Tag Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Packet: ULDC text amendments, small county rezoning, Airport Authority annexation and rezoning, small Valdosta rezoning @ GLPC 2024-06-24

Packet: Budget, Court Grants, Stream Credits, Debris, Insurance, Vac-Trailer @ LCC 2024-06-24

A million dollars, mostly for property and liability insurance, is on the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission at its Work Session Monday morning at 8:30 AM and it’s voting Regular Session Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

Collage @ LCC Packet 2024-06-24

That and approving the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Since you didn’t go to the budget hearing week before last, you missed your only chance to comment to them in public before they approve the budget.

Cost	What
$951,301.00	Request for Proposals (RFP) for Property & Liability Insurance
$96,110.00	Bid for a Vac-Trailer for the Utilities Department
$51,300.00	Purchase of Stream Credits for Pl # 0016279, Coleman Road NW Paving and Drainage Improvements
$35,354.00	Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant Approval and Cash Match
$26,343.00	Lowndes County DUI Court Grant Award and Match Approval
$15,000.00	Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court (LCJAC)
$1,175,408.00	Total

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2024, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2024, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Regional College & Career Academy Update –Mary Beth Brownlee of OVL to LCC 2024-06-10

Agenda: Budget Hearing @ LCC 2024-06-13

Video and Slides: Budget Hearing @ LCC 2024-06-13

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Update 2024-06-23: Packet: Budget, Court Grants, Stream Credits, Debris, Insurance, Vac-Trailer @ LCC 2024-06-24.

If you missed the June 13 Budget Public Hearing, presumably you may get another chance at the next Lowndes County Commission meeting.

The vast majority of revenue for the Lowndes County government comes from taxes.

Most of that comes from property taxes, and almost a third from Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).

Only about a fifth of General Fund expenditures goes to the general government, about an eighth each to Public Works and to Judicial, while a third goes to the Sheriff’s Office.

LAKE video and Finance Dept. Slides: Budget Hearing @ LCC 2024-06-13

Here is the LAKE video of the 9 AM, June 13, 2024, PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED FY 2025 BUDGET.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLshUv86fYkiEWkgeC7dlEnYHi7FxjWHLh&si=wKn4TCmyAfliQArs

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

The presentation slides, received in response to a LAKE open records request, are on the LAKE website.

They are not yet on the Continue reading →

Videos: Academy Drive septic tank citizen request, Glenn Road, Valencia Street, Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving @ LCC Regular 2024-06-11

Citizen Patricia Scoby doesn’t want to have to elevate her septic tank. However, the Board of Roads and Revenue, excuse me, the Lowndes County Commission doesn’t have much say over that: that’s the Health Department. But the Health Department should have taken into account the changed drainage such mounds cause.

Collage @ LCC 11 June 2024

The regular agenda breezed through unanimously at the 11-minute Regular Session. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was absent.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker did want to know what are the ingress and egress points for 5.a. REZ-2024-13 Carter, 6128 Glenn Road, 4.72ac, E-A to R-1, Well – Septic. No citizens spoke for or against in its Public Hearing.

For the 6.a. Valencia Street Quitclaim Deeds, Gretchen wondered, “Personally, I’m curious why the commission abandoned that little bit (one lot’s worth) of Valencia Street.” The board packet for this latest Regular Session included the relevant excerpt from the Minutes of the September 27, 2005, Regular Session. Gretchen quoted it, but it also does not say why. In the latest Regular Session, County Engineering Services Director Chad McLeod said the adjoining landowners asked for the quitclaim deeds, but he did not say why the road was abandoned back in 2005.

FYI, the Agenda Center on lowndescounty.com only goes back to 2012. If you want to see earlier minutes, you either have to file an open records request or have already done so, as LAKE did years ago.

for 7.a. PI# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements, Chairman Bill Slaughter wanted to know if it was within the budget. Answer: no, but TIA says it’s within the inflationary amount, so TIA will cover the difference.

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

Videos: Career Academy, Glenn Road Rezoning, Valencia Street Abandonment, Kinderlou Clyattville Road paving @ LCC Work 2024-06-10

Update 2024-06-18: Regional College & Career Academy Update –Mary Beth Brownlee of OVL to LCC 2024-06-10.

Update 2024-06-13: Videos: Academy Drive septic tank citizen request, Glenn Road, Valencia Street, Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving @ LCC Regular 2024-06-11.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wondered why there was a $2 million difference between the two bids for 7.a. PI# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving – Drainage Improvements. Engineering Services Director Chad McLeod says it’s because Reames owns property near the site, which greatly reduces their cost to move materials there.

Collage @ LCC 10 June 2024

About 24 minutes of the 34-minute Work Session yesterday morning was a presentation not on the agenda. Mary Beth Brownlee, Executive Director of One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL), told the Lowndes County Commission about a proposed Regional College and Career Academy. Continue reading →

Packet: Rezoning on Glenn Road, Abandon part of Valencia Street, pave Kinderlou Clyattville Road @ LCC 2024-06-10

Update 2024-06-11: Videos: Career Academy, Glenn Road Rezoning, Valencia Street Abandonment, Kinderlou Clyattville Road paving @ LCC Work 2024-06-10.

It’s a light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission this week, with an uncontested rezoning, a road abandonment continued from 2005, and two bids for paving a road.

Collage, LCC Packet 2024-06-10

The road paving is a TSPLOST project, so presumably that’s where the three and ahalf million dollars comes from.

Cost	What
$3,495,208.06	Pl# 0016278 Kinderlou Clyattville Road Paving and Drainage Improvements Bids
$3,495,208.06	Total

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

Videos: Two Remerton setback cases, 1 Lowndes County multiple residence rezoning, 1 Valdosta CUP @ GLPC 2024-05-20

Update 2024-06-10: Packet: Rezoning on Glenn Road, Abandon part of Valencia Street, pave Kinderlou Clyattville Road @ LCC 2024-06-10.

Update 2024-06-10: Packet: Remerton variances for Bryce Nerland, Woodard Street @ GLPC 2024-05-20.

Update 2024-06-04: Agenda: Budget, Personal Care Home, streets and transit, 2 sewer repairs @ VCC 2024-06-06

Apparently the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) also thought these cases were unremarkable, since the Planning Commissioners breezed through them, unanimously recommending approval for all of them.

Steve Miller chaired the meeting. Ed Hightower was not present.

We never did get the board packet materials for the Remerton cases, despite being promised them at the Planning Commission meeting.

Collage @ GLPC 20 May 2024

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

Videos: Hospital Authority appointment, 6 rezonings, paving and resurfacing, subdision infrastructure, probationers @ LCC Regular 2024-05-14

An hour-long Regular Session is very unusual for the Lowndes County Commission. Much of it was taken up by two rezonings: REZ-2024-08 on River Road (10:43) and REZ-2024-09 Dasher Grove Subdivision (12:24). For River Road, the applicant discussed setbacks and fire trucks and answered Commissioner questions about house prices and lot sizes. For Dasher Grove, Commissioner questions were mostly about how many lots and when T-SPLOST road work on Val Del Road would take place. Remember, that road work is your tax dollars going to subsidize subdivisions.

Nobody spoke against those rezonings nor against any of the others. All the rezonings and everything else passed unanimously, including they reappointed Hospital Authority incumbent Shirley Garland as expected.

Collage @ LCC Regular 14 May 2024

There was discussion about the apparent price rise by 8.b. Pronto Consulting for Software as a Service to manage probationers. It is actually just that Pronto started with a discount, and this time is not supplying a discount. The total undiscounted amount was always in the county budget.

In Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, Mark Perkins of Lake Park had some questions about the burn ordinance.

Also, Representative John LaHood (R-175) was recognized by the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) for his work on legislation regarding Service Delivery Strategies.