In the past weeks there has been a lot of discussion as who is to blame, and why we are having a police demerger with the City and County. Let me start by saying, I strongly support a merged police department and I believe a merged department is good for our entire region. Public Safety has been, and will continue to be our top priority for the Mayor and City Council. Unfortunately, for a merged department to work, it takes an equal and willing partner.

One of our first objectives as Mayor and new council was to keep the SCMPD together. That is why we signed a new agreement in 2016 that preserved the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department. The City accepted $2,000,000 more in costs for two years, while also agreeing with the County's request to hire a third-party expert to develop an evidence-based formula to allocate SCMPD costs, and make other recommendations for improving public safety jurisdiction wide. The City and County jointly hired Berkshire Advisors, experts in this field, to do just that. Then City and County staffers worked hand in hand with Berkshire to develop this study, completed earlier this year.

In early May, at the request of the County for budgeting issues, I hosted a joint meeting with the Chatham County Commission to learn the findings from the report. The Berkshire study's bottom line was that the County should pay for roughly 24 percent of SCMPD's shared costs, while the city pays 76 percent. The 76-24 breakdown is essentially what the County paid under our original agreement. County Commissioners did not like this news, and attacked the entire study, which its own staff helped create. The study also included 41 recommendations the department should implement to improve safety, including a seven- minute response time, jurisdiction wide for all priority one calls.

The Council on numerous occasions has made clear that public safety is our number one priority, and would invest the resources into SCMPD to achieve this goal. That is why on June 22 the Council voted unanimously to accept the Berkshire Report, and begin a plan to implement all the recommendations in the report for the FY 2018 budget.

A week later, per our signed agreement, I sent Chairman Al Scott a letter and asked where the County stood on implementing the seven-minute response time and the evidence based funding formula for the SCMPD. The City needed a response so we could start preparing our budget for 2018. After I sent my letter to the Chairman, the City Manager sent a letter to the County Manager. There was no response from either in three weeks, as required in our signed agreement.

In the meantime, the City was developing plans to combat gang and group violence and add resources recommended in the Berkshire report to reach a seven-minute response time. The County, instead, was focused on trying to discredit this plan, and stubbornly refused to discuss any public safety enhancements. The only way we knew of the County's displeasure with the study was through the media.

When we received no response to our formal request, the City knew we no longer had a partner in fighting crime in this community. As a result, on July 21, City Council voted unanimously to notify the County Commission that it was initiating a termination of the SCMPD, effective Feb. 1, 2018, and to re-establish the Savannah Police Department so we could do the things that needed to be done to make our city safer.

To this day, Chatham County has yet to adopt the Berkshire report, or indicate whether it supports any one of these finding as part of the Metro jurisdiction.

On Oct. 26, our Savannah Police Department Transition Team presented a plan to City Council, which outlined the anticipated costs and logistics of establishing the SPD based on the Berkshire Study. We estimate that it will cost about $1.4 million to transition to Savannah Police, mostly to lease two new precinct buildings, two new substations, and to pay for new patches, badges and restriping of vehicles. As well as $5 million to add an additional 12 officers and 94 police cars to the force to help with recruitment and retention as recommended by the Berkshire.

While I find the County Commissioners lack of communication through this process troubling, in the end I do not blame them for wanting out of the SCMPD. The Police merger was not a true merger, but rather a marriage of departments, with each side contributing its own officers that remain on its respective benefits plans, precincts that remain its own property, and vehicle fleet maintained by its own staff and fueled at its own pumps. But more than this, the City and County have different goals and philosophies when it comes to policing, and each department can focus on the goals for the unincorporated areas.

I also find it important to point out we have the best police officers and support staff in the nation at the SCMPD. We hear stories almost daily of officers going above and beyond their duties to make our community safer. The City Manager and I are committed to taking care of our officers, and welcoming as many to the SPD as possible.

I have no doubt that crime will continue to decrease in the city with the SPD; and I know the unincorporated areas will be served well by the Chatham County Police Department. I also look forward to working with Chairman Scott and the County Commission in the years to come on a host of other issues.

Eddie DeLoach is mayor of the City of Savannah.