Columbus City Council on Tuesday appointed five members to an intergovernmental relations committee of city and Lowndes County leaders.
Two councilmen — Ward 2’s Joseph Mickens and Ward 5’s Stephen Jones — volunteered to serve.
Also, at Mayor Robert Smith’s recommendation, the council appointed the mayor, Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong and Public Information Officer Joe Dillon.
Armstrong presented the recommendations at Tuesday’s council meeting in Smith’s absence, as the mayor is in Washington, D.C. this week on city business.
“I think this is long overdue,” Mickens told The Dispatch after the vote. “I’m hoping we can mend some of these bridges, and I want to show the county I am willing to work with them. … I believe if you are willing to sit down with someone and listen, even if you don’t always agree, you can still get things done.”
Likewise, Jones said he is “very optimistic” about the committee’s potential.
“I hope this helps get the city and county working together as they should be,” he said. “I volunteered to serve because I think I’m good at working with others and finding compromise.”
County supervisors earlier this month asked city leaders if they were willing to re-establish the intergovernmental relations committee to meet regularly and discuss matters that affect both entities. The request came in the wake of several highly publicized disputes between the city and county — chiefly between Smith and Supervisors President Harry Sanders — that began when the county split from the joint Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority in October 2017.
The last intergovernmental relations committee dissolved several years ago.
However, the city’s appointments of Smith and Dillon Tuesday depart slightly from the committee makeup county supervisors suggested in their Sept. 4 meeting. They proposed two councilmen, two supervisors, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley and Chief Financial Officer Lloyd Price, Armstrong and city CFO Milton Rawle as members.
Supervisors have not yet approved their appointments to the committee.
The mayor could not be reached for comment by press time.
Once the committee is established, it will likely meet either monthly or quarterly. City Attorney Jeff Turnage previously told The Dispatch those meetings should be public.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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