Hall commissioners ask for estimate on building new fire stations

GAINESVILLE - Hall County Commissioner Scott Gibbs says he has been hearing increasing complaints from some of his constituents in the Mt. Vernon Road/Shirley Road area about rising insurance premiums. The cause, he says, is inadequate fire services for the area, and he believes it is time for the county to make good on its promise to build a new station in the area.

Those citizen complaints and questions gave rise to a presentation from Hall County Fire Chief David Kimbrell at Tuesday afternoon's Hall County Commission work session.

Ideally, said Kimbrell, every home in the county should be within a five mile distance from a fire station for optimal safety and for lower insurance rates.

"When we relocated Station #2, it opened up a larger area on Mt. Vernon Road around Shirley Road and Buckhorn Mountain that once was in the five miles, and now it's outside the five miles," said Kimbrell.

Gibbs said some of his constituents have told him their insurance rates have doubled.

"When they relocated Station #2 to Clermont, a large area of my district went from a Class 4 to a Class 10 [ISO rating]," said Gibbs. "When SPLOST V was voted on, it included the two new stations, and we need to go ahead and get those stations built."

Gibbs said while the economy did take a turn for the worse a few years ago, there's still money to build the new fire stations.

"There's money in SPLOST. There's $3.2 million, and we're also selling the jail," said Gibbs. "I don't mind selling that asset and reinvesting in another asset because I consider a fire station an asset."

Commissioners directed County Administrator Randy Knighton to proceed with getting bids on the buildings to see how much money will be needed to complete the two stations. Once they see the dollar amount, commissioners think they can better decide how and when to proceed with construction.

Hall commissioners want stronger BUI rules

Hall County commissioners agreed at their Tuesday work session to have County Administrator Randy Knighton craft a letter to area legislators expressing concern about unsafe conditions on Lake Lanier.

While acknowledging they can't change the legal limit for boating under the influence, commissioners said they feel they can at least push state lawmakers to lower the level.

The action came in response to a boating accident last week on the lake that killed two brothers.