We maybe learned which road was abandoned
in the
25 February 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
5.a. Abandonment of Unopened Right of Way off of US 41 South
Video. This time County Engineer Mike Fletcher said when the county previously decided to abandon, April 24, 2012, and he said where, sort of, “known as Walker Avenue”. The county’s online tax assessor map has no such road, but it does have a Walker Road between Valencia Street and Tillman Road Continue reading
Retreating again this week, but not very far this time:
next door to the Commission chamber, tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday.
In addition to SPLOST (now that they’ve got it, they
have to determine how to spend it),
what’s this about website on
the agenda?
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
2014 Commission Retreat Agenda
Lowndes County Judicial Complex, Administrative Wing
2nd Floor, Overflow Room next to the Commission Chambers
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601
Here’s
a video playlist of the
real questions asked at the Gilchrist County Commission
where everybody could see Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy answering
about their proposed 36-inch fracked methane pipeline in a 100-foot right of way:
or not answering.
This is 1 hour and 27 minutes worth of video.
I didn’t get all of it because both camera batteries ran down
and it took a bit to find a plug.
This interrogation went on for more than two hours total.
Well done, Gilchrist County, staff, citizens, and everybody who asked questions.
Update 28 Sep 2014: A couple of notable questions:
Adapt natural gas pipeline to renewable resources? –Laura Dailey @ GCC 2014-02-20
As mentioned in this PR, Gilchrist County put this in the “Time Certain” part of their agenda:
5:00 p.m. Sabal Trail Workshop
As mentioned in
local government pipeline responsibilities,
other local governments could do this, and more.
For example,
Lowndes County, Georgia
with 114,552 population compared to 16,815 for Gilchrist County (2012 est.)
could do more.
Here’s the video playlist:
Continue reading
A
special called voting meeting
about Industrial Authority bonds.
followed the Work Session.
In the Work Session,
the last item was
the presentation
by Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer,
preceded by a
severe weather report
For Nine minutes they discussed a deficit for
special tax lighting districts throughout the county:
apparently they didn’t take into account that power rates or
lighting times might vary.
Lowndes County’s sewer lift station at a subdivision with a private golf club
apparently needs replacement.
This is the subdivision for which the
Nelson Hill Wells were drilled as possible replacements.
The abandonment
of some unspecified unopened right of way off of US 41 South
is apparently resolved now after two years.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Mostly single-family rezonings this time, plus one 15 acre
planned development request.
Here’s the agenda, supplied by an informant. This one came as a real PDF, permitted extracting the text, so that’s an improvement over last month. Too bad about that “the expense” for the county to put it on the web in the first place.
Greater Lowndes Planning CommissionContinue readingLowndes 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 AvenueMonday, February 24, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Lowndes County’s sewer lift station at a subdivision with a private golf club
apparently needs replacement.
This is the subdivision for which the
Nelson Hill Wells were drilled as possible replacements.
And an abandonment
of some unspecified unopened right of way off of US 41 South.
Plus a presentation
by Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer.
Here’s the agenda:
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Apparently it doesn’t take size
for elected commissioners to represent the people, or
to choose not to.
There’s still time for local governments
to choose to do at least those things FERC and NTSB say they should do about pipelines, especially the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission methane pipeline.
-jsq
It’s good they posted the detailed agenda item, but since when do tax-funded authorities hold public hearings in a private attorney’s office?
The Industrial Authority posted a meeting notice for their own special called meeting on their facebook page (a day in advance) and their website (at some unknown time). And the agenda does say what it was for:
For the consideration of the adoption of a bond resolution of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority authorizing and
providing for (a) the extension of the maturity date of its Economic Development Revenue Bond (Langdale Hospice House Project), Series 2006, in the original principal amount of $2,800,000, the proceeds of which were used to finance or reimburse, in whole or in part, the cost of the acquisition, construction and equipping of a hospice house and related facilities located in Lowndes County, Georgia, and operated by South Georgia Health Alliance, Inc., a Georgia nonprofit corporation, and (b) the execution of certain documents for such purpose.
That bond was previously discussed at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session of 23 October 2006: Continue reading
VDT editorial yesterday,
Violating public trust,
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens successfully fought for and implemented changes to the state’s Open Records law, believing that transparency in government is essential to the public trust. The law passed in 2012 states, “The General Assembly finds and declares that the strong public policy of this state is in favor of open government; that open government is essential to a free, open, and democratic society; and that public access to public records should be encouraged to foster confidence in government and so that the public can evaluate the expenditure of public funds and the efficient and proper functioning of its institutions.”
The VDT asked for records from the Lowndes County school system and didn’t get them. Their experience sounds quite similar to many LAKE has had with the county government in particular, with records not being provided in the statutory three days, and sometimes not even an excuse or a list of what might eventually be available.
That plus
failure to make even agendas for the Planning Commission available
in a timely fashion so citizens can see whether they need to attend
(somebody explain to me
the expense of agendas; clearly I don’t understand this
Internet suff),
and even in response to open records requests returning paper
when the documents are obviously composed in electronic formats,
agendas for County Commission meetings that are
just plain incorrect, resulting in people taking time off from work
to show up unnecessarily for a Sabal Trail pipeline item that didn’t happen,
a
public hearing that wasn’t listed as such on the agenda,
a secretive retreat “work session”,
and not
even being clear about what tax dollars for SPLOST would go for.
That’s not even all; just a sample of county government lack of
transparency.
And it’s not just the County Commission.
Look at Continue reading
The City of Valdosta press release was carried by WCTV and VDT,
and WALB interviewed Mayor John Gayle again.
Lowndes County at least managed to update its front page.
Last year
crossover day was March 7th,
when bills cross from one chamber to another.
I don’t know when it will be this year, with all the holidays
and weather closings, but probably not long after the rescheduled
Bird Supper, if not before.
LOWNDES COUNTY BIRD SUPPER—Tickets on sale now!
BIRD SUPPER RESCHEDULED – March 5
Continue reading