Twelve minutes for their first-ever dial-in Lowndes County Commission meeting.
That’s longer than many of their in-person meetings, maybe because the Chairman had the Clerk call roll for the Commissioners for each vote. Both votes were unanimous with no discussion. Nobody explained why these items were important enough for a Special Called Meeting.
Before the meeting, in the room they had already Continue reading
Update 2020-04-16: LAKE Notes taken during the conference call.
Something good out of a pandemic: the first-ever telephone listen-in for a Lowndes County Commission meeting.
I assume listen-in because there is no Citizens To Be Heard on the agenda. While Madison County, Florida, BOCC, weeks ago had a participatory conference call meeting, I can’t imagine Lowndes County Commission doing that.
The only agenda items are how to spend the Hotel/Motel Tax (assuming there is any) for Tourism, and paying for right of way (ROW) for one parcel so TSPLOST paving of Clyattstone Road and Simpson Lane can continue. I don’t know why that one paving project is so important.
Special Called Meeting
April 16, 2020, 9:30 AM @ In an effort to respect social distancing, a conference call line has been set up for this meeting. The call in number 813-769-0500 and the access code is 373-829-614#There are only two items being addressed due to them needing immediate attention.
More Details
That “More Details” link goes to a page that has exactly the same information.
However, unlike most Special Called Meetings, for this one they did post an agenda. We don’t know whether they will video the meeting. That would be good, since LAKE can’t go into the building to do that. See also Continue reading
The Val Del Road rezoning for a subdivision on the Wetherington Property near Nelson Hill is on the agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session, to be voted on Tuesday evening at the Regular Session.
Probably not coincidentally, Right of way purchase for Clyattstone Road is also on the agenda.
![[Wetherington watershed]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2020-02-24--glpc-packet/wetherington-watershed.jpg)
Lowndes County Property Appraiser,
Wetherington watershed
The Bids for Fire Department equipment previously tabled and discussed at length in the recent all-day planning sessions are back on the agenda.
Frank Morman doesn’t want to be reappointed to the Continue reading
The two rezonings on the Lowndes County Commission agenda for this week seem to cancel each other out, since one wants to go “back” to Estate Agriculture (E-A), while the other wants to rezone from E-A to R-A, both on about ten acres.
Because by an open records request we got the agenda packet, we know how much the agenda items costs, even though dollar amounts are not listed in the agenda.
The Request to Accept Hamm Estates Dr. into the County Road Inventory for Maintenance is listed as “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A”. What if those subdivision roads need repairs, like Knights Academy Road?
The unusual Deannexation of Ganas Property by Lake Park apparently costs the county nothing. Not even legal fees?
The high-dollar item is $290,000.00 for health insurance administration. Employees pay their Continue reading
The Lowndes County Commission spent nine minutes yesterday morning discussing spending $124,454 and borrowing $1,734,000. They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.
The county has now gotten up to not just demanding landowners give road right of way to the county, but also condemning property if they don’t get it donated.
The longest item at less than two minutes was 6.d. Request for Professional Engineering Services Proposals – CDBG. As Gretchen remarks in the notes, apparently this is in support of Arglas, the Japanese glass products manufacturer locating on Rocky Ford Road.
Second longest was 7.b. Bid for a Breathing Air System for the Fire Department, due to a question by a Commissioner.
Below are Continue reading
Lowndes County staff are proposing to spend $124,454, according to all the “BUDGET IMPACT”s board packet: $48,500 for a Jury Management System, $1,469.00 for Condemning ROW for Howell Lane Paving Project, $3,500.00 (approx.) for Second Modification of GEFA Loan Agreement, and for the Fire Department $29,195.00 for a 1/2 Ton Truck and $41,790.00 for a Breathing Air System.
![[Survey plat: Revised County RoW for Howell Lane]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-09-23--lcc-packet/September-23--24-2019-Agenda-Packet-0017.jpg)
Survey plat: Revised County RoW for Howell Lane
They propose to borrow $1,734,000 from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).
The Lowndes County Commission discusses Monday morning at 8:30 AM. They vote 5:30 PM Tuesday.
![[Project Budget]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-09-23--lcc-packet/September-23--24-2019-Agenda-Packet-0026.jpg)
GEFA Loan Agreement Project Budget
For the first time ever! Lowndes County has returned the board packet before the Work Session.
LAKE sent an open records request Tuesday, and the county actually supplied the packet Friday, with this note: Continue reading
They added two items to the agenda they didn’t even mention in the previous morning’s Work Session: purchase of some real estate on Davidson Road near Moody Air Force Base, and “just compensation” for right of way on Simpson Road.
Wait a minute! For ten years we’ve been told the county no longer buys rights of way: if you want your road paved, you have to donate the right of way. So why this exception? And why sneak it in like this?
Will Kamisha Martin get paid for right of way if the county paves Black Road? Will Rev. Berlinda Hart Love get paid for right of way if the county paves Williams School Road? They were the two citizens who were heard.
Not on the agenda were Continue reading
The 2018 Lowndes County Commission Retreat was just about the exact opposite of a commission meeting, except that same group of people are present (almost). There was discussion, disagreement, laughing, sighing, interrupting, listening, inside jokes, outside jokes, and general exchange of views. Those things don’t happen in a commission meeting. This year’s retreat was particularly different because there was no time frame attached to any agenda item and they didn’t discuss topics in exact order, and some topics got covered repeatedly. Commissioner Evans said to me during a break that the previous format of having departments just give a report can “get boring” and she had suggested that they have a different format with more discussion about communications.
The agenda was available on-line but was hard to find and the link I followed to find it is gone now. I did manage to download it before it went away. Find it here: 2018 LCC Annual Planning Meeting Agenda (plus searchable text). There were paper copies available at the meeting after the first break.
I sometimes think that the commissioners may be getting used to me but then, no, don’t be silly.
At the lunch hour, the Commissioners stepped outside to take a group picture and as County Clerk Page Dukes suggested that they get closer and not have so much “space” between them, Commissioners Orenstein and Griner (I live in their districts) huddled together.
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Below are links to each LAKE video, with a few notes followed by a LAKE video playlist. Continue reading
In a very unusual move, they tabled
trust deed or a well system
that a developer wants because he does not want to have property annexed into the city of Valdosta. Valdosta services are across the street.
The Chairman said he asked the Engineer who asked the developer first.
Citizens Lawrence and Helen Williams expressed concern about dogs and a gun at a neighbor’s house.
They unanimously approved everything else Continue reading
Sandra Tooley, Valdosta City Council District 2,
was among the very few people present who did not have business on
the agenda of the
Lowndes County County Commission Work Session this Monday morning.
They vote 5:30 PM Tuesday evening.
Below are LAKE videos of Monday morning’s Work Session, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading
![[Only two items]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-04-16--special-called-meeting/2020-04-16--lcc-agenda-0001.jpg)
![[With dialin instructions]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-04-16--special-called-meeting/calendar.jpg)
![[Future Development Map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-02-24--lcc-packet/February-24--25-2020-Agenda-Packet-0009.jpg)
![[Survey]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2020-02-24--lcc-packet/February-24--25-2020-Agenda-Packet-0037.jpg)