East Coast Towns Treasure Their Homey Governments

Residents in several East Coast towns say they aren’t sorry they kept their independence while the counties around them merged with bigger cities.

“It’s face-to-face (government). People have access,” said Jim Jarboe, deputy city manager at Atlantic Beach, Fla. “If anything goes wrong with government, whether it’s local, state or federal, they let us know at our meetings.”

Jarboe’s city of 14,000 is one of four in Duval County, which merged with Jacksonville 27 years ago. The other towns range in size from 2,000 to 18,000 people.

The town residents elect their own mayors and council members. They also help elect the mayor and council for the city-county government.

Because city-county council members are elected by district, the residents have better representation than they did under county government, said Jarboe, who was a council member from 1987-1991.

Not that they’re entirely happy with the merged government. In fact, Atlantic Beach sued in 1992, claiming the consolidated government was collecting too much money from small-town residents and providing too little in return.

Jacksonville-Duval County recently settled the matter out of court, agreeing to pave more streets, fix drainages prone to floods and cut property taxes 16 percent. The other towns also are negotiating for tax cuts and more services.

Mayors of the three other Duval County towns expressed similar satisfaction with independence and concerns about services seven years ago when Jacksonville was celebrating 20 years of consolidation.

“There’s no discussion about it. We are enjoying our independence,” Marvin Godbold, mayor of Baldwin, Fla. (pop. 2,000), told a Florida Times-News reporter.

Godbold, who still is mayor, was ill this week and could not be reached for comment.

In Winterville, Ga., Mayor Bill Orr said services have improved since Clarke County merged with the city of Athens. His town of 1,000 relies on city-county government to fill potholes and provide many other services.

Before the merger, Orr said, county road crews raised their mower blades when they came to the town limits, then lowered them again when they got to the other side of town. Since unification, the town, which is six miles from downtown Athens, is part of the county’s urban service district and right-of-way grass is mowed.

“They’ve been very good at working with us,” Orr said. “In my opinion, it’s working better” than before consolidation.

Winterville kept its Police Department and Fire Department, which are about the only services the town provides itself.

Tal DuVall, an Athens resident and member of the city-county council, says it won’t be long before Winterville residents decide it’s not worth $400,000 a year to keep a town that serves little purpose other than community pride.

“I give them about two years” before the residents decide to dissolve the town and merge with the bigger government, he said.

Orr isn’t so sure.

“People want Winterville to retain its sovereignty,” he said.

, DataTimes