Wellston Trees & Greens awarded grant for Wellston Park

Wellston Trees & Greens Inc. was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia at Monday night’s Warner Robins City Council meeting to buy equipment for the off-leash dog park within Wellston Park.

Wellston Park will be a 37-acre city park on Olympic Drive off Watson Boulevard. The first phase of Wellston Park will include a 1.1-mile walking trail, a 1.5-acre off-lease dog park within the park and picnic areas.

“Wellston Trees & Greens, along with businesses and citizen groups, are working in partnership with the city of Warner Robins in developing Wellston Park. The Community Foundation grant funds mean the off-leash dog park will have equipment for dogs to use and enjoy the day it opens,” says Art Howard, president of Wellston Trees & Greens.

Wellston Trees & Greens is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization committed to the improvement and preservation of natural resources in the Warner Robins area.

Warner Robins Mayor Randy Toms said Monday night that Wellston Park is a perfect example of what community is all about. He said the park is going to be one of the highlights in Warner Robins. He thanked all those who made this happen.

During the pre-council meeting, Councilman Chuck Shaheen had council members look at a video regarding drones for public safety.

Warner Robins Police Chief Brett Evans said the options are wide open right now. He noted part of it is looking at the variables in it such as operators who will have to get a license. He said a lot of times, the drones can arrive on the scene of an incident prior to police vehicles and fire trucks.

However, Evans advised council that the drones aren’t cheap.

“They’re going to be expensive,” he said.

Councilman Mike Davis asked about hiring more policemen and firemen to run the drones. Fire Chief Ross Moulton said they would have to hire a pilot. Evans noted the drone operator could be at the standby station not responding to a fire. Moulton said he doesn’t see a drone arriving on the scene of an incident before a unit.

Councilman Keith Lauritsen asked about running the drones through the 911 system, which Evans said the county runs the 911 Center, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get everyone involved countywide.

Moulton suggested it would be better to have one person on call to run the drones.

Davis noted the city just recently approved for drone regulations on citizens but now they’re going to go get them. Shaheen replied, “One’s public safety. We’ve got to do something to protect our citizens.” He told Evans and Moulton to decide on the matter.

Shaheen then mentioned the Credit Union, which is looking to move portion of their building from downtown to Highway 41 and Russell Parkway. They would like to put in a traffic light for a left-hand turning lane, which the light is estimated to cost about $200,000. Shaheen said the company’s board and the city’s staff will have to decide who is going to pay for the traffic light. He said this matter may come back before the council once the engineers make a final decision.

Also, Nick Prince, a representative from Government Window, spoke to the council about e-payment solutions during the pre-council meeting. He said they service more than 200-300 cities and counties in the southeast, mainly in Georgia, and already have a relationship with the city processing online ticket payments on the court side and have been doing taxes with them for quite some time. This is only a service agreement. Prince noted it’s a no cost, no contract solution. He said it will help the city save a lot of money and will be very convenient for customers to make payments.

During the regular meeting, the council approved purchasing bids, employee classification plan change, for Shaheen to serve as a Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia voting delegate and real property sale/103 Stablegate Lane.

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