Dalton Gardens pulls out all the stops

DALTON GARDENS — All the signs were there.

And then they weren't.

The Dalton Gardens City Council on Thursday welcomed back two members who had previously served, Councilmen Tyler Drechsel and Scott Jordan, who are filling seats vacated by former Councilman Ray Craft and Councilwoman Carrie Chase, who withdrew from re-election last fall. Drechsel was appointed as City Council president.

Council members immediately jumped into action to halt plans for stop signs at several intersections that had been approved or tabled by the previous council. Stop sign action considerations had been placed on the agenda at the request of Chase, clerk/treasurer Teresa Janzen said.

Stop sign considerations at four intersections were tabled at the Dec. 2, 2021, meeting: Deerhaven Avenue and Davenport Street; Deerhaven and Mt. Carroll Street; Wilbur Avenue and Davenport; and Wilbur and Mt. Carroll. Stop signs at Fourth Street and Deerhaven and Fourth and Wilbur were approved at that same meeting.

This new council is pulling out all the stops.

“I would not like to install these stop signs," Councilman Aaron O'Brien said. "The community does not want them. The people that were voted in ran on being against them, so I’d like to see this project not move forward and not spend any more money on it and return any money that was spent on this project.”

Jordan motioned to stop the installation of the north and south stop signs at Fourth and Deerhaven and Fourth and Wilbur. All voted yes but Councilman Robert Wuest, who recused himself.

"I don’t want to be a part of it," Wuest said.

Drechsel said engineering surveys were not conducted and these intersections have not been identified as "a hazardous or dangerous intersection where stop signs would normally be installed."

"I don’t think they should be installed," he said. "Matter of fact, I would prefer to see that money spent at a later date for signage in front of the school where we truly have safety issues, versus stop signs that aren’t supported."

The council unanimously voted not to paint white stop bars at the 15th Street and Deerhaven and 15th and Wilbur intersections, as discussion about removing those signs is expected in an upcoming meeting.

The stop sign saga has been ongoing in Dalton as council members and constituents have been divided on the subject.

"This new council, they've been saying they put them up illegally, and they used that as a campaign measure," Craft said of the 15th Street signs ahead of the meeting. "We put them up to the federal specs. We have red reflectors on the poles, we put a stop warning up, we made them a four-way section instead of a two-way."

He said the Fourth Street signs were approved because of wrecks that have taken place at those intersections.

"We passed that this past month and there’s been an accident already, where a woman was coming east on Wilbur and she she slid into the intersection," Craft said. "We want to prevent that. It happened numerous times."

Also hot on the agenda was the role of Dalton's code enforcement officer. Mayor Dan Edwards hired former law enforcement official and National FBI Academy graduate Myron Sanders in August to help enforce Dalton's city code. At this time, a complaint has to be filed for Sanders to approach a homeowner about a code violation.

The council discussed the possibility of allowing the enforcement officer to approach homeowners when he witnesses a code violation rather than wait for a complaint, but ultimately decided a workshop would be needed to work out the details.

The next regular meeting of the Dalton City Council will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 10.