Category Archives: Alcohol

Videos: Runner Ernie Andrus, Brookwood again, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-28



For an authority that gets 1.25 mil of your property tax dollars,
the Commissioners didn’t even know who was wanting to be reappointed,
none of them asked what happened during a year when one of them
was apparently serving on that board without a formal appointment,
not all of the Commissioners were present even voted,
and none of the candidates for any of the board appointments even shhowed up, much less spoke.
The Lowndes County Commission at its June 28th 2016 Regular Session also

unanimously adopted the budget for what the Chairman repeatedly called
“the physical year”, despite only perfunctory public hearings in advance,
and no draft budget available on their website for the public to see.
After they approved the budget to spend the money
(and according to County Manager Joe Pritchard after earlier that same morning the Tourism Authority approved their budget),
the Lowndes County Commissioners

unanimously approved a hotel/motel tax rate increase.
Odd order, eh?

About the 1.25 mil property tax

Parks and Rec Authority,
the Chairman finally got around to saying Continue reading →

Video: Brookwood Place reappears @ LCC 2016-06-27

Not on
the agenda for

Monday morning’s Work Session,
but added back for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session,
the Brookwood Place Subdivision tabled two weeks ago
popped up in

Reports.
Where is it? Who owns it? How did they get it? Who’s the developer? No, really, who’s the developer?


8. Reports – County Manager – the reappearance of Brookwood water

8. Reports - County Manager - the reappearance of Brookwood water

Video.
County Manager Joe Pritchard said he was bringing back the trust indenture for “the Brookwood Place subdivision off of Mt. Zion.”
He can’t have meant Mt. Zion Road, which is in the southwest part of the county,
not near the Valdosta City limits, Continue reading →

Videos: Brookwood reappears, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-27

County Planner Jason Davenport said at Monday morning’s Work Session that the

Comprehensive Plan Update should be a Public Hearing,


so it needs to be listed as such for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session.
I guess that is more than 24 hours notice, but did they send a notice to the newspaper?
How were people to know, and why was this left to the day before when this
schedule has been known for months to all the local planners?

Not on
the agenda,
the Brookwood Place Subdivision tabled two weeks ago
popped up in

Reports.

The county has had

a board member listed for VLPRA for a year after his term actually expired.

Plus a special Continue reading →

3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-27

Sheriff or VLPRA?
Invisible budget, visible Comp Plan Update, 1 road abandonment + apparently another,
and sewage not getting sprayed. All Monday morning 8:30 AM at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

The
LAS Pump Control Panel
is for the sewage spray field, aka Land Application Site: cost $18,500.


Lowndes County does not have a wastewater treatment plant, just

an LAS,
east of Moody Air Force Base’s Grassy Pond west of I-75 and Lake Park.

The Update for the
2016 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan
has gone through quite a process of community input, thanks to SGRC.

Can’t say the same for the
Adoption of Fiscal Year 2017 Budget,
for which the county had

a budget meeting with less than 24 hours notice,
followed by two budget hearings that those who attended say lasted fifteen
minutes each with six slides presented.
And the most recent budget document on the county’s website is from 2016.

There’s only one road abandonment listed as such on
the agenda
(a Portion of Beaver Lane),
but Continue reading →

Videos: Hambrick Road paving and traffic and Bevel Creek bridge @ LCC 2016-04-26

Thanks to County Engineer Mike Fletcher for doing almost

what Gretchen asked

at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 26 April 2016.

They rattled through
the agenda
with almost no questions, unanimously approving everything, including
the $89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs.
You’d have little idea why they were doing anything if you weren’t at the
previous morning’s Work Session or you didn’t view the

LAKE videos of the Work Session,
in which we discovered for example
it’s not

Beatty Creek Bridge, rather Bevel Creek Bridge.
Nonetheless, the County Engineer still said the creek name wrong.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos of the Regular Session of April 26th 2016, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
See also the

LAKE videos of the Work Session of April 25th 2016,
and the agenda.

They meet again this morning at 8:30 AM. Continue reading →

Videos: Emergency no-bid repairs, a bridge where, and unnecessary resurfacing @ LCC 2016-04-25


5.e. Emergency Fiber Replacement to South Lowndes
The

FY 2017 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant was a popular topic yesterday morning, and
some Commissioners showed a little bit of scepticism about that
$89,005 in

emergency no-bid

repairs
on

the agenda for yesterday morning and for voting 5:30PM this evening.

Also

$634,800 for a bridge we can’t tell where, and

some unknown fraction of
$1,663,888.78 to resurface a road that shouldn’t be used as a highway in the first place.
Who’s in charge of budget planning for the county?

At the end, there was

more from the County Manager about private road Carter Way:
they discovered another property owner (“at least one”) after they

agreed to spend $67,822 to fix a private road.

Here are links to each of the LAKE videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Emergency no-bid repairs, a bridge where, and unnecessary resurfacing @ LCC 2016-04-25

$89,005 in emergency no-bid repairs on the agenda for Monday morning and voting Tuesday evening.

Agenda Sheet
Also $634,800 for a bridge we can’t tell where, and some unknown fraction of $1,663,888.78 to resurface a road that shouldn’t be used as a highway in the first place.
Who’s in charge of budget planning for the county?

Why is replacing the fiber optic data cable that connects the South Lowndes Data Center and the E911 Center an
emergency repair for $61,020,
when apparently the problem has been going on for years?
Meanwhile, it’s good that it’s not an emergency that the 911 Center
Core Network Equipment
needs replacing for $38,621.
Planning ahead is good.
Is one of these items in the budget and the other not?

Another emergency not marked as such in the agenda is Continue reading →

Videos: Rivers and Pipeline, Rehab homes, LAMP Lease, Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-09



Gretchen

thanked them for putting most of the response to her open records request
on CDs, shortly after they had said at their recent planning session that
they wanted to promote interaction with the community.
Still nothing from the county attorney about the Sabal Trail documents, and it’s been well over three days.
I

invited them on behalf of WWALS to a workshop and a movie;
there’s more below.
See also the contested rezoning

5.d. REZ-2016-05 Union Rd Subdivision, E-A to R-A, ~114 acres
for more water issues.

Three citizens spoke explicitly about the pipeline,

Jim Parker,

Michael Noll,
and

Dr. Mario Bartoletti,
as also noted in
Jason Stewart, VDT, 11 February 2016,
Sabal protests continue.
As I noted

in another post,

I go to a lot of county commission meetings in Georgia and Florida. Nowhere but Lowndes County do I see Continue reading →

Videos: Rehab homes, LAMP Lease, Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, and paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-08

They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.



At yesterday’s Work Session, there were two unscheduled reports.

Mark Stalvey of the county Housing Authority
said they’re working together with Habitat for Humanity
to form a nonprofit for collecting funds for rehabilitating
housing, and they’re asking for $5,000 each from Valdosta and Lowndes County
to get the nonprofit up and running, in return for which each would get
to appoint some board members; the rest would be elected by the nonprofit board.

Last,

Tina Folsom with Lowndes Associated Ministries to People (LAMP)
said their executive director left,
so they don’t need their space in the Leila Ellis building.
They’d like to be let out of their lease and have the funds applied
to another county building they’re also renting space in.

See previous post for context
and
the agenda. Below are links to each LAKE video of the Work Session, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Rezonings, Alcohol, public defender, and paving Stafford Wright Road @ LCC 2016-02-08

Monday morning 8:30 AM, the Lowndes County Commission


will hear about
(they vote Tuesday evening)
four well and septic rezoning cases,
one of them

from R-10 to E-A,
and another

of 114 acres from E-A to R-A.
The usual wine, beer, and liquor licenses,
a
County Purchasing Card and Credit Card Ordinance,
a
2016 Public Defender Contract Renewal
and
Proposal from Lovell Engineering for Stafford Wright Road Paving Project.
I remember residents of that road asking years ago for it to be paved;
instead the county paved Quarterman Road.
Here’s

the agenda.
See also the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission Work Session and Regular Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →