New Dalton mayor is ready to get started

The 2023 Dalton mayoral race will go down as one of those “remember that time” moments, not just in Dalton, but in local lore in general.

It was a race that serves as a reminder of the importance of casting a vote, and after Blake Nussbaum threw his hat into the ring, another hat was thrown in to decide things — an Amish-style headpiece borrowed from someone on the scene, to be precise.

When the votes for Dalton mayor were tabulated following the Nov. 7 election, Dennis Finley held a slim lead of 341-338 — slim enough to trigger an automatic recount, being that the final tally was within a margin of 0.5%, a threshold barely reached given the small number of votes cast.

After the mandated recount, Nussbaum and Finley were in a dead heat that would be decided in one of four possible ways, among them a coin flip, cutting a deck of cards and choosing straws. In this case lots were drawn from a hat.

“I waited almost a month to find out which way it was going to go,” said Nussbaum, whose name was on the folded piece of paper ultimately drawn from the hat. “It was fine with me either way it went. The people in our village spoke, and the vote was split. You just sit there and wait for the moment.”

Nussbaum knows the election result means half the town, while maybe not against him, is not for him, at least not yet. He’s hoping to change that through communication and transparency.

A theme he went back to multiple times is wanting everyone in the village to be on the same page and get along as much as possible.

“People in general talk about differences,” he said. “I would like to talk about what we have in common. I would like to keep communications open in all departments, have a positive work environment with a friendly atmosphere. We have to get along in every small community, and that doesn’t always happen.”

A lifelong resident of Dalton, the 67-year-old Nussbaum, who still drives a bus for Dalton schools and drives the high school football team’s equipment trailer, hopes to create an atmosphere in which people want to get involved.

“Whether it’s the school board or booster club, I’ve been involved in a lot of that,” he said. “Most families, both people work. You’ve got kids you need to get to school. It’s a challenge.”

Married for 44 years to Deb and father of Blake and Justine, who have three children between them, Nussbaum likes how things look as 2024 approaches. He’s not looking to make sweeping changes, maybe just tinker here or there.

“We’re going to have a new fire department, and Donald Shilling is going to be a wonderful fire chief,” Nussbaum said. “That’s what I’m walking into. We have a wonderful police department with Ryan Pearson as chief. We have a wonderful street and public services department. Everything’s in good hands.

“I’m just going to pick up where our other mayor left off. It’s going to be a pretty good year.”