Tag Archives: Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Slides: One Valdosta-Lowndes @ LCC Work 2023-06-26

Thanks to One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL) Executive Director Mary Beth Brownlee for sending LAKE her slides from Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

[Cover, River Camp, OVL @ LCC 2023-06-26]
Cover, River Camp, OVL @ LCC 2023-06-26

Her slides are on the LAKE website and images of them are below.

Here is LAKE video by Gretchen Quarterman of the OVL presentation:
8. Reports – County Manager – Mary Beth Brownlee from One Valdosta Lowndes
8. Reports - County Manager - Mary Beth Brownlee from One Valdosta Lowndes

Video.

I just noticed Gretchen Quarterman is pictured on Mary Beth’s cover slide. That picture had to be taken at the May 23, 2023, reception for Mary Beth as new OVL Executive Director. Continue reading →

Videos: Surprise One Valdosta-Lowndes presentation, and executive session to discuss personnel @ LCC Work 2023-06-26

Update 2023-07-10: Videos: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prison Details @ LCC Regular 2023-06-27.

Update 2023-06-29: Slides: One Valdosta-Lowndes @ LCC Work 2023-06-26.

People might have come to see if they knew One Valdosta-Lowndes was going to present at Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session. Instead, County Manager Paige Dukes announced it during her County Manager Report, and then OVL Executive Director Mary Beth Brownlee presented. Thanks to Mary Beth for sending LAKE her presentation slides.

[Collage @ LCC 26 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 26 June 2023

At the end of the meeting, the Commissioners held an executive session to discuss personnel. There is only one personnel directly managed by the Commissioners: the County Manager.

The second longest item at 4 minutes was 5. Fire Officer of the Year – Fire Fighter of the Year Recognition.

Next longest at two and a third minutes was 7.a. Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant Approval and Cash Match.

Everything passed unanimously, including the adoption of the FY 2024 Operating Budget and the reappointments to three boards.

Once the county finishes taking over its own permitting, the 6.c. Valdosta Lowndes County Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals won’t exist, and Lowndes County will have to appoint its own. The new one could have the same county members.

Were you invited to the stakeholder meetings the County Manager announced for “the development community”? Maybe taxpayers and citizens are not stakeholders.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also

Continue reading →

Packet: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prison Details @ LCC 2023-06-26

Update 2023-06-29: Videos: Suprise One Valdosta-Lowndes presentation, and executive session to discuss personnel @ LCC Work 2023-06-26.

The board packet to go with the agenda for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

[Collage, Board PacketT @ LCC 2023-06-26]
Collage, Board PacketT @ LCC 2023-06-26

LAKE videos of the meetings will follow.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Videos: Not a Public Hearing, even though advertised as one, Presentation @ LCC Budget 2023-06-20

Gretchen notes: This meeting was advertised as a Public Hearing (see agenda).

There was no input from the public. The public was not asked for input at the meeting. So, any hearing, was the public listening to the presentation, or the public being told (aka a public telling).

[Collage @ LCC 20 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 20 June 2023

jsq wonders: is that even legal, to advertise a Public Hearing and then hold a different meeting at that time?

The whole thing lasted about sixteen minutes.

They vote on approving the budget 5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also:

Continue reading →

Videos: Project Viking, Reports, and CWTBH @ LCC Regular 2023-06-13

The Project Viking rezoning included an introduction to the new Public Hearing format: 10 minutes for each side, then 2 minutes of rebuttal. This method is in the draft ULDC changes. Nobody spoke against. The rezoning passed unanimously. So did all the other agenda items.

[Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023]
Collage @ LCC 13 June 2023

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also:

Continue reading →

Agenda: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prisoners @ LCC 2023-06-26

Update 2023-06-27: Packet: Adoption of Budget, Appointments to DFACS, VLPRA, Construction Board, Courts, Prison Details @ LCC 2023-06-26.

Monday morning at 8:30 AM the Lowndes County Commission will review at its Work Session items that it will vote on in its Regular Session Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

[Collage @ LCC Agenda 2023-06-26]
Collage @ LCC Agenda 2023-06-26

Items include the Adoption of Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget, and a Budget Plan for Hotel Motel Proceeds for Fiscal Year 2024.

A stopgap resolution is proposed until the changes to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) are ready.

Also on the agenda are re-appointments to three boards,

Plus two items that the agenda says cost money:

Cost What
$147,954.007.b. Annual Contract Renewal with the State of Georgia Department of Corrections
$25,139.007.a. Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant Approval and Cash Match
$173,093.00Total

Here is the agenda.

LAKE has sent an open records request for the board packet. However, when Lowndes County someday puts its board packets on its own website, as many counties larger and smaller, in Georgia and Florida, have been doing for years, nobody will have to play this silly open records game just to get board packets.

Meanwhile, for the ULDC changes, see the Planning Commission board packet.

For the budget, see the LAKE videos from the Budget Work Session, the slides from that meeting, and Videos: Not a Public Hearing, even though advertised as one, Presentation @ LCC Budget 2023-06-20.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2023, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Packet: ULDC chicken changes, Biomass site to boat storage, Lake Park mini-storage, 2 Valdosta subdivisions and a church @ GLPC 2023-06-26

A longer version of the updates to the Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC), including chickens and solar farms, is on the agenda for Monday evening’s Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC).

[Collage, GLPC Packet 2023-06-26]
Collage, GLPC Packet 2023-06-26

Rezoning for a boat and RV storage facility is on the agenda for the site of the biomass plant that was proposed a decade ago next to Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Lake Park has a rezoning for a climate-controlled mini-storage facility.

Valdosta has two housing rezonings and a church rezoning.

Here is the agenda.

The board packet is on the LAKE website.

Some day Lowndes County will put GLPC board packets on lowndescounty.com so no third party has to file open records requests and post the results. Larger and smaller counties in Georgia and Florida have been doing this for years.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, June 26, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

Notice: Lowndes County Budget Public Hearing 2023-06-20

This morning at 9 AM, Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the Lowndes County Commission will hold a Budget Public Hearing at the Commission Chambers, 327 North Ashley Street, Second Floor, Valdosta, GA 31601.

[Calendar and Staff]
Calendar and Staff

Here’s what they discussed in their Work Session on May 31st.

Here are the slides presented at that meeting.

Gretchen Quarterman is at this morning’s meeting videoing for LAKE.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

Slides: Lowndes County Budget Presentation 2023-05-31

Here are the slides presented at the Lowndes County Budget Work Session, May 31, 2023,

received in response to a LAKE open records request.

[Taxes and Expenditures]
Taxes and Expenditures

You’ll probably see them again at this morning’s Budget Public Hearing.

Property taxes account for 61.26% of General Fund revenues, followed by LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) at 28.07%. SPLOST VIII and TSPLOST are Capital Projects Funds which are expected to get $26 million and $3.5 million in FY 2023. There are other Capital Projects Funds, Enterprise Funds, Internal Service Funds, and Special Revenue Funds. Adding them all up with the General Fund gets a total budget of $136,569,685 for FY 2023 and $148,189,088 for FY 2024.

Of General Fund Expenditures, 38.34% goes to Public Safety, i.e., Sheriff, 11.52 to the courts, for 49.86% or almost half.

The slides are on the LAKE website in XML and PDF form. Below they are in JPG form.

-jsq

Continue reading →

Draft Proposed Lowndes County Land Development Code changes 2023-06-13

Here are the draft changes to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) that Jason Davenport presented to the Lowndes County Commission in its Work Session of Monday, June 12, 2023.

[Ten amendments, timeline, and primary staff]
Ten amendments, timeline, and primary staff

The new rebuttal part of the Public Hearings, Continue reading →