The
big item was a public-private partnership for units to be rented only to
military personnel, built on top of the same soil as has a sinkhole
next door.
They also approved a no-bid contract for
a drinking water treatment plant upgrade near the Alapaha River,
plus another no-bid contract for Lovell Engineering, for
wastewater treatment.
And they’re so confident SPLOST VII will be approved
by the voters (even though they never held a town hall or public hearing)
that staff is going to ask the state
to continue collections in January;
plus Gretchen pointed out that
if citizens knew what was in SPLOST they might be more willing to vote for it.
Including maybe even
the woman who noted that since garbage trucks
are coming down her road it needs to be fixed.
Here’s
the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes, including a few links to related posts.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Gretchen Quarterman said she was happy about the work the county
had done with the cities to figure out SPLOST VII, but:
Last year we didn’t do a good job in the county about getting
the county residents to go and vote for SPLOST
so now we’re in this gap.
Thank you for figuring out how to
fill the gap; if we do that, that’s good.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The one public speaker when County Chairman Bill Slaughter
“opened up” the SPLOST VII item
was Jim Galloway,
Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority,
who noted SPLOST VII included nothing for the airport from the county
or any of the cities.
The long runway is federally funded, but the shorter runway is not.
He asked for county funding.
which I see now lists its board members on
its website:
Steve Everett – Chairman
Jeff Sikes
Nathaniel Haugabrook
Dr. James Sinnott
Anthony Payton
Jane Shelton
Jim Galloway – executive director/airport manager (229) 333-1833
The “SPLOST VII Agreement” has been drafted among the county and the local
cities, but it isn’t quite done yet,
you can’t see what they’re still considering,
and there was no mention of any public hearings.
A local engineering firm is apparently going to get two no-bid contracts,
one for the
Alapaha Water Treatment Plant
and one for
the county’s Land Application Site.
A local attorney represented both
a bond refinancing
and
Moody Housing.
Many renewal contracts were presented, and the long-running
juvenile justice item saw some progress.
They ended with an Executive Session
but didn’t say what for.
Chummy lot, those Commissioners and staff and attorneys and engineers.
Here’s
the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes, including a few links to related posts.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Does “SPLOST VII Agreement” mean the SPLOST lists are a done deal and
there will be no public hearings?
Two Moody and one small rezoning cases move from the Planning Commission
to the County Commission.
And that Alapaha Water Treatment Plant is back on the agenda for tomorrow morning and voting Tuesday evening by the Lowndes County Commission.
Here’s
the agenda,
with a few links to related posts.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
I just want to take a min of my time & thank you all the Lowndes county
commissioners for Consideration of Proposed List for a boat ramp & a new
community center in our community. This mean a lot to our community &
our surrounding counties. It’s a good asset to Lowndes county. Lowndes
County needs public access to the beautiful scenic Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. Now our community will
have something to cherish for generations & more generations to come. I
hope the community will come together. Continue reading →
I would like to inform the community that the Lowndes County Board
of Commissioners has announced their “Consideration of Proposed
List” for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII on July 22-23,
2013. It can be viewed on LowndesCounty.com.
The part of the budget that is most impressive to me is the
allocation to Parks & Recreation. Its allocation is 3.5 million
dollars. We need good recreation for our families in Lowndes County
and to me this number sounds like our county commissioners take it
serious.
I would also like to send out a big thank you to the commissioners
for putting a Community Center in Naylor and a boat ramp on the
Alapaha River as part of the purpose for the Parks and Recreation
allocation.
Lowndes County needs public access to the beautiful Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. I hope the
community will come together over this project and create a legacy
for generations to come. Please send thank yous, ideas and comments
to the commission about the Naylor project:
Valdosta Mayor Gayle was standing next to the video ghetto
after the county’s rather rudimentary SPLOST VII presentation
Monday morning, so I asked him why I hadn’t seen anything about Internet
access either Valdosta’s or Lowndes County’s SPLOST lists?
He said that was because it was being handled by the Community Assessment Group (CAG).
What’s that?
Mayor Gayle said CAG is a group of representatives from the county
and all the local cities, the two school districts (Valdosta and Lowndes County),
VSU, Wiregrass Tech, the Industrial Authority, the Chamber, and he may have
said others.
It’s an attempt at better local cooperation, specifically about issues
that cross all the various local governmental and non-governmental groups.
So far they’ve had two meetings, Continue reading →
Here’s
the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Chairman Bill Slaughter recognized Valdosta Mayor John Gayle,
who was sitting in the back.
Invocation
Only in the Regular Session.
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Only in the Regular Session.
Minutes for Approval
Work Session — July 8, 2013
Regular Session — July 9, 2013
County Manager Joe Pritchard was also confused as to
what did the Commissioners approve
regarding the “conjoined” items in the 9 July Regular Session:
For Consideration
Video Arraignment for Magistrate and Juvenile Court Contract
Enterprise and Backup Storage Solution Scope of Work
Pritchard noted County Attorney Walter Elliott referred to the
purchase orders
for item 6.a., saying purchase orders item 6.b. were “not present”.
Pritchard wanted to know if Commissioners approved both of them.
Commissioner Crawford Powell said he thought the way “Walter”
stated it they didn’t approve either one of them.
Little joke.
“Walter” got it, and eventually Pritchard did, too, after everyone
else laughed.
Then Powell clarified that they had approved both items.
Which anyone can see in
the LAKE video of those items.
Hm, if the Commission kept their own videos, Pritchard could have
just looked at those and seen.
Three details at $39,500 each, no increase from last year, said Public Works Director
Robin Cumbus;
see
other post for what Commissioners Marshall, Slaughter, and Powell had to say.
It’s because of a notice of violation from GA EPD, said Utilities Director Mike Allen,
and he’d been working with Lovell Engineering on a letter to say the problem
of disinfection byproducts would be fixed by the end of March 2015.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know if
Lovell Engineering would be submitting “on our behalf, or would we be submitting it?”
See
separate post for more.
The county has received a grant from GDOT for striking, signs, and
raised pavement markers for 30.79 miles of road, for $142,491.75.
I will also give you a copy of the roads that will be restruck
under this contract.
Commissioners had no questions.
Why wasn’t that copy in the board packet and online with the agenda?
How can you find out if your road is on that list?
File an open records request.
Adopt Resolution accepting infrastructure for Barrington Subdivision Phase I
Engineer said it was mostly complete but they were waiting on a punch list
from the developer before signing off on it.
Commissioners had no questions.
Videos: SPLOST, Children’s Appointment, Prisoners, and Water @ LCC 2013-07-22
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 July 2013.
The
big item was a public-private partnership for units to be rented only to
military personnel, built on top of the same soil as has a sinkhole
next door.
They also approved a no-bid contract for
a drinking water treatment plant upgrade near the Alapaha River,
plus another no-bid contract for Lovell Engineering, for
wastewater treatment.
And they’re so confident SPLOST VII will be approved
by the voters (even though they never held a town hall or public hearing)
that staff is going to ask the state
to continue collections in January;
plus Gretchen pointed out that
if citizens knew what was in SPLOST they might be more willing to vote for it.
Including maybe even
the woman who noted that since garbage trucks
are coming down her road it needs to be fixed.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
