City and county employees gathered at Macon City Hall Saturday morning, to march in opposition to consolidation.
The march was organized by the state chapter of Service Employees International Union/National Association of Government Employees (SEIU/NAGE), according to a news release by union spokeswoman Anna Avato.
There were signs, stickers, and a lot of spirit. People slowly arrived at 11 a.m for the rally and they all had similar things to say.
"The consolidation plan stinks," says Councilman Henry Gibson.
Gerald Harvey, a candidate for Georgia State House District 142, says,"It's a bad bill. It's not necessarily that consolidation is a bad term. This particular bill isn't good for the City of Macon nor the county."
"It's completely flawed," says Marc Lewis who lives in Macon.
The rally against consolidation quickly turned into a march to the Bibb County Courthouse. The crowd of about 40 people raised the question of job loss.
"We are here to help people keep their jobs. Not only that, we need to work together not separate ourselves," says Lillie Gantt-Evans, another Macon resident.
"Now is not the time to be laying people off," says Harvey.
Bibb County Commissioner, Lonzy Edwards, was one of the seven speakers who took the megaphone to raiser further concerns.
"Whenever you have conflict, one of the first casualties is the truth," says Edwards.
"The people who keep saying we have to get this passed or we will never see this again, it's like somebody trying to see you a vacuum cleaner saying this is a one-time only deal. If you don't buy it now, this deal will end," says Lewis."That's not true. It's a sales pitch and I'm not going for it.
"I respect the Mayor or whatever, but I have reservations about his intentions because this is his last term. But if they consolidate, he gets a chance to run again," says Gibson.