Category Archives: Lake Park

HB 170 voted out of subcommittee; what will Lowndes County Commission do? @ LCC 2015-02-06

How long will the Lowndes County government and ACCG wait to act, while the Georgia legislature moves on its stealth transportation tax hike for Atlanta that would defund local school boards and city and county governments? A House subcommittee has made some changes to the bill, but it would still force local governments to raise taxes, and it adds an unrelated repeal of an electric vehicle tax credit to its boondoggle for trucking companies and Atlanta. Do we want our local public schools to be defunded like wildlife programs were through the state’s wildlife license plate revenue tax taking? If not, now’s the time to lobby against HB 170, before the full House Transportation Committee meets Thursday. Yet there’s still nothing about HB 170 on the county’s agenda for this evening’s voting Regular Session.

Valdosta has already Continue reading

Videos: Hospital, transportation, water, incarceration, taxes, Internet, and military @ LCC 2015-02-06

Commission and staff followed up on safety on Val Del Road that John Page brought up in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard a month ago. Appointed board and agency openings: they have a list, but you can’t see it, for the Bad Dog Board or any other. The Chairman had “support” for a referendum to appoint Tax Assessors, although “this is not a vote”. About Internet access, County Manager Joe Pritchard discussed a map of a “skeletal framework” of city and county, VSU, SGMC, Georgia Military College, Wiregrass Technical College, “the outlying cities”, as well as the industrial parks, for DSL, cable modems, etc. This discussion has come a long way in the year since Chairman Bill Slaughter said “We have broadband”.

They seem to want the county to be Continue reading

Video: SPLOST Facility Update with boatramp @ LCC 2015-02-05

The Naylor boat ramp might be finished this fall, and here’s a list of other SPLOST expenditures, from yesterday’s Lowndes County Commission Annual Planning Meeting.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked Chad McLeod Project Manager and Mike Fletcher County Engineer to come forward, saying “Turn in your book to that tab….” A book you, the taxpaying public reader, do not have. The county can publish board packets on their new website if they want to.

McCleod presented current facilities for SPLOST VII, after a long introduction by Pritchard, who said McLeod was the county’s liaison with Parks and Rec (VLPRA) and the Sheriff’s Department and other offices. McLeod said VLPRA projects are built by the county and turned over to VLPRA for administration, except for two projects at Freedom Park, which are being managed by VLPRA due to House Bill 489. He listed dollar amounts. I couldn’t catch all of them, but here are some of them: Continue reading

The rest of the videos @ LCC 2015-02-05

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.

All yesterday’s videos are added now to the original post.

-jsq

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.

300x400 Map, in Illegal trash dumping @ LCC Retreat 2015-02-05, by Gretchen Quarterman, 5 February 2015 300x400 Legend, in Illegal trash dumping @ LCC Retreat 2015-02-05, by Gretchen Quarterman, 5 February 2015

(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 300x225 Beach at site of planned Naylor Park, in Alapaha River Outing, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 24 August 2014 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

300x225 Around the table, in Finance, by Gretchen Quarterman, 5 February 2015 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