Dalton increases pension funding

Published 2:05 am Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Dalton City Council voted 4-0 Monday to put an additional $350,000 into its pension fund.

The move was recommended by the city’s actuaries based on their latest annual study of the fund’s performance. All told, the city will have to put in about $703,000, but Mayor David Pennington said about half that will be paid by Dalton Utilities, which also has employees and retirees covered by the plan.

“We have no choice but to pay it by the end of the year,” said Pennington.

Pennington said the city has the money to put into the fund.

“We are very conservative budgeters,” he said.

Counting both employer and employee contributions, the city and Dalton Utilities will pay almost $5 million into the plan this year.

Council members also voted 4-0 to approve a transfer of the old county jail on Waugh Street to Dalton Public Schools in exchange for the school system’s old headquarters on Hamilton Street. The Board of Education has already approved the deal. The city will lease the jail from the school board for 10 years to continue using it for Municipal Court.

The council also voted 4-0 to accept a $10,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to develop a plan for a landscape museum that will include the Crown Mill area and Mount Rachel.

Council members also heard an update on a property at the intersection of Crawford Street and Lewell Street and two properties on Harvard Drive. Citations have already been issued for high grass at the empty properties and the council asked public works to padlock the gate to one of the Harvard Drive properties, which has a swimming pool.

The council also heard an update on the Archway Partnership’s work in Dalton. The Archway Partnership is a University of Georgia program that helps put local communities in touch with experts in the University System of Georgia to help them meet local needs.

Melissa Lu, the Archway professional in Georgia, told the council that since starting in Dalton last year, the program has held one community listening session, held 90 one-on-one interviews with members of the community, held 17 focus groups with local high school students as well as a focus group targeted at economic development and another aimed at young leaders.

She said Archway also plans a focus group aimed at Dalton State College students and another aimed at the area’s Hispanic community.

The goal is to help the community determine what its goals and needs are. Lu said the Archway program should have a community plan ready by November.

Council members asked what the high school focus groups had uncovered about what young people in the area want. Lu said students said they would like to see more public art in the area as well as more emphasis on art in general.

Council members also voted 4-0 to:

• Forbid left turns from the right turn lane of U.S. 41 onto Shugart Road. Public works director Benny Dunn said drivers often turn onto Shugart from the North Bypass then immediately try to turn left into the Racetrac across four lanes of traffic. He said that is a safety hazard and also stops the flow of traffic off the Bypass onto Shugart.

• Accept the donation of a small warehouse at 705 Straight St. Pennington said the city has no immediate plans for the property but it is in an area the city is trying to redevelop.

• Approve package beer and wine licenses for both of the Walgreens on Walnut Avenue.

• Approve an amendment to the city’s municipal elections ordinance to make it mirror state language on elections.