Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Broadband top priority, education, jobs, quality of life —Angela Crance @ VLCIA 2013-02-19



Angela Crance,

Special Assistant to the President of
Wiregrass Georgia Technical College,
told

the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013:

I’m here for Wiregrass, and
we just want to thank you for bringing this up and making it a top priority
for the community [looking at

Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter]
and

the Industrial Authority….

 

 

It’s definitely a priority for us….
Only 14% of our citizens have a college degree
and we need 70% to have a college degree within ten years.
To be able to accomplish that we’d better have

Continue reading →

Broadband “one of the number one issues” —Bill Slaughter @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

 



Lowndes County Chairman

Bill Slaughter
told

the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013
that broadband is:
“one of the number one issues”.

…certainly one of the most important recruiting tools that we’re
going to have to figure out in this community how we can get it. To
be honest with you, it’s a wide open question. Do you have the
infrastructure? How much will the infrastructure that we currently
have support? We’re going to have to find a way to get with the
professional providers and find out just exactly what these
capabilities are in our community…. I see that as the big
question. We’ve got to figure out where to start with it.

I think it is probably in my opinion one of the number one issues
that this community is going to have to address from the standpoint
of where we go with economic development in the future for this
community not only for new economic development but for existing
businesses as well. As a business begins to grow,

Continue reading →

Companies need broadband, especially in rural areas of our county —Andrea Schruijer @ VLCIA 2013-02-19



Andrea Schruijer’s

Executive Director’s Report to

the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013
had one theme: Internet broadband speed and access.

It’s a concern, especially in more rural parts of our county….

It’s up to us to make sure that we create an awareness of the
importance of having that technology in our community.

Why the sudden (just started late last year) emphasis on broadband?

We’ve worked with a few of our existing industries
that do not have the capacity.
Operations have had to change
or move to different locations that have better connectivity.

That’s a not-so-veiled reference to the the company that located
in Lake Park and discovered there was no broadband,
and to the two companies that moved their IT operations to Thomasville.

She emphasized again that

broadband throughout the county was important:

Continue reading →

Retreat, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2013-02-22


Clockwise: Stephanie Black (Finance), John Page (Dist. 5), Joyce Evans (Dist. 1), Demarcus Marshall (Dist. 4), Richard Raines (Dist. 2), Bill Slaughter (Chairman), Crawford Powell (Dist. 3), Paige Dukes (Clerk), Joe Pritchard (Manager)
The Lowndes County Commission has retreated to Berrien County once again
this year.
So far they’ve talked about budgets and finance, LOST and SPLOST,
departmental requests, and the local Land Bank Authority,
with the occasional policy interjection.
Commissioners and staff were clearly taking their tasks very seriously,
although not without humor from John Page’s sneeze.
And I congratulate them on

going some place that couldn’t have cost much.
I wish they’d talk more about policy and strategies for increasing the pie,
rather than almost entirely about how to divvy up the existing pie.
Video will follow; meanwhile here are a few notes.


On the one hand, it’s great that county staff have pulled together
and managed with 30 fewer people, and while Commissioner Page
was right that that’s efficiency, I think Chairman Slaughter was
even more right in saying it’s beyond that, it’s beyond capacity.
County Manager Joe Pritchard noted if there’s no SPLOST, the
current Commission will have to decide between cutting some
services and raising taxes.
That’s no doubt true, and he indicated that Valdosta seemed to
be waiting to hear what the County wants to do about SPLOST,
while the county is waiting to hear what Valdosta wants to do.
Several people remarked that the prior LOST negotiations (which
are currently on judicial hold pending one participant returning from
the current session of the state legislature)
did affect SPLOST losing in the most recent election.
I didn’t hear anybody suggest holding public hearings this time,
but Commissioner Marshall did say it would be good to say what
SPLOST funds would be for in some detail.


On the other hand, the Chairman asserted

Continue reading →

Georgia Recreational Use Statute



Suppose you owned land next to a river.
You might have concerns about liability for people getting out of
canoes or kayaks onto your land.
But you’re in luck!
Georgia state law says you’re not liable for most things that could happen.

The Georgia Recreational Use Statute is in

O.C.G.A. §51-3-20 through §51-3-26.
Here are a few excerpts.

§51-3-20. Purpose of article

The purpose of this article is to encourage owners of land to make
land and water areas available to the public for recreational
purposes by limiting the owners’ liability toward persons entering
thereon for recreational purposes.

Does that include boating?

Continue reading →

National attention on GA HB 282 against muni broadband: needs GA leg. to vote it down

Another bad idea from ALEC already passed in SC and NC and is now in the GA
legislature, getting coverage in several national technical
and political blogs:

HB 282, which would effectively forbid
municipal broadband if any commercial carrier offers 1.5Mbps.
It's up for a hearing this week: time to call your state rep.

Timothy B. Lee wrote for ArsTechnica 14 Feb 2013,

Bill would ban muni broadband if one home in census tract gets 1.5Mbps:
Approach could leave some Georgia residents without a viable broadband option.



Incumbent broadband providers are pushing legislation that would
restrict Georgia towns from building municipal broadband networks.
Under the proposal, if a single home in a census tract has Internet
access at speeds of 1.5Mbps or above, the town would be prohibited
from offering broadband service to anyone in that tract.

State-level restrictions on municipal broadband networks are

Continue reading →

Why cant we keep and restore something that is very important to a community of people? —April Huntley

Received Friday. April Huntley also sent it to the Lowndes County Commissioners.
I have added a few links and pictures. -jsq

Dear Editor,



I’m not sure if people know or care that there is

another Dollar
General about to pop-up in Lowndes County. This time it will be in
Naylor. I’m not sure if this will be an improvement or not.

Something I am also aware of and hold an opinion about is the

proposal to abandon a road in Naylor that leads to the Alapaha
River. This is

the only public access to the Alapaha in Lowndes
County. It is a place of history, recreation and fun for many
people.

The spot where County Road 16, Old State Rd., dead ends at the
Alapaha River is an area of rich history for Naylor and

Continue reading →

Retreat tab?



Local governments here probably don’t want to get into the news
for the cost of their upcoming retreats, Lowndes County Commission
this month, and Valdosta City Council next month,
like Roswell alrady did.

Pat Fox wrote for the AJC 15 Feb 2013,

Record shows $4,800 tab for Roswell retreat,

Roswell city officials ran up a tab of at least $4,800 for their
three-day work retreat this month at the Reynolds Plantation, 106
miles away in Greensboro.

Financial records from five north Fulton cities show these planning
sessions can run the gamut, from a shoestring event for $700 in
Sandy Springs to more than $10,000 for Johns Creek.

The Roswell retreat, held Jan. 31-Feb. 2, included nine people
— Mayor Jere Wood, six council members, City Administrator Kay
Love and a facilitator, who did not charge for his services. All
spent two nights at the Reynolds facility near Lake Oconee.

Perhaps stay close to home where hotels aren’t necessary.

-jsq

Speakupaustin: a major MSA and local government transparency

The

Austin reporting program is in addition to
the posting a City Council agenda more than a week in advance


(here’s the 28 Feb 2013 agenda already on 16 Feb 2013)
and
including the entire board packets

with working papers and other backup documentation
with the minutes.
Austin

televises and webcasts its meetings live,
with close captioning and transcripts online.
They don’t limit the number of citizens who can speak,
or the subjects they can speak on, and they televise and webcast
all of them as well.
Plus citizens can speak on specific agenda issues,
and Austin

has an online forum for citizen suggestions on which citizens can vote
on the ones they like.

Is there still back-door politics in Austin? For sure.
But you can see a lot more of what is going on in Austin
than they can about the local governments here,
and citizens have a lot more input.

If Valdosta and Lowndes County
(and Hahira and Lake Park and Dasher and Remerton)
want to be treated like a major MSA,
they might consider following Austin’s lead.
Instead of decreasing citizen input by exiling
all citizen speakers to the end of a meeting and limiting the number
who can speak, while not even putting board packets online,
consider continually increasing local government
transparency and citizen input.

-jsq

Thank you for helping the community —April Huntley

Received Wednesday from April Huntley to Joyce Evans. -jsq

Good morning, Commissioner Evans!

Thank you very much for helping the community get the public hearing


for the closure of Old State Rd. tabled until next meeting! I hope
we will all be able to work together to find a lasting solution that
will enable the residents of Lowndes County and surrounding areas to
continue to enjoy this beautiful spot on the Alapaha River. I hope
you agree that this is not a standard road abandonment since it
affects a body of water. I hope you have a great day, and I look
forward to speaking with you soon!

Thank you again!

April Huntley