Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Roads and bicycles @ ZBOA 2014-12-02

300x222 3472 Bemiss Road VAR-2014-14, in Roads and Bicycles at ZBOA, by John S. Quarterman, 2 December 2014 Lot width on Bemiss Road and sidewalk and bicycle requirements on Inner Perimeter Road at ZBOA, tomorrow, 2:30 PM 2 December 2014.

Here’s the agenda. The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes online in real PDFs.

Valdosta -Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

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Videos: Lost Maps, New Vice, Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M @ GLPC 2014-11-24

Complete agenda? Maps? Election process? Calendar? But few people were there to notice these things missing.

At the Work Session we had all maps and things to show you, but between then and now the digital copies have vanished off of both laptops. And we are sort of at a loss as to where they went but they’re gone. So if you’ll use the maps that are in your packet and perhaps some memory from the Work Session discussion….

That’s right, staff lost the digital copies of an agenda item, CU-2014-11 Normal Life of Georgia. Board packets on the county’s website would serve as a backup for copies on planners’ laptops.

Gretchen, who was there, reports further below, including a note about that charming young white man recently appointed to the Planning Commission. -jsq

At a brief and poorly attended GLPC meeting, Continue reading

Videos of Open Government Symposium in Macon @ OGS 2014-10-17

Here are videos of last month’s event organized by VDT editor Jim Zachary, director of the Transparency Project of Georgia, and Holly Manheimer, director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, adding to the still picture we already posted.

LAKE in the VDT @ LCC 2014-11-21

300x169 VDT videographer, Gretchen with the LAKE camera, Chairman Slaughter, County Clerk, in Open Government Symposium, by John S. Quarterman, 21 November 2014 First time ever the VDT mentioned LAKE, so far as I can recall. And we’ll see if the new VDT editor’s honeyed approach works this time with the Lowndes County Commission.

Joe Adgie, VDT, 23 November 2014, Watchdogs use open government laws to the fullest,

Not everyone at the Open Government Symposium on Friday were affiliated with a government.

Some of them, like John and Gretchen Quarterman, serve as watchdogs for the government. These watchdogs attend the open, public meetings held by governing bodies, acquire the documents and records of these meetings and other governmental affairs, and serve to make sure our local governments behave like they should.

The Quartermans run the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), a repository of Continue reading

Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M @ GLPC 2014-11-24

300x388 Page 1: Lake Park R-P, Lowndes County C-G, Valdosta R-M, in Agenda, by John S. Quarterman, 24 November 2014

Thanks to the City of Valdosta for the agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting. It’s all small cases, but how would you know whether one of them might affect you, since Lowndes County still doesn’t post Planning Commission agendas or minutes or board packets? And is there a second page? If the county did post these agendas regularly on their own website, this sort of omission would be less likely to occur.

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

Monday, November 24, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

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Best Practices for Economic Development @ VLCIA 2014-11-18

Looks like some of them have been (or are thinking of) going to an Area Development Conference & Forum, about Best Practices for Economic Development. Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room
103 Roosevelt Drive Monthly Meeting Agenda
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Board Packet @ LCC 2014-11-11

Here is the board packet for the 11 November 2014 Regular Session and 10 November 2014 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Although the County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper and only in black and white, we got via CD-ROM color maps for REZ-2014-17 Grand Bay Estates and REZ-2014-18 White from County Planner Jason Davenport in response to a separate Open Records Request. The request to the County Clerk also asked for electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.

But who can say? Perhaps things will be different after the Open Government Symposium this Friday, 21 November 2014.

Meanwhile, I have already filed an Open Records Request for the board packet for the next County Commission meeting, which is in December.

-jsq

Open Government Symposium @ LCC 2014-11-21

Not the Onion: VDT front page Saturday 15 November 2014, County plans open government meeting Friday,

VALDOSTA — An Open Government Symposium this Friday in Valdosta will be hosted by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.

Valdosta Daily Times Editor Jim Zachary, director of the Transparency Project of Georgia, will be joined by Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, for the open government training event.

Lowndes County leaders approached Zachary and Manheimer about bringing the symposium to Valdosta after they attended the first in a statewide series of open government training sessions held in Macon at the Center for Collaborative Journalism Oct. 17.

The article noted that Commissioner Clay Griner was among the attendees at the previous symposium in Macon and had asked for this local meeting.

All the events are Continue reading

Pass a resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline –Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-11-11

10. CWTBH - Michael Noll Repeat speaker Dr. Michael Noll asked the Commissioners to do what Dougherty County has done and pass a resolution against the unnecessary and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline, in the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Video. Like the previous speaker, Dr. Noll asked everyone there about this topic to stand up, and about 30 people did. Continue reading

People are concerned and you have a voice –Robbie Dixon @ LCC 2014-11-11

10. CWTBH - Robbie Dixon A first-time speaker against the Sabal Trail pipeline demonstrated there was opposition and reminded us all we have a voice, and asked the Lowndes County Commission to speak up as well, in the 11 November 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Video. Robbie Dixon said he had been approached by their contractors asking to reroute the pipeline onto his property, which would take about half his property. He asked anybody in the audience who was there about Sabal Trail to stand up. About 30 people did. He said he did that because there are a lot of rumors that only a few people were concerned. He said there was no local benefit to landowners, and any potential tax benefit to the county shouldn’t be considered without consideration of the ill effects to landowners. Continue reading