Proposal of New Metro Government

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The charter commission is almost ready to put pen to paper on the new metro charter.

Thursday the commission presented its recommendations to the Shelby County Commission and the Memphis City Council.

Metro Charter Commission Chairman Julie Ellis presented the recommendations to elected officials with a purpose: to make Memphis the kind of place where people will want to stay to make a living after college. Ellis' three children have all made careers in other cities.

Despite consolidation failing in the past, Ellis said now is the time to make Memphis better.

"I am hopeful they will look at this and not as the c-word of 40 years ago," said Ellis. "40 years ago we did this; a lot has changed in 40 years."

The first point presented was that schools would not be merged in a new consolidated government. But some city representatives took offense to leaving the schools out, seeing it as a chance to make all school systems better.

"Were going to leave the schools out of it?" asked Memphis City Council member Wanda Halbert. "That sounds like a concession, that to a lot of people that somebody is so desperate just to get this effort that they're not willing to touch that issue."

Ellis explained that it is the law preventing the consolidation of schools. But still, some commissioners representing the suburbs had their doubts on how a merged government could exist with separate school systems.

"The unanswered questions we have on funding and taxes, its going to be a real deadly thing as we vote on this out in the country," said Shelby County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker.

Ellis said the way schools are funded would remain the same. In fact, the way you are taxed would basically stay the same; just the government services would be merged.

"When you look at services, there's a lot of flow to try and get a real county wide, how can we run out county better," said Ellis.

Also on the list of recommendations:

The suburban mayors would stay although there would be just one metro mayor.

The Memphis police will do the policing, and the sheriff's office will run the jail.

In the metro charter, citizens of any area slated to be annexed into Memphis will get to vote on whether they want to or not.

And suburban cities will keep their pre-planned annexation areas, although those residents won't get to vote on the issue.

It would be up to the New Metro Council to implement these rules.