EDITORIAL: No SDS means we all lose

Published 12:11 pm Wednesday, June 26, 2019

There are no winners here. 

We are approaching the 11th hour before the Service Delivery deadline and Milledgeville and Baldwin County officials, thus far, have dropped the ball. 

The fact that Service Delivery Strategy remains unsettled with no compromise in sight is a dark cloud over this community. 

We don’t like that and we think it’s unacceptable. We’re certain you don’t like it either, so we have to let city and county leaders know it.

Tell them that leaving Service Delivery up in the air is just not fair to the local library system and the thousands of students and adults that rely on its resources for access to Wi-Fi, computers, books and other materials, the dedicated library employees whose paychecks will be affected, and the community at-large that will miss out on state-level funding that won’t come this way — all because they can’t look at the bigger picture and get this resolved.

There will always be ideological differences at every level of government. But everyone who lives here is a part of the same community, fighting the same battles, and that should matter more than who wins and who loses or who has to give up the most ground.

Tell them that we demand better representation and elected officials who can demonstrate a more functional way to govern. Tell them that we’re tired of taxpayer monies being spent on legal fees instead of on infrastructure improvements, upgrades to the public parks and rec facilities, a new animal shelter and a public pool. 

Tell them you’re tired of waiting on them to get their act together and get this done. 

Milledgeville City Council

Dr. Collinda Lee, District 1

collinda.lee@milledgevillega.us

478-452-4217

Jeanette Walden, District 2

jeanette.walden@milledgevillega.us 

478-452-5604

Denese R. Shinholster, District 3

denese.shinholster@milledgevillega.us

478-363-4585

Walter Reynolds, District 4

walter.reynolds@milledgevillega.us

478-363-3684

Richard Mullins, Jr., District 5

boo.mullins@milledgevillega.us

478-454-7461

Steve Chambers, District 6

steve.chambers@milledgevillega.us

478-452-2488

Mary Parham-Copelan, Mayor

mayorcopelan@milledgevillega.us

478 414-4092

Baldwin County Commissioners

Emily C. Davis, District 1

ecdavis@baldwincountyga.com

 478-451-7105

Tommy French, District 2

478-288-1172

tfrench@baldwincountyga.com

Sammy Hall, District 3

 478-932-5662

shall@baldwincountyga.com

Henry R. Craig, District 4

 478-452-2531

hcraig@baldwincountyga.com

John H. Westmoreland, District 5

 478-387-5315

jwestmoreland@baldwincountyga.com

Remind them that there are no winners here. 

As long as there’s no Service Delivery Strategy agreement we all lose. 

So what are they going to do about it?