Category Archives: Elections

Rep. Austin Scott (R GA-08) @ VLCoC 2013-01-10




Ron Borders
introduced

Congressman Austin Scott (R GA-08) who

made some remarks
on the front porch at the Chamber of Commerce Thursday 10 January 2013.

Bookended by some formulaic remarks about debt
(without mentioning
that
it’s already mostly solved),
the Congressman noted he is on the Committee on Armed Services.
He said there is no current

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission),
although one has been asked for.
He said a BRAC wouldn’t do anything for near-term debt, anyway
(but he didn’t say anything about ending the war in Afghanistan
or stopping funding for un-needed weapons systems as ways of saving money).

He said he is the chair of a House Agriculture Subcommitee
(Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture).
He said he was for research, for the agricultural extension,
and for agricultural exports.

Here’s

the WCTV news report, with responses by Gretchen Quarterman,
Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).

Here’s

a video playlist:

Continue reading →

Videos: money and transparency @ LCC 2013-01-08



The new Commission with the new portrait got to hear about money and
transparency right away.
And a surprise alcoholic vote caused by their lack of transparency.




Crawford Powell (Dist. 3), Richard Raines (Dist. 2), Bill Slaughter (Chairman),
Joyce Evans (Dist. 1), John Page (Dist. 5), Demarcus Marshall (Dist. 4).

Here’s

the agenda,
with links to videos,
and a few notes,
followed by

a video playlist.
See also
the Monday Work Session.

Continue reading →

Make available packets Commisioners see? —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-01-08


Gretchen Quarterman thanked and congratulated Commission members
at

the 8 January 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Then she reminded them

she ran on a platform of transparency, and she
asked them to make Commission packets available to the public,
and move CWTBH to the beginning of the meeting so citizens can comment
before the commissioners vote.

Here’s

the video:


Make available packets Commisioners see? —Gretchen Quarterman

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 January 2013.

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2013-01-07

The

public defender said the county palace (that we’re still mysteriously
paying on) didn’t have space for his office.


The

Industrial Authority request to buy some still-unspecified property
“has been pulled from the agenda” by unspecified forces.
The new

4-H agent spoke and

a bus was discussed.
One Commissioner forgot to show up until late to hear

Workers’ compensation is going up and the Commission’s own

schedule is being adjusted for holidays.
There was little substantive discussion, and
there’s no sign anything will change at the Lowndes County Commission
unless enough people want it to.
They vote this evening at 5:30 PM, and they do have Citizens Wishing
to be Heard, although it is still at the end, after all the votes.

Here’s

the agenda,
with links to videos,
and a few notes.

Continue reading →

New Clayton County Commissioners fire County Manager, fund forensic audit

A few new Commissioners on a five-member board is producing significant
changes in Clayton County.
What changes will the new Lowndes County Commissioners make?

Tammy Joyner write for the AJC

Election results usher in period of change for Clayton,



The new County Commission set the tone this week by ushering in a
raft of changes aimed at creating better accountability in Clayton’s
finances while putting greater control in the hands of the new
chairman. The board removed County Manager Wade Starr, a long-time
kingmaker in Clayton politics, and will bring in a chief financial
officer to manage county finances.



The balance of power clearly has swung to newly elected
Commissioners Jeff Turner and Shana Rooks. Turner, who replaces
Eldrin Bell as chairman, and Rooks, who defeated Wole Ralph, teamed
with returning Commissioner Michael Edmondson to create a new voting
bloc on the five-member board, and they appear intent on taking
swift action.

“They hit the ground running,” said Carl Swensson,
chairman of the Clayton County Citizens Oversight Committee.
“The former power triumvirate has been absolutely shattered.
We’re going to have good people in position where they can do the
most good for this county. You’re going to find a more receptive ear
in the new structure.”

Naturally the remaining old guard took issue:

Continue reading →

New Commission meets Monday morning and Tuesday evening @ LCC 2013-01-07


Pictured: newly elected Commissioners
Page, Evans (re-elected), Slaughter, and Marshall

The Industrial Authority wants to buy some unspecified property
public defender needs renewing,
plus 4-H agent and school bus activity.
Also workers’ compensation,
and the Commission needs to approve its own schedule,
since it’s a new Commission now, with two more voting members than
last year, and a new Chairman.

Here’s

a list of the current Commission members:

  • Bill Slaughter, Chairman, At-Large
  • Joyce E. Evans, Commissioner, District 1
  • Richard Raines, Commissioner, District 2
  • Crawford Powell, Commissioner, District 3
  • Demarcus Marshall, Commissioner, District 4
  • John Page, Commissioner, District 5

Their

Commission web page
still has at the top this mission statement:

“To provide an efficient, effective and responsive local government
to all citizens of Lowndes County while maintaining the financial strength
to meet any contingency”

The county government has apparently been pretty good about that last thing
(although

that $8.9 million discrepency could make some wonder).
On responsiveness, not so much, considering

the trash non-solution railroaded through at the last meeting
of the previous Commission.
Maybe this new Commission will be different.

Here’s
the agenda.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Zero owed in 2010; why $8.9 million owed now on county palace? @ LCC 2012-12-11

If Lowndes County owed $0 (zero dollars) on the county palace in November 2010,
why are we paying on

$8,965,000 in bonds for it in December 2012?
If that palace was “100% Paid by SPLOST” in 2010,
why in 2012 is the county pledging our property tax dollars to pay those bonds?


Zero balance on the county palace?

In November 2010:


$22,380,000


Judicial Building Cost


$6,728,000


Administrative Building Cost


100%

Paid by SPLOST


$0


Balance Owed

So says a double-page flyer about “the Lowndes County Judicial &
Administrative Complex”

Flyer from November 2010
produced by the Valdosta Daily Times for Lowndes
County in 2010 and signed “Highest regards, Joe Pritchard, County Manager”.
There’s no dateline, but it invites the public to a dedication of the Complex
“on Friday, November 12, 2010.”


Preliminary Official Statement Dated November 20, 2012
from Morgan Keegan about the $8,965,000 in Refunding Revenue Bonds
(Lowndes County Judicial/Administration Complex)
Series 2012, which says this:

The Bonds are payable solely from payments to be made by Lowndes County,
Georgia (the “County”) pursuant to an Intergovernmental Contract,
dated as of December 1, 2012 (the “Contract”), between the Issuer
and the County. Under the Contract, the County has agreed to levy and
collect an annual tax on all taxable property located within the County
as may be necessary to produce in each year revenues which are sufficient
to make the payments required by the Contract.

So which is it?

Continue reading →

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-11



Moody and the Chamber won, rural residents got wasted,
and taxpayers still didn't get to see a single thing the Lowndes County Commission
voted on last night in 45 minutes (very long for them)
in front of the biggest audience I've ever seen there.

They

appointed John "Mac" McCall to ZBOA.
They revised the

alcohol ordinance with some unspecified "changes to the fee schedule",
and added another alcohol restriction to the
Lake Park rezoning
before approving it.

They approved the

solid waste ordinance and granted a waste collection monopoly to

a company from New York City
despite all known public input being against it.
Two
more people
spoke
against it
in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

Gretchen Quarterman recommended adding
all the appointed Boards and Authorities to the county's calendar.

Commissioners accepted applicant's withdrawal of

the rezoning request near Moody AFB
and tabled indefinitely the related

zoning code amendment.
They
approved rezoning for the
Naylor Dollar General.

Commission approved four Decorative Lighting Special Tax Districts (forgetting it was supposed to be a
public hearing),
and a refund for one that wasn't.

Danny Weeks got approved a new netclock
and new phones for the 911 center,
and he and his staff got an award.
The library railroad continues,
the bonds renegotation was approved with
about $2 million savings and some legal questions,
the Annex has asbestos but they'll deal with it,
and after Friday's demolition ceremony
there will be a going-away reception for Chairman Paulk,
and Bill Slaughter will be the new Chairman.

You missed all that and more at yesterday's Commission meeting.

Here's

a video playlist of the Regular Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.

Update 2014-04-09: Fixed embedded video link.


Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 December 2012.

For reference here are the

videos of
yesterday morning's Work Session.
And here is

the agenda with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →

Why did the county use bonds and not GEFA? @ LCC 2012-12-11

Regarding



the refinancing the county is bragging about to save a million dollars,
and that

they're going to vote on tonight at 5:30 PM,
a memory ping reminded me that

Hahira got a GEFA loan for $431,777 a water well this August,
at zero percent interest during construction, and then 1% during
the 20 year repayment period.
Is the county's bond deal better than that?

GEFA is the

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority,
and it's not just Hahira that has gotten water project loans
through GEFA.
According to GEFA PR of 13 May 2011,

GEFA Approves Environmental Infrastructure Projects Totaling $60.7 Million for
Seven Georgia Communities,
just this year others included
"Cobb, Cook and Newton Counties; Cusseta-Chattahoochee County; and the
cities of College Park, Ludowici and Valdosta."

The city of Valdosta was approved for a CWSRF loan of $18,500,000 to
finance phase two of the Mud Creek Water Pollution Control Plant
project, which includes increasing capacity from 3.2 million gallons
per day (GPD) to 5.7 million GPD, and additional improvements and
modifications to the facility. Valdosta will also design a new
solids treatment system. The city of Valdosta will pay 3 percent
interest on the 20-year loan for $18,500,000.

So why is the County of Lowndes having to float bonds?
And are bonds on the commercial
bond market really a better financial deal for the county?

For that matter, where's the public notice with agenda of the
4PM meeting today of the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority?

-jsq

Videos @ LCC 2012-12-10



A surprising amount of discussion at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
on ZBOA appointment, alcohol Sunday sales, rezoning next to Moody,
and more.
They said nothing about the solid waste ordinance, however;
maybe they’ll table that loser again.
They vote tonight:

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Here’s

a video playlist of the Work Session,
followed by the agenda with the videos linked into it.


Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.

Here’s

the agenda,
this time with links to the videos and some notes.

Continue reading →