How did SDS expire in 2015?

As an initial point, the Service Delivery Agreement did not expire. Because there is no expiration date in the statute, and the SDS agreement contains no expiration date, and the resolutions of each affected government do not provide a termination date, the last agreement approved is still in effect. The legal issue and requirement within the statute is to “review and revise”. The failure of the governments to submit to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs a reviewed and revised agreement, after the occurrence of a single trigger listed in Georgia Code Section 36-70-28, has resulted in the loss of qualified local government status and subsequent sanctions by the State of Georgia.

The loss of qualified status is because a renewed and updated Agreement was not signed; however, how or why that occurred is a point of some disagreement. Representatives of the City and County met to reach an agreement and did agree to a one year “band-aid” to allow for further and deeper discussion without losing qualified status. The day before the City was to vote on this proposal, the County at the request of the Water Authority sought changes to that Agreement. Clayton voted to adopt the one year “band-aid.” The County did not vote to approve any Service Delivery Agreement (they voted to approve one but then rescinded the vote in the same meeting).

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