Category Archives: SPLOST

Secret meeting of Lowndes County Commission and state reps @ LCC 2013-12-20

Dexter Sharper (District 177) The VDT report doesn’t say when or where, and doesn’t say whether Dexter Sharper (District 177) wasn’t invited or chose not to attend.

There’s nothing about this meeting in the online agendas or calendar, even though that calendar lists Pictures with Santa at the Historical Courthouse (12/19/2013).

There is this undated public notice with no agenda:

Paige Dukes, Lowndes County Clerk The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will meet with members of Lowndes County’s Legislative Delegation on Friday, December 20, 2013, at 4:00 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Conference Room located on the 3rd floor of the Judicial-Administrative Complex, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

K. Paige Dukes, County Clerk

pdukes@lowndescounty.com 229-671-2400

Tim Golden (District 8) Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 22 December 2013, Commissioners host local delegation, oddly omitting the when and where and much of the why from the traditional who, what, when, where, and why of journalism.

Amy Carter (District 175) The Lowndes County Commission hosted Continue reading →

Maybe county should check its work about other budgets @ LCC 2013-11-14

Who’s responsible for the recent partiality in budget reports? The newspaper, or its source of information, namely the county government at its secretive retreat on the Chairman’s private property that even the VDT reporter had trouble finding?

When the Coroner and the Sheriff (often at odds lately) agree that the VDT’s version of the county government’s remarks about their budgets was at best partial, where is the source of that partiality? Who’s responsible for budgeting for the county, reporter Matthew or editor Kay Harris or Dean Poling? Or is it the local government our taxes pay to do that job, namely the Lowndes County Commission and its staff, which is managed by County Manager Joe Pritchard?

Maybe somebody down at the county palace should, as Gretchen suggested recently, “check our work”.

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Coroner responds to County Commission about budget @ LCC 2013-11-14

Like the Sheriff, the Coroner reports that something’s rotten in the Lowndes County Commission and staff’s version of his budget.

Dean Poling write for the VDT today, Coroner responds to county budget issues,

Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson explained Friday that comments calling him one of the county budget’s “worst offenders” did not explain why his office’s expenses change from year to year.

“I have no control over the number of people that dies each year,” Watson told The Times, “and I have to fund the transportation for autopsies. Any time there is an autopsy, it costs my office about $750.”

These costs include Continue reading →

Sheriff responds to County Commission about budget @ LCC 2013-11-14

LTE in the VDT today. -jsq

Sheriff’s Response to “budget woes”

The Sheriff’s Office has received a lot of criticism in the last several months. It appears to be the fashionable thing these days and an easy target. Sheriff Prine did not receive an invitation to the Chairman’s personal property for a review of the county’s budget and criticism of the Sheriff’s budget in particular. There are some facts that have not been reported by the Valdosta Daily Times, which may or may not have been provided.

First it should be noted that the Sheriff’s Office general fund budget was reduced from last year’s budget by $171,306. This was before another $130,492 was taken away in August as a result of shift in traffic citation processing responsibilities to the Clerk’s Office.

A closer look at some of the specific line items targeted for criticism will show Continue reading →

Videos: Budget, SPLOST, and 2014 Planning @ LCC 2013-11-14

They detailed spending by the Sheriff and the Coroner, yet never seemed to say how much the Commission itself has spent sueing a local business. And what was that executive session about? Doesn’t Georgia Open Meetings Law say they have to say what it’s for?

Here’s the agenda. See also County discusses budget woes: Sheriff’s department, coroner are ‘worst offenders’, by Matthew Woody, VDT, 15 November 2013.

Here’s a video playlist for the entire Lowndes County Commission Retreat Work Session.


Videos: Budget, SPLOST, and 2014 Planning
Retreat Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 November 2013.

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Annual Retreat Work Session @ LCC 2013-11-14

It’s 9AM: do you know where your County Commission is? They’re at Chairman Bill Slaughter’s house, having what finally got billed as an “Annual Retreat Work Session”. Why so secretive, Commissioners?

Crawford Powell (District 3), Joyce Evans (District 1), Richard Raines (District 2), Stephanie Black (Finance Director), Joe Pritchard (County Manager), Bill Slaughter (Chairman), Paige Dukes (County Clerk), John Page (District 5), Demarcus Marshall (District 4)

At the start time of 8:30 AM, nobody was observing except Jody Hall (GLPC) and Gretchen Quarterman (LAKE). The VDT reporter arrived at 8:59 AM. Here’s the agenda, with picture taken by Gretchen of copy posted on door. The online copy is not in the usual agenda page, rather it’s hanging off a special entry in the calendar.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Annual Retreat Work Session
November 14, 2013
6926 Simpson Road, Hahira, Georgia
Continue reading →

All the rest of you are new –Sidney Blanton on SPLOST @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen expressed concerns about lack of transparency in SPLOST, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. He remarked that Commissioner Joyce Evans was the only one he knew, all the rest were new.

He said he would also talk to the Valdosta City Council that Thursday. (Later I told him they had cancelled that meeting due to lack of agenda items; he did speak at the following Valdosta City Council meeting.) He said he wanted the city to say the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant was their first priority, and he attested that when he used to crop tobacco on that site it was underwater then when it flooded.

He especially didn’t like that the county didn’t list what projects it was going to fund with SPLOST. I agree with him about that part.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Videos: Pipeline, health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-22

The big event was that citizens speaking about the pipeline got four of five Commissioners to come down and listen afterwards. And in a surprise addition to the agenda D.A. J. David Miller asked for and got approval for a victim assistance program. All this and insurance plan, health plan, a road closing, a grant proposal to renovate the Library (did the Commissioners get the whole board packet this time?) and let’s not forget a special performance on fire by Chairman Bill Slaughter, plus apparently the County Commission is in charge of rain like it’s in charge of alcohol.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos, and a few notes. See also the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Early Election returns

So far, according to Lowndes County’s online election results, SPLOST is winning more than 2 to 1, while Bruce Cain and Rose Adams are neck-and-neck for a plurality for Mayor in Hahira with incumbent Wayne Bullard a distant third and Johnny L. Stalvey trailing. Kenneth Davis is way ahead of Traci Selph Davis for Hahira City Council District 2.

In Lake Park, it looks like Bert Rutland is going to make it onto the council this time, while Eric Schindler will remain Mayor.

For Valdosta City Council, incumbents Alvin Payton (District 4) and Robert Yost (District 6) are leading, as is Sandra J. Tooley (District 2), although not by as wide a margin.

For Valdosta School Board, Lizzie Shumphard (District 2) is way in the lead, incumbent Vanassa Flucas (District 2) is even farther ahead, and incumbent Warren Sweet Lee (District 3) is sailing in unopposed.

Apparently some results in Valdosta are still coming in: Continue reading →

VDT video interview of Deb Cox on Lowndes County elections

Kristin Finney for VDT 1 November 2013, Video: Upcoming Elections,

Reporter Kristin Finney speaks with the Deborah Cox, the Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections, about the elections being held Tuesday, Nov. 5. For more information about this year’s elections, please contact the Lowndes County Board of Elections office at (229) 671-2850.

And it’s a video interview!

If the VDT can YouTube, who knows? even the Valdosta City Council could, and yes, yes, even the Lowndes County Commission….

See also Where’s your polling place in Lowndes County? 2013-11-05.

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