In a strange meeting during which Chair Charlie Paris and staff from the commissioners office had to call in to participate because of COVID-19 quarantine, the most prominent item was tabled for later discussion.
Commissioners heard from Doug Colburn who was asked to chair a committee about policy changes for Gilmer County’s river.
A small group of individuals with representatives from public safety, the sheriff’s office, Keep Gilmer Beautiful and Georgia Department of Natural Resources met twice.
“We identified three major issues or buckets,” he said. “Those major issues were balancing river enjoyment, use and impact, number one; number two, safety to the public; and number three river, use mitigation.”
Colburn said they came up with seven basic solutions.
Some of the changes dealt with language changes to clarify who is a river outfitter and a requirement for river use signage and basic language corrections.
A big change would be banning coolers of any type on the river.
Colburn said he cleaned up the river near his house recently.
“I can tell you a good third of what we cleaned up was unopened. Unopened cans, unopened bottles,” he said. “I would imagine that that is where that came from.”
Wristbands were addressed as a safety concern. Colburn said the committee wants the wristbands to be designated to each person and recorded with a name and contact phone number on the waiver.
“I would like to talk specifically about safety,” Colburn said.
In the event someone is missing, it would allow emergency personnel to identify who may be lost and allow them to call the emergency contact to figure out if the person has any medical issues.
This would also allow public safety to decide what resources need to be deployed searching for the person.
The committee also suggested a portion of the money collected be designated to improve parking areas at the river.
“I think what we’ve got is a really good start,” said Paris over the phone. He said he wanted to take this as a base and discuss it at a future meeting.
In other business:
﹣ Commissioners voted unanimously to pass the first reading of changes to the alcohol ordinance which would clear the way for beer and wine to be sold at Whitepath Golf Course.
﹣ Amended the budget to add $60,000 to the voter registration office to provide for the extended election season this year.
﹣ Unanimously approved an increase to 14 cents per pound scale rate at the Gilmer County Landfill and eliminated bulk item charges.
﹣ Paris told the board there is an offer for a private donation of $200,000 for capital needs at the animal shelter if the county matches the amount. It was tabled for a discussion at a later meeting.