County Yet To Report Election And Depot Building Budgets, Citizen Unhappy With Health Dept. Rules

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The July meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners was held on July 2, due to the first Thursday of the month landing on July 4th. Kicking off the meeting, the board approved two SPLOST expenditures. First, $16,929.60 was approved for a new utility vehicle for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Second, the board approved purchasing administrative financial software from Tyler Technology. Don Townsend (CFO and county clerk) explained that the software the county has been using for 20 years reached end of life in February, meaning it is no longer supported and is susceptible to security breaches. 

Tyler Technology offers a product that fits the county government’s needs, and subsequent updates come with no additional cost. The cost is $292,365 for three years, which includes the set-up fees. Ted Rumley (county executive) said that purchasing the previous software cost about $278,000 back in 2003.

Alex Case (Emergency Management Agency director) then presented an upcoming ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) expenditure: the installation of an engine generator and automatic transfer switch for the Dade County Administrative Building and Dade County Sheriff’s Office. The county sent out the request for proposal on June 25 and is awaiting bids.

Citizen Harold Miller spoke about troubles he’s run into with the health department regarding water and sewer on Dugan Loop. He ran an ad and letter to the editor in the June 26 issue of the Sentinel about his situation. Miller also attended last year’s February meeting (see the February 8, 2023, issue of the Sentinel).

Essentially, the land where Miller is building will not perc, so he attempted to use alternative systems to handle water and sewer, but these are not allowed by the state. He asked the commission for help connecting with state representatives in order to get laws changed. He said he would return at the next meeting for an update.

Miller said, “What they’re telling is not correct…If [the water is] not going in the ground, it would wash my cabin away.”

Lamar Lowery (District One commissioner) asked if anyone at the meeting lived near Dugan Loop and wanted to speak into the issue. Touching on a slightly different topic, Becky Case said she doesn’t want Miller to continue building cabins because “this is our neighborhood…We don’t want people coming in and you don’t really know what’s going on in there.”

Of the water issues specifically, she said, “He’s been told no from the beginning. He knows it’s not going to perc.” Several commissioners and Case expressed confusion at Miller’s letter and statements.

Phillip Hartline (District Two commissioner) added, “I am pretty sure he was told no before he started this last house.”

Rumley explained that the county cannot do anything except connect Miller with state representatives, which they have been doing for the last year.

Billy Massengale (who also lives in the area in question) said, “Every time it comes to any kind of rain, it don’t go in the ground. The road floods and is covered with mud…That ground will not perc; solid rock.”

The commission moved on to the proposed agreements for use of the historic courthouse. Townsend reported that the Historic Preservation Committee offered several good suggestions, and he will send the completed drafts to the commissioners ahead of August’s commission meeting. One agreement is for long-term occupants/renters (such as the Alliance for Dade); the other is for renting the top floor for short-term events and meetings.

During the monthly update on the elections building project, Rumley noted that dirt work has begun while the county awaits the finalized building plans. He said, “It is what it is and we’ll do it as cheap as we can, but that’ll give everybody an idea what we’re looking at.” He did not list a dollar amount.

A short while later in the meeting, Hartline returned to the subject, asking for an official budget number to be presented at next month’s meeting. He said that the historic courthouse restoration is costing about $260 per square foot, and while restoration is more expensive than new construction, he wants to be aware of the costs. He said that “I would like to have a number in place before we actually start this elections building so we can try to hit that target.”

Hartline added that citizens have raised questions about why a basement was added to the building plans, but Hartline feels that it is an affordable addition, with the cost per square foot being about one quarter of the main floor’s cost.

At last month’s meeting, both Hartline and citizen Susie Talbott requested that a budget update on the train depot renovation be presented this month. No budget number was given, although Rumley noted that the project is nearing completion, nor was there any mention of the farmer’s market.

Rumley said, “Something was mentioned about the cost of the building. The insurance money we got, plus the extra we got 32 something on top of that…we actually more than brought the building up to what it was before it burned.”

It was unclear what “32” number he was referencing. He said a final number could not be reported yet, but, “We’re really coming out really good on it.” More funds were needed in addition to the insurance money to prepare the depot to hold the public defender and Soil and Conservation offices.

Lowery read the 911 report. Calls for June were as follows:

• EMS: 1,006
• Fire & Rescue: 1,426
• Law Enforcement: The report had an error, listing this number in the 14,000s. The Sentinel did not hear the actual number before press time.

During his report, Rumley noted that citizens no longer need to be concerned about deforestation along the side of Lookout Mountain on one large land parcel. Rumley explained that citizens called him asking what could be done to stop the deforestation, but the county could not do anything.

According to the tax assessor’s site, Klatt Lands LLC owned 648 acres surrounding Highway 136 and bordering Cloudland Canyon, and a timber permit for the land was issued in May 2018 with the description “will cut all timber about 500 acres.”

Rumley said the timber company clearing the land “didn’t want to leave a toothpick.” However, the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, a 501(c)(3), recently purchased the land, meaning it is no longer on the tax rolls but will now be preserved. The land trust plans to open trails to the public on the land. Rumley said, “That was a big deal to me.”

Rumley also addressed rumors that continue to circulate about the future plans for the Highway 136 bridge repairs near Dade County High School. The state had looked at creating a detour through New England of which Rumley said, “We’re talking about major chaos if that happened…Can you imagine tractor trailer traffic going down Creek Road?”

The state then decided to build a runaround bridge, but recently, someone called Rumley saying the detour through New England was still a plan. Rumley checked with the state who confirmed that this is not the case; the state has already spent significant amounts on engineering for the runaround bridge and will be following through with it.

Mindy Haworth (library manager) gave her last report to the commission as she will be officially retiring and Lydia Soucy will be taking over the role at the end of July. Haworth noted a beginner guitar class for children that will take place on August 29, with another class for adults happening on September 24 at the library. Thanks to donations from Songbirds Foundation in Chattanooga, the library has guitars available for use by patrons and participants in these classes.

Haworth then invited Soucy to introduce herself. Soucy moved to Dade from Minnesota over three years ago. She said, “I’ve fallen in love with this community and I’m really appreciative of having this opportunity to serve this community, put my roots down here, and get to know everybody a lot better.”