One appointee bowed out, architect selection and public defender to the courthouse were clarified, and dog kennels were discussed, in these LAKE videos from yesterday morning’s 11 May 2015 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, with a few notes. See also the agenda, plus a new item 6 f. Server Replacement/Network Core Replacement.

• 1. Call to Order 4. Minutes for Approval

  Video.

• 5.a. Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority Appointment

  Video. Turns out Joseph G. Stevens does not want to be reappointed, so they’ll have to table it until they get some names. Maybe if they advertised the opening in the first place….

• 5.b. Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority Appointment

  Video. Both G. Norman Bennett and incumbent Anthony Payton want to be appointed to the one slot opening. Their applications were not included with the agenda, so who can say which one is most qualified? Chairman Bill Slaughter said there was a letter from the Chairman of the Airport Authority making a recommendation, but he didn’t say who it was for.

• 6.a. Architectural Services for the Lowndes County Civic Center Renovations

  Video. Looks like J. Glenn Gregory will provide the Architectural Services for the Lowndes County Civic Center Renovations and the Architectural Services for the Naylor Community Center, both funded via SPLOST VII. Both apparently without competitive bids. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked if the architect’s fee would vary with materials cost, and if so wouldn’t that let the architect partly determine their own fee? Answer mostly from Chairman Bill Slaughter: fee is based off of percentage of cost; percentage is industry standard; SPLOST VII projects have specific amounts allocated, so cost will have to fit.

  Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know if others were invited to bid. Answers from Chad McLeod: county has a list of architects in town with qualifications. Standard percentages are 6% for design, 2% for project administration, so they all submit the same percentages. County cycles through the list for the next project.

• 6.b. Architectural Services for the Naylor Community Center

  Video. Commissioner Joyce Evans wanted clarification. Answer from Joe Pritchard: just for the building; site has not been selected yet. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall again mentioned percentages.

• 6.c. Lease Agreement for the Public Defender’s Office

  Video. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked about the courthouse, and whether this lease could be shortened to reduce money spent on lease (more than $100,000/year, so more than $300,000 for three years) before the Public Defender moves into the historic courthouse. Chairman Bill Slaughter said that was the idea of going from 5 to 3 years. County Manager Joe Pritchard said if they started today, it would probably take at least three years to have courthouse ready, because of quite a bit of electrical, plumbing, etc. work. Plus they had looked at ten or so other sites, but had found none usable for the interim.

• 6.d. Annual Contract Renewal for Prison Work Details

  Video. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked if county was getting its money’s worth; answer yes. Nobody asked whether the county in general was benefitting by using prisoners instead of locals.

• 6.e. Declaration of Surplus Items and Authorization for Sale/Disposal

  Video. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked if there was any way to do some transfers between departments, such as K-9 units to Animal Control. Answer: probably not, but County Manager would check.

• 7.a. Bid for Coffee Service

  Video.

• 
  Picture by Michael Rivera, CC

  7.b. Bids for Bottled Water Service

  Video. Why is the county accepting Bids for Bottled Water Service? If its own water, or Valdosta’s, is good enough for the taxpayers, shouldn’t it be good enough for Commission and staff? They’ve also got a Bid for Coffee Service, but we don’t grow coffee here, as far as I know, so that’s not the same issue. Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker asked why the Shriff’s office wasn’t included; couldn’t the county save money that way? Finance Directory Stephanie Black said she would check.

• 8. Reports – County Manager

  Video. New item added to the agenda for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session: 6 f. Server Replacement/Network Core Replacement. IT Director Aaron Kostyu said the approx. cost $100,000 is already in the budget.

• 9. Easter Seals Southern Georgia Presentation (Work Session Only)

  Video. Beth English said they bring $2.4 million into the county.

• Meeting Adjournment

  Video.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: Bottled water, prisoner details, board appointees, and Easter Seals
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 May 2015.

-jsq

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