Category Archives: Lake Park

Videos: Audit report and finance @ LCC 2015-02-05

Update2 2015-02-06: Why HB 170 is bad –Harrison Tillman
Update 2015-02-06: The rest of the videos from Thursday are up, as they meet again this morning at 8:30 AM. The new videos are about Revenue and Tax Update, SPLOST Facility Update (including boat ramp), Budget Management, Solid Waste Management, Litter Control, and an unscheduled Closed Session.

Videos are already up for the audit report and finance from day 1 of the Lowndes County Commission Annual Planning Meeting. More to come. Meanwhile, see also Gretchen’s notes about the new boatramp on the Alapaha River and illegal trash dumping. Continue reading →

Illegal trash dumping @ LCC 2015-02-05

I’m shocked, shocked, to discover there’s illegal dumping going on in Lowndes County! County staff assured us all two yeas ago that wouldn’t be a problem, while telling us all we had no choice about waste disposal. Yet today at the county’s retreat they showed this map of illegal dumping locations throughout the county.

(If the county published Continue reading →

Alapaha Boat Ramp progress @ LCC 2015-02-05

They’ve been working with Dr. Acree on land aquisition, and with GA-DNR on flow levels and ramp placement, as well as anticipation of survey and final designs, they said during the SPLOST agenda item, reports Gretchen from the Lowndes County Commission retreat. No word of when they anticipate completing the boat ramp, and it sounds like they haven’t actually purchased the land yet.

-jsq

Finance report @ LCC 2015-02-05

Your elected Commissioners and top county staff listening to Finance Director Stephanie Black’s report, around 9:30 AM on the all-day retreat agenda. The seemingly most boring subject, but the key to all the others. Gretchen is there videoing, but apparently nobody else other than the VDT reporter. Continue reading →

County Commission retreats to Lake Park Thursday and Friday @ LCC 2015-02-05

Everything from Animals to ZBOA agenda for the annual Lowndes County Commission retreat, now billed as 2015 Annual Planning Meeting. Unlike the Valdosta City Council, this retreat is in Lowndes County, at the same location as the recent Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner. Gretchen will be there with the LAKE camera. You can go, too: it’s an open meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
2015 Annual Planning Meeting
Quail Branch Lodge
7601 Zeigler Road, Lake Park, Georgia
Thursday, February 5- Continue reading →

Sunshine for local government

We’ve got a little list, a spreadsheet as a list,
please don’t take this as a diss, we think they have been missed….

Unlike Ko-Ko’s in the Mikado, this list is of things previously missed that are slowly being found (or created), so local governments can tell the citizens what fine things they’ve been up to, and so citizens can decide what they need to deal with and what topics they can provide input on. Here’s the LAKE sunshine list for local government.

The Lowndes County Commission just got some additions, with its new website, by posting videos of its own meetings, and by posting agendas and minutes for the Planning Commission.

The Valdosta City Council does pretty well, with its website, its agendas and minutes, and the agendas and summaries and minutes for ZBOA. Valdosta does not (yet) video and post its own meetings, but it does have what appears to be a complete list of its ordinances with links to their text. Dasher also has its ordinances online.

Meanwhile the Lowndes County Commission has only Continue reading →

Special Election, Budget, Meters, and Rezoning @ Lake Park 2014-12-02

They called a special election to fill the unexpired term of Sandy Sherrill, who had resigned unexpectedly, plus a referendum for Sunday off-premisses liquor sales, at the Lake Park City City Council Regular Session of 2 December 2014. They amended the 2014 budget and adopted a 2015 budget. More than half an hour on a presentation about water meters. Professional therapy, including massage therapy, at the location being rezoned for Keith Sandlin in rezoning LP-2014-10-20. The Planning Commission 24 November 2014, previously unanimously recommended approval. The Lake Park City Council voted 2 for 1 against, so it passed. And they had direct reports by Police, Fire/Rescure, and Maintenance, since they don’t have a city manager. They appointed an additional member to the cemetery committee. They discussed executive sessions being each time a choice and participants in executive sessions not being bound to secrecy, the real test being not violating the public trust.

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

Rezoning and Budget @ Lake Park 2014-12-02

I wonder what they’re amending in the 2014 budget and what’s in the 2015 budget? Rezoning LP-2014-10-20 was previously heard at the Planning Commission 24 November 2014, which unanimously recommended approval. Plus this is local elected body that hears citizens’ concerns not once but twice.

Thanks to Tabatha Fowler for the agenda.

120 North Essa Street, Lake Park, Georgia 31636
A G E N D A
LAKE PARK CITY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 2, 2014
7:30 PM
Continue reading →

Videos: Lost Maps, New Vice, Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M @ GLPC 2014-11-24

Complete agenda? Maps? Election process? Calendar? But few people were there to notice these things missing.

At the Work Session we had all maps and things to show you, but between then and now the digital copies have vanished off of both laptops. And we are sort of at a loss as to where they went but they’re gone. So if you’ll use the maps that are in your packet and perhaps some memory from the Work Session discussion….

That’s right, staff lost the digital copies of an agenda item, CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia. Board packets on the county’s website would serve as a backup for copies on planners’ laptops.

Gretchen, who was there, reports further below, including a note about that charming young white man recently appointed to the Planning Commission. -jsq

At a brief and poorly attended GLPC meeting, Continue reading →

Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M @ GLPC 2014-11-24

Thanks to the City of Valdosta for the agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting. It’s all small cases, but how would you know whether one of them might affect you, since Lowndes County still doesn’t post Planning Commission agendas or minutes or board packets? And is there a second page? If the county did post these agendas regularly on their own website, this sort of omission would be less likely to occur.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Monday, November 24, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange