WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — This week, Warner Robins leaders appointed a new City Administrator. His name is James Drinkard.
While he is new to the role, he isn't new to town. He grew up right outside of Perry, and is a 1986 graduate of Perry High School.
"I'm going to be coming home, which I'm very excited about," Drinkard said.
He says after talking with Mayor LaRhonda Patrick and other city leaders, he felt he could bring both the city and his personal goals to fruition.
"If you're familiar with Simon Sinek, and his 'Start with Why' concept - my why has always been to build better communities. I have that opportunity," he said.
For the past 24 years, he's built up the city of Alpharetta. He worked with them in human resources and community development. He most-recently filled the role as their Assistant City Administrator.
"I've had the opportunity to do everything from, write our comprehensive land use plan and work on incentive zonings and tax allocation districts, business recruitment, business development," he said.
One thing he says he's really proud of is his work to develop a downtown space in the community.
"We approached it from almost a private sector mentality. We had opportunities to acquire properties. We acquired them, we redeveloped them," he said.
Drinkard said that process also included rerouting a major roadway, so that the downtown space wasn't divided.
He says that a big part of achieving their goal was through work with a community. That's a quality he plans to carry over into his role in Warner Robins.
"I was very involved in leading those public design sessions to draw out of the community, what their vision was, what they wanted to see," he said.
Councilman Keith Lauritsen thanks Mayor Patrick and Interim City administrator James Dodson for helping the city run smoothly without a permanent administrator. However he says the city hit the gold mine by hiring Drinkard.
"I think with him coming on board, it's just gonna make that process even better," Lauritsen said.
He said that filling this role permanently will free up responsibilities that were placed on the Mayor. He says she will have more time to focus on other city projects. Lauritsen says this also will allow for more efficiency.
"It's really about efficiency when it comes down to it. Are you being efficient? It's good to have an administrator," he said.
Lauritsen says her biggest goals for Drinkard are offering advice on ways the city can improve, and getting to know the nearly 800 employees that he will oversee.
"Now, we have someone for them to, to really learn from, to grow with, and just make our city a better place to live for everyone," he said.
The city still has other job and leadership vacancies to fill, and Drinkard would play a hand in getting them hired.
He says while municipal vacancies are not a rarity, it offers the city a great opportunity to improve.
Drinkard is big on building teams, and sees this as a great opportunity to build a solid one.
"We have the opportunity to assemble a world class team and a lot of the parts are there. There are a amazing people already working for the city every single day. We're just going to add to that," he said.
Drinkard starts Oct. 28 and says he's coming in with an open mind. He says he will first ask the staff what they think are the city's strengths and weaknesses, and then evaluate for himself.
His starting salary is $200,000, according to the proposed city administrator contract.
While Drinkard is advertised as the first city administrator, he isn't quite the first.
In 2021, former Mayor Randy Toms appointed David Corbin as the first City Administrator. This came after a 2019 University of Georgia study said the lack of a city manager caused disorder and confusion, especially for employees
Corbin resigned after 11 months on the job. In late 2022, James Dodson was named Interim city administrator. He will fill in until Drinkard's start date.