Demorest’s authority to use speed detection on part of Historic 441 remains unsettled

Demorest’s proposed authority to use radar and lidar on a stretch of Historic 441 remains unresolved in the public record months after police raised the issue with City Council. At the council’s Feb. 3 meeting, Sgt. Steven Squires said the city needed to amend its speed-detection permit to include State Route 385 from the hospital entrance north to Habersham Mills Road at the city limits, a segment that had come into city jurisdiction but was absent from the approved enforcement-road list.

The question is narrowly focused on that highway segment, not on creating a new citywide traffic-enforcement program. A completed amendment would align Demorest’s enforcement authorization with a road now inside its jurisdiction; without public confirmation of that step, residents and drivers cannot tell from the documented record whether radar or lidar enforcement there is formally covered by the city’s permit.

The issue arose after the Historic 441 segment entered Demorest’s jurisdiction, creating a mismatch between the city boundary and the roads named in its speed-detection authorization. Squires told council members Feb. 3 that the omission needed to be corrected. He said two forms required signatures from the mayor and council and notarization before the permit could be updated, placing the matter at the paperwork stage rather than documenting a finished change.

Police presented the amendment as an administrative need tied to the newly jurisdictional section of SR 385. The council’s role, as described in the meeting discussion, was to provide signatures needed for the forms, with notarization also required. The minutes do not record a separate public position for individual council members, the mayor, state agencies or drivers, and they do not show a dispute over the proposed boundary of the segment.

It is established that the permit update was discussed and that police identified signed, notarized forms as necessary. It is not established that the council approved the change, that the forms were signed or notarized, or that an amended permit was filed with the relevant state agencies. The Feb. 3 minutes therefore support a proposal and requested action, not a completed expansion of enforcement authority.

The next public milestone would be later council minutes showing action, signed and notarized permit paperwork, or agency records confirming that the amendment was filed. Until such documentation appears, the unresolved point is whether Historic 441 from the hospital entrance to Habersham Mills Road has formally been added to Demorest’s radar-and-lidar authorization.