Tag Archives: Association of County Commissioners of Georgia

Videos: 2 of 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Regular 2025-12-09

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Could be a record: an hour and 14 minutes for Tuesday’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

After many months, they had Recognition of return of Commissioner Joyce Evans. She is clearly still recovering from her medical issues, but Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wheeled her in. She didn’t say anything then, but, then, she seldom does. She did thank them at the end of the meeting.

[Collage @ LCC 9 December 2025]
Collage @ LCC 9 December 2025

The did not reappoint incumbent Tommy Willis to the Planning Commission. Instead they appointed John “Mac” McCall by a vote of 3-2. As near as I can tell, Commissioners Mark Wisenbaker and Demarcus Marshall were the 2.

By acclamation they reappointed incumbent Felicia Williams to the Lowndes County Board Of Assessors. Nobody even nominated Gretchen Quarterman. Ms. Williams later spoke about the Tax Commissioners in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard (CWTBH).

Mr. Gary Wisenbaker was appointed to the Lowndes County Library Board after he recused himself from the vote.

The seat reserved for Wild Adventures on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center And Tourism Authority had a new WA General Manager appointed: Donald Spiller III.

The meeting length was because of many agenda items, some postponed from last month, some because there’s only one Regular Session in each of November and December, and some year-end items.

The only item that took more than ten minutes was Continue reading →

Videos: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Work 2025-12-08

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Monday morning’s Work Session took 55 minutes, despite many measures to power through it.

They vote tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 5:30 PM.

[Collage @ LCC 8 December 2025]
Collage @ LCC 8 December 2025

Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said two of the presentations would be made Tuesday evening at the Regular Session. Ditto for the appointments to four boards.

They did spend almost nine minutes on 7.b. REZ-2025-16 2480 Copeland Rd, ~18ac, R-10/C To R-10, for example about ingress and egress.

And almost six minutes on 8.k. 2026 Public Defender Contracts, which they moved to the front of section 8 because the presenter had to get to another appointment.

Plus more than three minutes each on three other items.

If I heard correctly, 8.g. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Val Del Road Widening, they’re going to four-lane at least part of Val Del Road.

They said the reason 8.h. Design-Build Contract For Lowndes County Animal Shelter. took this long because of requiring the contractor to stay within a tight budget.

Commissioners had some cost questions about 8.o. Motorola Migration Assurance Plan (MAP).

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Packet: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC 2025-12-08

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Update 2025-12-08: Videos: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Work 2025-12-08.

Many people have asked when this would happen. 8.h. Design-Build Contract for Lowndes County Animal Shelter is to award a contract to Kellerman Construction, Inc.

“The breakdown for the contract is $450,000.00 for sitework, $4,050,000.00 for construction, $200,000.00 for contingency, and $300,000.00 for Architectural & Engineering. If approved, the design process will begin immediately and the Design-Builder will submit a final proposal for construction to Lowndes County for approval in April 2026.”

That firm was selected out of seven proposals by a scoring process.

[Collage, LCC Packet 2025-12-08]
Collage, LCC Packet 2025-12-08

For 9.a. LAS Pump Station Upgrade they’re upgrading from 3 to 4 pumps at the Land Application Site (LAS), plus adding a backup generator.

Last month the Lowndes County Commission tabled appointments to two boards, Library and Planning Commission. This month they will appoint to those and also to the Board of Tax Assessors.

They also postponed a rezoning on Copeland Road. This month it’s back, plus one on Shiloh Road.

For 6.a. Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, the term of Tommy Willis expired. He and John McCall want to be appointed.

For 6.b. Lowndes County Board of Assessors, the term of Felicia Williams expired. She and Gretchen Quarterman want to be appointed.

For 6.c. Lowndes County Library Board, Catherine Ammons resigned after she resigned as Valdosta Assistant City Manager. Kendal Crawford, Dean Poling, and Gary Wisenbaker want to be appointed.

Last month they postponed 7.b. REZ-2025-16 Copeland Road Subdivision, 2480 Copeland Rd, ~18ac, County Utilities, R-10/c to R-10 because of an error in the advertisement, so it’s on the agenda for December.

Plus 7.c. REZ-2025-17 Shiloh Road, ~8.2 ac 6641 Shiloh Road, E-A to R-A, Well & Septic, which the Planning Commission heard at its most recent meeting.

This week the Commissioners will consider about $15.5 million in the items on the agenda. Some of that is paid via state or federal grants. The biggest item (MAP) is split over five years. The next most expensive item, the Animal Shelter, comes from SPLOST. Then the LAS upgrades come from federal ARPA money. But the insurance payments appear to come out of the general fund, i.e., property taxes. The power line relocation comes from TSPLOST, i.e., another penny sales tax. Continue reading →

Videos: Community Service Board, Lake Alapaha Well, Jail Expansion, Bicentiennial, Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Regular 2025-08-25

They actually increased the Industrial Authority’s millage to 1.1 mil, above its historic rate of 1 mil. This was not discussed in the preceding Budget Hearings, nor I think even in the previous morning’s Work Session. They unanimously approved that and everything else on the agenda.

Chairman Bill Slaughter added an item to the agenda, for 5.j. Appointment – Community Service Board – must be elected official. They appointed Commissioner Demarcus Marshall. You may recall that on May 27, 2025 they appointed Commissioner Joyce Evans to this board. She was absent at that meeting, and has been absent from every Lowndes County Commission meeting since then. Since she has not made public why, I will not say, other than that her absences are not because she does not want to be there.

County Manager Paige Dukes had three staff give reports at the end of this Regular Session:

[Collage @ LCC 26 August 2025]
Collage @ LCC 26 August 2025

Below are Continue reading →

Packet: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

The board packet includes the SPLOST IX Agreement and Project Lists, as well as the agreements for the Opioid and Groundwater Claims and the Hightower Road Quit Claim and a resolution for the TREES Act.

This is for yesterday’s Work Session and this evening’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

[Collage, Packet @ LCC 2025-08-25-26]
Collage, Packet @ LCC 2025-08-25-26

The SPLOST IX Agreement and Project Lists are the same as LAKE already published two weeks ago from a usually reliable source.

The entire board packet, obtained in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website, and images of each page are below.

It is still mysterious why Lowndes County does not publish its board packets on its own website, like many counties larger and smaller have done for years in Georgia and Florida.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Work 2025-08-25

Only twelve minutes for the Lowndes County Commission to consider millages, taxes, lawsuit claims, and a quit claim, at their Work Session yesterday morning.

Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

[Collage @ LCC 25 August 2025]
Collage @ LCC 25 August 2025

See also the agenda.

We don’t have the board packet, because I forgot to send in the open records request until the other day.

It is still mysterious why Lowndes County does not publish its board packets on its own website, like many counties larger and smaller have done for years in Georgia and Florida. Continue reading →

Agenda: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

Update 2025-08-26: Videos: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Work 2025-08-25.

Millages and taxes are the top topics for the Lowndes County Commission this week, plus lawsuit settlements for opioids and PFAS, and a road abandonment quit-claim to the Air Force.

  • The property tax millage will be set at the rollback rate of 5.051 mills. That is a reduction of 0.232 mills or about 4.4% from the 5.283 rate of 2024. Your property taxes are a product of valuation and millage, minus various exemptions such as for homestead or conservation easements. Since many valuations went up, your taxes may go up.
  • VLCIA got its rate reduced to 0.823 mills last year, but this year it will be back to 1.00 mill like it always was before for the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority, aka the Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority (VLDA).
  • Same 1.25 mills as always for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLCIA).
  • Same as last year: 2.50 mills for the Special District Millage for Fire Services. That’s right, twice VLPRA’s millage, and 2.5 times VLCIA’s millage.

In November you get to vote on the SPLOST IX projects the County Commission is approving this week for the penny Special Local Option Sales Tax. The county has not published that project list, but LAKE already published it more than a week ago:
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=25175

And those of us who are tree farmers may get some tax relief after Hurricane Helene, from the TREES Act Resolution. This is presumably the same ACCG Summary of the TREES ACT as Lowndes County put in its board packet.

Lowndes County may get some money from settlements for lawsuits about opioids and PFAS.

[Agenda: Millages, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25]
Agenda: Millages, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

The Air Force wants the county to quit-claim the right of way for Hightower Road, which the county already abandoned in 2023. Moody Air Force Base is directly south of it, and the Air Force now owns the field north of it. Included in this post are the maps from the May, 2023, board packet from when the county abandoned that stretch of Hightower Road.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=23550

Here is the agenda.

We don’t have the board packet, because I forgot to send in the open records request until today.

It is still mysterious why Lowndes County does not publish its board packets on its own website, like many counties larger and smaller have done for years in Georgia and Florida.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2025, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Final Public Hearing: Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24

2025-03-25: Videos: Opt out of HB 581 and increase local homestead exemptions, Accountability Court Grant and truck for Magistrate Court @ LCC Regular 2025-02-25.

Yes, the Lowndes County Commission will vote on the subject today, Tuesday, February 25, although that item is not yet on its agenda.

Yesterday they held the third and final Public Hearing about opting out of the homestead exemption scheme passed by the state legislature as HB 581. No citizens spoke, and very few even attended.

[Collage @ LCC 24 February 2025]
Collage @ LCC 24 February 2025

The county already has better homestead exemptions for both people younger than 65 years and older. Staying in would have no option of opting out later. Opting out leaves the possibility of opting in later.

For the previous Public Hearings, see Continue reading →

Final Public Hearing: Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24

Update 2025-02-25: Videos: Final Public Hearing: Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24.

The Lowndes County Commission is considering doing what the Lowndes County School System is doing: opting out of the homestead exemption scheme passed by the state legislature as HB 581. The county already has better homestead exemptions for both people younger than 65 years and older. Staying in would have no option of opting out later. Opting out leaves the possibility of opting in later.

[Final Public Hearing, Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24]
Final Public Hearing, Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24

At the previous two hearing, Commissioners did not seem in favor of the state’s idea of an additional one-cent sales tax to reimburse property owners.

LAKE videos and minutes of the two previous Public Hearings are here: Continue reading →

Videos: Lowndes County Considers Opting Out of House Bill 581 Public Hearing 2025-02-11

Update 2025-02-24: Final Public Hearing: Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24.

Lowndes County Commissioners and staff emphasized that they were working on further homested tax exemptions for seniors, as is the Lowndes County School System, without need for the state’s exemption. And they did not seem in favor of the state’s idea of an additional one-cent sales tax to reimburse property owners.

Here are LAKE videos of yesterday’s second Public Hearing about Lowndes County considering opting out of the statewide homestead exemption legislated last year by HB 581, effective January 1, 2025.

Three citizens spoke. The first two seemed to be addressing some other meeting. The Chairman had to tell the second speaker that her school system concerns should be brought to the school board.

The third speaker was more to the subject: Pam Hubbard, at 9 minutes and 50 seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfqnu_BsvY&t=590s

[Opt out of GA HB 581? Public Hearing 2025-02-11, Re: Homestead Property Tax Exemption, Lowndes County Commission]
Opt out of GA HB 581? Public Hearing 2025-02-11, Re: Homestead Property Tax Exemption, Lowndes County Commission

A final Public Hearing will be Monday, February 24 at 9:00 a.m.

The School System already had its Public Hearings.

The Lowndes County Commission will vote on the subject on Tuesday, February 25.

So go to that last public hearing and speak up, or call or write your Lowndes County Commissioner.

After the videos below, there is a LAKE video playlist.

For other related material (the bill, the Lowndes County press release, the ACCG and GMA position, etc.), see the LAKE blog post on the first such Public Hearing:
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=24786 Continue reading →