Walls coming down at Commercial Circle location

WARNER ROBINS — The walls are coming down at the old White’s Tire City at 104 S. Commercial Circle in Warner Robins.

The city condemned the building and hired Level Line of Perry, the low bidder, to do the asbestos abatement and demolition for $23,000, said City Purchasing Agent Mark Baker.

The work is expected to take about two weeks, he said.

“It will clean up an area the city is trying to make better for the community,” Baker said.

The roof of the building was caving in, and tires stored there created a fire hazard, said City Attorney Jim Elliott.

The city obtained a court order to demolish the building through its nuisance abatement ordinance, and the costs the city incurs will be added to the property owner’s tax bill, Elliott said.

The city also spent about $9,000 for removal of “hundreds” of tires on site and $850 for an asbestos survey, Baker said.

Between 800 to 1,000 of the tires from the site may have been dumped illegally on the city’s industrial park property. Warner Robins Mayor Chuck Shaheen has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the handling of the discovery of the illegally dumped tires.

“On Feb. 17, 2010, employees of the city discovered a site where a large number of tires had been illegally dumped in the city’s Foy S. Evans Industrial Park, and a criminal investigation ensued,” Shaheen wrote in a letter Friday requesting the GBI investigation.

“A number of allegations have arisen out of that investigation, and I believe it would be in the best interest of the city that an outside agency inquire into the handling of the matter.”

Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI office in Perry, is expected to meet with the city attorney to evaluate how the agency will handle the request, including whether it will investigate, said Craig Rotter, assistant special agent in charge of the GBI’s Perry office.

Warner Robins police officer Michael Allen Moriarty, who works in code enforcement, discovered the tires dumped at the industrial park and suspected the tires came from White’s, according to a Warner Robins police report.

In October, former Mayor John Havrilla and the City Council voted to pay Francisco Resendez, 54, to remove the tires from White’s. Baker said he later learned that Resendez did not have a license required to haul more than 100 tires and told him he could not finish the project.

Tires that Resendez had at that time were loaded into a trailer of a private hauler the city contracted with for proper disposal, Baker said. City employees also removed the remaining tires on site for disposal by a private company, Baker said. Resendez was paid $700 for his services.

Baker said he did not know how many tires Resendez may have previously removed.

Warner Robins police Sgt. Eric Gossman, who works in code enforcement, said police had enough circumstantial evidence to build a felony illegal dumping case against Resendez but that Shaheen told him not to prosecute. Shaheen said he did not sign a waiver of prosecution nor should he have been asked to make the call on whether Resendez should be prosecuted.

Resendez said in a telephone interview Tuesday night that, “I did not dump any tires.”

Instead, Resendez said he, and others he hired to help him, put about 2,500 tires into one room of the White’s building during a three-week period. Resendez said he next filled up a trailer with about 1,200 of those tires but later learned that he did not have a required EPA permit to haul the tires and contacted Baker.

Resendez said he transferred those tires to another trailer at the city’s direction.

Resendez also said he had given away or sold about 200 other tires.

He said it would have been impossible for him to have hauled the tires away because he owns only a car.

Resendez, who noted he is an American citizen born in Texas, said he moved to Warner Robins recently. Resendez said he feels his reputation is on the line because he is being accused of something he said he has not done.

Also, Shaheen said he did not ask police to call off the investigation. Gossman said the investigation was resumed Friday after he learned that the mayor had changed his position. Gossman also said he did not ask Shaheen whether the case should be prosecuted but was told not to prosecute the case after informing Shaheen about it.

The investigation into the illegal dumping has been turned over to the Warner Robins police criminal investigations division, according to Capt. Bill Capps, head of code enforcement, and Capt. Chris Rooks, head of investigations.

Resendez said Warner Robins police talked with him Tuesday, but he was not charged with any crime. He said police have no evidence against him.