News about the Naylor Boat Ramp in an Engineering Projects Report! Chad McLeod also reported about the 911 center, the North Lowndes Soccer Complex, the fire warehouse classroom, the animal shelter, and the courthouse renovation project, all still to be completed from SPLOST VII funds, which run out next year. Even with that three-and-a-half-minute special engineering report, the whole meeting took ten minutes Monday morning.

Also not on the agenda, HR has a new employee. Also there will be a new traffic signal.

Should the County Manager and the Finance Director be able to approve 2.5 times as much in dollar value on budgeted items as they currently can?

Also a rezoning to reconfigure for two parcels (with a question from Clay Griner!) and another to permit personal care homes (see previous post for background on REZ-2018-16).

Chairman Bill Slaughter announced the 911 CALEA Re-Accreditation Presentation and a ceremony for departing Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport would be at the next day’s Regular Session.

Below are links to each LAKE video for each item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See previous post for the agenda and some background, especially on REZ-2015-16.

• 1. Call to Order and Chairman Comments

  Video.

• 6. Minutes for Approval

  Video.

• 7a. REZ-2018-15 Misti Ray 4810 Carter Ln EA to R1

  Video. Commissioner Clay Griner wanted to know whether they eventually wanted to build four houses. A from acting planner Molly Stevenson: “The understanding that staff has is that it is one house additional they would like to put.”

• 7b. REZ-2018-16 Stovall 6002 N. Oak St Ext CG Conditional (remove condition)

  Video. Molly Stevenson said it was to remove the condition preventing personal care homes because they would like to put an assisted living facility there. Commissioners had no questions.

• 8a. Approval Of Increase In Approval Limits

  Video. Finance Director Stephanie Black presented. Commissioners had no questions.

• 9a. Traffic Signal Installation At N. Forrest St. Ext. And Knights Academy Rd.

  Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said there would be a new traffic signal at North Forrest Street Extension and Knights Academy Road, due to a recent study Engineering did, and they had received two bids for approval the following day’s evening.

• 10. Reports – New Staff in HR department

  Video. Kevin L. Beals said Human Resources has hired Mrs. Sonia Christian from now-closed Baptist Village of Lake Park.

• 10. Reports – Engineering Projects Report

  Video. County Manager Joe Pritchard asked Project Manager Chad McLeod to give an update on “some of the few remaining projects in SPLOST.” This is SPLOST VII, about which the Lowndes County website says:

  On November 5, 2013, the voters of Lowndes County approved a seventh round of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) collections. SPLOST VII collections began January 1, 2014 and will end December 31, 2019.

  Below is what Chad McLeod said, pretty near verbatim, transcribed from the LAKE video.

  • At 911 construction is substantially complete. The consoles you approved are to be delivered today and installed this week as well.
  • North Lowndes Soccer Complex: the site is 80% cleared. Reames started building the access road two weeks ago, but it is too wet to continue. We hope to start back this week. Our only entrance road is right behind the current restroom.
  • The fire warehouse classroom: all construction is complete, all necessary furniture is set up, and training monitors are to be set up.
  • The one everybody is asking about: the boat ramp. All clearing was completed in February of the boat ramp area. When we started that project, the river was too high to complete the actual ramp. So the staff is actually moving back in tomorrow, to actually complete that project. It will take about two weeks to complete the driveway upgrades, and then we’ll actually start grading the ramp. And DNR is actually going to help us when we start the actual ramp portion.

    Pritchard asked, “Chad, will you explain to them how they are going to do the ramp.”

    A: The ramp is actually push-in, what we call a push-in slab. We will pour it on the land, and then push it into the river. Leaving about a foot, two foot, outside that we can tie into. And that actual concrete slab will slide on top of rocks that we grade into the river with a long escalator bucket. And that’s the part DNR is going to help us with: the actual push in part. They have some staff that has done it before and have agreed to help us with that part.

    [For background about the boat ramp and pictures of the site, see today’s WWALS blog post.]

  • The animal shelter. Staff has been working with an architect. We came up with several different working designs. We are currently in the process of reprogramming the final design for layout for animals, people: staff and the general public. We’ll be bringing that soon with a couple of different options so we can move forward with that projecg.
  • The courthouse renovation project is currently out for RFQs. A mandatory meeting with architects was held on August 21, 2018. We had a total of eight architects that attended. Those RFQs are due September 11, tomorrow. At which time staff and a committee will start to review those, narrow that down to three, and then bring a selection to the board for approval.

  Commissioners had no questions. Chairman Bill Slaughter thanked Chad McLeod for the update.

• 12. Meeting Adjournment

  Video.

Here’s a LAKE video playlist:

Videos: Naylor Boat Ramp, approval limits, CALEA, personal care home
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, September 10, 2018.

-jsq

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