Hall County Commissioner Craig Lutz may have just revived a decades-old debate at the Hall County Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday.The South Hall commissioner proposed taking a closer look at consolidating the county government with the city of Gainesville.The idea of at least studying consolidation won the cautious support of the other commissioners, who expressed an interest in partnering with the city to explore the options.The move seems to be getting mixed reactions from Gainesville officials.Citing recent headline-grabbers about the future of Hall Area Transit services, disputes over the Cedar Creek reservoir and ownership of the old county jail, Lutz said there have always been “political barriers” between the city and the county.He pointed to when, 20 years ago, voters in Hall County overwhelming supported a straw ballot asking if they would support a study of unification. A feasibility study was completed in 1995, which Lutz said showed the “benefits of unification between the city and the county.”Seventeen years later, Lutz said Hall County and Gainesville officials should look toward completing that study with a cost-benefit analysis.In an official motion, Lutz proposed writing a letter to city officials asking for a partnership in completing the 17-year-old study into the feasibility and budget impacts of such a move.“This study, however, cannot be done without the full cooperation of both the Hall County and city government officials,” Lutz said, “and by a passing vote of this motion the county will have shown that we are ready to partnertogether with the city to provide better services to our citizens at the most economical tax rate ...”That motion was ultimately voted down 3-2, because other commissioners thought it might further ruffle feathers with the Gainesville City Council. But it did spark a discussion among the commissioners.Commissioner Ashley Bell, whose district includes portions of the city, said the consolidation idea deserved a closer look.