Warner Robins Mayor Randy Toms and Council members met on Monday, November 2 regarding several positive changes for the city. They unanimously approved the City of Warner Robins Classifications Plan and the Redevelopment Agency after having the second reading of both ordinances. Another major topic of the evening was the approval of moving forward with the Mid-State Energy Commission Act.
Natural gas is a popular form of renewable energy for many around the area. Homeowners, schools, businesses, plants, etc. use natural gas as their preferred energy resource to power their day-to-day functions. With the efficient energy resource growing in popularity, the council members reviewed the importance of the Mid-State Energy Commission.
Councilman Keith Lauritsen went into detail to explain that there are two different gas services that Warner Robins currently uses and is a part of. The city has its own natural gas and has also always used Jointly Owned Natural Gas (also referred to as “JONG”).
He further discussed, “Jointly Owned Natural Gas is how we work in cooperation with other cities in this area.” The cities included in this Commission are the cities of Byron, Cochran, Hawkinsville, Perry and Warner Robins.
“We technically own it together,” he went on to explain. “It’s a different line; it serves different areas in the community.” The Commission is intended to replace Jointly Owned Natural Gas as its successor-in-interest. This particular resolution is a subsection to the new city charter that was passed earlier this year in July. By creating the Mid-State Energy Commission Act, the Jointly Owned Natural Gas will create a separate entity to function along with all of the cities included.
Councilman Lauritsen urged that, “This is a pretty big thing here… Our community benefits greatly from this.” With Warner Robins also having its own natural gas service along with collaborating with the Jointly Owned Natural Gas between the other four entities, the city has more stakes of the benefits for the whole area since the city of Warner Robins has a majority of this commission.
“This is the act that we’re now placing in the new city charter to make this possible,” states Lauritsen. The Mid-State Energy Commission Act Resolution is to approve the city of Warner Robins to move forward with the process. This amendment will run in the Houston Home Journal for four weeks and will be available for the public to read in more in-depth detail. The motion was passed by all members on the council and will come back to the mayor and councilmen for a final vote in the weeks to come.
Following the discussion of the Mid-State Energy Commission Resolution, the mayor and council members shared some very heartfelt words of encouragement for the citizens of Warner Robins. They are moved by the positive direction of progress the city as a whole is moving in and continued to urge everyone to push through the hardships of this year by doing their part in social distancing, practicing proper hygiene and wearing masks.
Mayor Randy Toms closed the meeting with confirmed news that his wife, Jane Toms, has had a full recovery from her recent battle with COVID-19. She is returning to work and a sense of normalcy has returned to their family.
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