All Meetings will be held at 5:30pm in the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street, unless otherwise notified.I would post a link to their agenda, if they had it online, but they don’t.
Meanwhile, here they are.
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Roy Copeland |
Tom Call |
Mary Gooding |
Norman Bennett |
Jerry Jennett, Chairman |
Sure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs
so the children don’t have to go somewhere else to find one.
But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water
those children need to drink?
This is the problem:
“What I believe the three most important things are, not only for our community, and our state, and our country, but for our country, thats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.”
I shook Brad Lofton’s hand after that speech and told him I liked it, because I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments. I’ve also pointed out I had a few nits with that speech. This one is more than a nit. This one is basic philosophy and policy.
Now one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority to be all about jobs. And that would be OK, if Continue reading
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Shortly after GA EPD approved the
final air quality construction permit for the proposed
biomass plant, new contracts were signed between Wiregrass Power LLC
and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Update 10 Feb 2011: JPEG images of each page are also available now.
Here they are, as PDFs generated from scans of paper copies.
These documents were obtained by an open records request by a citizen who then gave copies to LAKE.
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VLCIA catches up with LAKE in posting videos of 6 Dec 2010 biomass event.
But where’s the VLCIA FAQ website?
Update 24 Jan 2011 7:13 PM: Bruce J. Bendl found the FAQ.
In this video,
Brad Lofton tells the VLCIA board that staff have put a lot
of time and effort into building a website to answer
frequently asked questions about biomass, including
videos from the 6 Dec 2010 event.
When I congratulated Lofton on this
and asked the board for an answer to one of those qeustions,
I didn’t think to ask for a URL for this new website,
figuring it would be announced on
the main VLCIA website.
If it’s there, I don’t see it.
However, VLCIA has sprouted
a YouTube channel
in which the long-awaited professional videos from the 6 Dec 2010 event
have appeared, six weeks after the event.
More on that below. Meanwhile,
LAKE’s videos of the entire event have been on YouTube
since a few days after the event.
Continue reading
Local industry for local jobs: feedback loops?
At the 21 Dec 2010 board meeting,
Brad Lofton and the VLCIA board talk about
exanding local industry, namely PCA and AlphaProTech.
Lofton says AlphaProTech will add 50 new jobs.
Hm, 50 is more than 25 slated for the biomass plant.
And nobody even has to trade AlphaProTech land for them to produce these jobs!
According to
their website, AlphaProTech sells:
“protective apparel, infection control and extended care products in addition to a line of construction weatherization building products for the housing market.”Hm, so if VLCIA promoted refitting local houses it would also be promoting AlphaProTech.
It’s interesting to hear Gary Minchew say regarding one company:
“we just don’t need to be the front man”
Interesting that VLCIA is not willing to be the front man for local industry (as we’ve also seen in this response from Col. Ricketts), when VLCIA clearly is the front man for Sterling Energy and Wiregrass Power LLC, neither of which are from around here.
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At the 18 Jan 2011 VLCIA board meeting,
Brad Lofton congratulated Roy Copeland.
Lofton seems to be referring to Copeland’s membership in the
THE TOP 100 TRIAL LAWYERS – Georgia,
A Professional, Educational, and Business Organization of Trial Attorneys.
There appear to actually be 90 members.
I congratulate Roy Copeland on his membership.
I can’t quite make out whether he also received an
award from the same organization.
Anyway, here’s the video:
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Former VLCIA Executive Director decides based on rants in the VDT
to come say “I trust in you” and
“If it turns out to be wrong, then we live with that.”
Ken Garren (Brad Lofton’s predecessor as executive director) speaks in support of the current VLCIA and the biomass plant, 18 Jan 2011.
“I made a decision that although I’m concerned about a lot of things, and I’m concerned about anything….I have to trust those people who are in those positions will do their homework and make the right decision. Then I will live with that. If it turns out to be wrong, then we live with that.
What bothered me was when I started reading in the paper about the veiled threats. The personal issues. …
When I started reading about veiled threats. When I started reading about people being chastised because they didn’t accept a brochure or some literature. You know, that bothered me.
Then when I read one of the rants about it; they wondered how you folks were chosen. If you don’t know how these people are chosen…. They ought to do their basic homework.
But I’m here tonight to say that: I’ve looked at it; I’ve researched it; I don’t always agree with all the things the authority does… but I trust in you….”
Update 2014-03-31: VDT wrote 3 March 2014 that Garren joined VLCIA after Sterling Chemical came in.
Then he praises Sterling Chemical which came in on his watch,
and while Norman Bennett (currently on the VLCIA)
was Chairman of the County Commission.
See for yourself:
In the current fashion he begins by saying when he first moved here (1965). Is that what’s required these days to be worth listening to? Continue reading
Continue readingFrom: “Allan Ricketts” <aricketts@industrialauthority.com>
To: John S. Quarterman
Cc: Brad Lofton
Subject: Response to Your Questions to the VLCIA Board of Directors on 18 January 2011
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:01:35 -0500Hello John,
This e-mail is in response to the questions you directed to the VLCIA Board of Directors during the “Citizens to be Heard” portion of the VLCIA Board Meeting on Tuesday, 18 January 2011.
I
asked the VLCIA board (18 Jan 2011)
about my
previously submitted questions about house refitting for insulation and efficiency,
and about rooftop solar,
such as have been successful in Austin and Houston, Texas.
Mary Gooding answered:
“That really would be the city… we’re industrial development.”
She didn’t say which city. There is more than one city in the county. The question as sent to them in writing refered to Hahira; maybe that’s the city she meant. Should Hahira not expect any help from VLCIA?
And what about us who don’t live in any of the cities?
So far, all the new solar rooftop installations are in unincorporated
parts of the county, although
both are in Hahira’s 31632 ZIP code.
Col. Ricketts, at the direction of the board, has since sent me a response, which will lead off tomorrow morning.
VLCIA seemed somewhat confused as to what their protocol is as to answering questions: Continue reading
Bobbi Anne Hancock asked a question at the VLCIA board meeting 18 Jan 2011,
and Chairman Jerry Jennett explained that he’s a businessman,
not a scientist, he has to trust the experts, and he’s not prepared
to answer questions.
He says she can state a position, though, and she does so.
See it for yourself:
Apologies for missing the first part, and for the muddy sound. Professional staff of a tax-funded organization could probably do a far better job of taking and publishing videos than a tiny all-volunteer activist organizations such as LAKE. Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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