DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The Dahlonega City Council voted to approve their Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Lumpkin County for the TSPLOST joint project and the distribution of the funds during their special call meeting on Sept. 19.

They also had a work session and discussed Ordinance 2022-12 to allow for commercial walking tours of Mt. Hope Cemetery. Another item that was reviewed was an amendment to the tourism funds for the restroom renovation project.

The City and County have been working since Aug. on a new TSPLOST plan to be placed on the ballot in Nov. To review their most recent joint work session visit  https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/09/13/joint-work-session-for-tsplost-project-and-distribution/. 

The IGA was worked on by both City and County Finance departments as well as a bond advisor for the County. City Attorney Doug Parks presented the IGA to the City Council.

“It is our job to identify the finance director’s goals with regards to this at the city level and the county level and also coordinate with the County’s bond council and additionally the County’s finance advisor,” explained Parks.

They will collect on this for the full five years thanks to new legislation instead of just hitting a specific dollar amount as done in the past. The county will be in charge of paying for the election expenses for the TSPLOST. 

The County is set to vote on the IGA at their Sept. 20 meeting. To read through the IGA before their meeting this afternoon visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-188a6c8dfb4a453ba4cbb05e28cad666.pdf it begins on page 26.

Commercial walking tours for Mt. Hope are now getting an ordinance. The ordinance that was discussed at the meeting outlines certain restricted activities, other limitations, permitted times, fees, and tour guide regulations. 

Heard in the clip above is councilmember Lance Bagley explaining the experiences he heard from customers of the walking tours. Dahlonega Walking Tours went before the council at the July 5 meeting for a special use permit with regards to the commercial walking tours to review that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/07/06/city-recognizes-officer/.

Finance Director Allison Martin while she presents to the council the fund amendment.

The Visitor Center restroom renovation project came in over the original budget. The price for the project now is $184,000. The city previously approved a budget of $54,000.

The Chamber of Commerce will be contributing $105,000 to the project leaving a $25,000 gap in funds. The City Council will have to vote at their next regular meeting on Oct. 5 on whether to contribute the additional funds from the tourism funds.

Mayor JoAnne Taylor also made a few comments before the meeting. She let everyone know that the sanitation department is understaffed and due to that the way pick is being done has changed. Flyers were sent out to customers explaining the changes. 

Also, she stated that there is going to be a documentary done on Dahlonega by Dennis Quaid as part of his Viewpoint project. Currently, he is in the scripting phase of the work and the City has been sending him as much historical information as possible. Taylor will provide more updates on the project as she has them. To check out what Quaid is doing visit https://www.viewpointproject.com/.