Six minutes on who will be Vice Chairman and when, a ceremonial position, as far as I know. 13 minutes on a parade of organizations that want to rent space in the Leila Ellis. They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

The storm that wasn’t was the subject of Ashley Tye’s report. They tabled Nottinghill like the Planning Commission did. They vote tonight on letting Barrington subdivision sprawl into the county. Did Commissioners ever get that list of roads for striping? Do we have enough evidence yet for juvenile justice? Or will we continue to concentrate on fining people coming off of I-75? All that and a group photo. At least the Work Session yesterday morning had some actual discussion in it for a change.

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

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2^nd Floor

1. Call to Order

   Problems with audio, resolved by not using feed in commission chamber. No time noted for Call to Order because of being distracted by no audio feed.

2. Invocation

   That’s only in the Regular Session, which is 5:30 PM today.

3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

   That’s only in the Regular Session, which is 5:30 PM today.

4. Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — September 9, 2013
   2. Regular Session — September 10, 2013
5. Public Hearings
   1. REZ-2013-11 Nottinghill, Orr Rd RA-R21, Community Well & Septic, 14.71 acres

      They tabled his rezoning that was tabled at the Planning Commission at the request of developer and county staff. It will be back.

   2. REZ-2013-12 Barrington, Barrington Drive PD Development Plan Amendment, Water & Sewer, ~ 12 acres

      Barrington subdivision was also in that same 23 July 2013 meeting. This time they’re making water and sewer changes to its plan, presumably so in a later meeting they can then accept it into the county’s road, water, and sewer infrastructure so the county can start paying the price of sprawl.

   3. REZ-2013-13 LCBOC on Behalf of the Lester Family Trust -Doug Lester Whitewater Road, I-75, Williams Road, and Belotville Road various to E-A (existing C-H to remain C-H), ~868 acres
   4. REZ-2013-14 Claude G and Kelly H Fletcher, New Statenville Hwy. E-A & C-C to R-A, Well & Septic, 3.26 acres
6. For Consideration
   1. Vice Chairmanship

      Commissioners discussed for more than six minutes how the Vice Chairmanship is to be determined and for what length of term. County Attorney Walter Elliot gave historical background, going back to when all the Commissioners were elected at the same time; their terms are staggered now. Apparently they’re going to rotate the Vice-Chairmanship among the Commissioners every 8 months. Commissioners Demarcus Marshall and John Page complained that they only just heard of this recently, in one case in the parking lot. The alleged county attorney referred to some state law, but it wasn’t clear which one.

   2. Leila Ellis Building-Available Space

      The two organizations are currently in the building, LAMP and Cash Prosperity. The County let LAMP use it, and LAMP let Cash Prosperity use it.

      In response to a question from Commissioner DeMarcus Marshall, County Manager Joe Pritchard said under normal circumstances any organization would need to come to the Commission to ask for space. They currently have more applicants than space.

      Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know if the county was going to set up guidelines for who could lease. Pritchard said they could, and they couldn’t lease to a private business.

      Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know if annual leases were the practice of this board. Pritchard said “That would be my suggestion.”

      Maybe more later; this went on for some time.

   3. Contract with Georgia Department of Transportation for Interchange Lighting at Exit 22
   4. Addendum to Evidence Based Associates Service Agreement

      This long-running juvenile justice project was last seen at the County Commission 13 August 2013.

   5. Clerk of Court Citation Payment Solution

      Apparently more about moving fines coming off of I-75 from the Sheriff’s Office to the Clerk of Court, including funding for three positions along with them. Will County Manager Joe Pritchard overrule County Chairman Bill Slaughter again?

7. Bid-Striping, Signage & RPM’s on 30.79 miles of roadway
   Part 2.

   Why is road striping on the agenda? The Commission approved a contract for that 23 July 2013. Did the Commission get that list of roads County Engineer Mike Fletcher promised in the Work Session 22 July 2013?

8. Reports-County Manager
   • Emergency Director Ashley Tye on the storm that wasn’t.
   • No other reports.
9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

   That’s only in the Regular Session, which is 5:30 PM today.

Immediately after the work session, a group photo has been scheduled with Second Harvest Director, Frank Richards, on the front steps of the building. Mr. Richards will be bringing the CDBG “big check” he was presented in Savannah as a result of the county’s support of the Second Harvest expansion.

It’s great Second Harvest is doing all this worthy work, but maybe we could also work on reducing the poverty that makes it necessary.

Here’s a video playlist:

Rotating vice chairmanship
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 October 2013.

-jsq

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