Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-22

Not on Lowndes County’s online calendar, the county already met with the five cities about SPLOST VIII:

On July 8, 2019, Lowndes County met with the cities of Valdosta, Hahira, Lake Park, Remerton and Dasher to officially call for SPLOST VIII. As a result, the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement between Lowndes County and the cities has been prepared for consideration. Once approved by Lowndes County, the agreement will be forwarded to the cities for consideration during a public meeting.

SPLOST VII pie by Lowndes County
Lowndes County on the previous SPLOST.

Will when and where for that upcoming “public meeting” be announced in advance? Where is “the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement”? Wednesday morning at 9:35 AM, I sent the county a Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) request for the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings. By a very generous interpretation of the three business days GORA permits to respond to such a request, time’s up this morning at 9:35 AM. So far, the county has not even acknowledged receipt of the request.

The Hospital Authority, over whom the county has so little authority it has to Continue reading →

Updated Packet: Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2019-05-14

Lowndes County did supply the items missing from the May 14 and 15, 2019 board packet, on 11 June 2019, and those items are now on the LAKE website.

[Letter]
Letter

LAKE looks forward to the county putting all these packet documents on the county’s own website, along with the agenda and agenda sheets.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Videos: Appointments to KLVB, ZBOA, Library board, three rezonings @ LCC 2019-07-08

Yesterday morning’s Work Session took eleven minutes. They vote this evening.

The three rezoning cases took the longest, simply due to time for Planning Technician Molly Stevenson to read them out. Only one Commissioner had one questions on one of them. Longest at 2 and a half minutes was 6c. REZ-2019-11 Stewart, 4151 Stewart Circle R-1 to C-H which is for establishing a new metal working business with rail access. Second at almost two minutes was 6a. REZ-2019-09 Mark Courson, 5761 Long Pond Rd. R-1 to R-10, which was for subdividing into two lots; this one had the quesion. Third at a minute and a half was 6b. REZ-2019-10 Ballard, Madison Hwy E-A to C-C and R-A for a boat repair service and a single residence.

None of the appointment candidates appeared. Surprisingly there were questions on two appointments, to Continue reading →

Appointments to KLVB, ZBOA, Library board, three rezonings @ LCC 2019-07-08

Update 2019-07-09: Videos.

On the Lowndes County Commission agenda for Monday and Tuesday, appointments to three boards, three rezonings, and a mystery agreement.

They have no candidates to replace Malinda Taylor on the Lowndes County Library Board. Paul Alvarado and John McCall want to be reappointed to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals. Gregory Powell apparently does not want to be reappointed, and Victoria O’Steen and Kelisa Brown have applied for Keep Lowndes Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB).

[Area map]
Area map

The rezoning cases are three from the preceding Planning Commission meeting; GLPC unanimously recommended approval of all three.

The mystery Agreement with Cornerstone is, according to the agenda sheet, a $96,000 ($8,000 / month) item:

As a part of Lowndes County’s ongoing support of Moody Air Force Base, the services of Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc. are being recommended. In addition to assistance with matters related to the Department of Defense, Continue reading →

Valdosta * 2, Remerton, Lowndes County * 3 @ GLPC 2019-06-24

Tonight at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, presumably REZ-2019-08 Knudson & Son Outdoor Activities will be skipped, since last month the Lowndes County Commission already decided that case, and ZBOA denied most of the applicants’ requested variances.

[Context map]
Context map

The only other big one (by acreage) tonight is REZ-2019-11 Stewart, 4151 Stewart Circle, 0072 001, ±12 ac., R-1 to C-H.

Here is the agenda.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, June 24, 2019 * 5:30 P.M.
Public Hearing, Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

Appointments to Parks and Rec and LCDFCSB, prisoners, DUI, courts, liftstation, budget, and bids @ LCC 2019-06-24

On the Lowndes County Commission agenda for discussion this morning and voting tomorrow evening, Dan Deaver wants to be reappointed to VLPRA, and Keith Jackson has also expressed interest in being appointed.

Dan Deaver
Linkedin profile: Dan Deaver

Lonnie Denton wants to be reappointed to the Lowndes County Division of Family and Children Services Board, and Tonya Davis and Keith Jackson are also interested.

There are two water items, the first of which is not obvious: Continue reading →

Videos: Knudson & Son Outdoor Activities, Sheriff, Intrusion Detection, Bids @ LCC 2019-06-10

The Naylor Boat Ramp should be finished in about two weeks.

Before they vote tonight at 5:30 PM, the Lowndes County Commission met in Regular Session yesterday morning, when tied for most time was the paintball-like game venue that was surprisingly contentious at the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA).

That rezoning tied for amount of time with Continue reading →

Budget Public Hearing @ LCC Budget 2019-06-11

If the Commissioners are so proud of their proposed budget, why do they make it so hard for the taxpayers and voters to see?

All we have on lowndescounty.com is Public Hearing on the Proposed FY 2020 Budget,

Date: June 11, 2019

Time: 5:00 PM

Location: Board of Commissioners
Administration Building

Address: 327 N. Ashley Street
2nd Floor
Valdosta, GA 31601


A slide from a 2011 Lowndes County budget presentation.
Maybe the proportions are the same this year; maybe they’re not; who can say?

See also the announcement of this June meeting in an unannounced May meeting. Back then Commissioners said the $108 million proposed budget includes a new litter collection division which they’re considering using to replace Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB).

Which is more than we know from the agenda of today’s budget meeting, because no agenda is posted.

The proposed budget is not on Continue reading →

Unannounced special session on budget and litter @ LCC 2019-05-29

The Lowndes County Commission said there will be a public hearing on their proposed $108 million budget at 5PM, Tuesday, June 11, 2019 (today). That public hearing is on the county’s online calendar. They also said the budget included a new trash collection division, and they were considering using that to replace Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB).

But the meeting at which that Tuesday Budget Public Hearing was announced, which was some time Wednesday afternoon, May 29, 2019, is nowhere on lowndescounty.com that I can find, not in the calendar, news, or agendas, and they said nothing about it the previous day in their Work Session and Regular Session, both on that Tuesday. Also, I received no notification of the Wednesday meeting, even though I’m signed up for such things. We only know of it because of Continue reading →

Videos: 2 appointments, Tower, GDOT Utilities, various agreements @ LCC Regular 2019-05-28

Animal welfare was the topic of the one Citizen wished to be Heard: Ed Barr, a former VSU faculty member, who said he spoke for a group of people who want a better-designed animal shelter, with better accessibility, as in closer to a residential area, or maybe redesigned like Miss Kitty Feline Sanctuary in Thomasville; he never said quite what features that meant.

The Regular Session was double-booked at the same time as the Planning Commission, so Gretchen went to the Planning Commission. The county’s own video was not available yesterday, but it appeared after I inquired.

They appointed Continue reading →