It’s great that the Lowndes County Comissioner for District 2
is reporting about a highway in his district,
but why isn’t the county reporting it on its own facebook page,
website, twitter account, etc.?
While the county doesn’t have facebook account (why not?) it does
have those other things and there’s nothing on them about
this news: Continue reading
Tag Archives: Georgia
$9.40 for a mound of paper @ LCC 2015-08-10
Gretchen made an Open Records request Monday morning and
it was available Tuesday 4:37 PM: mostly on paper and less than
an hour before the Commission voted.
The rezoning material from the Planning office was sent by electronic mail. The rest cost $9.40 to retrieve on paper. Nevermind in the email earlier Tuesday of the old ordinance from 1992 the county staff demonstrated they can put a paper document on their copier and produce a PDF. They could have done that with the rest of the board packet. Why didn’t they?
The Work Session was Monday morning at 8:30 AM 10 Aug 2015. Gretchen was notified by telephone about 4:30 PM Tuesday 11 Aug 2015. The County Palace closes at 5PM. The Commission met at 5:30 PM Tuesday to vote. So none Continue reading
Videos: Unknown ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-10
Here are videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session.
This morning, the same day as tonight’s voting Regular Session,
we got a few answers to some of yesterday’s questions about the
Nuisance Abatement Ordinance:
What 1992 ordinance? Which state law? Where’s the new draft?
Here’s the old ordinance and the new draft. And the memo wrapping the new draft refers to O.C.G.A. §§41-2-7 through 41-2-17. The memo doesn’t seem to say when that Georgia law was updated.
Here’s the
agenda.
See also the Continue reading
Minutes from 2006, Lowndes County Commission
Minutes aren’t on Lowndes County’s new website back more than a few years.
Even on their previous website, three sets of minutes were not there.
More than four years after Gretchen asked,
she
asked again,
and today we finally got those three.
Look who signed those minutes as County Clerk:
K. Paige Dukes, the same County Clerk who took four years to
return them in response to an Open Records request.
Here’s the message, and I’ve linked in those minutes.
-jsq
From: Amanda Smith <asmith@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:43:18 +0000
To: “‘land@quarterman.org'” <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: Meeting MinutesAs per your request, I have attached the meeting minutes from 8/8/06, 12/12/06, and 12/20/06. Continue reading
Got one Lowndes County ordinance (nuisance abatement) after five years asking @ LCC 2015-08-10
Back in 2011 the County Clerk didn’t say which May she would provide
that list of ordinances….
Her response of today is below.
The
old ordinance is so old it’s signed by Inez Pendleton.
It’s still in force, though, so shouldn’t it be on the county’s website,
along with all the other ordinances in force that also aren’t there? See below for list; also notice the dates I’ve boldfaced.
The
proposed new ordinance
is not readily translatable to plain text; looks like she scanned a paper copy.
Both are relevant to
today’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.
For the minutes she mentioned, see separate post.
-jsq
From: Paige Dukes <pdukes@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:42:29 +0000
To: John and Gretchen Quarterman <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: RE: Open Records Request for OrdinancesGood Afternoon Gretchen,
As per your request, please find the attached Continue reading
Land is not just money: appeal tax valuations today
Appeal today if you think there’s more to land (or business)
and woods and fields and streams than money,
unlike the Tax Assessors, whose revaluation would drive development
into agricultural areas of the county where it doesn’t belong,
while avoiding populated areas such as the south side of Valdosta.
We can expect pipeline companies and utilities from other states
to think nothing of pillaging our lands for their profit.
We shouldn’t expect that of our neighbors whom we elected Tax Asssessors.
If you have affection for your land, your county, your neighborhood,
today’s the deadline
to appeal your valuation.
And there will be an election later.
As Wendell Berry said,
Whatever has happened in what economists call “the economy,” it is generally true that the land economy has been discounted or ignored.
Are the Tax Assessors boomers? Are you a sticker? Wendell Berry explains: Continue reading
Unknown ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-10
How can we “Know the Laws” as the county’s
front page says,
if a county ordinance being revised isn’t there and isn’t
distributed when the county is about to vote on it Tuesday evening
after the Work Session this morning at 8:30 AM?
For the Nuisance Abatement Ordinance the packet agenda sheet says only: Continue reading
Hamilton County, FL Commission considers opposing FL-DEP Sabal Trail permit 2015-07-21
Local resident Chris Mericle asked his county commission
to once again oppose the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
this time by opposing a permit
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection proposes to issue for Sabal Trail to bore under the Suwannee River and other sovereign submerged lands and wetlands of Florida.
This time, Continue reading
Monday August 10th deadline to appeal tax valuations –VLCoC
Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce members just got a message from Bruce Allred, Government Affairs Council Chairman, saying:
MONDAY IS DEADLINE TO APPEAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS!
You can look up your property on the Tax Assessors’ website: www.qpublic.net/ga/lowndes.
See also the LAKE Videos: Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04.
That Chamber message includes this useful information: Continue reading
County and news media digging deeper on Shiloh sinkhole story
Will nearby buildings fall into this 120-foot sinkhole?
Will Shiloh Road have to be moved like Snake Nation Road was?
What about sinkhole insurance?
If there are “fault lines” causing sinkholes heading westwards in Lowndes County,
wouldn’t they cross the proposed path of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline?
What will Lowndes County do if that thing goes in and a sinkhole opens under it?
What if Sabal Trail declares such a sinkhole force majeure and doesn’t pay?
More on the usual detour on Shiloh Road. Joe Adgie, VDT, 6 August 2015, Sinkhole threat to Shiloh Road, Continue reading