Whitfield County commissioners set to vote on new services at senior center

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Jan. 6—When the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners agreed last year to take over the operations and funding of the Dalton-Whitfield Senior Center, the commissioners said they planned to expand services, not cut them.

On Monday, the commissioners plan to vote on a measure that will start the process of expanding services at the senior center, which prior to this year was jointly funded by the county and the city of Dalton and run by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. The commissioners meet at 6 p.m. in the courthouse meeting room, 205 N. Selvidge St. in Dalton. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the county's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The commissioners are scheduled to vote on a $16,592 contract with the University of Georgia Extension service to add a family and consumer sciences educator position to the Whitfield County Extension Office, with the county paying half of the costs of the salary and benefits of this position. These agents provide programs in cooking, nutrition, household budgeting and finance and other family-related subjects. The agent will provide those services in the senior center and to the larger community.

The commissioners are also set to vote formally to name former Whitfield County election supervisor Mary Hammontree director of the senior center. Long-time senior center director Rosie Mosteller retired at the end of December.

The commissioners are also set to vote to name Shaynee McClure as the new election supervisor. McClure is a graduate of Dalton State College with a bachelor's degree in business administration. She worked in the Catoosa County elections office for the past six years, most recently as the custodian of elections.

The commissioners are also set to vote on whether to:

—Approve a $126,000 agreement with Roadside Specialties of Cumming for road striping.

—Approve a $113,807 contract with WrightCore of Franklin, Tennessee, to upgrade the county's virtual server.

—Renew a one-year, $98,750 contract with KRNW to provide foreign-language translation for Whitfield County Superior Court.

—Approve an $18,000 contract with Murray Mix of Chatsworth for concrete.

—Approve bids from Jackson Trucking of Chatsworth and Wheat Trucking of Chatsworth to provide trucking services for the county.

Each will be paid $85 an hour.

—Reappoint Matthew Thames to serve as guardian ad litem in Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year.

The guardian ad litem represents the interests of the children in court proceedings.

Thames will receive $41,600.

—Appoint Jerry Moncus, Bryan Rayburn and Joshua Smith as indigent defense attorneys for Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year. Each will receive $34,320.

—Approve or deny a request by Lewis Dixon to rezone from estate residential to general agriculture 22.63 acres at 189 Sloan Road N.W. in Resaca.

—Approve or deny a request by Jaime Paucay and Alberta Alvarade to rezone from general commercial to rural residential 2.3 acres at 4398 South Dixie Highway in Resaca.

—Approve or deny a request by Ricardo and Maria Salaises to rezone from heavy manufacturing to general commercial .54 acres at 1525 Waring Road N.W. in Dalton.

—Apply for an assistance to firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This would be used to help replace the fire department's burn building training facility.

The county's current burn building is 17 years old.

The estimated cost to replace the burn building is $1 million, and the grant could cover up to $100,000 of that.