Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our city council meeting. This is the first one for the month of December. Happy holidays to everyone. We'll be starting off our meeting today with opening prayer to be led by Pastor Missy Blum Blumthal

Blumathal from Trinity United Methodist Church. Thanks for being here, ma'am. And the pledge of allegiance will be led by Cadet Sydney Ascu from North Side High School, JOTC. Welcome as well. Go Eagles. I officially call today's meeting to order. We did not call it to order yet. We're going to start with opening prayer led by and then we'll do the uh pledge of allegiance. Thanks. Thank you. Please stand. Holy Father, we ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to come upon the men and women in this room as the city council of Warner Robbins meets to make plans and address issues within our community. We pray that you would bless us all with wisdom and that you would give wisdom and strength to our mayor, Londa Patrick, as she leads our city. We know that without your presence and a deep in our bones relationship with you, all man's plans fail. It is your leading that makes this council so effective as these servants seek to make our city better and safer. Take us and all those around us in safety through this holy season, this holiday season. Bless and protect those who whose stated purpose it is to serve and protect our community, the first responders and their families who do do such a great service to our city. Bless and protect those who serve our nation in military service and their families who keep our shores protected. We pray for shelter and safety for those who have no place to lay their heads at night and for the wisdom to help them where we can. We pray for those who are living in food insecurity who must find alternate

shelter where they can, who need the generosity of our hearts to help them survive. Help our city to find effective and even creative ways to meet their needs. Thank you for the fine women and men serving on the council who will meet that challenge. We honor and we praise you and we love you in Jesus name. Amen. 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. You may be seated. Council, we'll go take our photos. Pastor Missy Blummenthal, thank you so much for leading us in prayer. If you'll come to the middle so we can get a photo with you and cadet ascu will follow. Three, two, one. Praise the Lord.

Yes. I officially call today's meeting to order. Next, we move towards our proclamations, awards, and presentations. We have two today. One is a recognition for the Warner Robbins Fire Department, and the second is a swearing in for some of our uh new police officers. So for the Warner Robbins Fire Department recognition, Chief Wright, if you will please come forward. Chief Dixon. Okay, this evening we have um a crew from Engine 7 being recognized for uh valor. They actually affected a u a save, what we call a save, but they save a life during a fire incident. And uh we're recognizing them for this this evening. Uh, Chief Dixon, if you would come forward, please. Good evening. And I said on the morning of on the morning of August 25th at 10 minutes after midnight, I said fire department units were dispatched to a possible structure fire with a victim that was unable to exit the structure. Engine 7, engine 8, ladder 8, engine 5,

squad 3, battalion one, and training two were all dispatched to this location. Engine 7 arrived on scene to find smoke flames coming from the alpha and delta side of the structure. And so with an occupant standing in the front door in IDH in environment, Lieutenant Travis Keane. And so he rolled command to the next incoming unit and move to the first and move the first occupant to a safe location in the front yard. At this point, Lieutenant Keane and firefighter Terrence Weidman as they entered the structure to perform a search for the remaining occupant. The victim was found laying in a bed and saying with conditions deteriorating and say they moved the victim to the floor to avoid increasing the heat and smoke conditions and say while removing the patient or victim say from the burning structure as the rescue was taking place on the inside. Engineer Jose Torres say was on the outside making sure that hose lines were charged and in placed and once it was confirmed that they were bringing the the victim out. And so he moved to provide patient care as say in the front yard until EMS personnel arrived and took over patient care. The victims were transported to the hospital for the emergency care. Now we would like to say thank you for a job well done to Lieutenant Travis Keane, Engineer Jose Torres, and firefighter Terrence Weidman.

Thank you so much. That was gorgeous. All right. Now, we're going to have a swearing in for some new police officers. Chief Isher, if you will please come forward. Everybody. All right. So we will now be uh conducting the oath of office that these four gentlemen will be repeating for us uh to signify them

being a new member of the Wana Robbins Police Department. So uh council and I welcome you and we're excited to have you as part of the team. All right. So in front of you is your oath. You can either hold it or or read it uh as it's on the table. I will be saying some words. You will be repeating after me. Even though it's separated by paragraphs, please know that I will not say the whole paragraph and pay attention to the last word I say because that's where you will pick up when you when you when it's your turn. All right. So, also when I say I, I will not be stating a name. And each of you have a name. Make sure you're uh you have the right paper in front of you. Perfect. All right. So, I will start now. I'm going to ask each of you if you'll please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I hereby swear or affirm

I, Sean Rose, hereby swear or affirm that I will faithfully, fairly, and without malice that I will faithfully, fairly, and without malice or partiality or partiality uphold the laws of the state of Georgia uphold the laws of the state of Georgia as well as any ordinances as well as any ordinances which I am authorized to enforce which I am authorized to enforce to the best of my ability. to the best of my ability and support and defend the Constitution of the United States and support and defend the Constitution of the United States United States and the Constitution of Georgia. and the Constitution of Georgia. So help me God. So help me God. I further swear or affirm

I further swear or affirm that I am not the holder of any unaccounted for public money that I am not the holder of any unaccounted for or public money due the state of Georgia due to the state of Georgia or any political subdivision or any political subdivision or authority thereof or authority thereof. I further swear or affirm I further swear or affirm that I am not the holder of any office of trust that I'm not the holder of any office of trust under the government of the United States under the government of the United States any other state any other state or any foreign state any foreign state which I am by the laws of the state of Georgia which I am by the laws of the state of Georgia prohibited from holding

prohibited from holding I further swear or affirm I further swear or affirm that I am qualified to hold the office of police officer. That I am qualified to hold the office of police officer according to the Constitution according to the Constitution and the laws of the state of Georgia. and the laws of the state of Georgia. And that I will support the Constitution of the United States. And I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Georgia and the Constitution of the State of Georgia. I further swear or affirm I further swear or affirm that I will obey all the laws of the city of Warner Robbins that I will obey all the laws of the city of Warner Robins the state of Georgia state of Georgia any other state any other state

and the United States of America so help me God and the United States of America so help me God

congratulations and date 121 2025 Five. All right. Where's All right,

welcome to the team. Thank you. Welcome. Congratulations. Welcome and congratulations. Appreciate it. Okay, so now what you all are going to do is you're going to turn around so you can take a picture holding up your paper so your family can be so proud. two.

Congratulations. Go down. Congratulations.

I'm not going to say it. I'll just congratulations. All right. Congratulations to members of our public safety, that is the W Robins Fire Department and W Robbins Police Department on their accomplishments. Next up is our work session items. Uh Mr. Drinker will come forward to discuss some items. Um, but the first thing we're going to discuss is going to be the agenda for today. Council, you've had a chance to review. Please, uh, move forward with any questions or comments you'd like to make about the agenda items on today's agenda.

Council members, uh, before we get to questions, um, I would like to go ahead and bring Darren Curtis up uh, to address the three land use cases on tonight's agenda. I know those are typically ones that generate questions, and uh, Mr. Curtis will will be able to uh do a review of those and likely answer any questions that you may have. Uh if if you're agreeable to that. All right, Mr. Curtis.

Yeah, it's the rut. Any particular order?

Okay.

All right. Um, starting with the reasonzoning application on behalf of Orchard Investment Properties. Um, this is a uh 55 a little over 55 1/2 acre property located off of Robert Bryson Smith Parkway south of the Highway 96 intersection. And the present zoning of this property, it's actually a splitzoned property. And so it consists of property zoned R3 as well as property zoned R4. The request is to reszone this property for a planned development district for residential use, a PDR. And they intend if if approved to construct um 201 residential units in a uh single family detach style layout. Um the the property is intersected by a a stream. So there's two independent sections of this proposed development. One of which the smaller being a 30 unit section and the larger being a 171 unit section for a total of 201 uh units. They are accessible only from Robert Bryson Smith Parkway. Um the smaller section has a proposed uh pavilion area as an amenity. The larger section has a proposed playground amenity. Um they will not share internal connection but along Robert Bryson Smith Parkway they are proposing to extend sidewalk to allow pedestrian connectivity. Um happy to answer questions about that

one.

I have something Mr. Curtis. Sure. So, currently that was zoned u correct me if I'm wrong and I may be jumping ahead, but originally there were going to be several hundred apartments there on the frontage and then there were going to be small homes behind it. Um, I'm not saying anything against apartments, but I found this to be a more uh pleasing um adjustment as long as as long as we know what what's going to be going on there. I I know that u you mentioned the stream area and I'm the the whole area needs improvement as far as storm water drainage go because it's impacting the Welston Hills neighborhood as well. And so that was one of my concerns. And then the other concern was that that it it'd be amicable to that neighborhood that it touches. Um and in talking and I don't know if the if anyone representing the developers here tonight, but I would certainly like to give them opportunity to address those things. Sure. Um to to your first point, yes, there there were apartments previously proposed on that site. Um I believe that plans were at the time, this has been a few years ago, um basically tenatively approved provided um that once the utility capacity uh was established, uh it it required a number of upgrades. Those upgrades have since been completed, but the apartment uh investor eventually backed out of of the property. So um so yes to that. And this is a it we we would look at it as a s you know significant um decrease in the impact of of that overall property. Um the apartment was uh of similar density but it only encompassed about half of this 55 acres. So uh potentially you

could have wound up with with a higher density. Um, I will say that in regards to the stream and the surrounding area, um, a as with any planned development district, we we do uh a critical thorough review on the staff level. Uh, there's several considerations within this development that we made uh specifically for the surrounding areas and and those included uh additional buffering um from, you know, distance from one property to the next uh between the two neighborhoods. uh you know, also privacy fencing along Rob Robert Bryson Smith Parkway. So, uh it's it's going to it's not going to be at least from a design perspective, uh we we wanted to make sure that they uh were good neighbors and and so and the product that they uh eventually, you know, uh revised and and presented as the final proposal, uh staff recommends approval. Uh planning commission recommended approval as well. So, um, and I do believe there is, uh, an applicant present to discuss that.

Has, has there been any discussion on the southwest corner as well? That additional piece of property that they own? Southwest corner,

that frontage street part of the their property uh, along along Highway 96. Yes. So that property uh is currently zoned C2, general commercial. Um it is not proposed as part of this request to change zoning. So it will remain C2. Um we've not been presented with any sort of plan as far as uh proposals for for any use of that property, that portion of of this property. Would Would you like to hear from the applicant now in the work session? Okay. Yes, please.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Brian Braun with Access Engineering Consultants here in in Warner Robbins. You want me to just tell you a little bit of what I think or you want to have a actual comment? You want question? Well, I was primarily interested in the the development itself and how it would compare to the surrounding area as far as um curb appeal. Um you know, a lot of the houses in all of them in Welston Hills are brick from my understand. Will this will this be will there be brick involved in this particular development?

Yes, sir. I I can't particularly answer that question to the fullest. Um I represent the developer, not the builder. And in this situation, those are two different people. Um but um as far as the the plan overall, um there is a lot of green space. You'll see if if you have a copy of the site plan, we're we're significantly off the perimeter boundaries. Um we're doing some grading there. It creates a nice buffer um to not have impact to the surrounding areas. Um we do have, you know, three access points, you know, with deceleration lanes. Um we do feel like this is more of a I guess a downzoning in some in some aspects depending on how you look at it. Um it is a plan development so if there are any changes we would have to come back for approval um which is you know it gives the city a lot of control in this application and that we feel like um you know I think to um as far as the stream buffers go there is a state stream buffer of 25 ft. Um we've also shown um the 75 foot buffer on this plan um which is coming up in the city's new ordinances for imperous areas. So we have we don't have any impervious area within the 75 ft limits um which does help with the storm water question that was arised earlier. Um so um we do have fencing along the along um Robert Bryson where we have any lots that back up there so you won't see any backyards there. Um, we do have sidewalks along Robert Bryson Smith um to help um I know there's some school traffic um that that walks that road as well. So that should help improve that situation.

Um sir, thank you sir. Go ahead council. Have you done any hydraulic studies and storm water drainage studies for that area? Um we have not gotten that far um with this project. Um but we will be doing that. We'll have to do all the um hydraology. Um have to do downstream analysis. We'll have to do all those items as part of the city's ordinance to get a land disturbance permit. So if we to change the zoning for that residential that you plan and the hydra studies come back bad, what's the fix? Are you prepared? Is that within our scope of uh responsibility here?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So obviously if if something came up and the hydrarology didn't work, we would have to come back for a site plan change for an approval, right? Um if you see on our map there, we've got some shaded light blue area. Um that is our reserved area for storm water management. Um you can see it along the um along the creek there. That area is being reserved for storm water management. So um yes, sir. I know Mr. cursed up here and you may be able to answer this too, but will this help water um drainage from the up up the hill from the other subdivision? Will there be any connectivity there to to help and assist with that?

Yes. Yes, sir. So, when we look at this site, we'll have to look at the adjacent property as well, right? Um the drainage basin as a general, we can't just isolate ourselves. We have to look upstream and downstream. Obviously, if water comes onto our property, we have to do something with it. Um and also part of the city's ordinance is a downstream analysis. Um it's called a 10% rule. Um which is part of the Georgia storm water management manual. So we do have to do those things and look at do we have any impacts downstream of us any structures downstream. So you know do we have to um overdetain sometimes um you know all those functions come into play along with our water quality requirements as well. We learned our lesson over time. Hopefully continue.

I said, "Well, we've learned our lesson over time. So hopefully we'll continue to get better at over what you say overcompensating or or making for additional space if needed." Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It all depends on the hydraology and and you know, looking at the basin overall is is definitely a good benefit to look at. Thank you.

Councilman, if I if I could, I'm going to jump in for just a quick second. you you posed the question about um construction materials um and Mr. Braun spoke to the fact that that's not a question he he is able to answer um as part of the zoning process you do have the ability to place conditions of zoning on a property. So, uh, if you wanted to look at something like requiring minimum three sides of each unit to be brick, stone, cementatious material, etc., etc. That is within your purview to do. I know that's not something you've traditionally done here. It is done in a lot of communities. Um, something to keep in mind is, you know, when you do things like that, anything that you do with respect to specifying building materials, especially if it's brick, stone, things like that, elevates cost. Um, so you have to keep that in mind as you're balancing because I know one of the the things that you want to do here is promote home ownership and that uh, you know, price gets into that. So, it's a balancing act that you have to go into. But if it is something that you would be interested in in doing, you certainly can place a condition like that uh on a project.

I I would prefer to work with the the builder because, you know, 100% brick is not necessarily the most appealing. Correct. Um a combination certainly would be. Um of course, everybody has their own opinion, but I would like to be able to work, you know, moving forward to be able to work with them on that. I I've been told that this would be uh at least partially brick.

So, another way to handle it uh would be to require that uh the builder of the product come back uh either before council or submit to staff uh elevations and those elevations have to be approved. Um and that gives you the opportunity to interact with the builder. If that is an approach you want, however, you still want to place that condition on this action. Otherwise, that door closes. So, it's it's something to be cognizant of. I I I think I may have made our city attorney a little nervous with that one.

No, not nervous. I just want to make sure that we're clear in our understanding that if you wish to put any condition on your motion to reszone, it needs to be explicitly stated and part of your motion and voted on by you unanimously. Otherwise, idle conversation to the side will not be a stipulation that will run with the property. If you want it to be an explicit stipulation regarding the use of the property as like those you have just discussed, will you please make it part of your motion and then it would have to pass unanimously. All right. Thank you. You can move on to the uh next property. Do you have something? Yes. Go ahead.

So, I don't want to talk about annexation. I want to talk about growth. This project is only happening because y'all approved last year for us to do the sewer project. Me and Mr. Wingates probably been working on it for about three or four years. So, this is part of your growth that y'all approve that we're seeing. And I'm going to bring that to your attention every time we have growth. That is part of our big major plan and the $24 million we're spending to bring that growth. So, uh this is part of it. This is one of the first phases that we're seeing big growth from and we got more to come. So

Monty, I remember us discussing this very development years ago in concerning sewer when you said, "Hey, we have to do this first." So thank you for reminding us. Thank you, Mr. Walters. He's our our utilities director, water and sewer. All right, back to you, Mr. Curtis. Thank you, Madam Mayor. If you don't mind, can I add real quick on this? I'm sorry. Absolutely. Didn't mean to cut off there.

Uh the the main focal point for me on this is that we are looking at going from what was originally planned as being an apartment complex, which you're looking at hard structure, which runoff is way worse, to actual residential lots, which is going to make it a lot easier um relatively easier to handle. and the fact that we've got another one of my favorite little gyms which is a PDR which as you all know there can't be changes unless we approve. So weighing down one thing I really want to caution on is we do a lot of talking about what we want to see and we all have a great vision but we make law we make rules we make ordinances right now that if we're not here in a couple years and somebody else gets a hold of them they could be taken a whole lot differently. So, we need to be careful with what we do in these moments and what stipulations we place because it's not for the immediate and we're trying we're thinking about the immediate the immediate effect but 10 years down the road what happens with the council that's up here at that point if they take them and run rough shot over the entire community with them. So, we need to be very very careful when we talk about adding in stipulations. So,

thank you Councilman. All right, back to you, Mr. Curtis.

All right, thank you. Um, I'll just move on to the next. Uh, it's the annexation uh by Qualified Investment Opportunities. Um, this these these are two vacant properties um along a public rideway called Lion Drive. And Lion Drive is unimproved. It is there's no roadway built there. It is u it's vacant, but it is a public rideway nonetheless. And so as as a vacant um public rideway, you know, it is uh from what from what we've found in our research um seemingly owned by the city. Um and the uh we we've actually approached Hston County about it. They do not appear to have that in their uh in roadway inventory. Um, and I mentioned that because as part of this request and and not a not a part of tonight's action, I just want to make uh quick mention that the petitioner of this request uh should this annexation be approved uh will eventually return for uh requesting approval that that rightway be abandoned. Um, currently it it like I said it serves no uh no purpose, no access. um all the all the properties along the front edge of that are accessible otherwise and so uh that is part of their request. Um but focusing just on the on the properties at hand they are vacant. They also are directly adjacent to a an existing um mobile home park. It's called uh Christristen Point mobile home park from what I understand. And um so that that property is uh technically a a legally nonconforming

use of that land. Um in that the the zoning code no longer would otherwise provide a way to operate a mobile home park on that property. Um as such it's essentially grandfathered. Um, I will make mention that the petitioners did initially contact the city uh with the intent to expand and improve the existing mobile home park. Um, but it was upon further review that we discovered that there is a restriction to that uh that land as far as its use uh with residential uh mobile homes. And so because of that uh we have just continued to work with the petitioner. Um we we have offered to you know bend over backwards to help them in realizing whatever eventual uh plan they have. Uh what they have expressed to us since then is that uh because the propertyy's in the county and they own the surrounding properties which are in the city, they they would prefer to deal with one jurisdiction, not uh both jurisdictions. And so this specific request is simply for the annexation of the property at the current zoning with no uh immediate plan to develop anything. Um, so as the property is zoned C1 in the county, the request is to annex it at the zoning of C1 in the city.

Mr. Curtis, I'm looking at the map and on on the agenda, it says uh east of Alberta, but it looked like it's in between 247 and North Davis Drive. Is that correct? It is.

Okay. I just want to be clear because of what it states on the agenda. All right. Um the next request is for annexation and reszoning of um property along the west side of Lake Joy Road. And the um the parcels together total almost 26 acres. um 25.924. Um the request is uh is again a planned development district. Um the current zoning of the property being uh residential agro agricultural. Um this this plan incorporates a number of different uses. Uh namely it is a a mixeduse uh loft apartment style community over top um retail units. Um in addition to um a a residential section uh that's a standard residential subdivision uh single family detached and um and then there is a small apartment facility there. Um there's an on-site amenity uh with a with a pavilion uh and a and a clubhouse and and pool I believe. Um I will just encourage you too that if you have specific questions uh related to the construction of that, we do have uh a representative from the petitioner present. Um but otherwise this um this plan is has been recommended for approval. It has been done so um with

the understanding that the petitioner is to commission a study um regarding the prospect of a traffic signal at the intersection of where this property is accessible from Lake Joy Road which is directly across the intersection of Lake Joy and Bullet Church Road. Um and and to basically assess the u you know the need for a traffic signal there. Um it's our hope that as the intersection of 96 and Lake Joy Road and especially the frontage of Lake Joy Road is uh is heavily congested that uh you know potentially a signal there could could be uh useful in mitigating the impact um of of future developments and and obviously this development. Um, but we we do also look ahead to uh potential improvements along the stretch of Lake Joy Road. So, um, yes, county can county Go ahead. Sorry.

I don't want to get ahead, but why why would there even be a question about a street light there? We know that that's going to be necessary for this development and other developments moving forward. I know we technically may have to do the study first, but I can't see how that wouldn't be warranted.

I we as staff we agree um you know obviously to expend taxpayer dollars. We we want to conduct the the proper studies um you know to to be able to justify what we believe is is true of that specific stretch of Lake Joy. Um and so, you know, a as part of that, the developer has um has already begun commissioning a a study. And so, um you know, again, he's he's making the motion at me, so I assume he's got something to say about it. But, um we do we do know that as part of this, uh we expect that to be uh included eventually. The county also did uh did recently at their uh commissioner's meeting concur with this request.

All right. Thank you. So, can we hear from him real quick? I was just going to ask Tisher. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to jump ahead of you, Mayor. You're good. Stand over here. Hey, I know you guys are going to talk about a lot, but I want you to jump right into that traffic light. Yes, sir. Okay. Go ahead. Knock it out. Yeah. So, yes, a traffic um study has been finished. Um it does the report does say it warrants a traffic light. So, we can make that clear here today that we have that study and it does warrant a traffic stay. Thank you.

Hey, good evening, Mayor Council. I just wanted to come up here. I'm Dylan Winggate with Patriot Development Group, the developer of the project. Um, we're excited to bring this into the city of Warner Robbins. We think it's going to be a very unique project to the area and I want to give you my commitment on us. Uh, not only doing the traffic study, but fully installing the traffic light in that area to make sure that we mitigate any type of traffic issues, you know, coming to and from this development or anything that may be in question. So, we are going to handle that on our development side and make sure that's paid for through our side because we're the ones putting the development there and want to make sure that we, you know, bring a good quality development to the area, but also don't bring a burden to the existing residents around it either. So,

so let me ask this question again. I want to I want to reiterate that. Are you saying that you're going to pay for the traffic light to go there, Mr. Wingate? Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you for your commitment with doing that, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Y

All right, that appears to be the last of the um the resoning and the annexation. Are there any other things you'd like to share, Mr. Curtis? Um and I may maybe just didn't state it, but uh the staff uh did recommend approval. Planning Commission subsequently recommended approval of that project as well. So, thank you. Before you walk away,

the safety of the kids when you put this many uh buildings up and you putting up and talking about approving a lot of buildings, the safety of the kids. Uh, have you talked with anybody from the school board in terms of the routes and where these kids are going to be picked up, sidewalks and things of that nature?

Um, the the plan does incorporate internal sidewalks. So, the residents will have access to a network of sidewalks which will ultimately uh connect even at uh along Lake Joy Road which has an existing network of sidewalks. um are you know obviously there are things that are established along Lake Joy Road that that maybe were built without sidewalk. Um it's our um it's our intent to require new incoming developments that are occurring presently uh to to have a network of sidewalks. But what we do uh on the staff level is we provide the information to the board of education for their review and we solicit uh input from them for concerns if they have any. um there were none received as as part of this request, but uh what I do know is that typically it's a it's more of a chicken and egg situation where when the city uh being the chicken um you know approves uh a given project, it is then the responsibility of the school board to uh to properly plan on on how they'll uh route their buses.

Mr. Curtis, I hear what you're saying, but the bottom line talking about who's the chicken when it's all said and done and this is not incorporated, the people going to fill this building up on us to why we did not require that. So, I'm going to ask that you and your group look into this and be sure that it's mentioned, not only mentioned, that it's written in somewhere that the safety of these kids uh is taken care of by the developer.

Okay. I I think um whenever we're doing new developments in our city overall um we should be sure we're communicating with the school board as I know we are um really pressuring them to pick up the kids in the safest manner possible in all developments. We see that we see the different pickup locations and drop offs where kids are walking through active parking active commercial parking lots and I don't agree with that. I know it's not our job. is a school board's job to make sure our kids are safe. So, we want to make sure we're very vocal with the school board and telling them this is what we want to see from you as tax as taxpayers. We're taxpayers as well to make sure they're the school board is doing their part to pick up the kids inside of a community instead of having them walk across that commercial area as we have seen in other places in our city. So, so I mean one thing I I will jump out and mention um is that you know prior to action by city council um you know consideration could be made to add a stipulation if there needs to be a a a bus stop or you know a specific part of this development where it's uh you know reserved for um that sort of thing. Um and then it would be an easier once the design is is finalized it'd be easier to coordinate with the with the school board in that regard. So, um, obviously, you know, having it pass the staff level review at this point, um, that would be my recommendation is is that if there is a lingering concern, um, that something to that effect be included as a as a, um, you know, either either by tableabling it for, um, you know, a revision to that effect or a, uh, stipulation. I think that the the onus is on the school board, not on us uh

when it comes to where their bus stops are. But um I think what councilman was saying and what I'm saying is that for the city of Warner Robbins perspective, we are telling the school board what needs to happen when it comes to the safety of children going onto school buses and off of school buses and they are responsible for finding out where the school bus stops are. So, I know we don't need a stipulation on this particular thing, but it's great to bring that to all of our attention as one Robbins continues to grow and our expectation on our school board to do the right thing and not the easy thing when transporting, picking up, and dropping off our children. So, that's a battle we have to fight with the school board. Um, but I think council and I are all in agreement that it needs to happen. Thank you,

Madame Mayor. We can address that pretty easily. We have uh very good ongoing communication now with uh the superintendent's office uh on a regular basis and I can certainly take that up uh as a matter of conversation with the superintendent and we'll be happy to do so. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Re real quick, sir. Do we need to change the verbiage on item number six to read North Davis instead of Alberta Road?

Yes, sir. Does everybody understand? So on on the agenda on item six, um it currently references um qualified investment opportunities uh.59 acres uh Lions Drive west of Highway 247 and east of Alberta Road. Um change that to uh west of Highway 247 and east of Davis Drive and you'll be safe. North Davis. Yes, sir. All right. Are there are there any other items on the agenda uh that we would like to discuss as a group? Council

number six, Madam Mayor. Number six, we just did it. That's I'm sorry. Number eight. My apologies. Okay.

Okay. Um so this is a $1.3 million improvement um at our Sandy uh Sandy Run Creek uh water pollution control plant. Um, so I'll give you the high level and then if you want to get down into the gory, dirty details, uh, I'll bring Monty forward. Uh, he's our expert and can go to a level that he can lose me in a heartbeat if he wants to. Let's just be honest. But, um, so effectively at that plant, we currently have a rotary dryer drum. If you think about this, it's not exact, but a good way to think about it is a spin cycle on a wash machine, right? Uh so it's designed to to rotate and spin the the fluid out and leave dry material behind. Uh so we're drying out the sludge so that we can take the sludge off site. Um and it's part of um pre preventing uh water contamination going into creeks etc. Um the existing rotary drum uh was installed in 2013. Um and it was designed to handle 400 um uh 400 million gallons per day. Um no, excuse me, 400 gallons per minute uh per day. Um and it is currently underperforming. So it needs to be replaced. Uh the city went out for bid uh on that. Uh it was a competitive bid process. We received three responses to that bid. Parish Construction was the low bid uh on that project. Um now I will say that uh the difference in cost between the highest and low uh and lowest bidder uh was $144,153. So on a $1.3 million project, that's not a lot. Um all of the biders were very close in their numbers. Um but parish

was the low bidder. They have performed work like this before and performed it successfully. Um beyond that um of the three biders all three had to submit supplemental information. Uh the other two biders did not submit it. So they were uh effectively disqualified. Uh so if you do not wish to move forward uh with the recommended vendor, we would need to rebid the project. Um, and there is a little bit of time sensitivity. I know and understand fully uh that there is um a history with parish construction. I'll just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Um, what I will say to that, the company has done very good work around the state. They're known to me before I ever got here. Like any contractor, a contractor is as good as you manage them. So if you want uh to make sure a contractor does the work well, you have to stay on top of that contractor. You have to draw a line in the sand. Um certainly any uh construction project, you can run into issues in the field uh that could not be foreseen and that's when you deal with change orders, right? But I understand that there have been extensive change orders with this contractor in the past that gets down to construction management. And to be blunt, it's one thing to have a 10% change order uh on a project of this size. Substantial change orders early in a process. In my book, that means that the project shuts down, the contract is pulled, and the project is rebid. Uh and that is contract management. So, thank you for that explanation. But as Yes, sir.

as I'm looking at the bidder sheet, their bid was $1.56 million, but on the staff report is 1.3. So, is there a history of bidding low and then coming back with the unpredictable after they've obtained the contract with getting more money out of us? So, as as noted in the staff report, sir, the the original bids included an alternate uh that could be removed at the city's discretion. The city did choose to remove the alternate and that applied to all bids across the table. And that's why there's a difference between the 1.5 uh that was in the original bid and the 1.3 because that alternate was removed. That was not uh a decision by the biders. That was a decision by the city.

Is Monty going to be over the project? Monty is over all utility projects. Uh I will be working closely with Monty. Anytime you deal with a project of of this size, I'm not going to be too far removed, but Monty will be our main guy in in in the field on this. He knows utilities better than anybody we have and I would argue better than anybody in the state. Madam, I Yeah. In the field, I trust nobody more than I trust Monty. Can I ask Mont a question? Can I ask Monte a question? Definitely. Bonnie,

your expertise. Just like he stayed. Just like he stated, there has been significant um there's been a history in the past with this uh contractor with the change orders. In your professional opinion, do you foresee any change orders in this uh project? Only if I institute them probably. So the option we looked at which saved us some money. Uh when I found out that they added the option, the engineers, I worked there for 11 years and was in charge of maintenance. So been dealing with that place for 40 years. When I found out they were going to put a turbo mixer to mix up sludge that's already been mixed up. The reasoning behind it was because we used to put septic tanks in there. And the septic tanks would put sand and silt and dirt and it would pile up. But once we clean that out and we upgraded the plant, we run all that through the main area now that has the sand removal and all that. So that was part of the original design that we would put the turbo mixer, spend another million dollars. Nah, we we didn't do that. So I took that out uh after I looked at what the engineers had designed and put out for bid, but we did put it as an option. So we also what they're doing they're taking the structure and making it twice as big. We're putting one unit on there but we're preparing for the future when we have to do our next upgrade. They already have the electrical panels run the electrical the the actual mount is already there. It's about a 40 foot in the air and it's got this 40 foot long piece of equipment on it. Well, in the future we're going to have two there, but right now we're going to put one that'll do the work of two. All these sewer projects are going to bring in more capacity. All this growth is going to bring in more growth. We're going to have to do a plant upgrade probably

within the next five to six years. Uh we're going to upgrade that plant to about 16 million a day. And and when you talk about growth and design and all the work, all the growth we're going to see, there's going to be a day when we don't have no more land to grow. So, our plan, our 20 last 20-year plan provided all the sewer, everything we needed to provide all the growth that we'll ever have in any land that's available to the city unless unless we annex out farther. So, our plan is right on track. We got the money. We're doing everything. This this is a small piece of the big picture of what we're looking at over the next six years, probably. So, no major change orders that you need for

unless I initiate it because I can tell you if they don't build it just like we needed just like we told them to build it, they won't be any change orders. We we follow we looked at everything that could possibly go wrong that we would possibly need and we incorporated it into this project. Then you say you good, I'm good. All right. Thank you, Monty. You're welcome. Yeah, he tricked you totally. You'll never get a yes or no answer, but you'll always learn things in a conversation with Monty every time. All right, we have a uh actually have less than a couple of minutes, but are there any other items that you all want to discuss on our agenda

during this work session? Madame Mayor, I would like for Mr. Drink, if you will, to hit three and nine.

Three and nine. Okay. So, the entirety of the consent agenda and the resolution um of the for an amendment to the um PSA for 101 South Young Avenue. I'll hit that one first because that's quick and easy. So, 101 South Young Avenue, we um want to extend uh the investigation and review period on environmentals. Um it would typically end on December 30th. We're asking uh and the uh current owner is agreeable to extending that to January 30th for additional environmental inspection and investigation. Um that additional work is necessary so that we can keep the property in the Georgia Brownfields program which we definitely want to do because that uh opens us up to state funds. All right. So the consent agenda,

m Mr. Drinker, for consent agenda to if you if you kind of like summarize them together like for example uh 3 D through F benefits uh to to make it a quick summary. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um so 3C the home occupations. Um you will recall when we made the change to the uh home occupation ordinance Cobb County in Cobb County.

Cobb County is that that's the previous agenda. So, the the the the last uh the last meeting's agenda had an item from Cobb County uh for the fire department that dealt with some uh hydraulics that the that Cobb County was donating. Is that what you're talking about? Memorand County. That's That's the last meeting. Um that's not tonight's meeting.

Miss Stella's on her way over.

Uh there was So Miss Stella was uh mentioning to me before the meeting that there was a problem printing some of the packets tonight. Um okay. So, home occupations, the quick dirty of that, even with the changes that we made, making most home occupations administrative, um, anything dealing with a home daycare still has to come in front of mayor and counsel because that has the most potential for impacts. Um, we have items D, E, and F. Those are all insurance related items. Um, uh, it deals with the renewal of the contract with our employee assistance program. We did look at other options with that. However, those all had significantly higher costs. So, we're recommending going back to the current vendor. Uh we have the Georgia Firefighters Cancer Benefit Program. Um that cancer coverage is required under state law, OCGA, uh section 25-3-23. Um and Germa is uh the the uh most cost effective. Yes, ma'am. This is an annual renewing contract, a service that we use every year that we work with GMA to identify and recoup all franchising fees which are due to the city.

That's actually the uh that's that's um I'm sorry. That's the next uh the city attorneys. That's a little further down. That's the city attorney's item. I'm sorry.

Nope, you're good. Um so then um and then we have our third-party administration and um additional coverage on uh on workers compensation. Pretty standard. Again, we looked at other vendors. This was the most cost effective. Um we have a natural gas uh uh amendment uh with the agreement with Fredo Lelay that just deals with the minimum pressure uh uh on that line. Uh no other changes. Um a utility uh agreement with utility service company. Um that is a $29,510 ad that takes the new water tank out at the industrial park and puts it onto our uh maintenance program. Uh so all of the standard things that we do with that um annual inspections, interior cleaning, emergency services, etc. Um also related to utilities uh the Ardura amendment uh at 108,000 uh that is additional uh engineering and legal work on that uh Kroger Bond Airline and the 33 remaining parcels uh for acquisition. Um, and then you have a um an item uh that's with United Systems and Software that deals with um encoders that attach to the meters that allow us to do uh remote u monitoring and meter reading. Um you've got uniforms for the uh for the police department. That's um that's item K uh at 110,400. That's an annual uh uh contract. Um and it's, you know, it may be that it may be a little less. It won't be more.

So, we're not getting Sinatra uniforms.

We're not getting Sinatra uniforms. And I'm not going to uh ask Chief to come up and crune the item. Um we then have the GMA Telecommunications and Rideway Service. That's the one that Miss Me was just speaking of. That's recouping franchise fees, things like that. um 11,94 uh for Danish shade trees. This is part of the relief grant uh program. Uh acquire 622 trees for uh giveaway and use in um um um disadvantaged areas of the city. And the final one is power DMS. That's a $30,474 annual contract uh um for um the software that's used to maintain, manage, disseminate uh and track review of internal policies and procedures. That's especially important for the police department because they have to be able to track and document all that uh for their uh certification purposes. Mayor, that's as fast as I could go through it.

Thank you. We appreciate it. Yes. All right, that's going to close out our work session. Um, we're only 11 minutes behind. Um, so that's that's good as far as um moving on to our regular agenda items. So, at this point, I'm going to ask for a motion to adopt the agenda with the revision to item eight. No. With your revision to item six, changing east of Alberta Road to east of North Davis Drive. Mayor, I move to adopt the agenda with the change on number six. Uh changing from Alberta Road uh east of Alberta Road to east of North Davis Drive.

Mayor, I second that. Motion by Councilman Lawrence, seconded by Councilman Bib. All in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries. All right. Now we're to item number two on our agenda, which is the formal public comments pertaining to current agenda items only. If you have a comment, question, or concern to share about items number three through 11 on our current agenda, you will have an opportunity to speak at the podium. Please uh be sure to state your name and address for the record. You will be given three minutes on the clock at the top of the retunda. And uh please note that neither council nor I will respond to you, but we are listening. So the floor is now open for public comments for agenda items only. If you have any other comment you'd like to make, you will have another opportunity once item 11 closes out on this agenda. Going once,

you need to come forward to the podium, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am, sir. Um, I'm not opposed to item address, please.

Yes, sir. I was going to get to that, but I can do that right now. My name is Paul Poke. I live at 101 Charlotte Drive in Welston Hill subdivision. Okay. So, on item number five, I still have some concerns. I'm not opposed to the change to PDR, but Councilman Holmes mentioned about the children's safety in the Lake Joy project. We have concerns and I still have concerns that came up dur during the planning and zoning commission. I asked about a traffic light at 96. We already stressed there as it is without the additional 201. Uh and I was told that the Georgia DOT was responsible for that. Not sure when the traffic study is going to be done, will be done. Uh we asked about the sidewalks as well, sir. The sidewalk is only going to Alton Tucker. Does not go all the way up to the school. So I have concerns about that. Right now during drop off and pickup, I personally have to drive sometimes unsafeely through the turn lane just to get to the subdivision when headed south on Robert Bryson Smith. So adding stress to all of this with those additional lots is very concerning safety-wise to me. So not sure again when the traffic study or any other study will be done, but I would like to know at some point uh and I'll send this in an email like when those studies will be available to the public to be viewed or if they're even available. And the other thing is um we're going to address Mr. Ashley's Councilman Ashley's also and asking that the council while growing the areas around 96 specifically uh because that impacts me directly and we had concerns that we brought up about the home value that there be a balance that's found between the current citizens and homeowners of that area to make a stipulation that the builder

provide homes that are at least front-sided brick to look comparable to the other homes and that the lots be at least 0.2 acres to be comparable to the other three surrounding neighborhoods and that'll ensure that in the future when this council may look different that our home values don't drop significantly. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Pulk. Would there be any others? Going once. Going twice. The door is now closed. All right. Thank you to the comments that were shared momentarily. And now we're moving on to the consent agenda to be discussed by Councilman Holmes. Thank you very much, Madame Mayor. I move to uh approve the consent agenda as presented.

I'll second. Motion by Councilman Holmes, seconded by Councilman Lashley. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number four is an ordinance for utility amendment to be discussed by Councilman Curtis.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. A motion to approve an ordinance that amends chapter 24 article 1 of the code of the city of Warner Robbins by rep repealing and replacing section 24-6 24-7 and 24-9. The revision clarified that the city schedule of utility service established update policies for billing late fees, disconnections, reconnections, and payment arrangement arrangements, and affirm that service will not be denied to new residential customers due to prior occupants unpaid balance. The ordinance also updates procedures for collecting delinquent utility bills including the ability to issue execution that may become leans on properties. Uh the full ordinance can be found in the package and I would like to wave the second reading.

I second that motion.

Motion by Councilman Curtis waving the second reading. Seconded by Councilman Holmes. Any discussion? I will share that this ordinance is going to be an improvement on the customer service experience our constituents have when it deals with utilities and the payments of such and also turning on utilities. Um, this new ordinance will require at least 45 days of a bill to be unpaid before there is not notice of termination. Did I say that properly? Yes. Um before people were getting notices of termination within the billing cycle, meaning um before their new bill came up. Now that has been removed and it is the right thing to do. We also state when cut offs can take place by city of Warner Robbins personnel. Uh no more can there be a cutoff taking place the day before a weekend or the day before a holiday. Um, of course, council and I have been very vocal frowning upon that type of behavior by our staff. Now, we are putting it in an ordinance so that we never have to hear our constituents complaining about such treatment. Um, and there are a lot of other great things that we're doing to update this so that our constituents have a better customer service experience at um, utilities. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I

motion carries unanimously. Item number five is a motion for resoning petition to be discussed by Councilman Lawren. Thank you, mayor. I motion to approve the reszoning petition of Orchard Investment Properties 55.74 acres located at the southeast corner of Highway 96 and Robert Bryson Smith Parkway from R3 General Residential District and R4 multif family residential district to a planned development residential. I'll second that. Mayor

motion by Councilman Lawrence and seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I motion carries unanimously. Item number six is an ordinance for annexation to be discussed by Councilman Lashley. Thank you, Madame May. I make a motion to approve the ordinance for annex annexation requested by Qualified Investment Opportunities Corporation for plus or minus.59 acres located at Lion Drive of Highway 247 and east of North Davis Drive. And I would like to wave that second reading. And the full ordinance can be found online in the packet. I second.

Motion by Councilman Lashley waving the second reading. Seconded by Councilman Curtis. Any discussion. All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I. Motion carries unanimously. Item number seven is an ordinance for annexation to be discussed by Councilman Mack. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to approve the ordinance for annexation requested by Wayman D. Evans and Robert L. Richardson Jr. for 25.924 acres located at west side of Lake Joy Road, west of Buer Church Road. And I'd like to wave the second reading.

I'll second that, Mayor. Motion by Councilman Mack waving in the second reading, seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? Madame Mayor, I'd like to um let it be known that the full ordinance can be found online in the packet. Thank you, sir. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I. Motion carries unanimously. Now, we have a resoning petition for 7.1 7.8 to be discussed by Councilman Matt.

Yes, ma'am. I'd like to um make another motion to approve the resoning request of the same property from residential agricultural district to plan development extraordinary district. I'll second that. Mayor motion by Councilman Mack, seconded by Councilman Bib. Any discussion? Uh yes, ma'am. I I don't know what extraordinary means as far as this goes, but it is going to be an extraordinary development. Extraordinary.

I would say that I I I this is going to be a great development in this area. I think it's a prime location for this particular spot. Think it's going to be a a great location. Any further discussion? I like I think this is going to be a prime location and an extraordinary development for this area. Yeah. Thank you. Any anyone else? They said ditto. All right. With that, I'm going to call for the vote. All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. Item number eight is a resolution for uh parish construction project to be discussed by Councilman Bib. Thank you, mayor. I make a motion to approve the resolution to authorize Mayor Loranda W. Patrick to execute the attached agreement between Paris Construction Group and the city of Warner Robbins. Whereas the contractor will complete the work at the Sandy Run Creek Water Pollution Control Plant. This work is generally described as a replacement of existing Caster rotary drum thickener with an and zerit. Come on, Monty Andrew. PDR 1200 unit. I second that. Mayor.

All right. Motion by Councilman Bib, seconded by Councilman Mack. Any discussion? Yes. Yes, madame mayor. I just want to make sure that as far as the city of Warner Robbins is concerned that we ensure that this project is fully supportable from the beginning to the end with many milestones to ensure that it's healthy throughout the entire um process um for this for this um improvement and I'm I'm sure that Mont is going to make sure that happens. But I just want to let it be known that we need to make sure this fully supportable upon start and completion. Monty's got the muscle. We'll make it happen.

Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. I motion carries unanimously. Item number eight is a resolution for purchase and sale agreement amendment to be discussed by Councilman Holmes.

Yes, sir. Madame Mayor, I bring to you a motion to approve resolution to authorize Mayor Loranda W. Patrick to execute an amendment to the purchase and sales agreement executed on September 2nd, 2025 with Mark K. Phillips as successor co-rustee of the Herbert H. Phillips Credit Shelter testament trust and Alan D. Phillip as successor co-rustee of the Herbert H. Phillips credit shelter testamentary trust for a property located at 1 101 young avenue. Again I move for the mot adoption.

I'll second. Motion by Councilman Holmes, seconded by Councilman Lashley. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number 10 is a resolution for a purchase and sale agreement to be discussed by Councilman Curtis. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I make a motion to approve a resolution to authorize Mayor Loranda W. Patrick to negotiate and execute a purchase and sales agreement with the Colombians of Warner Robbins Incorporated on 133 South Commercial Circle.

I second that motion. Motion by Councilman Curtis, seconded by Councilman Holmes. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item number 11 is an ordinance for the 2025 millage rate and due date for tax payments to be discussed by Councilman Lawren as the first reading.

Thank you, mayor. This is the first reading. Whereas section 6.11 of the water robin city charter provides that the millage rate for the city advalorum taxes be set by adoption of an ordinance of the mayor and council. Now therefore be it ordained by the mayor and council of the city of Warner Robbins that the millage rate for 2025 is set at 8.953 mills. Due date will be March 13th 2026. If any ordinance or part thereof of the city of water obams is in conflict herewith, this ordinance shall be pref shall have preference. If any provision of this ordinance are held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect any of the other provisions which can be given effect without the invalid provision. And to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. The provisions of this ordinance were first read on December 1st, 2025 and shall become effective upon adoption December 15, 2025. And this is the first reading. Thank you for that first reading. All right, we have made it through our uh numbered agenda items. I am going to request a motion to uh revise the agenda to add personnel to executive session and also add announcements before citizen comments. Mayor, I make a motion to uh change the agenda for executive session to add personnel matters along with pending litigation. And then also would like to um add announcements before citizen comments. I'll second that. Mayor

motion by Councilman Lawrence, seconded by Councilman Bib. All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. So according to the revised agenda, um I do need to make some announcements. One announcement is regarding our Christmas events calendar. Um you'll see these posted on all of our pages, social media, also website. Um but on the 4th of December, which is this Thursday, it officially kicks off Christmas for the city of Warner Robbins. Uh we have our winter bazaar starting at 1 in the afternoon at Perkins Field and our tree lighting celebration will take place at 5:00 p.m. at Perkins Field right there at Christmas Tree Park. So remember, Thursday is Christmas, so come out and celebrate with us from 1:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. Um, the tree lighting starts at 5:00 p.m. We also have our annual Christmas parade which was brought back to its rightful place on Watson Boulevard. Um, since since we became one up here, so since 2022. And that will be on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. It goes from Davis Drive and Watson intersection all the way down to North Davis, sorry, all the way down to North Hen Road right there at the Checkers. So, please come out once again and cheer us on for Christmas parade and the theme is we believe. If you like uh Polar Express, then you understand. And lastly, we have our pet photos with Santa at our animal control will be from noon to 400 p.m. the day after the Christmas parade, which is on a Sunday. So, bring your furry family friends out. The first pups will be there to take their pictures on

that day. And we also have our new winter activity guide for parks and recreation and cultural services. Please get your copy. great information in there. And lastly, um after this meeting concludes, we do have a public hearing to complete regarding our millet rate. Uh so right after we're done with this, we'll be going out to executive session, coming back in, adjourning our city council meeting, going right into our second public hearing for our mill rate for next calendar year. So, I wanted to make sure you all knew that information before we exited for executive session. So, that concludes our announcements um on the amended agenda. We now will move into the citizen comments. So, if anyone have any comments, questions, concerns regarding any issue within the city that you'd like. You do have your opportunity to approach the podium. Please be sure to state your name and address for the record. And you will have three minutes on the clock on the rotunda there. And please note that neither council nor I may respond to you, but we are listening to you. The floor is now open for citizen comments. Going once. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. Congratulations on your election uh re-election, by the way. Didn't have a chance to do that last week. Um this is a follow up on uh the comment that uh the gentleman had last week in reference to littering and I chose not to do it at that time not last week two weeks ago since I had not had chance to uh uh discuss with the chief which I wanted to do ahead of time. Um, I tried to do that.

Sir, before you get too far, we know who you are. Name, but you could tell me your name and address for the Yes, ma'am. Sorry. Thank you.

Alver Wong, one 09 Alberty Road. I'm sorry. Um, the reason is it's an issue of importance is because it I think appears to be very prevalent issue, very common issue. And as you all know, you don't have to be in law enforcement. uh you merely have to be parents to know that uh criminality and misbehavior is a matter that uh goes in degrees, right? Seems like it uh starts with lack of respect for self possibly because of a immoral upbringing or broken home or whatever. It uh it uh scales up to uh lack of uh uh concern, disrespect for your fellow human beings and school misbehavior goes up to property crime and unfortunately in some cases ends up being uh ends up uh into prop uh crimes against uh persons uh aggravated assaults, assaults, murder. About a year and a half ago, I remember being here in this same auditorium, the ladies in red on one side, the men in black on the other side. We're talking about the 13-year-old murderers. Okay. Uh very, very serious, very serious situation. So, uh whenever we have an opportunity to address the issue at the onset, it really benefits you because you're not going to get into the situation if you don't allow it to get it to that point. I think I'm running out of time, so I'll make it brief. Um, about 3 weeks ago was an opportunity to address the littering issue by uh a basically bag of trash, household trash that someone had thrown in public property. I found it and u uh among the contents were several pieces of mail that uh had the same last name, same

address. So, I called uh uh 911 misdemeanor crime and um asked the officer to make a report. Uh the officer made a report. Uh and he said that he was going to refer to um to code enforcement. I was a little confused about why code enforcement since it's a misdemeanor crime. It's a police matter to be handled. But but appears that he did. I followed up with code enforcement. um officer uh I forgot his last name starts with a P. Uh very very courteous gentleman. He could not find it. Uh and um today I made a contact with the chief. What I was hoping that uh Officer Culie would do would be in view of the large amount of uh evidence that was found in the bag to issue subpoena to the uh to the the family the house head of the household to appear in court and uh explain the nature of that uh violation. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Time.

We appreciate you. Thank you. Will there be any others? Going once.

Hello, Warner Robbins. Good evening, council. Can you hear me? Well, um yes, sir, we hear you.

Uh first and foremost, congratulations, Mayor Patrick, on your re-election. Um before I move forward, my first name is Chris, last name's Holston. Um address 100 Robbins West Parkway. Um one of the few matters I just make sure I discuss um will be uh um we may want to touch base on what the um apparatus is as far as individuals in the city that may want to run for mayor in the near future. Um the popus affidavit states that 1% of the elector elected voters um you're supposed to have as signatures to run for mayorship and um the numbers in which I received um does not represent that 1% um to be fair um like I said to touch base on the next thing I want to talk about or most importantly would be u uh something that's considered a fiduciary duty to both city and council members fiduci ary duty is essentially the meaning and the basis of doing what's in the best interest of others in relation to what our job duties are regardless of who we are and because of said duty when information is being presented to a city as in every city as a council and every council as a city which means this same words can be denoted to every city and or every state in this country. You want to be completely aware of the fact that no matter what ordinances may be implied or no matter what infrastructures may be erected as far as plans, we can within a sense touch base with the daily life functioning of all members of the city through social services both profit and or nonprofit. And with said organizations and programs which I hope to have sit down to I hope to have meetings with you guys shortly on um I'll be able to generate a large avenue of revenue for said members on council and said city personnel and public workers who seem to hope to retire and members who hope to be able

to own their properties one day instead of being elected andor subjugated to inflation in this nation. Um again my name is Chris Holston. Um, I will potentially run for mayor for the next election, but that's promised. I do want to make sure I uh engulf my organization through a mayor Patrick initiative that I hope to have conversation with and I really hope my information will follow on deaf ears. That's fiduciary duty. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Holston. Will there be any others?

Going once. Going twice. The door is now closed. Thank you all for for being here with us today and thank you for sharing your thoughts, making your thoughts known. We enjoy hearing. We enjoy hearing from you. And at this time, we will open the floor for council comments. And we're starting with Councilman Bib.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um it's an honor to serve. I think we did some great things tonight um for the city um some big projects that are out there and and going to enjoy to watch them see come live, work, play areas. Uh and it's going to be awesome to see that that happen. Um just want to say congratulations to all the officers, the four officers that were sworn in and uh believe that we had a lot of openings in our police department. Over 40 some openings and we have steady closed the gap by um uh Chief Fischer and and the city of Warner Robbins doing a great job of recruiting and getting people in. I asked him walked over there just to ask him. We only have 15 more openings available in the police department. So, if you're out there and you want a good job, work for the city, come on. Um, put your application in. We'd love to see our police department fully staffed. That would be absolutely awesome and a great thing to see as many as, um, openings as we have and actually be fully staffed. That's cool. Um, hope you all have a a blessed night and go dogs.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Lawren,

thank you, Mayor. Uh just a couple of things. First of all, um uh good job on the uh first meeting and reading of the uh millage rate. And um I saw a news article Mr. Behringer was in last week. I thought he did a great job of explaining it. There aren't many citizens that could do that um and just really explain what it means. But I think he did a great job with that and I appreciate him uh because I think he knows what's going on and because he pays attention. Couple other things just wanted to um point out with the the new due date of March 13th. I hope we can really advertise that, which I'm sure we're already doing to make sure cuz I got a lot of phone calls about, you know, everybody thinking their tax bill is due in a couple of weeks. Um but it's not. It's it's all the way out until March 13th. So, I know everybody will be happy about that. Give them a little more time, a little more of a grace period there to get those paid. Um, and also wanted to invite everyone to come out uh this Sunday night. I believe it's December the 7th at 6 PM at Second Baptist Church. We are doing our Christmas um extravaganza. It's a musical performance. A lot of lights and a lot of lot of things. I think it's going to be a great performance. Just want to invite everybody to come out, enjoy it. It's free and um I think you'll be blessed. And that's all I have. God bless.

Thank you. Councilman Lornson, will you be I have one question. Will you be singing? Are you going to do a solo? Which one? Which song? Or is it a surprise? It's a quartet called Swinging Christmas. It's a quartet called Swinging Christmas. And then I'm doing the Being Crosby song. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Okay. You have to remind me of the date because I think I need to be there. All right.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Councilman Lashley. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, yeah, great meeting tonight. Great job, team. Proud of y'all. Um, I did have the honor to attend a funeral today for a lovely woman and, uh, keep him and her son in your prayers. He's our, uh, state representative here for a lot large portion of our county and the city. U Representative Blackman, his mother passed away. She was a one of many mothers that I had growing up. um that whole group of moms raised all of us kids and and uh to to see what she's been through the past year. She is in a much better place. She is at home with her savior and but just keep the family in your prayers. And uh other than that, I do again regret that I'm not going to be able to attend my favorite thing, which is the uh Christmas parade this year. I will be in Charleston uh with my daughters uh two of my daughters and my wife and everything for a competition. But I know y'all are going to do a great job. I hope the weather stays away. It can go. It can follow me to Charleston. That'll be fine. I'll bring the weather to Charleston. Y'all can have the parade. But other than that, um, have a safe and happy, uh, week coming up with a lot of fun events that I wish I could be here for. And, uh, we'll see you next time.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Holmes.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I first want to thank give thanks to Mr. Drinkut for what you do when you come before us here in particularly the when we question you about the agenda. I think it's a big help when you the citizens hear about it before we sit here and make a motion to approve or you hear full dis basically a full discussion of the issues that come before you. And again, I thank you for that and that's something I'm hope that we going to continue to do. I know I'll continue to ask questions if need be. I won't ask questions just to be heard. Uh, mayor, thank you for putting on the milit what you did on the millage rate this afternoon earlier and I know what you're going to do in a few minutes uh and later on during the season for for mil tax rates. I'm also appreciative to what we are doing in terms of uh and what we hope to do, what I hope we'll do in terms of looking at uh something that we can do for senior citizens when it come to taxes. Uh as Mr. to drink mentioned there are a few C cities that are already giving exemptions and I'm hoping that we can reach that level. That's a question if I don't get it during the during the year I get it now and I'm so the rest of the council getting the same thing. Again, thanks to the finance department and the job you do and continue to do for us as well as our fire department, police department and Mr. Monte, thank you for the job you constantly do in terms of helping us stay on the upside instead of the

downside. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Curtis.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Again, much love to our three heroes in the uh fire department. Um they did a great job. I mean, that's awesome. um looking forward to um having another conversation with them, but we truly appreciate everything that you three have done to help protect our citizens here in One Robbins. Again, um I ask that you keep um Shaw Blackman's family uplifted in prayer as they go through the mourning process of the loss of his mother. And again, mayor and council, thank you so much for keeping that military the same. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Mack.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, first of all, I'd like to say it's such an honor to serve this community. Everybody has a passion to see our city grow and and love what it is that they the place that they choose to live. So, we all have the same passion. We may not always agree, but we all love our city, and that's a fact. So, um, I just want to make an announcement to concur with everything everyone else has said here that your tax bill is not late because I've had multiple questions asked of me in that regard. They go out on January 9th and they're to be paid March 13th. So, you're not late on your tax bill. And if you own a home and you're in excess of 65 years of age, please take advantage of the homestead exemptions in our city. And if you live in the county or with the county, take advantage of the standard exemptions of $10,000 if you're over 65. So, please spread the word to your friends that are um 65 years of age or older to take advantage of these tax breaks that are already in place. And I I um concur with Councilman Holmes with continue to um provide aid for our elderly because they can't mend their income as others can. They've worked their entire life and they paid more taxes than anybody. So, I'm in complete agreement that they need some tax relief in that regard. Um, and with that being said, we're so blessed to be able to keep our millage rate the same and not raise we have one of the lowest mill rates in the state of Georgia per the size city that we have. And this team here is constantly looking for alternative streams of income to offset rooftops as far as our expenses are concerned. So, with that being said, um just thank this team for the diligence and what they do, the tax team and our finance team. Thank you, ma'am. And also, I would like to concur with um the rest of the councilman with um my sincere condolences to the Blackman family, Shaw Black's mother, Miss Ruthie

Blackman. And I also like to send prayers out to the um family of the young man that um was hit by a car on a moped this past week that succumbed from the injuries. With that being said, if you're out here riding a motor vehicle in the streets of Warner Robbins illegally, no lights in and out of traffic, no head gear, no eye gear, no registration, that's against the law. And you have to be mindful of we have to be mindful of pedestrians as it is, but when you're out there operating mopeds and ebikes as they are on the rise, please be on the watch out for those vehicles as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. My comments come after executive session, but I do want to mention for Councilman Holmes and also Councilman Mack because they both mentioned homestead exemption. The application term for Homestead exemption will open on January the 1st and go through April 1st. So, April 1st is the due date. Um, so you've heard two councilmen mention how this can impact you positively. If you qualify, please seek out an application starting January the 1st. All right. So, we have completed council comments. We have now come to the point of our agenda where uh we have to exit for executive session. So, I'm going to request a motion.

Mayor, I move to uh go into executive session to discuss uh pending litigation and personnel. I second that. Mayor motion by Councilman Lawrence, seconded by Councilman Mack. All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

I think motion carries unanimously. All right. So, we will now be exiting chambers to go into executive session uh to discuss the two topics which were just mentioned. Um you are free to sit here and wait for us to come out. We do not know how long executive session will last. We appreciate you being here with us thus far. And also remember if you're interested in hearing our second public hearing for the miller rate, it will happen once we get back from executive session. You all have a great rest of your evening. and we'll see you on the 15th where we're wearing Christmas sweaters. So, bring your Christmas sweater and um participate with us. Thank you.

Go ahead. Okay. Okay. So, we're back. May I have a motion that we go back into regular session? I move to go back into general session and I second it. Mayor motion by Councilman Lawson, seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries. also like um a motion to amend the agenda to include item number 12, which is a motion regarding personnel. I make a motion to uh to amend the agenda to add item number 12 uh for personnel. I second that. Mayor

motion by Councilman Lawrence and seconded by Councilman Mack. All in favor? Oh, any discussion? Discussion. Uh, this will be discussed by Councilman Lashley. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand. Motion carries. Okay. So, now to item number 12, a motion for personnel to be discussed by Councilman Lashley.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I make a motion to approve a one-time payment of $300 for each full-time employee and $150 for each part-time employee with the city to pay all required taxes and withholdings. I second that motion. Motion by Councilman Lashley, seconded by Councilman Curtis. Any discussion? All those in favor, please state I and raise your hand.

Motion carries unanimously. All right. At this point, it goes to Mayor's comments. And my comment is, "Have a great evening. We'll see you on December the 15th. Uh, please wear your Christmas sweaters, council Christmas sweater uh meeting, and uh thank you all for um sticking it out with us today." All right. And at this point, I say that the meeting is adjourned.