Tag Archives: Alcohol

Videos: Leadership Lowndes, VLCIA appointment, Rivers Radio @ LCC 2017-12-12

In an outbreak of transparency and due diligence in the last Lowndes County Commission of 2017, they took ten minutes replacing Mary Goodman on the Industrial Authority, hearing from three nominees, and appointing Brad Folsom. They took three and a half minutes to choose among three nominees to the Tourism Authority to appoint Robert Jefferson. None of those nominees spoke, but the vote was so split they actually had a runoff, which ended in a 3:2 final vote. They also reappointed Joyce Evans by silent “acclamation”.

Leadership Lowndes spoke for 12 minutes (as long as three citizens get), citizen Willie Mae Jones wanted to know what next to get her Black Road paved, and County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the signatures were verified as 84% of the property owners on the road, so it would go on the paving list with the 74 projects already on there. Chairman Bill Slaughter actually asked for Commissioner comments, and each of them said a few words, mostly thanks to the staff and Merry Christmas. Chairman Bill Slaughter even thanked citizens for coming to the meetings. Merry Christmas, Commissioners!

The longest rezoning public hearing was REZ-2017-13 Quattlebaum-Meadors, N Valdosta RD, R-21 to C-H.

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Special Called Meeting @ VLCIA 2018-02-07

Update 2019-07-21: LAKE videos and still pictures.

Alcohol and the economy, on the agenda for this morning’s Special Called Meeting of the Development Authority. I think I’ll go to see Brad Folsom as the new Mary Gooding.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority
Agenda/Special Called Meeting
Wednesday, February 7, 2018, 11:30 am
Industrial Authority Conference Room
103 Roosevelt Drive

Call to Order

  • For the purpose of voting on amended Economic Development Agreement and Lease Agreement for GA Beer Company

Adjourn Special Called Meeting

Only one item, Agenda

Georgia Beer Company’s website says “We are not open for business yet”, but its contact page says “Say hello to the first Georgia brewery in Valdosta.” They also have a facebook page. Neither of which says where they will be located. So, VLCIA, in one of your numerous mostly-empty business parks, or elsewhere?

GA Beer Co. logo

Looks like GA Beer Co. had a kickstarter fundraiser a couple of years ago, which says they all met at VSU.

Presumably this is the same Community and Economic Development Strategy recently approved by the Lowndes County Commission.

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Videos: Approved resolution against state fee diversion, economic strategy, road abandonment @ LCC 2018-01-23

They approved everything in 10 minutes flat, including the Special Asessment Rate for 2018, the Community and Economic Development Strategy, and yes, they added to the agenda and passed the Resolution Supporting HR 158 to Stop Diversion of State Fees.

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Videos: Resolution against state fee diversion, economic strategy, road abandonment @ LCC 2018-01-22

1. Call to Order 4. Minutes for Approval, Movies The tire amnesty went well, and added to the agenda: a county resolution in support of HR 158 in the Georgia legislature, to stop state fee diversions.

The County Manager reminded them they had heard about the Community and Economic Development Strategy a few months before (apparently under another name), and there was some confusion about Georgia Power’s continued involvement.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Economic strategy, road abandonment, alcohol @ LCC 2018-01-22

The big item on the agenda for 8:30 AM Monday morning is an MoU and $25,000 to fund a Community and Economic Development Strategy. Presumably this is the 2013-2018 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) that the VDT says the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) recently adopted.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2018, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

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Videos: Public Works, Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-09

For two out of three boards, they came up with one name between Monday morning and Tuesday evening. No one applied for the Lowndes County Development Authority; instead they appointed Gary Moser who applied to be on Planning Commission. They reappointed Franklin Bailey, head of homebuilders association, to the Planning Commission, plus they appointed Ed Hightower to finish the unexpired term of Brad Folsom. They appointed Dr. Frances Brown to the Lowndes County Board of Health. And the County Manager recognized Public Works for their good work during the recent storms.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the Continue reading →

Videos: Weather, Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-08

County Manager Joe Pritchard thanked county staff for their performance during the recent storms and the public for mostly staying off the roads. It will cost $450 to qualify to run for County Commissioner.

No, we don’t know what was wrong with the sound. We will try to get it better tomorrow evening.

No applicants for the Lowndes County Development Authority Board of Health, and many for the Planning Commission.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each item, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. See also the notes on the agenda. Continue reading →

Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-08

Where did they advertise for applications for the three boards on the agenda for tomorrow morning, voting Tuesday evening? Who was the mysterious term expiration on the Development Authority of Lowndes County (not the same as the Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority, VLCIA)? If we assume the county’s web page for the Lowndes County Development Authority is the relevant one, it doesn’t say what term expired nor who was in that slot, it just says “Vacant”. However, we can deduce that the missing board member is Jeff Reames, whose seat expired June 8, 2017. When they appointed six members to that board the next month, they did not appoint anyone to that slot, even though Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker asked about that at the time.

Brad Folsom quit the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission to join VLCIA.

Five people want to be appointed: Keven Bussey, Gary Moser, Ed Hightower, and Bart Davis. Also, Franklin Bailey wants to be reappointed.

“Mr.” Myron Faircloth (I thought he was a doctor) resigned from the Board of Health, and nobody is mentioned as wanting to be appointed.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, JANUARY 8, 2018, MONDAY, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION,JANUARY 9, 2018, TUESDAY, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

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Videos: Emergency road repair bids! Appointments: Library Board, Development Authority, millage @ LCC 2017-08-22

The added agenda item 6e. Emergency Repairs to Rocky Ford Road got a couple of bids (unusual procedure; different from their usual no-bid emergencies) passed. The Chamber sent Gary Wisenbaker to speak in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard to ask for (after a very long preamble by John Page) apparently money from GDOT for a long list (in a letter the taxpayers did not get to see) of transportation projects to help “the business community”, apparently including the truck bypass.

They only appointed six of the seven members of the Development Authority of Lowndes County, although a Commissioner did ask about that. It’s also curious they said all the terms expired right then, since the Wayback machine has a snapshot of 4 April 2017, which shows three expiring in June 2017 and four already expired in December 2016. Apparently they just didn’t bother to appoint anybody to the four slots that expired in December 2016 until eight months later, and then they didn’t appoint anybody to one of the 2017 slots.

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Videos: Tucker Rd, West Ridge Business Park, Appointments VLCCCTA, VLCIA @ LCC 2017-12-11

They vote this evening on what you can see them discussing yesterday morning in these LAKE videos of the Lowndes County Commission Work Session. The longest business item was not even a minute and a half on REZ-2017-12 West Ridge Business Park.

By far the longest item was not on the agenda: 11. Reports – County Manager a. Steve Gupton- LODAC Presentation, about a local drug counseling organization, originally private, but for long now funded by Valdosta and Lowndes County plus grants. As one of the presenters noted, probably only Commissioner Joyce Evans was thoroughly familiar with LODAC.

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