County Commission Hears Updates On Economic Development/IDA, DSCO Training Facility, And Building Projects

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The June 6 meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners featured updates on economic development/the Industrial Development Authority, the sheriff’s office training facility, other building/renovation projects, and it ended with an executive session about real estate.

For those interested in the county’s budget hearing/adoption timeline, see the ads in recent Sentinel issues or visit www.dadecounty-ga.gov/Calendar.

The Department of Parks and Recreation requested Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds to purchase a new utility vehicle. Phillip Hartline (District Two commissioner) said he would like to look at each of the three quotes before moving forward.

Evan Stone (IDA/economic development director) gave a quarterly update. He noted that four expansions in the industrial park are in progress, as well as Food City’s expansion and Baby Hughy’s plans to build a 125-seat restaurant.

As he’s explained in numerous IDA meetings, the authority has turned down several requests for information due to lack of space or the interested companies being a poor fit for Dade. He said that around 70,000 cars travel on I-24 each day, and the county will be working hard to market the GA-299 area. Noting that concerns about traffic came up this election season, he reported that of the 11,500 vehicles traveling around the Trenton square each day, 97.2 percent are not big trucks.

Stone then requested a total of $177,954.70 in SPLOST funds (allocated to the IDA) to cover four projects, two of which are completed. The completed projects are adding a water line to Trenton Pressing and site work for Chattanooga Industrial Motors. The ongoing projects are paving work on Highlands Industrial Drive and Vanguard Drive and expanding the sewer to the new Trenton-Dade Business Park.

The board approved this expenditure after Hartline and Robert Goff (District Three commissioner) asked a few questions. The IDA’s remaining SPLOST balance will be about $450,000.

Hartline asked several clarifying questions about the projects, and Goff asked why Dade Water and Sewer Authority weren’t also sharing the cost for the water line. Stone explained that they spoke with the water authority when Trenton Pressing first wanted to expand, but the water authority said they didn’t have funds for this project.

Hartline asked what would happen if the commission were to deny the $60,000 for expanding the sewer to the new Trenton-Dade Business Park. Since that purchase has already been made using the IDA’s general budget and this request is for a reimbursement, would it remain under the general budget? Stone said the IDA would have to decide if this were to happen. He added that Ted Rumley (county executive) and the authority agreed that this would be a positive step for the county.

Tommy Bradford (chief deputy) reported that the Dade County Sheriff’s Office appreciates its new training facility which has been in use since November. The sheriff’s office has held FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) sessions, radar classes, training with eight different agencies, and much more at the facility.

The facility includes a fitness center, aiding the DCSO’s new physical fitness program. Group physical therapy for law enforcement also takes place as the center.

Dade County High School’s welding class built the shooting range’s target stands for free. Bradford reported that so far this year, 19 hours of firearms training has taken place at the facility as well as defensive tactics training, and a ladies youth self defense course. So far, the facility has tracked 201 hours used.

Of the historic courthouse renovation, Cole Adkins with Blevins Construction Management reported that the wooden entry doors should be completed this week, no more leaks have been found, and he hopes the project will be completed this month.

The agenda included the item, “Proposed agreements for occupants of the Historic Courthouse and Museum,” but the commission will return to this next month. Robin Rogers (county attorney) sent the commissioners a draft of the agreement.

Regarding the elections building, Rumley said the county is awaiting adjusted drawings, due to the addition of basement work.

Regarding the historic train depot renovation, Rumley said it is close to being completed. Hartline requested that a budget report on the project be presented next month. Rumley agreed, saying the budget would not be far over the amount received from the insurance claim.

During Citizens Participation, John Huffman spoke. He brought up the Public Safety Community Watch programs again, noting that New Salem has the only active program, yet the other programs remain line items in the budget. He said that the entire county is paying for this one program, and audits have missed this error. He said, “You’ve allocated money to fake programs year after year for 13 years.”

As explained in the April 10 Sentinel, Rumley said the programs are essentially defunct due to a lack of volunteers and therefore don’t use the allocated funds, so the funds roll over to the next budget year.

Huffman mentioned a farmers market, but it was unclear what he was referencing. There is no line item for a farmers market in the fiscal year 2024 budget.

He said that citizen Facebook groups make a bad impression on anyone wanting to move to Dade because posts about the county commission counteract efforts to attract people to the county.

Susie Talbott also spoke, noting that she is concerned about cost overruns on the depot renovation. She said that a review she did in mid-March showed that the renovation was nearly 100 percent over budget. She requested that the report at next month’s meeting explain how this occurred as a learning opportunity to avoid future cost overruns.

The monthly 911 report was not ready in time for the meeting.

Rumley noted that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has been involved in garbage dumping issues on private properties. He said, “You just gotta take a little pride in your county…There’s no reason why you shouldn’t bring it [to the transfer station], don’t throw it out in front of your house…It’s affecting everybody, it’s affecting neighbors…Once [the state] comes in, it’s serious stuff.”

The commission entered executive session to discuss real estate matters. The session lasted for about 42 minutes, and there was no vote or further information after the session.

At this Thursday’s budget hearing, the commission will announce when July’s meeting will be (due to Independence Day falling on the first Thursday of the month).