Gainesville and Hall County plan to continue in the spirit of mediation over the Cedar Creek Reservoir despite a likely decision to delay the official process until the first of the year.

Last week, the city and the county agreed to nonbinding mediation at the request of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Allen Barnes.

Barnes has indicated he will not release the needs assessment letter the county needs to move forward with permitting of the planned Glades Reservoir until Gainesville and Hall County can reach an agreement on Cedar Creek.

The two governments have been at odds for months over which entity has control of the water and the financial details of its inclusion in a larger system with the proposed Glades Reservoir.

On Thursday, the city sent the county a letter drafted to Barnes that was to be signed by both entities and including a request to hold off on formal mediation until January.

“... We believe selection of a mediator, firming up the exact topic to mediate, ground rules, etc. should move forward,” the letter reads. “However, we cannot neglect the fact that this year, 2010, is an election year. Though we don’t know exactly who they will be or how they will feel about this issue, we do know that in three short months there will be new faces on the Hall County commission. We believe it is prudent to wait until those new commissioners are sworn in to begin deliberations.”

“We just thought that since we’ll have two new commissioners coming in January... and they’ll have to vote and agree on the mediation, we thought it’d be better until we got the whole commission together,” Gainesville Mayor Ruth Bruner said.

County Administrator Charley Nix said he soon will begin the process of amending the letter to return to the city.

“The fact I have not heard from the commission tells me I don’t think they have an issue with waiting on mediation,” Nix said.

He said he hopes the move does not jeopardize the issuance of the needs certification letter.

“I would like for us to respect the wishes of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Director Barnes and not overcomplicate their request,” Nix said.

Bruner said she did not intend for the letter to be seen by the public.

“The letter was going to Tom Oliver and if he didn’t agree to that it would have gone back to us (for revision). It wasn’t ready to go out to the media or out to public,” Bruner said. “We don’t want to hold it up. We just thought it made sense to go in that direction. It’s already the middle of September.”

Nix said he believes the Glades Reservoir permitting process is being dragged down among other considerations.

“I think we have complicated the water talks at this stage,” Nix said. “The first step is getting that 404 permit. Then we’ll have plenty of time to fix all this.”