Legislators proposing Savannah-Chatham consolidation study (Columbus, Macon: rated, corporate, required)

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Never gonna happen. It's a waste of time.

Indeed - and Study time = tax payer $

it's funny, we basically all agree! But we all know it won't happen. :/

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by bellhead

I would combine all municipalities and have a 10 year sunset on it. Set a bunch of goals and if the consolidation doesn't meet these goals then go back to where we were ten years ago.

At this day in time there is no reason to have multiple police forces or fire departments in a metro area. Emergency services are the #1 expenditure municipal budgets throughout the us. I would go even further and role them all under one state agency in order to have a very high level training and readiness. Do this would take funding, questionable hiring practices, and a lot of the politics out of the police and fire departments state wide.

Two totally different things -- combining some city-county services and combining municipalities. The latter NEVER happens in the US except with tiny little hamlets (Bibb City, pop. 900, a poor former mill town that agreed to merge with Columbus-Muscogee and lose its town charter and identity). But Chatham's incorporated cities of 21,000 (Pooler) or the 3,000-10,000 range (Garden City, Port Wentworth, Tybee) are separate, historical towns that have thrived for 100-150 years. This is the problem: six Chatham municipalities will oppose consolidation even if they are excluded from the plan, and (2) an unincorporated Chatham County of largely white, conservative residents (many Republican, small-government types) will also oppose consolidation. It's very much the same situation in Atlanta -- it can't consolidate with Fulton County for the same reasons. Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Athens had nowhere near the same political stumbling blocks.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

Two totally different things -- combining some city-county services and combining municipalities. The latter NEVER happens in the US except with tiny little hamlets (Bibb City, pop. 900, a poor former mill town that agreed to merge with Columbus-Muscogee and lose its town charter and identity). But Chatham's incorporated cities of 21,000 (Pooler) or the 3,000-10,000 range (Garden City, Port Wentworth, Tybee) are separate, historical towns that have thrived for 100-150 years. This is the problem: six Chatham municipalities will oppose consolidation even if they are excluded from the plan, and (2) an unincorporated Chatham County of largely white, conservative residents (many Republican, small-government types) will also oppose consolidation. It's very much the same situation in Atlanta -- it can't consolidate with Fulton County for the same reasons. Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Athens had nowhere near the same political stumbling blocks.

Indeed, I don't think people fully comprehend that when you're talking about CONSOLIDATION of city governments, what you're really talking about is the full REVOCATION (or abolishment) of current city charters -- basically these smaller cities like Garden City, Thunderbolt, etc would have to vote to CEASE TO EXIST! And that's just not gonna happen.

[GA Survivor]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Indeed, I don't think people fully comprehend that when you're talking about CONSOLIDATION of city governments, what you're really talking about is the full REVOCATION (or abolishment) of current city charters -- basically these smaller cities like Garden City, Thunderbolt, etc would have to vote to CEASE TO EXIST! And that's just not gonna happen.

Excellent point!

[bellhead]

Could you guys get behind eliminating local police and fire departments and going to a state wide agency for police and fire?

[GA Survivor]

That would be even more of an impossible challenge then consolidation. Since all police officers are paid employees ( with exception of some reserve officers) they have a set of standards in place for all state wide. Even police standards vary greatly from state to state. Firefighters on the other hand, have different requirements for paid and volunteer members. You have no idea the amount of fighting and political favors that get pulled when standards are tried to get better. I fully agree that there should be a single set of standards nation wide but it would be impossible to have a single statewide or national fire service like other countries have. I just read an article where two volunteer firefighters were charged for assaulting a paid firefighter and keeping them from going into a fire so they could be the first ones in to put out the fire!

[Airforceguy]

Rep. Stephens is planning to file the bill...

Mayor Eddie DeLoach agrees with beginning the process. “I think we need to always look at other ways to do things. I think you do a study to see whether it’s feasible and worth doing. I don’t know the details of the actual bill. As far as I know, it’s just studying Savannah and Chatham County Unincorporated only, not the other municipalitie,” he said, in an interview today. Those other municipalities would be Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Bloomingdale, City of Tybee Island, Thunderbolt and Vernonburg.

“If the taxes aren’t reasonable, and the services aren’t as good, then nobody’s interested,” Mayor DeLoach added.

According to Rep. Stephens, who chairs the Chatham County Legislative Delegation, in a statement to the media, “Regarding taxes, I have always been a fiscal conservative and believe that spending taxpayer money wisely and using resources efficiently is respectful of your hard earned tax dollars. With this in mind, I will be sponsoring legislation to allow voters to choose whether or not to consolidate city and county services. I believe that consolidation will increase productivity and ultimately lower costs but that the ultimate decision should be in the hands of taxpayers. I will update you about upcoming legislation as we move forward in the session.”

Sen. Lester Jackson and Sen. Ben Watson were not immediately available for comment on whether they would sponsor the bill in the Senate.

https://savannahbusinessjournal.com/...vernments.html

[Savannahbound19]

Columbus resident here. I don't think consolidation would work for Savannah/Chatham. In Columbus, we still have a police department and a sheriff's office. The PD handles all criminal matters and the SO handles civil matters, the jail and court security. Like someone mentioned above, Columbus didn't have near the opposition that Savannah will have in attempting to consolidate. I would argue that the Savannah-Chatham PD should separate and go back to how it used to be.

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by Zcole

Columbus resident here. I don't think consolidation would work for Savannah/Chatham. In Columbus, we still have a police department and a sheriff's office. The PD handles all criminal matters and the SO handles civil matters, the jail and court security. Like someone mentioned above, Columbus didn't have near the opposition that Savannah will have in attempting to consolidate. I would argue that the Savannah-Chatham PD should separate and go back to how it used to be.

The Savannah-Chatham County police department was combined based on local budgets and efficiency. Why would it "go back" to separate PDs, and how would that help with a crime problem that often crosses municipal boundaries? The Savannah-Chatham public school system is already merged and so are the courts. It's more efficient that way.

Who "mentioned above" that "there was nowhere near the opposition in Columbus" to consolidation? In fact, in the 1969 Columbus referendum on consolidation there was quite a bit of opposition. Voters in (at the time) unincorporated Muscogee County rejected consolidation. But according to the local referendum rules, only a simple addition of the Columbus and Muscogee votes was necessary (and it had carried overwhelmingly in the City of Columbus). In the 2012 Macon merger, though, the "pro-merger" side had to win in both the City of Macon and Muscogee County to pass.

[GA Survivor]

I don't think consolidation would win the vote within the City of Savannah.