ELLIJAY, Ga. – The Gilmer County Board of Commissioners is finalizing items this week and filing paperwork for the CARES Act Grant Funding.

With the August 31 deadline, the county is trying to push through the paperwork and finalizations for the approved projects to the state and have the purchases made before that time.

The major discussion came during a special called meeting as board members discussed purchasing an extra ambulance due to increases in calls and increase times on and between calls for Public Safety as they attempt to deal with calls involving the coronavirus and sanitize and clean the vehicles between calls.

The questions involved requirements needing a showing of increase in calls due to the Coronavirus, because while the specific number of calls has decreased this month according to reports. Public Safety said that this time of year usually sees a dip in calls before ramping up again closer to October. Despite the reported increase in call times and safety measures, the discussion boiled down to concerns that the purchase has a slight chance to not be approved due to the recent dip.

The other side of the debate considers putting the entire Grant towards reimbursement for salaries and pay of Public Safety workers, not administrators, as they are explicitly named as approved expenditures. The board said they could then use the money originally budgeted for these salaries to provide some of the needed equipment and similar expenses due to the outbreak.

Purchasing a new ambulance to help with the increase in time on calls and between calls could see the new vehicle in service at stations by September 1, 2020.

The time-crunch only applies to the advanced sum of $456,775 the county has received. Having applied earlier this month, the application will also see another sum just over a million dollars coming through purchases approved one-at-a-time in the coming months for a total, both sums together, of $1,522,585.

However, the board was hesitant to wait on the ambulance as they found one with all the specifications that the needs for their ambulances and at a somewhat lower price. If they wait, they run the risk of the ambulance being bought by another entity before they return for it.

Approvals came in two motions to approve pursuing the ambulance and submitting the remainder of the grant for reimbursement of salaries to the limit of what is available.

The county is moving forward with the purchase and putting that ambulance in the rotation for use before September 1, 2020.

However, moving past the immediate purchases for the advanced grant. Other options for consideration that the county will be looking at in the coming months include a new stretcher, some newer equipment, and possible one-time payment of Hazard Pay for public safety employees. These additional options will continue through discussion in the coming months.