The ongoing City-vs-County lawsuit was a hot topic that was discussed and debated at the Lumpkin County Library last Tuesday, as six Dahlonega City Council hopefuls met for a non-partisan candidate forum.
Lumpkin Democrat Chair Roger Smith served as moderator for the event, which consisted of initial introductions followed by a series of four questions, all of which were provided to the candidates in advance.
For the final question, Smith asked the candidates “What concrete steps can you take to help reduce and eventually eliminate the friction between the County Commission and the City Council?”
Smith was referring to the ongoing legal dispute over ownership of the Fire Station #1 property located at 57 Pinetree Way. He followed up by asking whether consolidation of the City and County should be on the table as a possible solution.
JOHNNY ARIEMMA
Johnny Ariemma, who is running unopposed for Post 4, answered first.
“You’ve followed it online. You’ve followed it in the newspaper … But I’m here to tell you, it all comes down to personalities,” Ariemma said of the current litigation.
“When you can’t get people together to hold a meeting to even discuss it, that’s a shame. It’s a shame on everyone,” he added.
As for a proposal to consolidate the City and County governments, Ariemma said “We’ve got to look at it.”
“I talked about consolidation 10 years ago … When you look at the duplications of services, it’s staggering,” Ariemma continued. “It’s an awful lot of money. I could run the math very lightly and tell you about 12-15 million [dollars] is what we could save. There’s duplication in almost everything we do.”
Ariemma cited local water treatment and police protection as two specific areas where unnecessary duplication could be eliminated.
He recalled prior conversations on the topic with State Senator Steve Gooch, who was also in attendance.
“He’s talked about bringing legislation forward to take a look at [consolidation]. We might as well look. It’s not about me staying in office, it’s about everyone involved saving money, getting along and moving forward,” Ariemma concluded.
LANCE BAGLEY
Current Council member and prospective Seat 6 candidate Lance Bagley was next to speak. He called the fractured relationship between the City and the County the “biggest disappointment” of his two years serving on the Council.
“We don’t have to skip down the street holding hands as County and City, but we should be walking in the same direction,” Bagley said. “We’re all residents of Lumpkin County, right?”
Bagley said he anticipates a “short term solution” to the costly property dispute.
“Although we may not resolve the problems that are existing with the City and the County, I’ll guarantee you by the time the next four years is up, we will have a much better relationship,” he predicted.
As for consolidation, Bagley cited Athens and Clarke County as an example where it has “gone pretty well,” but said further study is needed.
“I think we need to sit down and look at the numbers and the benefits for all of the residents of Lumpkin County, and the City residents, and see what makes sense for us moving forward,” he concluded.
DAN BROWN
Post 5 candidate Dan Brown indicated he’s open to exploring many new ideas if elected to the Council. “One thing I’m not open to is a continued rift between the City and the County,” he said.
Brown said the citizens he has talked to are concerned with how their tax dollars are being spent, not with who will ultimately prevail in the lawsuit.
“With respect to the Fire Station, there can be intergovernmental agreements to assuage people’s fears with respect to that specific location. I’m not for wasting any more taxpayer dollars with respect to litigating that,” he said.
On consolidation, Brown said he is “open to discussing it and looking at the numbers” but has some preliminary concerns based on his own research.
“Citizens still pay the same amount of taxes. And there’s costs with converting the City/County legal entity,” Brown warned.
“There are a lot of projects where we can work together on finding efficiencies without having go down the road of consolidation,” he concluded.
MELANIE DUNLAP
Participating in the forum via Zoom, Post 5 candidate Melanie Dunlap stressed that individual people, not abstract entities, were behind the City/County lawsuit.
“We need to get into a room. We need to get the work done. Maybe we need to consider some binding arbitration, but again, that only works if it’s on both sides,” Dunlap suggested.
She said resolving the current lawsuit is likely a prerequisite to any serious discussions about consolidation.
“That’s kind of a hard conversation to have when we have a lawsuit that says we don’t get along,” Dunlap said.
TOM GORDINEER
Tom Gordineer, campaigning for Post 6, wants to see the lawsuit settled.
“We should all be able to sit down with the County Commissioners. But that hasn’t happened, because this thing runs deep,” he said.
Gordineer said the main problem is that the two entities are approaching the litigation from a “my team and your team” perspective.
“$340,000 dollars to attorneys in Dawsonville is criminal. When you go to the polls for County [elections], I think it’s in May, you need to keep that in mind. And the same with the City,” Gordineer said.
Gordineer did not specifically address the topic of consolidation in his remarks.
JAMES GUY
Post 5 Candidate James Guy had a succinct response to the City/County lawsuit: “End the litigation process. Period.”
“If that means forfeiting the lawsuit from our end, then we forfeit,” Guy said. “You don’t wait for somebody else to do it.”
“We have to be the bigger person and step away, and say ‘We’re going to lead by example and do what we need to do,’” he added.
On consolidation, Guy also had a straightforward answer: “I am 100 percent in favor of the City and County consolidating,” he told the audience.
The final days of early voting for the upcoming City election are November 1-3 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the election office on 56 Short Street.
Voting on Election Day (November 7) will occur at Parks and Rec (365 Riley Road) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.