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Whitfield County commissioners approve licenses, rezoning, bids and board appointments; public asks for paper ballots
Summary
The board approved alcohol licenses, library-board reappointments, an interpreter contract, a road-striping bid, annexation objections with conditions, rezoning and a special-use permit, appointed a zoning appeals member, added an ARPA account signer, and heard public comments urging paper ballots and a guard rail on Mill Creek Road.
Whitfield County’s Board of Commissioners on July 10 approved a slate of routine and regulatory items, including alcohol licenses, board appointments, contract awards and land-use recommendations, and heard multiple public comments asking the county to adopt paper ballots for local elections.
Key approvals included reappointment of Dr. John Hutcheson Jr. and Jonathan Bledsoe to the Dalton-Whitfield Library Board for three-year terms (motion by Commissioner Barry Robbins, seconded by Commissioner John Thomas); alcohol beverage licenses for Bills Grocery (I Shree Khodiyar Georgia, LLC) and Family Dollar Store #21503 (motions by Commissioner Robby Staten, seconded by Commissioner Greg Jones); and a contract with interpreter Silvia Andrade for $49,375 through Dec. 31, 2023 (motion by Greg Jones, seconded by Robby Staten). The board also awarded a road striping bid to CR Coating LLC (sole bidder) at an indicated range of $400–$2,800 per linear mile, approved no-land-use-classification objection to a City of Varnell annexation and multiple Tunnel Hill annexations (with a buffer stipulation for commercial-residential adjacencies), and approved several rezoning requests plus a special-use permit for a meat-processing/packing operation with a 20-foot buffer condition.
In personnel and administrative business, the board appointed Talli Williams to the Dalton-Whitfield Board of Zoning Appeals to fill an unexpired term through June 30, 2024, and approved adding Chief Financial Officer Debbie Godfrey as an authorized signer on the county ARPA account at Bank OZK.
Public comment included multiple residents advocating for paper ballots in Whitfield County elections (Stacy Doran, Harvey Wysong and David Obenauer); Daryl Long asked the board about adding a guard rail on Mill Creek Road; Timothy Daniel asked about SPLOST committee requirements; and William Epps thanked the voter registrar’s office for reviewing and purging voter rolls. The minutes record no formal board response to the paper-ballot requests during the meeting.
Most motions passed unanimously (4-0); Commissioner John Thomas recused himself on one rezoning vote where required by conflict rules. The meeting adjourned after public comment.