As a general rule, when county and city governments work together it benefits all residents. By contrast, when the working relationship between the county and city breaks down, it often means redundancies, waste and ill will that benefits no one.
This week, we have seen examples of both.
On Monday, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors offered to pay half of the costs for hiring an outside firm to maintain the rights of way at some of the major highway interchanges in Columbus, something the city had balked at doing despite a full month of discussions. The city council was split on whether it should continue to mow grass at these interchanges – something its public works director said he did not have the equipment or manpower to achieve – or accept a low bid of $75,000 a year for a one-year contract from S&S Landscaping. The county said it was unable to guarantee paying half the cost beyond a year because a new board will come into office after the November election. It does, however, provide a short-term solution to an immediate concern, a solution the city seemed unwilling or unable to find.
Given the county’s offer of support, the city council quickly agreed on the contract with S&S during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Although the mowing work will be done inside the Columbus city limits, supervisors had the wisdom to understand that the condition of these interchanges reflects on both the city and county alike.
Now, contrast that to Monday’s Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting. At that meeting, supervisors rejected a plan to work with the city of Starkville to provide access to the county’s Safe Room, which is located within the city limits of Starkville. The city had come to the supervisors with a plan to split the cost of utilities and provide an additional $25,000 for costs associated with equipping the Safe Room for pickleball.
But the supervisors rejected that offer, not because of any impact it would have on residents, but because supervisors wanted to maintain control of the facility. The supervisors voted to work directly with Starkville Pickleball Association, an informal group of pickleball players, once the county has put together a contract for private use of the facility, something it hasn’t bothered to do in the three years since the facility opened.
The city approached the county in good faith with a cost-sharing and improvement plan. It was not an effort to “take control” of the facility, but merely to serve residents and make the county’s $2 million Safe Room of greater use to the public.
Unfortunately, supervisors put their egos ahead of the public interest.
Who benefits from that? Certainly not county taxpayers, who will be responsible for the full cost of utilities along with any other associated costs.
This week, Lowndes County and the City of Columbus put aside their narrow interests to serve the more important common interests.
Unfortunately, just the opposite can be said of Oktibbeha County which rejected a fair offer from the city to the benefit of no one. Beware, supervisors. There will be a time, perhaps soon, when the county will want the city’s support for a project. When that happens, supervisors had better hope the city exhibits more good faith than the supervisors exercised with the Safe Room proposal.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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