Warner Robins tables city charter revision

Warner Robins Mayor and City Council were set to vote on a revised city charter Monday, but voted unanimously to give the community and council more time to review it before taking a final vote.

Mayor and council once again met by video and teleconference due to the current COVID-19 crisis. Mayor Randy Toms and Councilmen Charlie Bibb and Keith Lauritsen were present by video while Councilmen Daron Lee, Kevin Lashley, Clifford Holmes and Larry Curtis joined by phone. Bibb made the motion to change the city charter revision to discussion only.

“We have been talking about this for quite some time now, and the city and everybody knows that I campaigned on this city charter,” Bibb said. “We received the revised charter on March 12. I went over it and tried to create a discussion over email, expressing my opinions, and nobody had chimed in or emailed back. I put it on the agenda to push it through because the Georgia Legislative Session is coming back up in June. In keeping with transparency, I moved it to discussion so that everyone could be on one accord. I have studied and love the direction it’s going, but the city and community need to look at it.”

Holmes agreed with Bibb, but also requested of the mayor’s office to create a document with the current charter and revised charter to be side by side, highlighting the proposed changes. Toms and the other council members agreed to creating that document and having it available to the public on the city’s website. Bibb also said that he would like to vote on the revised charter at the next meeting (May 18).

“I am also concerned about us continuing to push this off,” Bibb said. “The city charter has been discussed now for a couple of years, and the city administrator’s position has already been created and approved. I again ran on making a revision to the city charter structured in that way with having a strong mayor and a city administrator. This (revision) came in March 23 and nobody has communicated about it up until this point. I agree with creating a document highlighting the changes, but we cannot keep pushing this out, and I would like for us to vote on this at the next meeting.”

The current Warner Robins City Charter can be found online at https://library.municode.com/ga/warner_robins/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=THE_CODE_WARNER_ROBINS_GEORGIA. The revised city charter that mayor and council will vote on at the May 18 meeting can be found online at https://www.wrga.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05042020-357.

In the draft that was emailed to Warner Robins Mayor and Council on March 12, 2020, it does not specifically state whether the city will be ran as a strong mayor form of government or by council-manager. It does state, on lines 11-12 of the new draft: “; to prohibit city council interference with administration.”

Section 2.18 of the new draft, regarding the mayor, states the mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city with some changes of duties to include “keep the city council fully advised as to the financial condition and needs of said city.” It also states the mayor shall approve or veto the ordinance or resolution within eight calendar days after adoption or approval, and no ordinance or resolution shall become effective without the mayor’s approval except as provided in this subsection. If the mayor vetoes an ordinance or resolution, the mayor shall, within two business days of such veto, return it to the city council accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for that veto.”

In subsection C, regarding the mayor in the new draft, it states, “In no event shall the mayor be authorized to spend in excess of $10,000 for the purchase of any item for use by the city without the prior consent of a majority of the duly qualified members of council.” In subsection D, “Except for purposes of inquiry, members of the city council other than the mayor shall deal with the city’s employees solely through the mayor shall not give orders or directives to any such employees, either publicly or privately, except in emergency situations or in the absence of the mayor or the mayor pro tem acting on behalf of the mayor as provided in this charter.”

A new section that was created for a city administrator has 10 subsections with several line items of different duties; however, the city administrator will have similar duties of the mayor such as suspending or removing any employee and preparing the budget annually for submission by the mayor to the city council. It does not state whether the administrator will be full-time or part-time, and what the salary will be. Warner Robins Mayor and Council created the position and adopted the ordinance in 2017, but also did not set whether the administrator will be full-time or part-time, or the salary.

Also another new section created in the draft was section 2.28 – council interference with administration. The section states, “Except for the purpose of inquiries and investigations under section 2.17, the city council or its members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city administrator solely through the mayor, and neither the city council nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately.”

In other business, council approved Monday the donation of surplus firefighting bunker gear from the Warner Robins Fire Department to be given to Southside Baptist Church. The church is set to then donate the gear to firefighters in countries such as Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Toms said that most fire departments in those countries fight fire in their regular clothes.

“I am very proud of the Warner Robins Fire Department and the city for making this donation,” Toms said. “This is going to help them tremendously as currently they don’t have really anything to protect them when they fight fire. I also want to thank the Warner Robins Fire Department for their great service to our community. While today (Monday) is International Firefighter’s Day, we thank them for their service everyday, and I am proud to have served with them.”

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