Category Archives: Georgia

$9.40 for a mound of paper @ LCC 2015-08-10

Gretchen made an Open Records request Monday morning and it was available Tuesday 4:37 PM: mostly on paper and less than an hour before the Commission voted.

The rezoning material from the Planning office was sent by electronic mail. The rest cost $9.40 to retrieve on paper. Nevermind in the email earlier Tuesday of the old ordinance from 1992 the county staff demonstrated they can put a paper document on their copier and produce a PDF. They could have done that with the rest of the board packet. Why didn’t they?

The Work Session was Monday morning at 8:30 AM 10 Aug 2015. Gretchen was notified by telephone about 4:30 PM Tuesday 11 Aug 2015. The County Palace closes at 5PM. The Commission met at 5:30 PM Tuesday to vote. So none Continue reading →

Nydia Tisdale wins First Amendment Award for her Citizen Journalism, Fighting for the Right to Record

Update 2015-08-07: corrections by Nydia, including a timeline.

Only a bit more than three years since the pictured incident, Nydia Tisdale gets some of the recognition she deserves.

Georgia Woman Wins First Amendment Award for her Citizen Journalism, Fighting for the Right to Record,

Georgia citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale is in the news again but this time, the story doesn’t involve her getting thrown out of a public meeting or arrested in a pumpkin patch.

Tisdale is being honored by Georgia’s First Amendment Foundation for her work in making public meetings available to the citizens of her community and for her dedication to keeping government open for everyone’s participation.

After getting thrown out of the Cumming City Council for videoing in April 2012, Nydia got Continue reading →

Who is on the Lowndes County Board of Equalization?

The lowndescounty.com list of the Board of Equalization (BoE) also is not correct, like their incorrect list of Tax Assessors. 300x388 LGS GCP Board Of Equalization Schedule-001, in Georgia Certification Program Board of Equalization Schedule, by Georgia Department of Revenue, 30 July 2015 but there seems to be no other public website list of BoE members.

Members

  • Jimmy Griffis, Chairman
  • Gelana Goddard
  • John Avera

Alternates

  • Wayne Ricks
  • Lanelle Rogers
  • Joe Clark

A new BOE member was appointed in late 2014.

I called Beth C. Greene, Clerk of Superior Court, and asked her for the real list, which is: Continue reading →

Who are the Lowndes County Tax Assessors?

This should be an easy question, but it isn’t. Why not?

300x353 W.G. Walker, in Rural land re-evaluation, by Tax Assessors, 14 July 2015 300x336 Mike Hill, in Rural land re-evaluation, by Tax Assessors, 14 July 2015

And the answer is a saw sales owner who previously promoted development in an agricultural region of Lowndes County, a realtor whose job is to promote development, and a preacher who previously chaired a board that wanted to take tax money from the county without rural citizens being able to vote on it. None of them appear to have any experience in agriculture. These are the people who oversaw the recent revaluation of rural (and commercial) properties that would drive development into parts of Lowndes County that the Comprehensive Plan says should be agricultural. Now I know all three of them, and they’re fine people. But perhaps some rural people need to ask them some questions.

The list on lowndescounty.com of Lowndes County’s elected Tax Assessors is not remotely correct: Doyle Kelly is no longer serving due to illness, yet he’s still on that list, along with Mike Hill and W.G. Walker.

Mike Hill runs Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ tabled, Naylor Boat Ramp and Sabal Trail CWTBH @ LCC 2015-07-28

The proposed MAZ changes were tabled for 90 days, they approved everything else, and welcomed new Utilities Director Steve Stalvey again, at the 5:30 PM Tuesday 28 July 2015 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. Valdosta City Council Sandra Tooley didn’t fill out a form and so didn’t get to speak, but another citizen asked about the Naylor Boat Ramp (answer after the meeting: on schedule for this fall) and about Sabal Trail (answer: none).

See also Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ again, Lake Alapaha, Emergencies, but no Sabal Trail @ LCC 2015-07-27

300x297 Parcel 0181 001, in Davidson Road, by John S. Quarterman, 27 July 2015 The proposed MAZ changes have “absolutely nothing to do with” the 23 acres on Davidson Road that were proposed to be rezoned R-21 back in 2010, after the county paved Davidson Road, said County Chairman Bill Slaughter at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session. County Planner Jason Davenport said he had hoped to get “on the same page with Moody” before that same evening’s Planning Commission meeting for the MAZ ULDC Text Amendments, but as yet he had nothing to report, and tabling was an option. I don’t think that word “ultimately” means what he thinks it does. See more below about Davidson Road.

Not on the agenda were three, no four, reports:

Like the MAZ changes, also requiring a public hearing Tuesday evening is Continue reading →

MAZ again, Lake Alapaha, Emergency Management and Liability, but no Sabal Trail @ LCC 2015-07-27

While Dougherty County, Albany, and their state and federal reps plan a joint opposition meeting to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline invader, there’s nothing about that pipeline on Monday’s 8:30 AM agenda of the Lowndes County Commission. Three items on emergency response, emergency planning, and 911 operations, plus one on liability, but nothing about the invading pipeline soft target.

The highly controversial Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ) are back, despite massive opposition. The Planning Commission will hear MAZ again Monday evening, and because there’s only one day from then until the County Commission can vote on MAZ Tuesday, the County Planner says: Continue reading →

Videos: Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16

They meet again tonight with a bylaw amendment scheduled, which is probably for extending officer terms to two years as Roy Copeland proposed. (He first suggested that at least several years ago when he was re-elected Chairman.) And their nominating committee nominated the same officers again.

Lots of dials showing targets and where they are in reaching them, which is good, because I keep getting questions about what they’re doing with all that tax money and are they doing enough to justify it.

One citizen asked about the airport and another (OK, me) handed out Alapaha River Water Trail brochures and once again suggested solar panels at the airport to turn that otherwise-unusable space into profit.

Here’s the agenda and below are LAKE videos, followed by a playlist. Continue reading →

Live Oak bus service starts Monday 2015-07-20

How come Live Oak (pop. 6,974) in Suwannee County (43,734), Florida can do what mighty Valdosta (56,481) in Lowndes County (112,916), Georgia can’t?

Amber Vann, Suwannee Democrat, 17 July 2015, Live Oak bus route starts Monday,

The Suwannee Valley Transit Authority’s Live Oak bus route will begin operating on Monday, July 20, running continuously from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. throughout every direction of the city, Monday through Friday. The route’s unofficial stops include apartment complexes and other residential neighborhoods, public schools, grocery stores, parks, government offices, nursing homes, the library and the hospital.

The route starts at the intersection of Walker Avenue and US 90 West Continue reading →

Navy beats Army with 42 MW solar farm at Kings Bay

Is this sub base solar farm bigger than the 30 MW ones Georgia Power is building at three Army bases in Georgia? Actually that’s 42 MW DC in and 30 MW AC out, so the same as the Army bases.

Navy Chief of Information Office, 13 July 2015, Navy and Georgia Power Ink Deal to Build 42 MW Solar Farm at SUBASE Kings Bay,

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NNS) — The Department of the Navy (DON) announced today a signed real estate outgrant with Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, to develop a large-scale, solar generation farm at Naval Submarine Base (SUBASE) Kings Bay.

The 42 megawatt (MW) direct current (DC) facility will be constructed on Continue reading →