They welcomed Ross Berry, the new CEO of South Georgia Medical Center, and he spoke briefly. Last minute agenda addition: 6.f. Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant and Match Citzen Judy Havercamp spoke about the animal shelter. Citizen Shirley Garlan spoke for her neighborhood, asking to connect to county water.

They spent by far the longest time (almost 20 minutes including public participation) on the New Statenville Highway rezoning for a Dollar General, which they finally approved with conditions, including what County Planner Jason Davenport said was an unprecedented condition on lighting. For this item, see also the the LAKE videos of the preceding Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting.

Second longest at more than five minutes was 7.a. Resurfacing of FIve County Roads and Two Alternate Projects, on which Scruggs did bid, they just weren’t the low bid; see the agenda sheet document:

The Scruggs Company	Valdosta, Georgia	$2,096,115.11
H&H Paving	Quitman, Georgia	$1,826,278.56

Commissioners chose to not accept the low bid, after discussion about previous work by that company, and to award the contract to the next bidder, which was Scruggs. Rejecting the low bid has happened before, when Ashley Paulk was Chairman, five or more years ago.

Below are links to each LAKE video of the Tuesday June 13, 2017 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, with a very few notes, followed by a video playlist. See also the agenda and the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

• 1. Call to Order 2. Invocation 3. Pledge

  Video.

• Introductions and Recognititions

  Video. Ross Berry, new SGMC CEO, was introduced and spoke briefly.
  Standing up in the picture are Leadership Lowndes members attending the commission meeting.

  VDT bio of Ross Berry, The VDT also published a rare photograph of the SGMC board, in this case welcoming Ross Berry after he was sworn in.

  
  Daniel DeMersseman, The Valdosta Daily Times, The Hospital Authority of Valdosta-Lowndes County welcomed new South Georgia Medical Center CEO Ross Berry. Pictured are Chair Sam Allen, Vice Chair John W. Langdale Jr., authority members Cameron Hickman, Gregory Powell, Ben Copeland, CEO Ross Berry, and members Dr. John D. Roan and Dr. Mary Margaret Richardson.

• Recognitions (continued) – Valdosta City Councilman Alvin Payton

  Video.

• 4. Minutes for Approval

  Video. That’s Valdosta City Council member Alvin Payton raising his hand.

• 5a. REZ-2017-06 New Statenville Hwy, P-D to C-G

  Video. They had a new site plan with parking spaces moved to face the Dollar General, and with renderings of what the building would look like. Among citizen objections were that they moved to the country because it was dark, and they wanted it to stay that way, plus the Dollar General would replace gasoline available at the current occupant, causing people to go to Echols County, taking their tax revenue with them, yet traffic would increase. They let Bill Nijem speak for for more than five minutes. Kay Singletary said the main reason to accept the rezoning was that jobs would “trickle down”. Commissioners approved the rezoning unanimously with conditions.

• 6 a. Speed Zone Ordinance

  Video. Most everyone in attendance for the rezoning left after their item.

• 6 b. Annual Contract Renewal for Prison Work Details

  Video.

• 6 c. Lowndes County Board of Health New Fee Schedule

  Video.

• 6 d. FY 18 Grant Award- Accountability Court- For State Court

  Video. This item was a last minute addition to the agenda. It was described by County Clerk Paige Dukes, hidden behind her monitor. They approved it.

• 6 e. Declaration of Surplus and Authorization of Sale

  Video.

• 6f. Lowndes County Accountability Court Grant and Match

  Video.

• 7 a. Resurfacing of FIve County Roads and Two Alternate Projects

  Video. Gretchen’s notes while she was videoing:

  This was the most interesting item.
  5 contractors attended pre-bid meeting
  2 contractors bid.
  The low bid was from H&H Construction.
  Apparently the county doesn’t want to do business with them and found a myriad of excuses and rejected the low bid and instead awarding to Scruggs Company.

  One excuse was about the number of seams that would be in Loch Laurel Road. If they only wanted one seam, why didn’t they put that as a requirement in the bid?

• 9. CWTBH – Judy Havercamp – Animal Shelter

  Video.

• 9. CWTBH – Shirley Garlan – 2311 Corey Dr

  Video. This neighborhood would like to connect to county water. Many from the community were there in support.

• 10. Meeting Adjournment

  Video.

Here’s a LAKE video playlist:

Videos: Paving, animals, speed zones, prison work details, fees
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, June 13, 2017.

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