AMERICUS — After enduring a lengthy work session and a four-hour public meeting on fire fees Tuesday, as well as agenda setting on Thursday, the Sumter County Board of Commissioners held its second special called meeting in a week. Thursday night’s meeting was to discuss City/County government consolidation. On hand to provide information on the subject were Walter Rosso of Cusseta-Chattahoochee, Dave Wills of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and Harry Hayes of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. In an overview of the broad topic of government unification, Hayes defined two ways in which governments can consolidate. The first type that Hayes put forth is functional consolidation in which governments merge services such as animal control, sanitation and/or public works. The second type is full consolidation in which the two governing bodies merge, forming one government, which, in turn, dissolves the two previous existing bodies. Hayes provided statistics to the Board and members of the public that were present. With 39 consolidated City and County governments in the United States, there are seven in Georgia. They are Athens-Clarke, Augusta-Richmond, Columbus-Muscogee, Cusseta-Chattahoochee, Echols County, Georgetown -Quitman and Webster-Preston. Hayes noted that Echols County consolidated with the unincorporated city of Statenville in 2008.

“We may be reaching a threshold in which consolidated governments start talking to each other and then start talking to the legislature,” Hayes said.

He said that the legislature has a difficult time passing laws that are fair to both City and Counties. Hayes went on to list pros and cons of government unification:

Pros:

• There is “one stop” in terms of economic development.

• The benefits of an economy of scale.

• Franchise fees.

• Being both a City and County.

• Efficiency by elimination of City and County coordination.

Challenges:

• Bigger is not always better.

• Dealing with the known vs the unknown.

• Cost associated with transition.

• Competition between governments is good.

• If it is not broken, don’t fix it.

Understandably, much of the questions and comments from the public centered on the economic impact of consolidation.

“What the people in Sumter County are concerned with is will it cost more or less,” stated Paul Johnson. “There are a lot of things that could have been done to make Sumter County grow,” Johnson continued. Johnson alluded to the fire-fee issue that has caused unrest among residents of Sumter County. “The City and County don’t get along — they have let the County down.” Wills, who was Board Chair for the Webster County Board of Commissioners during their government consolidation process with Preston, addressed Johnson’s concern.

“More or less the cost of government will go up. The comparison is do you want the cost overtime to be a moderate increase with a more efficient government,” Wills said. Wills also addressed the issue of organizing districts in Sumter County to be the same for offices of the County Commission and the Board of Education, saying that money will be saved by simplifying the ballots. Wills described the process of consolidation in Preston-Webster as a long process that only began because of a good working relationship between the two governments. The initial step is both governments agreeing to establish a consolidation committee or study group to look into the feasibility of consolidation. The study group would consist of individuals appointed by the City and the County who are not elected officials. Wills said that in the case of Preston and Webster County, nine people worked for 17 months to study the feasibility of consolidation. “I respectfully say that it is worth the time to study,” said Wills. He added that if the study committee finds that it is not feasible to consolidate, the committee can make recommendations on how to improve government. Rosso said that the committee should be “a cross-section of the community who are not afraid to voice their concerns.” The fact that Sumter County includes the five municipalities of Plains, Andersonville, DeSoto, Leslie and Americus does make it unique concerning the voting process of consolidation. Wills explained that the vote must pass by majority county-wide and city-wide. If the vote fails county-wide then consolidation fails. If it fails in one of the outlying municipalities, then that municipality would continue to operate outside of the consolidated government. Billy King, who gave his address as “Ed Carson Road” asked if consolidation occurred, what would become of the new County Fire Department. Board Chair Brent Williams replied, saying that the issue would be addressed if a unified government was formed, but fire services throughout the county would still be needed.

Al Johnson, who gave his address as Memorial Mile said that “for consolidation to work it was going to take people coming together. It seems like it is the government versus the people.” Johnson said. “There is a big unrest because of some decisions that are being made. If we plan to go after this. We need a plan to unify the County. Get out and talk to people in your districts,” Johnson urged the Board. Paul Johnson addressed the Board again from the podium. “What I’ve heard from all of you is that the power structure will change but you cannot say if consolidation will increase or decrease costs.” Williams called on the other County Commissioners to give their comments at the end of Thursday’s meeting. Commissioner Rick Davis said that he is for the study but he does not know enough about consolidation. Davis said that one recurring problem he has noticed in his work on the Board is the slow pace at which items are addressed by the Board, in many cases because the County has to hear back from one of the City governments to make their decision on an issue. “We better wake up and find a different way to do business,” Davis said. “Our tax base is shrinking and we are sending graduates from our higher learning institutions into other communities to work,” he added.” Commissioner Al Hurley said that he wants to do what is best for Sumter County and that he was for the study into consolidation, but not if the study is done with request through legislation. Hayes explained that the City and County governments do not have any power to stop the consolidation process if consolidation begins with legislation in the General Assembly. Hayes recalled the consolidation of the Athens and Clarke County governments in the early 1990s in which a citizen committee formed a consolidation committee, causing a groundswell in the community. The group showed up at government meetings and put pressure on officials to put forth  legislation for consolidation that the public could vote on. Commissioner Randy Howard said that as a Board member he had voted against a consolidation study two separate times because he admits that he did not have a clear understanding of the principals of unifying the governments. Howard says that now he would be for a study and would like to give citizens the opportunity to ask questions about the issue. Howard added that he perceives the working relationship with the City as being “better than it has been in a while.” Before adjournment, Williams offered a final comment. “This is a long procedure and we need your input,” he said. Williams alluded to the citizen concern expressed at the lengthy “fire-fee meetings” held by the Board, saying that “you want us to find a way to do things more efficiently and that is what we are trying to do.”