DALTON, Ga. — City of Refuge Executive Director Pamela Cudd says she’s heard the rumors about what the organization plans for the big industrial building at 120 E. Morris St. in Dalton.

“Apparently, some people are saying we plan to bring in 50 sex offenders and house them there,” she said. “That doesn’t even make sense. Most of our work is with women and children. We aren’t going to do anything that puts them in danger.”

The building, and the 2.3 acres it sits on, were donated to City of Refuge by Shaw Industries. City of Refuge was founded in 1995 and provides services to the homeless and low-income families — including transitional housing, a food pantry, a clothing store, education programs for both children and adults, and hot meals — at a location at 201 Bryant Ave. on the south end of Dalton.

Cudd says the Morris Street site would allow the organization to expand.

“We could put 10 of our current facility in there,” Cudd said. “We’ve been very challenged to make our current facility work for us.”

Cudd says they have been fortunate to partner with other organizations. Rock Bridge Community Church hosts its Sunday hot meals program, and Dalton Public Schools hosts its summer reading and math programs for children. But the Morris Street site would allow City of Refuge to bring all of its programs under one roof and to expand its education programs.

But first, the City Council must rezone the site to transitional commercial from heavy manufacturing. Council members tabled a request for the rezoning at their June 5 meeting, saying they wanted to get more input from the public.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the rezoning request when it meets in a work session on Monday at 5:15 p.m. at City Hall. It is not scheduled to take up the rezoning at its 6 p.m. business meeting. The only item scheduled for a vote at that meeting is a contract for drainage improvement on Willowdale Road.

Cudd says one frustrating aspect of the process is that members of the public have had the opportunity to give their input — at a hearing held by the Dalton-Whitfield Planning Commission and in the public comments section of the June 5 council meeting — and no one spoke against the rezoning. The planning commission members unanimously recommended the rezoning.

But if no one wanted to publicly question the rezoning, they apparently will speak out in private.

“One thing I’m hearing is that we need to take care of our own, especially women and children,” said council member Denise Wood at a meeting of the city finance committee on Thursday. “But we don’t want anything that will be a magnet that will draw people in from outside this area, especially men.”

Council member Tate O’Gwin said at that meeting he’s heard from people concerned about “transient men” flocking to the site, which is just across the railroad tracks from the downtown business district.

Some people doing business and dining on South Hamilton Street, just a few hundred feet away from the Morris Street site, Friday afternoon said they weren’t aware of the controversy.

“That big empty building next to the train tracks?” asked Maria Hernandez. “What else are they going to get in there?”

Jim Marshall said he didn’t know anything about the situation.

“But I can understand why businesses wouldn’t want the homeless hanging around outside their doors,” he said.

But Cudd says City of Refuge doesn’t have homeless people loitering around it.

“We provide transportation for 90 percent of the people who come in, which is mostly families that have been referred to us by the Dalton and Whitfield school systems,” she said. “We bring them in. They receive their services, and we take them home. And when they leave, the only people on our campus is our staff and our volunteers.”

One former client of City of Refuge, who asked to remain anonymous, credits the organization with helping her turn her life around after she got out of substance abuse rehabilitation seven years ago.

“I didn’t have anything,” she said. “Now, I work a wonderful full-time job. I completely support myself. I don’t get any government assistance. And I truly feel I couldn’t say that without them.”