They vote tonight on their opaque selection of auditing services and to buy an unnamed firewall replacement among other things for unknown amounts not revealed in yesterday morning’s Work Session. Maybe somebody should bring that up at the not-yet-scheduled county Budget Hearings. They will also vote on their Luke Bryan musical neighbor balancing act and on reappointing Lonnie Denton for a sixth five-year term to the Lowndes Division of Family and Children Services (he will speak tonight) and reappointing Willie Houseal and Gretchen Quarterman each to a third three-year term to the ZBOA (they spoke yesterday morning as you can see in these videos). Also Public Hearings for well and septic and a special events change to the ULDC. The Hahira annexation recommended against by the Planning Commission is still waiting for signatures from the applicants under For Consideration, along with a request from Finance to declare items surplus and several purchase requests from Finance and IT.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. See also the videos of the 27 May 2014 Planning Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

1. Call to Order

   Video.

2. Invocation

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

3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

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

4. Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — May 27, 2014
   2. Regular Session — May 27, 2014
5. Appointments
   1. Lowndes County DFCS Board

      Video. DFCS is the Division of Family and Children Services. County Manager Joe Pritchard said Lonnie Denton had been on that board since 1989 and “I believe he is currently its chairman”. That board has five year terms, so Lonnie Denton has already served five of them.

      Pritchard didn’t say that he had also recommended reappointing Denton at the 8 June 2009 Work Session and at the 9 June 2009 Regular Session Joyce E. Evans moved, G. Robert Carter seconded, and “Motion carried”, presumably meaning Richard C. Lee also voted for him. The applicant was not present, but it was said that he would be there tonight.

   2. Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (2)

      Video. According to the City of Valdosta’s ZBOA page, three seats are due for appointment, one by the City of Valdosta (Allan Strickland), and two by Lowndes County (Gretchen Quarterman and Dr. Willie Houseal).

      County Zoning Administrator Carmella Braswell said the two county appointees had each already served two three-year terms and wanted to be reappointed, “they have been great”. Both appointees spoke briefly.

      Gretchen Quarterman said in part:

      I’m all about public service. You get to go out and see different sites. The decisions the Zoning Board of Appeals make are final decisions. It really impacts the way our community looks. So, for everything from sign regulations to setbacks to everything in the ULDC, that’s what we’re all about.

      Dr. Willie Houseal read a prepared statement, which included a list of his previous public service, including Valdosta City Council District 1, Mayor Pro Tem, Assistant Municipal Court Judge, and educator, and I feel that this appointment is equally important:

      I have witnessed an increase in cases due to the request of land developers, property, and business owners. We serve as the last line of defense for established land development regulations to determine whether a variance is warranted or not. We strive to be as objective as we can as each case is presented.

      He thanked the staff and provided further detail.

6. Public Hearings
   1. REZ-2014-11 Montgomery, 2929 Burma St R-1 and E-A to R-1 and R-A, Well and Septic, ~5.8 acres

      Video. Applicant wants to replace his manufactured home, and due to county zoning near Moody AFB it has to be on his own property, thus the subdivision request.

   2. TXT-2014-01 — Special Events, Fee Schedule, Pre-application Meetings, and the Zoning Map

      Video. County Planner Jason Davenport noted changes recommended by the Planning Commission such as a reduction from 1500 to 500 in number of attendees to be considered a small event. He also said he’d been discussing with Luke Bryan. That country singer’s tour came to Valdosta Wake Compound 12 October 2013; that’s at 2316 Old Clyattville Road. Commissioners Richard Raines and Demarcus Marshall each had some questions about the “balancing act” Davenport was attempting between event venues and neighbors, also including notices, fees, etc.

7. For Consideration
   1. Hahira Annexation Request Agreement

      Video. See the hour-long discussion at the Planning Commission. At this Work Session, County Planner Jason Davenport said there had been pretty good negotiations with Fred Wetherington, but no signature yet. Also Hahira City Council had tabled it at their most recent meeting. Alleged County Attorney Walter Elliott’s spoke about 3 feet from his microphone, saying “last Tuesday” Mr. Wetherington and his lawyer called Elliott to say he was ready to sign, and they were currently waiting on signatures from Wetherington and from Laurence Nelson.

   2. Declaration of Surplus and Authorization for Disposal (finance)

      Video. Finance Director Stephanie Black said it was mostly unused computers.

   3. Contract for Auditing Services

      Video. Finance Director Stephanie Black said it was for fiscal year ending June 2014 and continuing for three year with an option to renew for two additional one-year periods. Five firms said they were interested; four presented proposals; staff went through ranking process; “the evaluation you see below” ended up with a recommendation for Henderson & Godbee, or at least that’s what I think she said. Why the county won’t include such bids in what they post online so we can see it is mysterious. I suppose it’s only about auditing the county’s books for the other mysterious items they don’t tell us about. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked for and got confirmation that the ranking wasn’t just on price; it was on company performance.

   4. Motorola Support Agreement

      Video. IT Director Aaron Kostyu said this was the annual support agreement for the Sheriff’s Department record keeping, including for the jail.

   5. Firewall Replacement

      Video. IT Director Aaron Kostyu said this was for a firewall over 13 years old which was there when he got there and after a catastrophic failure it was time to replace it with “the device you see here in front of you”. Commissioners may be able to see it, but you can’t, and he didn’t say what make or model or price.

   6. SQL Software Purchase and Deployment

      Video. IT Director Aaron Kostyu said this was for 78 backend databases for Eaton Systems, PCSS (courts), and others for Sheriff, Tax Assessors, etc. They physical hardware was installed in 2008 and ran out of warranty in 2011, so it’s time to upgrade, also the software, which is several versions old. He said he could leverage the county’s cisco computing hardware, but would need to purchase software and services. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked if there was any additional maintenance requirement. Kostyu said he didn’t think that was necessary, since they had a maintenance contract with cisco.

8. Reports-County Manager

   Video. No report.

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

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

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: appointments, well, events, annexation
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 June 2014.

-jsq

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