Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Sewers, laptops, and insurance @ LCC 2012-09-24

Repairs to a sewage lift station, laptops for the Sheriff’s office, and health and life insurance. I’ll bet this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session will be brief.

What’s this about a Bevel Creek Lift Station Repair? That sewer line station seems to have last been mentioned in a Commission meeting 11 February 2003:

Mr. Clark stated that the Bevel Creek Lift Station rehab came in under budget enough to cover the additional $26,000.00 from the Exit 22 project.

The Commissioners (of whom only Joyce Evans is still or again on the Commission) proceeded to approve one of their famous transportation change orders.

But what is Bevel Creek? According to Watershed Assessment: The Watersheds Associated with Lowndes County, Georgia, May 2001,

Bevel Creek discharges into the Withlacoochee River in north-central Florida.

Since Bevel Creek doesn’t join the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, it’s considered as a separate watershed basin for Lowndes County.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

KLVB 2012 Executive Director’s Report —Aaron Strickland @ LCC 2012-09-10

Here is the Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB) 2012 Executive Director’s Report, provided to LAKE by KLVB Executive Director Aaron Strickland.

This is the report he discussed at the 10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

-jsq

Resigning from Planning Commission; suggest appoint Jody Hall —John Page @ LCC 2012-09-11

John Page, recent winner of the Republican Primary for Lowndes County Commission District 5, spoke as a citizen wishing to be heard in yesterday’s Commission meeting. He said he was resigning from his appointed post on the Planning Commission effective 31 December 2012 because he sees it as a conflict with his upcoming elected position as a County Commissioner, plus he said he does not have time to do both. (Since there is no Democratic or other candidate for District 5, Page will be the Commissioner.) Page recommended his primary runoff opponent Jody Hall as his replacement on the Planning Commission.

Update 2012-09-20: Fixed video embedding.
Here’s the video:

Resigning from Planning Commission; suggest appoint Jody Hall —John Page
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 September 2012.

I commend John Page for both of his decisions, and for announcing all this in a public meeting in front of a video camera. Maybe as a County Commissioner he will support transparency. And I commend Jody Hall for being willing to serve on the Planning Commission. Maybe as a Planning Commissioner he will support transparency.

-jsq

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-09-10

Yesterday morning’s County Commission Work Session started on time! In addition to the open records and open meetings items, it included a report from KLVB, two rezonings, typo fixes and date changes in the ULDC, a vanity road name change, an alcohol license and an alcohol ordinance change, a USGS river gauge, surplus vehicles, purchase of a new fire truck, and more! They vote on all this tonight at their Regular Session, 5:30 PM. Here’s the agenda.

5.a. Unsurprisingly, the County Manager suggested the County Clerk be appointed the Open Records Officer now required by state law. 5.b. They also have a resolution before them about review and approval of minutes of executive sessions, but of course they don’t allow we the taxpayers to see that before they vote on it.

They considered adopting subdivision infrastructure for 5.c. Glen Laurel and 5.d. Crestwood.

6. Videos of the KLVB report and of applicant Emily Macheski-Preston are in a separate blog post.

7. Public Hearings:

Continue reading →

Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye @ LCC 2012-09-10

Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye reported to the Lowndes County Commission at their Work Session yesterday morning that after the floods of 2009, Lowndes County negotiated with USGS to put a stream level monitor on the Withlacoochee Little River at the GA 122 bridge, and the county typically renews that funding once a year. We shall see whether they approve that this evening.

Here's the video:

Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.

-jsq

County to renegotiate bonds for the county palace @ LCC 2012-09-10

In yesterday morning's Work Session, County Finance Director Stephanie Black proposed a letter of understanding for Morgan-Keegan to act as underwriter for approximately $17 million to refund the original bonds done for this building as well as the water-sewer bonds only if the terms are favorable and the net value savings are at least 3%. Current projections show a savings of $1.2 million or a little over 7% at this time. Chairman Ashley Paulk remarked that:

The bond market has changed drastically.

At least the county palace that former Chairman Rod Casey got a former commission to approve at his last Commission meeting now won't cost we the taxpayers quite as much as we thought. They vote on this tonight.

Here's the video:

County to renegotiate bonds for the county palace
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.

-jsq

KLVB report —Aaron Strickland @ LCC 2012-09-10

In the 10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session, Aaron Strickland of Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB) said there were two applicants for appointement to the KLVB board: Emily Preston and Deanna Wagner. They did not speak; Emily Macheski-Preston and Deanna Wagner. Ms. Macheski-Preston spoke (included below); Ms. Wagner did not; maybe tonight.

He gave a brief verbal report, which he said was a summary of a report he submitted last week (which we the taxpayers haven’t seen). He said at their Rivers Alive event last year they had a record number of sites cleaned: seven. Great American Cleanup, KLVB’s signature event used to be 1 day, but this year was 3 days.

  1. Valdosta asked for help with a creek project.
  2. Helped emergency management after the tornadoes, through Ashley Tye and a group called Vision 388(?).
  3. Traditional cleanup day in Valdosta, Lowndes County, and Lake Park.

He read some statistics on numbers of volunteers and things cleaned up. He listed some future events. There’s more in the video.

Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know how much time commitment was involved. Answer: an hour per board meeting and helping out with events and committees.

Here’s the video: video of Aaron Strickland’s aural report:

Continue reading →

Open Records Officer at Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2012-09-10

Apparently the Lowndes County Commission has noticed the new provisions of the Georgia Open Records and Open Meetings laws that VLCIA’s lawyer explained to the Industrial Authority back in May, seeing these two items on the agenda for Monday morning and Tuesday evening:

5.a. Adopt Resolution Appointing an Open Records Officer
5.b. Resolution Regarding Review & Approval of Minutes of Executive Sessions

Plus infrastructure for two subdivsisions, one of them the famous Glen Laurel, several well/septic rezonings, approval of USGS Funding Agreement for HWY 122 Stream Gauge (one of the four that let us know about river flooding in Lowndes County less than a month ago), a beer license, and approval of the changes to the ULDC that were discussed in the recent Planning Commission meeting, in the public hearing the public didn’t know about. And more.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

No dumping! Drains to waterways

No dumping Rainwater only Seen Saturday near old Pine Grove School. NPDES is National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System:

Water pollution degrades surface waters making them unsafe for drinking, fishing, swimming, and other activities. As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters. In most cases, the NPDES permit program is administered by authorized states. Since its introduction in 1972, the NPDES permit program is responsible for significant improvements to our Nation’s water quality.

Yes, I know Valdosta also does this. I like it that in a subdivision in an unincorporated part of Lowndes County that the county does this.

-jsq

Sinkhole under the shed

The sinkholes are not just in the garage and under the front steps, Michael McCormick walking towards his shed there’s one under Michael McCormick’s tool shed. He already jacked up the shed and put blocks under it after the ground sunk underneath it. With all these sinkholes on his lot (and more in the yard), how are they connected underground? How will they expand?

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 August 2012.

-jsq