County Commission Covers Food Insecurity, Animal Welfare, Community Forest, And HB 581

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The lengthy Feb. 6 meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners covered many matters of business and topics like food insecurity, progress toward the Dade County Community Forest, animal welfare, House Bill 581, and the public participation policy.

First, the commission recognized the Optimist Club for International Optimist Day and Kenny Jeffrey for his retirement from fire services after 43 years.

The commission reappointed John Gothard to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

Next, Robin Rogers (county attorney) explained that Patrick Core owns property at the end of the Williams Street cul-de-sac, and years ago, Core allowed the county to expand the cul-de-sac on his property so that school buses can turn around. This was never formalized, so Core is now transferring a small portion of the property over to the county via a quit claim deed. The board voted to accept the resolution.

John Whitmer, director of philanthropy for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank (CAFB), presented the nonprofit’s 2024 impact report and requested funding from the commission. He noted that 31 percent of the 21 million pounds that the food bank distributed last year (across 20 counties) was rescued from retail. These are items that were past the best by date but had not expired. The rest of the food was donated or covered by government programs.

Honing in on Dade specifically, Whitmer noted that 13 percent of Dade residents face food insecurity, and kids going to school hungry is a big problem. In 2024, CAFB distributed 410,300 pounds of food in Dade through local partners.

Every year, the amount of food distributed by CAFB increases. Whitmer said, “The major food banks across the country were not designed for this kind of demand. The middle class is coming to us now because they have to make choices between paying a utility bill and their food budget. Housing, childcare, insurance are becoming unmanageable.”

He listed the CAFB partners in Dade: North Georgia Worship Center, Piney Grove Baptist Church, Tri-State Food Pantry, and Helping Hands Ending Hunger. Of Helping Hands, he said, “They do things differently, and we really like their idea.” (See the Nov. 22, 2023, issue of the Sentinel for more about what makes Helping Hands stand out.)

Reporting that one dollar donated equals three meals and one hour volunteering is the equivalent of 84 meals, Whitmer said CAFB needs both donations and volunteers. He asked the commission to consider factoring a $10,000 donation into the county budget. No action was taken by the commission at this meeting.

Next, representatives from Henderson Hutcherson and McCullough presented the results from the fiscal year 2024 audit. There were no issues, and it was a clean audit.

Don Townsend (county executive) noted that the county reduced its debt by 23 percent in FY24 and didn’t take on any new long-term debt.

Noel Durant with Trust for Public Land (TPL) gave an update on the grant process for the purchase of the land intended to become the Dade County Community Forest. See the accompanying press release in this week’s paper for more details about the $500,000 grant. Note that while the press release says Dade has been awarded the grant, Durant explained that Dade was selected, but TPL must still send all supporting materials to the National Park Service before receiving the award. “The money’s not in the bank yet. We have to go through our due diligence work.”

Other good news with this project is that while the land appraised for $2.1 million, Georgia Alabama Land Trust made a land value match and will sell the land to TPL for $1.6 million, decreasing the overall cost and grants needed to establish the community forest.

Monda Wooten and Audray Luck then gave a presentation about animal welfare in part to prepare for the joint county-city meeting on Feb. 18 about the animal control facility (5 p.m. at the commission meeting room). They talked about problems with disease among animals, overpopulation, abuse of animals, and aggression from dogs on the loose.

Wooten opened by saying, “I know y’all thought I was going to wear out over the years, but that’s okay; I done found me a replacement.” She introduced Luck who moved to Dade from Minnesota and dedicates her time, energy, and resources to animal rescue, particularly focusing on dogs. 

Luck showed a video of her work last year through Luck’s Rescue, highlighting the sad cases she handles on a daily basis. Last year, Luck’s Rescue received 2,937 calls for help, handled eight hoarding cases, helped with 1,263 spay/neuter initiatives, and found homes for 382 animals. Luck reported that hoarder cases exhaust the rescue’s resources the most, saying, “This all could be prevented with spay and neuter.”

Wooten reported that half of the stray cats she traps must be euthanized due to disease, and the number of packs of dogs on the loose have increased, creating danger for citizens and other animals.

Of the government’s role in animal welfare, Wooten said, “I know it’s not the taxpayers’ responsibility to house animals and provide all this stuff for them, but it is our responsibility to provide public safety.” She believes that if the government could provide the bare minimum in the form of a place to take animals, volunteer groups and nonprofits would handle everything else.

Moving on to Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) expenditures, the board approved a whopping total of $243,512.84 split between three different projects/departments.

First, they approved up to $70,000 to construct a storage building and concession stands at the southern fields of the Dade County Sports Complex. This building will give recreational soccer and football teams a place to store supplies. Phillip Hartline (District Two commissioner) estimated that this 1,300 square foot building can be built in house for $50 a square foot, or a rough total of $65,000. With some contingency and an ice machine factored in, the board set the budget at $70,000 max.

Second, they approved $104,787.60 for two new Ford F-250s for the road department and $29,635 for two snowplows and two salt spreaders. One of the old trucks will go to Dade County 4-H for travel to events.

Hartline noted that many of the departments with SPLOST budgets have used well over 100 percent of their original budgeted amount, so he wanted to know where the extra money will come from. Townsend explained that the original budgets were set using an estimate of how much SPLOST would be collected, but “we collected more in the last two or three years than we ever anticipated, so we’re going to have to reallocate regardless.”

Third, the commission approved $14,440.24 for an immediate repair to the HVAC system in the court facility and $24,650 to hire an engineering firm to figure out what needs to be done for a long-term fix. Stacy Stephens (maintenance supervisor) explained that the current system has continually gone out during hot or cold spells, costing the county over $200,000 in repairs so far.

The system is Daikin, and Stephens and Townsend said they would not ever use the company again because of how many problems this system’s caused.

This example (and the storage building at the sports complex) is a good reminder that every time the government builds a new building or obtains a new property, costs (i.e. taxes) will continue to increase in perpetuity.

Next up, Bob Woods (District Three commissioner) presented a quick summary of his research on House Bill 581 and the feedback he got from citizens. The consensus among citizens was that they don’t want the county to opt out. The commission agreed not to opt out.

Hinting that the Floating Local Option Sales Tax (FLOST) has been touted as a way to offset property tax increases, Hartline said, “I’m 47 years old, and I’ve never seen our property taxes go down. We started the beer sale to reduce property taxes. That hasn’t happened. When this FLOST comes out, if it’s not in writing that our property taxes will go down, they probably won’t.”

Keep in mind that whichever exemption is most beneficial to property owners when tax bills are being figured will automatically be applied. Therefore, the Sentinel followed up with Paula Duvall (chief tax assessor) about whether or not property owners could choose the existing local exemption instead of the new HB 581 exemption to avoid the inflation rate. Say for example someone benefits in the short term from the new exemption (which includes an inflation rate) but wants to select the existing local exemption because it doesn’t have an inflation rate. This property owner might save more money in the long run by using the local freeze. Could he or she do so? Duvall said she doesn’t think people will be able to make this choice.

Moving on, the board voted to surplus the old public defender’s office building (129 Case Avenue). Sealed bids will be accepted until the end of the business day on March 12.

The board also approved several routine items. First, they approved a grant application with the Transit Alliance Group. The grant reimburses Dade Transit for the transportation of seniors. Second, they approved the intergovernmental agreement with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force.

The commission appointed Gidget Knight (county clerk) as the open records custodian except in situations where a constitutional officer is in play (e.g. court records requests will continue to be handled by the court clerk, tax records by the tax commissioner, etc.).

The board discussed a public participation policy to be approved at a later meeting, with Townsend noting the importance of citizens’ constitutional right to speak. He also said, “You can see how much business we’ve conducted tonight…It’s coming up at 8:15, and we’re still in the workshop.”

He explained that the county doesn’t have an official policy written down, so he provided a sample. The commissioners could choose between five speakers per night with three minute limits or three speakers per night with five minute limits. They chose the latter.

The policy asks speakers to introduce themselves and provide contact information to the board so follow up can occur after the meeting. It also provides that if someone wants to speak during the workshop on a subject, he or she can contact their commissioner. If the commissioner feels that it warrants a slot on the agenda, the county will add it. Townsend said, “It typically has to do with county business or county governing for the governing authority to consider.”

The commissioners collectively noted that citizens are invited to contact them throughout the month.

During Citizens Participation, Chase Wooten listed a few brief questions. The commissioners said they would follow up with him with answers. His questions were: What would the new commissioners like to accomplish during their terms? What goals would they like to see happen in the county? (It was unclear if this was asked of all commissioners or just the new ones.) Aside from referencing the Association County Commissioners of Georgia handbook, what advice would the commissioners give to anyone wanting to run for a commission seat in the future? What are some daily challenges they face as a commissioner?

Dr. William Pullen Jr. (District One commissioner) read the 911 report. Calls for January totaled 1,757:

• EMS: 194
• Fire and Rescue: 272
• Law Enforcement: 1,291

Townsend reported numerous road-related updates. First, Dade was pre-approved for a $391,043 Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG).

Second, high priority roads for paving are Hicks Hollow Road (from Highway 11 to Dave Brown Road), Dave Brown Road, Walls Circle, Cloud Road, and Wells Road. It will take an estimated $927,671 to pave these roads, so in addition to the LMIG, the county will apply for a Local Road Assistance (LRA) grant.

Third, crossing arms should soon be coming to Morgan Road and Harris Street.

Fourth, Townsend will be attending a meeting about upcoming paving on I-24 around the I-59 split and the potential to expand to three lanes.