Tonight at 5:30 PM they welcome
new marketing person
Meghan Schunhoff, whose
linkedin profile
says she also works for
The Triangle Furniture Football Friday Night Radio Show- Black Crow Media
and she previously worked for
South Georgia Medical Center.
She is listed on the Development Authority’s Our Team web page as Marketing & Research Manager, with no picture or other information yet.
Maybe it’s her job to put that there….
Meanwhile, thanks to Lu Williams for posting
the agenda.
FYI, they didn’t meet last month.
Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, July 19, 2016 5:30 p.m.
Development Authority Conference Room/103 Roosevelt Drive
Monthly Meeting Agenda
As expected from the previous morning, they appointed
Chairman Bill Slaughter to the
South Georgia Community Service Board, after he got that board to change the time of its meetings to be different from this Commission’s time.
Video.
A Commissioner after the vote appointing Chairman Slaughter
asked what this board did.
Chairman’s answer: mostly behavioral health,
and they used to hold their meetings the same time as the Lowndes meetings,
but they have moved them to Adel at 1PM presumably also on Tuesday.
Video.
For quite a bit more background, see
the LAKE video from the previous morning’s Work Session.
Chairman asked for timeline.
Ashley Tye said federal year starts October 1st, so Valdosta would like to have
and agreement ready to sign before then.
Also they could come back at a later time, but could lose out on the federal
funding match.
Chairman asked for timeline to get agreement ready by then.
Tye said agreement with USGS would be with Valdosta,
and he would check back with them for a more firm date,
and would probably be best to decide at next Lowndes County Commission meeting.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked confirmation that waiting until the
next meeting would work.
Answer: tabling until next meeting would work.
And that’s what they did.
Videos: 3 appointments, 1 well public hearing, Withlacoochee River Flood Map
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, July 12, 2016.
They vote Tuesday 5:30 PM.
Monday morning at the Work Session,
after some resistance from a Commissioner, surprisingly Chairman Bill Slaughter
argued for
paying the $40,000 to match Valdosta on the LiDAR flood maps
to prevent loss of life and property damage.
He even said “folks that live in our cities are Lowndes County Citizens as well.”
Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye
answered questions the Commissioners didn’t think to ask about Continue reading →
As you know, people (White and Black) are marching in support of the
black men who are being shot and killed by white police officers,
and the police who were killed in Dallas. SCLC decided that we would
joined our black brothers and sisters and whites of goodwill all
over the country by rallying at Serenity Church, 2016 North Lee
Street here in Valdosta, at 10:00 Tuesday Morning, and then
motorcade to the courthouse for a march and rally. We expect a large
crowd, and would like very much for you, your family and friends to
join us.
SO is buying 50% of SONAT from KMI,
as multiple people have pointed out,
including someone from Southern Company.
Unfortunately SO is not just investing in existing pipelines:
this purchase is about
“specific growth opportunities”,
and yes, it’s tied to
SO’s recent purchase of AGL.
Southern Company needs to stop plugging dying 20th century fossil fuels
and get on with what it’s already started with solar power (and offshore wind).
For an authority that gets 1.25 mil of your property tax dollars,
the Commissioners didn’t even know who was wanting to be reappointed,
none of them asked what happened during a year when one of them
was apparently serving on that board without a formal appointment,
not all of the Commissioners were present even voted,
and none of the candidates for any of the board appointments even shhowed up, much less spoke.
The Lowndes County Commission at its June 28th 2016 Regular Session also
unanimously adopted the budget for what the Chairman repeatedly called
“the physical year”, despite only perfunctory public hearings in advance,
and no draft budget available on their website for the public to see.
After they approved the budget to spend the money
(and according to County Manager Joe Pritchard after earlier that same morning the Tourism Authority approved their budget),
the Lowndes County Commissioners
unanimously approved a hotel/motel tax rate increase.
Odd order, eh?
8. Reports – County Manager – the reappearance of Brookwood water
Video.
County Manager Joe Pritchard said he was bringing back the trust indenture for “the Brookwood Place subdivision off of Mt. Zion.”
He can’t have meant Mt. Zion Road, which is in the southwest part of the county,
not near the Valdosta City limits, Continue reading →
County Planner Jason Davenport said at Monday morning’s Work Session that the
Comprehensive Plan Update should be a Public Hearing,
so it needs to be listed as such for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session.
I guess that is more than 24 hours notice, but did they send a notice to the newspaper?
How were people to know, and why was this left to the day before when this
schedule has been known for months to all the local planners?