Short-Term Rentals (STR)
📋 Questionnaire status
✅ Returned (5)
Richard Stonecipher — Beaver Forest
Betty Reece — Beaver Lake
Cary Beatty — Eagle Mountain
Frank Darrow — Eagle Mountain
Robert Hepfer — Eagle Mountain
Betty Reece — Beaver Lake
Cary Beatty — Eagle Mountain
Frank Darrow — Eagle Mountain
Robert Hepfer — Eagle Mountain
⏳ Still awaited (6)
Mike Padgett — Eagle Mountain
Grahame Anthony — Beaver Lake
Leah Godfrey — Eagle Mtn Campground
Ross MacLaren — Beaver Bend (write-in)
Susan Decker — Beaver Bend (write-in)
Jonathan Meyer — Beaver Forest (write-in)
Grahame Anthony — Beaver Lake
Leah Godfrey — Eagle Mtn Campground
Ross MacLaren — Beaver Bend (write-in)
Susan Decker — Beaver Bend (write-in)
Jonathan Meyer — Beaver Forest (write-in)
Candidates may email a signed form to svhawk@ellijay.com or text (706) 591-8538 — posted on receipt.
Quick Links — tap what you want
📺 Watch & read
📁 Meeting & event videos (no ads)📰 CRRA newsletters🏠 Short-term rentals
📜 How STRs were limited, then allowed — a timeline📄 STR fee replacement proposal — sent to the Board 6/24/26🗳️ 2026 board election
⬇ Candidate scorecard (PNG)⬇ Blank questionnaire (PDF)📖 Candidates’ official CRRA bios
📜 Records
📜 Governing documents (Owner Portal)Who votes on short-term-rental policy?
My opinion, from public information — every fact below links to its source. Corrections welcome at svhawk@ellijay.com.
Straight from the Association’s own website (BOD & Committees page):
- The Short-Term Rental Committee is chaired by sitting director Nick Jackson (Beaver Bend, term to 2027) and includes sitting director Kurt DeVries (Beaver Forest, term to 2027).
- Kurt DeVries’s own company, Oasis Getaways, markets riverfront rentals “on the beautiful banks of the Coosawattee River” (Twin Sister River Retreat, Great Escape River Retreat) and offers STR management services for other owners.
- Both directors also sit on the Finance Committee — chaired by current board candidate Mike Padgett, with candidates Frank Darrow and Betty Reece as members.
- Neither director’s seat is on this year’s ballot — both terms run to 2027.
Owning an STR business isn’t disqualifying. But when an STR matter comes before the Board or the STR Committee, owners are entitled to two things: disclosure of the interest, and recusal from the vote — standard governance under our documents and Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 14-3-862). It protects the Board as much as it protects owners.