That Kelly is one of the point men on criticism of the Better Together merger plan is not unexpected. The plan would strip most of his member cities of police departments and municipal courts, as well as much of the local control, zoning and taxing authority they maintain now. But his criticisms shouldn’t be laughed away as one more bureaucrat trying to save his job.

For the past few years, Kelly and I have discussed the merger concept several times, over coffee, on the phone and by email. Generally, I’ve been on the pro-merger side; he hasn’t. The discussions have been spirited. But the release of the Better Together proposal changed the tenor of our talks significantly.

Frankly, the crew led by Better Together Executive Director Nancy Rice deserve some credit for this. In filing their proposal, and pushing to get it on the ballot right away, they’ve changed the conversations about merger from broad esoteric discussions to very specific ones about who will lead, how the next charter will be drawn and where the money will come from.

It’s that last piece — the money — that draws much of Kelly’s fire.

“This is just tax reform,” he says.