They vote today at 5:30 PM. At yeasterday morning’s Work Session, Commissioner Scottie Orenstein, the current Vice Chair, presided in the absence of the Chair. Chairman Bill Slaughter was in Atlanta on his way to D.C. The Vice Chair said what they were not going to cover until the Regular Session, which was unusual: 8.f. GEFA Loan Agreement. Also at the end he mentioned Citizens Wishing to be Heard is in the Tuesday evening meeting.

Below are links to each LAKE video, with a very few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and the notes I put in that previous post.

• 1. Call to Order 4.GFOA 5. Minutes for Approval

  Video.

• 6a. Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful Appointment

  Video. For likely appointeees Adam Floyd or Kyle Rudrow, “their documentation is in your packet”, said County Manager Joe Pritchard, but as usual the taxpaying and voting public does not get to see it.

• 7 a. Abandonment of a Portion of Morning Bird Drive

  Video.

• 8 a. Improvements to Howell Lane

  Video. The Vice Chair said “make sure our friend is here tomorrow night when we approve it.”

• 8 b. Abandonment of Old Valdosta Lakeland Road

  Video. County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the county would still need to maintain a drainage easement for water coming from Old Bemiss Road. The landowners are aware of that, and they are providing the surveys.

• 8c. FY 2017 Performance Partnership Agreement and EMPG Application

  Video.

• 8 d. E-One Low Pressure Sewage Grinder Pumps

  Video. Price is for the total.

• 8 e. Purchase of E-One Low Pressure Sewage Grinder Pumps

  Video. Still not clear to me why County Manager would get to approve some unlimited amount of money. He did try to explain it as a time-sensitive issue for “making these available to the public”. He said “the attorney is thinking on how that language would look”. The only other option he suggested was increasing the $10,000 limit, which seems like a more obvious option to me. Or appoint a subcommittee of the board to sign off on it; he didn’t mention that sort of option.

• 8 f. GEFA Loan Agreement

  Video. Seems better than floating more bonds.

• 8 g. Server Load Balancer

  Video. The Vice Chair referred to it as a “service load balancer” which isn’t incorrect, but does illustrate the general unfamiliarity of the Commissioners with network and computer technology.

• 9 a. Stafford Wright Road Grading, Drainage, Base, Paving and Water

  Video. The water main will come from Guest Road and Old Pine Road. They had seven vendors at the pre-bid meeting, but only two bids later, from Reames and from low-bidder Scruggs. Scruggs will be subbing the water and sewer services to a company whose name I did not recognize. Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker asked County Engineer Mike Fletcher how many people live on Stafford-Wright Road. The Engineer said bbetween 45 and 50 parcels. He didn’t know how many houses or people. He did say he would look it up.

  Doesn’t really matter. Water and sewer are not for them; those lines are for incoming subdivisions. Just watch for rezoning applications shortly after the road gets paved.

• 11. Meeting Adjournment

  Video. The County Manager had nothing further to report. The Vice Chair also said, first time I recall, that in the following night’s meeting they would have Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

  They adjourned at 8:43 AM, so that was about a 28 minute meeting; long for a Work Session for this bunch.

Here’s a LAKE video playlist:

Videos: KLVB appointment, Stafford Wright Road R.I.P., GEFA, pumps, and dollars
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, October 23, 2017.

-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!

Short Link: