DALTON, Ga. — Members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners say they don’t think their annual work session held April 30 at the meeting of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia in Savannah was inappropriate.

At the “strategy session,” which was scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., commissioners discussed a slew of topics facing Whitfield County. The meeting was open to the public but since the meeting was held more than five hours away from Whitfield County, no members of the community attended. Commissioners did not stream the meeting online, make a conference call available or make a recording so the public could hear what was discussed.

Dalton Tea Party Coordinator Naomi Swanson and other members of that organization often attend commission meetings. Swanson said she understands why commissioners would want to go to Savannah.

“But if they are going to hold a business meeting, even a work session, I think they should hold it in this area, even if it’s at one of the conference centers around us,” she said.

Commissioner Harold Brooker said he went to his first ACCG meeting in 1971.

“You get a lot of good training and classes,” he said. “But you also get to meet and talk to commissioners from across the state and see what they are doing. It’s very informative.”

Brooker said even with all the classes, commissioners still had some down time and he thought the work session was the most productive way to fill that time.

“Why not have one down there? We don’t have a anything to hide. It just seems like a good use of our time,” he said.

Commissioner Roger Crossen agreed.

“I spent eight years in the Army, and my leadership told me that anytime you were just standing around you were wasting time,” said Crossen. “We were going to be down there already, so why not use that time to have a work session instead of doing nothing.”

Commissioner Barry Robbins said he was “disappointed that it didn’t take place here.”

He defended the annual trip to the ACCG meeting

“I do think it is very beneficial for us to take the ACCG classes. In addition to the classes, I think the interaction we have with other commissioners from across the state is very beneficial. We got to discuss their problems and how they have tackled them and learn from them,” he said.

Commissioner Greg Jones called the ACCG sessions helpful and said the work session was a good use of commissioners’ free time. But he said he hoped commissioners might schedule a similar work session here in Whitfield County so that citizens who want to attend can.

Swanson said she would like to see that.

Jones, who was on the board from 2007 to 2012 before being re-elected last year, noted the board has been holding work sessions at the ACCG meeting for many years.

“It’s my understanding this goes back to the 1970s,” he said. “We aren’t trying to hide anything, just make the best use of our time.”

Commissioners plan to return to Savannah next year and hold another work session.

Swanson said if commissioners do hold another work session at the ACCG meeting next year she would like to see them stream it online it or record it and put it on the county website.

Some commissioners said they would have no problem with that.

“I did not say anything I would not want voters to hear,” said Jones. “If the other commissioners are in favor of that, I wouldn’t mind (recording or streaming the work session) at all.”