Some interesting questions have come up in
Gabe Fisher's continuing correspondence with the City of Valdosta
about

sewage in his back yard
and

under his house,
while

City Council Tim Carroll continues to respond,
both copying a long list of people.

From: Gabe Fisher

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:23:12 -0500

All, I appreciate the update on where the city stands on moving the
sewer all together—I just wish we had been kept informed of
the plans over the last 4 years. Living with the *real* threat of
flooding is stressful enough, add in the guaranteed associated
sewage spill is more than I can handle.

I also appreciate the city workers spreading lime and working on the
sewer line behind my house today. But I have questions—What
about the sewage in my yard and under my house? Is this my
responsibility?

Thanks, Gabe

Tim Carroll responded with a couple of suggestions:

From: Tim Carroll

Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:16:34 +0000

Gabe,

In case you have not already done so…..go into the city website
and sign up for the city newsletter. It will give you frequent
updates on what is going on.

I am assuming with your email that you are not aware of the KVLB
clean-up effort scheduled for this Saturday on Meadowbrook. Anyone
interested in volunteering please check it out.

In regards to sanitation picking up piles of debris- they are
coming. We only have so many crews and they still have to cover the
regular routes.

Let me also take this opportunity to update all on recent
developments-

The city has learned of FEMA funds being made available for
watershed studies. Mr. Hanson and his team submitted a
comprehensive request on this via the Army Corp of Eng for a
drainage basin study yesterday.

Much of the information is from our application and appeal back in
2009, but now includes data from our most recent flood event.

I will be presenting this information to WWALS tomorrow evening in
Adel to solicit their support. WWALS is a river advocacy group
concentrating on rivers located within our watershed.

The county and city have reached an agreement on holding another
SPLOST referendum in November. The WWTP was the largest item on the
list from last year, but with the denial from FEMA this past
August- we now know all funding will have to come from SPLOST.
Consequently it will leave only enough funds to address other
infrastructure needs but no quality of life projects such as parks
or auditoriums. Both the city and county will finalize up the
details of the list soon and begin making it available for public
comment and input. I have heard from several citizens regarding the
project list already.

Sincerely,

Councilman Tim Carroll Valdosta City Council, District 5 tcarroll@valdostacity.com

City Of Valdosta P.O. Box 1125 216 E. Central Ave. Valdosta, GA 31603 www.valdostacity.com Valdosta…A City Without Limits

That cleanup sounds like a fine idea, however
KLVB doesn't list it in its

upcoming events
nor in its

calendar.
There is a KLVB board meeting coming up
18 March 2013; maybe somebody could suggest they update their online
information.
The City of Valdosta does not have this event in its

calendar,
but it did post this event today
under Top Stories,

Post Flood Cleanup, Saturday, March 16,

VOUNTEERS NEEDED for Post-Flood Neighborhood Cleanup

Click here to download flyer

KLVB seems to have slightly adapted a flyer for their April
Great American Cleanup event, but this March event starts at
2410 Meadowbrook Dr., a few doors from Gabe Fisher's house.
Follow

the link
for details.

And Gabe Fisher has another question:

From: Gabe Fisher

Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:58:35 -0400

All,

Gabe Fisher, 2420 Meadowbrook again.. It has been 11 days since the
water receded and the huge pile of sewage infested debris we raked
up and pulled to the street is still in my front yard! When can I
expect the city to come pick this up? Why wasn't this high
priority?? And why am I having to reach out to the city about this?
Why haven't you reached out to me?

Gabe

I think that's a very good question.
Why do citizens of Valdosta or Lowndes County or other local cities
have to keep nagging their local governments just to find out what's
going on?
Why does a city council member have to get involved in single cases
like this to get information to citizens?
What if our local governments deployed issue tracking systems?
See

next post.

-jsq