The city of Dalton, Georgia, is expected to file for a petition in Superior Court to continue mediation with Whitfield County over a service delivery agreement the two entities must reach in order to continue to collect millions of dollars in state and federal grants.
After reading through the latest proposal from the county earlier this week, the Dalton City Council and city officials “have considered the counterproposal and do not feel that it adequately addresses the significant tax inequities that exist between city taxpayers and those in the unincorporated area.”
An extension will allow the city and county to reconvene for another mediation session after an eight-hour session on Oct. 17 came to a standstill when the two sides couldn’t come to a final agreement.
Dalton Mayor Dennis Mock said in a news release that the city wants “to make every effort to keep the process moving forward to a resolution, and this petition process is the quickest route.”
If the city files the petition, it would include a request for the judge to lift the sanctions that will be imposed Friday, Nov. 1, after the Oct. 31 deadline set by the state’s Department of Community Affairs to reach an agreement passes.
The sanctions affect the ability of municipal and county governments to receive grants and permits from any state-administered agency, as well as federal ones that come through state agencies.
The sanctions do not impact local business or industry directly, the city said in its news release, although taxpayers are footing the bill for legal fees that are adding up as the talks continue.
“We are working very hard to find a way to resolve these disagreements, but we are advocating for the residential, business and industrial taxpayers of Dalton,” Mock said in the news release. “We need to get this done the right way.”
Lynn Laughter, chairwoman for the Whitfield County Commission, said that she doesn’t know what kind of power a judge would have in this scenario.
Laughter added that she spoke with the county’s attorney Robert Smalley earlier today and Smalley told her they are in “uncharted territory.”
“I’m very disappointed (the city) didn’t want to sign a four month extension,” Laughter said.
She added that she believes Andrew Welch, attorney for the city, “doesn’t care about the relations between the city and the county.”
“He wants to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court,” she said.
The city said it does not intend to extend the current service agreement as written.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.