WR Council approves new city charter

Warner Robins Mayor and Council approved, in a 5-2 vote Monday, the new city charter revision.

Last year, the Houston County Legislative Delegation asked the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government to review the city of Warner Robins’ Charter. The institute did so, and released the review in October of 2019 deeming it a “unique problem.”

Representative Heath Clark, chairman of the Houston County Legislative Delegation, stated in a press release last year, that for years they have received correspondence from constituents in Warner Robins asking the delegation to do something to remedy what has been referenced as “confusion and inefficiencies” among city officials and within city operations of Warner Robins.

Clark sent out an email on behalf of the Houston County Delegation on March 12, 2020, to Warner Robins Mayor Randy Toms and members of the Warner Robins City Council. Attached was a draft of a charter modernization for the city of Warner Robins. 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.

The proposed charter provides for the creation of a city administrator position, amends the powers of the office of the mayor and of the city council, and makes additional changes from the current charter. Mayor Randy Toms and council members Daron Lee, Charlie Bibb, Keith Lauritsen and Kevin Lashley voted in favor for the new charter, while Clifford Holmes and Larry Curtis voted in opposition.

Holmes said he did not feel comfortable with the new charter, as there was no documentation provided to council of exactly what the changes were, and did not have time to compare to the current charter. Holmes did acknowledge that he knew of the city administrator’s position, but nothing else. Curtis voted against it because he said he felt like it wasn’t the right time to move forward on the charter.

“With everything that’s going on, and the people not being able to voice their opinions, is not fair,” Curtis said.

Toms clarified, after the meeting, that with council approving the new city charter, it does not mean it will go into effect just yet. Toms said the next step is for the Houston County Delegation to take it back to the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives for a vote. The 2020 session is set to reconvene sometime this month (June), but no official date has been set. Toms said he is also not sure if the state legislators will be able to vote on local matters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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