County commissioners approved a resolution to consent to the county Industrial Building Authority’s application. The resolution will move the land from the city of Dallas’s jurisdiction to county control.
The land, which is located north of the Dallas Industrial Park, located near West Memorial Drive and highway 278, will be used as a training facility for the sheriff’s department, said Blake Swafford, executive director for the Paulding County Industrial Building Authority.
Currently, Dallas has an ordinance which does not allow anyone besides Dallas Police to discharge a firearm within the city limits, Swafford said.
The county will pay the authority $235,000 for the land.
“If you take the per acre price that is exactly what we paid for it,” he said.
The county will be using 2012 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds which are designated for public safety to build the facility, said County Administrator Mike Jones.
The action will allow the county to build a permanent home for the facility, which has operated in temporary buildings on a former landfill for about 15 years.
In addition, the state Environmental Protection Division is requiring the move to do a required periodic cleanup of the site, he said.
The next step will be for the Dallas City Council to approve a resolution to deannex the land at a future council meeting.
In other action, commissioners approved an early retirement plan for the sheriff’s department for the 2013 fiscal year only, which could potentially save the county up to about $450,000 in the next fiscal year.
Human Resources Director Brian Acker explained the plan will only affect 10 employees who meet the criteria.
“This is exclusive to sheriff’s department employees who are the rank of detention officer, deputy or higher,” Acker said.
The employees are all officers, have 10 years with the department and are at least 60 years old. They will have to decide if they are going to take the optional retirement plan by June 30, he said.
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