Tag Archives: Valdosta City Council

Videos: Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27

The Valdosta meeting about grants to non-profits from American Rescue Program Act (ARPA) funds consisted of a five-minute welcome by Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber, and a summary of the application process by Mike Smith of Valdosta United Way, followed by a half hour of questions and answers.

[Chuck Dinkins, Valdosta Finance Director, and Mike Smith, Valdosta United Way ]
Chuck Dinkins, Valdosta Finance Director, and Mike Smith, Valdosta United Way

The actual application is thirteen pages, yet is pretty straightforward.

Below are links to LAKE videos of those three segments, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

Videos: Everything unanimously approved in fifteen minutes @ LCC 2022-05-24

The Lowndes County Commission approved everything as fast as they could hear each item read and vote, at their fifteen-minute Regular Session of May 24, 2022.

[Some agenda items]
Some agenda items

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: 4 long Lowndes County cases + 2 long Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2022-05-23

Update 2022-06-14: Agenda, 4 rezonings, 2 xourts, 1 appointment, and a big ARPA-funded water project @ LCC 2022-06-16

An overflow crowd, some in the lobby, came for the four Lowndes County cases at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, May 23, 2022. Two of the Valdosta cases were also contentious. The whole meeting took more than three hours, so long there was griping about people getting hungry. The door alarm went off at 8 o’clock, but they plowed ahead with three remaining cases. When they adjourned at 8:52 PM, nobody was left in the audience but Gretchen Quarterman with the LAKE video camera.

[Flannigan, Campus, Makesh, Pittman]
Flannigan, Campus, Makesh, Pittman

One county and one city case were on James Road. The county case got a unanimous recommendation to deny, moved by famously pro-development Franklin Bailey. The Commissioners really did not seem to like “speculative commercial use on the subject property.” Continue reading →

Videos: Two Valdosta items, Walkers Crossing Roundabout, Reports @ LCC 2022-05-23

Update 2022-06-16: Videos: Everything unanimously approved in fifteen minutes @ LCC 2022-05-24.

Not even two minutes on any business item at the most recent Lowndes County Work Session.

[Attorney, Utilities, Engineering, Manager]
Attorney, Utilities, Engineering, Manager

The answer to which roads on the LMIG item is that Continue reading →

Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27

Update 2022-06-23: LAKE videos.

Posted yesterday on facebook and twitter, one of the committees announced a week ago is having a presentation this morning:

City of Valdosta
@CityofValdosta

Join the City of Valdosta tomorrow at 9 a.m. as we present to the community our Non-Profit Committee application process from the ARPA allocation. @greatervaldostaunitedway @valdostachamber

[Flyer, Committee members]
Flyer, Committee members

When: 9 AM, Friday, May 27, 2022

Where: Women’s Building, 1409 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA Continue reading →

5 Valdosta rezonings, 1 Hahira ordinance amendment, 4 Lowndes County rezonings with without packets @ GLPC 2022-05-23

Update 2022-06-03: 4 long Lowndes County cases + 2 long Valdosta cases @ GLPC 2022-05-23, including the board packet materials for the county cases and the minutes for the previous meeting.

Everything from a pair of personal care homes to a fraternity to a church to the Salvation Army wants rezoning or variances at this evening’s Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meeting.

The board packet materials for the Hahira and Valdosta items are on the LAKE website, thanks to City Planner Matt Martin.

[Maps]
Maps

LAKE has no materials for the Lowndes County items, and no copy of the draft minutes from the previous meeting, because Lowndes County has not yet sent them in response to a LAKE open records request.

Here is the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~

Monday, May 16, 2022 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, May 23, 2022 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia

Continue reading →

$1.6 million road resurfacing, 2 appointments, subdivision streets, Walkers Crossing Roundabout, Valdosta extraterritorial water and sewer @ LCC 2022-05-23

Update 2022-06-02: Videos: Two Valdosta items, Walkers Crossing Roundabout, Reports @ LCC 2022-05-23.

Update 2022-05-23: 9:00 AM Budget Work Session.

They propose to approve $1.6 million for resurfacing some roads, it’s not clear which ones, at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session Monday morning and voting Regular Session Tuesday evening.

[Quarterman Estates, Walkers Crossing Roundabout]
Quarterman Estates, Walkers Crossing Roundabout

They will also pretend that this will not cost the county money down the road for street maintenance: Continue reading →

Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19

Update 2022-06-23: Videos: Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27.

Update 2022-06-21: Valdosta Watergoat installed in Sugar Creek 2022-06-21.

Council Sonny Vickers was welcomed back warmly after abscence due to illness (I welcomed him before the meeting). Later, he thanked staff and council for their assistance.

[Collage]
Collage

Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the ARPA fund disbursment committees, for non-profits and for for-profit businesses.

After Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman asked for action about trash, Council Andy Gibbs and Mayor James vied for who would get to announce what the city had already done. Mayor James in Council Comments announced the city had ordered Continue reading →

Audit, Crime Lab Hydrogen Generator, 2 ARPA Grant Selection Committees @ VCC 2022-05-19

Update 2022-05-20: Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19.

In a very light agenda for tomorrow evening’s meeting, the Valdosta City Council nonetheless will contemplate $1,978,502.40 in spending. They will also hear an audit report.

AmountWhat
$33,502.40 Consideration of a request to purchase a Hydrogen Generator for the Valdosta-Lowndes Regional Crime Laboratory.
$945,000.00 Consideration of appointments for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Non-Profit Grant Selection Committee.
$1,000,000.00 Consideration of appointments for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Small Business Grant Selection Committee.
$1,978,502.40 Total

The Hydrogen Generator for the Crime Lab will come out of $36,000 from the General Fund. “This is the equipment that is used for drug identification and blood alcohol testing.”

The two Grant Selection Committees will dispense funds from the $16,254,692 allocated to Valdosta by the federal government in an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant, of which $8,127,346 has been received to date. The City Council previously allocated $945,000 for nonprofits and $1,000,000 for small businesses. These Committees will decide which organizations get the funds. You probably recognize many of the names on the committee candidate lists.

[Selection Committees]
Selection Committees

Here is the agenda. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, May 19, 2022
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Continue reading →

Videos: Remerton and Hahira cases @ GLPC 2022-04-25

Remerton at almost 28 minutes was far the longest item at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Monday. Second was for Hahira, at 12 minutes. Everything else breezed through.

[Remerton and Hahira Cases @ GLPC 2022-04-25]
Remerton and Hahira Cases @ GLPC 2022-04-25

The sound is not so good because the county has still not fixed the audio in the room.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Lake Park packet item, which Loretta Hylton of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission sent, saying she heard I was looking for it. It’s now on the LAKE website (PDF). Also, she said “The attorney pulled the Dasher item before submitting it to the Planning Commission.”

We still don’t have the Remerton item. The Valdosta and Hahira items were already on the LAKE website, previously sent by City Planner Matt Martin. We still don’t have the Remerton items. There were no Lowndes County packet items. Continue reading →