Tag Archives: LCC

Videos: Attorneys v Carter Way tar baby, Appointment, big subdivision, Hwy 84 lift station @ LCC 2016-05-10

Multiple attorneys (ka-ching!) were needed to negotiate access for the county to fix private Carter Way, which the Lowndes County Commission approved unanimously at its 10 May 2016 Regular Session. This is the same Commission that signed an easement with Sabal Trail because they didn’t want to spend attorney fees to defend a lawsuit. The same Sabal Trail that wants to put its three-foot pipe only three feet deep just downhill from where Carter Way washed out.

County Planner Jason Davenport showed an updated site plan for 6.a. REZ-2016-10 Freedom Heights, 4301 Bemiss Rd, C-H to P-D, but as usual it’s not posted on the county’s website, and you had no way of seeing it before the meeting unless you filed an open records request three days before.

Commissioner Clay Griner remembered flooding, fence, and forgot the third thing a constituent asked him for about 6.b. REZ-2016-11 Creekside West Subdivision, 7551 GA Hwy 122 W. Developer Young Tillman said the changes were because Continue reading →

Videos: Carter Way tar baby, Appointment, big subdivision, Hwy 84 lift station @ LCC 2016-05-09

The County Manager asked for Carter Way to be on the agenda for tonight’s 5:30 PM Regular Session. At yesterday morning’s Work Session the County Attorney reminded us that in a previous episode (March 25th Work Session) we learned that the Loretta B. Moore irrevocable living trust owns half of the access to the damaged part of the road. Since then he’s learned that the trustee is the Loretta Anne Ruth, who lives in Panama City, Florida. He has contacted her, and has a copy of the trust formation document. He says Ms. Ruth has signed an agreement with the county, and he expected Charles Cowart of Cowart and Sons to sign an agreement that same morning.

Below are LAKE videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session, followed by a video playlist. See also the agenda and the LAKE videos of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting at which the two rezoning cases were discussed. The County Commission votes tonight at 5:30PM. Continue reading →

Videos: Hambrick Road paving and traffic and Bevel Creek bridge @ LCC 2016-04-26

Thanks to County Engineer Mike Fletcher for doing almost what Gretchen asked at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 26 April 2016.

They rattled through the agenda with almost no questions, unanimously approving everything, including the $89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs. You’d have little idea why they were doing anything if you weren’t at the previous morning’s Work Session or you didn’t view the LAKE videos of the Work Session, in which we discovered for example it’s not Beatty Creek Bridge, rather Bevel Creek Bridge. Nonetheless, the County Engineer still said the creek name wrong.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos of the Regular Session of April 26th 2016, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of the Work Session of April 25th 2016, and the agenda.

They meet again this morning at 8:30 AM. Continue reading →

Appointment, big subdivision w of Hahira, Hwy 84 lift station pump @ LCC 2016-05-09

This morning, coyly considering appointing “an elected official” (I’d bet Joyce Evans) to the South Georgia Community Service Board and reappointing Mr. Shamb Purohit, at the Lowndes County Commission, 9 May 2016. A 7-acre subdivision REZ-2016-10 Freedom Heights, 4301 Bemiss Rd and a 173-acre subdivision west of Hahira on Franks creek, and a pump fo the Hwy. 84 Lift Station, all also on the agenda to be voted on tomorrow evening. Continue reading →

Videos: Emergency no-bid repairs, a bridge where, and unnecessary resurfacing @ LCC 2016-04-25

The FY 2017 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant was a popular topic yesterday morning, and some Commissioners showed a little bit of scepticism about that $89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs on the agenda for yesterday morning and for voting 5:30PM this evening.

Also $634,800 for a bridge we can’t tell where, and some unknown fraction of $1,663,888.78 to resurface a road that shouldn’t be used as a highway in the first place. Who’s in charge of budget planning for the county?

At the end, there was more from the County Manager about private road Carter Way: they discovered another property owner (“at least one”) after they agreed to spend $67,822 to fix a private road.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Road paving and Alapaha BoatRamp in Naylor Town Hall @ LCC 2016-04-14 @ LCC 2016-04-14

Most people wanted to know which roads would be paved when, in Bemiss, to Alapaha Subdivision, and next to the new Civic Center. They did also talk about the planned new civic center and the Alapaha Boatramp they’re building.

I thank the Chairman for clarifying his remark about paving every road in the county. He and other county officials also went on about safety being a big concern, which is news to me, on my road the county insisted on paving that became a drag race track. And what’s this about Continue reading →

Emergency no-bid repairs, a bridge where, and unnecessary resurfacing @ LCC 2016-04-25

$89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs on the agenda for Monday morning and voting Tuesday evening. Also $634,800 for a bridge we can’t tell where, and some unknown fraction of $1,663,888.78 to resurface a road that shouldn’t be used as a highway in the first place. Who’s in charge of budget planning for the county?

Why is replacing the fiber optic data cable that connects the South Lowndes Data Center and the E911 Center an emergency repair for $61,020, when apparently the problem has been going on for years? Meanwhile, it’s good that it’s not an emergency that the 911 Center Core Network Equipment needs replacing for $38,621. Planning ahead is good. Is one of these items in the budget and the other not?

Another emergency not marked as such in the agenda is Continue reading →

Carter Way Correction by Bill Slaughter @ LCC 2016-04-12

Thanks to Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter, here’s a correction to Fixing private road Carter Way next to proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane path @ LCC 2016-04-12.

From: Bill Slaughter
Subject: Carter Way
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 21:04:14 +0000
John,
I got a call today regarding comments that have been made about Agenda Item 7.h on your blog page, for clarification COWART & Sons was not awarded a contract for this emergency repair the contractor was Rountree Construction!

We requested a temporary easement from property owner Cowart & Sons to allow Rountree Construction to perform the work on a private road Continue reading →

Fixing private road Carter Way next to proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane path @ LCC 2016-04-12

If heavy rains washed out culverts on Carter Way, why would we not expect them to wash up the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, aimed barely 500 feet to the west, downstream on Tiger Creek? And why didn’t the county mention that the company to which they just awarded an emergency no-bid contract to fix a private road owns extensive properties on that same private road? Actually, no: see correction.

The Lowndes County Tax Assessors online database shows Cowart & Son own Parcel 0017 024 of 13.09 acres on Carter Way. Yet the item 7.h. Carter Way agenda sheet for yesterday’s 12 April 2016 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. mentions “Over 10 residences and a telecommunications tower” on Carter Way, but never mentions that the contractor, Cowart & Sons, just awarded that emergency no-bid contract for $67,822 to fix culverts on Carter Way, is also located on Carter Way. Actually, Rountree Construction got the contract; see correction. It’s still an emergency no-bid contract for a private road.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM Continue reading →

Videos: Sabal Trail and no-bid private Carter Way, no-bid Old US 41 N, Animals, VLMPO, Bemiss Road * 2, sewer, safety, and incarceration @ LCC 2016-04-12

In these LAKE videos you can see the Commissioners and staff didn’t mention the contractor for the emergency no-bid $67,822 to fix the Carter Way Culverts owns property on Carter Way. They never said how much the no-bid Old US 41N paving project would cost. Citizen Judy Havercamp thanked the Commission for the recent animal ordinance. She clapped, but did not get shouted down by the deputy; I guess his instructions only apply to people not complimenting the Commission. Citizen John S. Quarterman, president of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., asked for wastewater spills to be posted on the county’s website and sent out by their alert system, and with a written letter updated the Commission on many recent pipeline developments and asked them to rescind their recent Sabal Trail easement or to help in other ways to stop that boondoggle.

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange