Yesterday morning they discussed a turnkey government website service. And an annexation request by the City of Hahira. And they may actually be serious about coming into the 21st century with online county services.

Turns out the road resurfacing of four roads is actually mostly from a GDOT LMIG grant, but the other three, shoulder paving on Val Del Road and Boring Pond Road and a bridge replacement on Cat Creek Road are all from SPLOST VII funds. Plus some trucks for Animal Control and tablets for the Fire Department, an alcohol license, and some alphabet-soup agreements, one of which turned out to be for a grant for a victim advocate position in the Solicitor General’s office.

Here’s the agenda.

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

1. Call to Order

   Video. Chairman was absent. Lame-duck Vice-Chair Commissioner Richard Raines presided. With District 5 vacant, they were down to 4 out of 6 Commissioner positions present.

2. Invocation

   Only in the Regular Session Tuesday 5:30PM.

3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

   Only in the Regular Session Tuesday 5:30PM.

4. Youth Leadership Exploration and Development

   Wasn’t mentioned.

5. Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — March 10, 2014
   2. Regular Session — March 11, 2014
6. Public Hearing
   1. Beer, Wine, and Liquor — Ishva Liquor — 1405 N St. Augustine Rd

      Video. A new establishment for a change.

7. For Consideration
   1. CivicPlus Service and License Agreement

      Video. CivicPlus appears to be a turnkey government website service. There was some discussion. Apparently $28,000 for each of years 1, 2, and 3. After that apparently it comes down. Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know of the county could host the service itself. County Clerk Paige Dukes said the fee probably wouldn’t come down, and the service had some redundancy features that would be “extremely expensive for us to duplicate with our current system”.

      She said the service would cover “everything that a citizen would currently have to come in to the county to do business”, including occupational taxes, applying for a job, forms, utility accounts, code enforcement complaints, with tracking:

      so the County Manager or any supervisors can see where we are in that process. The citizens can actually check up on those work orders themselves.

      Also “huge” emergency management functionalities for documenting damages and “eight points of notification” for choosing how to be notified.

   2. VOCA-Funded VWAP Personnel Application

      Video. It’s for a Victim Witness Assistance Program requested by Lowndes County Solicitor General Justin Cabral. He said they had gotten a four-year grant that would fund a victim advocate position, and that required the Commission’s approval. His assistant Karen Hayes gave a presentation, including a requirement for a 20% match in volunteer services. There were a few questions. Their main concern seemed to be how to fund the position after the grant. County Manager Joe Pritchard’s answer to that was it would cease to exist then.

8. Bids
   1. Tablets for Fire/Rescue

      Video. Eighteen tablets: one bid, $1374 each, or $24,732 from Hasty’s Communication of Brunswick, GA. Chief Guyton said these would be one for each fire district, upgrading from the none they had now, to something like the Sheriff’s Department uses, except tablets instead of laptops. County IT will train.

   2. Resurfacing of Four County Roads

      Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the bids were for Cat Creek Road, Old Valdosta Road (full depth reclamation), Van Elle Drive (?), Old Quitman Road. LMIG grant from GDOT, $809,752.10. County will be responsible for $254,378.90 as 30% match. Four vendors at pre-bid. Two bids, low bid from Reames and Son for $1,064,131. No clue who the other bid was from or how much it was.

   3. Shoulder Paving for Val Del Road

      Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said this was the first SPLOST VII project. It’s for Val Del Road from GA 122 down to North Valdosta Road widen from 10 foot to 11 foot travel lane plus 1 foot paved shoulder. Four vendors at pre-bid. Two bids received. Low bid from Scruggs Co. for $949,493.85. Again no clue who the other bidder was or for how much.

   4. Paving on Boring Pond Road

      Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said this was the Cat Creek Road, there were Four at prebid, two bids received, low bid from Reames and Son $756,900.46. Probably start grubbing and clearing in April, base work in 3-4 months. 80 foot right of way.

      Nobody seemed to have noticed that: 80 foot right of way, wider than the county’s previously already too wide 60 foot right of way. Why?

      There were some questions about financing but “Harrison” had assured them there was no problem. We should all just know who “Harrison” is.

   5. Replacement of Beatty Branch Bridge on Cat Creek Road

      Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said this on a list that GDOT sent of bridges needing replacement. 120 feet long, 32 feet wide. Open by 1 August 2014 to avoid school bus detours. 8 or 9 at prebid, but only one bid received, from Southern Concrete, for $536,500. Will be a prefabricated bridge, delivered, pieces bolted together.

   6. Bid for (2) ¾ Ton HD Trucks for Animal Control and (1) Chase Mounted Animal Control Box

      Video. 3 Bids:

      • Landale Ford for 2015 Ford 250 XL total $62,240
      • Wade Ford for 2015 Ford 250 regulars total $63,532
      • Cass Burch 2014 Ram 2500 heavy duty $69,821

9. Reports-County Manager

   Video. Potential annexation in Hahira at 965 East Main Street. Later could touch Coppage Road or Hagen Bridge Road, neither of which are paved. They made an attempt to actually show some annexation document but the projector lamp went bad. They did show a map onscreen, looking somewhat like the one below, which the Lowndes County Assessors Office says is 0.96 acres owned by Melissa Ann Bowman.

   

   The county has 30 days from when the certified mail was received, which was on or about March 6th (they didn’t seem to know exactly).

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

    Only in the Regular Session Tuesday 5:30PM.

• Meeting Adjournment

  Video.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: Mostly Paving and Bridges
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 March 2014.

-jsq

Short Link: