Commissioners name March as American Red Cross Month
Board of Commissioners March 9, 2022
FANNIN, COUNTY — The Fannin County Board of Commissioners held a regular meeting on March 8. During the meeting they approved several purchases and proclaimed March as American Red Cross Month.
Chairman Jamie Hensley read and signed a proclamation during the meeting that named March 2022 as American Red Cross Month in Fannin County. “In Fannin County, the contributions of local Red Cross volunteers give hope to the most vulnerable in their darkest hour,” Hensley said. He continued, “Their work to prevent and alleviate human suffering is vital to strengthening our communities’ resilience. We dedicate this month of March to all those who continue to advance the noble legacy of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton.” Hensley also encouraged residents of the county to support The Red Cross’ mission
Purchases
Fannin County Public Works Director Zack Ratcliff attended the meeting to request purchase approvals from the board. Shallowford Bridge, which is currently closed, needs repairs to prevent it from being shut down, Ratcliff noted. The cost of the repairs would total $82,577.90, but the county was offered a grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation that will cover 70 percent of the total cost. The board approved the remaining cost, $24,773.37, to be taken from SPLOST funds for the project. The board also approved a $15,000 purchase of a rubberized asphalt distributor, and approved the purchase of three trucks for a total of $127,248.
The commissioners also discussed a piece of property the county purchased to use for employee parking. Chairman Hensley sought approval to move forward with developing the property. The board discussed and approved spending $7,800 to begin the process, including conceptual site plans and erosion control plans according to Hensley. Chairman Hensley discussed the same piece of property during a recent Blue Ridge City Council meeting on downtown parking.
Other Business
The board appointed Charles Donaldson to the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission on March 8. The commission, according to the NWGRC website, serves “to improve the qualify of life for every Northwest Georgia resident, through orderly growth, conservation of the region’s natural and historic resources, and care and development of the region’s human resources.” Donaldson will serve as a non-public member of the commission, which consists of 15 counties and 49 municipalities.
The board also approved a resolution that will allow the Fannin County Water Authority to refinance two loans. The county attorney noted the loans will be reduced from a 40 year payout to a 20 year payout, along with a reduced interest rate.
Fannin’s Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Patrick Cooke spoke at the meeting requesting the commissioner’s approval to join the Tri-State Mutual Aid Association. Cooke said joining the agreement would give the county greater access to emergency resources. “There’s a $100 per year fee,” Cooke noted, “but in the event we call in resources, there’s no cost to us at that point.” The Tri-State Mutual Aid Association says their mission is to “provide routine 2nd alarm through 5th alarm response and special calls to fire, haz-mat, specialized rescue incidents, and unusual events such as firefighter funerals and major water outages.”
A proposed Alarm Ordinance was also on the March 8 meeting agenda, but was tabled again.
City Council will move forward with parking ordinance
City Council, Downtown Blue Ridge March 2, 2022
FANNIN, Ga. — The Blue Ridge City Council held a workshop meeting on March 1 to discuss parking in the city’s downtown area. Business owners, citizens, and members of the county government attended the meeting to provide their input and hear the council discuss the potential parking ordinance.
Mayor Rhonda Haight began the meeting by explaining the reasoning behind the council’s push to create a parking ordinance and the goal of a potential ordinance. “My proposal is not that we have paid parking on East Main, but we have limited parking. And that way we’re having a higher turnover rate where people can come in, they can shop, and then they can go,” Mayor Haight said. She made note of the council’s desire to designate areas for downtown employees, encourage train patrons to park elsewhere, and make the downtown area more accessible to everyone. Mayor Haight explained the council would propose a three hour limit on parking spaces along East Main Street, but clarified that “these hours would only be between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.” The City of Blue Ridge, as noted by Haight, already has a parking ordinance in place that sets a two hour limit on certain parking spaces, but that ordinance is going unenforced.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, several business owners spoke to share their concerns about the potential change. A common concern among those in attendance was the establishment of time constraints on downtown shoppers. Those speaking felt that rushing downtown visitors would have a negative impact not only on their businesses, but on the city as a whole. Changing Blue Ridge’s small town charm and southern hospitality and making visitors feel unwanted was a concern raised several times during the evening.
Some citizens who spoke at the meeting were concerned that further inaction would continue to isolate residents from the downtown area. In response, Mayor Haight mentioned the council would be considering options to address the issue, including stickers for resident’s cars.
Chairman Jamie Hensley and Police Chief Johnny Scearce, both members of the Fannin County Board of Commissioners, also spoke to the council during the meeting. Hensley spoke to the council about property that Fannin County had purchased for employee parking. Offering potential help, he said, “I feel that at some point we may be able to do something, at least on the weekend, with that parking area. So, maybe that will help alleviate some of the strain from downtown.” Police Chief Scearce also spoke, highlighting the importance of public safety in the context of parking accessibility.
While the council agreed action needed to be taken, there was some disagreement concerning the extent of the potential new ordinance. Council member Christy Kay, namely, was against an immediate three hour limit on all East Main Street. Instead, she suggested, the council could test the plan on small sections of downtown. Mayor Haight responded by encouraging action after several years of studies and planning, “We can keep talking about this forever or we can implement.” At the end of the meeting, the council voted to move forward with the process of drafting an ordinance that limits East Main Street parking to three hours.
DDA and City Council discuss Blue Ridge’s parking situation
Downtown Blue Ridge, News March 4, 2021
BLUE RIDGE, Ga – Blue Ridge City Council and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) held a joint called meeting on Monday to discuss the DDA’s plans and parking predominately.
DDA Chairman Cesar Martinez addressed the working relationship between the two groups. He stressed that they both need to be together on issues like parking, economic development, or signage. He asked for the city to include the DDA in conversations about projects that fall under their authority.
“We can’t be two separate organizations going after the same thing. We need to be together. If it’s a project that we’re working on with the city, then we need to be involved in that,” Martinez explained.
Councilmember Nathan Fitts, who’s Vice Chairman and on the city council, added he’s previously told his peers that they need to let the DDA “do their job and be involved.” He cited that some people left the DDA because of a lack of communication between the two organizations.
Councilmember and DDA Vice Chair Nathan Fitts
Later in the meeting, Mayor Donna Whitener asked if the council had been asked for anything aside parking. Martinez confirmed that they had not been. The DDA must run decisions by the council before final decisions are made.
“More than anything else in our relationship going forward, we need to be thinking about each other and how those conversations are built,” Martinez ended.
The DDA has a total revenue of $147,889.18 with two expenditures in October where were the paving and striping of the parking lot behind the co-op. After paying $29,993.75, the DDA had a final balance of $117,895.43. Blue Ridge funded the DDA around six months ago giving them paid parking revenue and one percent of the hotel/motel tax. The hotel/motel tax provided $29,584.87 and parking accounted for $118,304.31.
The DDA design committee hopes to designate parking and place wayfinding signage throughout the community as part of the phase 1 planning.
Parking Discussion
Martinez, who’s serving as temporary parking director, began the discussion and stated the biggest issue they’re trying to address was clearly identifying lots throughout Blue Ridge. The design committee and Director Nichole Potzauf presented signage options during the meeting. The second accomplishment was the paving and striping of the city lot by TrueFit. However, Blue Ridge still needs more parking, according to Martinez.
The new garage with around 200 spaces should be open this spring.
“There’s more parking that’s going to be needed as the city continues to grow and we really have to turn our vision toward what our needs are going to be two years, five years, ten years down the road,” Martinez remarked. “In terms of parking, I don’t think we can afford not to spend money on it.”
Fitts called it an “urgent matter” that the city has needed to address for ten years and that some on the council aren’t as fervently supporting as before.
Councilmember Mike Panter asked, “Who’s it an issue for? Is it an issue for the 1,200 citizens who live in the city in a 2.3-mile radius that can walk to town or is it an issue for our tourists that are coming into town?”
Laughing Councilmember Rhonda Haight expressed “A, B, and C.” Martinez explained that all parties are equally important, and the tourists help keep the tax rate low.
Panter agreed no one group was more important, but he didn’t believe a hundred of their effort and revenue should go toward parking.
Fitts and Haight jumped in about parking generating its own revenue and can pay for itself. According to Haight, the city’s making $16,000 to $20,000 a month in parking.
“You go downtown at 9 o’clock or 15 till 9 during the week, most of the parking spots that are full are business owners or their employees. So, you hear them complaining about parking, but they’re parking in front of their own business that’s a problem,” Panter stated. “You’ve got 1,200 citizens who live within walking distance and they’re saying all the time, my phone’s blowing up. They’re calling me all the time saying ‘why is the focus on parking? Why is it not on water or different infrastructure?’”
Haight explained they’ve found alternative areas for parking, but the council needs to pursue those options. She added a meter box could be placed on the main street where customers would park, and city residents wouldn’t have to pay.
Martinez commented, “The way to handle that is to put paid parking in downtown and also make sure that alternative parking for the store owners and employees can park at for free.”
However, alternative spaces need to be created before they can put paid parking in downtown. If paid parking meters are used downtown, they might feature the first hour or 30 minutes free. Not everyone’s in favor of meters. Martinez stressed the need for having options for the business owners before plowing ahead with downtown. The DDA and city also need to consider if they are going to purchase a land lot for parking. The paid lots haven’t generated enough revenue yet to purchase land.
In 2018, when the city first leased the temple property for parking, they made $22,000. DDA and Blue Ridge would have to work together to move ahead with parking.
“It’s time either this council take responsibility and do something, or you just tell the townspeople, it’s your problem,” Haight asserted.
The idea of telling business owners and employees to park at city hall was floated to the room. Haight commented that no one will voluntarily move to city hall unless they are properly motivated.
Fitts brought up that the property’s scarce in downtown Blue Ridge and if they wait much longer opportunities will be lost. Once that happens, a parking garage would be the remaining route for the council.
After the joint meeting ended, the DDA passed a resolution for the Georgia Cities Foundation loan to benefit Mountain Hospitality Group.