Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Appointments, well and septic rezonings, road naming, and evidence @ LCC 2015-07-13

This morning at 8:30 AM, with voting Tuesday at 5:30 PM,
on this agenda,
for

reappointing Dr. Martha Giddens to the Lowndes County Division of Family and Children Services Board, two

well and

septic rezonings,
Lowndes County Road Naming Resolution and Procedure that they haven’t published even though
it’s because a Commissioner said citizens requested it,
and the latest in the long-running

Juvenile Justice Court diversionary program grant contract.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 13, 2015 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Four board appointments, plus Justice, Water, and Alcohol @ LCC 2015-06-23



$16,915

to upgrade a water main to subsidize a developer,
but no approval of

$15,957 to study public transportation and truck routing.

Speaking of subsidizing private developers,
there’s yet more fallout from the failed 2007 mega-mall-and-subdivision Market Street project; see separate post.

And the Chairman

gave an excellent demonstration of why elected officials would benefit
by interacting and even debating with citizens, instead of
jumping to conclusions and preaching at them.

Here’s the agenda,
and the
LAKE videos of

the previous morning’s Work Session
and
the budget hearing immediately before the Regular Session.
Below are the Regular Session LAKE videos with a few comments,
followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Videos: Budget Public Hearing #2, Lowndes County @ LCC Budget 2015-06-23



Only one citizen spoke at the second Budget Hearing 5PM 23 June 2015:
Gretchen Quarterman asking for approval of the VLMPO request
for funding for a public transportation study.
The Chairman said they weren’t going to, and shortly afterwards
at their Regular Session they didn’t, although they did approve more than that for a water main subsidy for
private developers.

The 5PM meeting was billed on
the county’s website as

Budget Adoption Meeting
and the previous morning by the Chairman as

a presentation by the Finance Director.
Is it a public hearing if it’s never advertised as a public hearing?

At least the proposed budget is on the county’s website,
just not where Continue reading →

Moody MAZ, Agriculture, Church @ GLPC 2015-06-29

This evening, the notorious

TXT-2015-01 Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ) ULDC text amendments


are back on the agenda, for decision by the Lowndes County Commission
a month later.
Usually reliable sources say the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce
will be opposing some of these changes.
Meanwhile, LAKE has laid out the board packet item from last time so you can get an idea of what’s going on and why, including links to the LAKE videos of the previous GLPC and Lowndes County Commission meetings where these MAZ changes were discussed.


REZ-2015-12 Martha Russ
wants to zone to less density while

REZ-2015-13 Clementine Miller
wants more density.
And in Valdosta

CU-2015-02 Kelly Barcol
wants a church in a Single-Family Residential (R-10) district.

Here’s the agenda. Continue reading →

Budget Adoption Meeting, Lowndes County @ LCC Budget 2015-06-23

A Budget Adoption Meeting 5PM before the 5:30 PM Regular Session,


as alluded to at
yesterday morning’s Work Session.
Is this a second Budget Hearing?
Does it count if it’s not advertised as a Hearing?
And it turns out the proposed budget is on the county’s website,
just not where they previously said it would be.


Budget Adoption Meeting,

[5:00-5:30PM] Tuesday, June 23 Continue reading →

Videos: Budget Public Hearing @ LCC Budget 2015-06-09



For the budget they will vote on Tuesday June 23rd,
two weeks ago
Finance Director Stephanie Black said:

“This is the public hearing”

What happened to the requirement for two budget public hearings?

The County Chairman said they had $7 million in requests above the expected
revenue, so they had had a difficult time coming up with a budget.
For (some of) how they did that, see the
LAKE videos of the 18 May 2015 Budget Work Session.

Half of this budget hearing consisted of the same presentation from
that previous meeting.
Then County Manager Joe Pritchard

added Continue reading →

Videos: Deep South Sanitation litigation resolution, Animals, MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-09



Not on the agenda for the 9 June 2015 Regular Session:

settlement agreement for the county’s unnecessary
lawsuit against Deep South Sanitation.
Commissioners had no questions, but I have two:

  1. how much did the county spend on the lawsuit?
  2. how much did the county end up paying DSS?

Also unscheduled:

Recognition of Leadership Lowndes Attendees.

Citizen

Billy Rowland
had some comments about road grading and wondered how Animal Control
could come take his dog from his posted property yet not do anything
when he reported barking dogs.

They approved a Scruggs Co. contract for

Paving on Coppage Road, which includes curb and gutter to
save some of the tree canopy.
They approved a

Bid for Bemiss Road Mowing even though it’s a state highway, plus
a

Bid for a Zero-Turn Mower for the Public Works Department from Nashville Tractor.
They
approved the

Bid for a Fire Pumper for Lowndes County Fire Rescue
and the

LCSO Patrol Car Laptops Lease Purchase and
tabled the

Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from Valdosta utilities.

Via LAKE open records request,
see the

board packet item
for the complicated

Moody Activity Zones
Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code
that were tabled for more time at the Tuesday June 9th 2015 Regular Session
of the Lowndes County Commission.
See the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission
meeting that considered the MAZ and the rezonings on this agenda.
The

Shiver
and

Kinsey
rezonings were
were approved unanimously
with no speakers from the public and no Commissioner comments.
The

Orchard at Stone Creek
rezoning discussion about a retirement home lasted for 14 minutes, including updated maps
that were only provided to LAKE on paper, despite a request for
electronic copy.
See also the
agenda
and the
LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

Continue reading →

Videos: Regular Session GEFA, road abandonment, bids, and water @ LCC 2015-05-26



Attorney had to remind Commissioners that

a road abandonment such as for Buck Cato Road
requires a public hearing.
They declared the

solid waste equipment surplus to be leased to “prospective franchisees” such as DSS;
County Manager said
“we have the lease agreement here”, but did not put it on the county’s
website for the public to see.
County agent arrived just in time to hear the Langdale bid accepted for

a truck for the Extension Service.
They accepted

the Lee Office Supply bid for Emergency Operations Center tables and chairs.
And of course they approved the

Interconnection of North Lowndes and Kinderlou Water Systems
and the

GEFA Loan Modification
for the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant.
They started
a minute late. At the end, after

the County Manager
had no report
and no citizens wished to be heard,
as usual they adjourned without a vote.

This was all at the
afternoon Lowndes County Regular Session.
For background and more details, see Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-08



Through a LAKE open records request, now

you can see
the complicated

Moody Activity Zones
Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code,
which affect everything from animals to retirement homes.
In these LAKE videos you can see the Lowndes County Commission
consider that and other matters at their Work Session of Monday 8 June 2015,
including

Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from the City of Valdosta,
two water well and septic rezonings on
Mt. Zion Rd
and
Touchton Rd,
and
water and sewer for 24 acres of The Orchard at Stone Creek, Tillman Crossing Rd.
Plus
Utility Relocation for the Replacement of Franks Creek Bridge on Morven Road
and
many bids, including for
Paving on Coppage Road;
staff recommends the Scruggs bid.

County Manager Joe Pritchard noted
many of the bids were
related to SPLOST in an effort
“to get those projects up and running as quickly as possible”.

Here’s the
agenda.
See also the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission
meeting that considered these rezonings and the MAZ. Continue reading →

Board packet item for MAZ ULDC Text Amendment TXT-2015-01 @ LCC 2015-06-08



It’s no wonder the Planning Commission wanted more time for these complicated
proposed county code changes to the Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ).
The county could have just as easily put

the PDF of this item online with

the agenda.
They didn’t, so LAKE filed an open records request, which no only makes
these maps and text available to the public, it demonstrates
the county can supply electronic format via email.

Here’s plain text for the
Board packet agenda item sheet
and the
Planning Division Amendment Notes,
and images of all the other pages from the PDF.

See also the Continue reading →