Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

The stars all lined up for the homeless –Deidra White @ LCDP 2013-07-02

The homeless formerly living under the James Beck Overpass now have homes and most have jobs, said Valdosta City Council Deidra White at last night’s Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

White said the encampment under the overpass had been growing for some time, and people in her district, which contains the overpass, were increasingly concerned yet had had little success in dealing with the situation.

Deidra White speaking at Lowndes County Democratic Party July 4th BBQ So I contacted many people in the community, homeless advocates, churches, governmental, civil, nonprofits; anyone that I’ve ever come across who has ever worked in any capacity helping with the homeless situation. And in a very,almost seemingly the stars all lined up a couple of weeks ago. Many people came together to do something about the specific eleven homeless persons who were living under the James Beck Overpass.

A private citizen donated property and said that they could stay on this property for a temporary time until we find a permanent solution. Members of the homeless coalition immediately began identifying potential employers….

She referred listeners to the recent newspaper stories for some details, and then continued:

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Valdosta home repair grant assistance

Is your home unsafe? DRA Map If you live in certain parts of Valdosta, you may be able to get a grant to help fix that.

PR from the City of Valdosta, 27 June 2013, City Helps Valdosta Home Owners Apply for Grant Funding for Home Repairs

From July 1 to August 15, 2013, the City of Valdosta Neighborhood Development Division will be accepting applications for owner-occupied home rehabilitation grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Valdosta home owners who qualify as low to moderately-low income residents (according to HUD FY 2013 Income Limits) may be eligible to use this grant funding to make much-needed home repairs.

Grants are limited to home repairs which cost under $10,000, and each applicant must meet the following criteria: Continue reading →

Ashley Paulk to be reappointed to Parks and Rec. Any questions? @ LCC 2013-06-24

I guess some things are just not to be questioned, at least at this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. However, although Commissioners did not, I do have a question.

5.b. Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority

County Chairman Slaughter:

“Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority Appointment.”
County Manager Pritchard:
“The term currently held by Ashley Paulk will expire June 30th. Mr. Paulk has expressed an interest in being reappointed if the board so chooses.”
Any questions? --Bill Slaughter @ LCC 2013-06-24 County Chairman Slaughter:

“Any questions?

OK, hearing none, let’s move on to agenda item number 6.”

I have a question. Why isn’t it Continue reading →

LOST decision coming from GA Supreme Court

Local Lowndes County and city officials are awaiting breathlessly the news from Atlanta today about new rules on LOST negotiations. Currently, negotiators have to choose one of the positions submitted by the contending parties. The GA Supreme Court may decide to let negotiators pick some other division of LOST funds. Valdosta Mayor John Gayle cancelled a meeting here yesterday so he could be in Atlanta for this court decision. Lowndes County Commissioners are rumored to be planning a meeting tomorrow morning after the decision.

Fox 31 posted 30 May 3012, Supreme Court of Georgia to hear Turner County LOST case

On June 4th, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear the case between Turner County and three cities over the distribution of Local Option Sales Taxes. Below is the entirety of the facts in the case as released by the court:

In this dispute between the governments of Turner County and three cities over how Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) proceeds should be distributed, the county is appealing a superior court ruling which picked the cities’ plan for distribution over the county’s.

There’s much more detail in that article. Also, Tim Omarzu wrote for timesfreepress.com 9 May 2013, Georgia top court to consider LOST negotiations.

-jsq

Valdosta Utilities Department 5-Year Action Plan

Received 26 April 2013. Basically Valdosta is accelerating its plans to do something about wastewater, including adding pumpstations and force mains, as well as relocating the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant uphill. Here are the summary pages; there’s much more detail in the plan. -jsq

Utilities Department 5-Year Action Plan:

Since 1992, the City has received $179 million in SPLOST funding and over the same time period has invested nearly $168 million in capital projects for the Water and Wastewater system. This includes SPLOST funding, system revenues, bonds, and GEFA loans.

Since 2009, the Utilities Department has expended over $49 million on sewer system improvement with approximately $5.6 million spent on the Withlacoochee Treatment Plant. When the projects listed below are completed by December 2018, the City will have invested approximately $230 million in capital projects for its Utilities system from 1992 to 2018, a 26-year period.

PUMP STATION, FORCE MAIN, HEADWORKS AND EQUALIZATION BASIN PROJECT

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Valdosta Plans Flooding Discussions

Valdosta is finally announcing the 11 April 2013 watershed-wide flooding meeting organized by the Army Corps of Engineers.

WCTV yesterday carried a press release from the City of Valdosta; PR which, oddly, does not appear to be on the city’s website. I have added a few links. Prominently missing from the PR is any mention of water quality, the Floridan Aquifer, or sinkholes. -jsq

The City of Valdosta initiated planning discussions recently that brought together representatives from key local, state and federal agencies to seek solutions to a regional flood issue.

The 50-year flood event that occurred in late February, early March 2013 was a vivid reminder of the 2009 flood event that significantly impacted south Georgia. Since 2009, the city has worked to help identify potential causes and the scope and area of the regional flooding that occurred. This information has been shared with various state and federal officials and agencies in the hopes of gaining their interest and support to work together to address the regional flooding. Since Valdosta is located

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Lowndes County sewer spill may contaminate Suwannee River

WCTV went downstream to Suwannee County, Florida, to see further effects after the Valdosta PR that revealed what happened with the Lowndes County sewer leak. One of their interviewees recommends escalating this ongoing problem (first Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant flooded, and now this) to the state governors’ level.

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV 27 April 2013, Suwannee River Could be Contaminated After Lowndes Sewer Spill,

Travis Luttrell also vacations in Suwannee County. He said “it’s a pretty big administrative challenge between the two governors. And is something that needs to be worked out between state to state and hopefully we can overcome the administrative challenges it might take to fix these kinds of problems.”

The Florida Department of Health also issued the advisory for Hamilton, Levy, Lafayette and Madison counties.

Here’s the WCTV video:

-jsq

Lowndes County (sort of) takes responsibility for sewer spill

Lowndes County notified the VDT that it was actually their sewer line (not Valdosta’s) that broke this week, but there’s still nothing on the Lowndes County website, not on the front page, not under Utilities, and not under County Clerk. So the Lowndes County government did sort of come clean about its sewer problem, but you have to know where to look to see them washing. And they actually fixed the problem by dumping county sewage into Valdosta’s sewer main, which presumably means it ends up in the same Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant that the county has seemed to mostly regard as the city’s problem and not theirs.

In the VDT 26 April 2013, Lowndes County Notification of Sewer Spill, Lowndes County Commission,

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Valdosta blamed in Florida for Lowndes County sewage spill

Lowndes County Public Information Officer Paige Dukes Maybe Lowndes County should come clean about its sewage spill so Florida will stop blaming Valdosta.

Gainesville.com staff report today, Health dept. urges public to avoid Suwannee, Withlacoochee rivers,

This is the second time in two months that state health officials have had to warn residents of North Central Florida to avoid contact with the water flowing in the Suwannee — and both instances involve sewage contamination involving a spill in Valdosta.

Or maybe it’s normal for GA EPD to be more responsive than our local elected government. What do you think?

-jsq

GA EPD on Lowndes County Waste Water Spill

Lowndes County: voice mail. GA EPD: written response within minutes about that wastewater spill into the Withlacoochee River that turns out to be from a Lowndes County sewer line (not Valdosta’s).

After I called Lowndes County and got referred to voice mail, I filed an open records request with the county. I then called GA EPD in Albany and talked to Mary Sheffield. She said that compliance issues are handled from the Atlanta Office and provided the number.

I called GA EPD in Atlanta and asked for the Lowndes County Compliance Officer. She kindly told me that there had been some confusion about what government was responsible for the spill, because Valdosta called first but then Lowndes County did call and take responsibility for the spill.

She said that the spill had been 1.32 Million Gallons and that so far they had had a verbal report from the county and that the county has 5 days to make a written report.

Further, she said she would e-mail me any information that she had at this time, although the verbal reports are not “official”. And before I finished typing this up, she sent this response:

Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:34:19 -0400
From: Kim Hembree
Subject: Lowndes County Spill

Ms. Quarterman,

The Lowndes County spill was originally reported to the Environmental Protection Division by the City of Valdosta on 4/25/2013. After responding to the spill, the City of Valdosta determined that the spill was coming from a portion of sanitary sewer collection system that belonged to Lowndes County. Lowndes County (County) responded to the spill on 4/25/2013. This morning, the County reported that the spill was approximately 1.32 million and entered the Withlacoochee River.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

To which I replied:

Thank you.

If I understand correctly, Lowndes County now has 5 days to file a complete spill report. I’ll be interested in that when it is available.

Gretchen

Also, has Lowndes County put up a sign at the spill site to replace the Valdosta spill sign?

-gretchen