Should Eagle and Garden City even be Cities?
This week the news broke that Mayor Phil Bandy of Eagle was resigning, apparently tired of “personal attacks” levied against him for his taking another job (though his Mayor duties are a full time position), and constant battling with City Councilman Al Shoushtarian. The Statesman has the full scoop.
The question in my mind, though, isn’t “who should be the next Mayor of Eagle” but should Eagle even continue existence as a city. Here’s the facts:
- It can’t afford its city hall space
- It has laid off 40% of its employees
- It has reduced its budget by a third
- City hall is closed on Friday’s because it cannot afford to stay open
- The City is borrowing money to stay afloat
This sounds like a city that needs to unincorporate, and get taken over by Meridian.
I say the same thing about Garden City. Ada Sheriff Gary Raney has said that he can provide law enforcement services to the municipality for less than what the Garden City police force currently costs. If I recall correctly too, GC has had problems in the past with making its contributions to Valley Regional Transit. The GC folks haven’t been able to get anything done with the fairgrounds either (though I am not sure there is any local government ready to tackle that problem).
So - Ada County has at least two cities on life support, and regional growth issues coming at us from all sides. That certainly isn’t aided by weak, fractured governments. These cities need to get it together, or give their marbles to someone else.
Tags: Ada County, Eagle, Garden City, local government
Government | admin March 5, 2010
