Clarkesville Takes No Action on Proposed Shared Services Agreement with Demorest

The City of Clarkesville elected not to take action on a proposed intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Demorest that would allow the two municipalities to share an employee, delaying a decision until the city's new manager has an opportunity to review the proposal. The City of Clarkesville met Monday, July 13 to discuss and vote on the matter.

The agreement, which was approved by the Demorest City Council during its July 9 meeting, was expected to receive similar approval from Clarkesville. According to a Demorest City Council member, city officials anticipated both municipalities would move forward with the agreement.

Supporters of the proposal have said sharing the employee would provide a cost-effective way for the two cities to utilize resources while also offering increased compensation for the employee.

However, Clarkesville Councilmember Brad Coppedge said the Clarkesville City Council chose to take no action on the agreement after determining that certain provisions were no longer favorable to the city.

"There were aspects of the agreement which were not favorable any longer for Clarkesville," Coppedge said.

Rather than taking action immediately, Coppedge said the council decided to wait until Jason Streetman assumes his role as Clarkesville's new city manager. Streetman is expected to begin serving in that position in early August.

"We will have Jason Streetman, the new city manager for Clarkesville, review the agreement and determine if the agreement should be revisited," Coppedge said.

Demorest officials said they were not aware of the specific concerns that prompted Clarkesville to postpone consideration of the agreement.

It is unclear when or if the agreement will return to the Clarkesville City Council for consideration.