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February 2, 2012

Decision expected soon on Dalton, Whitfield merger

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

A commission studying the merger of the Dalton and Whitfield County governments could decide in two weeks whether to recommend a complete combining of the two governments, a partial merger or no merger at all.

A subcommittee of that commission began preparing its final report Wednesday. They will present that report to the full commission, which will then decide what path to recommend.

“We should be able to put (the report) together at our next meeting on the 8th and have a final vote on the meeting after that on the 15th,” said Dalton businessman Phil Neff, subcommittee chairman.

If the commission recommends a full merger of the two governments, it would then draft a charter for the new consolidated government. The legislation that created the merger commission mandates it would be placed on the ballot this November in the general election. A majority of voters in both the city of Dalton and Whitfield County as a whole would have to approve that charter for the merger to take place.

The commission could also recommend simply merging various departments. The Dalton City Council and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners would have to decide whether to act on those recommendations.

Subcommittee members identified give key areas they will focus on in their report: recreation, law enforcement, fire protection, public works and Dalton Utilities.

“The rest of it is just administration type stuff. We’ve got two finance departments, two administrators, two attorneys. We should be able to combine those pretty easy,” said Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Babb, a member of the subcommittee.

“These others are major departments and have more complex implications and complications to them. They have different pensions, different salaries, different sets ups for operations, different between the city and the county,” Babb said. “Those are obstacles to consolidation, but they are not insurmountable obstacles.”

Commission members have spent the past seven months talking with city and county department heads about their departments, how city and county services differ, and how they complement each other.

“We are trying to summarize all that information we have gathered into one report that the entire commission can look at and decide whether to recommend a full consolidation, a functional consolidation or no action at all,” said Dalton City Council member George Sadosuk, a member of the subcommittee.

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