Category Archives: Trash

Commissioners panic about trash at undisclosed location @ LCC 2012 03 31

The Lowndes County Commission continues to hide when it talks about waste disposal. The VDT got slightly more specific about the undisclosed location of the Lowndes County Commission Retreat, and much more specific about what they were doing, yet according to state law their minutes need to be still more specific. And it’s not clear why they’re panicking about waste disposal when the deficit on that public good has come down rapidly in recent years.

David Rodock wrote for the VDT Saturday, Commission tackles key issues: Waste management, tax lighting districts and SPLOST discussed at retreat,

Commissioners and staff from Lowndes County buckled down Friday at Chairman Ashley Paulk’s guest home to address issues such as waste management, special tax lighting districts, SPLOST negotiations and necessary expenditures for equipment and staff.

A LAKE roving reporter (not me) observed many vehicles at Shiloh Farms’ recent acquisition in Berrien County on the north side of GA 122 a bit east of Old Valdosta Road (Cat Creek Road), so that seems likely the undisclosed location.

By the end of the afternoon, Commissioners made decisions on a few key issues.

It’s good to hear our elected representatives were working, even though they do not appear to have followed state law about this open meeting. And we can look forward to the names of which of them voted for each decision, according to the recent Georgia Supreme Court decision.

Here’s one thing they were working on:
Solid waste management, which is currently handled with collection centers, has run at a deficit of over $300,000.

That’s less than the deficit it was running last time (23 May 2011) the Commission had a meeting at an undisclosed location with no agenda where they talked about waste disposal. According to David Rock in the VDT 24 May 2011, Commissioners want Lowndes out of the trash business,

In total, the county is currently spending $782,058.34 each year for solid waste disposal, a reduction from $1,176,207.75 in 2007.

So that’s a rapid reduction in cost to less than a third of what it used to be, and less than half of what it was only a year ago. Back to Saturday’s VDT report:

County manager Joe Pritchard assured them the budget was in better shape than last year.

So why are they panicking about waste disposal?

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Complaint #1 @ Hahira Ethics Commission, 12 January 2012

Here are videos of the Hahira Ethics Commission (HEC) on 12 January 2012 considering complaint #1 against Mayor Wayne Bullard:
1.) In 2010 permission was given by Bullard to Allgreen, the mayor’s employer, to store Allgreen equipment on city property, 6571 Union Road Dumpsite, without bringing the issue before the City Council.
HEC decided that while he shouldn’t have done it, the Hahira City Council already met on that subject and he already agreed not to do it again, so there was nothing more for the ethics commission to do on that complaint, although the City Council could take it up again if it wanted to.

Regarding the other two complaints, at the insistence of the complainant, Clay Tilman, that he had further evidence to present, Commissioner Marilyn Dye made a motion to consider the other two items in a following session.; the commission agreed to do that: they’ll meet again today, 19 January 2012, at 5:30 PM. Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the substance of the complaints.

Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the 12 Jan meeting, with this Kafkaesque moment: Continue reading →

Hahira City Council tonight

Tonight, 7:30 PM at the Hahira Courthouse, is the regular meeting of the Hahira City Council.

Rumor has it they had a, uh, polite discussion about waste disposal at their work session Monday and they will make some sort of decision about that tonight.

I would post the agenda if it was online, but it’s not. They do have minutes online, but the most recent ones are from April.

-jsq

Hahira City Council Meeting —Barbara Stratton 4 August 2011

Received today, and I saw the owl chortling with glee at the prospect of reports on another local council. -jsq
The LAKE blog has been doing an excellent job of publishing what is happening in various Valdosta and Lowndes County public meetings. I have been attending the Hahira City Council meetings for several months now and decided I would start posting a monthly blog summary of council meetings so Hahira residents will be aware of what is happening in their city. This is not intended to be an official documentation and citizens should depend on the official meeting minutes and/or discuss issues with city officials.

It was announced that a hearing had been advertised to discuss changing the millage rate for the city and it was decided the mileage rate would remain the same with no increase.

The review of bills/budget overages were approved by the council.

Addendum to the summary – Per history records, on Feb. 15, 2011 the Valdosta Daily Times printed an article about a special meeting of concerned citizens and Hahira city officials which discussed several agenda items relating to the city’s trash services. During the meeting citizens were not allowed to speak. Mayer Wayne Bullard recused himself after stating he was employed by All Green Services which could be a

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Lowndes County isn’t the only one with a trash problem

Curbside pick up for $196 per year. Mandatory.

Jerry Askin wrote for WCTV 2 August 2011, Wakulla County Soon To Have Mandatory Curbside Trash Pickup? Folks in Wakulla County could soon be forced to pay mandatory fees for curbside trash pickup.

“It’s going to provide our residents a way to easily dispose of their garbage. And it will provide recycling opportunities for the citizens of Wakulla County,” says Wakulla County Commissioner Alan Brock.

“I personally don’t want to spend the expense of having

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Got trash? Need disposal? Good luck.

So, as David Rodock reported this morning in the VDT solid waste management was a discussion topic for Lowndes County Commissioners, even though it wasn’t on yesterday’s work session agenda.

Interesting that a meeting was held after the work session. I was at the work session, camera in hand, and you can see what transpired there with talk of the jail , the possibility of Sunday alcohol package sales, oh and the animal shelter all during the County Manager’s Reports.

Nothing has been said (in public) about solid waste disposal since the public meetings where the pubic was told by Chairman Rod Casey and County Manager Pritchard that the county staff had “examined every option” and there was nothing that the public could possibly suggest that hadn’t already been considered.

The proposed plan (VDT Article August 29, 2008 Lowndes County’s proposed solid waste plan in effect Jan 1) was basically curbside collection (where no vendor could meet the proposed price cap suggested by the county) and what we ended up with was pay for drop off permits (VDT Article May 13, 2009 Solid waste disposal permits now available).

Joe Pritchard remembers those meetings like this (Update 25 Sept 2013 to add reference, “Commissioners want Lowndes out of the trash business” by David Rodock in the VDT 24 May 2011):

“I went through eight public meetings, better described as floggings, where the public just vented every ounce of frustration they ever had relating to solid waste over that time period,” said Joe Pritchard, county manager. “That was not a pleasant process. Yes, we need to come up with a way of notifying the public, but I’m here to tell you, that public meetings is not it.”

So, the problem (disposing of garbage costs money) still exists and the county has known that for years. Yet, here we are on the cusp of a crisis again and Commissioner Raines says

“My mind’s made up and I’m willing to call an emergency meeting tonight if we need to”

Why hasn’t the county been soliciting input during these two years that they knew the system was out of balance? Why must everything be a crisis?

-Gretchen

“a foot in the door to bring in more toxic waste streams” –Robert D. Bullard

Robert D. Bullard writes in Dismantling Energy Apartheid in the United States,
Many “clean wood chips” burning biomass plants can easily turn to burning more contaminated fuels (which may be cheaper or even free), or get paid to take really dirty wastes like trash or tires. Public opposition to biomass facilities has driven siting that follows the “path of least resistance,” which often translates to states where environmental regulations are lax and companies are given huge tax incentives to build these kinds of incinerators, and investors count on the local residents being uninformed and apathetic. Environmental justice siting concerns often get buried in the excitement and notion of “green energy.”

Zoning laws are often legal weapons deployed in facilitating energy apartheid.

There’s more, including a writeup about the local proposed incinerator, starting:
Residents in Valdosta, Georgia are fighting to block a 40 megawatt biomass incinerator slated for construction on a 22-acre site in their community. The community is already overburdened with polluting industries and heavy truck traffic.
Read it and see.

-jsq

Got Junk? Got Code Enforcement?

For entertainment, I read daily the Rant and Rave in the local newspaper. Now, I know some people here think that what’s written there is so horrible that they can’t stand it. Others think it is just for those too afraid to say something in public. Nonetheless, I read it nearly daily as I find it an interesting window into our area.

Lately, there have been several people writing in about the advertising signs posted around both Valdosta and the county. They note that the messaging on these signs is in direct conflict with Valdosta’s new litter campaign slogan. I can only assume they mean the yellow “Got Junk?” signs.

For example Continue reading →