Georgia legislature eliminates Muscogee County Marshal’s Office. Here’s why.

A bill that signals the end of the Muscogee County Marshal’s Office made its way through the Georgia General Assembly last week and was signed by the governor on Friday.

The bill consolidates the marshal’s office with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, eliminating the position of marshal and transferring all of the office’s deputy positions and functions to the sheriff’s office beginning Jan. 1, 2021.

That means three candidates who were intending to qualify to run for the office this week will not be qualifying.

Three candidates filed declarations of intent with the Muscogee County Board of Elections to run for the seat: former deputy marshal Alicia Davenport, deputy marshal David Holston and former sheriff’s office employee David Wright.

House Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) filed the bill to consolidate the offices. Known as House Bill 967, it was introduced to the House on Feb. 20. It passed the House Feb. 25, passed the Senate Feb. 27 and was signed by the governor Feb. 28.

The bill was co-sponsored by all four of the remaining Columbus state representatives: Richard Smith (R-Columbus), Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus) and Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City).

Why now

Two previous attempts to consolidate the two offices failed. Voters were asked in 1984 and 2000 whether or not they supported the two offices becoming one, and both times the merger was rejected.

In 2011, Countryman went before the city council’s budget review committee and asked for new squad cars that would cost over $50,000 each. There, he met opposition and then-Mayor Teresa Tomlinson asked for an economic assessment to determine if there would be any costs saved by merging his office with the sheriff’s.

Nothing came of that, until current Muscogee Marshal Greg Countryman announced in April 2019 that he would run for the sheriff’s office when the seat came up for election in 2020, leaving no incumbent in the marshal’s office.

The city’s Public Safety Advisory Commission, a group of citizens appointed by council members and led by Chairman Tyson Begly, was then asked to evaluate the impact of consolidation on public safety.

In a letter submitted to City Manager Isaiah Hugley on Aug. 12, the commission said now would be a good time to consider the merger because in years prior, consolidation would have forced the marshal out of the position.

Begly told the council in October the merger would increase efficiency and possibly save taxpayers money in the long run — possibly as much as $250,000 a year.

“The two offices have significant overlap of services, and therefore a merger would provide the county and city with a larger, single pool of resources to address their combined court and eviction needs,” the letter from the commission says.

The council then asked the city’s state delegation to introduce the legislation in the upcoming session.

The marshal’s office primarily is responsible for handling civil processes through the Municipal Court, and the bulk of the work of the marshal’s deputies is in carrying out dispossessory warrants, which means landlords filed with the court to evict a tenant, and evictions.

Sheriff’s deputies handle the processes of the Superior Court and provide security for courtrooms, as well as carrying out evictions, though on a lesser scale. The office is also responsible for running the Muscogee County Jail.

Sheriff Donna Tompkins, who took office in January 2017, has announced her intention to run again for the office.

She brought the recommendation for consolidation to council during a budget session in May, and council gave it to the Public Safety Advisory Commission to review.

In June, she told the commission what the consolidation would mean for her office and how it would create efficiencies.

Begly told council he invited the marshal to attend a meeting of the commission and speak, but Countryman declined.

Hugley said in August there would be no impact to services should the two offices merge.

Officials react

Though he is attempting to leave the office behind, Countryman said Thursday he does not approve of the way the marshal position is being eliminated.

“If you’re going to abolish an elected office then that should be something that the citizens have a say in because the citizens elect the office holders...these are the same elected officials who rely on the public to elect them every two years,” Countryman told the Ledger-Enquirer. “If we can trust the citizens to elect us to our positions every two years or every four years, we should be willing to trust the citizens to make the right choices.”

Countryman likened the marshal’s office to a military branch like the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps or the Air Force.

“They all have distinct responsibilities and duties but their ultimate job is to keep the United States and our allies safe, and so our responsibility is to serve and protect our citizens and any time you weaken something by taking something away, there is going to be a stagnant point until you can get it better,” he said.

He also said the marshal’s office has not had a seat at the table in discussions about merging the offices.

“I have not had not one conversation from any city official about this,” Countryman said. “This was brought forth by the current sheriff two months after I announced that I was running for the office of sheriff. This was taken to the council and I think that the citizens need to realize this was a political move that will have political consequences to it.”

Despite his disapproval, Countryman said that his experience with both offices makes him the best candidate to make the transition.

Tompkins said Thursday she did make the suggestion during the budgeting process to consolidate the offices.

“We were talking about critical manpower shortages in the police department, the sheriff’s office, and from there the Public Safety Advisory Commission took it up and at that point it was their recommendation that was brought to council and council voted on,” she said.

She said the sheriff’s office welcomes all of the marshals employees.

“My intent is for them to continue to do what they do which is serve civil process,” Tompkins said. “I just think that this will be an even more efficient way of doing that because the sheriff’s office and the marshal’s office have overlapping duties, if you will, so I certainly see it as a way to improve efficiencies. We just welcome them on and we’re just going to continue to work for the people of Muscogee County.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 1:19 PM.