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58 maconmagazine.com | April/May 2024 more than 100 open positions in the city's workforce that would soon include the police chief, fire chief, and human resource director. At the base of the city's hiring issues lay low pay. Patrick convinced the council to instigate a hiring study that showed the city's obsolete pay scale was lower than similarly sized cities. Council voted in a new pay scale and were able to adjust the salaries without raising taxes, something Patrick touted at her first "State of the City" address on March 6. She also said, "the city was getting off the financial naughty list" after completing two audits in one year. When she became mayor, she didn't realize how crucial her experience as an attorney would be. But in managing over 700 city employees, working to improve the lives of 83,393 residents, her education helped her "shine a little brighter" as "a good steward of taxpayer dollars," Patrick said. "She knew how to stand her ground in contracting and procurement negotiations on behalf of the city," where it is a common practice of contractors, after winning a bid, inflate costs using change orders. I N S P I R AT I O N S What spurred Patrick's ambition? "Honestly, it's going to sound very cliché, and unauthentic," Patrick said, "but that's all I can draw from. I was looking at President Obama, because he made a very bold move to run for office, and a lot of people thought there was no way that he could do it, and he would win. I kept thinking about his slogan, 'Yes we can,' and I really honed in on that. I went through a list of things that people said would be a barrier for me to be in this role, and it was yes, we can do it. "I also connected with Dr. Vernard Hodges [Middle Georgia native and star of the reality Hulu TV series, "Critter Fixers"] who wrote the book, 'Bet on Yourself.' The blessing is in the title, to me," said Patrick. "I mentioned there were a lot of barriers that people said equated that I couldn't win this position. I had to believe in me." A N EW E R A B E G I N S Mayor Patrick has brought a fresh breeze of collaboration to city government. Battles between council and mayor were a staple of life in Warner Robins. Mayor Patrick's approach is different. "First, I had to realize that I am a female," she said. "There were no welcoming arms to me. They were divided on the previous mayor. They were not happy to have me in the seat. That was a challenge, a challenge I knew I could overcome, just by being me. So, I put everything into team, team, team. It was something intentional. It wasn't something when I came into office that I intended to do, but I quickly realized that if I didn't do this as a team, I wouldn't be successful." She started the team building on the day she and