The
Tax Appraiser finally showed up, and got the longest discussion
at half an hour,
with
County Extension clocking in at 22 minutes,
Juvenile Court at 15, and the
Airport Authority at almost 13 minutes, in the last of three days
of budget requests to the Lowndes County Commission.
Here are links to each of the LAKE videos of this day 3 of 3 budget meeting, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
Sheriff Ashley Paulk
still wants a warrant before he turns anybody over to ICE.
I agree with him that there’s no point in arresting people who are busy
working in the fields.
Georgia already tried that a few years ago, and crops rotted.
These are the LAKE videos from day 2 of 3. They’re back at it this morning, and Gretchen is there with the LAKE video camera.
The Board of Elections got the second-longest discussion at 44 minutes, partly because the Elections Supervisor kept using jargon it’s not clear the Commissioners understood. Longest discussion was with newly-elected Coroner Austin Fiveash, whose office has been kicked out of Remerton, which used to heavily subsidize it, and he apparently didn’t know the Coroner doesn’t get a car supplied, nor any office help. When asked why he picked an assistant coroner who already had a half-time job, he said nobody wanted this job. Well, apparently he did: he ran for it.
And still no agenda on the county’s website. Why doesn’t the county want the tax-paying public to know what they’re doing? Continue reading
Still no agenda on the county’s website, and it wasn’t posted on the front of the building, either, but a county employee (not the Clerk) did finally get Gretchen a copy, which you can see here, for the first of three county budget meetings. The Tax Assessors and Behavioral Health didn’t show up. All the Superior Court judges did show up, so if you want to see them and many other public officials and their budget requests, you can in these LAKE videos. Very few if any citizens other than Gretchen showed up to watch in person. They’re back at it today, so you can go see for yourself whoever they have asking for money today.
That was the third public meeting yesterday morning, 10:30 AM to 4:50 PM, Monday, March 27, 2017, after the Work Session and the Goals meeting. After lunch, County Manager Joe Pritchard supplied a chair for Gretchen to sit in.
We can guess this is a followup to the Continue reading
In the third public meeting this morning, after the Work Session and the Goals meeting, the Lowndes County Commission is holding the first of three daily budget meetings. This one is 10:30 AM to 4:50 PM, Monday, March 27, 2017. There’s no agenda, just this calendar notice.
We can guess this is a followup to the audit report and finance discussions from their February planning session.
Why they didn’t post an agenda is mysterious. They didn’t post one for the Goals meeting, either.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
-jsq
The three rezonings back
the agenda
after being tabled were
approved,
tabled again,
and
denied.
They meet again this morning at 8:30 AM to consider
that tabled rezoning and other matters.
See also Continue reading
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM, and yesterday morning they reviewed
the three rezonings back
the agenda
after being tabled
last month.
County Manager Joe Pritchard
said staff would be sending Commissioners
a list of upcoming board apointments so they could think of candidates.
He didn’t say anything about showing that list to the public.
See also the LAKE videos of last November’s Planning Commission meeting for those three rezonings.
Below are links to LAKE videos from each item yesterday morning, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
Three rezonings are back from
last month
on
the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission Work Session
this morning at 8:30 AM.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Continue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Does 9:28 AM to 8:30 AM the next day sound like 24 hours notice to you?
And as usual there’s no draft budget posted.
Also no agenda.
From: listserv@civicplus.com
Date: 31 May 2016 09:28:22 -0500
Subject: New Event Budget Meetings For cp-stcity2.civicplus.comA new Event now appears on our site. Please click on the link below to go directly to the new posting.
http://www.lowndescounty.com/Calendar.aspx?EID=160
The actual event posting says “There will be no votes taken at these meetings.” Which probably gets them off the hook for the Georgia Open Meetings Law, but still doesn’t indicate they want the taxpayers to see what they’re doing.
Not on the agenda, discussed for fifteen minutes, then suddenly
approved:
more funding for the Airport Authority,
at the
14 July 2015 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Which was similar to the previous morning’s transportation study
discussion, except the Commission didn’t vote that time on any possibility
of funding that one.
TSA has reduced the amount of money it gives to small airports like Valdosta and in order to have Continue reading
$16,915
to upgrade a water main to subsidize a developer,
but no approval of
$15,957 to study public transportation and truck routing.
Speaking of subsidizing private developers, there’s yet more fallout from the failed 2007 mega-mall-and-subdivision Market Street project; see separate post.
And the Chairman gave an excellent demonstration of why elected officials would benefit by interacting and even debating with citizens, instead of jumping to conclusions and preaching at them.
Here’s the agenda, and the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session and the budget hearing immediately before the Regular Session. Below are the Regular Session LAKE videos with a few comments, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading