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Viewpoints
Our views
To be the best
Whew, boy! Robins Air Force Base is the
best Air Force Base in the world. But we
knew that all the time didn’t we. After all,
from our midst come the civilian and military
workers who make Robins Air Force Base
great.
But now it’s official. A team of experts has
selected Robins from four finalists for the
honor. The selection is based on several
criteria which Robins leaders had to meet.
Since Robins came off the Base
Realignment and Closure Commission study
list two years ago, Maj. Gen. William P. Hallin
and his top leaders have talked constantly
about the “Team Robins” concept and making
Robins the most valuable Air Logistics Center
installation in the country.
Since then, the C-141 project has been
completed ahead of time and under budget.
Other projects have proceeded with high
quality marks. Workers, both military and
civilian, have been constantly challenged to do
their best possible work as economically as
possible.
The proof is in the puddin’, and the recipe
Which Hallin and others followed has resulted
in this honor and award. To be the best means
hard work and preparing to deal with
problems on the job. That’s what Robins
workers have done. They have earned this
honor as the best there is.
Maj. Gen. Hallin, lead your Team Robins in
a bow. You’ve earned it, all of you. Thank you
for working hard to preserve jobs and the
economic engine which drives middle
Georgia. You’ve done well.
Abide by the law
Officials at the Peachstate Cable TV
operation have announced plans to prosecute
those are are stealing cable TV services.
We can’t blame them. After all, they are
selling a product greater availability of
clear reception television channels which
costs them money to provide. When people
steal these services, they cause the company
to lose money and eventually charge paying
customers more.
Theft be it the tapping into a cable TV
line to steal service or taking a loaf of bread
or bar of candy from the grocery store
costs American businesses unbelievable
amounts of money each year. Consumers
suffer by paying higher costs. Honesty pays.
Recalling the war
Editor:
As a lifetime resident of Houston County, I always
enjoy reading your column, “50 years ago.”
In 1992 our Perry High School Class celebrated our
50th year with our reunion. Skeet Chapman browsed
through your files and compiled a list of items
concerning our class of 1942.
I had the honor of reading these as part of the
program. Needless to say, we got quite a chuckle from
them. Items like “ask the shcrt Elko blond what she
thinks about the tire shortage on 1941 black
Plymouths,” or “ask three senior girls what is the latest
in Americus.”
My purpose in writing this letter though is to say I
was surprised to see in the Feb. 15 issue that I was
reported missing in action in France.
I would also like to mention J.D. Siembridge, who
was listed as having been awarded the Silver Star
posthumously for gallantry in action. J.D.’s family and
my family were iifetime friends and residents of
Houston County.
His mother, Miss Cora, as I always called her, and
my mother were the best of friends their entire lifetime.
J.D. and I happened to be home on leave at the same
time in 1944 prior to going overseas. At that time, you
traveled by train or bus.
When it came time for us to depart, we left on the
same train. He was going to California. I was going to
Kansas. We rode together as far as Evansville, Ind.,
and then went our separate ways. He was killed in
action and I became a prisoner of war. I was fortunate
to return home.
I still vividly remember the difficulty I had when I
returned home and went to see Miss Cora and her
family for the first time. Why had her son been killed
and I was the lucky one to come home? Only God
knows the answer.
Frank Ryals
Warner Robins
Houston limes-Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
(912) 987-1823 • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
Bob Tribble President
Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager
Sherri Wengler Advertising Manager
News: Larry Hitchcock, Pauline Lewis; Sports: Phil Clark; Composition:
Lynn Wright, Sue Sapp; Classified Advertising: Melanie Bullington;
Circulation and Photography: Eric Zellars; Bookkeeping: Judy Morrow.
4A
Steps taken to unify county and cities
Last week, elected officials in this
county did what they are supposed to do
they sat down at a table and worked
out their disagreements like adults.
They determined a reasonable
formula for funding the Houston County
Library System.
Several weeks ago, some members of
Warner Robins City Council wanted to
reduce funding by the city for the library
system by 20 percent per year over a
five-year period.
Their argument, somewhat
reasonable, was that residents of Warner
Robins were paying taxes twice for the
library system.
Taken at face value, their argument
was valid in that the city of Warner
Robins has for several year been
providing 49 percent of the local funding
share for the library. Houston County
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Spotlight on city administrative unit
This column is dedicated to the
employees of the City’s Administrative
Department those folks in the boiler
room shoveling the coal which fuels
the other city departments.
Admittedly, office jobs are not the
most glamorous the city offers, but the
diversity of our work and constant
contact with the public make our days
anything but mundane. There is a sense
of satisfaction in being part of the
overall city team and in knowing our
efforts are an integral part of service to
Perry’s citizens.
As employees of the “paper work”
division, it is rewarding to be at the
heart of the city’s activities. We are
privileged to welcome new citizens
and businesses to Perry, to furnish
information to the public and
employees, provide financial structure,
personnel services and many other
support services. We can summarize
the functions of the Administrative
Department by dividing it into six
basic categories.
The Accounting Office is headed by
Brenda King, who is assisted by
Debbie Smith. They are responsible for
all financial activities of the city,
including but certainly not limited to,
general ledger, accounts payable and
receivable, investments, internal
controls and debt administration.
Governmental accounting is
complex, but Brenda and Debbie are
up to the challenge.
Taxes and licenses are the
responsibility of Peggy Wilson and her
assistant, Carol Fudge. No one likes to
pay taxes, but at least Perry has two of
the nicest “tax collectors” anywhere.
In addition to these duties, Carol
and Peggy are responsible for the
city’s main switchboard, one of the
most under-rated tasks at City Hall.
The person who answers the
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of
Our Views reflect the position of the Houston Times-Joumal. Signed columns
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the writers and not necessarily those of this newspaper.
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Our Goal
The Houston Times-Joumal is published proudly for the citizens of Houston
- Wednesday, March 22,1995
Jj ‘ OKI
Johnson HHH
Editor
provided about 35 percent while Perry
and Centerville split the reminder.
These council members argued
(correctly) that all who live within the
boundaries of Houston County, whether
they live inside one of the three
incorporated municipalities or not, live
in Houston County and if they own
property, they also pay taxes to Houston
County. These city residents were
paying for library support to both city
and county governments.
That argument is well taken. The
Janice
Williams tSt
Finance Director,
City of Perry
switchboard is likely to catch an earful
of a citizen’s rage when the garbage
wasn’t picked up on time or when a
sewer line backs up.
Peggy and Carol also assist with city
elections.
The Utilities Office is staffed by
Geraldine Graham, Bill Gore and Susie
Lumpkin. Monthly, these three listen
to every excuse in the book for non
payment or late payment of utility
bills.
If Geraldine, Bill and Susie seem
relentless in their attempts to collect
over-due bills, remember that Perry’s
utility fees are lower than neighboring
cities because we are able to keep our
costs down.
As it is, we lose more than $12,000 a
year in uncollectible utility accounts.
In addition to this office staff, Bill
Gore supervises three water and gas
meter readers. Tracey Floyd, Russ
Allen and Doug King are faithful to
their task, come rain, shine or bad
dogs.
Our Personnel Office is ably staffed
by Karen Bycenski. Karen maintains
our personnel files, pays us, manages
our health insurance and keeps up out
of trouble by assuring compliance with
personnel policies and state and federal
labor laws.
The city has a centralized purchasing
office, managed by Jim Moody, who
works with department heads to
develop bid specifications and secure
Houston runes-Journal
negotiators from the cities of Perry,
Centerville and Warner Robins met with
county officials to reach a reasonable
agreement.
The new formula provides for the
county to pay a much greater share of the
budget since all 93,000 or so of us live in
the county. The agreement makes sense
for library funding and may well be
applicable to other multi-government
items as well.
Negotiators deserve praise for
approaching the sensitive subject and
working out, in slightly mor than two
hours of talks, a satisfactory solution to
the problem.
I have particular praise for County
Commissioner Larry Snellgrove, who
has been one of the hardest workers in
the effort to get the county government
and the three city governments in this
the best quality merchandise at the best
prices.
Moody is busy this time of year
helping us price our wish list for the
fiscal year 1996 budget.
Liz Stinson had worked with Jim in
purchasing as well as in most other
administrative offices until last week
when she left us to take another job.
We’ll miss Liz.
Government buildings maintenance
is supervised by Bill Gore and carried
out by Marvin Lester. Easily the most
often paged employee, Marvin good
naturedly obliges us with everything
from watering plants to moving
furniture.
Grants administration, elections,
risk management, records management
budgeting and keeping Council minutes
are several of tpe other major functions
carried on by the Administrative
Department.
No discussion of this department
would be complete without including
our Laura. Although not actually
showing in the Administrative
Department on the organizational chart,
Laura Smith is not only secretary to the
city mayor but City Hall’s cheerleader,
hostess, and the one person who can
always make us laugh on those really
trying days.
I have tremendous respect for the
work ethics, professionalism and
dedication of all the Administrative
employees and am pleased to have this
opportunity to briefly turn the spotlight
on them.
(Janice Williams is the finance
director for the city of Perry. This is
the third in a series of columns
prepared for publication by city
department heads. To ask a question of
the department head, contact the
Times-Journal at P.O. Drawer M,
Perry, 31069, or call 987-1823.)
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county to the bargaining table to work
out their differences.
Snellgrove has also been diligent in
his efforts to combine, wherever
possible, any rules and regulations or
other services which could reduce the
cost of government.
When I spoke to him after the meeting,
I reminded him of one of the areas he has
worked hard to get some changes made
which have yet to take place.
That area is the development of
building codes which apply to all areas
of the community. Today, there exists a
hodgepodge of codes which vary from
one government to another. A contractor
has to be a legal wizard to keep up with
what is right in Centerville or Perry as
opposed to Warner Robins or in the
unincorporated area.
Is there hope in sight?
Larry
Hitchcock
News Editor
Looking at
new ways to
make budgets
The Perry City Council did
something last week that would help a
lot of other government agencies when
it comes to spending taxpayers’
dollars.
The council went through the entire
city employee-job chart and took a
hard look at what jobs were open and
did they really need to be filled at this
time.
Although the jobs were authorized,
the city fathers were looking to see if
they really wanted to spend the funds
now.
In this era of tight budgets,
governmental agencies everywhere are
having to look in every nook and
cranny to see if they can squeeze out a
few more dollars.
The Houston County Commission
has already cut health care spending
and hasn’t given the sheriff’s
department all the money it wants.
Some private businesses have used a
budgeting technique called “zero
based” budgets as one method of
finding places to trim spending.
Instead of using figures from the
previous year’s budget as a starting
point and adding to or subtracting from
those numbers, the businesses require
their department heads to start at zero
(no funds) and figure what they need to
operate for the next year. Some
companies even require justification
for each planned expenditure.
In private business, any revenue not
spent on budgeted items is called
profit. In the public sector, part of the
funds could go into a contingency
account to take care of unexpected
emergencies and the rest could be
deposited in a special account to reduce
debt at the end of the budget year.
With the proper controls on
spending of the contingency fund, that
amount could grow from year-to-year.
Should some major disaster require
spending more than is available,
action could be taken to dip into the
“profit” fund being held to reduce
debt, but only under extremely strict
guidelines.
Giving governmental departments 5
or 7 percent raises is almost automatic
when it comes to talking about the next
year’s budget. That’s 5 or 7 percent
more than was given this year.
Private businesses try to give raises,
but if the money isn’t there, neither are
the raises.*
Companies can’t go out and “raise
taxes” to cover salary increases. Prices
can go up, but the public has a chance
to decide if they want to pay the price.
Unfortunately, the public doesn’t
have the same option when it comes to
paying for tax increases.