I recommend people go to
tonight’s budget “hearing”
and see what’s said, and maybe even try to ask some questions.
I’m staying home; here’s why.
Since
Ashley Paulk is apparently still running the County Commission,
I’m going by
Ashley Paulk’s stated theory
that citizens provide input to the budget process at every meeting.
I already provided mine
14 May 2013: Continue reading
Tonight you can go be told what the county’s budget will be,
5PM at the county palace.
If you want to see the proposed budget,
you’ll have to go their beforehand and view the one paper
copy they are
required by law to show you.
They say they’re short of money,
so why are they
wasting taxpayer funds suing a legitimate business?
On the county’s online calendar: Budget Public Hearing (6/18/2013)
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for the purpose of considering
the Fiscal Year 2014 proposed budget on the following dates:
June 18, 2013 at 5:30 p.m.
June 25, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.
Location:
Lowndes County Commission Chambers
327 N. Ashley St.
Valdosta, GA
A copy of the proposed budget is available for public review in the office of the County Clerk.
For questions please call 671-2400.
Kay Harris wrote for the VDT 19 June 2013, Lowndes County facing budget woes,
Continue reading
Audio feed was still not available so what you hear, is what I hear at the back of the room… -gretchen
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes by Gretchen.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Once again the big topic was trash, and it wasn’t on the agenda.
The Chairman made up a rule to limit citizen speakers to
15 minutes total.
After five citizens managed to speak anyway, all to applause, and
the owner of Deep South Sanitation
got a standing ovation,
the Commissioners offered
nothing but excuses.
Here’s the agenda, plus links to the videos and a few notes. See also the videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Who’s applying to be appointed Tuesday evening?
The Commission doesn’t tell you.
Come to the Work Session Monday morning and maybe you’ll be able
to hear the County Manager mumble the names, if he names them.
Those
library board applicants from two weeks ago are finally
on the agenda.
Also
an appointment to Parks and Rec,
three liquor licenses, and many other items,
but nothing about solid waste or trash.
Here’s the agenda:
Continue readingLOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Citizens still wanted to talk about solid waste after the
Commission adjourned the Tuesday 11 June 2013
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Commissioners offered nothing but excuses.
Commissioner Page asked for
Mr. Wright
to stay behind so he could talk to him.
The Chairman adjourned; I didn’t hear or see any motion or second or vote.
Aren’t those required by state law?
The subsequent excuses included:
It’s not about right or wrong anymore.
Nevermind that most of the people in the room thought it was, as well as many of the citizens and voters in the county.
We have to follow the process.
Nevermind they didn’t hold Continue reading
No copy of the contract for tipping fees from the landfill it privatized some years ago, no list of what those fees were, and no detailed accounting of what they were used for: that was the answer from Lowndes County’s Open Records Officer. She also took more than 3 days to produce this non-information, answering the day after the recent County Commission meeting. Here’s her answer:
From: pdukes@lowndescounty.com
Subject: Open records requests
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:42:16 +0000
Good Afternoon,
In response to your open records requests of June 6, 2013, please find the following:
For the contract or agreement addressing tipping fees, you may contact Regional Commission Representative, Julia ShewChuk, at 229-333-5277. Lowndes County is not the custodian of this information. You many find fee amounts in Lowndes Countys Comprehensive Annual Reports located on the countys website, www.lowndescounty.com. To access these reports, go to the Government tab at the top of the homepage, then County Manager, then Finance, then Financial Reports. Fees are located on page 38 for 2008, page 38 for 2009, page 38 for 2010, page 39 for 2011 and page 36 for 2012.
To be clear, Continue reading
Today is
Garbage Man Day,
at least as proposed by
“John D. Arwood, second generation garbage man and CEO of Arwood Waste”.
Hm, what does that
remind me of?
Let
me think….
Well, anyway, here’s
a local garbage man.
-jsq
The county government’s attempt to put a local business out of business
is this 9:30 AM at the county palace this morning 14 June 2013.
Physical Address:
Courtroom 5D, Fifth Floor
Lowndes County Judicial Complex
327 N. Ashley Street
Valdosta, GA 31601
WALB’s earlier story said June 4th, but now it’s June 14th (today), because Lowndes County Attorney Walter Elliott is also an attorney for Turner County in the LOST case before the GA Supreme Court, and he was going to be in Atlanta arguing before the Supreme Court on June 4th. Funny how everything is done for the convenience of the county government, and not for its citizens. Maybe we should change that.
-jsq
My LTE in the VDT Thursday. I’ve added links to some of my inspirations. -jsq
Local leaders worked hard to get the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area declared. Why now are they acting like a Ludowici speed trap for local businesses?
The Lowndes County Commission shouldn’t act like a private business trying to exclude anybody it doesn’t like. State law says local governments are supposed to have open bids and public hearings. A promise (in the VDT) in March 2013 of a non-exclusive contract for trash collection turned into exclusive in October; at least two of the five bidders are now the same company; and the county is suing
a local business to the profit of a company owned by investors in New York City. Meanwhile, no public accounting has ever been seen of the former waste collection sites and no public hearing was held before they closed, despite state law.
Business exists to make a profit. Government exists to provide public services like law enforcement, water, sewers, roads, and yes, trash collection. Sure, balanced books are good. But money isn’t the main point of government: providing what the people need is, and the people didn’t ask the county to exchange the waste collection centers for lower prices that won’t last.
Businesses (except monopolies) have to Continue reading
