Warner Robins Council heats up

Heated discussions arose during the Warner Robins Mayor and Council meeting Tuesday night. Councilman Daron Lee brought forth several matters during the council comments including a development project that allegedly was going on without the council’s knowledge or the knowledge of any of the members of the development authorities. 

“First I’d like to begin with sharing with you all of what’s going on in the city that you may not be aware of and what has just recently been brought to my attention,” Lee said. “I know most have read the article in the paper regarding the city paying two attorneys; our City Attorney Fred Graham and our former City Attorney and current legal services consultant Jim Elliott. Mr. Elliott has been paid over $32,000 in the past four months and has been paid over $3,200 in the month of January 2020. It’s also been brought to my attention that a third attorney has been offered a position with the city as well, and I know they’ve asked the current attorney to resign and things of that nature.”

A copy of the invoice paid to Elliott for the month of January 2020 was provided to the Houston Home Journal. The invoice states the total hours Elliott worked were 17.30 at the rate of $185 per hour. The total of the invoice was $3,200.50, and it also gave a description of what services he provided, which included meeting at city hall regarding development and charter research.

Lee also stated that another situation has risen to where a city employee has allegedly stole time (adding additional work hours to timesheets). He said the matter was brought to the Warner Robins Police Department on two different occasions, but nothing has been done.

“We do have an officer who brought forth this concern,” Lee said. “Still nothing has been done. We took this information to the G.B.I (Georgia Bureau Investigation) to investigate, but they informed us that it has to be brought to them from the city or the county because of the individual involved. The mayor’s office took over and has since pushed it under the rug. There are also deals going on in the city and developments going on that no one has been informed of, but there is a project that our mayor’s office and former city attorney Jim Elliott are working on. And do you wonder where your (citizens) money is going? They’re doing deals you all know nothing about. This has turned into a municipal Ponzi scheme. This is the reason we need to have audits done and change the company we have now. This is a problem.”

Toms addressed Lee in his response.

“When you start accusing people of crimes, you better dang well be able to back it up,” Toms said. “I will once again be contacting an agency tomorrow to let them know that there have been some more allegations as there was a bribery allegation that I was inferred to be the culprit in that. It was completely unfounded as any of this other stuff is. I will tell you all about this project. The developer specifically asked to speak with me first. I frankly don’t believe it’s a good direction for us to travel right now. We don’t have the capacity to consider servicing a development such of that. I certainly didn’t create a scheme or make any funds off of that deal because it has not been a deal.”

The project plans show a residential development of town homes and possible retail stores on 87 acres near south Moody Road.

Toms also addressed the matter of hiring the third attorney.

“I did intend to appoint a new city attorney at the next meeting,” Toms said. “Mr. Graham, I’m not putting you on the spot, but I did not terminate him. He and I have been in discussions, and he was to serve for only a short time. I think he’s pleased that time has come and he’s going to go about life enjoying it. Thank you for your service, I didn’t like the way it was all done, but I thank you.”

In other business, council approved a resolution to expand the city’s water and wastewater lines and wells. Total cost of the expansion is $18,666,840, which includes the areas of Peach County Industrial Park, Kroger area sewer and Bonaire sewer upgrade. Councilman Lauritsen said this was a big deal for the city and he was excited to help the growth in those areas. He said if the city were to build a new wastewater treatment plant it would have cost $154 million.

Council also agreed to postpone the vote on the Russell Parkway Overlay Ordinance. At first Councilman Kevin Lashley motioned to reject the ordinance and Councilman Charlie Bibb seconded the motion. Councilman Daron Lee then questioned the decision to reject it as well as if anyone had discussed the matter with Lashley and Bibb.

“The reason why I am looking to reject it is because you’re looking at an ordinance for one city street, when our city limits in that area do indeed run farther out to Interstate 75,” Lashley said. “Why restrict to one single portion and not the whole area? There was a public hearing on this matter where an overwhelming presence of business and land owners in attendance whom against it.”

Lauritsen said he thinks all of council needed to discuss the matter and even place it on the agenda for the council’s retreat. Bibb stated he felt as though there was never another hearing to update the owners from the first public hearing, to make a decision. Lauritsen then motioned to postpone the ordinance, and was approved unanimously to do so.