If you were a county government appointing members to an Authority, wouldn’t you know who the other members were, and what that Authority does? Lowndes County doesn’t seem to know those things about Deep South Solid Waste Authority (SWA).

Here’s the open records request from Brett Huntley of 7 June 2013:

Deep South Solid Waste Authority (SWA)
– List of members of the board, officers, and staff of SWA, who appointed each, and their terms of office
– Charter, bylaws, resolutions, and any other SWA organizational documents
– Agendas and Minutes for the past five years for SWA, and future meeting schedule
Please provide as much in electronic form as possible.

And here’s the response from Paige Dukes 12 June 2013:

Regarding information related to the Deep South Solid Waste Authority, you may contact Regional Commission Representative, Julia Shewchuk, at 229-333-5277. Lowndes County is not the custodian of the records you have requested.

This is the same SWA for which the county’s adopted GREATER LOWNDES 2030 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SHORT TERM WORK PROGRAM (STWP) FY 2012 -2016 says:

4.3.1 –Maintain involvement and membership on Deep South Solid Waste Authority (SWA).

Our county government doesn’t know what this SWA is that it’s a member of?

-jsq