Warner Robins City Council approves ‘Chief Evans rule’

New employees for the city of Warner Robins no longer have a waiting period to be eligible for promotion.

The City Council voted Tuesday to lift a ban on promotions during the probationary period, which had been a year and is now six months.

The move came after a discussion at the previous council meeting in which the original proposal was to cut the probationary period to six months so that employees could be promoted sooner. But Police Chief Brett Evans suggested eliminating the ban on promotions for new employees regardless of whether they are still on probation.

Council members agreed it was unfair for new employees who are performing well to be denied the chance to move into a higher position, yet someone could be hired off the street and put into that same position.

Councilman Keith Lauritsen, who made the motion to lift the ban, called the new policy “the Chief Evans rule.”

“This keeps us from having to hire someone off the street that doesn’t already work for the city and penalize the person that already does just because they are in the probationary period,” Lauritsen said.

Also at the meeting, the council voted to renew the contract of City Attorney Jim Elliott, who is entering his 32nd year of service for the city.

“We’ve got best city attorney in the country,” said Councilman Chuck Shaheen.

Elliott is among about a dozen employees who could retire early under a change approved by the council at the last meeting. The council agreed to allow employees to retire after 30 years of service regardless of age. Previously employees had to reach age 60 to retire with full benefits. Elliott turns 60 later this year.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Warner Robins City Council approves ‘Chief Evans rule’."