Category Archives: Transparency

Videos: Appoint another Tax Assessor, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC Work 2024-01-22

Update 2024-01-24: Videos: Tax Assessor appointed, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC Regular 2024-01-23.

They’re not actually appointing a successor for James Puckett, whose term expired. They’re appointing a Tax Assessor to fill the unexpired term of Gene Felts. At the Regular Session Monday morning, Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes clarified that Gene Felts was picked at the last meeting (2024-01-08) and he was sworn in on 2024-01-10 however he then resigned for personal reasons.

We the taxpayers and voters still do not get to see the applications, which are not in this board packet, either. This time the County Manager did not even read out the names of the remaining applicants.

Maybe somebody should tell the appointees that substantial hours of training are required after being appointed.

They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

Collage @ LCC Work 22 January 2024

About the Cornerstone state and federal lobbying contract, the County Manager said they were concerned about SB 349. Continue reading →

Packet: Appoint another Tax Assessor, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC 2024-01-22

Update 2024-01-23: Videos: Appoint another Tax Assessor, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC Work 2024-01-22.

The Lowndes County Commission will try again to appoint a Tax Assessor to succeed James Puckett for a three-year term. The board packet does not mention that they did this two weeks ago, but Gene Felts resigned after being sworn in but before his first Tax Assessors meeting. Maybe somebody should tell the appointees that substantial hours of training are required after being appointed.

And we the taxpayers and voters still do not get to see the applications, which are not in this board packet, either.

Collage, Lowndes County Commission Board Packet 2024-01-22

The rest of the agenda is annual renewals, except for the InfoSend contract to outsource billing.

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2024, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos: 3 Tax Assessors appointed, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Regular 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20: Packet: Appoint another Tax Assessor, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC 2024-01-22.

Two weeks ago the Lowndes County Commission appointed three new Tax Assessors: Gene Felts and Thomas Reed to 3-year terms and Sandra D.S.Jones to the 4-year term. Gene Felts resigned two days later, after being sworn in but before his first Tax Assessors Meeting. They still have 12 – 3 = 9 applicants to choose from. Maybe somebody should tell them they have to take substantial hours of training after being appointed.

We the taxpayers and voters still haven’t seen the applications, which were not in that board packet. At least the appointees did show up at the meeting.

Gretchen took these LAKE videos with her iPhone. The LAKE camera is old and tired and refused to function. If anyone wants to donate so we can get a new video camera, that would be wonderful.

The added agenda item, 6.f. 412-416 North Lee Street Purchase, was apparently the result of the Executive Session in the same morning’s Work Session.

The Commissioners unanimously approved everything else with little discussion.

There was a weather report by EMA Director Ashley Tye.

Collage @ LCC Regular 8 January 2024

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few comments by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Videos: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Work 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20: Videos: 3 Tax Assessors appointed, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Regular 2024-01-08.

Even the County Commissioners did not get to see the applications of those who applied to be Tax Assessors; not unless they trouped upstairs and asked the County Clerk.

County Manager Paige Dukes read off the dozen names of applicants and added, “Ms. Lovern has their appointment sheets in her office.” Commissioner and Vice Chair Demarcus Marshall said he wanted to see their appplications; he noted Amy Carter is a former state legislator. Chairman Bill Slaughter said “Certainly if you would like to look at those applications, you’ve got those that you can go through.” He did offer to ask Ms. Lovern to call the applicants and ask them to show up at the Regular Session.

Why the secrecy is mysterious. So far as I know, they’re the same application forms everybody fills out to apply for any board or authority. They contain the same kind of information people put on LinkedIn or even facebook, and they are usually included in the board packet, but not this time.

The County Manager said two of the Tax Assessors posts will be 3-year terms, and the third will be a 4-year term, to keep terms staggered.

Collage @ LCC 8 January 2024

The new Vice Chair of the Lowndes County Commission is Demarcus Marshall. Chairman Bill Slaughter thanked Mark Wisenbaker for doing that for the past year, presiding at meetings when the Chair was absent.

Demarcus Marshall wanted to know Continue reading →

Packet: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20: LAKE videos of the Work Session 2024-01-08.

The board packet for last week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings does not include any further information about the dozen applicants to be Tax Assessors beyond their names that were in the agenda.

This is odd, since for every other board or authority, application sheets are usually included in the board packet.

We do learn what roads the county plans to resurface with the LMIG grant. Also confirmation in writing that $123,523.13 is the amount of the required 10% LMIG match.

Collage @ LCC Packet 2024-01-08

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

Colquitt EMC, Conference Center, 2 rezonings, 2 water, HVAC, Solar, Controls @ LCC Packet 2023-10-09

Update 2023-10-15: GT’s Wrecker Service rezoning denied @ LCC Regular 2023-10-10.

The HVAC agreement includes 38 pages of covered buildings and rooms within them, ranging from several sites in Hahira to the wastewater treatment plant near the GA-FL line.

The materials received from Lowndes County in response to an open records request are on the LAKE website. Lowndes County says they sent the packet Saturday. It did not appear in LAKE’s email then, so apparently there was some sort of transmission error. In any case it is here now.

It will be easier for everyone when Lowndes County starts putting its board packets on its own websites, like many counties larger and smaller in Georgia and Florida have been doing for years.

Colquitt EMC, Conference Center, 2 rezonings, 2 water, HVAC, Solar, Controls @ LCC Agenda 2023-10-09

Update 2023-10-10: Videos: Colquitt EMC, Conference Center, 2 rezonings, 2 water, HVAC, Solar, Controls @ LCC Work 2023-10-09.

Despite four working days to do it, more than the three days allowed by the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA), Lowndes County has not returned the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings.

However, most of the materials for the two rezonings will probably be similar to what the county put in the preceding Planning Commission packet.

They also plan to spend a third of a million dollars, most of it on heating and air conditioning maintenance. The agenda sheet says, “Attached in your packet is an equipment list for each building to be maintained.”

But we the taxpayers don’t get to see that list, because the county does not publish its own board packets and, despite the state open records law, has not returned it so LAKE can publish it.

Cost	What
$255,029.00	HVAC Maintenance Agreement
$24,825.00	Joint Funding Agreement with USGS for Stream Gauge Maintenance
$23,370.00	Water Treatment Agreement
$0.00	Solar Panel Maintenance Agreement
$0.00	Quarterly Controls Inspection Agreement
$303,224.00	Total

Collage @ LCC Agenda 2023-10-09

Here is the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Packet: Golf carts, mental health, wetland credits, regional transit, Lift Station and Fire Station Access Roads, 2 TIA Road Bids @ LCC 2023-09-25

Update 2023-09-10: Videos: Hurricane assistance, Golf carts, mental health, wetland credits, regional transit, Lift Station and Fire Station Access Roads, 2 TIA Road Bids @ LCC Regular 2023-09-26

It turns out the board packet for today’s Lowndes County Commission meeting contained little or nothing beyond the one-page agenda sheets for the four Bid items.

Collage, LCC Packet, 2023-09-25

So you actually learn more about those items from the LAKE post with the agenda and bid documents.

In the Minutes for the Work Session of September 11 and for the Regular Session of September 12, about REZ-2023-04 Chase, 6119 Quarterman Road, the LAKE letter is only alluded to as “a report from the opposition” in this passage: Continue reading →

Packet: the 2 Lowndes County Cases @ GLPC 2023-09-25

About the time I posted the agenda and the four Valdosta City cases and moved on to other tasks, the packet materials arrived for the two Lowndes County cases for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting tonight, and the draft minutes for last month’s GLPC meeting.

Collage of the two Lowndes County cases @ GLPC 2023-09-25

While the delay was primarily due to me forgetting to send in an open records request until Sunday. Nonetheless, it is mysterious why Lowndes County does not put GLPC board packets on lowndescounty.com along with the agendas, and the same for Lowndes County Commission board packets. Many counties and cities smaller and larger in Georgia and Florida have been doing that for years.

These additional materials are on the LAKE website.

Main Valdosta Post Office power problem

The main Post Office on Inner Perimeter in Valdosta is mostly closed. You can pick up envelopes from the shelves, get postage from a kiosk, and mail things through slots. That’s about it.

USPS sign, tree contractor

More lingering results of Hurricane Idalia.

The tree contractor is an example of why. Many trees are still down on power and telephone lines.

-jsq

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange