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Desoto County and Arcadia Discuss Merger Again
City-county fire/rescue/EMS merger talks on again
DESOTO COUNTY -- A joint meeting to reinitiate negotiations for merging city and county emergency services ended amicably, but on a note best described as "cautiously optimistic."
The Arcadia City Council and the DeSoto County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to form an eight-member joint committee to attack the stubborn problems the proposed fire-rescue-EMS merger will have to accommodate or eliminate.
The joint meeting took place Thursday in the Margaret Way Building in Arcadia. Arcadia Mayor Dick Fazzone presided over the meeting. He was flanked by Councilman Paul Whitlock and commission Chairman Ronald Neads.
All the members of both bodies were present, along with City Administrator Ed Strube, County Administrator Jim Chisholm, County Attorney Howard Holtzendorf and City Attorney David Holloman.
Aside from the two government bodies and their administrative staffs, the audience consisted mostly of the firemen and EMS personnel from the city and county public safety departments. None of them spoke at the meeting.
During a round of opening statements by councilmen and commissioners, nobody voiced opposition to the concept of the merger. Almost everybody cautioned that the devil would be in the details of any agreement. Any merger, they all emphasized, would have to be "fair" to both sides.
The idea of a small, manageable committee to tackle the details of the merger took shape gradually as members of the two bodies exchanged ideas about the best approach to the task of working out a merger agreement. The committee idea seemed to have the support of both sides.
"We need to consider not only the council and the commission," Neads said, "(but) I think we need representation from the fire department. I suggest that both fire chiefs be part of the committee because they're the experts, and both administrators should be part of the committee, because they are the experts -- or their designee."
It was City Councilman Roosevelt Johnson who took the step of making a motion to form the committee. DeSoto County's senior Commissioner Felton Garner supported the motion.
A brief discussion followed as the details of the committee were ironed out.
Holtzendorf noted that neither the commission nor the council were legally bound by the vote. It would, he said, be valid only as an expression of what each body wanted. He added that in order for the committee to operate in the sunshine, it should only include one commissioner and one councilman.
Everyone agreed that the committee should remain as small as possible in order to be manageable.
The committee will ultimately consist of one county commissioner and one city councilman, the city and county administrators, the city and county directors of public safety, and two "lay" members selected from the general public. Others could be invited to join when their expertise was required.
"We'll need all the help we can get," Fazzone said.
The County Commission and City Council now have to decide which member will represent their respective bodies, and will each have to choose a "lay person."
No date was set for a meeting of the committee.
Previous attempts at merging the two public safety departments -- the earliest of which date back to the early 1980s -- have failed.
The latest attempt was August 2002. Talks between the council and commission broke down when the four members of a special city-county transition board agreed to disagree and voted to halt the talks.
The city and county had been holding informal talks about the merger since January 2002.
By JOHN LAWHORNE
Staff Writer
DESOTO COUNTY -- A joint meeting to reinitiate negotiations for merging city and county emergency services ended amicably, but on a note best described as "cautiously optimistic."
The Arcadia City Council and the DeSoto County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to form an eight-member joint committee to attack the stubborn problems the proposed fire-rescue-EMS merger will have to accommodate or eliminate.
The joint meeting took place Thursday in the Margaret Way Building in Arcadia. Arcadia Mayor Dick Fazzone presided over the meeting. He was flanked by Councilman Paul Whitlock and commission Chairman Ronald Neads.
All the members of both bodies were present, along with City Administrator Ed Strube, County Administrator Jim Chisholm, County Attorney Howard Holtzendorf and City Attorney David Holloman.
Aside from the two government bodies and their administrative staffs, the audience consisted mostly of the firemen and EMS personnel from the city and county public safety departments. None of them spoke at the meeting.
During a round of opening statements by councilmen and commissioners, nobody voiced opposition to the concept of the merger. Almost everybody cautioned that the devil would be in the details of any agreement. Any merger, they all emphasized, would have to be "fair" to both sides.
The idea of a small, manageable committee to tackle the details of the merger took shape gradually as members of the two bodies exchanged ideas about the best approach to the task of working out a merger agreement. The committee idea seemed to have the support of both sides.
"We need to consider not only the council and the commission," Neads said, "(but) I think we need representation from the fire department. I suggest that both fire chiefs be part of the committee because they're the experts, and both administrators should be part of the committee, because they are the experts -- or their designee."
It was City Councilman Roosevelt Johnson who took the step of making a motion to form the committee. DeSoto County's senior Commissioner Felton Garner supported the motion.
A brief discussion followed as the details of the committee were ironed out.
Holtzendorf noted that neither the commission nor the council were legally bound by the vote. It would, he said, be valid only as an expression of what each body wanted. He added that in order for the committee to operate in the sunshine, it should only include one commissioner and one councilman.
Everyone agreed that the committee should remain as small as possible in order to be manageable.
The committee will ultimately consist of one county commissioner and one city councilman, the city and county administrators, the city and county directors of public safety, and two "lay" members selected from the general public. Others could be invited to join when their expertise was required.
"We'll need all the help we can get," Fazzone said.
The County Commission and City Council now have to decide which member will represent their respective bodies, and will each have to choose a "lay person."
No date was set for a meeting of the committee.
Previous attempts at merging the two public safety departments -- the earliest of which date back to the early 1980s -- have failed.
The latest attempt was August 2002. Talks between the council and commission broke down when the four members of a special city-county transition board agreed to disagree and voted to halt the talks.
The city and county had been holding informal talks about the merger since January 2002.
By JOHN LAWHORNE
Staff Writer
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