Citizens want accountability for Warner Robins

A group of local pastors came to the Warner Robins City Council meeting Monday to discuss rebuilding bridges to municipal accountability, transparency and efficiency with Mayor Randy Toms and Council members. Bishop Harvey Bee of Christian Fellowship Church spoke on behalf of the group.

Harvey said the group has been meeting now for three years and has some concerns of the growth and operation of Warner Robins. He also said that the group has met with the Mayor and some Council members in the past.

“We simply want to better our city,” Bee said. “We have observed other cities and their different permutations. Now if you’re going to raise issues or problems you must first have solutions, which is why we are here tonight to provide our concerns with some solutions.”

First, Bee expressed concerns of financial stability. He and the group believe there should be regular reports of finances provided to the Mayor and Council on a weekly basis. He also said that the budget for the city should be presented in advance of more than two months prior to the deadline of adopting it as well as exhausting all opportunities to balance the budget before having to raise taxes. Another concern of the group is the hiring process for the city.

Bee said the city should aggressively recruit outside of the departments instead of hiring within or promoting within, giving a chance for more diversity. He said the group would also like to see a plan in redeveloping the investment for strategy to clean up code violations and blight.

“We are here to offer and to assist in any kind of way,” Bee said. “We say what we do and do what we say. We also feel there needs to be an improvement to city management in general with possibly creating a citizens committee to review revenue operations and tracking efficiency.”

Bee also pointed out that the group made an open records request in October of 2016 requesting certain information and did not receive it. He said they then reduced their request because they were told it was too vague, which was in 2017, but still have not received the information. The group requested a copy of all positions filled by hiring from Jan. 6, 2014 through the present by identifying by name, race, or ethnicity. They requested copies of promotions by race, ethnicity, and grade level from Jan. 6, 2014 to present; methods, policies, or procedures available for employees to get considered for hire, methods to enhance employees for promotion, methods to hire minorities for outside recruitment, and evaluation processes for department heads. Toms said he would look into their request.

Council member Daron Lee thanked the group for coming and having discussions with them. He said accountability and equality is a passion of his.

“I too have some concerns of the hiring and promoting process,” Lee said. “We have some cleaning up to do inside this house. And until we openly address like tonight, it will fester and we need to fix it. About 70 percent of city employees are Caucasian and the remaining 30 percent are minorities. And of those minorities, 90 percent of them are at the bottom of the barrel for promotions. I thank you all and we have some work to do.”

In other business, Mayor and Council held discussions regarding the Warner Robins Fire Department. Council member Tim Thomas shared that the city has been in discussions with the Houston County Board of Commissioners about fire coverage for the Bonaire area. He said the county is already in the process of building a new fire station in Bonaire, but in the future, the city may be building one as well.

“But we looked at and within six miles of each other, that would mean there would be three fire stations,” Thomas said. “To build a station costs one million dollars and the reoccurring cost of a station is $1.5 million. So our discussions have been about a possible ‘automatic’ aid agreement, where the county would have their stations, but Warner Robins would still help cover that area.”

Thomas said nothing has been established, but he just wanted to update the whole Council on the matter. Toms said there has been some great discussion, but he is on board to an extent.

“I have some concerns in that every citizen gets the same services as others in Warner Robins,” Toms said. “One of the biggest factors is also training and documentation. We have the best fire department possibly in the nation and I don’t want to compromise the hard work that they have accomplished and continue to do.”

Council member Mike Davis agreed with Toms.

“Just like you (Thomas) have strong concerns about not giving sewer away, I am going to be that way with the fire department,” Davis said. “I am not criticizing the County Fire Department at all, but I do not want to short-change our citizens.”

In a 4-2 vote, Council approved removing the purchasing bid regarding the fire department’s request for construction and installation of a fire-training simulator for the fire training center project. Council members Keith Lauritsen and Davis opposed the vote. Thomas made the motion to remove the bid because they have not had a Public Facilities Authority meeting regarding the request. He said he thinks it’s needed, but did not want to have any hiccups with the bond deal.

The Project 2020 Bond for the fire-training simulator is $715,000 and the bid expires June 21, 2018. Council member Clifford Holmes agreed and said they were told they had to have the Public Facilities Authority meeting before approving the bond and bid. Toms then said a called Public Facilities Authority meeting would then have to be held on Wednesday, to which Council agreed.