Tag Archives: assessment

Videos: Taxes, water, sewer, LAS, paving, road abandonment @ LCC 2019-03-12

Five minutes and 46 seconds Sixteen minutes to vote on the people’s business in the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Where do they actually discuss things?

By far the longest item at three minutes and fourteen seconds was 5a. REZ-2019-04 Southeastern Freight 2120 West Hill Ave., C-H/R-1 To M-2,, and that only because somebody spoke in favor of the request in the Public Hearing.

Second longest at one minute and 46 seconds was the controversial 7 a. North Lowndes Spring Creek Utility Inter-connection Project Phase II, for which they made a decision about the yellow paper. They still never said who the rest of the bidders were, nor how much they bid, on this $3,889,825.23 project.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with Continue reading →

Videos: Taxes, water, sewer, LAS, paving, road abandonment @ LCC 2019-03-11

They don’t have any wheelchair seating areas, so Jody Hall planted his wheels in front of the front row, to see the county not tell the public who bid what on an almost $4 million item.

By far the longest item at almost seven minutes was North Lowndes Spring Creek Utility Inter-connection Project Phase II, because one bidder objected that the others did not use the correct color paper. They never said who any of the bidders were, nor how much they bid, on this $3,889,825.23 project.

The third longest was 6.f. Water and Sewer Service Areas – Lake Park Area, as the county continues its plan to encircle Valdosta. Yet the county has no plan for additional sewage treatment beyond the Land Application Site (LAS), where Lowndes County sprays sewage onto land near Grassy Pond, close to the state line, and where they’re reducing the Row Crop Lease Agreement by 71 acres for unexplained reasons.

Second longest was Continue reading →

Taxes, water, sewer, LAS, paving, road abandonment @ LCC 2019-03-11

How much will they drive development into places it does not belong this time? GMASS Rural Land Maintenance Contract:

The Lowndes County Board of Assessors has approved a contract between the Board of Assessors and GMASS to perform maintenance updates to the Rural Land schedules for the 2019 Digest.

Rural land re-evaluation, 15 July 2015

They continue encircling Valdosta with county water and sewer, with the North Lowndes Spring Creek Utility Inter-connection Project Phase II. And on the south side of Valdosta, Water and Sewer Service Areas within and in the Vicinity of Lake Park, with “maps… attached” that as usual they did not show we the taxpaying public. Is the one rezoning, REZ-2019-04 Southeastern Freight Lines, 2120 West Hill Ave., C-H/R-1 To M-2, County Water/Sewer, ~18.96 Acre , related to the recent expansion of water and sewer across that same US 84? Apparently not: “existing water and sewer customer.” They’re removing 71 acres from the 219 acres they rent at the Land Application Site (LAS), where Lowndes County sprays sewage onto land near Grassy Pond, close to the state line.

They’re buying the former office of Coleman-Talley law firm at 910 N. Patterson Street for use by the Public Defender.

And no agenda is complete without a road abandonment.

Here is the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Sold out to Sabal Trail @ LCC 2016-01-26

Thank you Commissioner Demarcus Marshall for voting no. Calling it “a good business decision”, the CEO of Waller Heating and Air lauded the others for voting to sell county land for a pittance to a company from Houston, Texas, nevermind their resolution of a year ago. We thought we elected them to represent the people of Lowndes County, and we thought they did back in December 2014 when they unanimously voted “the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners opposes the construction of the Sabal Trail pipeline in any portion of Lowndes County.” But at least one of them (“Wisenbaker) didn’t even remember that the county voted to oppose Sabal Trail. Apparently most of them concur with what the County Engineer said about landowners who have not taken Sabal Trail’s money, “I don’t know who they are.”

Update 2016-01-28: WCTV report, plus Gret chen’s question: “Is less than 50 cents per person in Lowndes County enough to risk drinking water for all?”

Landowners who did take the money mostly did not have Continue reading →

Videos: Board appointments + Sabal Trail easement! @ LCC 2016-01-25

The main Work Session took six minutes this morning, followed by an executive session, which turned out to be about easements for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, which they’re adding to the agenda to vote on tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM.

See also the agenda. Below are links to each video, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Appointments to 3 boards @ LCC 2016-01-25

Did you know there were openings on three boards? Probably not, since the county didn’t post anything in public. Now the day before they’re appointed, we learn “Dr. Lynne Feldman resigned from the Hospital Authority, leaving a vacant seat on the board. Dr. Steven Brian Dawson, Dr. John W. Devine, and Dr. John D. Roan have all been recommended for the position.” County Manager Joe Pritchard did not say who recommended them, or how they knew to apply. Similarly, on the Lowndes County Division of Family and Children Services Board (DFCS), somebody unnamed didn’t want to be reappointed, and “Elsie C. Napier has been recommended for the position.” And on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority Board, David Motley wants to be reappointed. At least we know how he knew.

There’s more on the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2016, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Pipeline, road repair, Bailey, water, and Commercial Tax Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-28

They finally made a decision onG the Bailey rezoning: the one the applicant liked least. They accepted the Creekwood Subdivision detention ponds; and the Glen Laurel infrastructure; will all that be maintained any better than the one at Hamilton Circle? Dr. Michael Noll spoke for WACE against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

Agenda item 6.i. is changed in the county’s online agenda from Rural to Commercial without the agenda being marked as amended.

See agenda, the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session, and the board packet obtained via open records request by LAKE and scanned and posted on the LAKE website. Here are videos of events as they transpired, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2014-10-27

Surprisingly, when asked for this packet Monday morning, the County Clerk agreed to provide it later that same day, and did. However, she delivered it on paper. Processing time for that interleaved with other tasks took LAKE until now. Here is the board packet for the 27 October 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. It answers many questions that the public board meeting left hanging, such as what land does the county plant to acquire for that booster pump. If the county would put these board packets on their own website before their meetings, the citizens who pay their salaries would be able to see what they were talking about.

-jsq

Videos: Emergency road repair, grandfathered business, water, and Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-27

More detail and issues with Bailey REZ-2014-16 after much discussion last time. Almost ten minutes on 6a. Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention. Numerous things incomplete or just FYI such as drug seizures in the financial report, none of which the citizens could see. This was in the Work Session Monday morning. They vote Tuesday 5:30 PM in the Regular Session.

They actually named the multiple bids for a water item, unlike the single-source price-not-quoted pump replacement last time. And they’re buying some property (at some place unnamed) for a booster pump.

The Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules was actually for Commercial land. We learned why Shiloh Road needs emergency repairs. Nothing about that on the new county Lowndes411 twitter account, and the county still doesn’t publish its own board packets.

I can understand why the Commission needs to approve a juvenile justice grant, a GEFA loan application, to accept quit claim deeds for a subdivision’s detention ponds, and to accept infrastructure for a subdivision, not to mention a CDBG agreement. But to replace batteries in a UPS?

See the agenda. Here are links to the videos of the items as they transpired this morning. Continue reading →

Emergency road repair, grandfathered business, water, and Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-27

Bailey’s back after much discussion last time. This time they’re actually going for multiple bids for a water item, unlike the single-source price-not-quoted pump replacement last time. And they’re buying some property (at some place unnamed) for a booster pump.

What’s this mysterious Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules? Why does Shiloh Road need emergency repairs? Nothing about that on the new county Lowndes411 twitter account, and the county still doesn’t publish its own board packets.

I can understand why the Commission needs to approve a juvenile justice grant, a GEFA loan application, to accept quit claim deeds for a subdivision’s detention ponds, and to accept infrastructure for a subdivision, not to mention a CDBG agreement. But to replace batteries in a UPS?

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →