A dispute over the formation of a county police department in Chatham County, Georgia, may not make it to mediation if the two sides can’t come closer on the issue. The Chatham County Commission and the City Council of Savannah have been locked in a disagreement over whether or a not a county police force can be formed without consulting the citizens of Chatham County via a referendum, and the hope that the conflict might be resolved via mediation seems to be futile.

Under Georgia law, county police forces can only be formed when approved by the citizens of the county in a referendum. However, an exception is made for county police departments that existed before 1992 and that have been in continuous existence.

The Chatham County Police existed before 1992, but were disbanded when the county government merged with the City of Savannah in 2005. However, the county’s legal counsel advised the County Commissioner that because the county police had existed before 1992 no referendum would be needed to re-form the force. The City Council disagrees with that legal interpretation.

The County objects to mediation over the question of costs, citing recent mediation experiences where the taxpayers were billed for mediation services that did not result in a resolution of the matter. The Savannah Chamber of Commerce had offered to pay for mediation services, but while the city council accepted this proposal, the County Commission refused it, again citing the failures of past mediations.