Tag Archives: VDT

VDT should dig deeper into county trash

The VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection. Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law.. Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it, the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.

Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday, Concerns continue over garbage agreement: Business owner argues case against County

The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said Tuesday.

Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart? Is money the only value the county government can name? Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more to keep the sites open. Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.

And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low? Look at Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year. But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection anyway?

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Exclusive franchise on photographing County Commission? @ LCC 2013-05-28

Does the county ordinance that adversely affects Deep South Sanitation and no other company follow a pattern already set by the county? The VDT posted pictures clearly taken not from the media box during last night’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission: this one shows Gretchen videoing for LAKE from that media box. Has the Lowndes County Commission granted an exclusive franchise to the VDT for photographing, like the one it granted to ADS for trash collection? Or has the Commission admitted its anti-videoing ordinance was actually an illegal bill of attainder directed at LAKE alone? If so, why is it still posted on the door? And why is the county still planning to sue Deep South Sanitation on account of an ordinance and contract that directly adversely affects no other business? Hm, could that also be an illegal bill of attainder?

In case you had any doubt the VDT’s pictures were taken during the actual Commission meeting in session, this one is of Steve Parker speaking in Citizens Wishing to be Heard.

Even the Cumming City Council, which illegally ejected Nydia Tysdale for videoing an open meeting, realized its error and she now videos from the front row. Only Lowndes County, Georgia continues to post a sign on the door saying all videoing and photographing must be from the back of the room. And then it lets one news organization violate its own ordinance, but not another.

To quote former Chairman Ashley Paulk: Continue reading →

Who’s inaccurate: VDT, Valdosta, GEFA, Chamber, County?

Both Chamber of Commerce Chair Myrna Ballard and Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard say the VDT is inaccurate. The VDT took offense at Ballard’s assertion. Which do you believe? I believe I’d like to see the evidence, not just the VDT’s assertions. And this junior high school cat fight the VDT insists on is not helping fix the real problem with water and wastewater in Valdosta and Lowndes County: the widespread and longterm damage to our watersheds that turned a normal rain in 2009 into a 700 year flood, and caused another flooding of the Withlacoochee Wasterwater Treatment Plant this year. I’m all for investigative reporting, but I have not yet once seen the VDT investigate the real underlying issues of longtime clearcutting and building of roads subdivisions, and parking lots without adequate consideration of water flows.

The VDT front page today has yet another story attacking the City of Valdosta, Loan info from GEFA contradicts City: $11 million awaits disbursement, loan amounts don’t match. I can’t make much sense out of it, because while Jason Shaefer has dug up a lot of interesting information, he doesn’t include dates for much of the financial detail he attributes to GEFA. Let’s see the VDT publish the documents they are referring to. The city does publish its Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. The VDT has a website, and could publish whatever records it got from GEFA, which after all were produced using our tax dollars, and are therefore public records. Or if the documents are somewhere on GEFA’s website, the VDT could publish links to the specific documents. The VDT did publish a timeline of correspondence with the City about loans, so it could just as easily publish the GEFA documents and its own page-by-page and chart-by-chart comparison so we could all see for ourselves.

The VDT prepended this blurb to its timeline:

It has come to the attention of the Times that the Chamber of Commerce has called a special meeting on Tuesday to address what COC Pres. Myrna Ballard terms as “damage to our community’s reputation” due to the stories that have appeared in the newspaper. The invitation for the 9 a.m. meeting at the Chamber office was extended to only a select group of Chamber members, no media, and states that Mayor John Gayle and City Manager Larry Hanson will explain the city’s financial status. The Times takes very seriously the implication that the newspaper has written anything that is “inaccurate,” as stated by the Chamber. As such, the Times has chosen to show the public the information provided to the newspaper in response to questions posed to the City, with no editing, to allow citizens the opportunity to see for themselves if what the Times has written is an “inaccurate” portrayal of the city’s financial status.

What was that again?

The Times takes very seriously the implication that the newspaper has written anything that is “inaccurate,” as stated by the Chamber.

How about as stated by Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard? In a letter from him to me of 29 January 2013 Pritchard stated:

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Harris resignation letter —Gretchen Quarterman

Some thoughts on the Kay Harris resignation letter.

  1. If the library building is going to fall down, move the library to another available building like the soon to be closed federal building downtown.
  2. Has she forgotten that the newspaper brags that SPLOST is paid half by people who don't even live in the county?
  3. If Valdosta had gone ahead with the MOST then for sure county residents would have been paying for something that they wouldn't get to use. How much "shopping" is outside the Valdosta city limits? Harvey's in Bemiss, Harvey's in Hahira and the stores in Lake Park.

Certainly a SPLOST is better than a MOST.

-gretchen

Kay Harris resigned as Chair and from Library Board

Received today: PDF, with transcription appended below. -jsq

Kay Harris talking about SPLOST VII March 15, 2013

Joe Pritchard
County Manager
Lowndes County
327 N. Ashley St.
Valdosta, GA 31601

Dear Mr. Pritchard:

It is with great regret that I find the need to step down from the Lowndes County
and South Georgia Regional Library Board of Trustees. I fear that I am no longer
capable of holding this position in light of the county’s recent actions.

As you are aware,
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Circular wastewater firing squad continues

The VDT's Sunday front page was covered with wastewater stories, continuing the circular firing squad of the local powers that be. Meanwhile in Dublin, GA, they're breaking ground for solar panels at the local high school, using a bond financing model that we could use here, if local leaders would look up.

In addition to some detail about the city's FEMA application and following up on flooded yards, the VDT followed up on its EPD and EPA scrutiny story with one saying City received help from EPD to keep EPA away. It's good the VDT is covering these issues, but it's still leaving out important parts of the local water story.

Apparently firing back at Thursday's Valdosta City Council session, perhaps especially Robert Yost's very pointed criticisms of the VDT, the VDT concluded its rather rich Sunday editoral:

City leaders, please, no more of the blame game. The citizens of this community are imploring you to just accept responsibility and fix it.

Yet the VDT has spent the last week blaming the city, and has accepted no responsibility for its own role, or that of its editor, Kay Harris, in the recent loss of the SPLOST referendum that would have further funded wastewater work in Valdosta.

Now, I agree with the VDT that Continue reading →

Valdosta famous for wastewater in rivers all the way to the Gulf

The VDT had a small front page headline yesterday: “Floridians warned about river contamination”. That story was also heard in Florida, in Madison, Gainesville, and elsewhere, emphasizing something that Valdosta didn’t mention: people live downstream of Valdosta’s wastewater spill, all the way down the Withlacoochee and the Suwannee Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The story also made the AJC.

Green Publishing, Inc, which covers Madison, Lee, and Greenville, Florida, reported yesterday, ALERT: FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WARNS OF POSSIBLE WASTEWATER CONTAMINATION: GA wastewater plan overflow may impact Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers.

TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Department of Health (DOH) today issued a caution to residents in the counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. The Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant in Valdosta, GA has overflowed into the Withlacoochee River, which flows south, connecting with the Suwannee River.

Other news venues carrying the story:

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Valdosta Neighborhood Covered In Raw Sewage —WCTV

Valdosta Flooding As he indicated yesterday, Gabe Fisher got his sewage-covered neighborhood on WCTV last night.

Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV yesterday, Valdosta Neighborhood Covered In Raw Sewage,

Chad Harrison After days of torrential rain, the same rain that caused the rivers to flood, the sewage pump has been overwhelmed in the Meadow Brook Subdivison just off Gornto Road.

“You know how bad it smells in a bathroom when someone goes in and uses a public restroom. Multiple that ten times,” said Chad Harrison, a local resident.

Greg Gullberg The whole area behind their houses is just covered in raw sewage. Your boots sink down into it with every step. We’re talking everything from human waste, to toilet paper, to hygiene products and a whole other list of things that are just too graphic to mention.

“Probably about 12 to 14 inches of raw sewage,” said Harrison. “It’s just everywhere. It’s all up and down the creek. It’s all behind everybody’s houses.”

House There’s more in the WCTV story, such as that the city has included neighbors in meetings, but has not yet changed anything. The city’s PR about the flooding says:

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Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant Fully Operational

Received today. -jsq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Release #03-13-02
March 3, 2013

Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant Fully Operational

Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, March 3, the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant was brought online and returned to normal operation, after a loss of function for only three days compared to the nine days of complete loss of function experienced in the flood of 2009. Today, the river receded to the point where the temporary by-pass pumps could be connected to the existing valves. The system was turned on, became fully operational and began full treatment capabilities.

Lessons learned from the 2009 flood resulted in proactive measures which include the following:

  • The installation of bypass pumps, pipes and valves to utilize in the event of an emergency or act of God.
  • In 2009, the berm only protected the pump station, which did not prevent flooding of the chemical building, the chlorine contact building, the filters and the belt presses. The plant's electrical system was destroyed in the flooded area and the filters and belt presses were inoperable.
  • In this event, the electric system, chlorine cylinders, de-chlorination system and all flooded areas were turned off to avoid the damage that was experienced in 2009.
  • In this event, the biological, natural occurring bacteria that are used in the treatment process were saved so that the system could treat wastewater immediately when it was turned back on. In 2009, the natural occurring bacteria were washed out of the plant as a result of the continuous pumping during the event.
  • In this event, the plant was fully operational in three days. In 2009, the plant had a complete loss of function for nine days and was not fully operational for over a month.

The city's drinking water supply is in no way

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The WWTP is firing back up as we speak. —Tim Carroll

Tim Carroll’s response to Gabe Fisher. -jsq

Gabe,

I know you are frustrated and pissed. My hope was with the info below all could see the city has not just been idly sitting by. What has been so frustrating for us is that our biggest problem is outside of the city limits.

As discussed below, we are about 90% complete on the design for the big force main project. Once completed it will eliminate the sewage spills during high rain events in your neighborhood.

Just spoke with Larry Hanson and the WWTP is firing back up as we speak. Soon you should start seeing the current spills end as the system is brought fully back up and running.

Something I might add we could not have done so quickly had we not taken the steps we did these past several days.

In regards to clean up —

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