They’re even quieter about it than the Industrial Authority,
but the Valdosta City and Lowndes County governments are in the
private prison deal just as deep.
Our Valdosta/Lowndes County site quickly became our primary due to its
local and regional workforce, collaboration of local leadership, site
characteristics, proximity to necessary services and infrastructure,
and accessibility to name a few.
So who is this local leadership?
We look forward to working closely with Valdosta/Lowndes leadership as we move forward in the months to come.
Finally, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a few folks that have been essential to the project:
No, not here (although the description might fit):
SPCA of Erie County, New York reported on the animal shelter in
neighboring Niagara County, New York.
Also the parts about “horrific” animal cruelty and
“excruciatingly painful” euthanasia may sound familiar.
In part of her report, Carr writes, “It’s clear that the NCSPCA is
dysfunctional in many ways. Without standard operating procedures,
without careful record keeping and record retrieval, without trust
of one another, without a clear chain or command, with any
strategies to improve, this organization will continue to disappoint
and enrage the community,”
She continues, “there is an overwhelming culture of distrust at the
shelter. Some staff distrust the Executive Director, the Executive
Director distrusts many of the board members, many board members
distrust the Executive Director and some staff and volunteers
distrust some staff and staff distrusts some volunteers. Everyone
seems to distrust someone associated with the SPCA. They gossip,
pass on written complaints about each other to one another, try to
get each other fired, go behind backs of one another to people in
authority and make complaints. The evaluation team has witnessed
this rather childish behavior at all levels of the organization, by
board members, the Executive Director, staff members, and
volunteers.”
Videos of last night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session @ LCC 2012 01 24
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
We still don’t know what the county is going to do about
that cost overrun for the Moody AFB gate.
Nobody said at the work session yesterday morning; maybe they’ll say
at the regular session tonight when they vote on a contract with
some sort of revised dollar figures in it.
County Manager Mike Fletcher waved around a copy of the revised
contract with Scruggs Company for the new Moody AFB gate,
but said he had not provided it to the Commissioners.
I wonder if they’ll see it before they vote tonight?
He said it was 226 pages long, but most of that was DOT boilerplate,
and only something like 20 pages was the actual county contract.
Seems like they could read that much by tonight.
So could we, the public, if it was somewhere we could see it.
He also didn’t say what happened to the
$128,497.05 cost overrun.
The Commissioners asked no questions.
Commission had not seen Moody AFB gate contract with Scruggs before Work Session @ LCC 2012 01 23
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 23 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
OK, the new camera and video conversion software are sorted out,
so here are videos of this morning’s work session on the same day.
Here’s
agenda.
More about specific items later, but meanwhile feel free to view ahead
and post your comments on what went on.
Videos of this morning’s LCC Work Session, 2012 Jan 23
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 23 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Quite a few people showed up at the Lowndes County Commission
public hearing about abandoning part of Bethany Road, speaking pro and con.
We learned many interesting reasons for abandoning that road,
which would apply to many dirt and maybe paved roads in the county,
many of which are on the county’s paving list.
More about that and an interesting view of the press in later posts.
First, here’s what we’re talking about.
Abandonment of a Portion of Bethany Road,
County Engineer, Mike Fletcher, presented a request by citizens for the
abandonment of a portion of Bethany Road. Mr. Fletcher explained that
the Commission was being asked to make an initial determination that
either the section of the county road system has been ceased to be used
by the public to the extent that no substantial purpose is served by it,
or that its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best
public interest. Mr. Fletcher added that once the initial determination
was made, staff would move forward with the appropriate advertising of
a public hearing at which time the Commission could make a final decision.
Here’s
video
in which County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the part of Bethany Road
to be abandoned runs from Bethany Drive down through the Stith
and Turner family properties towards Old US 41 North
as far as the Rykard property,
and that all residents would still have access out to other roads.
County Manager Joe Pritchard noted that
Continue reading →
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Staff presented the
agenda item
“7.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads”:
Lowndes County received
a $2M grant from the Federal Highway Administration
for construction of a new Moody AFB entrance gate,
the gate to be located located at the intersection of
Davidson and Roberts Roads.
$477,991 of this money has already been taken for the
railroad crossing improvements,
leaving a balance of $1.52 million.
The low bid is from Scruggs Company, $1,648,497.05.
Wait, what?
The low bid is for more than the funds available?
Surely somebody will explain that?
Nope, no discussion. Instead, Commissioner Crawford Powell said:
I’ll make a motion we approve the bid as presented by staff.
Commissioner Evans seconded, and they all voted for it.
Hey, what $128,497.05 discrepancy?
Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10 Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
If we look at the previous morning’s work session (9 January 2012),
we do find a bit more information.
The grant was presented as involving both the Federal Highway Administration
and Homeland Security, and:
Who is on the Tourism Authority Board, and why do they have
such rapid changeover in executive directors?
The Commissioners considered Monday 9 January and made Tuesday 10 January
three appointments to the Tourism Authority:
Commissioner Joyce Evans (reappointment),
Jerome “Andy” Anderson (reappointment),
and Greg Charbeneau apparently to replace
Linda Jenson (who had been appointed to fill a vacancy for ? Montgomery).
5.a. Valdosta/Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority
County Manager Joe Pritchard said at the Tuesday Regular Session that
Greg Charbeneau is a Vice President at Wild Adventures.
Here’s
video of that session:
3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 10
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
We learned a little more at the Monday Work Session, but not much.
Here’s
video:
3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 9
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Videos of 10 Jan 2012 LCC Regular Session
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Our Valdosta/Lowndes County site quickly became our primary due to its local and regional workforce, collaboration of local leadership, site characteristics, proximity to necessary services and infrastructure, and accessibility to name a few.
