Whitfield County Commissioner Gordon MorehouseDALTON, Ga. – Most members of a commission appointed to study a possible consolidation of Dalton and Whitfield County agreed that a merger should at least be presented to residents for a vote, but several members disagreed on exactly how that should be done.
Twelve of the 15-member board discussed the pros and cons of consolidation in an hourlong meeting Wednesday afternoon to decide how to best move forward.
The commission formed in early summer and has spent the last six months gathering facts about the two governments and about other Georgia governments that have merged.
The board did not take an official vote on Wednesday, but each member voiced his opinion.
Board members agreed to put together a report that will be presented in a public meeting. Under the local law governing the commission, the report and public meeting are the next steps in the process, before the commission begins writing the charter.
In order to place it on the November ballot, the charter will need to be completed by April or May, attorneys said Wednesday.
Some members expressed strong reservations about whether the consolidation was feasible, but said they still owed it to citizens to allow them to vote on it.
“It will go up in flames — I don’t think you can get 5 percent of the people to vote for it,” said board member Don Henderson, who is also mayor of Cohutta. “I haven’t heard anyone say they are for it.”
Other board members argued the merger would provide a unified economic vision and was the best way to move forward in Whitfield County.
Board members who expressed support for consolidation still split on how they should proceed with consolidation.
Several members think the board should get more details about how the consolidation would work, how services would be changed, how much it would cost initially and how much the long-term savings would be.
“If we don’t pretty much lay out the details, people will not vote for it,” County commission chairman Mike Babb warned. “When I tell people ‘just trust me’ they don’t.”
Others said they thought the details should be left in the hands of department heads and the commission needed to focus on the bigger picture of a vision for the consolidated government.
“We have to believe in the process a little bit; we can micromanage,” said county Commissioner Gordon Morehouse.
Commission member Tangela Johnson added, “I think we need to focus on a strategic visionary plan. As a county resident, my question is how it will impact my 10-year-old daughter and her future.”