McDuffie County officials have been told they are rare proof that governments can work together peacefully. They tried to demonstrate that once again during the semi-annual joint city/county retreat.
Officials from the county government and both incorporated towns -- Dearing and Thomson -- met Friday in the Thomson-McDuffie Airport conference room to discuss the upcoming events facing McDuffie County over the next few years.
Elected officials from both cities and the county were glad to be able to come together again to talk about McDuffie County's business. They say the joint meetings make things run much more smoothly.
"A lot of times I've noticed in business one department will know about something and the other department doesn't know about it, and all of a sudden it gets to the top and falls apart," said Thomson City Councilman Mike Carrington. "This way you've got both cities and the county working together, and you can go ahead and plan because there's a lot of things we own jointly."
Officials from Thomson and McDuffie County made presentations about upcoming projects on the horizon. Included in the meeting was discussion on which government would claim certain jointly owned assets on its books for upcoming audits.
Also, representatives from the Facility Group came by to answer any questions officials had concerning the Sweetwater Park gym that is still in the planning stages. Representatives from the building planning company left with a little clearer idea of what the governments expect from the facility.
Overall, officials thought the day-long meeting was successful in its purpose of bringing everyone to the table to talk about the business of governing McDuffie County.
"It gives us an idea of where we are in terms of other government entities, especially the city, so that we are cooperating with trying to build the entire county as opposed to trying to do our own particular thing from the standpoint of the county," said County Commissioner Fred Favors. "It's best to work together."
