GAINESVILLE – Hall County commissioners hope to synchronize the hours that fireworks may be discharged with the municipalities within the county.
“I mean, Memorial Day, I think for about two weeks they went off every night around my house,” Commissioner Jeff Stowe said.
It all began when commissioners scheduled a “first-reading” on a measure governing fireworks on September 10th of last year. That “first-reading” was tabled when commissioners decided to wait until the state legislature could address the issue during the recent General Assembly.
Legislators did so via House Bill 727, introduced by State Representative Paul Battles of Cartersville and signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal on April 26th. That legislation provides a measure of local control over the sale and use of fireworks that the initial law did not provide.
“Since we have so many municipalities I think it would be good if we work with all the municipalities and came up with…a consensus so that we all have the same time cut-offs,” Stowe suggested.
“Because the way noise travels,” Stowe continued, “I would assume that we could all come (to an agreement).”
Commissioners asked staff to contact each city in the county and work out an agreement that could become an ordinance in those cities as well as in the county.
