Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Guess what you missed: Lowndes County Budget Hearing

Asking the full Commission and staff in a public meeting wasn’t enough to get an alert on the budget meeting that was held Tuesday:

Lowndes County Budget Meeting (6/17/2014)

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
327 N. Ashley St – Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor Administration Building
Valdosta, GA
5:30 p.m.

Apparently everyone is really supposed to watch the county’s website every day. They did send email to department heads about that meeting. They could have also sent that to interested parties. But they didn’t. And almost nobody showed up.

There’s another one Tuesday: Continue reading →

Videos: appointments, well, events, annexation @ LCC 2014-06-09

They vote tonight on their opaque selection of auditing services and to buy an unnamed firewall replacement among other things for unknown amounts not revealed in yesterday morning’s Work Session. Maybe somebody should bring that up at the not-yet-scheduled county Budget Hearings. They will also vote on their Luke Bryan musical neighbor balancing act and on reappointing Lonnie Denton for a sixth five-year term to the Lowndes Division of Family and Children Services (he will speak tonight) and reappointing Willie Houseal and Gretchen Quarterman each to a third three-year term to the ZBOA (they spoke yesterday morning as you can see in these videos). Also Public Hearings for well and septic and a special events change to the ULDC. The Hahira annexation recommended against by the Planning Commission is still waiting for signatures from the applicants under For Consideration, along with a request from Finance to declare items surplus and several purchase requests from Finance and IT.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. See also the videos of the 27 May 2014 Planning Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos: Against Hahira annexation, for 2 county and 4 Valdosta @ GLPC 2014-05-27

Almost unanimous against the Hahira rezoning and annexation, even though the reduction from 66.1 to 58.09 acres was to exclude Hagen Bridge Road and obviate the paving issue. A county ULDC amendment request for Special Events and such and a Valdosta LDR amendment request. A county rezoning to agricultural and three Valdosta use changes: daycare, fraternity, and commercial office.

Here’s the agenda, with some notes and links to the videos.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue

Tuesday, May 27, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

Lowndes millage rate still low compared to other counties

What’s the county’s current millage, and how does it compare to other counties? Indeed county employees are mostly underpaid, but are none overpaid? And where’s that employee compensation study the county paid for? Three curious omissions in an otherwise excellent VDT story.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 28 May 2014, Lowndes County weighs tax increase,

Lowndes County Commission weighed the likelihood of raising the millage rate Tuesday — the first such tax increase in 15 years.

During the past few years, Continue reading →

Reappointments and no annexation in Regular Session @ LCC 2014-05-27 @ LCC 2014-05-27

The Hahira Annexation request was actually heard at the Planning Commission meeting that started at the same time. All the incumbents were reappointed to the Hospital Authority and the shadowy Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Both the road abandonments were approved, of Old Statenville Road and of Excess Right of Way on James Road and Riverside Road. All that plus a GEMA Sheltering Memorandum of Agreement and a beer license, plus Poll Manager Recognition.

The blank page Budget Session was at 9:30 AM after the Work Session, all the same day as this Regular Session. See also my question about Budget Public Hearings.

Here’s the agenda. See the videos from the Work Session of the same morning and the videos from the previous Regular Session of May 13th for context on the Public Hearings and on the James Road Subsidence.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

When are the two Budget Public Hearings? –John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2014-05-27

We can’t see the draft budget before the Public Hearings, said the Chairman, answering my question after the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session of 27 May 2014.

When are the 2 Budget Public Hearings? CWTBH --John S. Quarterman

Video. After congratulating the Chairman on recognizing the poll workers, Crawford Powell for recusing himself on an appointment of himself, and the Commission for the recent Budget Sessions, I asked:

  1. When are the two Public Hearings required by state law before adoption of the budget?
  2. When is the second Budget Session mentioned in the Budget Session held earlier that same day?
  3. Where is the draft budget on the county’s website so the public can see it before the public hearings?

Chairman Bill Slaughter’s answers to me after the meeting adjourned: Continue reading →

Three appointments, a well, special events, and an annexation @ LCC 2014-06-09

An appointment to the Lowndes Division of Family and Children Services and two to ZBOA. Public hearings for well and septic and a special events change to the ULDC. The Hahira annexation recommended against by the Planning Commission is under For Consideration, along with a request to declare items surplus and several purchase requests.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Courthouse Preservation Committee Meetings

At different times of day so people with different work schedules can attend, and actually asking for suggestions: you can tell these meetings were organized by Judge McClane, not by the Lowndes County Commission.

Update 2015-03-21: Videos of Hearing 1, 9 June 2014, videos of Hearing 2, 10 June 2014, videos of Hearing 3, 12 June 2014, and Committee Report 12 January 2015.

On the county’s front page:

The Lowndes County Historical Courthouse Preservation Committee will host a series of public input meetings, beginning next week. The meetings are being held in an effort to gather any ideas citizens may have regarding possible future uses for the historic Lowndes County Courthouse. Once the information is gathered, the committee will present their recommendations to the Board of Commissioners. Next week’s meeting schedule is as follows: Monday, June 9, 6:00 p.m.; Tuesday, June 10, 3:00 p.m.; Thursday, June 12, 1:00 p.m. All meetings will be held in Commission Chambers, Lowndes County Administrative Building, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta. For more information, please contact Amanda Smith, at 229-671-2400 or asmith@lowndescounty.com.

These meetings are also listed in the county’s calendar, but if you click on any of them you get a blank page.

The VDT has more details today, Continue reading →

A Suwannee County Commissioner publishes agenda packets

Commissioner Ricky Gamble publishes the entire agenda packets even though the Suwannee County Commission does not.

Suwannee County itself publishes the basic agenda, such as the current one for 3 June 2014, and so does the Suwannee County Democrat.

That newspaper also for the agenda packet links to Commissioner Ricky Gamble’s website, which has a page with Commission agendas, including Continue reading →

First of two public meetings on the budget @ LCC Budget 2014-05-27

Chairman Bill Slaughter started this morning’s budget session as “the first of our two public meetings on the budget before that budget will be adopted; basically a work session to go over the budget.” Does that mean it is a Public Hearing? If so, why do the county’s front page and calendar link to a blank page for a “Budget Session”, and there’s no Public Notice, even though there were Public Notices for the two road abandonments on the agenda for the Work Session and Regular Session? How can it be a Public Hearing if it’s not announced as such and the public doesn’t know about it? Gretchen says that near the end they clarified that this was not a Public Hearing, and there would be two actual Public Hearings before the budget was adopted, although when is still a mystery.

Here’s a video playlist, followed by links to the individual videos. There are no links to an agenda, because the county didn’t publish an agenda, nor a draft budget.

Continue reading →