Welcome
Andrea Shuijer Schruijer to a great opportunity as the new Executive
Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)!
For a year I’ve been asking for a list of jobs attracted by the
Authority. We welcome your marketing expertise so we’ll know
the Authority’s successes!
We welcome your communications expertise to inform the community
affected by the process of bringing new jobs. VLCIA could publish
its agendas, minutes, and videos of its meetings, events, and
new jobs on its web pages, and facebook, maybe even twitter.
We welcome your stewardship of the Authority’s $3 million/year in taxes.
Maybe some
Leigh Touchton, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP,
says the local and state NAACP are opposed to the biomass plant
because the community that is most affected is the minority community.
She referred to her previous presentation of a letter from
Dr. Robert D. Bullard.
She also brought up an incident with Brad Lofton and recommended
that VLCIA hire an executive director who wouldn’t act like that.
And she said she deals with VSEB all the time:
I’ve taken men through there, I’ve signed them up.
She referred to me when she said that, so what I said before
is appended after the video.
The health of the community is way more important than the job —Leigh Touchton
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
What I actually recommended regarding VSEB, in response to
a specific request from Leigh Touchton for recommendations,
was maybe schedule a meeting with Roy Copeland to talk about
VSEB and solar job opportunities:Continue reading →
Karen Noll asked the VLCIA board to put a no-biomass clause
in any purchase agreement regarding the proposed biomass site.
She began with these words:
I’m Karen Noll.
I hope some of you already have seen my writing and
have read my letters to you in the past.
I’m obviously here on one issue.
I hope that in the future I can be talking to you about other issues.
But right now I’m talking to you about biomass.
And we celebrated that it was dead and it was gone and now it’s not.
Because we really don’t know … what the plan is.
Karen Noll made a pitch based partly on saving taxpayer money.
In addressing health concerns, she handed the board a letter from local doctor
Craig Bishop.
She handed the board a petition with “at least 700 signatures”
and she said for each signature there was probably at least one more
that didn’t sign.
Some of what she said appeared to be drawn from a letter
that is appended in this post after the video.
Mario Bartoletti, the first to carry a protest sign into a VLCIA board meeting,
said that as a member of WACE he wants to know
the hierarchy and to whom does VLCIA report.
Sticking to their current policy of never answering directly anything
said in Citizens to be Heard, the board did not answer.
(My opinion follows in a separate post.)
How does the hierarchy work? —Mario Bartoletti
Irregular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Matt Flumerfelt put down his trumpet to speak for the biomass protesters.
He recommended responsibility on behalf of the children and grandchildren.
He also said he looks forward to
the new VLCIA executive director,
since her background in hotel marketing fits with his vision of
the area as a retirement community.
For the children —Matt Flumerfelt
Irregular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Chairman Jerry Jennett asked Tom Call for a report from the officer
nominating committee, which was that the nominated officers for FYE 2012
are:
Roy Copeland Chairman,
Mary Gooding Vice-Chairman,
and Norman Bennett Secretary/Treasurer.
Roy Copeland pulled a very sour face at the news.
Mary Gooding asked Roy Copeland if he was willing to do it,
and he said,
I’ll let you know next meeting.
They clarified that they elect officers next meeting.
I don’t know when the next meeting is,
but since their fiscal year ends 30 June 2011,
presumably some time before then.
Given that nobody else seems to want especially the hot potato
of the Chairman’s job, it seems a safe bet that Roy Copeland is it.
Continue reading →
When I got there at 5:30 the biomass protesters were breaking up so some
of them could go inside and speak. Matt Flumerfelt is visible heading
in the door with his trumpet.
Videos of his and other remarks to the board will follow.
Musical protesters @ VLCIA 14 June 2011
Irregular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Noting that I was there on behalf of the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
which takes these videos and puts them on the web,
I recommended to the Industrial Authority board that they
put their agendas on the web,
since they give those away at the door
and they don’t contain any of the details that they’re concerned
about revealing to competitors.
Recalling that I had previously had the audacity to
read their own charter to them,
or at least the parts about the general good and welfare of the community,
I reminded them that some areas that had successfully attracted industry,
such as Raleigh, NC, Austin, TX, and Portland, OR had said what kinds of
industry they wanted.
Expanding on the example of Austin, TX, I noted that they emphasized
clean industry, music, and arts, and that helped attract the kinds
of knowledge-based workers that our local Chamber of Commerce wants
for knowledge-based jobs.
Here’s the VlCIA board approving minutes for some of those recent meetings,
although you can’t tell what they were for, since
they were listed on the agenda like this:
Operating at a slower pace VLCIA 17 May 2011 Part 2 of 2:
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
For a year I’ve been asking for a list of jobs attracted by the Authority. We welcome your marketing expertise so we’ll know the Authority’s successes!
