FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. – David Gruen appeared before the Board of Commissioners Wednesday (July 22) to seek direction regarding the distribution of funds from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) Forsyth County has been awarded $12,443,307, including $3,372,992.

Gruen pointed to five areas where CRF can be utilized: Medical expenses, public health expenses, certain payroll expenses, action to comply with public health measures and economic support.

Chairwoman Laura Semanson expressed concern about the level of service and the level of reporting the county gets from Gainesville-based District 2 Public Health which provides coronavirus testing once a week for Forsyth County. The county asked for two testing periods but DPH said they can only do one.

“I know you have pushed on them to try and get better data for us to work with and understand what the reality is and what the current state in our local care facilities but beyond that, I guess we need to push at state,” Semanson said. Have our state delegation or a little higher than that to try and seek parity in that because there is absolutely no excuse for the county not to have the same level of information that other counties have.”

Questioned about which entities are not eligible to receive funding, Scott Evans, senior technical project manger for the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, said the only ones he is aware of that may not receive funds are publicly-traded businesses owned by hedge funds, individuals who have passive income property, adult businesses, corporate-owned franchises and those that have liens due to violations of local, state or federal ordinances.

Evan said he has worked on a framework that will assist county staff in moving forward with a distribution plan and it would be available after the meeting.

Semanson then scheduled a follow-up called meeting for Tuesday (July 28).

 

 

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