Who would be in or out if the Birmingham and the suburbs in JeffCo Merged?

[jakabedy]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

I think so. Shades Mtn County would of been a better name for it IMO.

The reason it didnt get any traction is because it would of been un-constitutional. According to the state constitution a new county would have to be at least 600 sq miles.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Beason proposed a new amendment.

[Tourian]

That 600 sq miles requirement is a good rule. All those annoying little counties in Georgia come to mind. Pandemonium indeed. I do like the county names on the tags though...

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by Tourian

That 600 sq miles requirement is a good rule. All those annoying little counties in Georgia come to mind. Pandemonium indeed. I do like the county names on the tags though...

According to Wikipedia

"One traditional reasoning for the creation and location of so many counties in Georgia was that a country farmer, rancher, or lumberman, should be able to travel to the legal county seat town or city, and then back home, in one day on horseback or via wagon."

Also......

The proliferation of counties in Georgia led to multiple state constitutional amendments attempting to establish a limit on the number of counties in the state. The most recent such amendment, ratified in 1945, limited the number to 159 counties, although there had been 161 counties from 1924 to 1931. In a very rare consolidation of counties, both Campbell County and Milton County were annexed into Fulton County in 1932 as a financial move during the Great Depression, since those two county governments were nearly bankrupt.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by jakabedy

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Beason proposed a new amendment.

Doubt it would pass though, only because it would require talking land from existing counties and therefore existing tax bases.

Jefferson County is just over 1100 sq miles. So no county could be created within its existing borders.

[jakabedy]

The horseback/wagon thing was handled differently in Alabama. There are a lot of counties that had court/official offices in two locations -- many still do. Birmingham/Bessemer in Jeffco is the most stark split, as it has separate judges and everything. But look at St. Clair (Pell City/Ashville - two county seats), Barbour (Eufaula/Clayton - court held in both places).

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by jakabedy

The horseback/wagon thing was handled differently in Alabama. There are a lot of counties that had court/official offices in two locations -- many still do. Birmingham/Bessemer in Jeffco is the most stark split, as it has separate judges and everything. But look at St. Clair (Pell City/Ashville - two county seats), Barbour (Eufaula/Clayton - court held in both places).

There was a proposal back in the early 20th century (im assuming before the 600 sq mil amendment) to make the Western part of Jefferson County into its own county with Bessemer as the county seat.

[jakabedy]

I think the 600 mile thing was original to the 1901 Constitution (with a bye for a new carve-out county in SE Alabama that was in process at the time -- it created Henry County). And I think the original idea was to make the minimum number 500 square miles, and it was upped to 600. I'll bet that was done precisely to avoid the split off of a Bessemer-based county from greater Jefferson County.