A special called meeting of the Gilmer County commissioners to work on the short-term rental ordinance turned into a third public comment period.
The March 5 meeting followed two public comment periods on Feb. 28.
Post Commissioner John Marshall attended the meeting by Zoom.
Following a brief executive session, commissioners heard from the public for an hour and a half, culminating in an agreement to press forward with the short-term rental ordinance, but no changes.
Two speakers, Susan Smith and Kimberly Reckles, chastised commissioners for the manner in which they selected prospective members to work on the 2024 comprehensive plan for the county.
At a previous meeting, commissioners wrote down names on separate pieces of paper then came up with 10 common names they agreed would be best to serve on the board.
Smith said the commissioners did not match people with suggested areas of importance and said the process was arbitrary and capricious.
Reckles echoed the comments and said she has volunteered to be on various boards, but the commissioners never appoint her.
Other speakers, many who spoke during the previous short-term rental comment periods, renewed their support or objection to the proposed ordinance.
A new wrinkle raised was the question of how the county would be able to inspect all of the short-term rentals in the county. Estimates put the number of short-term rentals in Gilmer County between 1,700 to more than 3,000.
One suggestion was to require short-term rental owners to provide the inspections. County attorney David Clark cautioned the board about the liability issues wrapped up with owners providing their own inspections.
There was a brief mention of including a provision in the ordinance requiring short-term rentals to have insurance on the rentals.
“We have a long way to go,” said Post Commissioner Hubert Parker at the end of the comments.