Most details of next year's Athens-Clarke County budget have been agreed upon, but cutting back on firemen is a bridge too far for some. Citizens (and two firemen) objected last week to a budget proposal that would eliminate three firefighters; several commissioners said they may try to find the budget savings somewhere else. Cutting one ladder company (ACC has three) would not increase first-response times for fires, ACC Manager Alan Reddish told commissioners, but "it would be a delay of a piece of equipment." It would also save the county $134,000 in a tight budget year. ACC's fiscal year begins in July; a planned across-the-board employee raise of $500—their first raise since 2008—will cost $910,000 in this and future years.

Jeremy Williams, president of Professional Firefighters of Athens-Clarke County, warned that ladder companies are already understaffed, and are used not just for high-rise building fires. (All three ladder trucks were used for the Georgia Theatre fire, another fireman noted.) Such appeals concerned commissioner Kathy Hoard: "I've never had firefighters come and ask for help" in 18 years of serving on the commission, she said. The proposed cuts were suggested by ACC Fire Chief Iby George and vetted by the mayor and manager's office; still, several commissioners wanted to take another look. Eventually, said Commissioner Ed Robinson, "we will probably have to start raising taxes." Costs like fuel and medical benefits will go up, added Commissioner Kelly Girtz, "no matter how well we manage the budget."

The budget also doesn't include formulating a master plan for downtown, observed Melissa Link. "Athens is in the crosshairs" for development, she told commissioners, because it has weathered the downturn better than other places. A master plan could "put all our ideas together and make sure that this town grows in a way that benefits the entire community, not just lining the pockets of big developers and big insurance and big banks."

"I do believe we are going to have a downtown master plan," Commissioner Kelly Girtz later responded, but it doesn't need to be funded as part of the general budget. Commissioners must approve a final budget June 5; they appear on track to continue night bus service and to hire an environmental coordinator (a job Mayor Nancy Denson had proposed eliminating) in January.

The role of the environmental coordinator as a kind of watchdog within the government has not meshed well with the top-down management structure of ACC's government. The job was created at the suggestion of local environmental groups, and the elected commissioners have wanted the coordinator to attend public meetings, respond to citizen and commission concerns and roam freely within county departments. But such a vision was never welcomed by the manager's office, says local activist Dick Field, who was the first to hold the job, beginning in 2004. Field told Flagpole last week that his six years on the job included "intimidation" by Reddish and Deputy Manager Bob Snipes, who "never wanted the position [to exist]—and for good reason. It could identify failures or missed opportunities."

Despite "several directives from management," Field said by email, county departments didn't contact him about environmental matters and "I had to work myself into everything that was going on." He was expected to inform his superiors about conversations with the public or "especially" with commissioners or the mayor. "I usually copied them on my email responses to commissioners," he wrote, "but I seldom told them about conversations. That got me into trouble many times… Such intimidation probably dampened my enthusiasm and would have ruined a less confident individual." Other county employees are also required to notify their department heads about any conversations they may have with elected commissioners.

Mayor Heidi Davison "had created the position and steadfastly protected it and me," he said. "Heidi's protection lasted for one year after I left, but management contrived to keep the position vacant for most of that time… I lost track of the number of actions I initiated, many with Mayor and Commission support, that died on [Snipes'] desk. The wetland mitigation bank was one. The latest incumbent in the position was essentially chained to his desk and told not to make any phone calls!" Field wrote. "They didn't even give him a vehicle."

Since Field retired from the job in 2009, two different people have briefly held the job; it is presently unfilled. ACC commissioners discussed the role of the environmental coordinator last November, with Commissioner Mike Hamby saying he wanted the coordinator to be "more proactive" in vetting environmental aspects of upcoming commission decisions. "I just would like for him to be more visible," Commissioner Kathy Hoard said of Eric Blair, who then held the job, and Commissioner Alice Kinman said she had "not yet seen this person." Reddish denied at the time "that we are hiding him somewhere."

Field believes the position should be "redefined as the ACC Sustainability Officer, and placed in the manager's office. It should be given full authority to influence actions in all departments, and communicate directly with the mayor, commissioners, other agencies and the public."

Asked about Field's suggestion last week, Reddish dismissed it. "Dick has his views," he said, but declined to go into specifics.