Published: June 22, 2009 07:07 pm      

City, county differ on RDC

The city of Dalton will leave the North Georgia Regional Development Center and become part of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, Mayor David Pennington said Monday.

The state has been trying to merge the NGRDC with the Coosa Valley RDC into the Northwest Commission for more than a year.

“We’ve looked at this thing, and after discussions with the (Georgia Department of Community Affairs), what is going to happen as of July 1 as far as the state of Georgia is concerned our entire area will be encompassed in that Coosa Valley area,” said Pennington.

The North Georgia RDC, headquartered in Dalton, provides planning and development services for Whitfield, Murray, Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens counties. The Coosa Valley RDC, headquartered in Rome, provides those services for Floyd, Polk, Gordon, Chattooga, Bartow, Catoosa, Dade, Walker, Paulding and Haralson counties. The RDCs are funded by member governments and by contracts with the state to provide various services.

The NGRDC board has chosen to remain independent, and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners “at this point” wants to remain in the NGRDC, said Mike Babb, who is both a member of the NGRDC board and the chairman of the board of commissioners.

Pennington said he asked Department of Community Affairs officials what would happen if the city of Dalton chooses to join the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission at its July 16 organizational meeting and Whitfield County doesn’t.

“They said, ‘As far as we are concerned, even if your county elects not to show up, your territory is still part of that territory and you would be installed on that board,’” he said. “That’s in Dalton’s best interest. This is what the state wants. The fight is over, and we’ve spent a lot of time and money over the last year trying to cultivate the state by hosting the state economic development board up here and Leadership Georgia. It’s time for us to move on.”

Pennington said the city would lose state dollars if it doesn’t join the Northwest commission.

Babb said Pennington had informed him of the city’s decision Monday morning.

“That is more information for (the board of commissioners) in our decision-making process. This is a big decision for the county,” Babb said. “We are the big dues payer, and what we decide will pretty much determine what the RDC is able to do.”

Total city and county dues to the NGRDC are between $90,000 and $100,000, Babb said.

Babb said he would like for local officials to meet with Department of Community Affairs commissioner Mike Beatty before they make a decision.

“As of last week, their (the commissioners) decision was to remain with the (North Georgia) RDC. But the commissioners are going to make a decision based on the information they have, and as more information becomes available, then we’ll see if anything changes,” he said.

Babb said the possible loss of state funds is the major concern of commissioners.

“One concern I have is that the RDC gets money from the (state) Department of Transportation for the (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and other projects,” he said. “Well, the new commissioner of the Georgia DOT is Vance Smith, who was one of the original sponsors of the bill to create the new commissions.”

The state has created new service delivery areas for providing state services to local communities. It wants the new regional commission territories to match those of the service delivery areas.

NGRDC chairman Kenny Gowin was out of town Monday and NGRDC executive director Barry Tarter was out of the office Monday afternoon.