Recent open records requests at the City of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office were similar. An unscheduled visit to the respective open records office (Valdosta City Clerk and Information Window at the Sheriff’s Office) resulted in a simple form and information returned on the spot. No waiting, no hassle.
Open records requests at the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners is a different story. It’s not too hard to get the form, it’s here: Continue reading
One effective way to keep an eye on what’s happening in our government is
through open records and open meetings, and Georgia has pretty good laws for both of those.
Attending meetings generally requires only a small amount of time for any agency. Some government agencies meet only once per month and sometimes for less than one hour. Some may meet twice a month (work session and regular session) or some as frequently as four times (two work sessions and two regular sessions). Attending meetings is a good way to show the elected and appointed officials that you are interested in what they are doing as your representative. Making open records requests is a good way to get additional information about issues in which you are interested.
In Georgia, the Open Records Act is O.C.G.A. §50-18 and the Open Meeting Act is O.C.G.A. §50-14 . The official copies of these can be found online at http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/gacode/, however there are handy links on the State Attorney General’s site at http://law.ga.gov/law which provide easily readable PDF files.
The introduction of O.C.G.A. §50-18-70 says: Continue reading
The Lake Park Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Department of
Agriculture, local elected officials, and community members helped
celebrate the opening of the Corbett family’s most recent endeavor.
Raisin’ Cane held a ribbon cutting on Thursday, October 17th
at their new facility at the corner of
US41S and Newsome Road.
Ken Corbett welcomed those gathered and thanked family, friends, contractors and more for helping to bring the vision to completion. Continue reading
Lowndes County: voice mail.
GA EPD: written response within minutes about that wastewater spill
into the Withlacoochee River that turns out to be from a Lowndes County
sewer line (not Valdosta’s).
After I called Lowndes County and got referred to voice mail, I filed an open records request with the county. I then called GA EPD in Albany and talked to Mary Sheffield. She said that compliance issues are handled from the Atlanta Office and provided the number.
I called GA EPD in Atlanta and asked for the Lowndes County Compliance Officer. She kindly told me that there had been some confusion about what government was responsible for the spill, because Valdosta called first but then Lowndes County did call and take responsibility for the spill.
She said that the spill had been 1.32 Million Gallons and that so far they had had a verbal report from the county and that the county has 5 days to make a written report.
Further, she said she would e-mail me any information that she had at this time, although the verbal reports are not “official”. And before I finished typing this up, she sent this response:
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:34:19 -0400
From: Kim Hembree
Subject: Lowndes County Spill
Ms. Quarterman,
The Lowndes County spill was originally reported to the Environmental Protection Division by the City of Valdosta on 4/25/2013. After responding to the spill, the City of Valdosta determined that the spill was coming from a portion of sanitary sewer collection system that belonged to Lowndes County. Lowndes County (County) responded to the spill on 4/25/2013. This morning, the County reported that the spill was approximately 1.32 million and entered the Withlacoochee River.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
To which I replied:
Thank you.If I understand correctly, Lowndes County now has 5 days to file a complete spill report. I’ll be interested in that when it is available.
Gretchen
Also, has Lowndes County put up a sign at the spill site to replace the Valdosta spill sign?
-gretchen
In addition to
calling Lowndes County, I also filed this Open Records Request:
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:56:39 -0400
To: Paige Dukes, Mike Allen, Phyllis Judge
Subject: Open Records Request – 20130426 – Waste Water
Hi,Please find attached an open records request for the following:
1) All written reports to EPD about waste water spills for the last 3 years
2) All year long monitoring programs/results after each spill
3) published notices in legal organ of all spills for last 3 years
4) a copy of the Overflow Emergency Response ProgramI would prefer electronic copies of these documents if they are available.
Thank you,
Gretchen
Gretchen Quarterman
I attached a scan of the paper Lowndes County Open Records Request form I filled out.
-gretchen
After learning that Lowndes County (not Valdosta) was having a waste water spill,
I called the Utilities Department
and asked to speak with Director Mike Allen.
The person that answered the phone said that he was not available and perhaps she could answer my question or put me through to his voice mail. I figured that perhaps I could get some of my questions answered so I asked about the status of the current waste water spill. She said that it had been repaired as of 5am today (April 26).
I then asked if it would be possible to get a copy of the Overflow
Emergency Response Program and she asked my name. When I said my
name (Gretchen Quarterman) she said that I would have to talk to
Paige Dukes
and she would transfer me.
After a long wait, she came back on the phone and said she would
transfer me and I was transferred to the voice mail of Paige Dukes.
I did not leave a message.
-gretchen
The Lowndes Valdosta Zoning Board of Appeals meets today (Tuesday April 2) at 2:30pm in the Valdosta City Hall Annex Multi Purpose Room.
ZBOA Meeting
There are two Lowndes County cases in Lake Park.
LOWNDES COUNTY CASES:
2. VAR-2013-03 — Roger Budd Jr. (1000 Lakes Blvd. Lake Park) Variance to ULDC Chapter 5.04.09 (E) as it pertains to the design standards for permanent off-site signs on State maintained road.
3. VAR–2013-04 — Ben Futch (5443 Danieli Drive North, Lake Park) Variance to ULDC Chapter 5.02.01 (D)(8) and 5.02.01 (D)(9) as they pertain to the minimum building setbacks and maximum floor area of an accessory structure.
and one city of Valdosta case.
CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:
4. APP-2013-01 — Wesley Foundation (1601 N. Patterson St.) Variance to LDR Section 214-1 as it pertains to the minimum setbacks for the R-10 zoning district.
Full agenda available at : http://www.valdostacity.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6106
ZBOA doesn’t often have observers so come and see your government working for you.
-gretchen