Apparently it doesn’t take size
for elected commissioners to represent the people, or
to choose not to.
There’s still time for local governments
to choose to do at least those things FERC and NTSB say they should do about pipelines, especially the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission methane pipeline.
-jsq
Make pipeline companies answer questions, motivate implementation of safety standards, announce FERC Scoping meetings, and enforce reasonable local zoning restrictions:
these are things local governments can do, and NTSB and FERC say they should do
most of them.
Gilchrist County Commission in Trenton, Florida has done most of them,
and plans to continue doing more.
The Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council still can, too,
plus all the other county and city governments along the proposed pipeline path,
and their statewide county and city government associations.
Will our local elected officials represent we the people?
There were
Real questions at the Gilchrist County Commission meeting in Trenton, Florida Monday.
Two hours of first questions from a citizens committee with
Spectra’s reps expected to answer right there in front of everybody,
then questions from locals and people from many counties around,
including attorneys representing landowners and other county
commissions cross-examining Spectra on the spot. The Chairman of the
Gilchrist County Commission said there was a general opinion among
the populace that they were asking specific questions and getting
only general answers. Congratulations, Chairman, Commission, staff,
Committee, and everyone who asked questions for showing the world
how it’s done, and for exposing Spectra’s evasions to public
scrutiny.
This is in sharp contrast to Continue reading
CJB Industries is on the agenda twice, and in
an article on VLCIA’s website
and
in an article in Georgia Trend that is the subject of one
of those agenda items.
Here’s
the agenda:
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Tuesday, February 18, 2014 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Agenda
It’s good they posted the detailed agenda item,
but since when do tax-funded authorities hold
public hearings in a private attorney’s office?
The Industrial Authority
posted a meeting notice for their own special called meeting on
their facebook page (a day in advance)
and
their website (at some unknown time).
And the
agenda does say what it was for:
For the consideration of the adoption of a bond resolution of the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority authorizing and
providing for (a) the extension of the maturity date of its Economic
Development Revenue Bond (Langdale Hospice House Project), Series
2006, in the original principal amount of $2,800,000, the proceeds
of which were used to finance or reimburse, in whole or in part, the
cost of the acquisition, construction and equipping of a hospice
house and related facilities located in Lowndes County, Georgia, and
operated by South Georgia Health Alliance, Inc., a Georgia nonprofit
corporation, and (b) the execution of certain documents for such
purpose.
That bond was previously discussed at the Lowndes County Commission
Work Session of 23 October 2006: Continue reading
VDT editorial yesterday,
Violating public trust,
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens successfully fought for and
implemented changes to the state’s Open Records law, believing that
transparency in government is essential to the public trust. The law
passed in 2012 states, “The General Assembly finds and
declares that the strong public policy of this state is in favor of
open government; that open government is essential to a free, open,
and democratic society; and that public access to public records
should be encouraged to foster confidence in government and so that
the public can evaluate the expenditure of public funds and the
efficient and proper functioning of its institutions.”
The VDT asked for records from the Lowndes County school system
and didn’t get them.
Their experience sounds quite similar to many LAKE has had
with the county government in particular,
with records not being provided in the statutory three days,
and sometimes not even an excuse or a list of what might
eventually be available.
That plus
failure to make even agendas for the Planning Commission available
in a timely fashion so citizens can see whether they need to attend
(somebody explain to me
the expense of agendas; clearly I don’t understand this
Internet suff),
and even in response to open records requests returning paper
when the documents are obviously composed in electronic formats,
agendas for County Commission meetings that are
just plain incorrect, resulting in people taking time off from work
to show up unnecessarily for a Sabal Trail pipeline item that didn’t happen,
a
public hearing that wasn’t listed as such on the agenda,
a secretive retreat “work session”,
and not
even being clear about what tax dollars for SPLOST would go for.
That’s not even all; just a sample of county government lack of
transparency.
And it’s not just the County Commission.
Look at Continue reading
Less than two years after
Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning assured us
It is not in a seismic-sensitive area.
Fanning also claimed the technology was safe, before
SO failed to get a reactor vessel from Savannah to the site,
and before a renewed scandal revealed
Korea’s document-forging Doosan supplies that “safe” nuclear technology.
How safe will Plant Vogtle be in a bigger earthquake?
How safe is it even without an earthquake?
Not safe for the ratepayers or the taxpayers of Georgia or the U.S.
Mark Sandritter wrote for SBNation yesterday,
Augusta National water tower leaking after Georgia earthquake, per report, Continue reading
LTE in the VSU newspaper, The Spectator, today. -jsq
To the Editor,
Climate change is the defining issue of our time.
Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that
humans are the cause. S.A.V.E.
believes that it’s time for people to become the solution.
Globally,
we are feeling the impacts of record-setting temperatures, most
notably in the extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels.
Recent
chemical (W.VA) and
coal ash spills (N.C.) add to the urgency
of moving beyond fossil fuel. Yet here on our campus there’s a
remarkable disconnect between the classroom and the board room.
Shockingly, the VSU Board of Trustees includes science deniers,
oblivious to the threat of climate change—and to the academic
integrity of this institution of higher learning.
Recently,
the Board dismissed S.A.V.E.’s
request that VSU rid its portfolio of fossil fuel holdings.
Board Chairman,
Wayne Edwards,
a financial analyst, cast doubt on
the study that accompanied our request.
But we ask you, who knows more about climate, a team of
2,000 scientists from 154 countries who have compiled data from more
than 9,000 studies, or a stock broker? Our point is that serious
decisions at this institution are being taken by people who lack the
proper credentials.Chairman Edwards
dismissed socially responsible investing as Continue reading
The City of Valdosta press release was carried by WCTV and VDT,
and WALB interviewed Mayor John Gayle again.
Lowndes County at least managed to update its front page.
Last year
crossover day was March 7th,
when bills cross from one chamber to another.
I don’t know when it will be this year, with all the holidays
and weather closings, but probably not long after the rescheduled
Bird Supper, if not before.
LOWNDES COUNTY BIRD SUPPER—Tickets on sale now!
BIRD SUPPER RESCHEDULED – March 5
Fourteen (14) minutes.
The most time was spent on the
Wheeler rezoning,
on yet another
Dollar General,
Elections Supervisor Deb Cox personally made her
Board of Elections personnel request,
which is to change five part-time positions for one full-time,
and several Commissioners asked questions about the
Human Resources service contract,
which might result in educational requirements for positions,
and is supposed to survey everybody paid by the county:
but does that include employees of boards with their own millage,
namely the Industrial Authority and Parks and Rec?
They vote tomorrow, Tuesday 11 Feb 2014 at 5:30 PM.
Here’s
the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
As usual, the citizens of Lowndes County are the last to know.
Alan Mauldin wrote for The Moultrie Observer 8 February 2014,
County commission meetings to focus on Sabal Trail pipeline,
County Attorney Lester Castellow, who reently met with his counterparts from Brooks, Doughterty and Lowndes counties, is scheduled to address commissioners about the project during a Monday afternoon commission work session.
That would be
the
alleged
Lowndes County
attorney Walter G. Elliott.
Meanwhile, Colquitt County attorney Castellow is on the agenda
for today’s noon Work Session in Moultrie, and again at 7PM
Tuesday in the Colquitt County Commission Regular Session,
with Sabal Trail pipeline reps in attendance.
More
here.
Which is something the Lowndes County Commission has never done.
Sure, the Lowndes County Commissioners asked four questions and forwarded citizen questions in writing, which got
cut-and-paste PR answers from Spectra.
From one of the same Spectra reps who was “not familiar” with
Spectra’s sorry rap sheet of corrosion, leaks, and fines.
-jsq
