Mayor’s take on city’s recent settlement

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Mayor of Warner Robins provides her take on a recent settlement by the city.

As reported earlier, after developers approached the city of Warner Robins in 2017 hoping to build a workforce housing and commercial development, city council rescinded their support in 2020 after social media outcry and personal complaints to then-mayor Randy Toms, leading to a civil suit lodged against the city.

Although court documents said lack of support was due to lack of commercial space, the civil suit filed against the city tried to prove the rejection was racially motivated. The court found no evidence to substantiate the claims.

Fast-forward to July 11; the city entered into the settlement with Woda Cooper Development for $50,000, paid for by insurance funds. Claims that the city retaliated against the developer would have stood trial on Monday without the settlement.

According to Mayor LaRhonda Patrick, the city saw the settlement as an opportunity to avoid further litigation and spending more city resources on attorneys and depositions, slashing the final price down from $15 million.

Now that the settlement is final, Patrick said the council was relieved after many hours of deposition, her included. Taking office during the case meant hours of studying timelines, transactions and every moving piece of the situation beforehand.

“I personally went through about nine hours deposition, but I had to prepare at least 25 hours of studying prior to, because I was a special type of witness for deposition. Meaning as the person representing the city, any questions that the plaintiffs asked, I had to be able to respond. And if I did not know the answer, that was not an excuse. We would have gotten in trouble by the judge,” Patrick said.

As far as affordable housing is concerned, Patrick says the city is working to bring a variety to the area.

“We’re very adamant about promoting different property, even on the north side of town, the more forgotten side of town, where property values may be lower than if you go to the south side of town,” Patrick said. “To bring these multifamily housings, to provide workforce housing so that our police officers, our public works, firemen, nurses, teachers, regular city employees can afford to stay without having to skip meals. [It’s a] top priority for us.”

During council meeting on Monday night, a rezoning helped pave the way for more affordable housing in the area.

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