Joint city-count meeting
Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County Commissioners met this week to hammer out some of the plans they want to pursue with one-another over a nice roast at the O.Henry. Most notably, they sought to find places that they could combine departments and go after projects together.
The county and city have been talking about combining the planning departments for years. And Guilford County is looking for ways to streamline things lately. But what else is there?
County commissioners chairman Kirk Perkins and Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked members from both groups what they would like to do, if money was no object. A few projects surfaced, and here are the ones that got the most attention:
Combine operations of the Greensboro police and the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. That could make it kind of like CMPD.
Fund The International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which Guilford County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston later in the meeting said may be close to securing the money, but needs about $2 million by October.
Collaborate on bond issues. That would be having the county and city get together when it comes time for putting bond referenda up to the public for a vote. That's timely, because the County just passed $651.4 million in bonds, while another set of bonds will go to the Greensboro voters in November.
Combine transportation departments. This item had the most interest among the elected people there as a chance to share money between the two.
Now, in all this talk about getting Guilford County and Greensboro on the same page, there was little mentioned about other towns and municipalities. (Namely, High Point. Which is, you know, the 8th largest city in the state.)
"I'm concerned. This is a four-legged stool, and we only have two legs here," said Greensboro Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, speaking to the presence of only the elected from Guilford and Greensboro.
To that, Johnson said that they have no intention of leaving anyone out, but that getting the county and Greensboro on board were the first steps. Later, other towns and cities in Guilford County would join the plan.
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