Author Archives: John S. Quarterman

Public Facilities Authority, Water tank, dump trucks, VOCA, VAWA, road abandonment @ LCC 2020-10-26

This morning the Lowndes County Commission will discuss
abandoning a driveway, er road, a couple of grants for legal purposes,
relining a drinking water tank for a fancy subdivision, dump trucks for Public Works,
and
reappointing Michael Walker, Crawford Powell, and Scott Purvis to the
Public Facilities Authority,
plus a vacant seat.
They will vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.

What does PFA do?

Created via Resolution 05-1130, the general purpose of the authority
is declared to be that of providing through the acquisition,
construction, installation, renovation, expansion, modification or
rehabilitation, any buildings, structure, facilities, improvements,
furnishings, fixtures, machinery, equipment and services for the
citizens in the county. Members are appointed to three year terms
and meet as needed. For more information, contact the Office of the
County Clerk, 229-671-2400, or email the County Clerk.

[Map: Road to be Abandoned]

Map: Road to be Abandoned

Cost What
$464,196.00 Bid for Four 10-Wheel Dump Trucks for the Public Works Department
$148,000.00 Stone Creek Elevated Tank Coating
$17,326.00
Solicitor-General’s Office 2021 VAWA Competitive Application
$6,000.00
Solicitor-General’s VOCA Continuation Grant
$635,522.00 Total

How the
Abandonment of Artherman Lane
can be considered not to affect the budget is mysterious,
since Public Works will no longer need to spend to maintain that driveway.

On the
Solicitor-General's VOCA Continuation Grant,
VOCA is the
Victims of Crime Act.
The $6,000 cost is health insurance premiums for the two Victim Advocates ($3,000 each).

On the
Solicitor-General's Office 2021 VAWA Competitive Application,
VAWA is the

Violence Against Women Act.
The $17,326 is for Cash Match, about $2,000 lower than last time.
Lowndes County funnels grant money for five counties,
by delegating the District Attorney (DA) to receive and distribute the funds.

Here is
the agenda.
The board packet is

on the LAKE website
due to a LAKE open records request. Continue reading →

Videos: budget and wood pellet plant at Adel City Council 2020-09-21

The wood pellet plant annexation had one vote against,
and two against the rezoning.


[Reporters, Council, Opposition, Agenda]

Reporters, Council, Opposition, Agenda

The budget, millage, and alcohol license passed unanimously.

There was little discussion and no public input.
There was a Public Hearing
two weeks before.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a very few notes, and a few more pictures. Continue reading →

Lift Station Pump, Juvenile Justice Grant, Fees for Web and Telephone Payments, 3 rezonings, 1 withdrawn, 1 lighting, beer @ LCC 2020-10-12

Here is a map of “North Central Lowndes County” which is the area the county wants most to develop with subdivisions.
It’s in the board packet materials for
Addition to Basic Decorative Street Lighting District – Coventry Villas Subdivision,
for last week’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.

[Exhibit B: Basic Decorative; North Central Lowndes County 2; Revised 9/2020]

Exhibit B: Basic Decorative; North Central Lowndes County 2; Revised 9/2020

PDF

This the first table of tax dollar amounts we’ve had add up to a positive total.

Cost What
($1,107,500.64)
2021 LMIG Resurfacing Grant Application
($99,938.00) 2020 Addressing Victimization within the Juvenile Justice System Grant Application
$42,067.69
Nelson Hill Lift Station Pump Upgrade
$5.00 Approval of Increase in Convenience Fees for Web and Telephone Payments
($1,165,370.95) Total

The real total should be both less than that (the LMIG grant has a 10% match)
and more (the $5.00 is times each telephone or online payment).

Here’s a list of what they plan to do with the
2021 LMIG Resurfacing Grant Application: Continue reading →

Appoint Tax Assessors, 3 water, 3 road, 1 pandemic, 1 software @ LCC 2020-09-21

Applying this morning for
Board of Tax Assessors
are
Mr. Gene Felts and Mrs. Gretchen Quarterman.
The Lowndes County Commission will vote tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:30 PM.
That and almost $4 million in water, road, software, and fire items.

Cost What
$1,681,770.84 Grading, Drainage, Base, and Paving of Clyattstone Road and Simpson Lane.
$1,417,333.98 Clyattstone Water Main Extension
$489,310.00 Motorola SUAII (Evergreen)
$128,075.58 Firefighter Personnel Request
$41,217.6.00 Foxborough Lift Station Pump
$34,169.28 Drainage Improvements to Brinson Lane and Oak Hill Drive
$22,500.00 FY2021 Joint Funding Agreement with USGS
$19,800.00 Land Application System (LAS) Expansion Agreement
$3,834,177.28 Total

Apparently paving does not solve all problems, because
one of the four water items is
Drainage Improvements to Brinson Lane and Oak Hill Drive
to

“eliminate flooding issues as a result of the paving of Oak Hill Drive.”.
The other three water items are
FY2021 Joint Funding Agreement with USGS for the
Folsom Bridge (GA 122 Little River & Skipper Bridge (Withlacoochee River) USGS gauges,
Foxborough Lift Station Pump,
and
Land Application System (LAS) Expansion Agreement.

In addition to Brinson Lane, there are two more road items:
Grading, Drainage, Base, and Paving of Clyattstone Road and Simpson Lane (how much have they spent on that project combined so far?) and
Acceptance of Infrastructure for Val Del Villas.
The latter is listed as no cost, despite the Brinson Lane episode.

[Survey Plat]

Survey Plat

Also on the agenda:
Grant Submission Request – COVID-19 Response Grant Application, partly to
“Recruit and hire a sufficient number of poll workers and inspectors to ensure polling places are properly staffed,”
,
a
Firefighter Personnel Request,
and
Motorola SUAll (Evergreen) software.

Received in response to a LAKE open records request, the board packet is
on the LAKE website.
Here is

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2020, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Budget and wood pellet farm –Adel City Council 2020-09-08

Adel staff answered extensive questions about the budget,
in the Adel City Council meeting, Tuesday, August 8, 2020.
The

proposed wood pellet plant for export to Europe was criticised by several local citizens,
and defended by members of local authorities and commissions,
as well as its CEO, speaking from Houston, Texas, on a laptop screen.


Budget & Wood Pellet Plant @ Adel City Council 2020-09-08

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item and each speaker,
with a few notes.
See also Continue reading →

Update: rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-08

Here are the answers to these questions from Saturday:

  1. Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret?
  2. Why does the agenda sheet for
    REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd.,
    next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River,
    make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the
    number of expected attendees at the planned event facility?

[Proposed interior sketch]

Proposed interior sketch

  1. TWR 2020-02 is by Diamond Communications and AT&T.
  2. REZ-2020-11: the Department of Public Health determines septic system sizes.
    That Department won’t issue a septic system permit until they are satisfied.

These answers came from JD Dillard, Lowndes County Planning and Zoning Director.
I called him yesterday before the Regular Session Tuesday,
and he called back with the answers.

How does the Department of Health determine septic system sizes?
Partly by Continue reading →

Reappointment to GLPC, three rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-07

Update 2020-09-09:
Update: rezonings w. Tiger Creek, whose communications tower? @ LCC 2020-09-08

Why is the owner of the planned 300-foot communications tower off US 84 a secret?
The Lowndes County Commission will deliberate on that rezoning and three more
Monday morning at 8:30 AM and vote on it Tuesday at 5:30 PM,
after these rezonings were heard Monday at the Planning Commission.

Why does the agenda sheet for
REZ-2020-11 Bella Mill Plantation, 8450 Ousley Rd.,
next to Tiger Creek and a short distance upstream from the Withlacoochee River,
make no mention of sewage or the size of the septic system relative to the
number of expected attendees at the planned event facility?
Why is there no mention of any speakers against this rezoning, even though
there was at least one at the Planning Commission?

[Conceptual Plan]

Conceptual Plan

PDF

In addition to two other rezonings, the County Commission will most likely

reappoint Tommy Willis to the Planning Commission.

Here is the
agenda.
The entire board packet for Monday and Tuesday
is
on the LAKE website,
along with the minutes for the previous meetings two weeks ago,
in response to a LAKE open records request.
Thanks to new County Clerk Belinda Lovern and Sabrina Denson for speedy responses to such requests.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order Continue reading →

Event facility on Tiger Creek, mystery communications tower @ GLPC 2020-08-31

Update 2020-09-05:
Added to the LAKE website the files on late arrival Southern Tractor.

Lowndes County and Valdosta will hear several rezoning cases this week
that were before the Planning Commission Monday.
The County has
a

a family children partition case,
an

event center for weddings and such next to Tiger Creek,
for which staff recommends four conditions,
a

43.8 acre rezoning for Southern Tractor & Outdoors Valdosta Facility,
and a

300′ communications tower for an unnamed company.

[Tiger Creek and Parcel 0017 096, Tax Assessors Map]

Tiger Creek and Parcel 0017 096, Tax Assessors Map

The GLPC board packet materials for the Lowndes County cases are
on the LAKE website,
thanks to new Lowndes County Clerk Belinda Lovern,
in response to an open records request from LAKE.

The Lake Park and Hahira cases were already heard this week by their Councils and Mayors.

Here is the

agenda.
I’ve interpolated the WRPDO Site Map where I’ve got it
(the county didn’t send anything for REZ-2020-12),
and a Tax Assessors’ map otherwise. Continue reading →

Education, Extension, Prisoners, Fire, Water, Sewer, Nelson Hill, Wages, Taxes, Clerk @ LCC 2020-08-24

A busy
agenda for 8:30 AM Monday morning, with voting 5:30 PM Tuesday,
includes
especially taxes, and

alcohol,

sewer,
twice,

education,

extension agents,

Prison Work Details,
and
Architectural Services for Lowndes County Fire Station #5 – Bemiss Road Fire Station Alterations and Additions.

[Aerial Map]

Aerial Map for Uncle Carlo’s Italian Ristorante, 1024 Lakes Blvd., Lake Park, GA.

Plus appointment of a new
County Clerk, Belinda Lovern,
and Deputy Clerk, Sabrina Denson.
No posting of the positions is mentioned.

Cost What
$147,954.00 Annual Contract Renewal, Georgia Department of Corrections – Prison Work Details
$141,841.00 Contract for Extension Agents and Staff
$110,000.00 Peterson Road Lift Station Emergency Repair
$44,400.00 Architectural Services for Lowndes County Fire Station #5 – Bemiss Road Fire Station Alterations and Additions
$41,840.00 Nelson Hill Discharge Manhole
$5,699.35 Tax Commissioners’ Back Wage Settlement with Department of Labor
$-32,000.00 USDA Building Lease Amendment No. 4
$459,734.35 Total

The Lowndes County Commission is

Repealing Approvals Authorizing the Tax Commissioner to Waive Penalties and Interest,
apparently because of a
Tax Commissioners' Back Wage Settlement with Department of Labor.

After last year’s vote of the people to ask the Georgia legislature to make
the Tax Assessors appointed, not elected, the legislature did that.
Now the County Commission is
setting
the number of Assessors at three, with initial staggered
terms of 3, 4, and 5 years, and after that 3 years for each.

This is after two weeks ago the Lowndes County Commission

rolled back the tax millage rate slightly.

Here is the agenda.
The entire board packet, together with the Minutes of the meetings of two weeks ago (Work Session, Millage Hearing, and Regular Session) is on LAKE website.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Maybe revisit lowering millage rate @ LCC 2020-08-10

There was pushback on

lowering the millage rate at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning.
They will decide this evening at 5:30 PM at the Regular Session.

The Commissioners, like some of the public, also wanted to know when there will be a new County Clerk.
Answer, from the former County Clerk, Paige Dukes, who is now the County Manager:
not yet; maybe next meeting (two weeks from now).

The $0.9 million low bid from Reames for road paving and a box culvert got no discussion from Commissioners.

The

Scruggs Company was offered a special exception to the Comprehensive Plan;
one that actually makes sense.

Yes, the
Copeland property
backs up to PCA.

The

Verizon tower got no questions from Commissioners.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the

agenda and board packet,
and the
millage rate hearing at 5PM today (Tuesday).