Tag Archives: SPLOST

Videos @ HBA 2012-10-18

Here are videos of last night’s Political Forum. The goal of this post is speed, so there’s no fancy format, just a video playlist in which you can find candidates by video title or thumbnail picture. We will probably come back later and use some of these videos in other posts.

Political Forum moderated by Chris Beckham of NewsTalk 105.9 WVGA
The Home Builders Association of South Georgia (HBA), Franklin Bailey President,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2012.

-jsq

When Can You Vote?

Several recent local elections have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts. Here’s when and where you can vote.

According to a Word file buried three levels deep in the Board of Elections website, and also according to GA Secretary of state Elections Division:

Early Voting: Deb Cox, Elections Supervisor, Lowndes County, Georgia Monday through Friday,
October 15-26, 2012, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Saturday Voting: October 27, 2012, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Extended Hours: Your Vote Counts Monday through Friday,
October 29 – November 2, 2012, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
2808 N Oak St., Valdosta
Vote by Mail: Get the form from the Board of Elections
Election Day: precincts Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Go to your assigned precinct
Find your precinct through My Voter Page by the Georgia Secretary of State.

For a sample ballot, Continue reading →

Record early voting in Lowndes County —WCTV

2,861 Total Votes through Oct 16, 2012 A record 2,861 total votes were cast in Lowndes County by Tuesday 16 October 2012.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Early Voting In Lowndes County Sets New Record,

Jessica Cooke, first-time Lowndes Voter Georgia state officials say the pace for early voting is slower this year than for previous presidential elections, but as Eyewitness News reporter Greg Gullberg shows us, you’d never know it in Lowndes County….

Wave of voters Jessica’s not alone. In fact, she was joined by a wave of voters of all ages here in the first week of early voting here in Georgia. Now they’ve actually already set an all-time record here in Lowndes County for the most votes in the first two days of a presidential election, with almost three thousand.

Deb Cox, Supervisor, Lowndes County Board of Elections, and Gregg Gullberg of WCTV:

Continue reading →

Candidates Forum today @ HBA 2012-10-18

Candidates Forum, 7-9PM today 18 October 2012, at the Rainwater Conference Center, 1 Meeting Place, Valdosta, GA, organized by the Home Builders Association of South Georgia and NewsTalk105.9 WVGA, moderated by Chris Beckham.

This thing is astonishingly poorly advertised, unless you happen to follow one of the organizing organizations. It’s not in the VDT calendar, it’s not on the conference center’s calendar, and people keep asking when and where is it. Now you know.

Here are videos (from three different cameras) of all the candidate presentations of the 2 October 2012 Meet the Candidates event at VSU. Tonight, if I understand correctly from there being a moderator, they debate. Presumably all the same candidates will be there: Continue reading →

Tired of seeing transparency be a constant source of tension —Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on Bees in the library —VDT -jsq

Thanks for bringing up the question of selling the current library to SGMC. I tried to follow your link & did not see any reference on the page it brought up. I personally have been wondering why the taxpayers are not privy to any discussions of SGMC purchasing the property. Since SGMC has already purchased the adjoining properties, effectively land locking the current library, I would think the library board would have quite a bit of leverage toward negotiating price & we the taxpayers have a right to know what is transpiring between them. Everyone I have questioned states they cannot find out any information about proposed SGMC/library negotiations or discussions.

Thankfully LAKE does a lot to solicit transparency within local government entities & boards. I for one am tired of seeing said transparency be a constant source of tension. No one should have to constantly work to elicit information that should be readily available. I personally will not vote for SPLOST VII or any other proposed tax until I see local government become more accountable to taxpayers. SPLOST VII needs to die so a more responsible proposal can be presented. We complain about the federal government not balancing the budget, yet local government entities seem intent on devising lists littered with wants instead of focusing on needs as if the economy is thriving. I am an avid library supporter, but I'm not willing to blindly accept the current library board (or boards) opaque tax payer liability assignments.

-Barbara Stratton

-jsq

Bees in the library —VDT

As its closing argument for SPLOST VII, library bookshelves the VDT argued that the library has bees in its brick walls. Sure and we need a new library. But they didn’t address any of the questions about the Five Points out-of-state architect plan for a new library or about the process by which that plan was produced.

Jason Schaefer write for the VDT 14 October 2012, SPLOST to solve aging library’s problems with modern building,

Plainly speaking, the South Georgia Regional Library is in bad shape. Half of the red-brick building was constructed in 1966, and the other in 1995.

Walking in, the atmosphere seems stuffy and archaic — stained ceiling tiles and old carpet, color-neutral walls and little decoration.

The wiring intended to service the computers is buried in the floor and unable to meet current internet standards, and the machines—35 to process 7,000 logins a month—are all clustered together in one area.

The HVAC system is antiquated, riddled with patches and still slowly disintegrating, and replacement of the system would cost upward of $2 million.

This and their other points are all true, and although I haven’t seen them, I have no doubt this is true, too:

Continue reading →

Library process transparency —John S. Quarterman

John S. Quarterman videoing SPLOST VII Kickoff Speeches It’s good to see that someone responsible for allocating millions of dollars of taxpayer money is willing to answer questions about related decisions, as Kay Harris is doing! It would be even better if there were a regular process by which the taxpaying and voting and library-using public could ask such questions and get answers.

If there were such a process, it’s pretty likely Ms. Harris or the Library Board or the County Commission would have been asked about the architect selection, considering I wasn’t even involved in that selection and my ear was scorched with complaints as soon as it was announced. Maybe Ms. Harris can suggest a way to produce such a process.

Let me take Ms. Harris’ points in order.

“First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state’s estimate of $21 million.”

That’s very interesting news, which clarifies for me what she was getting at in the VDT writeup on that selection:

Continue reading →

Why we selected an out of town architect —Kay Harris

Received yesterday on New Library —Kay Harris. My response follows in the next post. -jsq

I was never asked why we selected an out of town architect, but will Kay Harris happily answer that question now. First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state's estimate of $21 million. Second, they brought to the project a consultant who is considered the country's leading library consultant; only one of the other four brought in an outside expert. Third, the principals of this firm live right over the county line in Florida—they are within the 50 mile radius that is considered "hiring local", so they are indeed a local firm. They also brought a local engineering firm, from Valdosta, to the table, and have agreed to hire as many subs from the local area as possible. So I truly don't understand the "jab" about hiring non-local… if it was that big a concern, why not just ask me the question? Mr. Quarterman wasn't even in the room at the time I spoke….

-Kay Harris

-jsq

New Library —Kay Harris @ LCDP 2012-10-01

At Monday’s Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting, LCDP Chair Gretchen Quarterman introduced Kay Harris as chairman of the Library Board. You can see that board in action a few weeks ago in these previous videos.

Kay Harris said she was not there as editor of the newspaper, since as such she wouldn’t be allowed (presumably by the newspaper) at a partisan meeting. She was there as chair of the library board. She said this is her fifth year on that board, and her second year as chairman.

Here’s a video playlist.

She said the county put her on that board to move along the library project, which had been in process for some time. She said she had led negotiations with the City of Valdosta for the Five Points process. She mentioned the Five Points Steering Committee, of which she is also a member.

About the current library building and how the new one would be better, she said,

Continue reading →

Kickoff speeches @ SPLOST 2012-09-28

Apparently WCTV’s “at the South Georgia Medical Center Parking Garage”> meant actually in the nearby parking lot, because that’s where we found some city and county employees and a few volunteers standing in the shade of a Valdosta Police van. An invocation and six speeches from five speakers ensued, all in support of SPLOST VII, the Special Local Option Sales Tax on the November ballot. Several of the speakers were not so positive off the podium about the library and auditorium projects, and nobody from the library board spoke.

Here are videos of all of the speeches.

Also the VDT was there, and Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT yesterday, Committee kicks off SPLOST campaign,

The major theme of the event was a firm reminder that SPLOST VII is not a new tax, just a continuation of a penny sales tax that has been in place since 1987.

Fair enough. However, Sam Allen’s second talk summed up what’s wrong with SPLOST VII: Continue reading →