Farmers Market Addition Is Surprise To Some Officials

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Plans for a county-owned farmers market first came to light on the May 23 KWN News Now segment featuring Ted Rumley (county executive). John Huffman then drew further attention to the topic at the June meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners.

During the KWN segment, Rumley gave an update on the elections building before adding, “We’re still doing our farmers market down there. We’re going to build a nice pad, padded area down there and have an open air drive-thru pavilion type thing. Have maybe eight or ten stalls for the farmers to come in or people that’s got gardening. It’ll be right down between the railroad and [the elections building]. People really enjoyed it when it was on the square. It was a little bit congested at times, but this’ll be kind of an added feature down there.”

After Huffman mentioned the market at the commission meeting, the Sentinel followed up with Rumley by phone to learn more about the plans for the farmers market.

When asked when the decision was made to add a farmers market pavilion to the elections building lot, Rumley answered, “I don’t know. We talked about it probably for a year or two.” He said that the train depot near Jenkins Park had also been discussed as a location.

He said that the open pavilion will be a pole barn with a gravel lot on the eastern side of the three-acre lot, saying that there’s plenty of room for this addition.

When asked if all commissioners had been included in conversations about the farmers market, Rumley said, “Everybody had talked about it, even Allan Bradford before he passed away.”

However, Phillip Hartline (District Two commissioner) told the Sentinel, “First I heard about a farmers market was when Ted talked about it on Thursday on Evan’s show.”

Similarly, Lamar Lowery (District One commissioner) reported that he had not heard about the farmers market until the Sentinel asked him about it. He explained that he likes the idea of a market and doesn’t have anything against the elections lot location, but he would rather make use of spaces the county already has available. He said Veterans Memorial Park is a better location because it has ample parking and bathrooms available in the administrative building.

Lowery added that many gardeners don’t produce enough to sell, and the previous iteration of the market did not seem to have much participation, so he wondered how successful it would be this time around.

Melissa Bradford (District Four commissioner), however, said, “We’ve discussed it. It’s not something that’s set in stone. It’s just kind of been in conversation since I got into this position. I’ve mentioned it many times. There are a lot of farmers around here that would benefit. Kind of like what they’re trying to do with Mingle on the Square, which I think is fantastic.”

She agreed with Rumley’s description of a simple pad and said that other locations, such as the Dade County Sports Complex, had been discussed.

The Sentinel did not hear back from Robert Goff (District Three commissioner).

As Rumley and Lowery noted, there used to be a market at Veterans Memorial Park. This was citizen-led, but Rumley said, “It was on county property, so we were involved in it as far as the insurance and all…We have a lot of people ask about it that actually used it back when it was on the square. We’ll get a lot of volunteer work on it too.”

When asked if the pavilion needed to be added to the building plans, he said, “No, it ain’t got anything to do with that. We’re just going to get the grade work, we can do that when we do the grade work for the building…We’ll probably get our poles from the lineman school. They’ll donate them.”

When asked if there would be any expenses in running or keeping up the market, Rumley said, “No. You don’t charge for a booth.” When asked if any county employees would need to supervise the market, Rumley also said no.

Citing Union County’s market in particular, Rumley said, “Most all counties in northwest Georgia’s got a place where the farmers and people that raise a garden can come on Saturdays.” According to Union County’s website (www.unioncountyga.gov/farmers-market), sellers must have their products approved to ensure quality and prioritize local producers. The vendor fee is $15 on Saturdays and $10 on Tuesdays.

The Sentinel emailed Don Townsend (CFO and county clerk) asking for the elections building project’s current budget, whether or not the addition of the pad/pavilion will impact the budget, and if so, has that been accounted for in the budget. He reported that he has not yet been made aware of a final budget for the project and offered his perspective as future county executive (come January 1, 2024).

Referencing Hartline’s comments at the February commission meeting, Townsend said, “I believe it was County Commissioner Phillip Hartline who estimated the building would be close to $1 million to construct. I would have to agree with Commissioner Hartline that this assessed value would be an accurate approximation of the cost to construct and supply the building with the required fixtures to facilitate the elections staff and future election processes. Sufficient funding from sales taxes are available now to move forward with this project.”

He reiterated that the county sold land off Back Valley Road via public auction to purchase the elections building site. He explained that funds for construction of the building are not in the FY25 budget because they are not coming from the general fund.

Rather, “The vast majority of the funds would most likely come from the SPLOST funding, raised from sales taxes generated from local merchant sales such as fuel and food. To my knowledge there are no grant funds available for such a project, and other federal funds such as ARPA funds are quickly being exhausted for other county projects.”

Townsend reported that the building will be 5,900 square feet which includes the recent addition of a basement for storage purposes.

Regarding the farmers market, Townsend said there are several grants he’d like to pursue before moving forward. He said, “To my knowledge, there’s only been a pole-barn type design discussed, and honestly, that may be the best solution—I simply don’t know yet. I’d like to hear all of the other commissioners’ ideas regarding the construction of this farmers market to facilitate the best solution for all of our local farmers and gardeners to present their fruits and vegetables for local purchase.”