This was mostly an ordinary Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
except for a few items, perhaps most notably this one:
9.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts RoadsMore about that later.
Here’s the agenda.
Here’s the playlist for the entire meeting:
Videos of 9 Jan 2012 LCC Work Session
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Here are videos of the Hahira Ethics Commission (HEC) on 12 January 2012
considering
complaint #1 against
Mayor Wayne Bullard:
1.) In 2010 permission was given by Bullard to Allgreen, the mayor’s employer, to store Allgreen equipment on city property, 6571 Union RoadHEC decided that while he shouldn’t have done it, the Hahira City Council already met on that subject and he already agreed not to do it again, so there was nothing more for the ethics commission to do on that complaint, although the City Council could take it up again if it wanted to.Dumpsite, without bringing the issue before the City Council.
Regarding the other two complaints, at the insistence of the complainant, Clay Tilman, that he had further evidence to present, Commissioner Marilyn Dye made a motion to consider the other two items in a following session.; the commission agreed to do that: they’ll meet again today, 19 January 2012, at 5:30 PM. Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the substance of the complaints.
Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the 12 Jan meeting, with this Kafkaesque moment: Continue reading
In a refreshing changes from “jobs, jobs, jobs” as everything,
Andrea Schruijer,
Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
told the Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting, 5 December 2011,
that it wasn’t her job to create jobs, jobs, jobs; it was her job
to create an environment that let jobs be created.
Towards that end, she announced several new jobs at VLCIA,
including a PR and marketing position.
VLCIA Chairman Roy Copeland also spoke and helped answer questions
from the audience, including about
wages,
workers, and
green industries.
Perhaps not shown is her answer to my question about what does VLCIA do to promote new local industry. I believe she said VLCIA looks to the Chamber of Commerce for incubation, and helps once local businesses are established.
Here’s a playlist:
My job: create environment for jobs —Andrea Schruijer of VLCIA @ LCDP 5 Dec 2011
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director of VLCIA,
Monthly Meeting, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 December 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman.
-jsq
Good Afternoon,In addition to the PDF of the agenda, here’s an HTML version. -jsqPlease find attached
the agenda for the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee meeting on January 10, 2012 at 1:30 pm. At the SGRC office (address below). The public is welcome to attend.
If you have any questions please contact Corey Hull at chull@sgrc.us or at 229-333-5277.
Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
327 W. Savannah Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31601Visit our Facebook Site!
229.333.5277
229.300.0922 (c)
229.333.5312 (f)
chull@sgrc.us
www.sgrc.us/transportation
Continue readingPolicy Committee
Meeting Agenda
January 10, 2012
1:30 PM
Hannah Solar installing solar panels at Okra Paradise Farms;
Pictures by John S. Quarterman, 20 December 2011.
Actually, you may not want to try this at home, unless your panels have strong steel supports like these. Still, most solar panels are very sturdy.
More later on what’s going on here.
-jsq
I really support this idea. Initially, I was concerned about it, becauseI know that things like the SCRAM bracelet and the ignition interlock devices are very expensive to install and maintain, especially if you consider the costs involved with probation fees. $213.00/month may not sound like a lot of money to some people, but it is a king’s ransom to others (saying $7.00/day makes it seem more manageable). Still, allowing non-violent offenders the opportunity to work and rehabilitate themselves outside of a prison is a big step forward in the philosophy of crime and punishment in this county, in my opinion.
-Jessica B. Hughes
Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission approved ankle bracelet monitoring
for nonviolent jail inmates so they can serve the rest of their time
outside the jail, putting them in a better environment and
decreasing expenses at the Sheriff’s office.
This sounds like a good idea.
I have not expressed an opinion because,
as Barbara Stratton pointed out,
the public doesn’t really know what was in the proposal County Commissioners
got in their agenda packet.
However, I would like to compliment Commissioner Joyce Evans about trying to do
something about nonviolent prisoners.
Summarizing the ankle monitoring discussion of Monday morning, County Manager Joe Pritchard Tuesday evening asked the Lowndes County Commission to approve continued work by county staff with the Sheriff’s office in implementing an ankle monitoring system to move some inmates out of the county jail.
Commissioner Richard Raines gave the credit to Commissioner Joyce Evans for both proposing a drug court and for proposing ankle monitoring.
Commissioner Evans declined comment but did make the motion, seconded by Commissioner Powell, and approved unanimously.
The VDT had a little more information in David Rodock’s Wednesday story: Continue reading
Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission finally held
the missing public hearing about the Comprehensive Plan,
and it was pretty painless:
only one citizen spoke, and she spoke for.
If they’d held it two months ago like all the local cities did,
they wouldn’t now be risking not getting state or federal grants
because they may not be certified.
They still didn’t
distribute the draft STWP and ROA before the hearing
as the state requires them to do,
so they could still be in trouble with the state.
However, at least they
reset their timeline and held the hearing.
That’s a step towards transparency as defined by
the state guidelines the county already agreed in writing to follow.
Commissioners had as much to say as they did at the Work Session Monday morning: nothing.
The one citizen, Gretchen Quarterman, said:
Continue readingI’m a super fan of planning, and I’m a fan of the Comprehensive Plan. I think that if we don’t know where we are going, and we don’t have a plan on how we’re gonna get there, we’re not gonna get there. And the five year plan that tells us exactly what we’re going to in the next five years to get to our 2030 plan is a groovy idea. So that part I’m in favor of.
I’ve been over this document pretty thoroughly with Jason, and I still have some questions outstanding which I’m sure that they’ll get resolved. He’s been super helpful.
The one thing I talked to Mr. Raines about and I would encourage the other Commissioners to consider is that in section 4.5.1, at least that’s what I have it on my document. Investigate
Answering part of
Barbara Stratton’s questions,
the audio access was part of
the award the Commission gave LAKE
for blogging questions like yours.
You may know it as
a bill of attainder.
When the commission moved to the palace, we tried sitting in several locations and found that the front couple of rows, near the edges have the best sound. When we were banished to the back corner, we found the audio on the recordings was nearly inaudible. Perhaps our readers and listeners noticed that too.
When we mentioned the poor audio quality to
Aaron Kostyu, Director of Technology,
he informed us of the possibility of a direct microphone feed in the “media nook” (to the right of the door as you go in) to a properly equipped camera. He even showed Gretchen a camera that had the proper features.
A bit of shopping later, we purchased a Canon HFR21 that appears to have many of the features needed for effective recording of these meetings.
Because the “media nook” speaker output had never been used before Monday, Continue reading
These videos are fantastic & I love the sequential playlist. How didyou get permission to connect to the county microphones? Thanks to both of you, John & Gretchen, we citizens who can’t make all the numerous meetings have excellent access to view the proceedings. I need info on the new camera please.
I have a question. Since all meetings are open to the public & all information is accessible by open record requests why do the various entities have a habit of not publically answering questions related to money amounts publically? Very often I have noticed all local government entities share a habit of referring money & budget amounts and/or bid questions to the packets each member has in front of them instead of vocalizing them. Since the public attendees do not have access to this information I feel we are selectively being left out of the process. Citizens should not have to process & fund open record requests for information that should be part of the public meeting. Since you have more experience with local entities can you explain this practise?
-Barbara Stratton