A brief agenda was handled quickly by Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Tooley last night at the Valdosta City Council, even with two Citizens to Be Heard and a bunch of Council Comments.
The longest item, at almost six minutes, was 4.b-i) Bids for vehicles, because it was eight items rolled into one.
Second longest, at almost four minutes, was Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, who came from Florida to speak in CBTH about Florida effects of Valdosta Sewage. Ms. Tooley stopped her precisely at three minutes, but City Manager Mark Barber took most of a minute thanking her for coming to speak. Council Tim Carroll and Ms. Tooley also thanked the Florida speaker in Council Comments.
Third longest was probably me (jsq) inviting them to paddle and discussing sewage. City Manager Barber before the meeting said he would be sure he would get to Council the information I presented about Valdosta spills over time.
Council Vivian Miller-Cody spoke about a cleanup she organized, and Council Sonny Vickers spoke about The recent annual MLK Jr. Commemorative Dinner.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda.
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1. Order, Invocation, Pledge
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2. Minutes approval (2019-01-10)
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3. Resolution for GCF grant application
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4.a) Bids for 4 traffic cabinets and 15 signal controllers
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4.b-i) Bids for vehicles
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5. CTBH: Rules
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5. CTBH: Florida effects of Valdosta Sewage –Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson
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5. CTBH: Is sewage what Valdosta wants to be famous for in Tallahassee and Atlanta? –John S. Quarterman
Video: there is none, because the camera operator, being the same as the speaker, did not succeed in having the camera running. But see Sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin 2015-2018. I also invited them to paddle with WWALS from Troupville Boat Ramp to US 84 on Saturday, February 2. I thanked Langdale Company for providing a much better take out on closed Old Quitman Highway. I reminded them that last time I had asked the Council to help get GA-EPD to publish sewage spill reports, but GA-EPD already started doing that on December 20th. Which revealed that Valdosta spilled more than 2 million more gallons of raw sewage since then. I wondered whether being a subject of legislative committees in Tallahassee and of GA-EPD in Atlanta was really what Valdosta wanted to be famous for?
- 6. City Manager’s Report
- 7. Thanks, Florida speaker –Tim Carroll
- 7. Cleanup –Vivian Miller-Cody
- 7. Still working on wastewater –Sandra Tooley
- 7. MLK Dinner –Sonny Vickers
- 8. Adjournment
- 6. City Manager’s Report
Here’s a LAKE video playlist:
Videos: Wastewater at Valdosta City Council
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, January 24, 2019.
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