Tag Archives: Valdosta

Videos: Deep South Sanitation litigation resolution, Animals, MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-09

Not on the agenda for the 9 June 2015 Regular Session: settlement agreement for the county’s unnecessary lawsuit against Deep South Sanitation. Commissioners had no questions, but I have two:

  1. how much did the county spend on the lawsuit?
  2. how much did the county end up paying DSS?

Also unscheduled: Recognition of Leadership Lowndes Attendees.

Citizen Billy Rowland had some comments about road grading and wondered how Animal Control could come take his dog from his posted property yet not do anything when he reported barking dogs.

They approved a Scruggs Co. contract for Paving on Coppage Road, which includes curb and gutter to save some of the tree canopy. They approved a Bid for Bemiss Road Mowing even though it’s a state highway, plus a Bid for a Zero-Turn Mower for the Public Works Department from Nashville Tractor. They approved the Bid for a Fire Pumper for Lowndes County Fire Rescue and the LCSO Patrol Car Laptops Lease Purchase and tabled the Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from Valdosta utilities.

Via LAKE open records request, see the board packet item for the complicated Moody Activity Zones Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code that were tabled for more time at the Tuesday June 9th 2015 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. See the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission meeting that considered the MAZ and the rezonings on this agenda. The Shiver and Kinsey rezonings were were approved unanimously with no speakers from the public and no Commissioner comments. The Orchard at Stone Creek rezoning discussion about a retirement home lasted for 14 minutes, including updated maps that were only provided to LAKE on paper, despite a request for electronic copy. See also the agenda and the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

Continue reading →

Videos: Regular Session GEFA, road abandonment, bids, and water @ LCC 2015-05-26

Attorney had to remind Commissioners that a road abandonment such as for Buck Cato Road requires a public hearing. They declared the solid waste equipment surplus to be leased to “prospective franchisees” such as DSS; County Manager said “we have the lease agreement here”, but did not put it on the county’s website for the public to see. County agent arrived just in time to hear the Langdale bid accepted for a truck for the Extension Service. They accepted the Lee Office Supply bid for Emergency Operations Center tables and chairs. And of course they approved the Interconnection of North Lowndes and Kinderlou Water Systems and the GEFA Loan Modification for the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant. They started a minute late. At the end, after the County Manager had no report and no citizens wished to be heard, as usual they adjourned without a vote.

This was all at the afternoon Lowndes County Regular Session. For background and more details, see Continue reading →

Nancy Parrott (1934-2015)

Dean Poling, VDT, 17 June 2015, Hahira’s ‘first lady’ a friend to all,

Even in the years after her late husband stopped being this Lowndes County town’s mayor, Nancy Parrott remained the first lady of Hahira until her passing last weekend.

She was known for her smile, her wit, her grace and her always having a kind word. She never saw station. She saw people.

She died Sunday. She was 80 years old….

2013 Obituary of Dr. J. Lyle Parrott.

Obituary, VDT, 15 June 2015, Nancy Rutledge Wainer Parrott,

Nancy Rutledge Wainer Parrott, 80, of Hahira, Ga., widow of Jesse Lyle Parrott, MD, passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at her home surrounded by her two sons and her “daughters-in-love.”

Nancy is survived by Continue reading →

Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16

Late o tonight’s agenda but big on their minds, and described and pictured by Stuart Taylor, VDT, 31 May 2015, as consisting of:

  • Georgia Department of Economic Development — Michelle Shaw
  • Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce — Myrna Ballard
  • University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center — Lynn Bennett
  • Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority — Stan Crance
  • Georgia Department of Labor, Valdosta Career Center — Jamon Williams
  • Wiregrass Georgia Technical College — Bill Tillman
  • Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute — Art Ford
  • Georgia Power Company — Scott Purvis

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority’s Business Retention Action Team, or BRAT, brings together a number of local and state organizations to offer services, information, solutions and contacts that a company might need.

“We’ve always had an existing industry program,” said Meghan Duke,VLDA marketing and community relations. “These organizations have always worked together, but now we’re formalizing it.”

Here’s the agenda:

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 5:30 p.m. Continue reading →

Most of June electric bill for overbudget nuke, yet the sun rises

While electric bills still are tilted against local solar generation 300x225 CWIP on electric bill, in Most of June electric bill for overbudget nuke, by Bret Wagenhorst, 11 June 2015 and Georgia Power continues to levy its stealth CWIP tax for its nuke boondoggle, yet solar power is rising this year on Southern Company and Georgia Power.

Bret Wagenhorst posted on facebook 9 June 2015:

I find it decidedly ironic that a large portion of my last month electric bill went toward paying for a nuclear power plant that is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, and which will no doubt cost millions of dollars a year to run and to manage its potentially deadly waste. I wonder if the money spent on the nuclear plant were used to purchase rooftop solar panels for all certified energy efficient Georgian homes if we citizens might not be better off in the long run. Thoughts?

Look for Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Rider on that bill: Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-08

Through a LAKE open records request, now you can see the complicated Moody Activity Zones Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code, which affect everything from animals to retirement homes. In these LAKE videos you can see the Lowndes County Commission consider that and other matters at their Work Session of Monday 8 June 2015, including Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from the City of Valdosta, two water well and septic rezonings on Mt. Zion Rd and Touchton Rd, and water and sewer for 24 acres of The Orchard at Stone Creek, Tillman Crossing Rd. Plus Utility Relocation for the Replacement of Franks Creek Bridge on Morven Road and many bids, including for Paving on Coppage Road; staff recommends the Scruggs bid. County Manager Joe Pritchard noted many of the bids were related to SPLOST in an effort “to get those projects up and running as quickly as possible”.

Here’s the agenda. See also the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission meeting that considered these rezonings and the MAZ. Continue reading →

Board packet item for MAZ ULDC Text Amendment TXT-2015-01 @ LCC 2015-06-08

It’s no wonder the Planning Commission wanted more time for these complicated proposed county code changes to the Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ). The county could have just as easily put the PDF of this item online with the agenda. They didn’t, so LAKE filed an open records request, which no only makes these maps and text available to the public, it demonstrates the county can supply electronic format via email.

Here’s plain text for the Board packet agenda item sheet and the Planning Division Amendment Notes, and images of all the other pages from the PDF.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: South Georgia Native Plant and Wild Flower Symposium at NESPAL in Tifton GA 2015-03-25

Gretchen took these LAKE videos at the South Georgia Native Plant and Wild Flower Symposium, at NESPAL, UGA, Tifton, GA. The event was sponsored by the University of Georgia and the Garden Clubs of Georgia.

Continue reading →

Batteries vs. fossil fuels

Another battery entry, Ambri with a liquid metal battery and $50 million startup funding, understands it’s the battery market vs. fossil fuels. And batteries plus sun, wind, and water power will win.

Jeff McMahon, Forbes, 4 June 2015, Want To Build A Better Battery? Don’t Talk To Battery Experts,

Like Tesla’s Powerpack, Ambri’s liquid-metal battery is designed to provide grid-level storage that can supplement intermittent renewables like solar and wind, making a grid that depends on renewables as reliable as one that depends on fossil fuels or nuclear reactors.

Wednesday night, [Ambri founder MIT Professor Donald] Sadoway welcomed Tesla’s entry to the grid-level battery industry. The competition, he said, is not between batteries, but between batteries and fossil fuels.

We don’t even need Continue reading →

Videos: Doublewide, Commercial, Professional, Residential, Landscape, Stormwater, Suburban, Agriculture, Schools, and Moody @ GLPC 2015-05-26

The Planning Commission said at its 26 May 2015 meeting that it needed at least a month more to review Lowndes County’s proposed changes to the Moody Activity Zoning (MAZ) Districts, which is why the County Commission is pushing back the schedule on that.

Another big item is REZ-2015-11 The Orchard at Stone Creek, yet another subdivision on Old US 41 N, this one due west of Nelson Hill on Val Del.

Here’s the agenda. Below are links to each of the LAKE videos of the agenda items, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →