Category Archives: Dasher

Qualifying for local city elections is next week

The VDT editorialized yesterday:
On Monday, qualifying week begins for candidates interested in running in the November election for Valdosta Mayor, City Council At Large and Council Districts 1, 3, and 5; Hahira City Council Districts 2 and 3; City of Dasher Post 3 and 4; City of Lake Park Mayor and four council positions; Remerton Mayor and five council seats; Valdosta School Board Districts 4, 5, and 6.
The VDT points out that city elections usually don’t get much turnout, but this year there are two referendum questions on the ballot that may cause record turnout. They are: Continue reading →

Comprehensive Plan Update Due

Hm, does Lowndes County also have to provide an update for the Comprehensive Plan? If so, where is it? And how are we to find out about it?

Found in the August Valdosta Planners Post:

STWP Update Due Fall 2011

The five‐year Short Term Work Plan (STWP) for the 2030 Greater Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan is due for an update later this year. The STWP is a key implementation tool that reflects the activities and strategies to support the Comprehensive Plan goals, which the City of Valdosta has undertaken for the past five years (2007‐2011). It also sets future activities and strategies for the next five years (2012‐2017). A ‘report of accomplishments’ that identifies the current status of each activity in the current STWP must be submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. A local public hearing must be held and a local resolution passed in order to adopt a the STWP update. Please check our website at www.valdostacity.com/planning for news and meeting schedules related to the STWP update.
According to the FAQ for the 2030 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan: Continue reading →

Electing Local Councils

Recently, there has been more interest and observation of some parts of local government by active citizens, on topics ranging from the animal shelter to biomass to education to farmers markets to fast food vs. neighborhoods to private prisons to the Quitman 10 to solar power to T-SPLOST, all in aid of transparency. Engaging elected and appointed officials in dialog about the concerns and best interests of the community has been challenging. Yet we can see the sun a little clearer through the smoke.

Ensuring that people who will engage in dialog and seek the benefit of the entire community are appointed to boards lies in the hands of the elected officials. Electing people who engage in dialog and seek the benefit of the Continue reading →

VLCIA charging for access to agendas and minutes

How much should it cost for a citizen to get access to agendas and minutes of a tax-funded board? How does about $2 per meeting strike you?

Bobbi Anne Hancock filed an open records request for the agendas and minutes of all regularly scheduled and called meetings of the VLCIA letter asking $125.09 for copies of agendas and minutes of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) from 2006 to the present, and got this letter back:

So at 12 meetings per year for five years plus another 3 months, that would be about 63 meetings, divided into $125.09 gets about $1.99 per meeting.

Is this normal practice? Let’s compare. Continue reading →

Beliefs are good, but facts are better –John S. Quarterman @ VLCIA, 15 March 2011

First I praised the completion of the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant in Valdosta. Then I complimented Brad Lofton on finding his new job and hoped he’d be happy in Myrtle Beach. Then I praised the VDT for its editorial recommending using this opportunity to consult the councils of the various municipalities and the County Commission, and in particular that one way to produce unity in the community as G. Norman Bennett had previously advocated, would be to find out what the community wants VLCIA to do.
I understand the point about beliefs. But it’s not all about just the beliefs of just the people on the board. It’s also about things like is there enough water, and do we want businesses that soak up a lot of water, like Ben Copeland said at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce. Beliefs are good, but facts are better. Thank you.


John S. Quarterman at the
regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
15 March 2011.
Video by David Rodock for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Municipal elections this year

City elections are this year in Lowndes County, Georgia. According to Deb Cox, Lowndes County Board of Elections, in the Sunday Valdosta Daily Times (30 Jan 2010), the following positions are up for election in 2011 (incumbent in parentheses):

City of Valdosta

Mayor (John Fretti)
City Council At Large (Ben Norton)
City Council Dist 1 (James Wright)
City Council Dist 3 (“Sonny” Vickers)
City Council Dist 5 (Tim Carroll)

City of Hahira

City Council District 2 (Allen Cain)
City Council District 3 (Ralph Clendenin)

City of Dasher

Continue reading →