CLARKESVILLE — Habersham County officials are continuing to make adjustments in the provision of county services after the City of Baldwin pulled out of one service and announced it will exit another in the coming weeks.
Through consensus of the city council June 25, Baldwin allowed the intergovernmental agreement with Habersham County regarding animal control to expire. Effective July 1, Habersham County no longer provides that service to the Habersham and Banks County sides of Baldwin.
Additionally, Baldwin and Habersham County have failed to reach an agreement on automatic aid for fire protection and medical response provided by Baldwin in the unincorporated southern portion of the county, and that service is set to end Aug. 12.
After a series of back and forth between officials from Baldwin and Habersham County in recent weeks, county leaders say they are prepared to proceed with providing fire protection and medical response to all the residents of the county, including those formerly served by Baldwin outside the city.
“I can assure you we are looking to make sure from the county’s perspective that we are providing adequate coverage,” County Commission Vice Chairman Natalie Crawford said. “We’ve added a person down at Station 12. We’re working with the county’s fire services to ensure that we can provide adequate coverage, and talking with our businesses in those areas as well to make sure that we’ve got things covered. We’re going to increase staff and make sure we’re doing what we need to do from the county’s perspective.”
That includes upgrading housing at Habersham County Station 12, currently located on Duncan Bridge Road (Ga. 384) at Mud Creek Road.
County officials also have discussed relocating the ambulance stationed at Baldwin Fire Department to Station 12, meaning four Habersham County Emergency Services personnel would be based there to respond to emergencies in the southern part of the county.
“We’re working to improve living quarters at Station 12 to accommodate more personnel down there,” Crawford said.
Not only are county crews working to improve Station 12, but county officials also are planning for the future.
“With the notification of Baldwin that they no longer want to provide automatic aid on structure fires, we will be beefing up Station 12,” said Commissioner Andrea Harper. “We are looking at maybe even relocating Station 12 for better coverage. It will not affect the ISO ratings, so we’re confident that we can take on that.”
ISO ratings are used by insurance companies to determine homeowners’ and business insurance premiums and consider factors such as distance to a fire station, available water flow and number of available personnel.
Crawford said county officials have worked to resolve concerns expressed by Baldwin officials regarding animal control and automatic aid.
“We’re at an impasse on a few things, where Baldwin thinks that to proceed — for example, with the animal control services, and the automatic aid agreements that have been much talked about as of late — that those aren’t the best arrangements for the residents of the city of Baldwin,” Crawford said. “It’s an impasse at this point.”
Crawford said the county continues to be willing to discuss solutions with Baldwin leaders.
“I would say from the perspective of the commission, obviously they need to do as a city government what they think is best for their residents,” Crawford said. “I can say, and I think I can speak for my colleagues on the commission, that if they want to revisit the conversations with regards to automatic aid or animal control services, that Habersham absolutely stands ready to do that.”
