Category Archives: Trash

Ways to fix the trash problem

I commend Commissioner John Page for his op-ed in the VDT today, attempting to do what no other Commissioner has tried: to explain the trash issue. Indeed, like him, most of the people I talked to while campaigning for Gretchen were for keeping the waste collection centers open, and of those the vast majority were willing to pay more, which is the main reason the previous Commission made a big mistake in closing those centers. Unfortunately his letter seems to indicate nothing can be done. Well, here are some things that can be done.

Let the contract lapse.

Commissioner Joyce Evans insisted on the contract with the sole provider being only for one year. Let it lapse after that year!

Publish the contract.

What’s in the contract? How do we even know it’s for only one year? The new Commission already had to do over a decision of the previous Commission (remove license fee from Sunday alcohol sales) because the ordinance written up afterwards wasn’t what they thought they passed. Publish the contract and let everyone see!

Publish an accounting for the waste collection sites.

Commissioner Page wrote:
The county was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year because the fees for the permits were not bringing in enough money to fully fund the sites.
How do we know that? Continue reading →

Hotchkiss Landing Road Closing, 3 rezonings, 3 contracts @ LCC 2013-02-11

Monday morning and voting Tuesday evening at the Lowndes County Commission, three rezonings, three contracts, and the proposed closing of the part of Old State Road leading to Hotchkiss Landing on the Alapaha River, with all its complications such as why did Code Enforcement do nothing about that road being blocked for many months? And why was there no public hearing sign on the road until (I hear) it suddenly appeared late yesterday?

Here’s the agenda. -jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Why did Lowndes County do nothing about a blocked public road?

Old State Road at the Alapaha River is a county-maintained public road. How could Lowndes County not have known that it was blocked by two huge blocks of concrete Seen by google earth 2012-01-24 at Hotchkiss Landing from late 2010 through at least early 2012? Why did Code Enforcement do nothing about it?

These blocks of concrete have to be quite heavy. This is not random litter, and no partier or hunter or 4-wheeler would have any motivation to block the road, much less with blocks this size. Who would? Why didn’t the county find out and do something about it?

-jsq

Public Notice for public hearing on abandoning part of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River

Why is there no sign on Old State Road about the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River like there was in 2010? There’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing.

NOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED

NOTICE OF PROPOSED
ROAD ABANDONMENT
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1) the Parcel 0259 030A Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has determined that a section of Old State Road (CR # 16) has ceased to be used by the public to the extent that no substantial purpose is served or by it that its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public interest. The section of Old State Road that is proposed for abandonment lies .85 miles to the east of Good Hope Road (CR # 126) and travels approximately .17 miles before termination at the Alapaha River.

YOU ARE ALSO HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to said Code section the 2009: canoeists taking out at that road Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for the purpose of determining whether to declare the subject section of the subject road abandoned. The public hearing will be at 5:30 P.M. on February 12, 2013, at the Lowndes County Administration Building located at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

Any citizen of Lowndes County or any person wherever residing may be heard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.

County Manager, Joseph D. Pritchard This 28th day of January, 2013.

Joseph D. Pritchard

County Manager

Lowndes County, Georgia

00046658

2/1,8/13

Note that last part: “or any person wherever residing may be heard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.” That means you do not have to be a citizen or resident or taxpayer of Lowndes County to speak at this public hearing.

There’s no public hearing sign on the affected portion of that road. Why is that? Here’s O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1):

Continue reading →

Petition the Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access

Seen Monday. -jsq

Lowndes County Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.

Petition by
April Huntley

This access to the Alapaha River is the only remaining public access within Lowndes County. It has great historical significance to the Naylor community. It continues to be used by boaters, fishermen and families for recreation.

To:
Lowndes County Commission
Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

The Commission decided 26 October 2010 to keep that road open but because they think they have new information have scheduled it for another public hearing and vote apparently at their next Regular Session, which is next Tuesday, 12 February 2013.

-jsq

Petition the Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers

Seen today; I’ve added some links. Yesterday I also saw (and signed) a paper version. -jsq

Lowndes County Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.

Petition by
April Huntley
Naylor, GA

The County is responsible for protecting the health and safety of the public. They have made decisions to close all the county dump sites and license one out of state waste collection company with little, if any public input. There is concern among citizens of more trash being on roadways, more expense on their part, being forced to pay for a service the county should provide and not having choice in collection companies which may put small business owners out of business while backing a large out of state company.

To:
Joyce Evans, District # 1 Commissioner
Richard Raines, District # 2 Commissioner
Crawford Powell, District # 3 Commissioner
Demarcus Marshall, District # 4 Commissioner
John Page, District # 5 Commissioner
Bill Slaughter, County Commission Chairman

Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Video, hearing about abandoning Old State Road at the Alapaha River @ LCC 2010-10-26

Here is video of the public hearing in which the Lowndes County Commission decided 26 October 2010 not to abandon a portion of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River. This is the same stretch of road that's scheduled for another such hearing in two weeks from tomorrow.

The camera aim is a bit erratic, and you can see why we hadn't already posted this video (which is actually several briefer videos pasted together with a few gaps). Yet you can clearly see, after Glenda Cofield and Steve Bays spoke against closing the road, someone else started speaking from the audience. Then Commissioner Joyce Evans asked those opposed to stand up, and many people did. You can see County Engineer Mike Fletcher in the background.

Presumably some of the people who stood were among the 450 people mentioned in the minutes:

Glenda Cofield, Mullins Lane, spoke against the request, and presented a petition submitted prior to the work session with the unverified signatures of 450 area residents included.

Why were the signatures still unverified if she submitted the petition before the work session of the previous day? Continue reading →

Public Hearing for Road Abandonment of Old State Road @ LCC 2010-10-26

In 2010, 450 people signed a petition to keep open the road leading to Hotchkiss Landing on the Alapaha River, according the Lowndes County Commission minutes for the 26 October 2010 Public Hearing.


Photograph by Brett Huntley.

Abandon a portion of Old State Road (CR 16), County Manager, Joe Pritchard, presented the road closure for consideration, adding that the engineering department had indicated twenty-five vehicles per day on the road. Glenda Cofield, Mullins Lane, spoke against the request, and presented

Continue reading →

Why must the small business owner be discarded? —Deep South Sanitation

Cary Scarborough, owner of a local sanitation business, previously asked the Commission not to grant a monopoly on waste collection. He was quoted in today’s VDT article, and he has elaborated on his company’s facebook page.

To the Commission, 13 November 2012:

Don’t do this to private enterprise, to an individual. If it’s done to me, it will get easier later down the road to do it to someone else.

In the VDT:

“I have not been told by the County that what I’m doing is illegal,” Scarborough said. “But I realize they’ve drawn up an ordinance, and they’re probably going to say that it’s illegal. If they come after me, I guess they have to come after me.”

Scarborough believes that if the citizens aren’t required to contract with Advanced Disposal, they are then allowed to choose.

“If the citizens can choose, why can’t they choose me?” he said.

On Deep South Sanitation’s public facebook page:

“REGARDING THE ISSUE OF THE TRASH ORDINANCE IN LOWNDES COUNTY”

Continue reading →

No choice on trash —”representatives from Lowndes County”

The VDT went deep under the Lowndes County government’s anonymous cover for an interview with “representatives” who confirmed that unincorporated residents have no choice for trash collection other than the monopoly the Commission granted to a company from New York City.

Jason Schaefer wrote on the front page of the VDT today, County trash ordinance goes into effect Friday: VDT has Q&A with county leadership about new law, burning,

VDT: Lowndes County has said residents aren’t required to sign a service contract with Advanced Disposal. What other services are there in the area, and do they include Deep South Sanitation in Valdosta?

LC: “According to the solid waste ordinance, Advanced Disposal will be the only residential hauler licensed to serve unincorporated Lowndes County. There’s been some confusion about trash collection service in the city. This ordinance is just for unincorporated Lowndes County, not for any of the cities.”

Maybe these were the same “representatives” who sent an unsigned letter saying there were 5,000 residents of unincorporated parts of Lowndes County who didn’t already have curbside service, and they have one choice now: the one-and-only county-appointed purveyor of waste bins. What could possibly go wrong?

Continue reading →