On Monday night, the Dalton mayor and council authorized Dalton Utilities to issue a revenue bond to finance the construction of a new power plant. The bond issue was the highlight of the agenda for the council’s third meeting of March, a session that was originally scheduled to take place April 6th. That meeting was canceled and moved to March 30th to allow staff members with children in Dalton schools to celebrate spring break next week. The Council voted 3-0 to enact Ordinance 26-05 after its second reading (Councilmember Dennis Mock was not present and Mayor Annalee Sams typically only votes in the event of a tie). The ordinance authorizes the issuance a $130 million utility revenue bond on the behalf of Dalton Utilities to be used in the construction of a 56.8 megawatt natural gas electricity generation plant. John Thomas, the Dalton Utilities CEO, noted that the need for the new plant is not related to any potential development of data centers in the community. He also pointed out that the money that will be spent on the project would still be spent on the community’s power supply if the plant is not built. “These are dollars that are going to be spent one way or another on p
