WR Council honors firefighters, travel team city recognized by non-profit, state office

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Warner Robins’ Mayor and Council offered a comparatively brief agenda Monday night, but used their additional time in the council chambers to dole out several awards, take on presentations and make a number of proclamations: United Way of Central Georgia presented a check raised by the city of Warner Robins exceeding $10,000, WRFD recognized their firefighter and rookie of the year, Mayor LaRhonda Patrick was awarded a Woman of Achievement Award from the Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s Office and Middle Georgia Power, a local recreational travel football team, was recognized for winning a national championship.

At the top of the meeting, Georgia Lieutenant Governor representative TJ Hudson took the podium to recognize Mayor Patrick.

“LaRhonda W. Patrick was elected mayor of Warner Robins, Georgia during the November 30, 2021 run-off, where she clenched victory with an unprecedented number of winning votes for any run-off election in the city’s history,” Hudson explained. “Mayor Patrick was sworn in as the first elected female mayor, first African American mayor and the first minority mayor on Monday, January 3, 2022.

“Whenever the lieutenant governor asked me to come down and present this, I said to him, ‘most people don’t know my history, but whenever I was elected — I was a former judge — when I was elected back in 2004, I was the first African American male to ever be elected probate court judge in the history of Georgia,’ … It’s a complete honor for me to be here today.”

Patrick accepted her award and thanked Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, as well as his representative, for their recognition.

Patrick moved on to the next item on the agenda, asking that Middle Georgia Power move into the council chambers to be recognized.

A mass of young children, all dressed in suits and ties, with medals and trophies in tow, moved into the chamber. They stood before the council members and the remainder of the audience with their coaches, holding their heads high.

Middle Georgia Power recently won an AAU National Title in December. Coach Derrick Embry stood to recognize his team.

“This is a great achievement,” Embry said. “We’re a new organization, started just a year ago. This 10-year group excelled beyond measure.”

The crowd applauded the young team. The six members of council and Mayor Patrick then went to each of them, and presented them with a ring commemorating their success.

Fire Chief Ross Moulton was the next to stand, recognizing his firefighter and rookie of the year — a tradition that’s been growing since 1978.

“Although all firefighters have a great set of core values, these individuals really stand out,” Moulton said. “Professionalism, dedication, mentorship, commitment, passion, empathy, an attitude of humility, a servant leader attitude, a high level of competency, dependable, hardworking, truth-worthy, selfless and inspiring — those characteristics are what is used to select these people.”

WRFD selected Lieutenant Clint Evans as their Firefighter of the Year; Evans was the recipient of the Rookie of the Year award in 2012.

Firefighter Logan Cottrell was selected as the Rookie of the Year.

The two were recognized and congratulated by Mayor and Council. Individuals selected for these awards are nominated by one of their peers, and then those nominees are picked from to identify the firefighter of the year.

Next, Warner Robins was recognized by United Way of Central Georgia for their work in raising funds for the non-profit’s cause. United Way President and CEO George McCandless stood to speak.

“We are here to congratulate Mayor Patrick and the city employees of Warner Robins for their United Way campaign this year,” McCandless said. “Mayor Patrick, when we first met with her, she set a goal that was about 25% higher than the campaign for last year and I’m honored to say that they not only met the goal, but they exceeded the goal.

“The campaign here, $10,102, was a little over 25% higher than last year and beat the goal.”

United Way of Central Georgia is a non-profit organization serving middle Georgia’s many communities helping families find necessary resources, assisting children do well in school, and fighting against the causes of homelessness.

Closing the proclamations, awards and presentations section of the meeting, Mayor Patrick presented a proclamation recognizing military child month, safe digging month, and two recognizing the efforts of the Community and Economic Development Department. Before retaking her seat, the mayor swore in two new members of WRPD: Bryan Childers and Chadwick Strom.

Following these proclamations, awards and presentations, Mayor and Council approved their purchasing cover sheet, approved the sale of surplus items, and updated their classification plan to upgrade the position of Forensic Computer Specialist to a higher pay grade.

The agenda and supporting documents for this meeting can be found at the city’s website, or by going to wrga.gov/agendacenter. Mayor and council’s meeting are typically scheduled on the first and third Monday of each month, exclusive of federally practiced holidays.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, April 17. Pre-council will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Carolyn Robbins Room at City Hall. The regular council meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers of the same building.

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