Council members address a number of issues

After recently passing the fiscal year 2018 budget, there were some concerns brought up about the salary adjustment during Monday evening’s Warner Robins pre-council meeting.

Councilman Clifford Holmes expressed concerns with the salary adjustment regarding the portion where department heads determine if an individual gets a raise or not. He and Councilman Tim Thomas said they were opposed to it.

“I’m trying to be proactive instead of reactive to it,” Holmes said.

His concern was that he thinks that they put a lot of pressure on their department heads, as well as they are putting themselves back to where they just tried getting out of the compression issue.

Thomas said he doesn’t like it because it’s merit and turns into a buddy system.

Holmes said if an employee is not performing, they shouldn’t even be on the payroll. He and Thomas agreed that it will end up causing compression over the next several of years, which they just spent million of dollars to get out of.

Holmes said he doesn’t want to take away evaluations, which he says needs to be done. However, an employee getting a raise shouldn’t be determined by the department head or director choosing whether or not to do so.

Councilman Mike Davis questioned this saying that he thinks they’re taking away the judgment of their department directors.

“If we don’t have any more faith than that in our department directors, maybe we need to look at changing them,” he questioned the council.

The original document states that the step increase would be based on an acceptable performance, which can be changed by the council. It’s up to the mayor to make sure department directors perform the performance evaluations in a timely manner.

Councilman Keith Lauritsen said he sees this as a salary step raise, not merit pay, which he explained is where there is an incentive. He said it’s tied to an employee’s overall goals and objectives.

“This is a salary step. You either get it or you don’t,” he said.

Warner Robins Police Chief Brett Evans commented if they are going to have a system, then they need to have one that is automatically objective and not subjective.

After further discussion, no vote was taken. The council plans to vote on this matter at an upcoming meeting.

Also during the pre-council meeting, a matter concerning a lawsuit was not openly discussed. When asked about it after Monday’s meeting, Toms said it’s a litigation issue now and he could not discuss the matter. He noted they received a notice that day regarding the lawsuit, which involves Warner Robins city employee John “Trey” Joseph Hildebrand III, who wants the city to clear his name regarding an investigation that allegedly began with a questionable email.

The Houston Home Journal previously reported in March that the city council received an ante litem notice by attorney M. Stanley Martin on Hildebrand. The Journal previously reported that the following was being demanded: that the mayor honor his promise that all is forgiven and that Hildebrand be allowed to perform his job duties as network administrator, including being allowed into the law enforcement center; the sum of $24,280.92 in back pay, legal fees/polygraph specialist and insurance and medical/dental costs; and that the city issue a retraction to the public and to the press, clearing Hildebrand’s name.

Furthermore, Thomas said they had issues with towing companies over the years. He said they have been working under a policy but would like to make it a law. It’s been a continuing problem. A recent issue with towing vehicles was with the fatality on Watson Boulevard, where the police needed the vehicles to remain on scene for investigative purposes.

“What we’ve done is we’ve taken the policy and given it some teeth,” Thomas said. He noted all of the input was put together by code enforcement, the Warner Robins Police Department and some council members. Information was provided to the council to look over before bringing it back up for a vote.

Also, the council heard from Sophia Reaves, director of operations for Robins Air Force Base housing on and off base. She told the crowd that off base in Robins 1, it’s open to civilians or retirees as well as past, present and future. She said they have more than 370 civilians currently living in Robins 1 on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Reaves applauded the Warner Robins Police Department for their partnership, which there was a dire need last year. She said there was a need for change. There were a lot of stragglers coming into their property, which the police department helped with.

“There’s only probably one out of four neighborhoods that has very little crime right now because of them,” Reaves said.

She said Robins Air Force Base is definitely a driven part of this community. She wanted to let the council and community know that “we’re here.” She also noted nowadays retired military can live on base. Those who stay in their housing only pay rent, electric and gas. Reaves said they provide 24-hour maintenance.

“We treat you as though you’re one of our members,” she said, noting they value their members and ask that they follow the credit criteria, background check and income ratios.

Reaves said Hunt Military Communities has 44 installations across the United States.

“We’re all about taking care of the community,” she said. “It’s all about coming together.”

The council also discussed possibly waiving a $300 monthly rental fee by the Middle Georgia Community Action Agency. Member Dean Cowart, who came to the council at a recent meeting regarding their program for seniors, said they are losing money. Some council members questioned not waiving fees for anyone else. The council ultimately decided to table the matter.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Warner Robins Fire Department thanked the council for approving the pay scale increase during citizens comments.

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