The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Monthly Meeting for
September Has Been Rescheduled For Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 5:30pm
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Offices
That’s at
2110 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta.
They also posted this notice on
their facebook page yesterday.
No agenda is posted yet.
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project ManagerS. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Dario Orlando, CEO of
Steeda Manufacturing,
which currently makes performance parts for Mustangs,
told the Industrial Authority at its
21 August 2012 Regular Session
that Steeda
is moving into making medical parts, plus selling to GM,
and into new geographical markets.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Allan Ricketts, VLCIA Project Manager, explained that
Steeda had requested a second extension, and an amendment to reduce
the requirement of number of jobs from 40 to 30.
We certainly think that is justified in the very difficult economic climate
and conditions that we’ve had over the past couple of years,
and certainly acknowledging that in that very challenging economic time,
we’ve had steady continued growth by Steeda.
And so now we’re up to about 23 employees there.
I think it is also significant to note […] that
Steeda has now moved its entire manufacturing operation to Valdosta.
That move represents about a million five investment in the community.
Actually specifically it is $1,480,950
in some very unique manufacturing equipment.
I think it is important to understand
that some of this manufacturing equipment provides a great resource here
that two of the current projects that we are chasing are very interested in.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Dario Orlando then remarked that things were going very well, and:
We’re expanding into other markets
like I’d mentioned before the commencement of the meeting.
We’re moving into medical manufacturing because we do have the most advanced
manufacturing capabilities here in Valdosta.
Furthermore, we’re starting to supply General Motors
with performance parts,
the GM performance brand.
We opened up another company here in Valdosta called LSR Performance.
I was telling Allan this morning… that we’re all going to be looking back at this day.
I plan to have a couple of hundred employees here in the next five years.
Haley Hyatt videoed
yesterday’s Remerton City Council
decision about Strickland Mill.
Citizens pled, unsuccessfully, for it to be saved.
Then the owners made a surprise offer.
I will be there for about half an hour, after which I have to go video
something else.
Could someone else video the rest of tonight’s Remerton City Council meeting?
Here’s
the agenda,
which for some reason (I’m guessing City Clerk Rachel Tate not being available)
is a scan instead of a text-extractable PDF.
I’ve transcribed it below this time.
CITY OF REMERTON
REGULAR SESSION AGENDA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
5:30 PM
Leaving another event, I saw this on the street in Charlotte.
Whit Jones said they’d just had a demonstration demanding Duke Energy dump ALEC.
Also that he had encountered Duke CEO Jim Rogers and asked him when
Duke would dump ALEC.
Rogers was uncommittal.
Here’s
Jones’ blogged account of that encounter:
In short, I asked Duke’s CEO Jim Rogers if he would listen
to the
over 100,000 people who are calling on him to have Duke Dump ALEC
and stop funding voter repression. He responded that “he’d be
listening,” and when I pressed him for a commitment to drop ALEC he
said “I’m not going to give you [a commitment right now] but you can
trust that I’m paying attention to what you’re saying, and you’ll
know in due time.”
Water pollution degrades surface waters making them unsafe for
drinking, fishing, swimming, and other activities. As authorized by
the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating
point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United
States. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or
man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal
system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do
not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other
facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to
surface waters. In most cases, the NPDES permit program is
administered by
authorized states.
Since its introduction in 1972, the NPDES permit program is
responsible for significant improvements to our Nation’s water
quality.
Yes, I know Valdosta also does this.
I like it that in a subdivision in an unincorporated part of Lowndes County
that the county does this.
The sinkholes are not just
in the garage
and
under the front steps,
there’s one
under Michael McCormick’s tool shed.
He already jacked up the shed and put blocks under it
after the ground sunk underneath it.
With all these sinkholes on his lot (and more in the yard),
how are they connected underground?
How will they expand?
We wanted to … remediate some of the problems first to reduce the load,
to reduce the energy consumption.
Once we’ve done that, phase 2 kicks in, which is the solar power application.
If we’d done that first, we probably would have put on a 20KW system
to handle this load.
But because we’ve done the phase 1 project and reduced the energy load,
now we only need an 8-10 KW system,
so the prices have been reduced.
Next year hopefully it will be a fully green, fully functioned
solar power application.
Phase 2 Solar Power for the Wisenbaker Building –Ron Jackson
Pictures and video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 May 2012.