County Returns To Code Enforcement Discussion, Selects Elections Building Contractor With Plans To Decrease Cost

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

A highlight of the Sept. 4 Dade County Board of Commissioners’ monthly meeting was discussion about building codes and enforcement. The three hour long meeting included quite a lot of other business as well.

First, the board appointed Phillip York to the Dade County Public Library board to replace Steve Forester. Forester resigned after being elected to the Dade County Board of Education to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Next, the commission approved two Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) expenditures: $61,438 for a new asphalt roller for the road department and $7,461.33 for a commercial model riding mower for the Dade County Sheriff’s Office. Both departments emphasized that these purchases are needs rather than wants and that they strive to be fiscally responsible.

Billy Massengale (director of public works) reported that the old roller has been breaking down regularly. He said, “I don’t believe in buying nothing until it’s used up, and this one’s been used up.” He looked into renting one, but it would cost several thousand dollars a year. He expects the new one to last for at least 20 years.

Chad Payne (Dade County Jail captain) explained that the inmate workers (trustees) in the jail mow and weed eat some of the county’s property, but the department has not had its own mower for years. One lieutenant brought in his personal mower, and the sheriff’s office paid for the maintenance, but that officer is no longer with DCSO. The department now has only two push mowers, limiting how much grass they can cut.

Inmates mow a portion of the DCSO training center land, Veterans Memorial Park, around the sheriff’s office and commission building, the historic courthouse lawn, and along the Town Creek Trail. The trail in particular has been impossible to get to without a riding mower.

Payne said purchasing a riding mower is cheaper than hiring a lawn service. With a government discount and Labor Day sale price, the Toro mower costs $7,461.33 instead of the $10,000+ sticker price.

The commission then discussed building codes and code enforcement at length. Bob Woods (South Dade commissioner) introduced the discussion, saying, “Code enforcement is not something people love to have or do, but the county leadership said that it’s going to start.” As mentioned in the March meeting, the county is taking this year to address codes and enforce new standards come January 2026.

Phillip Hartline (Sand Mountain commissioner) said, “If we’re going to do this, it needs to be across the board with everybody. Are we enforcing ours? Are we enforcing everything the state has on the books? Right now, you’re supposed to get a licensed electrician, plumber, heating and air guy, but we don’t enforce that in the county.”

Don Townsend (county executive) said that when the commissioners took office, they swore to enforce state laws—including code enforcement laws. He asked Doug McBryar, an electrician with over four decades of experience, for his opinion.

McBryar shared examples of poorly wired houses he’s seen. He sees a lot of piecemeal work creating fire hazards and therefore fully backs requirements for licensure and the National Electric Code.

He said that many people do not want code enforcement, and some people who have done electrical work don’t want to get their license. “People say, ‘I can do it. I’ve done this before.’ Get your license and show it. It’s not that hard.” Based on what McBryar has seen, being able to wire a house is one thing, but wiring it properly and safely is completely different.

Stacy Stephens (maintenance supervisor) is currently the only code enforcement officer. Townsend said he is not pushing to add another position, but it is becoming a lot for one person to handle—especially if additional enforcement comes into play.

Earlier this year, the county held a meeting with about 30 contractors who all were in favor of code enforcement and license, but Stephens said another 25 contractors were invited. “Some of them said, ‘I don’t need to show up, because I’m going to do it the way I want to.’”

The commission was clear that the goal is safety and preventing negative impacts due to neighbors’ careless actions.

Stephens brought up situations where the Georgia Environmental Protection Division might get involved if the county does nothing. He asked, “Do you want EPD coming on your property?” To this, Woods said, “No, we don’t…Stacy, here’s the deal: EPD calls you, you say, ‘Thank you for your input. I’ll address it. I’ll handle it.’ I don’t want anyone from the damn state of Georgia coming down here and getting in our business in Dade County…We want to handle what we can handle here in Dade County, keep it at our level, and go from there.”

There was much more to the discussion, including permit fees and soil sedimentation control, so anyone interested in the topic ought to watch the livestream of the meeting on the county’s Facebook page. Anticipate more information and discussion on the topic in the coming months.

Moving on, Paula Duvall (chief appraiser) reported on this year’s sales ratio study (which ensures that Dade’s property assessments line up with state trends). Dade’s equalization ratio (38.48) is within the recommended range of 38-41.

In previous years, Dade has run into issues because the county uses last year’s sales while the state uses the current year’s sales. Duvall was glad to report that Georgia House Bill 581 changed the law so that counties and the state are no longer on different pages.

The commission approved the building plans for the Trenton-Dade Animal Center (TDAC) and the intergovernmental agreement (IGA). Robin Rogers (county attorney) noted that he would like to sit down with the commissioners one or two at a time to review the ordinances once more.

Hartline confirmed that agreeing to the building plans now isn’t an agreement to build the building; it’s just a necessary step to get started on the MEP (mechanical electrical plan). To find out the true cost of the building, TDAC must get an MEP plan and request proposals. Once bids are received, the commission can vote.

Rogers summarized the IGA: the county will build the shell of the building, the city will pay for internal equipment, both entities will split the operating costs 50-50 initially, but this can be changed later on.

At last week’s TDAC meeting, city representatives explained that they don’t agree with a 50-50 split but were willing to start with that just to get the center up and running. About 80 percent of animal cases come from the county while only 20 percent are in the city, so a 50-50 split is unfair to city taxpayers.

Bill Pullen (North Dade commissioner) asked which entity will bear legal responsibility. Rogers said that the city will bear the legal responsibility and will bill the county for services. The city will also hold the necessary license.

Before agreeing to the IGA, Hartline asked for the initial term to be reduced from ten years to three. His concern is that costs will be much higher than anticipated, but the county will be locked in for ten years. After three years, however, accurate costs will be known, and decisions can be made appropriately. His fellow commissioners agreed to the change, and Alex Case (speaking on behalf of the city) agreed because the city also has some concerns.

Next, Hartline reported that the county has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the Dade County Community Forest. The next grant, for $1.2 million, is in process.

The commission accepted the first grant, but they have not yet committed to any more investment (aside from the previous $50,000 for due diligence) until the rest of the grants are received.

Townsend said, “There’s been a lot of discussion about money in the community lately, and I just want people to know, we are doing our due diligence trying to do all grants. Believe me, we’ve got so many other projects on the books, we’re not looking to spend any money for things that we don’t need.”

The plan is for the county to only contribute $550,000 total toward the forest. If we don’t get the $1.2 million grant, the county won’t purchase the forest.

Last November, the commission debated rental fees for the historic courthouse (see the Nov. 13, 2024, Sentinel) and agreed to return to the topic after the first six months of this year. Hartline was concerned that the fees were below marketplace and would not sufficiently cover the building’s maintenance and operation costs.

At this meeting, he reported that while the insurance costs are unknown currently, the power and water bills are covered by rental fees. He said that unless the insurance costs end up being unexpectedly high, the county will break even, which is a nice bit of good news.

Of the nuisance ordinance that Melissa Bradford (Lookout Mountain commissioner) brought up last month (see the Aug. 13 Sentinel), she indicated that she’d like to pursue ways to help property owners clean up their properties instead of setting up ordinances that would create a new burden on residents. She said, “I feel like the government is always trying to tell us what we can and can’t do or what we can have and not trying to help us enough.” Therefore, she plans to pursue grants to help property owners.

Woods reported that the sheriff’s office told him that the two nuisance issues they get the most complaints about are noise from vacation rentals and trash.

The elections building project saw some forward movement: The commission selected Robert Roberts of Chattanooga as the general contractor, but they did not yet agree to a price. Next, the commission can meet with Roberts and figure out how to bring down the cost of the building. Roberts was the second cheapest bid, but more compelling to the commission, he had great reviews from previous clients.

Townsend explained that after hearing from the public, all of the commissioners agreed to cut out the basement and go with a one-level, 6,200-square-foot building. He believes that this will provide for growth for at least 20 years.

He discussed possible less expensive exteriors (although Woods noted that after doing some research, he’s realized that there are advantages to brick). Townsend would also like to use as many local contractors as possible, so the county will speak with Roberts about this.

Pullen asked, “Do we feel like we’ve done due diligence that there’s not options that can be combined or court rooms—do we feel like those are totally unworkable?”

Townsend answered that he feels that the current and former commission have tried for years to find another option. Woods listed options that he personally looked into but had to cross off the list, and Bradford agreed with Townsend’s statements.

Hartline said that once the county knows the total price and puts a max on how much will be spent on all furnishings and equipment, they may need to go back and downsize. He said the new building could be downsized to only hold office and storage space, with voting still happening in the commission room.

The commission approved the budget amendments for the previous fiscal year. Revenue changed by $61,200, and expenses changed by $642,750.

During citizens participation, Glynis Lawson brought up issues at the Dade County Senior Center and Dade County Transit. (See her letter to the editor in the Aug. 27 Sentinel for more details).

Lawson highlighted that there is drama and unrest, but she did not clearly explain what the source of the drama and stress is. She said there is division between employees, and she added that she is not satisfied with the current lawn crew.

Later in the meeting, during his report, Woods touched on Lawson’s comments. He said the county is working to address issues at the senior center, and the senior center director has turned in a two-week’s-notice, but unfortunately, the center’s employees are not hired by Dade County. The county is in charge of the transit system, but a state agency hires the senior center staff, making it a much more difficult situation for the county to address.

Citizen Cliff Auman also spoke, returning to permitting prices. The commission had touched on the potential need to increase permit fees in order to pay for code enforcement officers’ time, but Townsend said such increases have not yet been discussed. The reasoning is that instead of all taxpayers bearing the burden of funding code enforcement, those who are currently building should have to pay for code enforcement work.

Auman said that such thinking should apply to all county projects, such as the animal shelter and road paving. (We could throw the senior center, transit system, and sports complex in as well.) He asked the commission to keep conservatism at the forefront of their minds.

During her report, Bradford gave an update on her efforts to bring glass recycling to Dade. She’s reached out to Overlooked Materials multiple times but not heard back. She plans to contact the company again, but if she still does not hear back, she’ll look for other options.

Townsend noted that Georgia Power has frozen base rates through 2028 at the current rate. He encouraged citizens to keep an eye on their bills and contact the Georgia Public Service Commission if they notice problems with their bills.

He added that the digital sign at the Dade County Sports Complex (funded through a grant two years ago) has finally arrived and is being installed.

Also, the county was awarded $4,500 from the Georgia Historical Records Grant, a grant we haven’t received before, to be used for historical records shelving in the historic courthouse.

During her report, Sandy White (Alliance for Dade president and CEO) noted that the Alliance staff is now dedicating 20-25 hours each to handling venue rentals at the courthouse because of increased use of the building.