Tag Archives: qualifying

Videos: Public Works, Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-09

For two out of three boards, they came up with one name between Monday morning and Tuesday evening. No one applied for the Lowndes County Development Authority; instead they appointed Gary Moser who applied to be on Planning Commission. They reappointed Franklin Bailey, head of homebuilders association, to the Planning Commission, plus they appointed Ed Hightower to finish the unexpired term of Brad Folsom. They appointed Dr. Frances Brown to the Lowndes County Board of Health. And the County Manager recognized Public Works for their good work during the recent storms.

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

Videos: Weather, Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-08

County Manager Joe Pritchard thanked county staff for their performance during the recent storms and the public for mostly staying off the roads. It will cost $450 to qualify to run for County Commissioner.

No, we don’t know what was wrong with the sound. We will try to get it better tomorrow evening.

No applicants for the Lowndes County Development Authority Board of Health, and many for the Planning Commission.

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

Development, Planning, Health Board Appointments, budget, qualifying @ LCC 2018-01-08

Where did they advertise for applications for the three boards on the agenda for tomorrow morning, voting Tuesday evening? Who was the mysterious term expiration on the Development Authority of Lowndes County (not the same as the Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority, VLCIA)? If we assume the county’s web page for the Lowndes County Development Authority is the relevant one, it doesn’t say what term expired nor who was in that slot, it just says “Vacant”. However, we can deduce that the missing board member is Jeff Reames, whose seat expired June 8, 2017. When they appointed six members to that board the next month, they did not appoint anyone to that slot, even though Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker asked about that at the time.

Brad Folsom quit the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission to join VLCIA.

Five people want to be appointed: Keven Bussey, Gary Moser, Ed Hightower, and Bart Davis. Also, Franklin Bailey wants to be reappointed.

“Mr.” Myron Faircloth (I thought he was a doctor) resigned from the Board of Health, and nobody is mentioned as wanting to be appointed.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, JANUARY 8, 2018, MONDAY, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION,JANUARY 9, 2018, TUESDAY, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Candidates Qualified for City Elections in Lowndes County, GA

Every Valdosta City Council seat up for election is contested, a couple of Valdosta School Board seats, one Hahira City Council seat, and five people are running for four Lake Park City Council seats.

Although this is a nonpartisan election, all candidates are invited to speak tonight at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting, 6PM Monday 14 September 2015, at Mama June’s Home Cookin’, 3286 Inner Perimeter Rd., Valdosta, GA. Around 20 of them will speak, so here’s your first opportunity to hear directly from most of the candidates.

Here’s the list of candidates who qualified for this election, according to the Lowndes County Board of Elections, formatted the way they sent it. Continue reading →

District 3 down to two candidates for Lowndes County Commission

The southern District 3 for Lowndes County Commission is down to only two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican, so there will be no primary races and Tom Hochschild (D) and Mark Wisenbaker (R) will face each other in the general election in November. Retiring candidate Don Thieme (D) throws his support behind Hochschild. District 3 is mostly the south half of the county, but it also wraps around Valdosta to incorporate Remerton and VSU. See detail map or PDF of district 1,2,3 as found on lowndescounty.com.

And Crawford Powell has withdrawn from the race for House District 174, so that leaves only two candidates there, too: Jessie Smith (D) and John L. Corbett (R), with no primary races, to face each other in November.

Continue reading →

Qualifying is finished: here’s the list

A few people qualified on the last day. They’re marked ! below, in this latest information from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent.

-jsq

Valdosta

Mayor Brooks D. Bivins !
John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James R. Wright *
Council 3 Joseph Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Council 2 Bruce Cain *
Council 3 Ralph Clendenin *
Sherry Parham Brown

Dasher

Post 2
special election		 Donald J. Bryan
James (Jim) Dew !
Becky Rogers
(was held by Rodney Lieupo)
Post 3 Albert Hall !
Edwin R. Smith *
Post 4 Anita Armstrong *

Lake Park

Walker Keith Sandlin *
Mayor
City Council At Large (Vote for 4) Eric Schindler *
Ronald Carter *
Paul Mulkey *
Cathi Brown !
Russell Lane !
Sandy Sherrill !
Special election
voting now 		Cathy Brown
Sandy Sherrill
Whoever wins will also have to run again in November.

Remerton

Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph *!
City Council At Large (Vote for 5) Alexander Abell !
Sam P. Flemming, Jr. !
Steven Koffler !
Jasen L. Tatum *
Bill Wetherington *

Valdosta Board of Education

District 4 Dean R. Rexroth *
District 5 Julian Carol Sherwood III *
District 6 Bill Love *

Qualifying is finished: here’s the list

A few people qualified on the last day. They’re marked ! below, in this latest information from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent.

-jsq

Valdosta

Mayor Brooks D. Bivins !
John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James R. Wright *
Council 3 Joseph Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Council 2 Bruce Cain *
Council 3 Ralph Clendenin *
Sherry Parham Brown

Dasher

Post 2
special election		 Donald J. Bryan
James (Jim) Dew !
Becky Rogers
(was held by Rodney Lieupo)
Post 3 Albert Hall !
Edwin R. Smith *
Post 4 Anita Armstrong *

Lake Park

Walker Keith Sandlin *
Mayor
City Council At Large (Vote for 4) Eric Schindler *
Ronald Carter *
Paul Mulkey *
Cathi Brown !
Russell Lane !
Sandy Sherrill !
Special election
voting now 		Cathy Brown
Sandy Sherrill
Whoever wins will also have to run again in November.

Remerton

Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph *!
City Council At Large (Vote for 5) Alexander Abell !
Sam P. Flemming, Jr. !
Steven Koffler !
Jasen L. Tatum *
Bill Wetherington *

Valdosta Board of Education

District 4 Dean R. Rexroth *
District 5 Julian Carol Sherwood III *
District 6 Bill Love *

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

John Fretti resigned as mayor Tuesday, or, Roy Taylor got his way

Doubtless everyone knows this already, since the VDT and others have covered it well, including his guilty plea, the VDT’s call for him to resign, and his resignation. Here is John Fretti’s press release announcing his resignation. It seems appropriate that he sent it to News Talk 105.9 FM, where he so frequently appeared.

Personally, I thought he was not all that bad as mayor, even though he never did anything I asked him to. Given that I don’t even live in Valdosta, there is of course no reason that he should have, and he was always courteous when I appeared before the Valdosta City Council or met him elsewhere. Yes, I am well aware of many of the downsides, many of which I have written about in this blog, and Valdosta can do better.

If Valdosta is going to do better, somebody better needs to run. That’s why at the moment I’d prefer to write about the open race for mayor: qualifying is still open today and tomorrow (see next post).

I will say that whoever wins I hope will have less of this attitude:

“If they don’t say they’re against it, they’re for it.”
I think all citizens, but especially elected officials, should be willing to say what they’re for.

If people around here are too frightened to do so, then we’ve got a much bigger problem than who is mayor of Valdosta.

-jsq

Qualifying for local city elections is next week

The VDT editorialized yesterday:
On Monday, qualifying week begins for candidates interested in running in the November election for Valdosta Mayor, City Council At Large and Council Districts 1, 3, and 5; Hahira City Council Districts 2 and 3; City of Dasher Post 3 and 4; City of Lake Park Mayor and four council positions; Remerton Mayor and five council seats; Valdosta School Board Districts 4, 5, and 6.
The VDT points out that city elections usually don’t get much turnout, but this year there are two referendum questions on the ballot that may cause record turnout. They are: Continue reading →