Published: May 05, 2008 10:56 pm            

Council surprised by county's move

Surprised. Disappointed. Amazed.

Those were some of the words used by Dalton City Council members Monday after the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners did not pass a resolution calling for merging the two governments’ road departments. The board instead approved an alternative resolution calling for a study of each government’s road department.

By contrast, the City Council voted 4-0, with no discussion, to approve the original resolution, which also calls for almost all road work in the county to be contracted out to private firms.

“They passed something that was hardly recognizable,” said City Council member Dick Lowrey. “Common sense tells me the thing to do is to get together and see if there’s some way the differences can be worked out.”

Lowrey had spent the past several months, along with City Council member George Sadosuk, negotiating the resolution with county officials.

“I’m amazed,” Sadosuk said. “I thought everything had pretty much been put together. It’s only a resolution to cooperate. It’s not binding agreement.”

Sadosuk and Lowrey said they had expected they would spend the next two months negotiating a final agreement. But they said Monday the board’s vote seems to put them back at square one.

Mayor David Pennington said the board’s vote took him by surprise. But he said he hoped the board would continue to talk about getting the two governments out of the road construction and repair business.

“We are about efficiency in government. And our road department, in some form or fashion, we are going out of that business,” Pennington said.

City Council member Charlie Bethel he didn’t know why commissioners voted the way they did, but he says he believes they did what they thought was right.

“I’m not privy to all of their conversations. Until I’ve had a chance to talk to them, I don’t want to prejudge what they did or didn’t do,” he said.

Lowrey attended part of the board’s work session before coming to the council meeting. He says he was concerned to hear board members expressing doubt they had they had the manpower to do all of the work under the plan.

“According to the way the resolution was worded, the work would be done by outside contractors. This, to us, was a major point because we would like to see the work done by outside contracting groups,” Lowrey said. “We don’t feel we’ve gotten the value for the money for the work the county has done for us under the (Local Option Sales Tax) agreement.”

Under that agreement, the county public works department performs a certain amount of work each year for the city if requested.

Council members said they believed the plan called for in the original resolution could save both governments millions of dollars.

“It won’t be just this year, but for years to come,” Sadosuk.

City Council members said they expected to cut 25 to 30 employees under the plan.

“Obviously, that is a downside,” Pennington said.

But City Council members said they believed many of those workers would be hired by private paving firms.

“I understand several of them have already been contacted by private firms,” Sadosuk said.

The City Council also voted 4-0 to:

• Approve a law requiring city probation officers to meet state training standards.

• Approve new alcoholic beverage licenses for El Nuevo New York and Barmeath’s Bar & Grille and change of agents for the pouring licenses at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center and Lizzi’s Deli.

• Approve a 2008 budget amendment including $10,000 in revenue from a state Department of Community Affairs grant and $49,560 in spending including $24,560 for completion of a training tower project for the fire department.

The council did not vote on a request by Barrett Family Partnership to rezone four lots in the Brookwood subdivision to commercial from residential. City administrator Butch Sanders said Barrett had requested the council delay the vote.

        

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