No citizens showed up other than Gretchen Quarterman, behind the LAKE video camera. Commissioners did not vote, because this is presumably the first of several Budget Hearings. Or is it? It was billed as a Work Session. Anyway, it took seventeen minutes.
County Manager Paige Dukes said Continue reading
Two weeks ago, the six-minute Reports took almost as long as the entire rest of the Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Clay Griner did show up to vote on an item in his district, but Scottie Orenstein did not: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was also absent. Commissioners Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker were present both at the Work Session and this Regular Session. Chairman Bill Slaughter was present.
County Manager Paige Dukes was also present, giving many Reports, assisted in a video about Griner Park at Webster and Ashley Street.
Commissioner Joyce Evans provided some amusment, Continue reading
Update 2022-06-03: 4 long Lowndes County cases + 2 long Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2022-05-23, including the board packet materials for the county cases and the minutes for the previous meeting.
Everything from a pair of personal care homes to a fraternity to a church to the Salvation Army wants rezoning or variances at this evening’s Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting.
The board packet materials for the Hahira and Valdosta items are on the LAKE website, thanks to City Planner Matt Martin.
LAKE has no materials for the Lowndes County items, and no copy of the draft minutes from the previous meeting, because Lowndes County has not yet sent them in response to a LAKE open records request.
Here is the agenda:
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~Monday, May 16, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Continue reading
Monday, May 23, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Update 2022-05-23: Videos: Budget Work Session, Lowndes County Commission 2022-05-23.
Appeared on lowndescounty.com/calendar a few days ago:
No agenda. No draft budget on the Finance Department web pages (the most recent is the one about to expire).
The budget meeting is after the 8:30 AM Work Session. Continue reading
Update 2022-05-23: 9:00 AM Budget Work Session.
They propose to approve $1.6 million for resurfacing some roads, it’s not clear which ones, at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session Monday morning and voting Regular Session Tuesday evening.
![[Quarterman Estates, Walkers Crossing Roundabout]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-23--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
Quarterman Estates, Walkers Crossing Roundabout
They will also pretend that this will not cost the county money down the road for street maintenance: Continue reading
Update 2022-06-23: Videos: Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27.
Update 2022-06-21: Valdosta Watergoat installed in Sugar Creek 2022-06-21.
Council Sonny Vickers was welcomed back warmly after abscence due to illness (I welcomed him before the meeting). Later, he thanked staff and council for their assistance.
Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the ARPA fund disbursment committees, for non-profits and for for-profit businesses.
After Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman asked for action about trash, Council Andy Gibbs and Mayor James vied for who would get to announce what the city had already done. Mayor James in Council Comments announced the city had ordered Continue reading
Update 2022-05-20: Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19.
In a very light agenda for tomorrow evening’s meeting, the Valdosta City Council nonetheless will contemplate $1,978,502.40 in spending. They will also hear an audit report.
The Hydrogen Generator for the Crime Lab will come out of $36,000 from the General Fund. “This is the equipment that is used for drug identification and blood alcohol testing.”
The two Grant Selection Committees will dispense funds from the $16,254,692 allocated to Valdosta by the federal government in an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant, of which $8,127,346 has been received to date. The City Council previously allocated $945,000 for nonprofits and $1,000,000 for small businesses. These Committees will decide which organizations get the funds. You probably recognize many of the names on the committee candidate lists.
Here is the agenda. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.
AGENDA
Continue reading
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, May 19, 2022
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Update 2022-05-23: Regular Session Videos: Seven minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol, plus long County Manager Reports @ LCC 2022-05-10.
In the five-minute Work Session yesterday morning, the few Commissioners who showed up breezed through everything with no discussion. Commissioners Scottie Orenstein and Clay Griner were absent, even though this is in their districts: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. But of course it is expected that the Commission will approve that item this evening at 5:30 PM. County Manager Paige Dukes was also absent, in her case due to illness.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. There are no notes, because nothing happened worth commenting on. See also Continue reading
Rainbow over solar power.
That’s Perry Solar or Houston Solar, south of Perry, GA, in Houston County: a county that puts its board packets online, unlike Lowndes County.
I took these pictures May 4, 2022, at 32.3739740, -83.7685020, which is around I-75 mile 130, about half way from Perry, GA, to GA 26 at Exit 127. Continue reading
The Lowndes County Commission continues to pretend that accepting streets for a subdivision won’t cost taxpayers anything in future maintenance, nor previously in running water and sewer there. Back in October 2019, when the county accepted infrastructure for Phase V, County Engineer Mike Fletcher said that was “the last phase of Grove Pointe”. Yet here we are with Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Section 2.
Connecting Grove Pointe to Val Del Road by the Nelson Hill subdivision was planned since at least 2006, and that’s why Simpson Lane and Clyattstone Road got paved. Despite all that, today’s Grove Pointe agenda item is marked “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A”.
Also on the agenda Continue reading
![[Executives and Revenue]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-23--budget-videos/many.jpg)
![[Appointments and Reports]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-10--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Maps]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2022-05-23--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Budget Work Session Notice]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-23--budget-notice/budget-notice.jpg)
![[Collage]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-05-19--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Selection Committees]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-05-19--vcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Rainbow Perry Solar]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/houstonco/2020-12-01--houston-co/many.jpg)
![[Beer and Streets]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-09--lcc-packet/many.jpg)