DALTON, Ga. — The stalemate between the Dalton City Council and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners over the service delivery agreement has cost taxpayers a little over $19,000 so far.

In response to an open records request, Dalton City Administrator Jason Parker said the city has paid the McDonough law firm of Smith, Welch, Webb & White $15,418.21 so far for legal work regarding the agreement.

City Council members in August appointed the law firm as a special counsel to represent the city in the negotiations concerning the service delivery agreement. The agreement between the city and the law firm calls for the attorneys to be paid $225 to $300 an hour.

“In addition, the information indicates $1,590 paid to Mitchell & Mitchell for work done for the city or any of its agencies regarding the service delivery agreement,” said Parker. City Attorney Gandi Vaughn is a partner in Mitchell & Mitchell, a Dalton-based law firm.

Whitfield County reports County Attorney Robert Smalley has billed the county for an estimated 22 hours of work on the service delivery agreement. Smalley is paid $100 an hour for an estimated cost of $2,200. But officials say Smalley has not submitted hours for October yet.

Those costs do not include the costs for the mediation that will be held on Thursday for the service delivery agreement involving Whitfield County, Dalton and the cities of Cohutta, Tunnel Hill and Varnell. Parker said Wednesday those costs were not yet available.

The parties will meet at 10 a.m. at Dalton State College’s James Brown Conference Center, room 105, with former Supreme Court of Georgia chief justice Norman Fletcher serving as mediator.

Under state law, cities and counties must negotiate a new service delivery agreement every 10 years, spelling out which services the governments will provide and how they will be funded. The agreements are aimed at reducing duplication of services. Without such an agreement, the county, the City of Dalton and the other cities in the county become ineligible for state grants and other funding and permits.

The current service delivery agreement between the cities and the county expires on Oct. 31 and covers services ranging from fire protection to operations of the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library to building permits.