Tuesday morning assailant Peggy Green apologized a year after
Nydia Tisdale asked.
The judge remarked he was happy at the outcome so nobody had to face jail time.
So, if you want your meeting to be private, don’t advertise it as
“open to the public”.
And when someone shows up with a camera, don’t try to throw them out,
especially not physically.
From Nydia’s blog post here’s the video: Continue reading
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
They vote tonight at 5:30PM. Probably there won’t be a repeat of
yesterday morning’s presentation
by
District Health Director Dr. Grow.
The county wants
an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod;
it’s considering two interagency agreements,
one for
Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park
and the other for
the county extension,
plus
setting election qualifying fees
and
a Special Assessment Rate for 2014.
There’s a
beer license
and acceptance of
infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.
Here’s the agenda with links to the videos:
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
We can probably guess who
“Dr. Grow” is
and the general topic of his presentation,
but why does the county make us guess?
The county wants
an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod;
it’s considering two interagency agreements,
one for
Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park
and the other for
the county extension,
plus
setting election qualifying fees
and
a Special Assessment Rate for 2014.
There’s a
beer license
and acceptance of
infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.
Here’s the agenda: Continue reading
Who’s responsible for the recent partiality in budget reports?
The newspaper, or its source of information, namely the county government
at its secretive retreat on the Chairman’s private property that even the VDT reporter had trouble finding?
When the Coroner and the Sheriff (often at odds lately) agree that the VDT’s version of the county government’s remarks about their budgets was at best partial, where is the source of that partiality? Who’s responsible for budgeting for the county, reporter Matthew or editor Kay Harris or Dean Poling? Or is it the local government our taxes pay to do that job, namely the Lowndes County Commission and its staff, which is managed by County Manager Joe Pritchard?
Maybe somebody down at the county palace should,
as Gretchen suggested recently,
“check our work”.
-jsq
LTE in the VDT today. -jsq
Sheriff’s Response to “budget woes”
The Sheriff’s Office has received a lot of criticism in the last several months. It appears to be the fashionable thing these days and an easy target. Sheriff Prine did not receive an invitation to the Chairman’s personal property for a review of the county’s budget and criticism of the Sheriff’s budget in particular. There are some facts that have not been reported by the Valdosta Daily Times, which may or may not have been provided.
First it should be noted that the Sheriff’s Office general fund budget was reduced from last year’s budget by $171,306.
This was before another $130,492 was taken away in August as a result of shift in traffic citation processing responsibilities to the Clerk’s Office.
A closer look at some of the specific line items targeted for criticism will show Continue reading
Sent Wednesday. -jsq
Continue readingDate: Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:43:49 -0500
Dear Mr. Pritchard,Thank you for your message of 1 February.
Yes, the binders of the documents for the closings of the various bonds are the sort of financial instruments I requested in my message of 28 January, and that Chairman Slaughter listed in his letter dated 18 January (that I received 28 January). Monday 11 Feb 2013 after the Work Session will be a good time for me to inspect and copy those binders. I will bring a camera and a photocopier. If that time will not work, please advise me of times that would.
Yes, there are other documents I would like to inspect. Please provide
The County Manager has found the legal documents on issuance of the the bonds Chairman Slaughter listed in his letter of 18 January.
Received yesterday (as a *.docx file, and still to the wrong email address, but this time including both residence and postal addresses), County Manager Joe Pritchard followed up on his email of 29 January, in which he had seemed puzzled about the term "financial instruments" (it's a standard term in business and investing) such as I asked for 28 January. I thank Mr. Pritchard once again for responding. (I thanked Chairman Bill Slaughter in person the other day.) The relevant correspondance about the flyer that Mr. Pritchard previously wrote was created by the VDT is still missing. I will ask for that Monday, when I respond to Mr. Pritchard's most courteous offer to inspect the financial instruments.
Here's Mr. Pritchard's letter. -jsq
Continue readingFebruary 1, 2013
John Quarterman
6565 Quarterman Road
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
Dear Mr. Quarterman:To follow up my email of yesterday, I have obtained the binder of the documents executed at the closing of the $15,500,000 CVDA
Thanks to County Manager Joe Pritchard for responding to
my letter of Monday.
He partly (but not completely) answered my question by saying the VDT did it.
More on that later.
He included a PDF copy of Bill Slaughter’s letter of January 18th. Perhaps Mr. Pritchard was unaware that letter didn’t reach me until after my letter of Monday, because the county sent it to the wrong address. Mr. Pritchard’s email response was also sent to the wrong address, although fortunately email to that business address does reach me. He also copied the Chairman at his business address instead of at his Lowndes County address. In any case, electronic copy is almost always more useful than paper, so I thank Mr. Pritchard for sending that PDF copy.
Here’s Mr. Pritchard’s letter. -jsq
Continue readingMany thanks to Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter for taking the time to respond to a citizen's question in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard! The response didn't actually answer my question, but that may be because the question wasn't clear enough without a copy of the flyer that claimed the county's new judicial and administrative complex was "100% Paid by SPLOST" and "$0 Balance Owed"; see next post.
An hour or two after I sent
a letter to County Manager Joe Pritchard Monday,
someone from the county called to say Chairman Bill Slaughter
had sent me a letter in response to
my question to the Commission about bonds,
but it had been returned by the Post Office.
As you can see by the image of the envelope,
they sent it to my residence address, where I don't get mail.
That's why I always include my postal address on Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard forms, open records requests, etc.
Anyway, they made it available for pickup at the county palace.
Ten days after the PO sent it back to them is better than never.
Here's Chairman Slaughter's letter. -jsq
Continue reading