Whitfield may carry NGRDC fate

Charles Oliver

June 29, 2009 07:12 pm

— The eyes of other members of the North Georgia Regional Development Center are now on Whitfield County.
NGRDC members and staff met Monday with officials of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to discuss merging the agency with the Coosa Valley RDC into the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission.
“What we got from the DCA is a commitment to try to make the new commissions work,” said Whitfield County Board of Commissioners chairman Mike Babb, a member of the NGRDC board. “There are eight RDCs they want to combine into four RDCs. But in the other places, they are equally numbered. We are unequally numbered. We’ve got five counties (in the NGRDC) that would be combining with 10 counties. And there’s the concern you get lost in the merger. But we got assurances from the DCA they would do everything they can to make the commissions work. But whether they swayed anyone, I don’t know.”
The NGRDC, headquartered in Dalton, provides planning and development services for Whitfield, Murray, Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens counties. The Coosa Valley RDC, headquartered in Rome, provides those services for Floyd, Polk, Gordon, Chattooga, Bartow, Catoosa, Dade, Walker, Paulding and Haralson counties. The RDCs are funded by member governments and by contracts with the state to provide various services.
The NGRDC board has chosen to remain independent, and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners “at this point” wants to remain in the NGRDC, said Babb.
But Babb said Whitfield commissioners asked for more information after the Dalton City Council indicated last week it would join the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission.
Murray County sole commissioner David Ridley said he hasn’t decided whether that county will remain with the NGRDC or join the new Northwest commission.
“What this thing is probably going to boil down to is what Whitfield County does because Whitfield County is the largest player, as far as funding goes, in the North Georgia Regional Development Center,” Ridley said.
Local funding among the RDC members is based on their share of the area’s population, and Whitfield County has a little over 40 percent of the population of the NGRDC service area.
Whitfield County and Dalton combined pay between $90,000 and $100,000 in annual dues to the NGRDC.
“Without Whitfield County as part of the RDC, it ceases to exist,” said Ridley.
Chatsworth Mayor Tyson Haynes agrees.
“At this point, we are waiting to see what the big dog in the fight does,” he said.
Babb said county commissioners will likely make a decision when they meet on Monday.
“I think I’ll put it on the agenda so we can say, ‘We’ve heard both sides speak. Here’s what we need to discuss. What are we going to do?’” he said.
The Northwest regional commission has an organizational meeting scheduled for July 16 in Calhoun. Babb says the board of commissioners’ vote will determine whether he attends.