DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council continued discussions regarding undertaking a housing study to address the community’s growing needs.

Council members also spoke about what they learned at the Georgia Municipal Association or GMA conference they attended in Savannah. Mayor JoAnne Taylor gave an update on how the negotiations with the county are going for the local option sales tax agreement.

One of Mayor Taylor’s goals when taking office had to do what addressing the community’s growing needs. To help with that goal the council has begun looking into a housing study. They currently have an offer from KB Advisory Group to do a city-wide assessment.

KB has identified six tasks to focus on during the study. Those tasks include supply and demand analysis, assessment of local preferences, comparing Dahlonega to surrounding cities, housing gap analysis, aligning current policy to housing needs, and a final report.

The Mayor also would like for them to take a look at the professional housing need, short-term rentals, workforce, and affordable single-family housing. The lump sum cost for KB to do all six of the task outline is $45,500.

Heard in the clip above is Councilmember Roman Gaddis commenting on his views on the task and what needs to happen with the study once complete. The council did not take action on accepting the proposal for the study at this meeting, they will take action at the Aug. 1 council meeting.

There were some concerns expressed about how the university is affecting the housing problems within the city and also an example of using the city of Gainseville for the comparison. To review the entire proposal visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-3237c9bdd01a4fa39c5cb55e1319f946.pdf, the documents begin on page 22.

The City Council recently attended the GMA conference in Savannah, Ga., and the Mayor asked them to present what they learned while attending. The conference is an annual conference and hosts sessions and training classes for elected officials to attend, there is also a trade show that features products and other services to help improve operations in cities.

Councilmembers Lance Bagley, Ross Shirley, and Ryan Reagin were all first-timers to the conference. Their takeaways were the number of people they were able to communicate with and how informative the classes were.

“The first thing I learned was a healthy appreciation for the amount of support out there to help us succeed,” explained Bagley.

Councilmembers Ron Larson and Johnny Ariemma also took some informative classes such as an annexation class. During this class, Airemma learned how difficult the process of annexation is.

Mayor Taylor gave a presentation on literacy. She spoke about the programs Lumpkin has to offer for literacy and piqued the interest of other representatives. Taylor and Ariemma were also present for Larson receiving a certificate of excellence for his 120 hours of training completed.

The update Taylor gave on the negotiations for the local option sales tax is that the county would like to remain at the current 75% for the county and 25% for the city. However, Taylor is hopeful that she can still sway the commissioners. They have until Dec. 31 to reach an agreement.

City Attorney Doug Parks reminded the council that the deadline for the package store license is July 25. To review the ordinance visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/05/17/council-approves-distilled-package-store-ordinances/.

The Mayor also spoke about the rising numbers of COVID cases in Lumpkin county. In addition, she also wanted to add to the permit for the walking tours to include that there would be no tours allowed when there was an active burial taking place, the council agreed to the addition.