Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Striping and citing @ LCC 2013-10-08

Catching up with the Regular Session of 8 October 2013, why is the county going to pay $150/month for a traffic signal and $2200/month for offramp lighting (both at Exit 22, North Valdosta Road) when they could install solar panels and batteries once and pay nothing ongoing?

They tabled Nottinghill like the Planning Commission did. They voted to let Barrington subdivision sprawl into the county with no conditions, taking staff’s recommendation instead of one about a fence by the Planning Commission.. They voted to rotate the mostly ceremonial Vice Chairman position every eight months. They decided on a price for tentants in the Leila Ellis Building and will get around to drawing up a lease agreement. Commissioners finally did get that list of roads for striping. Fiddling changes to percentages evidence for juvenile justice and hardware and software for fining people coming off of I-75.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes. See also videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Cancelled due to lack of agenda items: Valdosta City Council meeting @ VCC 2013-10-24

The internal email from the City Clerk (see below) has a bit more detail than the website notice.

From: Teresa Bolden
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 4:26 PM
Subject: COUNCIL MEETING CANCELLED

Good afternoon — I just wanted to let you know that the Council Meeting scheduled for October 24th has been cancelled due to a lack of Agenda Items.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks! Teresa
Teresa S. Bolden, CMC
City Clerk
P. O. Box 1125
Valdosta, GA 31603-1125
Phone: (229) 259-3503
Fax: (229) 259-5411

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Health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-21

The county is considering an insurance plan ( Section 125 or cafeteria or flexible benefit), presumably related to the health plan they’re also considering. They may abandon Green Lane. The only family living on Green Lane appears to be Alphonso Simmons Jr.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos, AAUW Candidates’ Forum @ AAUW 2013-10-15

Water was a popular topic, as you can see in these videos of the Candidates’s Forum by AAUW. Same location (VSU Continuing Education Building) as the one Chamber held, but this time the audience got to ask questions. Yes, Virginia, they do all live in their districts, and some of them have widely divergent views about what cities or school boards should do.

Local AAUW President Diane Holliman gave a welcome, and then Dr. Luke Fowler moderated. Here’s the list of qualified candidates. Here’s Matthew Woody’s writeup in the VDT.

Valdosta City Council District 2

John Hogan and Calvin Graham Sr. were present; Sandra J. Tooley was not.

John Hogan pointed out that a road issue could really be a drainage issue, so it’s necessary to look at context.

Calvin Graham Sr. said he was retired military, lived in the district, and had been spending a lot of time volunteering. He indicated the Continue reading →

Raisin’ Cane Ribbon Cutting

The Lake Park Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, local elected officials, and community members helped celebrate the opening of the Corbett family’s most recent endeavor. Raisin’ Cane held a ribbon cutting on Thursday, October 17th at their new facility at the corner of US41S and Newsome Road.

Ken Corbett welcomed those gathered and thanked family, friends, contractors and more for helping to bring the vision to completion. Continue reading →

OK LOST status quo –Valdosta City Council @ VCC 2013-10-17

Yes we’ll take the 2002 percentages offered by Lowndes County, voted the the Valdosta City Council this morning at a Special Called Meeting.

The vote result is from Council Tim Carroll, who says they will revisit the percentages after the Georgia legislature does whatever it’s going to do about LOST in January. Here’s the notice of the meeting on Valdosta’s website:

Notice of a Special Called City Council Meeting
Posted Date: 10/16/2013

The Valdosta City Council has scheduled a Special Called City Council Meeting for Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. at City Hall, 216 East Central Avenue, Council Chambers. The purpose of this Special Called Council Meeting is to discuss the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).

For more information, please contact Teresa S. Bolden, City Clerk, at 259-3503 or tbolden@valdostacity.com.

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Videos of Special LOST Lowndes County Commission Meeting @ LCC 2013-10-15

In a highly irregular 4 to 1 vote with the Chairman voting, the Lowndes County Commission voted to stick with 58% for the county, 42% for the cities from LOST, the same as the county’s original position from April 2012.

No real agenda was posted by the county, so below I’ve made one up to match the videos.

  1. Call to Order

    and immediate adjourn to executive session for attorney-client privileges.

    County Manager Joe Pritchard shooed the Commissioners, the alleged County Attorney, the County Clerk, the Finance Director, and one or two other staff into the back room.

  2. Reconvene into open session

    Chairman Bill Slaughter divulged the purpose of the meeting so they could vote on it. The decision was 58% of SPLOST for the county and 42% for the cities, to be divided among the cities as they see fit. The vote was 4 to 1. Which is rather odd, since you can clearly hear Chairman Bill Slaughter voting ” aye” and raising his hand. Continue reading →

Lowndes County LOST like Hall @ LCC 2013-10-15

Gretchen reports LOST was the topic at today’s special called meeting of the Lowndes County Commission. And yes, they went into executive session. Rumor has it that it’s not 120 days to come to an agreement, rather this week is the deadline. That’s what seems to be happening over in Hall County.

Sarah Mueller wrote for Gainesville Times today, Hall commissioners to consider new local option sales tax certificate,

Hall County Administrator Randy Knighton said the special called commission meeting today at 4 p.m. at the Hall County Government Center in Gainesville was in response to a suggestion from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. ACCG has talked with the Department of Revenue and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

“(ACCG) has advised us that each county who has been engaged in the LOST arbitration proceedings submit a new LOST certificate to the Revenue Department this week,” Knighton said.

Knighton declined Monday to say Continue reading →

Special Called Lowndes County Commission Meeting @ LCC 2013-10-15

Could that pending litigation be the county’s lawsuit against Deep South Sanitation about that exclusive franchise that benefits ADS investors in New York City? Will they go straight into executive session?

On the county’s online calendar, with nothing on their front page, and nothing in the online VDT public notices. Here’s the county’s PDF and here’s the text:

Lowndes County Commission logo Lowndes County, Georgia
Board Of Commissioners
SPECIAL CALLED MEETING
A Special Called Meeting of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, October 15, 2013, at 3:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in Commission Chambers, located on the second floor of the Lowndes County Judicial‐Administrative Complex, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia. The Special Called Meeting is being held for attorney client communication regarding pending litigation.

Office of the County Clerk
K. Paige Dukes
229‐671‐2400
pdukes@lowndescounty.com

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No contracts for tenants of Leila Ellis Building @ LCC 2013-10-07

Two, four, six, many: that’s how Lowndes County counts tenants. It’s great the county is providing space for organizations that help the needy, but it’s kind of curious that the county didn’t seem to know who or how many organizations were using the Leila Ellis building, and had no lease agreement with them. Not to mention it took twenty questions from Commissioners to get staff to admit that lack of contracts, at Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

6.b. Leila Ellis Building-Available Space

Kind of like they have no contract with the alleged county attorney.

Chad McCleod at one point said two organizations are currently in the building, LAMP and Cash Prosperity. He said the County let LAMP use it, and LAMP let Cash Prosperity use it.

In response to a question from Commissioner DeMarcus Marshall, County Manager Joe Pritchard said under normal circumstances any organization would need to come to the Commission to ask for space. They currently have more applicants than space.

Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know if the county was going to set up guidelines for who could lease. Pritchard said they could, and they couldn’t lease to a private business.

Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know if annual leases were the practice of this board. Pritchard, not actually answering the question asked, said “That would be my suggestion.”

JoTaryla Thomas came up to speak for Continue reading →