Clay Griner did show up to vote on an item in his district, but Scottie Orenstein did not:
6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was also absent.
Commissioners Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker were present both at the Work Session and this Regular Session.
Chairman Bill Slaughter was present.
County Manager Paige Dukes was also present, giving many
Reports, assisted in a video about Griner Park at Webster and Ashley Street.
In the five-minute Work Session yesterday morning, the few Commissioners who showed up breezed through everything with no discussion.
Commissioners Scottie Orenstein and Clay Griner were absent,
even though this is in their districts:
6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2.
But of course it is expected that the Commission will approve that item this evening at 5:30 PM.
County Manager Paige Dukes was also absent, in her case due to illness.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
There are no notes, because nothing happened worth commenting on.
See also Continue reading →
This morning the Lowndes County Commission will discuss
abandoning a driveway, er road, a couple of grants for legal purposes,
relining a drinking water tank for a fancy subdivision, dump trucks for Public Works,
and
reappointing Michael Walker, Crawford Powell, and Scott Purvis to the
Public Facilities Authority,
plus a vacant seat.
They will vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.
Created via Resolution 05-1130, the general purpose of the authority
is declared to be that of providing through the acquisition,
construction, installation, renovation, expansion, modification or
rehabilitation, any buildings, structure, facilities, improvements,
furnishings, fixtures, machinery, equipment and services for the
citizens in the county. Members are appointed to three year terms
and meet as needed. For more information, contact the Office of the
County Clerk, 229-671-2400, or email the County Clerk.
How the
Abandonment of Artherman Lane
can be considered not to affect the budget is mysterious,
since Public Works will no longer need to spend to maintain that driveway.
If Lowndes County owed $0 (zero dollars) on the county palace in November 2010,
why are we paying on
$8,965,000 in bonds for it in December 2012?
If that palace was “100% Paid by SPLOST” in 2010,
why in 2012 is the county pledging our property tax dollars to pay those bonds?
In November 2010:
$22,380,000
Judicial Building Cost
$6,728,000
Administrative Building Cost
100%
Paid by SPLOST
$0
Balance Owed
So says a double-page flyer about “the Lowndes County Judicial &
Administrative Complex”
produced by the Valdosta Daily Times for Lowndes
County in 2010 and signed “Highest regards, Joe Pritchard, County Manager”.
There’s no dateline, but it invites the public to a dedication of the Complex
“on Friday, November 12, 2010.”
The Bonds are payable solely from payments to be made by Lowndes County,
Georgia (the “County”) pursuant to an Intergovernmental Contract,
dated as of December 1, 2012 (the “Contract”), between the Issuer
and the County. Under the Contract, the County has agreed to levy and
collect an annual tax on all taxable property located within the County
as may be necessary to produce in each year revenues which are sufficient
to make the payments required by the Contract.
Moody and the Chamber won, rural residents got wasted,
and taxpayers still didn't get to see a single thing the Lowndes County Commission
voted on last night in 45 minutes (very long for them)
in front of the biggest audience I've ever seen there.
You missed all that and more at yesterday's Commission meeting.
Here's
a video playlist of the Regular Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.
Update 2014-04-09: Fixed embedded video link.
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 December 2012.
The city of Valdosta was approved for a CWSRF loan of $18,500,000 to
finance phase two of the Mud Creek Water Pollution Control Plant
project, which includes increasing capacity from 3.2 million gallons
per day (GPD) to 5.7 million GPD, and additional improvements and
modifications to the facility. Valdosta will also design a new
solids treatment system. The city of Valdosta will pay 3 percent
interest on the 20-year loan for $18,500,000.
So why is the County of Lowndes having to float bonds?
And are bonds on the commercial
bond market really a better financial deal for the county?
A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody,
and more.
They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however;
maybe they’ll table that loser again.
They vote tonight:
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Here’s
a video playlist of the Work Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.
Here’s
the agenda,
this time with links to the videos and some notes.
More than a million dollars will be saved by refinancing county bonds,
the Chairman and staff indicated at
yesterday morning’s
Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
Congratulations!
But who is this shadowy Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority
that is responsible for that?
8.i. Refunding Revenue Bonds
County Manager Joe Pritchard said
the county was refinancing two bond packages, for the
Public Facilities Authority
and for the
Central Valdosta Development Authority.
County Attorney Walter Elliott said the
Public Facilities Authority was meeting 4PM tomorrow (now today 11 Dec 2012)
to approve an ordinance similar to what the County Commission was
being asked to approve Tuesday night.
There’s also a purchase agreement with the underwriter,
in the packet only the board gets to see.
Chairman Ashley Paulk said he spoke Friday to somebody named Mr.
Bucky Kensey(?) who wouldn’t tell him a number but said the
bond market had moved in the county’s favor.
The Chairman also said:
I want the public to understand these are not new bonds
these are old bonds that are at a higher interest rate
that are going to be refinanced at a lower rate,
and I believe the last savings was close to a million dollars.
The Chairman indicated Mr. Kensey(?) thought there would be a pleasant
surprise with even more savings than that.
The Commissioners reappointed Antonio Henderson and Harry Sullivan
to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Their terms will
expire May 31, 2010. Joseph Stevens was appointed, and his term will
expire May 31, 2009.
The primary purpose of the meeting is for the Authority to consider
a Bond Resolution to provide for the issuance of Refunding Revenue
Bonds for the purpose of refunding in part Public Facilities Authority
Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project), Series 2005,
and Central Valdosta Development Authority Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County
Judicial/Administrative Complex), Series 2003, to authorize and approve
the execution and delivery of an Intergovernmental Contract with Lowndes
County, and related purposes. The meeting will be open to the public in
accordance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act.
NEW YORK, November 15, 2012 —Moody’s Investors Service has
assigned a Aa2 rating and a stable outlook to Lowndes County’s (GA)
$9.1 million Refunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County
Judicial/Administration Complex), Series 2012 and $7.2 million
Refunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project),
Series 2013, both issued by the
Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority.
At this time, Moody’s has also affirmed the Aa2 ratings
to $15.5 million of general obligation bonds and $193.7 million of
bonds issued through the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes
County, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, the
Central Valdosta Development Authority and the Lowndes County Public
Facilities Authority…
You know, the county could just tell us all this stuff, so we wouldn’t
have to try to google it.
It is our tax money they are spending, after all.
Refinancing Bonds and the Public Facilities Authority
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.
![[Appointments and Reports]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-10--lcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Beer and Streets]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2022-05-09--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Map: Road to be Abandoned]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-10-26--lcc-packet/October-26--27-2020-Meeting-Packet-0006.jpg)
