Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

LAKE in the VDT @ LCC 2014-11-21

First time ever the VDT mentioned LAKE, so far as I can recall.
And we’ll see if the new VDT editor’s honeyed approach works this
time with the Lowndes County Commission.

Joe Adgie, VDT, 23 November 2014,

Watchdogs use open government laws to the fullest,

Not everyone at the

Open Government Symposium on Friday were
affiliated with a government.

Some of them, like John and Gretchen Quarterman, serve as watchdogs
for the government. These watchdogs attend the open, public meetings
held by governing bodies, acquire the documents and records of these
meetings and other governmental affairs, and serve to make sure our
local governments behave like they should.

The Quartermans run the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), a
repository of Continue reading →

Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M @ GLPC 2014-11-24

Thanks to the City of Valdosta for the
agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting.
It’s all small cases, but how would you know whether one of them
might affect you, since Lowndes County still doesn’t post Planning Commission
agendas or minutes or board packets?
And is there a second page?
If the county did post these agendas regularly on their own website,
this sort of omission would be less likely to occur.

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

Monday, November 24, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

Volunteers for Lowndes County Board of Equalization

Update 2014-11-21:
Brad Shealy from the District Attorney’s office called back.
The reason there was no decision at day before yesterday’s
Grand Jury meeting was there were no applicants.
He said qualifications include you must be 18, a high school
graduate, and a property owner, presumably meaning real estate.
Plus you have to go to Tifton or Athens for a 40 hour course.
Which he said is better than it used to be when the only
location for the course was Athens: Tifton is close enough
to drive up and back daily.
If you want to serve, please contact the Clerk of Court
(see below for her number).

When will new members be appointed to the Board of Equalization,
who are the candidates, and how are people to know?
Maybe you’d like to volunteer.
If so, send your resume to the Clerk of Court (not the County Clerk).
Apparently you have about two weeks.

As public comment on

facebook by Becky Vaughn Herndon today:

Lowndes County is looking for volunteers to be members of the Board
of Equalization (BOE). The purpose of the BOE is to hear property
tax disputes between the Lowndes County Board of Assessors (BOA) and
property owners. The board must not be biased towards the Lowndes
County Assessor’s office or the taxpayer. It hears evidence from
both sides and decides, based on the evidence presented, what the
value of the contested property should be. The board may:

Find the Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2014-11-11

Here is the

board packet for the
11 November 2014 Regular Session
and
10 November 2014 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Although the County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper
and only in black and white, we got via CD-ROM color maps for

REZ-2014-17 Grand Bay Estates
and
REZ-2014-18 White
from County Planner Jason Davenport in response to a separate Open Records Request.
The request to the County Clerk also asked for
electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.

But who can say?
Perhaps things will be different after

the Open Government Symposium this Friday, 21 November 2014.

Meanwhile, I have already filed an Open Records Request for the board packet
for the next County Commission meeting, which is in December.

-jsq

Open Government Symposium @ LCC 2014-11-21

Not the Onion: VDT front page Saturday 15 November 2014,

County plans open government meeting Friday,

VALDOSTA — An Open Government Symposium this Friday in
Valdosta will be hosted by the Lowndes County Board of
Commissioners.

Valdosta Daily Times Editor Jim Zachary, director of the
Transparency Project of Georgia, will be joined by Hollie Manheimer,
executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, for
the open government training event.

Lowndes County leaders approached Zachary and Manheimer about
bringing the symposium to Valdosta after they attended the first in
a statewide series of open government training sessions held in
Macon at the Center for Collaborative Journalism Oct. 17.

The article noted that Commissioner Clay Griner was among the
attendees at

the previous symposium in Macon
and had asked for this local meeting.

All the events are Continue reading →

Pass a resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline –Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-11-11

Repeat speaker Dr. Michael Noll asked the Commissioners
to do what Dougherty County has done and pass a resolution
against the unnecessary and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline,
in

the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Video.
Like the previous speaker,
Dr. Noll asked everyone there about this topic to stand up,
and about 30 people did. Continue reading →

People are concerned and you have a voice –Robbie Dixon @ LCC 2014-11-11

A first-time speaker against the Sabal Trail pipeline
demonstrated there was opposition and reminded us all we have
a voice, and asked the Lowndes County Commission to speak up as well,
in

the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Video.
Robbie Dixon
said he had been approached by their contractors asking to reroute
the pipeline onto his property, which would take about half his property.
He asked anybody in the audience who was there about Sabal Trail
to stand up. About 30 people did.
He said he did that because
there are a lot of rumors that only a few people were concerned.
He said there was no local benefit to landowners,
and any potential tax benefit to the county shouldn’t
be considered without consideration of the ill effects to landowners. Continue reading →

Agriculture or residential: Whitewater compromise @ LCC 2014-11-11

The county staff and Commission listened at length to opponents and proponents
of a rezoning back to agriculture with no conditions, and came up with
a compromise,
in

the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
It’s curious to me that people are more concerned about a few cows
of very minimal effect, rather
than about

a yard-wide pipeline that could adversely affect the whole county.

7.b. Public Hearing REZ-2014-18 White, Whitewater Rd

Video.
Here’s the
board packet item,
thanks to County Planner Jason Davenport in response to an open records request.
In response to a question from Commissioner Demarcus Marshall he said he though

the Planning Commission 6 to 0 recommendation for denial
would have been different if Continue reading →

Why should we let this foreign corporation, Sabal Trail, run roughshod over us? –Jim Parker @ LCC 2014-11-11

“Why do we have to kneel before their wishes? How is it that a single foreign corporation can have greater power and say than the hundreds of property owners and their supporters?” asked Jim Parker
in

the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Continue reading →

Videos: Pipeline, agriculture, lighting, appointments, and parks @ LCC 2014-11-11

Update 2014-11-17: board packet.

Three

citizens

spoke

against
the unnecessary and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
Several Commissioners even spoke up in

Other Business,
turning it into de facto Commisioner Comments.
But none of them called for a resolution or ordinance against the pipeline.

The

subdivision rezoning
still got no objections,
while the

rezoning for agricultural use
got massive objections and a compromise solution.

The

emergency security monitor replacement
is, you guessed it, Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange