On September 24, 2026, the Jasper City Council attended a joint meeting with the Pickens County Board of Commissioners in the hopes of creating a partnership between the City and County to put the community first through Service Delivery Strategy negotiations. Instead, the County announced a plan to dissolve the City as an independent entity and to proceed with a unilateral effort to consolidate the City and County governments, providing that the County Board of Commissioners would be in control of the City. There had been no effort ahead of last night's meeting to advise the Jasper City Council of Pickens County's intent to proceed in this manner, nor had there been any rationale provided by Pickens County to explain this action.

Mayor Raffield updated Pickens County Board Chairman Stancil on September 17, 2026, of an exciting development from the City's State and Federal partners regarding the funding of a major water supply infrastructure project that will benefit our community as a whole. The City has support on this project from our State Representative, our State Senator, and our U.S. Senators.

The Jasper City Council stands united in their resolve to oppose this power grab by the County. The County's actions are inexcusable, and Council will fight all further efforts to proceed with legislative action to end the City as an independent entity as this is not what is in the best interests of our community.

Sincerely,

Kirk D. Raffield, Mayor
Jim Looney, Mayor Pro Tem
Brandon Hannah, Councilmember
John B. Foust, Jr., Councilmember
Steve Lawrence, Councilmember
Tony Davis, Councilmember

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