A longish
agenda
led to a
quite long GLPC meeting.
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Lowndes County
City of Valdosta
City of Dasher
City of Hahira
City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, February 26, 2018 * 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Third time was the charm for
William Branham and his Copeland Road subdivision,
which the Planning Commission recommended 6:1.
Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a
LAKE video playlist.
See also the
agenda.
Almost half an hour on the
Bill Branham subdivision on Copeland Road
resulted in a split denial: the only denial in this Planning Commission Regular Session.
Slightly less time on
the Charles Bennett accessory dwelling unit on Green Meadown Drive
got unanimous approval with staff conditions.
Ten minutes on the
Clint Joyner’s request for Knight’s Development’s
30-acre subdivision rezoning on Bemiss Knights Academy Road
got unanimous approval.
About the same on
Tim Blanton’s rezoning of 45+ acres to residential agriculture
passed unanimously.
Ditto
rezoning for Richard Bonner’s rezoning for
a fast-growth corridor between Highway 84 and Interstate 75.
Less time for
Jon Nijem’s expanded parking on Baytree Road
to pass unanimously.
Keith Sandlin’s
Lake Park case did sail through,
as did
John Thomas’ rezoning for a showroom for his show car business.
Commissioner Willis’ term was
coming up for reappointment.
Below are links to each LAKE video with a very few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the Continue reading
The previous morning
they invented a consent agenda, such as Hahira and many others use all the time,
but the Lowndes County Commission
didn’t call it that.
As expected,
they appointed Kelley Saxon to DBHDDB.
And they
adjourned into an executive session.
Below are Continue reading
Years ago I met Rep. Lamar Smith at the Texas State Capitol.
He studiously avoided my attempts to talk to him about solar power.
And is House Committee report on energy markets does not mention
solar power even once, and wind only to sneer at it.
The report does spend quite a bit of space promoting fracking.
Oh, it’s supposed to be about those horrid Russians.
It builds its case otherwise around 4% of 9,097 social media posts
over two years, which is about one every other day.
I personally post more than that.
Not a very impressive report.
Justin Mikulka, Desmog, February 18, 2018,
Safety Officials Order Partial Shutdown of Sabine Pass LNG Export Facility After Discovering 10-Year History of Leaks.
Here’s a sample from the
Majority Staff Report, Continue reading
Chris Yarborough resigned from the
Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities Board (DBHDD) and
Kelley Saxon has applied;
she spoke about her qualifications.
There are
For Consideration
four computer purchase items
and only one bid for two
1 Ton Dual Wheel Truck with Service Body for the Utilities Department.
Below are links to each LAKE video of yesterday morning’s Work Session, with a few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the
agenda.
Gretchen is on her way with the LAKE video camera
to the 5:30 PM voting session. Continue reading
The missing agenda
finally
showed up sometime around when the Work Session started yesterday.
Chris Yarborough resigned from the
Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities Board (DBHDD) and
Kelley Saxon has applied.
There are
four computer purchase items
and one bid for two
1 Ton Dual Wheel Truck with Service Body for the Utilities Department.
LAKE videos of the Work Session will follow shortly,
and Gretchen is on her way with the LAKE video camera
to the 5:30 PM voting Regular Session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, February 26, 2018, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, February 27, 2018, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
They published no agenda for their recent planning session,
and today their website is down before their 8:30 AM Work Session,
so if there’s an agenda on it, nobody can see it.
Gretchen is going there anyway, to see if they are doing anything.
Five years ago, Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer said:
It’s not that we’re saying we don’t have broadband. We have connectivity; that’s not the issue. We have great partners that help us with that.
The next week, February 25, 2013,
lowndescounty.com was down.
Just like today.
In October 2013, County Chairman Bill Slaughter said,
We have broadband!
We can’t wait on someone else to do something, we are going to have to move forward.
So far this forward motion is hard to see.
-jsq
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!
These videos are for those of you who have jobs, or responsibilities, which prevent you from taking random days or hours off at a time. Commissioner Marshall was absent from the second day of the retreat because he has a job which does not allow him the flexibility of daytime hours off. (The first day of the retreat was on Presidents Day.)
The topics of discussion ranged from the ever popular litter and trash collection, to special tax districts, fire and emergency response, animal control and the animal shelter, and one of my favorites, electronic records. Most presentations were made either by the county manager or clerk but the current Deep South Solid Waste Authority Chairman Kevin Beals was first up to talk trash.
Below are links to each LAKE video of Day 2, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the LAKE videos of Day 1
and Continue reading
The 2018 Lowndes County Commission Retreat was just about the exact opposite of a commission meeting, except that same group of people are present (almost). There was discussion, disagreement, laughing, sighing, interrupting, listening, inside jokes, outside jokes, and general exchange of views. Those things don’t happen in a commission meeting. This year’s retreat was particularly different because there was no time frame attached to any agenda item and they didn’t discuss topics in exact order, and some topics got covered repeatedly. Commissioner Evans said to me during a break that the previous format of having departments just give a report can “get boring” and she had suggested that they have a different format with more discussion about communications.
The agenda was available on-line but was hard to find and the link I followed to find it is gone now. I did manage to download it before it went away. Find it here: 2018 LCC Annual Planning Meeting Agenda (plus searchable text). There were paper copies available at the meeting after the first break.
I sometimes think that the commissioners may be getting used to me but then, no, don’t be silly.
At the lunch hour, the Commissioners stepped outside to take a group picture and as County Clerk Page Dukes suggested that they get closer and not have so much “space” between them, Commissioners Orenstein and Griner (I live in their districts) huddled together.
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Below are links to each LAKE video, with a few notes followed by a LAKE video playlist.
Continue reading