Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

Solar Lowndes County Commission?

While GSEA is promoting statewide solar businesses and lobbying the state government to do what other states have done to promote solar, local governments and businesses don’t have to wait on the state. For example, the Lowndes County Commission has opened a discussion about solar energy in response to a presentation by Bill Branham. Now that they’ve learned the Lowndes County Commission could lead by making one of their famous position statements, this time in favor of solar, or by putting solar on the roofs of their buildings (solar on the jail! imagine that), bringing in money to do so by or by applying for grants, or by making a project big enough to apply for private venture capital from the at least two firms that are looking for such projects.

If the LCC won’t do it, how about solar Valdosta fire departments, or solar Hahira tobacco barns?

-jsq

Sonny Vickers, Mayor of Valdosta?

A usually-reliable source says Sonny Vickers will be appointed interim Mayor of Valdosta tomorrow by the Valdosta City Council at its 5:30 PM 8 September meeting.

Since he’s running unopposed for City Council District 3, Sonny Vickers can resign from that post, get appointed mayor, and get re-elected as Council 3 in November.

This is the same method used in 2003 when former Mayor James H. Rainwater died before the election. Council appointed David Sumner interim mayor. According to the VDT 31 August 2011:

At that time, Councilman David Sumner assumed the role of mayor, but had to resign his council seat to do so. He had already qualified to rerun for his seat in the November 2003 election, was re-elected to his seat and stepped down as mayor at the end of 2003, re-assuming his duties as a newly elected councilman at the beginning of 2004.

If they don’t appoint Vickers interim mayor tomorrow, the Valdosta City Council will probably appoint somebody else. According to the VDT today:

Vickers is among those being considered for appointment by council, along with Dexter Sharper and David Sumner, who are also former council members. Vickers pointed out that he did not submit his name for consideration, but rather it was mentioned in conversations with other council members.
We’ll see.

In the November election, one of Brooks D. Bivins, John Gayle, or Gary Minchew will be elected mayor (unless of course there’s a runoff).

-jsq

Qualifying is finished: here’s the list

A few people qualified on the last day. They’re marked ! below, in this latest information from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent.

-jsq

Valdosta

Mayor Brooks D. Bivins !
John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James R. Wright *
Council 3 Joseph Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Council 2 Bruce Cain *
Council 3 Ralph Clendenin *
Sherry Parham Brown

Dasher

Post 2
special election		 Donald J. Bryan
James (Jim) Dew !
Becky Rogers
(was held by Rodney Lieupo)
Post 3 Albert Hall !
Edwin R. Smith *
Post 4 Anita Armstrong *

Lake Park

Walker Keith Sandlin *
Mayor
City Council At Large (Vote for 4) Eric Schindler *
Ronald Carter *
Paul Mulkey *
Cathi Brown !
Russell Lane !
Sandy Sherrill !
Special election
voting now 		Cathy Brown
Sandy Sherrill
Whoever wins will also have to run again in November.

Remerton

Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph *!
City Council At Large (Vote for 5) Alexander Abell !
Sam P. Flemming, Jr. !
Steven Koffler !
Jasen L. Tatum *
Bill Wetherington *

Valdosta Board of Education

District 4 Dean R. Rexroth *
District 5 Julian Carol Sherwood III *
District 6 Bill Love *

Qualifying is finished: here’s the list

A few people qualified on the last day. They’re marked ! below, in this latest information from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent.

-jsq

Valdosta

Mayor Brooks D. Bivins !
John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James R. Wright *
Council 3 Joseph Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Council 2 Bruce Cain *
Council 3 Ralph Clendenin *
Sherry Parham Brown

Dasher

Post 2
special election		 Donald J. Bryan
James (Jim) Dew !
Becky Rogers
(was held by Rodney Lieupo)
Post 3 Albert Hall !
Edwin R. Smith *
Post 4 Anita Armstrong *

Lake Park

Walker Keith Sandlin *
Mayor
City Council At Large (Vote for 4) Eric Schindler *
Ronald Carter *
Paul Mulkey *
Cathi Brown !
Russell Lane !
Sandy Sherrill !
Special election
voting now 		Cathy Brown
Sandy Sherrill
Whoever wins will also have to run again in November.

Remerton

Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph *!
City Council At Large (Vote for 5) Alexander Abell !
Sam P. Flemming, Jr. !
Steven Koffler !
Jasen L. Tatum *
Bill Wetherington *

Valdosta Board of Education

District 4 Dean R. Rexroth *
District 5 Julian Carol Sherwood III *
District 6 Bill Love *

Who qualified by the end of Thursday, per Deb Cox

There’s one new qualifier since the last post. If you want to run, you’ve got you’ve got today to qualify.

This post includes an update on who has qualified for the end of the day Thursday September 1st from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent. This is basically the same as the list I posted yesterday afternoon, with a few corrections: the Dasher candidates (except for Post 2) are now correctly marked as incumbents; Lake Park Mayor candidate Keith Sandlin is listed; Lake Park and Dasher Council At Large elections are described correctly; Paul Mulkey has also qualified for Lake Park; various names are filled out more completely. This morning’s post is taken from a text document sent by Deb Cox, so it’s probably more accurate than yesterday’s writing it down from her telling it to me on the telephone.

-jsq

Valdosta

Mayor John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James R. Wright *
Council 3 Joseph Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Continue reading →

Who’s qualified so far, according to Deb Cox

I called Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections, and asked her who has qualified so far. Here’s the answer, where * indicates incumbent. This data also pretty much answers the question of why we keep seeing the same people in office: because hardly anybody else runs. If you want to run, you’ve got the rest of today and tomorrow to do qualify. -jsq

Valdosta

Mayor John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James Wright *
Council 3 Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Continue reading →

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

John Fretti resigned as mayor Tuesday, or, Roy Taylor got his way

Doubtless everyone knows this already, since the VDT and others have covered it well, including his guilty plea, the VDT’s call for him to resign, and his resignation. Here is John Fretti’s press release announcing his resignation. It seems appropriate that he sent it to News Talk 105.9 FM, where he so frequently appeared.

Personally, I thought he was not all that bad as mayor, even though he never did anything I asked him to. Given that I don’t even live in Valdosta, there is of course no reason that he should have, and he was always courteous when I appeared before the Valdosta City Council or met him elsewhere. Yes, I am well aware of many of the downsides, many of which I have written about in this blog, and Valdosta can do better.

If Valdosta is going to do better, somebody better needs to run. That’s why at the moment I’d prefer to write about the open race for mayor: qualifying is still open today and tomorrow (see next post).

I will say that whoever wins I hope will have less of this attitude:

“If they don’t say they’re against it, they’re for it.”
I think all citizens, but especially elected officials, should be willing to say what they’re for.

If people around here are too frightened to do so, then we’ve got a much bigger problem than who is mayor of Valdosta.

-jsq

5.a. Vote to put school consolidation referendum on ballot —Tim Carroll @ VCC 25 August 2011

Council Carroll made a motion to put the referendum on the ballot and Council White seconded. Yost, White, Norton, and Carroll voted for. Wright and Vickers voted against.

The mayor then pointed out voters will have had to be registered for six months to vote on this referendum in November, so if someone registered tomorrow, they couldn’t vote in November. (It’s not clear that this is actually true, but it is what he said.)

They all had more to say later in Council Comments.

Here’s the video:


5.a. Vote to put school consolidation referendum on ballot —Tim Carroll @ VCC 25 August 2011
petition, education, referendum,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

5.a. This seems forced —Mayor John Fretti @ VCC 25 August 2011

First they voted on stopping debate on the motion on the floor (to deny putting the referendum for school consolidation on the ballot). White and Norton voted against stopping debate.

Then they voted on the motion to deny. Council White agonized over whether they were doing anything illegal. They split evenly 3 to 3: Wright, White, and Vickers for denying, and Yost, Norton, and Carroll against.

Since it was a tie, the Mayor got to vote. First he made a statement, which included:

It started out in the least inclusive manner.
…
This seems forced to people who don’t want the city school system and to a city school system which doesn’t want to cope with these people right now. And that’s unfair.
He suggested the legislature should handle it.

After all that, he voted against the motion to deny, so the motion failed.

Here’s the video:


5.a. This seems forced —Mayor John Fretti @ VCC 25 August 2011
petition, education, referendum,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq