Category Archives: Economy

Videos: Not a Public Hearing, even though advertised as one, Presentation @ LCC Budget 2023-06-20

Gretchen notes: This meeting was advertised as a Public Hearing (see agenda).

There was no input from the public. The public was not asked for input at the meeting. So, any hearing, was the public listening to the presentation, or the public being told (aka a public telling).

[Collage @ LCC 20 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 20 June 2023

jsq wonders: is that even legal, to advertise a Public Hearing and then hold a different meeting at that time?

The whole thing lasted about sixteen minutes.

They vote on approving the budget 5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also:

Continue reading →

Agenda: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prisoners @ LCC 2023-06-26

Update 2023-06-27: Packet: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prison Details @ LCC 2023-06-26.

Monday morning at 8:30 AM the Lowndes County Commission will review at its Work Session items that it will vote on in its Regular Session Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

[Collage @ LCC Agenda 2023-06-26]
Collage @ LCC Agenda 2023-06-26

Items include the Adoption of Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget, and a Budget Plan for Hotel Motel Proceeds for Fiscal Year 2024.

A stopgap resolution is proposed until the changes to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) are ready.

Also on the agenda are re-appointments to three boards,

Plus two items that the agenda says cost money:

Cost What
$147,954.007.b. Annual Contract Renewal with the State of Georgia Department of Corrections
$25,139.007.a. Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant Approval and Cash Match
$173,093.00Total

Here is the agenda.

LAKE has sent an open records request for the board packet. However, when Lowndes County someday puts its board packets on its own website, as many counties larger and smaller, in Georgia and Florida, have been doing for years, nobody will have to play this silly open records game just to get board packets.

Meanwhile, for the ULDC changes, see the Planning Commission board packet.

For the budget, see the LAKE videos from the Budget Work Session, the slides from that meeting, and Videos: Not a Public Hearing, even though advertised as one, Presentation @ LCC Budget 2023-06-20.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Notice: Lowndes County Budget Public Hearing 2023-06-20

This morning at 9 AM, Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the Lowndes County Commission will hold a Budget Public Hearing at the Commission Chambers, 327 North Ashley Street, Second Floor, Valdosta, GA 31601.

[Calendar and Staff]
Calendar and Staff

Here’s what they discussed in their Work Session on May 31st.

Here are the slides presented at that meeting.

Gretchen Quarterman is at this morning’s meeting videoing for LAKE.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Slides: Lowndes County Budget Presentation 2023-05-31

Here are the slides presented at the Lowndes County Budget Work Session, May 31, 2023,

received in response to a LAKE open records request.

[Taxes and Expenditures]
Taxes and Expenditures

You’ll probably see them again at this morning’s Budget Public Hearing.

Property taxes account for 61.26% of General Fund revenues, followed by LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) at 28.07%. SPLOST VIII and TSPLOST are Capital Projects Funds which are expected to get $26 million and $3.5 million in FY 2023. There are other Capital Projects Funds, Enterprise Funds, Internal Service Funds, and Special Revenue Funds. Adding them all up with the General Fund gets a total budget of $136,569,685 for FY 2023 and $148,189,088 for FY 2024.

Of General Fund Expenditures, 38.34% goes to Public Safety, i.e., Sheriff, 11.52 to the courts, for 49.86% or almost half.

The slides are on the LAKE website in XML and PDF form. Below they are in JPG form.

-jsq

Continue reading →

Videos: Budget Work Session @ LCC 2023-05-31

I saw no agenda posted beforehand for the Budget Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, 9 AM, Wednesday, May 31, 2021.

[Collage @ LCC 31 May 2023]
Collage @ LCC 31 May 2023

Below are LAKE videos by Gretchen Quarterman, with a few notes by her, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

There was no audio feed back to the video ghetto in the rear of the room, so you’ll have to crank up the volume and see what you can hear. Continue reading →

Firefighters grant, Madison Highway rezoning, Webster Street purchase, Wild Adventures expansion, Peterson Road Sewer Main Open Cut @ LCC Regular 2023-02-14

Nobody spoke for or against the one rezoning, 6.a. REZ-2023-02 Thomas Property, Madison Hwy, R-1 to R-A, ~10 acres, which passed unanimously. Everything else also passed unanimously.

[Collage @ LCC 14 February 2023]
Collage @ LCC 14 February 2023

There was one Citizen Wishing To Be Heard, but it never became clear what Karen Carlisle was talking about, nor who “we” was on behalf of which she was asking.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also Continue reading →

Videos: Wild Adventures and Weather Report @ LCC Work 2023-02-13

Update 2023-03-13: Firefighters grant, Madison Highway rezoning, Webster Street purchase, Wild Adventures expansion, Peterson Road Sewer Main Open Cut @ LCC Regular 2023-02-14.

Wild Adventures wants to make a 50 space short term RV park on their property. Their General Manager Jon Vigue gave a slide presentation.

[Collage @ LCC 13 February 2023]
Collage @ LCC 13 February 2023

Commissioner Scottie Orenstien wanted to know did they own the land: yes. Would they connect to county water and sewer? yes. Lowndes County Utilities Director affirmed that the county already has the necessary infrastructure for them to connect to.

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to be sure Continue reading →

Packet: Agricultural rezoning, Tourism, lot purchase, Firefighters, Sewer Main Open Cut @ LCC 2023-02-13

The highest-dollar item is a sewer main remodel, on a relatively light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning and voting Regular Session tomorrow evening.

Cost What
$40,237.50Peterson Road Sewer Main Open Cut
$25,000.00Purchase of 215 Webster Street Property
$4,509.09Assistance to Firefighters Grant Micro Grant for SCBA Air Cylinders
$69,746.59Total

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

For the rezoning, see also the preceding Planning Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Dollar General Defeated, VLDA appointment, subdivision infrastructure, VOCA, server blades @ LCC Regular 2023-01-24

Update 2023-05-06: Dollar General developer and property owner sue Lowndes County about rezoning denial –VDT 2023-05-03.

Update 2023-01-29: Lowndes County nixes planned Dollar General –VDT 2023-01-26.

Much to the surprise of the several dozen opponents of the Dollar General rezoning, and even after the DG developer attorney attempted to tell his version of the Lowndes County Commission’s legal responsibilities, all the Commissioners voted to deny the rezoning.

[Collage @ LCC 24 January 2023]
Collage @ LCC 24 January 2023

The audience laughed at the Dollar General’s offer of an “enhanced facade,” as conveyed by County Planner JD Dillard. Even after Chairman Bill Slaughter limited each side to ten minutes, the opposition gave excellent summaries.

Heath Dawson, who is the nearest neighbor to the north and a commercial banker, attested Continue reading →

Videos: new attorney, VLDA appointment, Dollar General rezoning, 2 infrastructure, special assessment rate, VOCA @ LCC Work 2023-01-23

Update 2023-01-28: Videos: Dollar General Defeated, VLDA appointment, subdivision infrastructure, VOCA, server blades @ LCC Regular 2023-01-24.

The second-longest item at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning was the proposed rezoning for a Dollar General at GA 122 and Skipper Bridge Road, slightly uphill from the Withlacoochee River. They vote tonight at 5:30 PM. You can still call your Commissioner or send email, or speak in the Public Hearing this evening.

The two subdivision infrastructure acceptances on or near Val Del Road remind us all of what happens when the county pushes development onto a road, as they did back in 2007 by running water and sewer to Nelson Hill on Val Del Road.

The longest item at almost three minutes was 7.c. Special Assessment Rate for 2023, which has to be set every year, even though it hasn’t been used in decades.

[Collage @ LCC 23 January 2023]
Collage @ LCC 23 January 2023

About the rezoning, County Planner JD Dillard said another letter opposing the rezoning had been received, from someone about three quarters of a mile north on Skipper Bridge, but he did not say who it was nor what they wrote.

For no apparent reason, he put up a map showing nearest distances to residences. Continue reading →