Author Archives: admin

Ethics Matter —David Staples for GA PSC

Received 2 October 2012 from David Staples. -jsq

One of the most frequent topics that comes up in political conversation these days is ethics. On July 31st, Georgians overwhelmingly voted that there needs to be a cap on the amount of gifts our elected officials are allowed to accept. However, there are many of us who believe that even a $100 per day cap is still too much—that perhaps $0 is a better cap. After all, looking at the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission website, one can see that while the $150 rounds of golf and several hundred dollar dinners for the official and their spouse may be eliminated, there are many more of the smaller lunches, dinners, and various other goodies that would still be allowed. Would you be surprised to hear that some Public Service Commissioners walk out of their office or a hearing at lunch time and say “I’m hungry, where’s a lobbyist”?

However, there is one completely legal process by which we can eliminate all gifts

Continue reading →

What Georgia Power is afraid of: GaSU and Dr. Smith; and you

So what is Georgia Power afraid of that made their CEO Paul Bowers double down on old-style baseload? Competition, that’s what! What could be more scary in the power-monopoly state of the 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act?

GaSU sun On one side, Georgia Power faces GaSU and its 80 or 90 MW solar plant proposal. Walter C. Jones wrote for OnlineAthens 24 September 2012, Proposed solar company could stir up Georgia’s utility structure,

A proposal from a start-up business promises to lower electricity rates by rebating profits to customers if given a chance to compete as Georgia Power Co.’s “mirror image.”

GaSU fb profile image To proceed with its long-range plan of developing 2 gigawatts of solar power, the start-up, Georgia Solar Utilities Inc., wants to start by building an 80-megawatt “solar farm” near Milledgeville as soon as it gets a green light from the Georgia Public Service Commission. GaSU filed its request last week, and as of Monday, it’s still too fresh for public evaluation.

So radical is the proposal that spokespersons for Georgia Power and the Georgia Solar Energy Association said they still were evaluating it and could not comment.

Groups that normally advocate for customers also are staying quiet.

GaSU executives recognize such a big change won’t come easily.

Continue reading →

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-09-25

Fewer speakers at the Regular Session than at the previous morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission. The longest item was a citizen wishing to be heard, who only spoke for 3 and a half minutes. Up until then, the meeting took five minutes, as the Chairman noted. And everything was adopted unanimously, with little or no discussion.

Here’s the agenda, annotated below with links to the videos and a few notes, and followed by a video playlist.

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval
    First the Chairman welcomed Leadership Lowndes.
    Then both sets of minutes were unanimously approved with no changes.
    1. Work Session — September 10, 2012
    2. Regular Session — September 11, 2012
  5. For Consideration
    1. Bevel Creek Lift Station Repair —Mike Allen
      The total for the wastewater lift station was still $38,969 with the budget impact being the insurance deductible. Unanimously approved.
    2. Dell Lease Agreement for Sheriff’s Office Laptops —Aaron Kostyu
      Six years ago the Sheriff’s Dept. leased some laptops; plan was always to roll new laptops into the lease; that will be done using drug seizure funds. Unanimously approved.
    3. Contract with Corporate Health Partners
      County Manager Joe Pritchard said they had started looking into wellness plans several years ago, $260,000 in savings in health care expenses so far; partnership with SGMC and YMCA. Commissioner Joyce Evans wanted to know how regularly it would be monitoried. Answer: quarterly. Commissioner Richard Raines moved to approve Corporate Health Partners, except instead of a three year contract, an initial one year with two one-year extensions. Unanimously approved.
    4. Agreement with Basic Life
      Joe Pritchard alluded to yesterday’s presentation from Chris Park(? Clark?) recommending a change to basic life coverage, with an approximate annual savings of slightly over $10,000. Unanimously approved.
  6. Reports-County Manager
    Joe Pritchard had no report.
  7. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
    Chairman Ashley Paulk noted it was 5:35, and then Ken Klanicki spoke for 3 and a half minutes, the longest item in the meeting, after which they adjourned.

Video Playlist
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 September 2012.

-jsq

A rezoning, wastewater pump repair, solid waste RFP, and community planning month @ LCC 2012-10-08

2974 Pecan Plantation Road A rezoning for well and septic, Bevel Creek is back with a lift station pump repair, and something about an Alapaha waterline: water, water, water. Plus a beer license, refunding revenue bonds, and the long-awaited waste management RFP. And an employee health fair, whatever that is, and apparently this is community planning month. All that at the Lowndes County Commission, Monday morning and Tuesday evening.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Hahira Senior Walk 2012-10-02

Gretchen attended the annual Hahira Honeybee Festival Senior Walk Tuesday. Today’s the parade, with candidates.

Ready to go Sunny day

Sunny day
Pictures by gretchen for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 October 2012.

Here’s a slideshow.

Continue reading →

New Library —Kay Harris @ LCDP 2012-10-01

At Monday’s Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting, LCDP Chair Gretchen Quarterman introduced Kay Harris as chairman of the Library Board. You can see that board in action a few weeks ago in these previous videos.

Kay Harris said she was not there as editor of the newspaper, since as such she wouldn’t be allowed (presumably by the newspaper) at a partisan meeting. She was there as chair of the library board. She said this is her fifth year on that board, and her second year as chairman.

Here’s a video playlist.

She said the county put her on that board to move along the library project, which had been in process for some time. She said she had led negotiations with the City of Valdosta for the Five Points process. She mentioned the Five Points Steering Committee, of which she is also a member.

About the current library building and how the new one would be better, she said,

Continue reading →

Hahira Honeybee Parade Saturday noon, with candidates

Missed the candidates at VSU Tuesday? You can watch them on video (now with a third viewpoint). And you can come to Hahira tomorrow to see them in the 31st Annual Hahira Honey Bee Festival, Inc. Parade.

Here are some pictures and videos from last year. The food and festivities start early in the morning and continue all day, with the parade in the middle. They had about 35,000 people last year, more than a dozen times the usual population of Hahira.

-jsq

San Onofre nuke might restart: why not solar and wind instead?

Southern California Edison bet on big baseload nuclear, and has been out two units for eight months and counting. Big baseload turns quickly from 24/7 to 0/7. Tentative plans are forming for a restart, which will take many more months, if ever. Wouldn’t distributed solar and wind be quicker and smarter? In Georgia, as well as California?

Michael R. Blood wrote for AP yesterday, Troubled Calif. nuke plant aims to restart reactor,

The company announced plans to repair and restart one of two damaged reactors, Unit 2, at reduced power to hopefully halt vibration that has caused excessive wear to scores of tubes that carry radioactive water. The outlook for its heavily damaged sister, Unit 3, appears grim and no decision on its future is expected until at least next summer.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to take months to review the plan, and there is no timetable to restart the plant.

There are a few signs that the eventual outcome is dawning on some utility people.

Plans are already taking shape that envision lower output from San Onofre at least into 2013.

“Whenever you lose generation, it has implications,” said San Diego Gas & Electric spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp.

Well, yeah, and losing big blocks of power is one of the implications of depending on a few big baseload plants in the first place. Distributed solar and wind wouldn’t have this problem.

-jsq

Videos Meet the Candidates (Part 2 of 2) @ VLCoC 2012-10-02

Here are videos of all the presentations from the Meet the Candidates event at VSU Monday. This adds to the previous LAKE videos, and also includes a different perspective from George Boston Rhynes.

Update 4:40 PM 5 October 2012: Toma Hawk has supplied a third viewpoint.

Introduction

Ron Borders, Introduction

Solicitor General:

Continue reading →

Joint Resolution in Support of Quality Public Education —Lowndes and Valdosta Boards of Education

Yesterday I asked But what does the joint resolution actually say? Karen Noll has supplied the answer, in the form of a PDF of the signed resolution, transcribed below. This thing makes the education paragraph in the Occupy Valdosta Mission Statement sound mild-mannered. We’ve already seen the state’s response. -jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
AND
VALDOSTA CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION
JOINT RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF
QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION
Continue reading →