County supervisor Tommy Sinclair and Union Mayor Harold Thompson have been talking one on one for the last several months about areas the two governments could work together and find some common ground to possibly save taxpayers money.
They brought their two councils together Monday morning to open the conversation up to them and begin the process of finding ways to cooperate.
“We certainly have in common a tight budget year, but also people,” Sinclair said.
Several topics were brought to the table including the possible combination of the city and county building departments, how animal control is handled and the Fourth of July celebration. The key, however, according to Sinclair and Thompson is for the councils to start small and build a partnership from there.
“Starting with something we know we can accomplish, that’s key,” Thompson said.
The councils spent nearly two hours discussing topics and while no decisions were made they did decide to form joint committees for the animal control and building department issues to continue dialogue. They also agreed to continue researching ways law enforcement could work together to reduce costs especially when it comes to the Fourth of July celebration.
In the end, the joint meeting became more than a way to find common ground to share — it became a stepping stone in working together to make Union and Union County better for their citizens.
“I’m just glad to be able to sit down together,” said Union City Council member and mayor pro-tem Keith Henderson. “Let’s just try to work through and do the right thing.”
Members of both councils agreed this is something they have wanted to happen for several years. Union City Council member Ricky Harris even said he would like to see the councils meet together more often — perhaps even once a month.
Everyone in the room agreed Union and Union County have been hurting as of late. A tough economy and scandals that rocked both agencies have taken their toll, but they hope Monday’s meeting is a step forward to get over those obstacles.
“It’s just a bump in the road,” Sinclair said. “You have them at home, you have them at work and you have them at church. We’ll get over the bump and move on.”
All agreed it is not the councils they are working for in any joint or individual endeavor.
“As a whole, the people we’re working for are the people of Union County,” Henderson said.
The TOPICS
Building departments
The city and county already share a building inspector in Brian Blackwell. Both councils think it would not only be cost effective but more efficient if the two government agencies could share more when it comes to their building and coding departments.
A combination of the two departments could provide a centralized location for residents of the city and county to do their building permit and code business. City of Union Finance Director Walker Gallman told the councils the city currently has a computer system in place for its building and zoning department that could be expanded to include county information and still be able to keep the two separate.
Gallman added having the same permit fees across the board with the same standards would make the combination of the two departments that much easier. County council member Randall “Chump” Hanvey said the county’s permit fees are not the same as the city’s but they are very close so getting them in line with each other wouldn’t be difficult.
There was some discussion over zoning but Gallman reminded both councils — while the zoning ordinances for both entities are very different — zoning issues could remain separate but they could use the same permitting system.
The councils agreed to put together a joint building, coding and zoning committee to discuss with Blackwell and other officials in each building department what steps could be taken for both to come together in one office.
The members of that committee are Keith Henderson, Ricky Harris and Robert Garner for the city and county building committee members Joan Little, Tommy Ford, Kacie Petrie and Joey English.
Timken Sports Complex annexation
Union County Supervisor Tommy Sinclair asked city council members where the city is on the issue of annexing the new Timken Sports Complex.
The county already has signed the annexation agreement when it applied to receive city utility services at the complex and the city has the authority to annex the property because it sits on land that is contiguous to city limits.
The issue is if the city annexes the complex it will require additional Union Public Safety protection, creating a new burden on the police and fire department in an already tight budget. On tournament weekends, off-duty officers would need to be brought in to cover the complex — each of them automatically receiving overtime pay. The other issue, according to Union Public Safety Chief Sam White, is if arrests are made at the complex after it was annexed the city would be responsible for paying additional fees to the county to house those people at the Union County Jail.
Annexation of the complex also brings into play the city’s business licensing rules and regulations, Gallman told the councils. If the complex were in city limits, each vendor using the facilities during events or activities would be required to pay for a business license. The county already pays the city $800 each year for the Union County Stadium.
Questions of how many officers it would take to staff the complex during events and if reserve officers could be used during events.
The councils agreed to have White and Union County Sheriff David Taylor begin discussing what will be needed as far as law enforcement if the city were to annex the complex.
Fourth of July celebration
The city council’s decision to cut funding for the annual Fourth of July celebration at Foster Park has created a lot of chatter in Union County. Sinclair said he hasn’t discussed it with his council but the funds for a celebration are in the county’s budget.
Thompson reiterated the funds for the celebration this year — to satisfy the city’s budget — have been cut. The city, however, is looking at ways to fund it and Public Safety Day in the future.
County council members asked if public safety officers and county sheriff’s deputies had ever discussed taking donations to help cover the costs of law enforcement personnel connected to the celebration. County council member Joey English said it seems people enjoy the celebration and don’t want it to go away.
“We don’t want it to go away either,” Harris said for the city.
Union County Recreation Department Director Becky Cobb said attempts at collecting donations for events such as the Fourth of July celebration have been made before but didn’t raise much from the general public. She suggested, with the economy the way it is and people anticipated to stay home for the Fourth of July weekend, it could be better to seek sponsorships for the event.
The city took the celebration off the table because of the large expense of overtime pay plus holiday pay it pays off duty public safety officers plus utility department employees to work the event.
Cobb mentioned July 4 falls on a Sunday this year but when that happened in the past the celebration traditionally has taken place the Saturday before. Doing the same thing this year could possibly lighten the burden by not having to pay those off duty officers the additional holiday pay to work the event.
Henderson suggested the councils see how much local support they could get to hold the celebration and city council members agreed they could go back and look at their options to see if there was a way they could make it work this year.
Sinclair reported the county — right now — plans on going ahead with a celebration on its own and will tailor its budget accordingly.
Animal control
The city and county have had an agreement for several years in regard to animal control. Thompson said the city council has discussed cutting its animal control operations and simply paying the county to take over those duties.
City council members are concerned — even though the City of Union makes up about one-third of the entire population in the county — other municipalities and communities in the county aren’t paying their share of animal control costs. City council members have had questions from constiuents of whether or not others are paying the same as the City of Union and why the city is paying more when no one else is.
Henderson asked why the county can’t have one nice animal shelter facility with common employees between the city and county and then have everyone in the county share the cost of the service and facility?
The councils decided this is another area which needs additional discussion and put together a joint committee comprised of Petrie, Hanvey, Henderson and city council member Andy Bailey to continue the dialogue on the issue.
BUFFALO SEWER SURCHARGE:
Union County Council member Tommy Ford — who represents the Buffalo area — asked Union City Council members when the sewer surcharge would be taken off of utility bills for Buffalo customers. An agreement was struck between the city and county a few years ago that if $1 million in grant funding was secured for a sewer upgrade project in the community and work began the surcharge would be taken off for those customers. Union Mayor Harold Thompson informed county council members the removal of that surcharge was on the city council’s agenda for its regular meeting Tuesday, April 20.
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