EDITORIAL: Back to the consolidation drawing board in Baldwin
Milledgeville and Baldwin County, we feel your pain. On Tuesday, the effort to consolidate the city and county governments was soundly defeated with almost 69 percent of the voters casting "no" votes.
Residents of the now-consolidated Macon-Bibb County know the sting of consolidation defeat. The history of consolidation in Macon and Bibb County is long and checkered. There were two study groups in the 1920s, starting in 1923. Three study groups in the '30s, two each in the '40s, '50 and '60s, three in the 1970s, five in the '80s and three in the 1990s, the last being in 1998. Votes were taken in 1933, 1947, 1960, 1972 and 1976. They all failed. There were other attempts to get a consolidation measure on the ballot by the late state Sen. Robert Brown and the late former Bibb County Commission Chairman Larry Justice. Then-state Rep. Robert Reichert tried and failed in 1997. He was also co-chairman of another failed attempt in 2004.
Finally in 2012, a bill was passed by the Legislature, a referendum was held and was approved. A new Macon-Bibb Commission was voted into office the following year and began doing business in January 2014. Will it take almost 100 years for Baldwin County and the city of Milledgeville to merge? We are not soothsayers. Although it took a while, the stars had to align in Macon-Bibb. And if it is to be, they will align for Baldwin and Milledgeville, too.
There are lessons to be learned from the Macon-Bibb experience. There has to be a modicum of trust between the white and black communities. Political lines must be drawn in such a way to guarantee that long-fought-for political power is not lost. There can't be winners and losers. If that's the case, it will be easy for opponents to demonize the effort. On the issue of job loss, tell the truth. In any merger there will be some duplication. To say otherwise is just not believable, but proponents can point to Macon-Bibb for an example of how to handle that situation using early retirements as one of the tools. And finally, proponents have to find trusted spokespeople from all segments of the community to help sell the idea.
Obviously it was not a hot topic in the area. There are 18,425 voters in Baldwin County and 59 percent (10,871) of them didn't vote at all. That's a problem, yes, but it's also an opportunity.
This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "EDITORIAL: Back to the consolidation drawing board in Baldwin ."