"I'm asking you to do the right thing, I need three votes out of your committee, and let's have the full commission vote on it," says Macon-Bibb Commissioner Mallory Jones.
For the second time, Jones asked fellow commissioners to double the monthly payment for police and fire retirees, but the county Operations and Finance Committee turned it down.
Jones says he's disappointed and confused, "I was very hopeful we would get a third vote to get it to the full commission, let's have an up and down vote for the full commission, but unfortunately two commissioners voted against it, which I really don't understand."
He wants to get an extra $100 to 301 people who joined the city's fire or police department before July 1985. He says the money would come from a fund the retirees paid into when they worked for the city.
Danny Thigpin, who worked for 43 years with the Macon Police Department, says he's sick about the decision.
"I want to throw up, that's how sick it made me, mad. It's sickening to know that we have to come down here like a pack of dogs and beg for something that's ours," Thigpin says.
Commissioners Elaine Lucas and Virgil Watkins were in favor, but Scotty Shepherd and Gary Bechtel voted no, causing the proposal to die in a 2 to 2 vote.
Defending his decision, Shepherd says he has to be fair to all retirees.
He says, "I'd love to consider my brother officers and give them special dispensation, but I've got to look at everybody now, I'm called to be a commissioner to all those folks and not just those 301 retired city fireman and policeman."
Shepherd says he's not completely opposed, saying he still wants to see more financial figures.
Jones says he won't back down and says he's not through fighting for the ones that put their lives before others.
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Other items discussed today:
Operation Midnight Basketball League
Macon-Bibb Commissioner Virgil Watkins wants to bring back the program Macon offered about 10 years ago. Watkins says the goal of the league is to keep young adults and teenagers off of the streets by offering them a fun and active alternative.
He says, "There was a police study that between 11pm and 2am is when a lot of young men tend to get in trouble so to create an alternative solution for that time that's both fun for them via the basketball and popular and also structured in a way that allows for life skills enhancement."
Watkins is asking for $25,000 to fund the league. The proposal will receive a final vote next Tuesday.
Macon-Bibb Commissioners discuss blight funds in committee meetings
Two different plans to combat blight were discussed in both the Operations and Finance Committee and the Economic and Community Development Committee.
Each presented their proposals to send to next weeks full commission.
One proposal would bring in the Middle Georgia Regional Commission to plan out each blight project.
The other would set aside $450,000 for demolishing blighted structures by taking $50,000 from each district.
Commissioner Watkins says be deciding on a proposal, they will be able to move forward and continue to combat blight.
