Magaret Ellen Hill is Employee of the month, and they rejected the sidewalk bids putting them out for rebid, after they unanimously approved the medical development to span One Two Mile Branch at the Valdosta City Council Regular Session of 5 September 2013.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 5, 2013
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

1. Opening Ceremonies
   1. Call to Order
   2. Invocation
   3. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag
2. Awards and Presentations
   1. Consideration of the September, 2013 Employee of the Month Award (Margaret Ellen Hill, Main Street Department).

      She helped extend Downtown Valdosta Farm Days by two months.

3. Minutes Approval
   1. Valdosta City Council – Regular Meeting – Aug 22, 2013 5:30 PM

      Approved unanimously with no changes.

4. Public Hearings

   

   1. Consideration of an Ordinance to rezone 4.96 acres from Single-Family Residential (R- 6) and (R-10) to Office-Professional (O-P) as requested by UHS Pruitt Corporation (File No. VA-2013-12). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval (7-0 vote).

      

      See Planning Commission videos for background. City Planner Matt Martin presented. Daniel Anderson with UHS Pruitt and Matt Phelps with Lovell Engineering offered to answer questions, but there were none. Nobody else wanted to speak for or against. Council Deidra White moved to approve as presented. Somebody (Tim Carroll?) seconded. With no discussion, unanimously approved.

   2. Consideration of an Ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit to allow a Residential Care Facility in Office-Professional (O-P) zoning as requested by UHS-Pruitt Corporation (File No. CU-2013-02). The property is located at 1501 North Lee Street. The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission reviewed this request at their August Regular Meeting and recommended approval with five conditions (7-0 vote).

      

      See Planning Commission videos for background. City Planner Matt Martin presented. There was a question about the footbridge, which Martin pointed out can be seen on the site plan crossing Two Mile Branch. (I thought he said One Mile Branch at the Planning Commission; if they put their packets online, this sort of confusion wouldn’t arise as much.)

      

      Council Robert Yost wanted to know how big the facility was. Answer: 20 beds if accepted.

      Daniel Anderson with UHS Pruitt answered questions.

      

      Council Tim Carroll had several about how many million dollars and how many additional employees. Maybe about $1.5 million and some unspecified number of new employees. Carroll said he appreciated the investment in an area of town that needed it. Nobody else wanted to speak for or against.

      

      Council Deidra White moved to approve as presented with the five conditions. Somebody (Tim Carroll?) seconded. With no discussion other than clarification of the recommendations, unanimously approved.

      

5. Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures
   1. Consideration of bids for the Sidewalk Installation Project on Lamar Street and North Oak Street.

      Someone, presumably City Engineer Patrick Collins, said there were various factors (changing market prices, etc.) that caused confusion resulting in bids higher than necessary, so he recommended rejecting the bids and authorizing rebidding. Council Robert Yost moved to reject. Sombody seconded. Unanimous approval.

      

6. City Manager’s Report

   • City Manager Larry Hanson had numerous reports about sidewalks, traffic, the new overpass, Gornto Road signals, waiting on GDOT, etc. He definitely mentioned One Mile Branch, near Drexel Park.

   • Valdosta Police Chief Brian K. Childress reported on investigating a recent homicide, involving the crime lab, a foot chase, a recovered handgun, and a felony murder warrant. He lauded the crime lab for enabling the turnaround that netted a suspect in less than a week. He said they were getting 23 day or less turnaround on all evidence through the crime lab. He noted much crime lab funding came from SPLOST.

7. Council Comments

   • Council Sonny Vickers praised the staff and discussed lane closings with Larry Hanson.

     

   • Council Robert Yost commended the City Manager for who he has hired. He praised Police and Fire departments, especially for their work at the recent Industrial Park event, presumably referring to the Perma-Fix fire.

     

8. Citizens to be Heard

   Nobody wanted to be heard.

9. Adjournment

   They adjourned into executive session. They didn’t say what for. Is that legal?

Here’s a video playlist:

Developing across Two Mile Branch and a sidewalk
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 September 2013.

-jsq

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