Commissioners learn from 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Group Commander, present award to Landfill 

PERRY — The Houston County Commissioners heard from Colonel Josh DePaul, presented a SWANA award to the Houston County Landfill and allocated ARPA funds to local nonprofits in the most recent meeting. 

Colonel DePaul is the Commander of the 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Group, a part of Robins Air Force Base’s Air Logistics Complex. He has just recently moved here from Washington D.C.

“The last five months have been an absolute blessing for me because being in Middle Georgia has been refreshing,” DePaul said. 

DePaul has been in the Air Force for 21 years. 

“The three big things we’re really focused on is readiness, creating a proud Robins culture and our partnership with industry in the local community here as part of the largest industrial base for our organic industrial base,” he said. 

DePaul said he is the Commander for over 3,400 people in charge of maintenance, repair and overhaul of C-17 and C-5 cargo planes and also F-15 fighters.

“Those planes, every six to eight years, after flying and doing combat missions all over the world, have to come to a depot, one of the three depots across the United States where they get overhauled,” he said. “Anywhere from 160 to 300 days, we tear them completely down to the studs, take all the paint, take them apart, replace all of the computers, the wiring, all the structural, paint them and put them back together in the fight.” 

According to DePaul, the 402nd works on a very significant footprint of about 120 aircraft a year. 

“We’re very grateful for our partnership for this community because the civilians that work at our base, a lot of them come from Middle Georgia and the Warner Robins area,” he said. “There is a proud honor and tradition of valor that I am just grateful to be a part of, and it’s been an absolute blessing,” he said.

DePaul shared that he will be in this community for the next two or three years. 

“From the bottom of my heart, it is an absolute honor to be here, and I’m really appreciative of this community and because of this partnership and the leadership of the Board of Commissioners,” he said 

The Board then shared remarks towards Col. DePaul. 

“You said you were thankful for this community, well, this community is thankful for Robins as we appreciate all the good work you do. I admire your passion and I appreciate what you’re doing,” Commissioner Tal Talton said. 

“We really appreciate your presence here and just for all that you’re doing for the sake of our nation,” Commissioner Shane Gottwals said. 

The Board then recognized the Houston County Landfill as they received an award from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). 

Solid Waste Superintendent Jeff Smith said their SWANA award is from waste to energy. 

“We take all the garbage and the waste and we turn it into electric power with an agreement with Flint Energies, and that is what we’re being recognized for,” he said. “I would like to thank our employees because without them, this award is not possible. I’d like to thank the commission for all your support, both administratively and through recognition ceremonies like this, and I appreciate you very much.” 

Also in the meeting, the Board approved the allocation of remaining ARPA funds to a few nonprofit organizations in Houston County. Houston County Family Connection and the Humane Society of Houston County will receive $10,000 each while the upcoming Haven Hope House will receive $15,000. 

Mayor of Warner Robins LaRhonda Patrick said they have been working on the Haven Hope House since she got into office in 2022. 

“We are proud to report that the shelter will be opening in the coming months, so your generosity is going to help with furnishing that shelter with different things such as construction work and a commercial kitchen. It is going to go to use for a purpose that is going to really help those individuals in our community who are without shelter,” she said. 

Executive Director of Houston County Family Connection Valkyrie Anderson said their annual plan includes improving community resilience and youth literacy. They have also just had their 15th annual Back to School Bash. 

“The ARPA funding from Houston County is giving us that push for this coming year in 2025, so we really appreciate that,” she said. “We’re incredibly grateful to the commissioners and the county for this funding, and it will just reinforce our efforts and our ambitions of what we want our annual Back to School Bash to look like.” 

On to new business, the Commissioners approved various special exemption applications. These include a new telecommunications tower from Verizon Wireless, a bookkeeping business, agricultural education business and a baseball and softball athletics facility. 

The Board also approved two rezonings of property located at 370 Arena Road and a property located at 115 Napier Avenue. 

The next County Commissioners meeting will be held on Nov. 19, located at 200 Carl Vinson Parkway at 5 p.m. To view the agenda for this meeting go to houstoncountyga.gov/minutes/2024-11-05%20Department%20Head%20Copy.pdf