Category Archives: Alcohol

Packet: Appointments to ZBOA, Library Board, Hunter rezoning again, alcohol, insurance @ LCC 2022-07-25

Update 2022-07-25: Videos: Seven minutes, mostly insurance @ LCC Work 2022-07-25.

Back this morning on the Lowndes County Commission agenda, after being tabled two weeks ago because of confusion over 2 or 7 acres, and over road frontage without rezoning signs, the packet pages for REZ-2022-13 Hunter Property are the same as last time, except for a better scan of the survey plat.

[Rezoning and insurance]
Rezoning and insurance

John Hogan wants to be reappointed to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) and J. Elveta Miller wants to be reappointed to the South Georgia Regional Library Board (SGRLB). There’s a beer and wine license.

And the big-dollar item is $898,852.00 to the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) for property and liability insurance.

Here is the agenda. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. See also Continue reading →

Videos: Seven minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol, plus long County Manager Reports @ LCC 2022-05-10

Two weeks ago, the six-minute Reports took almost as long as the entire rest of the Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

[Appointments and Reports]
Appointments and Reports

Clay Griner did show up to vote on an item in his district, but Scottie Orenstein did not: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was also absent. Commissioners Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker were present both at the Work Session and this Regular Session. Chairman Bill Slaughter was present.

County Manager Paige Dukes was also present, giving many Reports, assisted in a video about Griner Park at Webster and Ashley Street.

Commissioner Joyce Evans provided some amusment, Continue reading →

Videos: Five minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol @ LCC 2022-05-09

Update 2022-05-23: Regular Session Videos: Seven minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol, plus long County Manager Reports @ LCC 2022-05-10.

In the five-minute Work Session yesterday morning, the few Commissioners who showed up breezed through everything with no discussion. Commissioners Scottie Orenstein and Clay Griner were absent, even though this is in their districts: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. But of course it is expected that the Commission will approve that item this evening at 5:30 PM. County Manager Paige Dukes was also absent, in her case due to illness.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. There are no notes, because nothing happened worth commenting on. See also Continue reading →

Three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol @ LCC 2022-05-09

The Lowndes County Commission continues to pretend that accepting streets for a subdivision won’t cost taxpayers anything in future maintenance, nor previously in running water and sewer there. Back in October 2019, when the county accepted infrastructure for Phase V, County Engineer Mike Fletcher said that was “the last phase of Grove Pointe”. Yet here we are with Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Section 2.

[Beer and Streets]
Beer and Streets

Connecting Grove Pointe to Val Del Road by the Nelson Hill subdivision was planned since at least 2006, and that’s why Simpson Lane and Clyattstone Road got paved. Despite all that, today’s Grove Pointe agenda item is marked “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A”.

Also on the agenda Continue reading →

Packet: DBHDD appointment, Street Lighting, Beer and Wine, Language Access Plan @ LCC 2022-02-21

Kelley Saxon wants to be reappointed, and Carlton Richard is applying for a vacant position on the board of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD), on the agenda for this morning’s Lowndes County Commmission Work Session, to be voted on Tuesday evening.

[Maps: Decorative Lighting, beer and wine, Language Access Plan]
Maps: Decorative Lighting, beer and wine, Language Access Plan

Two subdivision developers want to add to their Basic Decorative Street Lighting Districts: that’s a special tax district for each.

Two beer and wine licenses are up for consideration, and a Language Access Plan and Resolution for Federally Funded Grants and Programs.

First, staff get a budget award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).

Here is the agenda. The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request. Continue reading →

Discussion of court grants and Loch Laurel Road project, little of property subsidy @ LCC 2022-01-24

Update 2024-10-21: The county is finally generating some income from that half a million dollar subdivision buyout. Agenda: DRC Emergency Services and VSU South Campus Purchase @ LCC 2024-10-21.

At yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session, there was no discussion by the Commissioners about 5.k. Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC, but new wrinkles did come to some small light.

County Manager Paige Dukes said “This is a follow up on the Building Valdosta purchase of property we have discussed with you several times…” In what public meeting did those discussion take place? She also said the county attorney had worked out an agreement with Building Valdosta, yet that agreement was not in the board packet. And she remarked, “Any other claims related to this will continue through, um, any process with ACCG that they may have for lost profits.” She immediately called for an Executive Session for “Client-privileged communication regarding potential or pending litigation and for the purchase of property.”

Sounds like the county got sued by a developer, or was threatened with a lawsuit, and is resolving that by bailing out the developer with half a million of our tax dollars.

How can any developer who did the slightest due diligence not know that the subject property on GA 122 east of Bemiss Road is in the Moody Activity Zone (MAZ)? If that’s not their beef, what is?

[Joyce Evans presiding]
Joyce Evans presiding, VOCA/CESF grant, Loch Laurel Road project, Property Purchase — Building Valdosta, LLC

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item with a few notes by Gretchen, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also Continue reading →

No rezonings: Moody AFB, Courts, DA, Safety, Road, Nelson Hill Lift State @ LCC 2022-01-24

Update 2022-01-24: Board packet and Why should Lowndes County spend half a million dollars to subsidize a developer? 2022-01-24

The neverending Miller Bridge Road subdivision is not in this Lowndes County Commission agenda for Monday and Tuesday. For that, see the Planning Commission agenda for January 31, 2022.

But the County Commission agenda does contain two examples of how taxpayers are subsidizing development in Lowndes Counta. The $45,742.00 for the 5.d. Nelson Hill Lift Station Pump Upgrade is “Due to growth in the area”: growth the county is actively promoting.

The $568,971.00 for 5.k. Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC is a markup of $323,971 over the price that property sold for last year, supposedly to protect Moody AFB, even though how is not said and it’s 2.4 miles away.

[Agenda, Nelson Hill Lift Station]
Agenda, Nelson Hill Lift Station

Cost What
$568,971.00 Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC
$45,742.00Nelson Hill Lift Station Pump Upgrade
$16,496.88 AT&T Switched Ethernet Circuit Continuation of Service
$631,209.88Total

Nelson Hill Sewer Lift Station

On the one hand, I commend Lowndes County Utilities for staying ahead of sewer system demand and thus preventing sewage spills. On the other hand, look at why the agenda sheet says: Continue reading →

Videos: River gauges, Lowndes County Extension Office @ LCC Work 2021-10-25

By far the longest item was the informative 7.a. Lowndes County Extension Office Presentation, at the Lownndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning.

[River Gauges, Beer and Wine, Reports, Extension Agent]
River Gauges, Beer and Wine, Reports, Extension Agent

The river gauges and the beer and wine license took not much longer than to read the agenda items.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda and board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request and on the LAKE website. Continue reading →

Folsom Bridge and Skipper Bridge USGS gauge funding, beer and wine, Extension Office Presentation @ LCC 2021-10-25

Continued funding for two river gauges is the only significant decision on a very brief agenda for the Lowndes County Commission 8:30 AM tomorrow morning, and voting 5:30 PM Tuesday Monday, that same evening. One of them used to be funded by Valdosta, which it primarily benefits, but Lowndes County picked up that one back in 2019. The other the county has been funding since 2009; it’s at the same Little River location that at its last meeting the Commission fortunately decided not to close to the public.

There’s a Monday morning Work Session presentation from the Lowndes County Extension Service Office.

The only actual decisions are on yet another beer and wine license, and on funding two USGS gauges, at Folsom Bridge on GA 122 on the Little River west of Hahira, and at Skipper Bridge on the Withlacoochee River north of Valdosta.

[Gauge cost, Little River, Withlacoochee River]
Gauge cost, Little River, Withlacoochee River

Lowndes County has been funding $14,200 for the Folsom Bridge gauge since shortly after the big flood of 2009. Note that this the same Little River site that the Commssion in its last meeting decided not to close to the public by not closing Wells Road.

Here are LAKE videos of their October 2012 Continue reading →

Code Enforcement Appreciation and new Tourism Authority Director @ LCC Regular Session 2021-09-14

At the recent Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, County Manager Paige Dukes in her Reports mentioned many then-upcoming events, two of which are still coming, and may be of public interest:

  • 2021-09-21, 4:30 PM, at Georgia Beer Co.: Meet and greet for new Executive Director, David DiSalvo, of Valdosta-Lowndes Conference Center and Tourism Authority. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-j-disalvo-9048b24
  • 2021-09-28, 6PM, in Commission Chambers: Comp Plan stakeholder meeting just after next LCC meeting, Most recent draft of Comprehensive Plan was on Commissioners’ desks; is available electronically (where?).

None of these events are on the lowndescounty.com online calendar.

[Code Enforcement, RV Sales, Reports, End time]
Code Enforcement, RV Sales, Reports, End time

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