Compliments to Mayor Fretti for saying we will competitively expand the Wiregrass Solar plant!

Responding to
George Rhynes’ point,
I said that while I had recommended moving Citizens to be Heard to the
end of the agenda, it never occured to me that it might get moved


after Council Comments, which did lead to an impression that Council
did not want to hear and did not plan to respond.
I noted that if Council videoed its own proceedings and put them on the web,
that would help make the problem moot.
I’m thinking videos distributed by the City Council itself would probably


get
more citizens viewing them than ones distributed by bloggers like me and
George and by LAKE.

My main point was that, even though Brad Lofton and Col. Ricketts apparently
never told Mayor Fretti, there was a larger solar array in

Dalton, Georgia
before the Wiregrass Solar plant was built, and there’s an even larger one
now in

Blairsville.
So,


as I already mentioned to the VLCIA board, it’s time to take up
Mayor Fretti’s claim of competitiveness and



come back and expand
the Wiregrass Solar array.



Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet knows how and


Pete Marte of Hannah Solar
stands ready to add another megawatt.
as phase 2.

Chairman Sonny Murphy of Sterling Planet refers to that expansion
as phase 2.
So, Mayor Fretti and Commissioner Powell, over to you!

Mayor Fretti usually interacts
a bit when I speak there, but this time he did not look up
once except to check the timer. Maybe he didn’t like me
calling them the

Council of Hamlets
in my post earlier that same day.
When the only three citizens who stand up to be heard all ask for
more transparency, I’m thinking the council has maybe not done
enough to dispel the Hamlet monicker.

Here’s

the video:

When will the Wiregrass Solar plant be expanded? —John S. Quarterman

Regular Meeting, Valdosta City Council (VCC),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2011.

Videos by George B. Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq