Tag Archives: Joe Pritchard

Commission votes to subsidize saddle club

Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission voted to renew a land lease contract with a saddle club for I’m pretty sure they said $100 a year. Commissioner Powell made the motion. Yet he said nothing at all a few minutes before and after when two votes came up about routine acceptance of a Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP) grant to help relatively less affluent people afford housing. Commissioner Raines, who grandstanded about CHIP the previous morning at the work session, apparently had no problem with the saddle club subsidy. He didn’t show up Tuesday to vote for or against either.

Now I have nothing against the saddle club; I know little about it. It’s the double standard that bothers me.

If you have trouble hearing what is said in this video, thank the Commissioners for the award they gave LAKE.

Here’s the video:


Commission votes to subsidize saddle club
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard reviews the budget process

Here is the complete playlist for yesterday’s (8 September 2011) Lowndes County Lunch and Learn, in which County Manager Joe Pritchard reviewed the county’s budget process. County Clerk Paige Dukes said she would also send the slides for posting.


County Manager Joe Pritchard presents the budget process
Lowndes County Lunch and Learn 8 September 2011
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Here are last month’s Lunch and Learn playlist and slides.

-gretchen

Photographers stay to the back

After the County Commission meeting today, Chairman Ashley Paulk and I were chatting and he mentioned that starting at the next meeting everyone with a camera would be moved to the back of the room.

As I went out of the commission chambers, Continue reading →

Snake Nation Road at Lowndes County Commission Monday 8:30AM, Tuesday 5:30PM

No rezonings this time, but plenty of money to be spent on this and that. The one I wonder about is
5.a. Change Order to Snake Nation Road Contract
We heard last time from Joe Pritchard that the county had received some estimates for resurfacing on Snake Nation Road, but he needed some time to organize funding before presenting details. OK, fair enough, but why is it a Change Order? Didn’t they just vote on realignment of Snake Nation Road in June? Why two months later a Change Order, which usually means have to do it right now with no competitive bids?

Here’s a backgrounder from the VDT about a sinkhole being discovered on Snake Nation Road last December. And here’s the VDT in May on costs for fixing it:

“We are purchasing the property to the north, 5.22 acres, for $40,000 to reroute the road,” said County Manager Joe Pritchard.

Rerouting the road will cost approximately $300,000 versus at least twice that amount to reinforce the hole, put in concrete supports, and fill it to prevent the road from collapsing again.

Here’s the agenda for this morning and tomorrow evening.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

No inhumane treatment issues other than the pot belly pig?

Received Sunday a PDF of a letter from Joe Pritchard, County Manager, to Mary Greene, GA Dep. of Ag. together with the appended cover letter from Susan Leavens. -jsq

Mr. Prichard has made many comments in reference to several of his employees; in recent news paper articles and on the evening news indirectly of course that “they” had bios opinions and even questioned my character in one article.

Mr. Prichard also informed everyone there were no inhumane treatment issues other than the pot belly pig. Well I believe in this document from County Manager Joe Prichard to Ms. Mary Green with Department of Agriculture animal protection says otherwise. I believe Mr. Prichard’s recent statement to the media was though our investigation we found no wrong doing… lets list them here.

Continue reading →

Euthanization Violations at the Lowndes County Animal Shelter —Judy Haverkamp @ LCC 26 July 2011

Lots of “don’t know the results of that” for drug testing, administrative review board, etc. Why don’t we know the results of those things?

Judy Haverkamp talked about what she’d discovered through open records requests.

“It seems like there’s been the same violations still occuring at the shelter even up to this year, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to make an effort to correct these problems!”
She repeatedly cited Georgia code sections that had been violated.

This pretty much sums it up:

“Why would you not do the proper thing to make this process as painless as possible?”
Indeed, why not?

-jsq

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Lunch and Learn —Joe Pritchard @ LCC 26 July 2011

New program for the public to learn about Lowndes County government.

In his County Manager report, Joe Pritchard announced the first first lunch and learn, which will be a discussion of general government, noon ’til 1PM, 11 August 2011, second floor of administrative complex.

“The lunch and learn program will take various topics, and allow the public to meet for an hour, ask questions, interact on those particular topics.”
County Clerk Paige Dukes will be conducting this first meeting.

Commissioner Crawford Powell asked Continue reading →

I was told that these people were going to be prosecuted —Susan Leavens

Received 27 July on Shouldn’t the people running the facilities … be held accountable? -jsq
Ms. Jane Osborn,

I believe this was not meant to make the public’s attention. When I was told to write statements I was told that these people were going to be prosecuted. Several months went by and this remained silent, I waited for the county board memebers to to do the right thing. What happened was the infamous memo; which indicated we were not allowed to contact any law enforcement agency about crimes or we would be held accountable for discrediting a county employee. And it would be considered as an attack against a county employee. Whoever if we contacted our county manager it would be handled (I’m not quite sure how many times he needed to be contacted about the issues at the shelter). As I clearly remember in the first meeting he had at the shelter many years ago… Joe Prichard said “I’ll fire everyone except Linda Patelski, Kay Jones and Michelle Shultz” so I’m a little confused, the memo we got on September 22, 2010 said we wouldn’t be retaliated against if we followed the chain of command (so does it mean if we report crimes to law enforcement we will be retaliated against?) Clearly so, I assure you. The issues need to be resolved.

-Susan Leavens

Shouldn’t the people running the facilities … be held accountable? —Susan Leavens

Received yesterday. -jsq
From: SUSAN LEAVENS
To: gary.black@agr.georgia.gov
Sent: Tue, July 26, 2011 2:31:16 PM
Subject: Your attention would be grateful in regaurds to the Lowndes County Animal Shelter

To the Honorable Agriculture Commissioner Mr. Gary Black,

July 26, 2011

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Susan Leavens I currently live in Quitman Georgia and I am an employee with Lowndes County, formally as an animal control officer with Lowndes County Animal Services. In June of last year I turned in three statements to Pat Smith who is no longer with the animal protection division she is currently running the Thomasville Animal Control. After speaking with Ms. Pat an advising her of the situations that have occurred and are currently occurring in the Lowndes County Shelter; she advised me to have statements written by individuals that were willing and not afraid of retaliation. Two current employees myself and Ronnie Ganas wrote statements, one previously employee Amanda Jordan. The issues were heard before Vinessa Sim-Green and several other animal protection employees along with Ms Cora Potter. An administration hearing took place an several “options” were offered to the Lowndes County Manager Joe Prichard. These were things that would help the shelter run more efficiently and perhaps come up to date with the Georgia Dept. of Ag. standards; but the issues of animal cruelty, inhumane treatment and practicing veterinarian medicine (surgery by castration of a 2 young adult pot belly pigs). My concern is that the director was never charged in any criminal court of law for her actions regarding the animals at the shelter.

Continue reading →