The Lowndes County Regular Session is also Monday (tomorrow), at 5:30 PM after the 8:30 AM Work Session.
The agenda is only a page long, but the agenda packet is 109 pages. Most of that is 66 pages for a $99,700 jail software change order, of which about half the pages are duplicated. Makes you wonder if anybody reads this stuff. Continue reading
The annual Lowndes County retreat, er, Planning Meeting, is in the middle of this week, starting tomorrow morning.
When: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Tuesday – Thursday, February 4-6, 2020
Where:
Quail Branch Lodge, 7601 Zeigler Road, Lake Park, GA 31636
The
lowndescounty.com calendar item says
“Board of Commissioners Administration Building”,
but nevermind that.
Agenda: They never post an agenda in advance for these retreats.
Yes, LAKE will be videoing this meeting.
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
Maybe it was “custom fit” that caused Commissioner Clay Griner to ask for postponement of approval of purchase of firefighting equipment until after the county’s retreat. All five Commissioners voted for tabling. More detail below in the notes on that item.
Bob Dewar has discovered the county wants an 80-foot right of way to pave Clyattstone Road, “What we do not want is a highway. It’s a quaint county road.” Well, that’s not why the county paves roads. More in the item notes below.
Everything else was passed with little or no discussion.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the Continue reading
Update 2020-02-10: Videos: Verizon Country Club tower, halfway house, and Providence Missionary Baptist Church @ GLPC 2020-01-27.
This may be the longest agenda ever for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, meeting tonight at 5:30 PM. Gretchen Quarterman will be there with the LAKE video camera.
Pete’s Otto was at GLPC in January 2017 about establishing its business, and at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) in in July 2019 about setbacks.
This time Pete’s Otto seems to want to spread down the street.
And Nancy Hobby wants to go “backwards” to E-A on 10 acres on Loch Laurel Road.
Here is the agenda: Continue reading
Not on the agenda, Chairman Bill Slaughter at the end of the meeting said Utilities Director Steve Stalvey had been testing water quality on the Withlacoochee River. On December 31, bacterial counts were acceptable. But on January 6, 2020, counts were quite high, so the county made and posted some warning signs at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line (GA 31) Boat Ramps.
Here is one of the county’s signs, at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, with a sign by WWALS Watershed Coalition (Suwannee Riverkeeper) at the bottom of the other pole with Continue reading
A million dollars for Paving – Quail Hollow Acres Subdivision and $0.4 million for Bid for a 3,000 Gallon Tanker for the Fire Department. Another million for 2020 Stop Loss Insurance Coverage through Symetra Life Ins. Company. A quarter million to relocate utilities at I-75 Exit 2 will be paid by GDOT. And a million in income for a Lease Agreement with the State Properties Commission for the Division of Family & Children Services (DFACS).
Molly Deese wants to be reappointed to the Valdosta Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority. Incumbents almost always get reappointed if they say they want to, and the chances of them not reappointing the Vice President and General Manager of Wild Adventures is pretty slim. Ditto Dr. Frances Brown on the Lowndes County Board of Health.
They’re setting the Special Assessment interest rate “for all paving and utilityassessments that are not paid off within the initial 90-day phase. Unpaid assessments revert to installment agreements which are to be paid over a period of up to ten years.” New rate: 6.75% for 2020, down from 7.50% for 2019.
They’re setting qualifying fees to run for office, primary or general election: Continue reading
Update 2020-01-10: Not quite settled. Valdosta still has to agree to it.
These must be golden words indeed, to have been worth the hundreds of thousands of legal fees expended over them:
- In regards to water and sewer services:
The Parties’ current water and sewer service areas are delineated on the service area maps attached to the DCA Forms for water and sewer services approved herewith.
All existing intergovernmental agreements of the Parties regarding the provision of water and sewer services shall remain in effect.
Any request for an extraterritorial extension shall be negotiated by the requesting Party and the affected Party. Approval of the affected Party shall not be unreasonably withheld.
The wording is “based on trust,” said Commissioner Clay Griner. “Where’s the document?” responded Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker? “It’s on your ipad,” clarified Chair Bill Slaughter.
As the County Clerk proceeded to hand out paper copies, Griner elaborated:
And it’s all based on trust. It’s us trusting, the County Commission trusting the City Council, whichever municipality it is, to do the right thing. The city council has to trust the County Commission to do the right thing. And the citizens to trust all of us to sit down and do the right thing.
After the county didn’t put anything for the citizens to see on the county website about this Wednesday morning meeting until Continue reading
Only one case this afternoon at ZBOA, a duplex on Eager Road in Valdosta.
The entire ZBOA board packet is on the LAKE website, courtesy of ZBOA member Gretchen Quarterman. Here is the agenda:
Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
Valdosta Planning and Zoning Office
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563Lowndes County Zoning Office
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430AGENDA
January 7, 2020
2:30 p.m.
- Call to Order
CITY OF VALDOSTA CASE:
- APP-2019-09 — Lawton White (318 Eager Road)
Request for a PELUC (Certificate of Previously Established Land Use Conformity) to re-establish a duplex in a R-15 Single Family Residential DistrictOTHER BUSINESS:
- Approval of Minutes: December 3, 2019
- Attendance Review
- Adjournment
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
Other than the three Awards and Presentations, the longest agenda item was 5.a. Alcohol Ordinance Revision (Brunch Bill), which had already been approved by a referendum of the voters. On implementing it, all voted aye except one.
Almost as long was 7.b. Request for letter of support by WWALS for the Troupville River Camp project. Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber described the project and the situation. In Citizens To Be Heard (CBTH), WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman thanked Council for approving the letter.
The first speaker in CTBH asked for the city to rebuild streets in the Highland subdivision. He said there had been insufficient engineering and lack of maintenance of streets, including for water flow.
Unfortunately, can’t really make out what the pair of second speakers were asking for.
Below are LAKE videos of each item, followed by Continue reading
Remerton can’t use SPLOST VI funds for an office building, since the old mill building intended for that has been torn down. That was the longest item in the Lowndes County Commission Work Seesion of December 9, 2019: 7. Reports – County Manager – Remerton SPLOST Resolution.
Then Commissioner Clay Griner moved to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel. Chairman Bill Slaughter reminded him the Commission has only one employee. Griner agreed, and they went into Executive Session. The one employee is the County Manager.
They breezed through everything else their last meeting of calendar year 2019.
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the Continue reading
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