DALTON, Ga. — Engineered Floors continued its meteoric growth in 2017 by acquiring another Dalton-based carpet giant, Beaulieu Group. 

That deal was one of a number of events that will shape the Greater Dalton area for years to come. Most notably, the year witnessed the groundbreaking for several new facilities that will improve the quality of life for local residents, including Burr Park in downtown Dalton and the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute and the Peeples Cancer Institute on the campus of Hamilton Health Care System. All were made possible by the generosity of private donors.

Here is a look at some of the top local stories of 2017.

Engineered Floors acquires Beaulieu

Two of the world’s largest carpet companies combined when Engineered Floors bought “substantially all of the operating assets” of Beaulieu Group in November. Both companies are headquartered in Dalton.

Earlier in the year, Beaulieu had announced plans for a restructuring of the company following chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Engineered Floors was founded in 2009 by Robert E. “Bob” Shaw, the co-founder and longtime head of Shaw Industries.

Beaulieu of America opened in the mid-1970s and was at one point the third-largest carpet manufacturer in the United States.

At the time of the purchase, Engineered Floors employed some 3,000. It has a 650,000-square-foot facility in Calhoun and an 800,000-square-foot facility on South Dug Gap Road in Dalton. It plans to open a 520,000-square-foot carpet tile manufacturing facility in south Whitfield County in January.

This was the second major local acquisition by Engineered Floors in recent years. In 2015 the company acquired Dalton-based J+J Flooring, which it runs as a separate division. 

Beaulieu was privately owned and manufactures and distributes carpet, engineered hardwood and laminate and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring. Before the bankruptcy plans were announced, it had some 2,500 employees in 12 locations, mostly in northwest Georgia.

Jeannefest is a success

In May, Dalton celebrated Jeannefest in honor of Jeanne Burr, a Dalton resident who has long been active in the local theater and arts communities.

In 2016, Burr donated $1 million to support the arts in Dalton by helping to provide a performance venue. In return, the Dalton City Council designated the former site of the Lee Printing building on Hamilton Street as a permanent park, which is set to open in March 2018. The groundbreaking for what will be known as Burr Park took place during Jeannefest.

“I hope this park, in some small way, will communicate the love I have for this town and all the people who have shaped mine and my children’s lives,” Burr said at the event.

Burr’s donation will provide $300,000 for physical improvements at the site, including the construction of a “first class” performing stage and associated facilities. It also provides for a $500,000 endowment that will distribute some $25,000 a year to support events and performances at the facility. The remaining $200,000 will be held for additional support.

The Downtown Dalton Development Authority (DDDA) will manage the facility, and the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department will be responsible for maintaining the property.

Varnell drama

A June 911 call from a Varnell City Council member’s house kicked off a series of events that saw two members of that council resign, the council vote to abolish the city police department, the mayor veto that vote, a meeting end abruptly when a council member walked out and the mayor not calling a council meeting for the final four months of the year.

Then-Varnell City Council member Sheldon Fowler cursed Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant and another city officer and poked them with his finger when they responded to a domestic incident at Fowler’s house on June 13, according to an incident report filed by Grant. In that report, Grant wrote that officers were “tolerant of his (Fowler’s) behavior because of his position on the Varnell City Council.”

Officers were at the home for about an hour and 45 minutes. They did not arrest Fowler. Grant obtained a warrant for Fowler’s arrest in Whitfield County Magistrate Court nine days after the incident. Fowler resigned from the council later that month.

In July, council members Andrea Gordy, David Owens and Jan Pourquoi voted to dissolve the police department. Council member Ashlee Godfrey voted against that move. Mayor Anthony Hulsey later vetoed that vote.

Gordy later resigned following questions about whether she actually lived in the city, and at an August meeting, Owens and Pourquoi were prepared to vote to override Hulsey’s veto, but Godfrey walked out, denying the meeting a quorum. That would be the last meeting the council held in 2017. Owens and Pourquoi said the mayor would not hold a meeting because he knew they would override his veto of their vote to abolish the police department.

The lack of meetings meant that the council members did not take care of some business. For instance, council members did not set a property tax rate.

“The mayor did that administratively,” said City Manager Mike Brown in November.

Brown said the council set the rate at 2.4 mills in 2016 and Hulsey said he had the authority to set it as long as he left it at that level. But when the Daily Citizen-News asked in November if Hulsey had that authority under either the city charter or state law, City Attorney Terry Miller said that was something he would have to research.

“It is not a matter that has been brought to my attention in terms of asking for a legal opinion (by city officials),” he said.

Afterwards, Brown said he had spoken to Miller and Miller had advised him that the council members must vote to set the property tax rate.

The council members also did not adopt a budget. Typically, the council adopts the city’s budget before Dec. 2, but Brown said the 2018 budget will be adopted in January.

Anna Shaw Children’s Institute groundbreaking

In November, Hamilton Health Care System broke ground on the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute, which will provide services to children with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other developmental disorders. The six-acre site for the facility is immediately to the west of Hamilton Medical Center’s Brown Conference Center. The 54,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open on April 1, 2019. The facility is being made possible in part by the Anna Sue and Bob Shaw Foundation.

Terri Woodruff, executive director of the institute, said the facility will bring physical therapy, speech therapy and other services under one roof. And the facility will have a unique design to help make children more comfortable.

“It will be like a tree house,” she said. “The driveway will wind through trees. It’s built on a hill. There’s an entrance on the first floor, and an entrance on the second floor, so the parents won’t have to take an elevator. That’s huge, because children with autism sometimes don’t like elevators.”

Anna Adamson, Anna and Bob Shaw’s granddaughter, said the institute is a fitting tribute to her grandmother.

“She was the mother of four children herself. She loved children,” Adamson said. “She moved from Rome to Dalton and immediately Dalton became her home. This institute allows her to give to Dalton’s children the way she gave to her own children, and I think that is really special.”

Dalton pediatrician Luis Viamonte, citing numbers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said 15 percent of children have one or more developmental disorders and one in 64 children in Georgia have autism spectrum disorder. He commended the Shaw family and the Anna Sue and Bob Shaw Foundation for its vision in supporting the institute.

Jeff Myers, president and CEO of Hamilton Health Care System, said he believes the institute will become not just a regional center but a national center for the treatment of autism and other developmental disorders.

Believe Greater Dalton

Dalton and Whitfield County have a persistent talent drain, very low educational attainment levels and a poor self-image, according to a study released in 2017 by the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce.

The study found that 62 percent of those holding a job in Whitfield County that pays $40,000 or more live somewhere else. Chamber President Rob Bradham said the key to the area’s future is getting a larger share of those workers, especially young workers, to live in Whitfield County.

In October at Dalton City Hall before more than 300 people, local leaders unveiled Believe Greater Dalton, a six-point vision to address those problems. The vision focuses on six areas: community pride, downtown Dalton, economic development, education, entrepreneurship and housing.

The five-year plans calls for $3.3 million in funding from government and another $2 million from private sources for research, marketing and other operations as well as to fund three jobs — a strategic implementation coordinator, a downtown program coordinator and an education program director.

Groundbreaking held for Peeples Cancer Institute

Hamilton Health Care System broke ground on the 59,925-square-foot Peeples Cancer Institute in September. When it opens in the spring of 2019 it will bring together radiation oncology, outpatient infusion and breast and diagnostic imaging services, which are now spread across Hamilton’s campus.

The name is in honor of local philanthropists Willena and Shelby Peeples, who “provided a significant legacy gift toward the development of the cancer institute,” according to Hamilton officials.

Scott Sellers, chair of the Whitfield Healthcare Foundation, said plans to develop the institute began in the fall of 2015 with the foundation adopting a goal to raise $8 million for the project.

“With a ‘can do’ attitude, our foundation and trustees rolled up their sleeves and got to work raising awareness and acquiring funds from our community,” he said. “I’m pleased to report that to date we’ve raised $9.1 million, the most of any campaign in the history of the foundation.”

The institute “will serve as a gateway to the existing medical campus, helping to promote future-based health care services through its modern, clean design,” the hospital’s website states. “Complete with a medical oncology clinic, the new facility consolidates radiation oncology, outpatient infusion and breast and diagnostic imaging services, which were previously spread throughout the campus, to encourage integrated physician collaboration and improved patient access.”

Myers, the president and CEO of Hamilton Health Care System, said Dalton is blessed to have the facility. 

“As we started this endeavor we went down a path of how do we take on advancing cancer treatment and care,” he said. “We’re grateful to the visionary leaders of Hamilton who are thoughtfully shaping and improving our ability to provide healing for the current generation and for those who come after.”

Voters approve funding for new Dalton school

In November, Dalton residents voted 52.37 percent to 47.63 percent to allow the Board of Education to issue up to $50 million in bonds to finance a new sixth- and seventh-grade school that will be built on the North Dalton Bypass across from Dalton Middle School. The vote also created a new property tax of at least .4 mill which could rise to up to .8 mill to pay off the bonds.

The school is being built to relieve overcrowding at Dalton High School and Dalton Middle School.

Less than a week after voters approved the bond referendum, board members voted unanimously to use $1.8 million from the current Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) to purchase land for the school, reducing the amount of bonds the school system plans to issue to $46.89 million.

Officials say the school will open in January 2021.