Published: May 03, 2008 09:42 pm            

It's about time

It won’t be official, but on Monday the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners and the Dalton City Council are expected to agree in principle to consolidating road and bridge repairs and to seeking bids from private contractors for most major and non-emergency repairs.

This should mean leaner work forces at both the city and county.

The two government bodies have talked about such an arrangement for years. Real change has been slow to come, but may finally be in the offing.

Taxpayers will benefit if the city and county handle change wisely. While no one wants to see workers lose their jobs, the government’s first responsibility is to the taxpayer. That means that the personnel cuts that make sense need to be made. Employees should not just be shuffled off to other departments, in effect robbing taxpayers of the full benefits of the changes.

The city and county also will have to monitor closely the quality of work done by private contractors and make sure the bidding process creates as much competition as possible. Quality work is important.

It’s good to see the city and county moving forward in this area.

Hopefully the process will stay on track, with city and county residents enjoying the benefits in the very near future.



The Daily Citizen

        

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