Commissioners discussed several items much more than last year’s Commission
at this morning’s Work Session; they vote 5:30 PM tonight at their Regular Session.
However, you’d think with an

ankle monitoring program Commissioners praised so highly,
they’d want the public to know the details.
Nope, still none of the documents related to that nor any of the other
items they were discussing were revealed to the tax-paying public.
They don’t have a press release about that,
nor about the
Parade of Champions
the Chairman talked about
(twice)
even though it wasn’t on the agenda.
He was silent, however, on who the

candidates for the Airport Authority
are, and none of them were present.

That’s four reports that were not on the agenda:

Parade of Champions,

ankle monitoring,
the county’s wellness program
and
the upcoming Bird Supper.

Here’s

the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes, followed by the video playlist.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2^nd Floor

1. 
   Call to Order

   
   Parade of Champions.
   
   Not on the agenda,
   Chairman Slaughter talked about
   the
   
   Parade of Champions, which he said would be
   4PM 30 January 2013,
   as a joint effort between
   
   the City of Valdosta and
   the
   Lowndes County Commission,
   honoring the last three national championship teams out of Valdosta
   State University.

   That’s a huge asset to this community and
   what it adds to the TitleTown title that we have.

   Sounds great, and
   
   VSU
   and
   
   Valdosta
   have press releases about it, but the county doesn’t.
   Chairman did
   say more later in the same meeting,
   but that’s not quite the same.

2. Invocation
3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
4. 
   Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — January 7, 2013
   2. Regular Session — January 8, 2013

   
   
   Ankle Monitoring:

   See
   
   separate for this item that was not on the agenda.

5. 
   Appointment — Valdosta/Lowndes County Airport Authority

   Chairman said this was to replace former Chairman Ashley Paulk on VLCAA,
   and added:

   “You should find some information in your packet so we can make that appointment tonight”

   No names were mentioned. No candidates were present.

6. 
   
   Public Hearing — Beer Wine & Liquor License — Rascal’s — 4875 Hwy 41
7. For Consideration
   1. 
      Special Assessment Rate for 2013

      Crawford Powell:

      “Is there a reason we set it so low?”

      Stephanie Black:

      “It’s just always been set at 2% above prime. I believe it’s in your ordinance”.

      What ordinance would that be? Is it one of the
      
      dozen on the county’s website
      or is it one of the many more that are not?

   2. 
      
      Abandonment of a portion of Old State Road (CR 16)

      Phillip Connell requests that Old State Road that goes through his
      property and dead ends at the river be closed.
      See
      
      separate post.

   3. 
      Replacement of the Jail Fire Alarm System in Buildings 001 & 002
8. Reports-County Manager

   Unscheduled items:

   • 
     Employee Wellness Program

     Apparently it’s going well, and that’s good.

   • 
     Bird Supper

     We previously
     posted details
     from a Valdosta press release.

   • 
     Parade of Champions, again

     Chairman once again praised the upcoming Parade of Champions
     and asked everyone to help drum up support.
     Hm, maybe putting things like this on the agenda would attract more attention;
     maybe putting out a press release about them, too.

9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

   That’s only in the Regular Session, 5:30 PM today.

Here’s

a video playlist.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange 8:30 AM 22 January 2013.

-jsq