FANNIN COUNTY, Ga – In a called meeting on April 8, the Fannin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved extending the state of emergency until April 30, 2020, at 11:59 p.m.

Fannin County was one of the first North Georgia counties to declare a state of emergency on March 25. Originally, the order ended on April 13, but with Gov. Kemp’s extension of the statewide emergency declaration, the commissioners decided to follow suit.

The Regional Health Board and Fannin Regional also urged the commissioners to extend the state of emergency as the best method to ensure the health of citizens.

Chairman Stan Helton addressed some emergency service-related data since Fannin enacted its declaration. In-service 911 calls have dropped by 40 percent since March 25, but administrative calls have increased exponentially because citizens want more information about the state of emergency and shelter in place orders.

Rental occupancy has fallen for March and April with most of the decline occurring in the last two weeks. Overnight bookings for cabin rentals are reportedly down 70 percent from the 2019 numbers. However, the June and July booking numbers are normal for that time of year.

“A big concern has been that as the tourism activity has declined that this activity would be replaced by folks that are coming up here from high-risk areas to shelter in Fannin County,” said Helton.

Helton is one of the 12 commissioners who signed a letter to the governor to close state parks. Fannin Board of Commissioners also closed tourism rentals in its original state of emergency declaration, but the governor overturned many local ordinances in his April 2 shelter in place order that didn’t fall into accordance with his declaration. However, on April 8, Kemp issued a suspension of short-term rentals in effect until April 30.

Sheriff Kirby spoke with Gov. Kemp’s Chief of Staff about the influx of people to the mountains.

“I can tell you it’s been a real fight keeping the beat crowds back up here because everyone is wanting to come to the mountains and hide and get away,” explained Sheriff Dane Kirby. “If we were to lift [the state of emergency], I don’t think it would have a positive effect.

Kirby also relayed that he spoke with Kemp’s Chief of Staff about restricting people from visiting the area just for recreation purposes.

“What we need is we need some avenue to stop people from coming here just on day trips,” said Kirby. “I think the steps that they took were a portion of what we asked for,” said Kirby. He also hopes a more detailed plan might be presented to the public later in the week.

“I want everyone who is dependent on the tourism and rental business to understand that I believe we all understand this is impacting every one of them. But, at this point, I don’t see how we could do anything to lift the emergency ordinance and continue on the trajectory we are on now,” stated Post One Earl Johnson.

He also referenced the decrease in 911 calls and protecting first responders, law enforcement, and health care workers under the existing order.

Post Two Glenn Patterson affirmed everyone’s sentiments, “I concur with what you just said as far as citizens well-being that would be relevant for us to extend at this time knowing the data we see. We don’t want to start it too early and then shut it back down again.

“We need all our citizens to work together for a little longer and hopefully, everyone realizes the real enemy is not tourist, people from any other part of the state. The real enemy is this coronavirus. As long as everyone has that in mind, I think we can all work together,” asserted Helton.

The State of Emergency will last through April 30 to expire at 11:59 p.m., unless otherwise extended or rescinded.

Other Business

The commissioners also voted to vacate the scheduled April 14 meeting and will meet again on Tuesday, April 28.

The purchase of three new law enforcement vehicles was also approved for approximately $99,000 as well as the acquisition of accompanying equipment for $20,232. The expenses were in the budget for the fiscal year.

“They are in our budget. I’ll have to move about $6,000 from one line to another because the price of cars has gone up. But it’s all there, it will just have to be moved,” explained Kirby.

The vehicle and equipment purchases were unanimously approved.