Tag Archives: GEFA

Videos: Jury, Paving, and GEFA in Work Session @ LCC 2019-09-23

The Lowndes County Commission spent nine minutes yesterday morning discussing spending $124,454 and borrowing $1,734,000. They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

The county has now gotten up to not just demanding landowners give road right of way to the county, but also condemning property if they don’t get it donated.

The longest item at less than two minutes was 6.d. Request for Professional Engineering Services Proposals – CDBG. As Gretchen remarks in the notes, apparently this is in support of Arglas, the Japanese glass products manufacturer locating on Rocky Ford Road.

Second longest was 7.b. Bid for a Breathing Air System for the Fire Department, due to a question by a Commissioner.

Below are Continue reading →

Jury, Paving, and GEFA in LCC Packet @ LCC 2019-09-23

Lowndes County staff are proposing to spend $124,454, according to all the “BUDGET IMPACT”s board packet: $48,500 for a Jury Management System, $1,469.00 for Condemning ROW for Howell Lane Paving Project, $3,500.00 (approx.) for Second Modification of GEFA Loan Agreement, and for the Fire Department $29,195.00 for a 1/2 Ton Truck and $41,790.00 for a Breathing Air System.

[Survey plat: Revised County RoW for Howell Lane]
Survey plat: Revised County RoW for Howell Lane

They propose to borrow $1,734,000 from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).

The Lowndes County Commission discusses Monday morning at 8:30 AM. They vote 5:30 PM Tuesday.

[Project Budget]
GEFA Loan Agreement Project Budget

For the first time ever! Lowndes County has returned the board packet before the Work Session.

LAKE sent an open records request Tuesday, and the county actually supplied the packet Friday, with this note: Continue reading →

Videos: Grants, Budget, Tax, Bonds, Parks, Land, Water, Waste, 911 @ LCC 2018-06-26

The most interesting items were not on the agenda of the Regular Session two weeks ago of the Lowndes County Commission Work Session. The County Engineer had One more thing: Loch Laurel Bridge Work and Closure 7/16 – 7/23, Commissioner Demarcus Marshall reminded everyone the Georgia hands-free driving law was going into effect, and the Chairman announced swearing in of the newly un-privatized Probation Officers the following morning.

The longest scheduled item at almost 3 minutes was New Consoles For 911 Dispatchers, followed by Contract With Parks And Recreation Authority, because both had questions from Commissioners.

The two grant items added the previous morning, for Accountability Court and DUI Court, sailed through, as did the Francis Lake Lift Station Repair and the LAS Storage Pond Improvements.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: KLVB appointment, Stafford Wright Road R.I.P., GEFA, pumps, and dollars @ LCC 2017-10-23

They vote today at 5:30 PM. At yeasterday morning’s Work Session, Commissioner Scottie Orenstein, the current Vice Chair, presided in the absence of the Chair. Chairman Bill Slaughter was in Atlanta on his way to D.C. The Vice Chair said what they were not going to cover until the Regular Session, which was unusual: 8.f. GEFA Loan Agreement. Also at the end he mentioned Citizens Wishing to be Heard is in the Tuesday evening meeting.

Below are links to each LAKE video, with a very few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and the notes I put in that previous post. Continue reading →

KLVB appointment, Stafford Wright Road R.I.P., GEFA, pumps, and dollars @ LCC 2017-10-23

To replace Molly Stoltz on KLVB (she moved), they will appoint either Adam Floyd or Kyle Rudrow, discussing Monday morning and voting Tuesday evening.

Between Valdosta at Cherry Creek Road and the Skipper Bridge Road McDonalds, Google Map

Years ago I tried to explain to people on Stafford Wright Road that if the county ever paved that road, it wouldn’t be for the current residents. Now it’s getting a water main with paving. The county only ever runs water to places it plans to have subdivisions. Enjoy your quiet country road while you can, old-time residents. You’re about to be displaced for an expansion of “Central Lowndes County” west of Skipper Bridge Road and north of Cherry Creek.

Lowndes County has been approved for a GEFA Loan Agreement submitted in December 2016, for upgrades at the Land Application Site (LAS) and lift stations. It’s not clear whether that includes the purchase of 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 →

Valdosta sewage PR reaches Florida

Valdosta sure has an effective PR mechanism, famous all the way to Florida again, for the second time this month. Most cities wouldn’t think to dump stuff into the river to get in the news! But Valdosta buried the solution at the end of a traditional press release:

“The city has planned, designed and bid a force main project and will award a $32 million contract in May that will prevent the majority of these overflows from occurring in the future.”

That would be one of the projects Valdosta will use the $36.7 million GEFA loan to fund. Other projects are related to the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which wasn’t the culprit this time. This sewer spill came from manholes overflowing.

Winnie Wright wrote for WCTV yesterday, Over 1 Million Gallons Of Wastewater Spills Into Local Waterways,

The Florida Department of Public Health is warning residents to avoid contact with water from the Withlacoochee River.

Continue reading →