Author Archives: John S. Quarterman

2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success –Tim Carroll

Received today. -jsq

All,

I want to share some good news from our recent Mayor Council public hearing —

The 2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success. This program, now in its’ 8th year brought 212 young “campers” from around the country into our community.

They made badly needed repairs to 18 owner occupied homes. This brings the total number of homes repaired to 275. Lowes RDC once again stepped up and provided all the materials for which we are truly grateful.

The value of the labor and materials now is in excess of $1.5M. I also want to say thank you to the Valdosta City School system for once again opening up Valdosta Middle to house the campers during their stay.

The joy I witnessed in these home owners faces was especially touching. The hard work of Continue reading →

Directors and Officers Insurance: ACCG IRMA for Lowndes County

With almost $22 million in liability coverage, why do Lowndes County Commissioners and staff express such apprehension about lawsuits? This is what Lowndes County returned in response to an open records request for its contract for Directors and Officers insurance: paperwork about its ACCG IRMA subscription. IRMA is Interlocal Risk Management Agency, and ACCG is Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

ACCG IRMA as D&O Insurance for Lowndes County
[Open Records Request]
Open Records Request 		[Summary of Insurance]
Summary of Insurance 		[Contribution Breakdown]
Contribution Breakdown 		[Contributions by Coverage]
Contributions by Coverage 		[Renewal Contribution Worksheet]
Renewal Contribution Worksheet

Copies of these documents are on the LAKE website.

-jsq

Local hospital opens 1950s-style diesel power plant

And still not a single solar panel at South Georgia Medical Center. Yes, I know that won’t work for emergency power during the night, but it would do fine for peak load during the afternoon. Plus, did anybody see a request for bids for that new power plant?

Valdosta Electric always parked across the street from SGMC; google streetview Eames Yates posted SGMC PR for WCTV Friday 19 July 2013 verbatim including the title, plus a smoking smokestack image, State-Of-The-Art Power Plant Opens At SGMC, while WALB posted a slightly shortened version, S. GA Medical boasts brand new power plant. Here’s the SGMC PR; I’ve added a few links: Continue reading →

Ginna nuke down near Rochester, NY

We still don’t know what tripped the control rods on Constellation Energy’s Ginna nuclear reactor on the shores of Lake Ontario near Rochester, NY on Wednesday; the nuke remains down.

Ginna nuke down since 25 July 2013 Staff reports for Democrat and Chronicle.com yesterday, No estimate on when Ginna nuclear plant will be back online,

The Ginna nuclear power plant in Wayne County remained shut down Friday afternoon, 48 hours after it went off line unexpectedly due to a generator problem.

No estimate was available of when the plant would go back into service, said Maria Hudson, spokeswoman for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, the plant’s Baltimore-based owner.

“We’re continuing with our repairs,” she said.

The 581-megawatt plant on the Lake Ontario shoreline, the largest in the Rochester area, ceased producing electricity Wednesday afternoon when Continue reading →

Flooding again at Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant

Third major spill this year, after March by Valdosta and April by Lowndes County. Or did I forget some? Lookout, Florida!

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV today, Nearly Eight Million Gallons Of Raw Sewage… Straight Into Area River,

Almost eight million gallons of raw sewage flooded here at the plant and made it’s way directly into the Withlacoochee River. Which is about a half mile away. Which makes the city’s plans to relocate this plant all the more relevant.

Since the beginning of this year more than Continue reading →

Planning Commission considers huge subdivision near Moody AFB @ GLPC 2013-07-29

Remember last year when the Chamber helped mobilize opposition to a subdivision outside Moody’s front gate and won? Well, here’s another, and it’s not 23.49 acres this time, it’s 123.45 acres even closer to the runways, and from MAZ-I to P-D. Plus a proposed 64.92 acre development on (apparently 4958) Val Del Road for “Moody Family”. That’s always the excuse, isn’t it? More houses for Moody, nevermind whether Moody wants or needs them. With all the vacant houses already in the county, we don’t need them.

Here’s the agenda:

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission


Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue
Tuesday, July 29, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Continue reading →

Landfill PCB violation

What hazardous waste was accepted at Veolia’s Pecan Row Landfill that got a $27,500 fine from GA EPD this January? Veolia is ADS now, the same company to which Lowndes County granted an exclusive franchise for waste pickup. We already knew that landfill accepts coal ash from TVA. What else is in there, seeping into our drinking water aquifer, and with runoff going into the Withlacoochee River?

According to GA EPD,

Under authority of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act :
Facility: Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill/Valdosta; order issued to Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill, LLC
Location: Lowndes County
Order Number: EPD-SW-2564
Date of Issue: January 30,2013
Cause of Order: Violations of Rules for Solid Waste Management/regulated hazardous waste acceptance; failure to properly conduct inspections
Requirement(s) of Order: Implement plan to prevent acceptance of regulated quantities of HW and PCB wastes at facility; ensure all employees handling waste recognize/identify labeled HW and PCB wastes at facility
Settlement Amount: $27500.00

According to U.S. EPA, Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB): Continue reading →

SPLOST VII slides on county website @ LCC 2013-07-22

The slides for the SPLOST VII presentation have appeared on the county’s website; here’s a link, with the text from that website. Videos are to come from last night’s Regular Session SPLOST VII Presentation. Meanwhile you can see video from Monday morning’s Work Session, in which they actually said more. Nothing seems to be in the VDT about this today, which is odd, since I’m pretty sure that’s the VDT reporter in the left foreground of this picture from last night. -jsq

What is Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)?

As of July 1, 1985, Georgia law enabled local governments to collect SPLOST proceeds for capital improvement projects that would otherwise be paid for with General Fund or property tax dollars. SPLOST stands for Continue reading →

Langdale Co. and Atlanta Gas Light: first public CNG station

Talked about for a while, now it’s happened: a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station; first one in Georgia, apparently. I’m used to natural gas pipelines (the AGL pipeline pictured runs through my property). Unfortunately, natural gas increasingly comes from fracking. How about an electric car charging station? -jsq

PR from AGL yesterday, Atlanta Gas Light teams up with The Langdale Company to open first public CNG station under the AGL CNG Program,

Warning High Pressure Natural Gas ATLANTA—July 23, 2013—The first compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station developed under the Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) CNG Program is now open in Valdosta, GA. Approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) in 2012, the program is designed to expand public access to the CNG fueling infrastructure throughout the state and enhance Georgia’s role in the emerging CNG market in the southeastern U.S.

Built and maintained by Langdale Fuel, an affiliate of The Langdale Company, the new station is the first of five CNG stations awarded contracts to go into service under the AGL CNG Program. The station will offer public access to CNG fuel for transportation vehicles, adding two fueling islands to the company’s existing service station located at 1628 James P. Rogers Drive.

“Our goal in creating the AGL CNG Program was Continue reading →

Idelle Dear thanks Commission for library funding improvements @ LCC 2013-07-2223

Idelle Dear handed the Commission a thank-you card on behalf of library users for providing additional funding that reduced furlough days. She tried to speak at the meeting two weeks ago, but the Chairman stopped her then on a technicality.

Ms. Dear reminded the Commission that she did speak to them at the beginning of the year, and she appreciated the card she got from the Chairman after that. She appreciated even more that the number of furlough days had been reduced, since, as she explained again this time, people use the library for everything from job hunting to course assignments.

Idelle Dear begins Idelle Dear Card

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →