas Officer Matthew Whitel has served with honor and distinction with the Warner Robins Police Department since February 26, 2018, and whereas he is an honest and dedicated public servant who strives for excellence in all of his endeavors and whose primary concern is the welfare and safety of the citizens of the state of Georgia, and whereas on January 29, 2026, Officer Whitel sustained several gunshot wounds in the line of duty and is currently in recovery, and whereas he is highly regarded by the citizens of his community and by state and local government officials as a man of unquestioned integrity and dedication to the administration of justice and sound principles of law enforcement, And whereas this spirited law enforcement professional has exhibited extraordinary devotion to duty, outstanding loyalty, fine leadership, and meticulous attention to detail in all of his duties, and whereas his inspiring commitment to the welfare of others is an outstanding example of the positive effect law enforcement professionals have on the lives and well-being of others, and whereas it is abundantly fitting and proper that gratitude is expressed for the unique and often unheralded contributions of local law enforcement professionals on behalf of the citizens of this state. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives that the members of this body commend the care, courage, sympathy, and selfless dedication exhibited by Officer Whitel in carrying out the difficult duties of his vocation and express their utmost appreciation for having so purely and truly defined for others the meaning of public servant. And we would have loved to have had him up to the Capitol to present this to him, but he was still in recovery at that time. But I think it's more fitting that we get to do it here in front of his colleagues.

Is there a budget on that?

One, two.

All right, now we have some awards presentations for the Wanda Robbins Police Department. Chief Fisher will come forward and talk about the of the year awardees. So as he calls out the individuals who have received these awards, we're gonna cheer like they're winning a huge academy award, okay? Because this is a big deal. for our police department and also for us. Chief Fischer, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Council. I wish to thank Mayor and Council and the City of Warner-Omsk for this opportunity as the Chief of Police to present four of our employees that, through exemplary duties through the year, represented the organization and served our community beyond what words I can express. As such, I'm going to use some of the words of which their fellow employees made the nominations for. which is significant because these nominations and voting were taking place by their peers as well. So this is not just a reflection of one person, but as the body of the organization for which I'm appreciative of. The first person we're going to recognize is the Civilian of the Year. It is my honor to present before us Crystal Knoll as the Civilian of the Year recipient. Crystal plays an integral role within the operational function of the Warner-Robinson Police Department, the administrative functions, and much more. Crystal, through her roles and engagement, is consistently present and ever invested into the organization and the city of Warner Robins for which she serves, and she works behind the scenes to provide stability and structure in the management of acquisitions, purchasing, and civilian function within the organization. She provides these services to a high degree of efficiency, and the professionalism is beyond what one could say. Crystal, I wish to thank you. Next will be the officer of the year, Officer John Ford. Officer John Ford. He has been recognized as being a departmental ambassador mentoring young people interested in public safety through the Public Safety Cadets Program. He motivates his fellow officers, carries out every departmental and supervisory directives he has given, and generates intelligence which has led to multiple felony arrests and the recovery of multiple stolen vehicles and stolen property within the city. He serves multiple functions within the organization, one being on the SWAT team as a drone operator, and really more importantly, as a field training officer, developing those officers that will be leaders of tomorrow, which no doubt Officer Ford himself will be himself. The professionalism shown by Officer Ford while on duty has brought him considerable praise from citizens and outside agencies. He has saved lives through his tactical medical training and operates at a supervisory level in all tasks. Where Officer John Ford truly excels in his high-risk tactical situations during which his squad mates look to him as an example, in a stead-faced rock foundation. There's no finer example of the Warner-Romsey police officer that the patrol division has to bring forward than Officer John Ford. Thank you. Detective of the Year is Carmen Thompson. Come on.

Chief, we'd like to get a group picture, too, when all the names are called so that individuals won't leave. Thank you.

It is our honor to present Detective Carmen Thompson with the Detector of the Year. Detective Thompson consistently demonstrates exceptional diligence and professionalism and investigative skills in every case she undertakes. Her commitment to thoroughly work in her assigned caseload is evident in her attention to detail, relentless follow-ups, and the pursuit of justice for victims. In addition to managing her active investigative caseloads, she has dedicated significant time and efforts into investigations of cold cases. Detective Thompson also serves as an FBI task force officer, further reflects her outstanding capabilities and leadership, effectively collaborating with federal, state, and local agencies, and representing the department to the highest degree of honor and professionalism. For that, I wish to thank you very much, Carmen. Lieutenant James Besh. It's going to be a tough one for me, James. I'm serious. Lieutenant James Bish has been recognized within the department for his continued exemplary performance and leadership to the organization and to his squad that he supervises. In August of 2025, his squad was involved in two critical incidents. Both of these incidents were very chaotic and dangerous. One incident involved an armed suspect that barricaded himself in a shed and was firing on police officers, ultimately setting the shed on fire, then accidentally firing his weapon. Later in the same week of August 2025, his squad was again involved in a very dangerous situation. One of his officers on squad was shot while assisting the units of Centerville and Byron Police Department. Lieutenant James Abish again responded, took command of the scene. He coordinated the officers and supervisors and established a perimeter to contain the suspect till it could be resolved.

More importantly,

As great as those two situations are, and a true character of leadership, Lieutenant James Bish also managed the aftermath of these incidents for his squad. One cannot imagine the stress and emotions that take place at such times. And then you add to that upon a squad that has roughly an allocation of 18 people who all have different emotional and mental needs from the situation. He monitored the squad's morale and personal needs while continuing to perform the mission of the Warner Arms Uniformed Division. He displayed exemplary personal leadership during these critical incidents in the aftermath of one of the most grueling weeks in the history of the Warner Arms Police Department. I should put to note, in that week, the Warner Arms Police Department was faced with three critical incidents alone, of which he managed two of them. Lieutenant Bish, it's my honor, privilege, and appreciation that I present this award to you.

Thank you, Chief, for presenting those awards. Now, if the individuals are still here to take a group photo, we'd like to get those photos.

If all the award recipients would come back up for a group photo, please.

We're going to come take a picture too.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah.

All right, congratulations once again to all of our of the year awardees from the Warner Robins Police Department. Thank you so much for all that you do each and every day and for exceeding the expectations in the department, which has allowed you to shine amongst your peers. Thank you, Chief Fisher and the whole command staff for your leadership to ensure we have great officers representing us every day here in Warner Robins. All right, and now we have completed our proclamations, awards, and presentations. I do need to share something I forgot during announcements regarding the Mayor's Health Initiative kickoff, which takes place tomorrow, June the 2nd, from 5.30 to 8.30. at the North Houston Sports Complex. Every year we do the Mayor's Health Initiative, inspiring people to get fit and healthy so we can elongate our beautiful lives. And this is a free event to the community. You can participate in different free fitness classes, Fitness in the Park, for example, fitness classes at different, fitness businesses throughout our city, and also our seminar series, which we partner with Emory Healthcare for that. Again, our big kickoff is tomorrow. 530 to 830. We do have a live stage or floor for fitness activities. Random. So you got to be there. Come dressed out to work out. Get off work. Come to the sports complex. We have bathrooms, dressing rooms, change. Let's have some fun together and kick off the season with a great fit and healthy and fun summer. All right, so now we're going to our work session. Our work session is regarding the June 1st agenda and also a discussion on the sick leave pool policy update. Our director of human resources will present the sick leave pool policy update portion. And I don't think we have much to talk about, so this will probably go by fast.

We're certainly going to try.

Yes, let's make it fast. Thank you.

Madam Mayor, if I could, I would like to see if we could add one informational item into the work session. The developer who's doing the project at Lake Joy and Russell has submitted a grading plan for that project. And one of the requirements was that those plans be brought to Mayor and Council. So we did receive that today. And Mr. Curtis, if you will allow, can run through that with you.

All right, thank you, Mr. Drinkard. I'm going to request a motion to amend our city council agenda to include item 1C for the Lake Joy and Russell Parkway development discussion.

Thank you, Mayor. I do propose to amend the agenda to include item 1B on the Russell Lake Joy development agenda. C. One C, excuse me.

I second it, Mayor.

All right, we have a motion by Councilman Lawrence and seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries. All right, it's on to you for item number 1A.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. As has kind of become my tradition, I'm going to skip down to our new business items first and then come back to the consent agenda. The first item under new business is actually an annexation and rezoning petition related to Chastain Park. This one is kind of interesting in that it's not interesting. It is a 0.06 acre parcel that was formerly part of a parent parcel, but it was divided by a roadway from that parcel. It is undevelopable as it currently sits. And So the application is actually to take that parcel, which has since now been subdivided, and a new parcel number assigned, and bring that into the city. It's currently zoned R1. The request is to rezone it to PUD, or planned unit development. And then attach it basically to the adjoining parcel or associate it with the adjoining parcel. There are not currently plans for development activity on it. So this is really just tying it into the land around it under the same ownership. And if you have questions about that when we get to that point, I'll get Mr. Curtis to come up on that. Next, we have an item with Schneider Electric. This is a cost of $2.6 million. This involves the renovation of two, well, technically three facilities, two with our utilities department and one, our main public works building. It also deals with building envelope and lighting improvements across the footprint of city facilities. to achieve better energy efficiency and operational savings. Ultimately, it's projected that we would be seeing savings of about $55,000 a year from the energy efficiency aspect of the project. The two building renovation projects were ones that were envisioned in prior SPLOST projects and have been pending. funding and a contract award. Thank you to all of you who took the time to meet individually on this so that we could run through the project in depth. The full presentation is in the packet available to the public as well. And we do have representatives from Schneider, Todd Genwave, Here, if you have specific questions about that, they will help us with that. Up next, back in December, you approved a moratorium on the issuance of retail package liquor store licenses and business licenses related to the sale of vape products, low THC oil products, tobacco products, tobacco objects, and I'm gonna give this a shot, cannabidiol. something like that CBD I think Julia puts this in in here just to mess with me products that moratorium is actually set to sunset tomorrow we've been working on ordinance updates and it was for those ordinance updates you would initially did the moratorium we actually have a draft pretty much ready to go but we have to work through the adoption process. It's going to have to go through public hearing, planning commission, et cetera. So on the agenda tonight is a resolution to extend that moratorium for up to 120 days to allow us to get through that adoption process and kind of protect everything until that point. We then have a couple of employee classification plan updates. The first is to reclassify the position of records manager. We have two records manager positions. One is in the city clerk's office and the other in the police department. And those have been restructured and need to be reclassified to grade 21. Currently, the position in the city clerk's office is graded at a 19 and the position in the police department is graded at a 15. That in and of itself is problematic because they are very similar positions. positions and they have not been classified similarly. So they will now be operating under the same basic position description and classified accordingly. The next classification plan update is a reclassification and change in title. of the position of administrative secretary in the office of the mayor. That's currently at a grade 10. The position description has been restructured significantly and retitled administrative technician. And when we put it through our classification system, it now grades out at a position 13. So we're bringing those two forward for your consideration. We also have the first reading of our proposed FY 2027 budget. We did just complete that public hearing for those who weren't here for that. We completed the first public hearing on that at four o'clock this afternoon. We kicked that off. The second public hearing scheduled for Tuesday June 9th at 12 p.m. right here in this same room and the second reading and adoption of the budget is scheduled to be on the June 15th agenda for the regular council meeting the full proposed budget is available on the city website and a hard copy for those who prefer to do it that way hard copy can be reviewed by coming here to City Hall and going to the city clerk's office Moving to our consent agenda, we have the meeting minutes of the May 18th meeting.

Sir, can I apologize? I have questions about one of the items that you mentioned. Okay. Item number four. I'm looking at QPublic.net, the text digestive site, under this parcel number that's mentioned, and it says eight acres, and I was trying to find the piece of property that we're describing here.

so and i'm not seeing it on the text digest mr curtis is on his way up this was interesting because originally it was part of this parent parcel um and it started under that original parcel number the uh the parcel has since been subdivided from the parent the county moved way faster than the county normally moves this actually came up the planning commission meeting as well um it now has its own parcel number um and so that's somewhat explained in the um in the staff report but uh mr curtis

I mean, that was pretty much it.

So my concern with that is we're voting on this parcel number, and it could get confusing that we're talking about these eight acres that are listed in the tax digest.

Is there another parcel number?

If there's another parcel, we need to have that corrected here.

So I believe that the parcel referenced in the information provided is the correct parcel. It it the the property was applied for at a time that it had a different parcel number. So some of this early on confusion came from the fact that when they submitted the application, that was the parcel number. And in the time that we were processing the application, The county updated that online. And so I believe that this current parcel number referenced, yeah, so it's currently known as 0W067012B000. At the time the application was submitted, it had a different parcel number. It wouldn't traditionally be that if the county updates the parcel number after the petition is filed that we would require anything different in our timeline of the petitioner.

so it would be you know just my suggestion or opinion um if he's in agreement with the rest of the council that we have the correct number that we vote on now because the way it looks from an ignorant eye is that we're rezoning this eight acres correct that's how it looks to me we're so so we're motion would use the number under the annexation petition yeah it should um

So let me take a brief look so that way I make sure I tell you correctly. We don't have the memo. Is that here?

The memo. Anything in the back? No, it's not in here.

Okay. Sorry.

No, you're good. So I need to go here. I need to go... I'm feeling my way to it.

materials okay okay he's referring to this that that one okay that's wrong

So if you go to the staff report and annexation petition. So Councilman, if you look at the staff report on this item, and under annexation petition, This is where it gets detailed out. Requests the rezoning of a portion of property formerly known as a portion of tax parcel and that old number currently known as tax parcel 0W067012B000. So if you look at the annexation petition section, it's that currently known as tax parcel. That's the number that would need to be included in the motion. Yes, that is correct.

It's not 012, it's just 12B. Yeah.

Hey, Mr. Drinkard, so is number four written here correctly? Do I read that number out? Because I'm the one who's reading that item.

He's reading from the agenda. He's reading from the agenda. So I need to go here and I need to go here.

Ms. Still is writing the correct number on there for me to read.

Perfect. And this is just a little slither of the property, right? No, it is listed on the agenda. It is listed with the original tax parcel number. And that, because that's how it was originally advertised, that's how it had to go through the process.

Yes, I see the number on the tax assessor's site, but I just don't want any confusion to come about those other eight acres because I know there was some.

I will point out that the property that was legally described in all of the public notices accurately describes that property that you are voting on. It includes a survey plat of the property depicting the actual physical boundary of the site. And so, yeah, I can tell you it's so uncommon that this is in 13 years the first time that parcel ID number has changed mid-petition. But that is, again, because the survey was recorded. And then the time since they filed the recording and the time that QPublic was updated, that's the only reason that there's a discrepancy in the parcel ID number. But all of the information reflected within the actual petition is accurate to the physical property.

So do we need to amend the agendas for it to read the correct number? No, sir.

You do not need to amend the agenda. He has the motion worded appropriately, so we're okay.

Sorry about that. I just had questions.

No, it's a good question. It is a very odd circumstance. Okay, so we'll run through the consent agenda. Don't go far because we've got a few other things. Okay. So we'll go back into the consent agenda. You've got the meeting minutes of May 18. You've got employee promotions, and again, I'll put that reminder in there. All of these employees went through an open, advertised process. They had to compete for the positions. Under our code, they're considered promotions because an employee is moving from one position into a higher position, even though they competed for it. So those include Andrew Piper, who is currently a utilities maintenance crew leader, becoming an assistant utilities maintenance supervisor. Forrest Hall Jr., currently a utilities equipment operator, becoming a utilities heavy equipment operator. Kevin Sappington, currently a utilities maintenance worker too, becoming a utilities locator. And Carolina Acuna, Currently a customer service specialist, becoming a delinquent account specialist. Next, we have a contract with Hometown Occupational Medicine for $42,600. This is to perform annual firefighter physicals. Six responses were received for this RFP. Hometown Occupational Medicine was the lowest bidder. They were also the only local bidder. And they are a current service provider for the city and have done an outstanding job. We cannot say enough about how happy we are with the work that Hometown Occupational Medicine has done for us. Then we have AC Doctor at $3,862. This is an annual contract for maintenance of HVAC systems across our fire stations. This is the low bidder on that. Then we have two purchasing items. The first is with Ribbon Communications at $10,151.98. This is an annual contract for software and hardware maintenance and support for the city's fiber optic network. This is, when I say the city's fiber optic network, this is literally the city's property that we work. It is the backbone of our IT system or our IT network. Then we have Hays Services. This is $25,277, and this is to replace the HVAC systems for the main IT server room at the City Hall Annex. That system is, failing and has to be replaced. You really, a server room, you wanna walk in there and be uncomfortably, ridiculously uncomfortably cold so that those systems do not overheat. And that is not what we currently have. So we need to get that replaced. So are there any questions about any of those items or any additional information that we can provide? Seeing none, I will ask Ms. Beyer to come forward to speak about the sick leave pool policy update. You'll recall this was previously something that had been discussed. We did a quick temporary change. Mayor and council had a lot of questions about the policy as it's existed for 15, 20 years and had a lot of desire to see changes. So Ms. Byer has been working with her team on bringing that forward.

Thank you, Mr. Drinkard. Council, Mayor, I just wanted to remind you that the sick leave pool policy that we are currently working under was enacted by Mayor and Council in 1988. There have been a few revisions through the years by resolutions and ordinances, the last one being in 2023. but council brought to us that they wanted more changes made. So I've presented two versions to you. I hope you've had a chance to review those. I'll hit just a couple of high points on each of them to distinguish differences for you. In version one, it is very similar to our current policy. There's a little bit of language changed. For one point in section A6, Currently, when employees donate time specifically to another employee, they are required to match half of that to the sick leave pool. The new version would remove that. It would state that hours can be donated through the sick leave pool process directly to another full-time employee with no portion having to go to the sick leave pool policy. Um, currently the sick leave pool policy says if an employee is terminated and re and later reinstated, any of those employees hours that had been donated to the pool will be deducted from the pool and returned to the employee. I'm actually asking for an additional change from what I gave you on version one, some clarification. When employees are terminated and then reinstated, that's typically within 30 days for that reinstatement. So we're not talking about employees that left and were rehired. We're talking employees that were terminated and were reinstated within 30 days. Then we would get that sick leave time back to them if they donated it to the pool. Does that make sense, the distinction there? Okay. I felt like it needed to be clarified, so I would add language in there that the reinstatement within 30 days is what that would apply to. Other than that, where the mayor is involved in the process in version one, that would be replaced with the city administrator. So we're taking those duties and would give those to Mr. Drinkard as an administrative duty. And that's the majority of the changes in version one. It was very little. Version two is very different. It gets rid of the sick leave pool committee and makes the process very similar, if not exact, as when an employee applies for a family medical leave act. So it would be a very simple process. If they qualify for FMLA, the documentation would be turned into myself as their director of human resources. I would verify that it meets the criteria of FMLA. Then it would meet criteria for a sick leave pull request. If it's denied, I would like to add in a bullet that they could appeal that denial to the city administrator so there is a second level. But other than that, it would be a pretty clean process. Those are the two versions that I came up with. I think that had a lot of the changes that you suggested when we discussed it previously. If there's further changes or other suggestions, I'm glad to hear those.

Thank you. I have a question.

Okay, excuse me. Yes, Mr. Drinkard asked me to add that we're looking for feedback from you today on these two versions to get changes or additions that need to be made before we bring it to you for a vote in a future session.

I have a question. Yes, ma'am. For the version two, when it comes to someone making the request, it goes to HR director. You said if there is a denial, then it is appealed. Who issues the denial?

It would be the HR director.

Okay, so a single person and then appeal. So my question is, and I don't know what the standard is, when we had the sick leave pool, there was a number of individuals weighing in from different perspectives, and we're changing it to a one and a one, so two people. So that's something that stands out to me, a big difference. It could be subjective at times. So I would want to look at that. Okay. Thanks.

I'm in agreement with the mayor in that capacity as well.

So if I could address that very quickly, the process under version 2 is actually less subjective than what we currently have. Because the process under version two is tied directly to the same criteria that is used by FMLA, right? So there's doctors involved, very specific uses of leave, et cetera. It's literally, do you qualify for FMLA? If you qualify for FMLA, you meet the qualifications for the program. And then if you request the leave, done. It makes it a very administrative type process. Today, it's actually submitted to a committee. The criteria are extremely subjective. And quite honestly, we've seen some subjectivity in the way it's been applied, which is one of the reasons we came up with this alternative.

Under the status of FMLA, the employee has the option to take leave without pay, but the FMLA protects their job, correct?

Real quick, how often does the committee meet

As I say, yeah, on demand and for they don't necessarily meet as a group for each of these reviews. The information is sent to them by email and they send responses back to the chairman.

I'm all for streamlining and it sounds like if we're The option two does sound a little bit more like a streamlined, cohesive process instead of wait, wait, wait. And if they qualify for the FMLA, then that's pretty cut and dry right there. I don't know where the rest of the guys are on it and everything and the mayor herself, but streamlining anything is always a good idea in my opinion. Okay.

Thank you for that.

I have a question. Are there any examples of individuals who have requested leave from the sick leave pool who didn't qualify for FMLA? I don't know the answer, so I'm really asking.

I don't think that criteria ties together, correct? FMLA is separate and apart from the sick leave pool, correct?

It is, but I think what she's referring to is we're, in version two, we would use the same process. to review under FMLA if there's been any that have been denied is that lawful to do that to use the FMLA process to determine whether someone gets leave out of the leave pool if we put it into policy it would be this is in association with the labor department

It's quite lawful. It's actually something that is used by several other jurisdictions that have these types of leave donation programs and leave pool programs. It's not an uncommon way to handle it because it removed subjectivity. So if you think about it, there's a decision with respect to FMLA, right? You can use that same criteria for other programs. Labor Department doesn't care.

Okay. With that being said, for someone to receive donations, what does their leave balance have to be in order to qualify to even tap into the leave pool? Because from where I was at, you had to be at zero balance before you could even apply to borrow leave out of a leave pool.

So we don't have that listed in it, but we can certainly add that.

Because you're borrowing lead, but you're saving your own. They need to utilize all of their lead before they can even go into this pool.

Traditionally, you have to have been zeroed out. You can make the application a little ahead, knowing that you're going to exhaust it. But you can't just, hey, I'm going to save the leave I have. You have to use the leave you have in your leave pool.

Is it outlined in here?

It is not.

We need to add that.

Yes, sir.

And can I also clarify, you may have already said this. If you did, I apologize. It's okay. What's the number of days consecutive to actually have to go FMLA? I know people can just be out without going on FMLA for up to how many days?

So normally it's one calendar year up to 12 weeks. And it depends on the episode that you use in FMLA because a person can still have FMLA while they're at work. But under the guidelines of how the FMLA is filled out by the medical person, they may have a episode that may last a week. It may last three days. That's what I've experienced. Yes.

Specific to Councilman Lawrence and

I'm just wondering how many consecutive days can you be out without having to go on FMLA?

You don't have to use FMLA. There's no requirement that you decide you're going to, I want to pull from FMLA. That said, you could be out for any number of days. You could be out two days and if it qualifies you can go ahead and file. FMLA can also be intermittent. So you could have somebody say they're undergoing cancer treatments. I understand that.

The only reason I'm asking is because with teachers, after five consecutive days, you had to apply for FMLA. You couldn't just keep being out.

There's not a requirement for it. It's a requirement that we offer it to employees, but it's not a requirement for employees to apply.

I know at a certain point, if you missed up to a certain number of contexts, I know there's intermittent FMLA. I understand that. But I was just saying, You know, typically in organizations, if you're out a certain number of consecutive days, you have to apply for FMLA.

Well, so there's there's not a requirement that you have to apply. Correct. If you don't apply there, your job is not necessarily protected. Right. And so that's the thing. So when we know somebody is going to be out either intermittent or for some extended period of time, we do encourage them to make application. We give them the paperwork. We explain the program to them and explain the law to them. But the choice to apply for FMLA is completely theirs.

Yes, sir. Any other questions or comments? Thank you for your time and feedback. I will take your comments, add those in, and bring another document for you.

Thank you, Ms. Beyer.

Yes, ma'am.

And then our final item is that item we added, which is Mr. Curtis is going to go through the grading plan that's been submitted on the project at Russell and Lake Joy. I'll be.

Oh, OK, sorry. So this particular grading plan is simply that. It's a plan to grade the property depicted on the handout. No other improvements or modifications, construction, et cetera, have been yet proposed for this property, but because this property is directly adjacent to a recent zoning case that you have voted on, which I believe is... um still actively under construction or has recently completed construction of a of a road and the stormwater facility um you know this this property uh in 2000 and don't quote me you know this was all part of the same zoning action and at the time that the zonings were put in place for these properties, so too were some restrictions put on by the council at that time. And to include that whenever we receive a plan, we notify council that it's been received. This is not approved. This is under current review, so it's being provided here for your notification. We've already, you know, we've got some comments on it already, so it's not, I'm sure it won't be, you know, simply approved as is, but just so that you know and are aware that they intend to pull a permit to grade this property soon.

Well, this sheet really doesn't tell me anything because I'm I don't read plans like this often. Can you kind of explain what they're proposing?

So so they'll they'll clear and grade the property. And that is the extent of what they have proposed at this time. So, you know, the document and I apologize the document. I mean, the actual submittal was was dozens of pages. I simply brought the one I thought depicted the property the best. A lot of it was a lot of technical engineering related things that didn't paint a very clear picture. Well, like I said, we've already generated a few comments for it, one of them being that they did not depict the location of a construction entrance. We assume that they are going to access this through the frontage road that was constructed on the adjacent property, but generally we want to see that on a drawing, and so that was not shown. So that's one of the comments. Additionally, that they have been made aware that a stormwater facility will eventually be expected to be shown on this site as the adjoining property did not account for stormwater for this property. And then we also went ahead and let them know of all of the other council restrictions placed on that property, you know, years and years ago, which I believe include a 10 foot brick masonry wall along the property line adjacent to the residential district. I will point out that that code, I mean, that dimension 10 foot I don't know if if the code allowed for that then are the city's maximum height is eight foot just so that everyone knows but and I'm not encouraging that you revise that I'm just pointing it out and and the other restriction which is that they you know any sort of design that they present to us would need to make sure that the dumpster is not going to be located directly along the residential property lines. And so, of course, as we receive any new submissions, we will continue to update you as we have. But for now, that's the extent of what they've proposed.

I have a question, Mr. Curtis. Thank you. For those who are not well versed when it comes to engineering terms, what does grading mean?

So they're going to. So and I'll be honest, I'm probably not the best spokesperson for this, but in terms of getting the ground level and to a point where it is above the, you know, the 100 year flood, you know, we we want to make sure that this property does not you know, suffer from erosion and things like that, and that any structures that are built on the property are going to, you know, not be erected on a slope that would, you know, impact the foundation. So compaction and, you know, leveling the ground and things like that, those are all incorporated into that. And so we would, you know,

And thank you. And you mentioned things like construction entrance, a walled barrier, dumpster location, stormwater facility. Are those things required to be put on here if that's what we're going to require of the developer on this document or does that come at a later time?

So all they are requesting is for the grading. And so they are going to be required to do all of those other things listed. But typically we would expect to see that more along within a site plan because, you know, the the volume that a stormwater facility would have to account for is calculated by the impervious surface shown on the site plan. and so I I take it that they don't yet have those numbers and so that's oh that's a yeah that's very helpful so grading is defined as altering the shape of the ground surfaces to a predetermined condition this includes stripping cutting filling stockpiling and shaping or any combination thereof and shall include the land in its cut or filled condition so

Thank you. Now, when it comes to the barrier between this development and the residential properties, so the fences that the residences have there, I know we've heard lots of comments about this from the public, so I want to ask, accounting for the trees that would need to appear in that buffer, does the grading need to show where the ground will be prepared for the trees, or does that come a later time?

I think that would typically be in the site plan, which includes a sheet for landscaping. I would just want to clarify too, because obviously I'm in pretty regular contact with some of the residents in the neighborhood there. I would point out that this particular property, I believe had a little bit different restrictions than the property next door, which we recently voted on. The one that's actively under construction has its own set, and then this one has its own set. I think the difference is that rather than a planted row of trees or anything that this particular property got a 10 foot brick wall. So.

10 foot brick wall would come in a site plan, not not on this.

Correct. Vertical construction at the time any of that is is proposed. And we will, of course, bring that to council prior to any approval on a site plan.

OK, thank you.

Welcome.

Any other questions? All right, thank you, sir. All right, looks like that was our final work session item, item 1C. Thank you, Mr. Curtis. Thank you, Ms. Beyer. Thank you, Mr. Drinkard. And now we're moving on to the formal public comments pertaining to an agenda item only. If anyone has a comment, question, or concern about items number three through nine, you have an opportunity to approach the podium, make your comments heard to us, please note that we are listening even if we do not respond at the moment. You will have three minutes on the timer at the top of the rotunda. Please be sure to state your name and address for the record. If you have a comment about something outside of the numbered agenda items, you will have another opportunity following the conclusion of the items. The floor is open. Going once going twice. The floor is now close. Now moving on to item number 3, which is the consent agenda to be discussed by Councilman Curtis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think everybody had opportunity to look over to consent agenda. And this drinker did a great job of going over in the precession. So I would like to make a motion to to accept the consent agenda. I'll second.

Motion by Councilman Curtis, seconded by Councilman Lashley. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item number four is a motion for rezoning petition for Chastain Park to be discussed by Councilman Lawrenson.

Thank you, Mayor. I motion to approve the rezoning request from Chastain Park BVP LLC of a portion of the property known as Tax Parcel OW067012B000. Said portion totaling 0.06 acres located along the south side of South Quarter Road east of Houston Lake Road from the zoning of R1 Single Family Residential to the zoning of PUD Planned Unit Development.

I'll second that, Mayor.

Motion by Councilman Lawrence and seconded by Councilman Mack. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item number five is a resolution with Schneider Electric to be discussed by Councilman Lashley.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I make a motion to approve the resolution to authorize Mayor LaRonda W. Patrick to execute the attached energy and construction services contract. It's a multi-project and construction addendum number one between Schneider Electric Buildings Americas Incorporated otherwise known as ESCO, in the city of Warner Robins, Georgia, as the city, for LED lighting retrofit and energy improvement services at various city facilities in an amount not to exceed $2,684,513, pursuant to the terms and conditions outlined in the attached agreement.

I second.

Motion by Councilman Lashley, seconded by Councilman Curtis. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item number six is a resolution for our retail liquor package stores, et cetera, moratorium, to be discussed by Councilman Mack.

Thank you again, madam mayor. I'd like to make a motion to approve the resolution of mayor and council of the city of Warner Robins that an extension of the moratorium for the permitting of retail liquor package store licenses shall be extended 120 days No applications for retail liquor package stores licenses within the city of Warner Robins shall be received or issued, and such moratorium shall remain in effect until September 29, 2026, absent subsequent action by the governing authority.

And I'll second that motion.

Motion by Councilman Mack, seconded by Councilman Lawrenson. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number seven is an ordinance for a classification plan update to be discussed by Councilman Lashley.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I make a motion to approve the ordinance of the governing authority of the city of Warner Robins that the city classification plan is amended as follows, with the changes to go into effect at the beginning of the next pay period, June 8, 2026. First, reclassified position of records manager, job class 142, grade 19, office of the city clerk, authorized strength of one to grade 21, incumbent to receive a 10% increase. Item number two is reclassify the position of police records manager, job class 600, grade 15, police department authorized strength of one to grade 21. And that the city's finance department is hereby authorized to transfer funds between departments and between line items within a department in the fiscal year 2026 budget as necessary to facilitate the changes to the city's classification plan enumerated in this ordinance. I would like to waive the second reading of that ordinance, and that full ordinance can be found in the packet online. I second.

Motion by Councilman Lashley, waiving the second reading, seconded by Councilman Curtis. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Motion carries unanimously. Congratulations to those who benefited from that update. Next, we have item number eight, which is an ordinance for classification plan update to be discussed by Councilman Curtis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Our motion to approve ordinance of the Governor Authority of the City of Warner Robins that the city classification plan be amended as following, with the changes to go in effect July the 6th, 2026. Reclassify and change the title position of administrative... secretary job class 146th grade 10 office of the mayor authorized strength of one to administrative technician job 179 grade 13 authorized strength of one mayor's office and that the city finance department is hereby authorized to transfer funds between department and between line items within the department in the fiscal year of 2027 budget as necessary to facilitate the changes to the city classification plan in this ordinance. I would like to waive the second reading. I'll second.

Motion by Councilman Curtis, waiving the second reading, seconded by Councilman Lashley. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state aye and raise your hand. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item number nine is an ordinance for fiscal year 2027 budget first reading to be discussed by Councilman Lawrenson.

right thank you mayor y'all please bear with me if you will uh whereas the mayor of the city of warner robins has prepared and submitted to the city council a line item budget for fiscal year beginning july 1 2026 and ending june 30th 2027 and whereas the mayor and council have studied and revised this proposed budget and it is in the best interest of the city that the budget be adopted Now, therefore, be it ordained by the Mayor and Council of the City of Warner Robins that the annual budget for the General Government for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027, attached here to and may part hereof for the funds and amounts referenced as follows are hereby approved and adopted. Total expenditures of all funds as total expenditures and transfers out totaling $191,197,902. Be it further ordained that during the fiscal year July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, the general fund should receive transfers of $987,500 from the tourist allocation board, also known as TAB, $240,000 from the rental of motor vehicles, uh... one million eight hundred ninety five thousand five hundred six from the water and sewer enterprise fund and two million three hundred twenty thousand seven hundred sixteen from the natural gas enterprise fund uh... now be it further ordained that the budget shall be amended to adapt the following change in governmental needs during the fiscal year as follows Any increase in appropriations in any fund for any function department, whether through a change in anticipated revenues in the fund or through the transfer of appropriations among functions or departments, in excess of the approved budget shall require an ordinance of mayor and council authorize said funds to be expended, except in the case of insurance reimbursements for vehicles collisions and other equipment losses and reimbursements uh... of materials purchased from the city of warner robbins in which in which instance the chief financial officer's office is granted authority to allocate funds to appropriate function and department line line item from insurance proceeds or from reimbursements of materials for the replacement or repair of damaged equipment items and for replacement of materials in the event of receipt of unbudgeted grant revenues the chief financial officer officer's office is granted authority To allocate such funds to the appropriate funding department line item in order to comply with the proposed with the purpose of such grant receipts any transfers of Appropriations and any light item can be shifted from one line item to another Within each function fund function or department only by written approval of the mayor any transfers from the committed fund balance of the city's special revenue funds or to further the support of those funds' purpose shall require written approval of the mayor. Any allocation of the unassigned fund balance of the general fund's minimum targeted level not to exceed the total of one month's unassigned fund balance must be returned to the target level within 24 months of withdrawal. Be it further ordained that the salaries of municipal employees are not established by the budget and increase in salaries will only be done according to the procedures outlined in the classification salary administrative and performance management system. All right, and this is the first reading. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you, Councilman Lawrenson, for that first reading of the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. right that concludes the numbered agenda items for today's meeting we now have a We now can go to the citizen comments if anyone would like to make a comment in general. You know the spiel, you go to the podium, please be sure to state your name and address for the record. You will have three minutes on the clock right at the top of that rotunda. Please make your comments made and note that council and I are listening to you even though we may not respond at that moment. The floor is now open if you'd like to make any general comments. Going once.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilman. Johnny Johnson, 103 Havelock Circle. I got a few things. I did talk to Mr. Curtis, by the way, in the back. He told me about the water that's pooling out there. And he said they're building a drain. They hadn't finished the construction. However, residents in that area right now, the smell is very foul. I went out there myself, and I'm telling you, if that was my backyard, we'd be fighting right now because it's horrible. So I want to point that out. Now, he did say they're going to fix a drain, and it's going to drain out somewhere. But until then, I guess they got to stand the smell. Also, I talked to Councilman Lashley last week. We talked about the water bill. Yeah, mine increased significantly, and I don't know why. Hadn't had my sprinkler on because of all the rain, so I'm just trying to figure out like almost a $40 increase on my bill. Just want to point that out. And it's not just mine. It's residents throughout the city because I talk to a lot of people. He talked about the grading, and I just want to make sure that when they do this grading that everything is in line with what he talked about, the 10-foot wall, which is the first two acres of the property, not the other part. And I want to see when that plan gets submitted for the Lake Joy Russell further extension that we do get notified some kind of way. because I just don't like coming to a meeting that I'm hearing something about late joy and Russell, and that's fine. I understand the city business, but we are residents and we still have a right to know also. And then lastly, I got one question. Uh, where do I go to find out what's being built in the city? I see a lot of construction. I went to different websites looking for this information. And I'm trying to figure out what's being built around me. And residents are asking, so I would just like to know where I can direct them to find that information. Current projects, yes, sir. Current projects. Throughout the city. Not just out that side of town, but throughout the city. Because there's a lot of construction. And then I'll put on my other hat as the IC3 Corvette president. And I know a guy was looking for donations for building a bed. Well, I'm going to put my team on the hook for a bed. So we will donate for one bed. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Will there be any others? Yes. Going once, going twice, the door is now closed. Now we'll have council comments. And the next person up is Councilman Curtis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Can we turn the air down?

We're about to go home.

Freeze. But anyway, I ask that y'all keep y'all prayers lifted up for Mr. Terry Woods. Terry Woods was a great individual. Him and Mark Polk were two great individuals here in the city of Warner Robins. It was a honor to actually work with both of them. They really cared about this community. They did some great things in this community. and you know many times that i was able to work with them both uh it was really in the mcArthur boulevard area whether it was cutting grass or fixing water leaks so i ask that you please continue to keep his family up in prayer as they go through these tough times right now and i just want to say thank you everybody for coming out and uh have a great night thank you councilman councilman mack

Thank you, thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd just like to say to our residents in our, as we enter into these summer months with a lot of kids being at home, I would just like to ask everybody to partake in what our Parks and Recs Department has to offer because there's so much that we have to offer our citizens, whether it be in our parks and recreations, swimming pools or whatever just make sure you take advantage don't let your kids just sit in the house get them outside and subscribe to one of these magazines that gives you the schedule and everything that you need to adhere to to participate in what the city of Warner Robins has going on and um as we're in grilling season make sure you have everything that's um mitigate any fire issues that may come come about make sure that you're safe and um also congratulations to those police officers the entire police department um just excellence across the board supervisor of the year detective of the year officer of the year and civilian of the year congratulations on your uh your recognition on those awards with that being said thank you good night

Thank you, Councilman. Now, Councilman Lawrenson.

Thank you, Mayor. Dr. Hall, Mayor, Mr. Drinkard, great job on the budget this year. We knew this day would come, and I was prepared for it. But let me point out that this is still the best place to live anywhere in the state of Georgia, possibly in the country. As far as physical responsibility goes, and when I say physical, I mean F-I-S-C-A-L, physical responsibility. I think we do a fantastic job day in, day out, year in, year out on doing the most with our tax dollars. And so I'll put our city and and our the way that we operationally run things and our finances. I really still feel really great about what we've done in the past and what we're going to continue to do. So thank you so much for all your hard work. we get up here and and really just get to hear all the news and and and vote on it but all the hard work's been done for months and we really appreciate it because we know how challenging it is so thank you mayor mr drinkard dr hall and everybody that that works with you guys because i know all the department heads had put a lot into this so kudos to them as well and we're just looking forward to passing this in two more weeks I also would like to express my sincere condolences to Terry and his family. His family has been in Warner Robins for many, many years. And, you know, we've been praying for his son, Chad, for a long time as he's suffering from pancreatic cancer. And we've gotten good news on him recently where he's really doing well. And just to see his father pass away during this time I know was really hard on him and everybody else in the family. Terry was a faithful employee of the city of Warner Robins, and we certainly love and appreciate him and his family. Also, congratulations to our police department for the fine job that they do, and to all those who received awards today. It's great to celebrate success, and we certainly enjoy doing just that. i'm just thankful for all of our our city employees and everything that they do each and every day and i'm ecstatic that we're able to give them a 2.5 percent pay increase this year that's really exciting they deserve every penny of it and more so thank you for all that you do god bless thank you mayor again also thanks for all the hard work done on the fourth of july celebration this year it's going to be great i can't wait to hear cool in the game thank you thank you councilman and councilman lashley

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Again, it goes without saying, all of our thoughts, prayers, condolences, everything that goes out to the family of Terry. I've known that family my entire life. His brother taught me how to play golf. Chief Woods, their father, if you ever had a chance to meet him, you met a pretty special, yeah, first fire chief, Warner Robins. But he would scare you to absolute death if you ever rode anywhere with him. He was terrifying. I aged a lot being in golf carts and cars with Chief Woods. But Terry, funniest story I ever had with him is right after I took over my family's business. It was probably about six, seven months after that. He comes walking into my office. Mr. Terry, how you doing? He goes, I'm good, Kevin. We had about a four-minute conversation. I said, well, what can I help you with? He goes, you should pay your business occupation tax, or else I'm going to have to shut you down. I was like, of all the things I forgot to pay, and then I get a special call from the town marshal telling me I got to pay. I was like, you're right. I believe I'll cut you a check right now and let you go about your business. But he always handled everybody with courtesy and kindness and the respect that they deserve, as is taught throughout his entire family. So I know he has left this earth to go on to better things, but he will be missed and he will be remembered. Other than that, enjoy the summertime because it's here. It's not right over here where these vents are, but it's a good brisk fall day right here, I can tell you. But enjoy the warm weather, stay hydrated, and like they said, If we'd had this magazine when I was a kid, I probably would have not been running around the woods chasing snakes and alligators and everything else you could think of, because there are so many activities in this magazine for people of all ages to be able to take advantage of what we got going on here in the city. I know you could probably scan a QR code, but you can also access all of this off the WRGA.gov website. If you go to our, I'm still going to get it wrong, you know that, the Parks and Rec Department. On that, you can go from there, and then that'll give you all the details you need. But definitely, not only get your kids involved, but get yourselves involved. Get yourselves involved with your kids while they're doing it. It makes a big difference. Trust me.

Thank you, Councilman. And I join the rest of council and the staff of the city of Warner Robins and continue prayers for the Wood family. And we do thank the family for allowing us to have him here with the city for so many years, his impact. shall outlive his time here on earth. Something to remember, we know our new slogan, our new city branding is take flight, right? We have our take flight tour starting up pretty soon. If you think about what a flight is, some of us like to get a flight when it comes to some beverages when you're really thirsty. But we have other flights that will be taking place throughout our city. This is a time for us to really celebrate and uplift the small businesses inside of our community. We have a number of establishments participating. We have flights. Well, it starts on Friday, so through the weekend. But we have flights of tacos, flights of... Hard to see. Burgers. Sliders probably. Coffee beverages. Cinnamon rolls. Sweet snacks. Looks like that's a sushi, but I can't say for certain. But one thing you can do is check out our city Facebook page and our city app to find out all the places you can go to participate and purchase your own flight of something as we really celebrate America 250 and the new branding of the city of Warner Robins. Again, that takes place Friday, which is June the 5th, all the way through June the 14th. You know, just like we have our burger week, this is our take flight. week plus some days. So take some pictures, share them with us, and enjoy yourself when it comes to the take flight. I already told you about the Mayor's Health Initiative that starts tomorrow. Take a look at our Facebook pages to see what our fitness schedule and seminar schedule is. A special thank you to Emory Healthcare once again for partnering with the city for our seminar series. It's important for us to be proactive about our health. as well as being active and getting healthy. So please take advantage of those free seminar series courses as well. I don't have anything else to share, but thank you all for hanging in there with us, and have a wonderful rest of your week, and we will see you on the 15th? The 14th. the 15th of June for our next city council meeting, but we do have another hearing, public hearing for our budget on June the 9th, if you don't want to wait that long to come back and see us. Remember, June the 9th at noon. Have a wonderful evening, and we'll see you next time. Meeting is adjourned.