Tag Archives: Military

Videos: SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-23 2019-07-22

The whole Work Session took eleven minutes, of which three were about the county guaranteeing refinancing Hospital Authority debt. They vote tonight at 5:30 PM; Gretchen will be there with the LAKE video camera. Update 2019-07-23:< Obtained in response to an open records request from LAKE, board packet is on the LAKE website.

Second longest yesterday morning at a minute and a half was the SPLOST VIII Agreement, for which it seems the list is already finished, finalized at a “public” meeting between the county and the five cities, which was not announced to the public.

Most of the bids for the Grassy Pond Sewer Connection were not in the board packet, we discovered due to a question by a Commissioner. The Abandonment of Portion of Reed Road is the bit to the Withlacoochee River, which they county says was “unopened”, which is a strange way to describe the old dirt road that used to cross the river on a bridge.

Below are Continue reading →

SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-22

Not on Lowndes County’s online calendar, the county already met with the five cities about SPLOST VIII:

On July 8, 2019, Lowndes County met with the cities of Valdosta, Hahira, Lake Park, Remerton and Dasher to officially call for SPLOST VIII. As a result, the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement between Lowndes County and the cities has been prepared for consideration. Once approved by Lowndes County, the agreement will be forwarded to the cities for consideration during a public meeting.

SPLOST VII pie by Lowndes County
Lowndes County on the previous SPLOST.

Will when and where for that upcoming “public meeting” be announced in advance? Where is “the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement”? Wednesday morning at 9:35 AM, I sent the county a Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) request for the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings. By a very generous interpretation of the three business days GORA permits to respond to such a request, time’s up this morning at 9:35 AM. So far, the county has not even acknowledged receipt of the request.

The Hospital Authority, over whom the county has so little authority it has to Continue reading →

Videos: Appointments to KLVB, ZBOA, Library board, three rezonings @ LCC 2019-07-08

Yesterday morning’s Work Session took eleven minutes. They vote this evening.

The three rezoning cases took the longest, simply due to time for Planning Technician Molly Stevenson to read them out. Only one Commissioner had one questions on one of them. Longest at 2 and a half minutes was 6c. REZ-2019-11 Stewart, 4151 Stewart Circle R-1 to C-H which is for establishing a new metal working business with rail access. Second at almost two minutes was 6a. REZ-2019-09 Mark Courson, 5761 Long Pond Rd. R-1 to R-10, which was for subdividing into two lots; this one had the quesion. Third at a minute and a half was 6b. REZ-2019-10 Ballard, Madison Hwy E-A to C-C and R-A for a boat repair service and a single residence.

None of the appointment candidates appeared. Surprisingly there were questions on two appointments, to Continue reading →

Appointments to KLVB, ZBOA, Library board, three rezonings @ LCC 2019-07-08

Update 2019-07-09: Videos.

On the Lowndes County Commission agenda for Monday and Tuesday, appointments to three boards, three rezonings, and a mystery agreement.

They have no candidates to replace Malinda Taylor on the Lowndes County Library Board. Paul Alvarado and John McCall want to be reappointed to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals. Gregory Powell apparently does not want to be reappointed, and Victoria O’Steen and Kelisa Brown have applied for Keep Lowndes Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB).

[Area map]
Area map

The rezoning cases are three from the preceding Planning Commission meeting; GLPC unanimously recommended approval of all three.

The mystery Agreement with Cornerstone is, according to the agenda sheet, a $96,000 ($8,000 / month) item:

As a part of Lowndes County’s ongoing support of Moody Air Force Base, the services of Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc. are being recommended. In addition to assistance with matters related to the Department of Defense, Continue reading →

Videos: 2 appointments, Tower, GDOT Utilities, various agreements @ LCC Regular 2019-05-28

Animal welfare was the topic of the one Citizen wished to be Heard: Ed Barr, a former VSU faculty member, who said he spoke for a group of people who want a better-designed animal shelter, with better accessibility, as in closer to a residential area, or maybe redesigned like Miss Kitty Feline Sanctuary in Thomasville; he never said quite what features that meant.

The Regular Session was double-booked at the same time as the Planning Commission, so Gretchen went to the Planning Commission. The county’s own video was not available yesterday, but it appeared after I inquired.

They appointed Continue reading →

Videos: Tower, GDOT Utilities, 2 appointments, various agreements @ LCC Work 2019-05-28

The Work Session was at 4PM on Tuesday. The longest item was 7d. Corrections Software Solutions Probation Tracking System.

On the 6 a. TWR-2019-01 US Hwy 84 E. E-A, New 300′ Telecommunications Tower, tabled last time, staff did hear from Moody AFB that the tower was no problem for helicopter pilots, and the FAA has said no hazard. But they didn’t say whether Moody had issued its TERPS report.

Berinda Nwakamma did introduce herself very briefly as an applicant for the 5a. Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). County Manager Joe Pritchard said “her information is in your agenda,” but it was not among the board packet documents the county sent LAKE in response to an open records request. What we dug up about her is below.

The Chairman had to speak for the one applicant for the 5b. Appointment – Southern Georgia Area Agency on Aging, since Commissioner Joyce Evans declined to say anything.

They had an Executive Session to discuss pending litigation.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Packet: Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2019-05-28

Received in response to an open records request by LAKE. The county supplied it onto the same USB drive with the documents from the previous County Commission packet. The county charged LAKE $6.65 for that USB stick.

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GDOT to Lowndes County, Actual Cost Preliminary Engineering Agreement, Cover Letter

These documents are on the LAKE website.

LAKE looks forward to the county putting all these packet documents on the county’s own website, along with the agenda and agenda sheets.

Missing from what the county sent: Continue reading →

Videos: Outdoor sports more contentious than Tower @ GLPC 2019-05-28

More than 3/4 of an hour on Knudson & Son Outdoor Activities, 28 minutes on one of the Hahira GA overlay variance requests, and 22 minutes on the Valdosta personal care home request (before the Valdosta City Council tonight), plus a bunch of shorter items, added up to a two-hour Planning Commission meeting.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Tower, Water, Sewer, Personal Care Home, Hahira Gateway Corridor Overlay District @ GLPC 2019-05-28

The tabled tower on US 84E is back. The Lowndes County Commission meets at the same time. Since the Planning Commission usually spends more than five minutes on Call to Order, Pledge, and reading the boilerplate about what GLPC does, and the County Commission brags about having 5 minute meetings, the County Commission could make a decision before the Planning Commission even gets that far in its agenda.

There’s also a Lowndes County request for water and sewer on Bemiss Knights Academy Road.

Valdosta has a request for conditional use for a Personal Care Home.

And two requests for Variances from the Hahira Gateway Corridor Overlay District, which is presumably the coral-colored area around W. Main St. on both sides of I-75.

Hahira overlay map, VALORGIS
VALORGIS.

Here is the agenda.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, May 28, 2019 * 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue

Continue reading →

Tower, GDOT Utilities, 2 appointments, various agreements @ LCC 2019-05-28

Both the Work Session and the Regular Session are Tuesday, due to Monday being a holiday. That puts the Regular Session at the same time as the Planning Commission.

The proposed 300′ tower is back on the agenda. Its agenda sheet says they’re still waiting for Moody AFB to do a Terminal Instrument Procedures (TERPS) analysis, and for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). So the County Commission could make a decision and adjourn before the Planning Commission even gets that far on its agenda.

Utilities has a Standard Utility Agreement/Preliminary Engineering Agreement with GDOT that “that covers the engineering cost of Water and Sewer Distribution facilities relocations incurred by Lowndes County for improvements of the interchange on CR 274/Lake Park-Bellville Road. The amount of the contract is $49,270.00, of which the DOT will bear 100 percent of the cost.”

Two appointments: somebody unnamed resigned from the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) and Berinda Nwakamma wants to be appointed. Naturally, the agenda says nothing about who she is, but linkedin says “Program Director at Georgia Home Visiting Program”, ResearchGate says “Valdosta State University | VSU · department of social work”, and Great Start thanks providers, by Daniel DeMersseman, VDT, 10 June 2017, says “GSGL [Great Start Georgia Lowndes] supervisor.” I’m guessing she’s the one in the front left of the picture, not holding a certificate, because she’s the one organized giving them out.


Daniel DeMersseman | The Valdosta Daily Times Great Start Georgia Lowndes thanks social services providers at its Thank-a-Provider event.

Commissioner Joyce Evans’ term Continue reading →