Members of the Hamilton County Commission are not planning to allow Sheriff Jim Hammond to take over Chattanooga’s police department any time soon.
They can’t stress that enough.
During the commission’s regular agenda preparation meeting Thursday, commissioners spoke out as a group about the idea proposed by Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield.
Many commissioners said they were in favor of consolidating some city and county services, but reiterated that there is no plan in place to do so. Some said that Mr. Littlefield’s proposal for using the sheriff to run both law enforcement departments caught them by surprise.
County Mayor Claude Ramsey said the conversations about consolidating the departments has frustrated him. After the meeting, he said the commission felt the need to set the record straight about what is and is not happening with the sheriff.
“It continues to get reported like there’s something about to happen,” he said. “It’s a complicated issue.”
Mr. Ramsey drew a line between talk of consolidating and actually having a plan in place. There is no plan for consolidation and if there were one, it would not happen easily, he said.
“I can make a statement in the next five minutes and you can all answer it for the next five weeks,” he told the commission.
Commissioner Fred Skillern started the comments by saying he is opposed to metro government – another name for consolidation of all Hamilton County municipalities – while saying he’s willing to look at combining certain services if it saves taxpayers money.
The eight remaining commissioners followed with some variation of that sentiment.
Commissioner Larry Henry said he’s received calls from his constituents who are perfectly happy with their law enforcement the way it is.
“They all just want to be left alone,” he said. “They’re pretty well satisfied with what they’ve got.”
Commissioner Jim Coppinger said he was “totally shocked” by Mr. Littlefield’s idea. He said the county has taken on other city services, such as the school system and the jail, and stuck the county with the bill.
Commissioner Warren Mackey said he was surprised to read an article in the Times Free Press about the idea of using the sheriff to run both departments.
Commissioner Curtis Adams said taking on city services has increased the cost of providing them.
Commissioner Greg Beck summed it up: “I’ve been burnt like that on several issues.”
Sheriff Hammond also spoke to the commission about the issue, saying he agreed with Mr. Ramsey’s comments. He said he wouldn’t do anything unless the commission approved it first.
“The only thing I’m looking at as sheriff are my constitutional responsibilities,” he said. “It is not my intention to support metro government, now or ever.”