dreamreality

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Reports from inside the Shelby County Administration Building are that Interim Mayor Joe Ford is pulling the plug on the functional consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County Fire Departments.

To compound that mistake, it’s also said that Mayor Ford is throwing a monkey wrench in the two-years of work to functionally consolidate city and county law enforcement.

In the mayor-of-the-month club that characterized Shelby County Government for the last half of 2009 (with more mayors in four months than in the previous 34 years), Mayor Ford emerged as interim mayor with exactly nine months to serve.

An Interim Motto

We think that the motto for interim mayors – whether in City Hall or the County Building – should be primum non nocere.

First, do no harm.

All in all, we think Interim Memphis Mayor Myron Lowery adhered to this principle admirably.  From the beginning, he set a careful agenda, he set out to return respect to the city mayor’s office and he pledged to set a strong foundation for the new mayor’s administration, whether he would be at the helm of it or not.

At this point, Mayor Ford seemed to embody the antithesis of this approach.  He’s got a scatter-shot set of priorities, a covey of task forces tripping over each other and confusing messages about what’s important to him.

Here’s the thing: Mayor Ford is a good guy.  He is polite, thoughtful, appreciative and wants to do well.  We say “amen” to his emphasis on saving The Med from bankruptcy or cutting back services.

Defining Success

If he could do that alone in the next nine months, we’d judge him as a total success.  If he could do that and reduce the budget, we’d hoist him on our shoulders and parade him through downtown.

But so far, the interim mayor seems unfocused, which is an occupational hazard for someone in the mayor’s office where so much is coming at him and so much needs to be done.  Regardless of that, it would be helpful if he could clarify his objectives and set narrow goals that can be reasonable accomplished in nine months.

It would also be helpful if he wouldn’t undo things that have been in the works for years, including the long overdue functional consolidation of some city-county services that need to be more efficient, more economical and most of all, seamless.

At this point, we’re told that he hasn’t fully explained a clear reason why he’s inclined to discard two years of law enforcement discussions and the latest negotiations about fire protection that began slightly more than three years ago.

Agreements

Under the law enforcement proposal by Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter that jump started the discussion about law enforcement, a five-member Public Safety Commission would guide a functional consolidation of the two entities. The plan, which would ultimately require a change in the county charter, would give leaders a chance to reverse or opt out of consolidation agreements if things weren’t going well.  It is much more delicate to complete than the fire departments’ merging, and in the end, it’s essential that well-respected Sheriff Mark Luttrell is supportive of the final course of action.

Meanwhile, the interlocal agreement for the fire departments was finalized, and Mayor A C Wharton – as county mayor – signed it, but as usual, then-Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton did the opposite of what he had said he would do.  He refused to sign it.

We suspect that Mayor Wharton expected to consummate the agreement once he switched sides of Civic Center Plaza, and most county observers thought that Mayor Ford had given indications that he would move ahead with it as well.

At this point, both initiatives are at a standstill (although of course a new county mayor September 1 could resuscitate them), spawning all kinds of political theories for the Courthouse crowd to ponder.

Theories

There are two dominant ones.  There’s the one that Mayor Ford is honing his “county” credentials as a Bartlett resident who is appealing to the town mayors’ concerns about all things consolidated.  This theory is fueled by his scheduling of visits to several coffee klatches in the towns in the coming days.

But one aide to a town mayor put it succinctly: “If Ford found the cure for cancer, the (town) mayors wouldn’t stand with him at a press conference.”  In other words, the notion that he seriously thinks he can find support in the county’s small cities will be short-lived.

The second theory – less plausible to us – is that he thinks that Memphians are getting the worst end of the deal when it comes to these two agreements.  That’s pretty hard to argue since the Memphis mayor himself has no similar reservations.

Regardless of the theory or the theorists, one thing everybody thinks is that Mayor Ford will declare as a Democratic candidate for county mayor.  He’ll have to decide soon, because the qualifying deadline for the primary for county mayor is only a few weeks away – February 18.

That remains to be seen, but it’s hard to see why a nine-month mayor would need 15 task forces to examine issues unless he’s hoping to stay longer than originally intended.

Time for Better Government

It would seem that the tough budgetary straits in both city and county governments would have them looking aggressively for ways to eliminate duplication and increase efficiency (understanding that only “real” merger does it best).  After all, functional consolidation merges staff, but never eliminates the conflicting visions, directions and policies that plague government because these joint agencies still answer to both city and county administrations.

In evaluating Louisville’s successful city-county merger in 2000, the Brookings Institution praised the merger for accomplishing four things:

1) Accountability – the ultimate responsibility is clear to taxpayers

2) Efficiencies produced by economies of scale – functions by each government could be provided at less cost through shared equipment, personnel, and purchasing

3) Eliminated duplicative services

4) Economic development – a single focus is an incentive for economic growth

Starting Over

We hope Mayor Ford changes his mind about the law enforcement and fire department talks.  However, even if he does, it’s worth remembering that functional consolidation is a step in the right direction, but it’s only a step.

The real destination is the merger of city-county governments and creation of a totally new government.

It’s hard to argue with Mayor Wharton when he says that part of our problem here is that “we have two governments doing the job of one.”  Hopefully, with some courage and a renewed sense that we’re all in this together, we’ll have a chance to usher in this new era later this year.