Tag Archives: Government

Lowndes County takes no responsibility for the pipeline –Bill Slaughter @ LCC 2013-06-25

You’re on your own if that pipeline company wants your property; the county government chooses to stay completely out of it, so said Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter at the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

He read a prepared statement about a proposed natural gas pipeline. Why the county couldn’t put it on their website as a press release is mysterious. I’ve added the links:

Lowndes County has been contacted by representatives of McKenna, Long, Aldridge law firm of Atlanta regarding a proposed project expected to impact property owners of Lowndes County. Spectra Energy Company and its subsidiary, Sabal Trail Transmissions LLC anticipates construction of a 465 mile interstate natural gas pipeline from Anniston, Alabama extending through Georgia and coming through Lowndes County, terminating in Orlando, Florida.
This project is for the benefit of and is the responsibility of Florida Power and Light. Lowndes County has been Continue reading →

Video Arraignment for Juvenile and Magistrate Court @ LCC 2013-06-25

Hm, if video saves the county all this money, how about video of the County Commission’s own meetings to save the public money keeping track of what the Commission is up to?

7.h. Video Arraignment for Juvenile and Magistrate Court

IT Director Aaron Kostyu said at the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission:

As discussed yesterday morning, this is the video arraignment solution for the magistrate juvenile court. This solution will save tens of thousands of dollars a year for staffing and transportation that will not be required. It will save us quite a bit of money, and time as well. This solution will allow for the video presentation, signature, and certification of warrants and the carrying out of video arraignments and first appearances as well for Magistrates and Juvenile. And this will benefit the Magistrate Court, Juvenile Court, and all the local law enforcement agencies. As noted yesterday, the city of Valdosta is awaiting your approval, and they will purchase a portion of this to go in their facilities as well that will allow them to speak in the video warrants portion.

Commissioners had no questions. County Manager Joe Pritchard recommended Continue reading →

County bus system reapproved @ LCC 2013-06-25

Didn’t know the county had a bus system? It does; you can call 316-2153 and they’ll pick you up for a flat fee. The county’s contract with the state Department of Transportation and with the contractor MIDS, Inc. was reapproved at the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

7.b. Section 5311 Rural Transportation Operating Contracts

The contract is with GADOT, and the contractor is MIDS, Inc. Per Commissioner Joyce Evans’ request of the previous morning, County Engineer Joe Pritchard said there had been 12,322 trips with six buses over the past 5 months.

The County Engineer referred to some discussion of the previous morning, The Engineer said the federal government put in the first $220,000, and while the county had to pick up any shortfalls, there have been no shortfalls over the past twelve years. This is different from County Manager Joe Pritchard’s answer of the previous morning that it “has been budgeted”. At least staff managed to come up with budget detail after being asked in public by Commissioners. No questions. Unanimous approval.

Here’s Part 1 of 2:

Continue reading →

Corbett or George Road renamed to Caney Branch Road @ LCC 2013-06-25

The road previously known as Corbett or George, part of which may or may not have been closed at some previous data, was renamed to Caney Branch Road after a creek that flows into the Alapahoochee River, at the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

6.1. Public Hearing Renaming George Road (CR #105)

This time County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the residents wanted to rename George Road to be Caney Branch Road after Caney Branch, “a small creek that runs through this area, localized”. because

EMS, 911, and postal services have an issue with locating the correct houses because there are two George Roads in Lowndes County.

He referred to the previous morning, when Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know Continue reading →

A librarian on the library board! @ LCC 2013-06-25

The political appointee was replaced by a librarian, and the marketing guy by a marketing guy, at the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

5.a. Lowndes County Library Board

Back on June 10th Library Director Kelly Lenz brought candidates Jack Hartley, Linda Most, and Matt Lawrence, who spoke, and at the June 24th Work Session Commissioner Joyce Evans submitted the name of Mr. Robert Jefferson, who did not speak.

This time County Manager Joe Pritchard mumbled behind his monitor and did not deign to name any of the candidates, referring to “a list” that Commissioners could see but the public could not. He did say that the openings were for the board slots previously occupied by Kay Harris and Ray Devery.

Previous political appointee Kay Harris failed to get the new library at Five Points approved in last year’s failed SPLOST VII vote and resigned as Library Board Chair and from that board 15 March 2013. Here are some related points she never seemed to discuss. And while she and the County Commission and the Valdosta City Council and Mayor pointed fingers about who lost SPLOST, Continue reading →

Vogtle nuke loan deadline extended for third time

We don’t know the federal cost estimates or the terms and conditions or why Plant Vogtle just got another three month extension on that $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee.

Rob Pavey wrote for the August Chronicle yesterday, Federal loan guarantee offer for Vogtle expansion extended again,

The owners of Plant Vogtle have secured — for the third time — an extension to allow further negotiation with the U.S. Energy Department over its 2010 offer of up to $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to help finance two new nuclear reactors.

Georgia Power and co-owners Oglethorpe Power and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia were conditionally approved in February 2010 for loan-guarantee financing, in which the government promises to assume a company’s debt if the company defaults. However, the details were never agreed on. Two extensions have since expired, with the most recent deadline — June 30 — passing without any formal agreement in place. Jeannice M.W. Hall, a Southern Co. spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Wednesday that the new extension sets a Sept. 30 deadline for completing the loan guarantee arrangements.

With Southern Company’s stock already downgraded because of Kemper Coal and Plant Vogtle, after S&P’s downgraded SO’s credit, and with still more cost overruns at Kemper on top of Vogtle being 19 months late and a billion dollars over budget, as Gloria Tatum asked back in May, why is SO gambling on nuclear instead of solar?

If you’re tired of this, you can ask DoE Secretary Ernest Moniz to revoke that loan.

-jsq

Ready, willing, and able for wind –Jill Stuckey for Georgia Southern @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Jill Stuckey spoke for wind power for economic development on behalf of the College of Engineering and Information Technologies at Georgia Southern University. She said with its experience in solar and wind Georgia Southern is willing, able, and ready to help at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

Here’s the video:

Ready, willing, and able for wind –Jill Stuckey for Georgia Southern
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.

-jsq

The cloudy day doesn’t last for an entire month –John S. Quarterman @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

The disruptive challenge electric utilities face is like telephone companies faced years ago, as Edison Electric Institute recently pointed out. Circuit switching 20 years ago is like distributed solar power and the smart grid it needs now; this is what I described at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

Hi, I’m John Quarterman, I’m from Lowndes County, down near the Florida line. These videos I’ve been taking are with Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange and you’ll find them on YouTube later.
Now I’d like to commend Georgia Power for helping fund our Industrial Authority down in Lowndes County to do a strategic plan. And in the focus groups they did with that, they discovered there’s at least two things everybody wants: business, education, health care, the people in general: Continue reading →

Rezonings: Lake Park, Valdosta, Lowndes County @ GLPC 2013-06-24

Three rezonings considered yesterday at the Planning Commission, one each for Lake Park (a church), Valdosta (a business), and Lowndes County (an individual). Gretchen was there with the video camera; videos to come.

Here’s the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Tuesday, June 24, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

My input to the budget “hearing” tonight @ LCC 2013-06-25

I recommend people go to tonight’s budget “hearing” and see what’s said, and maybe even try to ask some questions. I’m staying home; here’s why.

Since Ashley Paulk is apparently still running the County Commission, I’m going by Ashley Paulk’s stated theory that citizens provide input to the budget process at every meeting. I already provided mine 14 May 2013: Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange