Maybe the Lowndes County Commission should have read these quotes
before it approved that
unbudgeted no-bid not-discussed-in-the-retreat
second water treatment system purchase.
Update 17 October 2014: Fix date of editorial. -jsq
VDT editorial 12 April August 2014,
Why open government matters,
“The same prudence, which, in private life, would forbid our paying our money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the disposition of public moneys.” — Thomas Jefferson.
Continue reading
Maybe filing the lawsuit in the first place was “premature”, to use Chairman Bill Slaughter’s word in the VDT yesterday about a possible appeal. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall had the common courtesy on WCTV to apologize to DSS for the unnecessary lawsuit. How much did the Commission spend on that waste of time and effort?
Editor Kay Harris wrote on the front page of the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday, Company wins fight to stay in business: Deep South wins case brought by County,
Southern Circuit Judge Harry J. Altman issued a ruling Monday in the civil action filed by Lowndes County against Deep South Sanitation, LLC to enjoin Deep South from continuing its garbage business. Advanced Disposal Services was later added as an intervenor plaintiff in the case against Deep South as well.
In the ruling, Altman denied the County’s request for an injunction to put Deep South out of business. The order addresses the County’s ordinance passed in 2012, saying that to “simultaneously invoke an exclusive franchise agreement with one company would, in effect … permit Lowndes County to construct a monopoly while simultaneously putting pre-existing companies out of business.”
Well, it appears the judge thought it was about right or wrong.
The county Chairman’s view now? Continue reading
Press freedom is an essential part of liberty, and without liberty there is no security. It’s good to see the CEO of AP speaking up about this, after Julian Assange, Bruce Schneier, and Benjamin Franklin.
Colleen Slevin wrote for AP yesterday, AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a ‘false choice’,
Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a “false choice” that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday.
Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department’s secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.
The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond the U.S., including Continue reading
Citizens still wanted to talk about solid waste after the
Commission adjourned the Tuesday 11 June 2013
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Commissioners offered nothing but excuses.
Commissioner Page asked for
Mr. Wright
to stay behind so he could talk to him.
The Chairman adjourned; I didn’t hear or see any motion or second or vote.
Aren’t those required by state law?
The subsequent excuses included:
It’s not about right or wrong anymore.
Nevermind that most of the people in the room thought it was, as well as many of the citizens and voters in the county.
We have to follow the process.
Nevermind they didn’t hold Continue reading
The county government’s attempt to put a local business out of business
is this 9:30 AM at the county palace this morning 14 June 2013.
Physical Address:
Courtroom 5D, Fifth Floor
Lowndes County Judicial Complex
327 N. Ashley Street
Valdosta, GA 31601
WALB’s earlier story said June 4th, but now it’s June 14th (today), because Lowndes County Attorney Walter Elliott is also an attorney for Turner County in the LOST case before the GA Supreme Court, and he was going to be in Atlanta arguing before the Supreme Court on June 4th. Funny how everything is done for the convenience of the county government, and not for its citizens. Maybe we should change that.
-jsq
My LTE in the VDT Thursday. I’ve added links to some of my inspirations. -jsq
Local leaders worked hard to get the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area declared. Why now are they acting like a Ludowici speed trap for local businesses?
The Lowndes County Commission shouldn’t act like a private business trying to exclude anybody it doesn’t like. State law says local governments are supposed to have open bids and public hearings. A promise (in the VDT) in March 2013 of a non-exclusive contract for trash collection turned into exclusive in October; at least two of the five bidders are now the same company; and the county is suing
a local business to the profit of a company owned by investors in New York City. Meanwhile, no public accounting has ever been seen of the former waste collection sites and no public hearing was held before they closed, despite state law.
Business exists to make a profit. Government exists to provide public services like law enforcement, water, sewers, roads, and yes, trash collection. Sure, balanced books are good. But money isn’t the main point of government: providing what the people need is, and the people didn’t ask the county to exchange the waste collection centers for lower prices that won’t last.
Businesses (except monopolies) have to Continue reading
“I hope you’ll consider a democratic process working into your rules,”
remarked a military veteran at
Tuesday night’s
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
After saying he was also concerned about how Deep South Sanitation is being treated, Gary Wright said:
There is a little bit of a lack of democratic process in your meeting groundrules. On your website I don’t know anything in there that said you have only thirty minute meetings for the entire thing. I don’t know if this happens whenever you have a meeting that’s only thirty minutes long; I’ve never been to one.
Their rules don’t say that, but it’s not surprising there is confusion, given Continue reading
The right thing is not letting one company take all the money to New York
while putting another out of business, said a local resident
at Tuesday night’s
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
When you get a company like Veolia or Advanced that’s taking all the money to New York, and then they come to my house and they leave, I put garbage bags beside my can and they won’t pick it up.
And then my guy, Cary Scarborough, comes and picks up everything, and you know what else he does guys? Continue reading
“Let me decide who I want to haul my waste,”
said a former Chairman of the Industrial Authority
at Tuesday night’s
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Jerome Tucker thanked
Commissioner John Page for bringing up the topic of freedom,
since that was his main topic, too.
I’m here to talk about… where I have a choice who handles my waste…
Cary didn’t come to me looking for business. I saw his truck come along and Continue reading
The owner of Deep South Sanitation thanked the community and his family and said he didn’t understand what was going on. The Commission offered no explanation.
Cary Scarborough handed in a petition and sat down. The crowd applauded.
That rapidly turned into a standing ovation. Continue reading