By Vince Lennon
Trenton,GA – During Thursday evening’s workshop preceding the regularly scheduled meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners, the name of the contractor selected as the winning proposal bid for Dade’s new Elections Building was revealed to the public.
Robert Roberts LLC of Chattanooga was announced as the contractor chosen by the panel, despite not submitting the lowest bid of the six companies properly answering Dade’s request for proposal or RFP.
The board’s approval comes with no guarantee that the contractor will actually build the still undetermined structure, hoped to be operational by the November 2026 midterm election season.
Citing sticker-shock from the price of the bids, which ranged between $2.9 million to $3.4 million, County Executive Don Townsend said he’d like to shave approximately half of the estimated costs for the new Board of Elections & Registration Office, which would also serve as a Trenton district voting site.
From what was initially proposed as a bi-level building of approximately 12,000 square feet along Georgia Avenue, the commission is now considering a single level structure for the site, but with 6,200 square footage instead, with the building’s facade yet to be determined.
Commissioners add their first choice of contractor might likely walk away from the project, due to the tightening pursestrings from the cost-conscious panel.
District 2 Commissioner Philip Hartline said it’s only fair to allow the winning bidder to revise the building plan in line with the board’s desire for a smaller blueprint and price tag.
Before voting to approve the motion for the Georgia Avenue site, District 1 Commissioner Bill Pullen once again asked the panel if any existing buildings in Trenton could be considered as potential options in lieu of constructing a new facility.
The election building proposal wasn’t the only construction project on the board’s agenda, as the long debated Trenton-Dade Animal Shelter took another step forward to reality, with a building plan schematic going to the drafting table.
District 3 Commissioner and TDAC Steering Committee Vice-Chair Bob Woods fleshed out more details between the Intergovernmental Agreement between Dade County and the City of Trenton, which was later approved via consent agenda.
The City of Trenton is expected to concur and approve its municipal version of the agreement Monday.
In essence, Commissioner Woods says the county will bear the cost for the building’s exterior construction, with Trenton handling the interior build out costs for the facility.
Employee and operational costs will be shared equally by both parties, with City of Trenton keeping management oversight.
The initial three year long animal control agreement deal comes with a contractual out option for either party, by providing a 120 day notice, but only after completion of the three year opening term.
Otherwise, the agreement would rollover each successive year, barring default of either party.
Also approved Thursday was the formal agreement of the TDAC facility’s construction on a two acre tract of land behind Dade’s transfer station. The site is considered prepped and building ready now, after hundreds of dump truck loads have infilled the property by Dade Public Works employees.
In other board moves, commissioners approved a $7,461 outlay for a 52″ riding lawn mower for the Dade County Sheriff’s Office, which handles maintenance for the firing range and other county owned properties and buildings.
The new mower might also be used for Dade County’s soon to be Community Forest, a 650 acre tract of land going up Cloudland Canyon from the Lookout Creek area. Commissioners approved a motion, to enter into a land and water conservation fund project agreement with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, to begin development of the forest, slated for September 30, 2027.
The community forest is hoped to spur more recreational tourism, by offering the thousands of annual visitors to Cloudland Canyon an additional option to extend their stay, offering greater economic impact to Dade County.