City, county dispute threatens funding for library, animal control

Published 8:09 pm Monday, November 19, 2018

In wake of another Service Delivery Strategy mediation meeting slated this morning between officials with the city of Milledgeville and Baldwin County Board of Commissioners, another controversial matter has arisen between the two local governing bodies.

And it apparently has spilled over into the community with several residents hoping to express their opinion about the county commission’s decision earlier this month to cease funding the city library and animal control operations unless an SDS agreement with the city of Milledgeville is reached by July 1, 2019.

Several residents are expected to attend the county commission’s regular monthly meeting tonight at 6 p.m. Commissioners are expected to tentatively adopt a new operating budget.

A Nov. 2 special called commission meeting was held to discuss potential litigation in executive session, which means behind closed doors as the law allows. Commissioners later reopened the meeting in the public and discussed cutting county funding to the library and animal control unless an SDS agreement was reached.

Commissioner Sammy Hall made a motion for County Manager Carlos Tobar to send a letter to the city officials informing them that the county would discontinue funding the city library effective July 1, 2019, and cease animal control operations to comply with state law, if a Service Delivery Strategy agreement with the city of Milledgeville is not in place by July 1, 2019.

A copy of the meeting minutes was obtained from County Clerk Cindy Cunningham following a request last week by The Union-Recorder.

Hall’s motion was seconded by commission vice chairman Johnny Westmoreland. When commission chairman Tommy French called for a vote, the motion was approved unanimously.

In a joint letter from Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan and City Manager Barry Jarrett, which was dated Nov. 16, and now appears on The Union-Recorder’s website, the mayor contends there has been considerable discussion within the community regarding the funding of the two services.

“In many of the emails, letters and comments that we have read, there is considerable misinformation and because of that we would like to set the record straight on the issue of funding for the library,” the letter from Parham-Copelan and Jarrett reads.

The mayor, who is nearing the completion of her first year of a four-year term as the city’s top government elected official, along with Jarrett, said the community’s Mary Vinson Memorial Library, located behind City Hall downtown, is one of the finest public libraries for a community the size of Milledgeville in the state.

“Director Stephen Houser and his staff do an incredible job,” the letter reads. “Their current project in the old city annex next to City Hall, when completed, will be something we can all be proud of.”

The mayor and city manager pointed out that the city and library have a long history of working together.

Prior to 2008, the library was completely funded by the city of Milledgeville, even though it is considered a county-wide service.

“The library maintains the building but pays no rent to the city and the city has never asked for rent from the library,” the letter reads.

The library’s current project in the old city annex building will also be provided to the library without any payment of rent, they added.

“This project and the renovation of the building has been funded by a grant that the library worked diligently to obtain,” reads the letter. “Half of this building will be used for the library’s project and the other half will be available to the city to provide office space for city staff.”

In the letter, the mayor added that funding for the library is part of the ongoing Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) discussions between the city of Milledgeville and Baldwin County Board of Commissioners.

Under the Service Delivery Act, the state legislature mandates that cities and counties develop an SDS that minimizes inefficiencies resulting from duplication of services, and resolves disputes over local government service delivery, funding equity, and land use.

The current SDS agreement between the city and county, which was agreed upon in 2008 and now, 10 years later has been extended through June 30, 2019. Today’s meeting is the second mediation held on SDS as the two governing bodies have been unable to reach an agreement up until this point.

“This gives the city and county ample time to reach a new SDS, which will include full funding for the library,” according to the letter. “As part of the 2008 SDS negotiations, the county acknowledged that the library was a county-wide service and agreed to a graduated funding formula that would eventually lead to the county fully funding the library.”

In recent SDS discussions, city officials have proposed that the county take over 100 percent of the funding of the library within the first six years of the new SDS agreement, according to Parham-Copelan and Jarrett’s letter.

“The county proposed that it take it over 100 percent funding of the library over the course of 10 years,” city officials said. “The city, in an effort to reach a compromise, proposed that the county take over 100 percent of the library in eight years.”

City officials urged residents to keep in mind that as part of the city’s proposal to the county, the library would still pay no rent to the city for use of the city-owned buildings.

“The eventual 100 percent funding of the library by the county would eliminate the city taxpayer from paying for a service that should be the responsibility of all county taxpayers (this, of course, includes city taxpayers), as the library is available to be used by all citizens of our county,” Parham-Copeland and Jarrett said in the letter.

They noted that is why it came as a recent shock to them as city officials when they received Tobar’s letter.

The letter from Tobar read: “On Nov. 2, 2018, the Baldwin County Baldwin County Board of Commissioners voted to no longer fund the city library as of July 1. 2019. The county will pay for the library in the unincorporated area only. Also, at this meeting, the board voted to cease animal control services in the city of Milledgeville on July 1, 2019, if no agreement is reached on SDS.”

In reference to the letter that several city officials received, including all six city alder members, Parham-Copelan and Jarrett said in their joint letter that, “notwithstanding the tenor of Mr. Tobar’s letter, we are confident that the city and county will work diligently to reach an SDS agreement, which includes full funding for the library. It is simply only fair to city taxpayers that they not be forced to carry the sole burden of funding a first-class library that is available to be used by citizens countywide.”

Today’s mediation is slated to begin at 10 a.m. at the Central Georgia Technical College Health Science Building on the Milledgeville campus.