"Hostile takeover."
Those are the two words that have been recently repeated by Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich to describe the proposed consolidation of Sun Valley and Ketchum.
"In the business world, you have mergers, acquisitions and hostile takeovers," Willich said. "We've gone over the financials and this is not the first two."
Willich has countered analysis from One Community, One Town, the citizens group behind the consolidation initiative, saying that bringing the two entities together would not be a merger of equals.
As a number of Sun Valley residents have pointed out since the issue was made public last month, Idaho Code requires that the name and governmental practices of the larger city be retained if voters approve a consolidation.
Willich said every comment he and Sun Valley City Council President Nils Ribi have received on the merger has been resoundingly in opposition.
"We're hearing that our residents don't want to be absorbed into Ketchum," Willich said. "They think we have a well-run city with a robust financial situation and that the financials in Ketchum are a disaster. They don't want to be a part of that and this makes me think the petition drive is a dead horse."
However, Charles Conn, spokesperson for One Community, One Town and a Ketchum City Council member, has a vastly different view.
"This initiative came out of Sun Valley and is not a hostile takeover if the citizens vote for it," Conn said. "We only take over ourselves."
State law mandates that if voters approve the measure, the elected officials of both cities would be immediately fired from their positions and a new election would be held within 60 to 90 days after the consolidation vote.
As regulated by Idaho code, petitions to put the measure on the ballot would need 20 percent of registered voters in both cities' last elections—that means the signatures of 418 Ketchum voters and just under 100 in Sun Valley.
Conn made his comments during a Ketchum City Council meeting on Monday, at which he stepped away from his role as a council member to present a financial comparison of the two cities. Both he and Sun Valley Councilman Dave Chase, also a spokesman for One Community, One Town, have made it clear that they do not represent their respective cities or fellow council members when it comes to this consolidation effort.
The pair has maintained that through consolidation the two cities could save an estimated $2 million per year, a calculation achieved by researching similar consolidations elsewhere in the U.S.
"Other consolidations we've seen have realized nearly 30 percent savings, which would mean around $6 million given the size of the combined Ketchum and Sun Valley budgets," Chase wrote in an e-mail. "So we believe the $2 million is not only easy to achieve, but rather obvious for anyone with familiarity with the budget. As a preview, the bulk of that $2 million is from the fact that you don't need a matched set of department heads, city administrators, council, mayor, and planning and zoning commissions."
Chase said he and Conn are working on calculating the details of their estimated savings and will make that information public in the near future.
At Monday's meeting, Conn said all he is looking for is an open conversation about the issue, and that even those in opposition could benefit from voting on the consolidation.
"If someone is against it, they should want it on the ballot so it gets voted down soundly and never gets brought up again," Conn said. "There may be good reasons not to combine, but I can't see the reason not to have the conversation in these tough economic times."
Conn was clearly frustrated by the direction the arguments against consolidation have taken, citing personal attacks against himself and Chase in comments on news Web sites.
"I think it's appalling, the absolute gutter level of public discourse from people with above-average intelligence," Conn said. "I assumed the level of debate in our community would be based on calm, reasoned argument. Boy, was I wrong."
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
Despite the proximity of Ketchum and Sun Valley, a proposal to merge the two cities has met opposition from numerous residents.
Photo by Mountain Express
