WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The City of Warner Robins is getting next year's budget in order ahead of July 1, and they're asking for your input.
Steven Crews moved to Warner Robins in 2019.
"Whether you know the people around, everybody waves, everybody's nice, everybody says 'Hi,' and I've never lives in any place that does that. I love it," Crews said.
Crews says he's "pretty happy" with Warner Robins, but he'd like to see more money spent on crosswalks.
"There's not a crosswalk to cross Lake Joy anywhere around, and that might be because there's not really a safe place to do it, but there's just really not, so anyone who does need to cross in this general area, you have to jaywalk, you have to run across when it's safe," Crews said.
Crews' neighbor Tabitha Turner has concerns about the maintenance of main roads.
"Warner Robins is growing to be a more metropolitan area and I feel like we need to update that," Turner said.
Warner Robins Post 4 Councilman Kevin Lashley says the city's charter requires four of the six councilmen to host a public hearing to discuss the 2023 budget with you, so he's hosting his Tuesday. He says if you live in Post 4, come out and share concerns or suggestions.
"Sanitation, water delivery, trash pickup, debris pickup, all of that is handled by the city. Of course, maintaining the roadways -- there are no private subdivisions that maintain their own. All of the subdivisions in my post are all city-maintained roads, so if they have issues there they want to talk about, they could come," Lashley said.
Turner also says she'd like more activities for her children to do for fun.
"We all need a public pool, it's sometime we want to be outside," Turner said.
"If you don't voice your opinion, then you can't really complain about lack of change, or change that's going in the wrong direction from you," Crews said.
Crews also said he'd like to see more of his "tax money" going towards resources for disabled veterans.
"There are small veterans groups here and there like the American Legion, but those are smaller social clubs. I want things that are non-alcohol-related," Crews said.
A couple of other Warner Robins people told 13WMAZ they wanted more bike lanes around town and a skatepark.
Lashley's public hearing is happening April 19 at 6 p.m. at Liberty Baptist Church in Warner Robins.
Post 1 Councilman Derek Mack and Post 2 Councilman Charlie Bibb are considered 'at-large' councilmen, so they do not have to host a public hearing, but they plan on attending Lashley's forum Tuesday.
Post 5 Councilman Clifford Holmes and Post 6 Councilman Larry Curtis already hosted theirs.
At Curtis's public hearing, people suggested several items: Widen Pleasant Hill Road between Watson Blvd and Moody Road; hiring more firefighters, public works employees, and police officers; bringing a family connections executive director position in house or provide fringe benefits for the executive director position; investing in more shelters so single moms and their children have more emergency shelter in the city besides the churches; hosting more citywide activities to foster the community, like a veterans parade or a Warner Robins City Festival; cleaning up blight and beautifying the north side of town, especially around Northside High School; addressing mental health; and more.
Post 3 Councilman Keith Lauritsen's hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 26 in the Youth Activities Center of Second Baptist Church.