Dalton's Public Safety Commission is comprised of five commissioners who are appointed by the Mayor and City Council. The commission meets on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 8:30 am. The commission's primary responsibilities are to approve internal policies and make appointments to authorized positions.
The history of the PSC dates back to February 12, 1945 when state legislation was introduced and passed to create the Civil Service Commission, which is now known as the Public Safety Commission. This legislation created a three person commission. This was later expanded to five on December 4, 2000. Much of this 1945 law is still in effect today.
At the time, the reason for this legislation was to abolish the elected City Marshal and replace the position with an appointed Police Chief by the Civil Service Commission. It also created a pension for fire and police, both under "Civil Service". The U.S. civil service includes the Competitive Service and the Excepted Service. The majority of civil service appointments are made under the competitive service. However, certain categories in the diplomatic service, the FBI and other national security positions are made under the excepted service.
State and local governments often have competitive civil service systems that are modeled on the national system. In other words, the Civil Service Commission now known as the Public Safety Commission was created to keep the "politics" out of the fire and police departments.
Dalton's current Public Safety commissioners are Lane Ashworth, Terry Mathis, Steve Townsend, Bill Weaver and Keith Whitworth.
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