A special called voting meeting about Industrial Authority bonds. followed the Work Session. In the Work Session, the last item was the presentation by Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer, preceded by a severe weather report For Nine minutes they discussed a deficit for special tax lighting districts throughout the county: apparently they didn’t take into account that power rates or lighting times might vary. Lowndes County’s sewer lift station at a subdivision with a private golf club apparently needs replacement. This is the subdivision for which the Nelson Hill Wells were drilled as possible replacements. The abandonment of some unspecified unopened right of way off of US 41 South is apparently resolved now after two years.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

1. Call to Order

   Video.

2. Invocation

   Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday evening 5:30 PM.

3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

   Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday evening 5:30 PM.

4. Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — February 10, 2014
   2. Regular Session — February 11, 2014
5. Public Hearing
   1. Abandonment of Unopened Right of Way off of US 41 South

      Video. Where off of US 41 South? No clue in the agenda. Maybe you can figure it out from the map. It’s in the board packet (“agenda book”), which you can only see if you file an open records request, and you’ll only get it after they vote tomorrow evening.

      County Engineer Mike Fletcher said they had previously discussed this, in April 2012 (he didn’t say which meeting of that April). Since then they had discovered that ten parcels would be landlocked. He said he had since worked with the property owners and the owner of the sliver property left over from 41, and they had worked something out. He also said they had advertised it in the newspaper, but how would you know which public notice to look for?

      Commissioner Crawford Powell said this had taken about two years and thanked the Engineer.

      Commissioner Richard Raines wanted confirmation that they were ready to take action. Answer: yes.

6. For Consideration
   1. Special Tax Lighting

      Video. County Planner Jason Davenport and Finance Director Stephanie Black went up front to the podium, which is very unusual. Davneport said he’d talked to “Harrison”, with no indication of who that was. Davenport said they were short $47,000, apparently for all the special tax lighting districts in the county. He indicated even with using less expensive lighting he didn’t think they could make the fee structure work.

      Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know if the deficit came from older special tax lighting districts or from recent changes. Davenport detailed the recent changes, which mostly had to do with no longer taking over lighting like taking over road infrastructure, rather the county charging fees. Apparently the problem is the fees are fixed but the power rates are not. I wonder if they took into account that lights stay on different amounts of time depending on the weather. Davenport said “we” (presumably he and Black) were recommending applying rate changes to all 5,000 plus customers.

      Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know if they could build in a way to vary the fee schedule as conditions changed.

      Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know if the proposed fees would be usual and customary in other counties of similar size. Apparently so.

   2. Stone Creek Lift Station Pump Replacement

      Video.

      $13,184.
      View Larger Map

7. Reports-County Manager

   Video. Emergency Services Director Ashley Tye reported on severe weather. There was a microburst. Some damage at Loch Laurel. Ranged from a few shingles blown off the roof to a portion of the roof removed, and a tree fell on one house.

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

   Only in the Regular Session, Tuesday evening 5:30 PM.

9. Industrial Authority Presentation-Andrea Schruijer

   Video. Fourteen minutes.

   Only in the Work Session, Monday morning 8:30 AM (or so we can assume; it doesn’t say).

10. Bond Maturity and Financing

    Video. Four minutes. This was actually a special called voting meeting, and they did vote. Why they couldn’t wait one day until today’s Regular Session is mysterious.

    VLCIA attorney J. Stephen Gupton, Jr. reported on the same bond VLCIA approved in a special called meeting 2014-01-28 and for which the public hearing of 2014-02-14 was in Gupton’s private law office. Several Commissioners had questions. They were being asked to approve an extension of maturity and payments. Unanimous approval.

-jsq

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: lift station, weather, jobs
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 February 2014.

-jsq

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