Councilman not happy with commission action

A consolidation commission member said county residents got short-changed when the commission agreed last week to abandon plans to consolidate governments.

"The citizens deserved a hard look at this issue and they didn't get it," commission member and Cherokee County Councilman Bailey Humphries said.

At its meeting last week, the commission overwhelmingly approved a motion to scrap plans to put the consolidation issue on the November ballot. Instead, the commission agreed to study the proposed consolidation of three or four governmental services.

Gaffney City Administrator James Taylor made the motion, which had the backing of other municipal officials and appointees on the commission.

Humphries said Taylor's motion was made because the municipalities are worried about the potential loss of revenue.

"The city officials keep talking about this consolidation being politically motivated, but the city is afraid of losing some revenue by losing its court system and its trash collection," Humphries said.

Humphries also questioned if Taylor and the commission had the authority to appoint a group to study the consolidation of services. Humphries suggests the commission gaveled itself out of existence when it abandoned plans to place the issue on the November ballot.

"We were charged with putting the consolidation issue on the ballot. So, in essence, that commission dissolved itself by law," he said. "Now, it has made an elitist group of city officials to look at the consolidation of services."

Twelve members voted in favor of the motion, which was seconded by Blacksburg Town Administrator Danny McDaniel. Commission member W.B. Cook abstained.