DALTON, Ga. — The city councils of Cohutta and Tunnel Hill could decide in the next couple of weeks who will represent them on the advisory committee that will make recommendations for the projects that could be funded from a future Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

Each city will have just one representative on the committee.

The city of Varnell will also have one representative on the committee. The mayor and council of Varnell appointed Paul Wilson to the committee Wednesday night.

Only one person applied from Cohutta, Nicholas Conner, and one from Tunnel Hill, William Middleton. Officials in both cities say they believe their respective councils will find them acceptable.

“We all know Nick,” said Cohutta Mayor Ron Shinnick. “Obviously, we have to get together at a council meeting to discuss this. But I think everybody is going to be comfortable with him. He grew up in this area and is really involved in the community. He goes to church here. He has a home and small farm here. He has a car business between Cohutta and Varnell. So I don’t foresee any issues.”

The Cohutta Town Council is set to meet on Aug. 6.

Tunnel Hill City Manager Blake Griffin said he thinks the council there will also find its sole applicant acceptable.

“Butch Middleton is a former mayor, from back in the 1990s,” he said. “He’s very active in the community and well known to all of our current council members. I haven’t heard anything from them that would lead me to believe they will not appoint him.”

The Tunnel Hill City Council is next scheduled to meet on Aug. 13. Griffin said he expects the council will vote on Middleton’s nomination then.

There were 67 confirmed applicants hoping to serve on the 16-member committee that will have two alternates. It will hold its first meeting in August but the date has not been set. At that meeting, committee members will elect their officers and set a meeting schedule.

Each of the five county commissioners will appoint two people to the committee from their district. Commission Chairman Lynn Laughter is elected county-wide. The Dalton City Council as a whole will appoint three members. Each of those two bodies will appoint an alternate.

Each committee member must reside in the county district or city he or she represents. The committee members must be registered voters and have voted in two of the last four general elections or primaries unless they have recently moved to the county, have recently become naturalized U.S. citizens or were not previously qualified to vote because of their age. They cannot be a candidate for elected office.

The committee members will advise the elected officials on which projects should be funded by a SPLOST that is expected to be put before county voters in either the May 2020 general primary or the November 2020 general election. The county commissioners will have the final say on what is placed on the ballot.

Twenty-six people applied from the city of Dalton. All also applied for the county district they live in. 

The committee had been set to end on Jan. 13, 2020, but that was when commissioners were looking at placing a SPLOST on the May 2020 general primary ballot. With commissioners considering placing the SPLOST on the November 2020 general election ballot, they voted to change the date the committee will end to the date the commissioners vote on a SPLOST resolution or whenever the committee’s work is finished.