The first meeting was last week, but there will be plenty more, in the state-required five-year update process for the Echols County Comprehensive Plan.
![[Begin Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update in Statenville, organized by SGRC]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/echols/2024-12-05--echols-comprehensive-plan/fbmany.jpg)
Begin Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update in Statenville,
organized by SGRC
That was a kickoff meeting.
Continue readingThey spent the most time discussing the several court funding cash match requests, two weeks ago at the Lowndes County (GA) Commission Work Session. At the end, Project Manager Chad McLeod had updates on the Courthouse renovation and the Commission Chambers audio and video restoration.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the agenda.
The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-06-21–lcc-packet
Continue reading
The biggest item on this week’s Lowndes County Commission agenda, for voting this eventing, is Grounds Maintenance. Planting some native shrubbery, flowers, and trees instead of all that lawn would reduce that cost.
Three sewage system items add up, for Whitewater Lift Station Control Panel Emergency Repair, Bemiss Low Pressure Sewer Main Replacement Change Order, and the $2,500,000.00 GEFA Loan for the Sewer System Rehabilitation Project. That last does not show up in the agenda sheet as BUDGET IMPACT, but county taxpayers will pay for it over time. However, proactive sewer system fixes are lot better than reactive sewage spill repairs.
Four courts in three agenda items require cash match. Plus a road work truck and pest control round out the dollar figures.
There’s a reappointment to Children’s Services and a new appointment to the Library Board.
And there’s a beer license, which brings in fees of $250 Off Premises + $150 Administration = $400.
Here is
the agenda.
The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-06-21–lcc-packet
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Continue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2021, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2021, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Local counties and cities
sold off one landfill in Lowndes County in the late 1990s,
and a second one in 2005 through the Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority.
Yet in 2007 the
Deep South Municipal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (WMA),
with the same county and city member governments,
was still active, discussing a regional recycling station.
And it is still active today, including some of the same board members
the entire time since 2005,
such as
Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson.
Hanson was not present last week
when Valdosta Mayor John Gayle said
Valdosta does not control the landfill, or perhaps he would have
mentioned that Valdosta through its longterm seat on the WMA board
does have some degree of control over the landfill’s operations.
I notice quite a few of the Valdosta City Council’s own minutes record discussions and votes related to that WMA including this item from their Regular meeting of 4 October 2014, which was called to order by Mayor Gayle:
- Boards, Commissions, Authorities, and Advisory Committees
- Consideration of an appointment to the Deep South Regional Municipal Solid Waste Management Authority. — Appointed Richard Hardy, Public Works Director (7-0 Vote).
There must be some advantage to the City of Valdosta to have two members (Hanson and Hardy) on the WMA board. Certainly the average citizen or organization does not have that.
Bill Roberts, VDT, 5 December 2005, Authority closes on landfill deal, Continue reading
Some of our elected officials wonder few people ever speak up around here.
It’s simple: they owe their soul to the company store.
If you don’t go along, you don’t get business.
As Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in that old Merle Travis song:
Continue readingYou load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
How come Live Oak (pop. 6,974) in Suwannee County (43,734), Florida can do
what mighty Valdosta (56,481) in Lowndes County (112,916), Georgia can’t?
Amber Vann, Suwannee Democrat, 17 July 2015, Live Oak bus route starts Monday,
The Suwannee Valley Transit Authority’s Live Oak bus route will begin operating on Monday, July 20, running continuously from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. throughout every direction of the city, Monday through Friday. The route’s unofficial stops include apartment complexes and other residential neighborhoods, public schools, grocery stores, parks, government offices, nursing homes, the library and the hospital.
The route starts at the intersection of Walker Avenue and US 90 West Continue reading
25th Semi-Annual Alapahoochee Historic Farm/Heritage Days will take
place April 10-11 from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Located at
202 Bethel Church Road in Echols County.
Here’s their flyer on their facebook page. Continue reading
That’s a Lake Park postal address, but the street address
is actually in Echols County.
Received from
Lake Park Chamber of Commerce. yesterday. -jsq
Continue reading
ALAPAHOOCHEE
HISTORIC FARM / HERITAGE DAYS
DOWN HOME FAMILY REUNIONOCTOBER
1424 – 25, 2014 (FRI/SAT)
9 AM-4 PMECHOLS COUNTY, 202 BETHEL CHURCH ROAD.
LAKE PARK. GA 31636
Preserving Echols County & Area Heritage of 1900’s
- Non-profit
- NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ALLOWED
- Free admission
The Chamber, the Industrial Authority, and various other local leaders
say they want knowledge-based jobs, or creative jobs.
We won’t get those just by teaching students to show up on time and
do what they’re told: that’s how you train factory workers,
not knowledge-based employees.
For creative jobs we also need Technology, Talent, and Tolerance.
How do you measure Tolerance?
One key component is the concentration of gays and lesbians.
So today’s
South Georgia Pride Festival
is a good sign for creative jobs in south Georgia!
Richard Florida wrote 16 July 2012 for The Atlantic, The Geography of Tolerance,
The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.
Do you recognize that shape in the middle of south Georgia?
That’s the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area,
consisting of Lowndes, Echols, Lanier, and Brooks Counties.
Looks like about 0.4 on the Tolerance Index.
So sure, we’re no Austin, Texas, but we’re in the same range as oh,
Charlotte, NC.
If you want to help promote creative jobs in south Georgia, there’s a festival going on today:
South Georgia Pride Festival
noon until 6PM
John W Saunders Park
1151 River Street
Valdosta, Georgia
food and music all day
Who knows, the Mayor of Valdosta might even be there; what do you think? He certainly gave the festival plenty of earned media.
-jsq
Larry Hanson, Valdosta City Manager, asked for the regional council to reconsider aviation projects, especially considering that the tax was supposed to be for projects of regional significance. Then he pointed out
Out of that $503 million about 40% of it or $212 million is projected to be generated here in Lowndes County. And when you look at what's being returned, for instance to the city of Valdosta, it's $47 million. It is certainly one thing to be a donor, but that's a pretty substantial donor.
He said he appreciated all the other counties, but much of the money would go to counties that are not contiguous to Lowndes County and are not part of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes the four counties of Lowndes, Brooks, Lanier, and Echols. He continued:
Lowndes County is about 26% of the region's population and we generate about 38% of the revenue, and we're not quite getting that back in terms of the distribution.
You may wonder why a City of Valdosta official was speaking for Lowndes County. County Manager Joe Pritchard was there at the start of the meeting, and I think County Engineer Mike Fletcher was, as well. County Chairman Ashley Paulk came in late and summoned Pritchard and Fletcher outside the glass doors of the meeting room. They stood there for quite some time, peering in, and then vanished.
Here's the video:
Aviation Projects, and Valdosta is a substantial donor –Larry Hanson @ T-SPLOST 2011-09-19
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
-jsq
![[Beer, Lawns]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-06-21--lcc-packet/many.jpg)