THOMASVILLE — The City of Cairo and Grady County are working to enhance communication between the two governing bodies.

This comes after Cairo Mayor Richard VanLandingham attended Tuesday’s Grady County Board of Commissioners meeting, after they voted down the city’s request for the county commissioners and tax commissioner to take over responsibility for city tax collections.

“We offered to pay the county and the tax commissioner funds to take over the responsibility,” VanLandingham said. “The commissioners did not like the idea that the tax commissioner would receive additional money to accept the responsibility.

“We are working with both parties to come to an agreement next week.”

Board Vice-Chairman Charles Renaud said, after talking to people in his district about the request, it was apparent residents were not in favor of the tax commissioner receiving a monetary benefit for the service.

The board voted 4-0 at a previous meeting to not approve the request because this also was the general consensus of the board, he said.

Stemming from the issue is the new resolve to maintain open lines of communication between city and county management.

“Overall I was pleased with the response I received from the county commissioners,” VanLandingham said following Tuesday’s meeting. “They agreed to work with the city to improve our cooperation and partnership to do all we can together to improve our community.”

Both entities have agreed to hold meetings between the city manager and county manager to keep informed of issues that could affect each other, officials said.

Meetings are expected to be scheduled on a regular, as-needed basis, possibly quarterly or more. Though they would not be considered formal meetings, they would be face-to-face between involved parties.

“We will start the process with the city manager and the county manager meeting together to better inform each other on any issue that would impact the other, and discuss any and all possibilities,” VanLandingham said.

Other persons, such as the Grady County Schools superintendent or City of Whigham personnel, would also be included on any issues dealing with them, officials said.

Renaud agreed that city and county officials are still working on a way to handle the request and he expects the item to be revisited at a future meeting.

County Administrator Rusty Moye said, even though the county, the cities of Cairo and Whigham, and the board of education “have always worked hand-in-hand to accomplish joint venture projects,” they’ve never orchestrated formal meetings “to discuss items of interest which may be coming down the pike.”

“I would hope the institution of meetings between the heads of the local governing authorities would bring new and innovative ideas to the table for discussion and eliminate the possibility of overlooking the best alternative,” Moye said.

City Manager Chris Addleton said, “It is always beneficial for the city and county to find common ground to work together.”

Renaud thinks the meetings are a wonderful idea.

“Any lines of communication between the city, county and other agencies are beneficial,” he said. “We need to make sure that all parties concerned in any project or decision have all the information they need.

“An example is Tired Creek: as we move forward, we want to make sure everyone is on the same page so everyone can make informed decisions.”