The mediation session between Baldwin County officials and the City of Milledgeville led to the determination of which entity is responsible for the city’s library and its animal control department.  Milledgeville will now need to take control of the two departments by the middle of 2019.

To date, the county and city have worked under a Service Delivery Agreement since 2008.  That agreement expired in 2018.  The two sides began working on a new agreement in late 2017, but were unable to reach a resolution initially.  Baldwin County also accused officials of canceling meetings in November 2017 and in the beginning of 2018, so the existing agreement was extended to the middle of the year.

The two governments continued to negotiate throughout the year with one more extension.

Baldwin County officials believed progress was being made, but the agreement was extended again through mid-2019, just in case.

Mediation sessions were held from October through December 19, but still no agreement was reached.  Some believed the two sides were even further apart than where they had begun.  

Following a decision regarding the Special Local Option Sales Tax under Georgia state law, the two sides finally adopted a resolution after the December 19th meeting.  According to the release issued by Baldwin County, the County will no longer provide animal control services or library services within the city of Milledgeville and the City is free to approach the County in the future about a new contract for these services.  This means an alternative arrangement could still be an option before the mid-June deadline, but as of now the city will be required to provide these services to citizens.