Whitfield commissioners move to new meeting room in Wells Fargo Bank building

Published 6:01 pm Friday, August 9, 2019

Monday’s 6 p.m. meeting of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners will be its first in the new county office space in the Wells Fargo Bank building at 201 S. Hamilton St. in downtown Dalton.

“We will have personnel here to direct folks to the correct location since it is the first time meeting here,” said County Administrator Mark Gibson. “Come through the front entrance (of the bank) or the second floor by way of the parking deck.”

Commissioners met in Administrative Building 2, at 214 W. King St., for some 13 years. Commissioners voted earlier this year to close that building down due to a number of problems.

The Dalton Fire Department sent the county a three-page letter last year detailing how the building failed to meet the fire code in several ways.

In March, the Dalton Fire Department sent county officials a letter telling them the county would have to vacate the building by April 1. The sides later reached an agreement that the county could continue to use the building while commissioners decided what to do with it as long as they have a certified firefighter in the building performing “fire watch” patrol whenever there are people in the building.

Commissioners in April approved a two-year lease for the top three floors of the Wells Fargo building. The county will pay $10,160 a month for a little over 18,000 square feet.