Videos: money and transparency @ LCC 2013-01-08

The new Commission with the new portrait got to hear about money and transparency right away. And a surprise alcoholic vote caused by their lack of transparency.


Crawford Powell (Dist. 3), Richard Raines (Dist. 2), Bill Slaughter (Chairman), Joyce Evans (Dist. 1), John Page (Dist. 5), Demarcus Marshall (Dist. 4).

Here’s the agenda, with links to videos, and a few notes, followed by a video playlist. See also the Monday Work Session.

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Introduction of the New 4-H Agent

    New 4-H agent Laura Walton did not appear. For her and those who introduced her yesterday, see the post on the Monday Work Session.

  5. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session — December 10, 2012
    2. Regular Session — December 11, 2012
  6. For Consideration
    1. Approval of the Commission Meeting Schedule

      Chairman referred to those (invisible to the taxpayers) packets in front of Commissioners. In addition to the two vacation modifications from Monday, Commissioner Raines wanted to know about vacation in May. If citizens got to see the packets before the meeting, they might be able to point out other issues.

    2. Workers Compensation Insurance Renewal

      After a much briefer presentation than Monday, they approved it.

    3. Renewal of Public Defenders Services Contract & Operating Contract for 2013

      Lowndes County Public Defender John Kent Edwards Sr abstracted his Monday presentation and we heard more information was in those mysterious Commission packets. Then they voted yes with no discussion.

    4. Valdosta/Lowndes County Industrial Authority — Request to Purchase Property

      Chairman Slaughter this time said VLCIA had withdrawn the request.

    5. Alcohol Sunday License Fee

      This item was not on the agenda. Chairman Slaughter indicated they added it after the Work Session. It was apparently to remove the license fee for the Sunday alcohol sales that the Commission approved Tuesday 11 December 2012. You may recall Commissioner Powell had said at the Work Session Monday 10 December 2012 that he objected to such a fee. And I asked when I posted the writeup about the Tuesday vote whether the ordinance they passed included that fee or not, since they didn’t say at the time. The ordinance posted on the County’s website as passed Tuesday 11 Dec 2012 does include in Appendix A (see page 23) $250 fees for Sunday alcohol sales. If the ordinance they were considering had been available to the public between that Monday and that Tuesday, somebody (maybe a business owner who wanted a Sunday license) might have pointed out to them that they hadn’t removed that fee. The Commission’s lack of transparency is making them have to do over what they may have thought they already did.

  7. Bid — Multi Function School Activity Bus for 4H

    Finance Director Stephanie Black explained the bids again and Chairman Slaughter again thanked 4-H for raising money. Commissioner Marshall asked for clarification about the program. County Manager Pritchard said it was a hybrid program funded partly by UGA and partly by the 159 counties, which he called “a deep relationship”. He asked for confirmation from the audience by Lowndes County Extension Agent Jake Price. (The county doesn’t mic people in the audience, but Gretchen pulled the county sound feed out so you can hear him on the LAKE camera’s own mic.) The Commissioners approved the Ford minibus from Langdale Ford for $53,178.

  8. Reports-County Manager

    No report.

  9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

    See separate posts for all four of these.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: money and transparency
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 January 2013.

-jsq