Monday morning was the first event of the 31st annual Hahira Honeybee festival: early morning food and conversation at the Honeybee breakfast.
This was underneath the water tower, at the community center on Randall Street, where the Senior Walk is going on this morning.
Continue readingTo get a decent deal on streetlights, a small Georgia city may have to help change the Georgia Public Service Commission. Or, an energy concern in Hahira happened to coincide with a visit by PSC candidate Steve Oppenheimer.
Ralph Clendenin, City Council member, is looking into converting
Hahira's streetlights to LEDs or maybe solar.
He has discussed that with Georgia Power, which will do it for
$250,000 up front.
At a savings of $1,000 a month, that would take quite a while to pay back:
more than 20 years.
Steve Oppenheimer, running for Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), found the streetlight issue interesting:
Just like you're looking at options the city might do for better choices for lighting in terms of serving the people and meeting your budget, as Georgians we need that, too.
He indicated that there are more solutions than we're being told.
To me what's improtant are homeowners rights, and we get control over the power rates, because our residential rates and small business rates have gone up about 31% in five years.
He brought up Dublin's solar streetlights, and solar for energy and jobs. He indicated energy was a future source of jobs.
What it comes down to is people like you in this room in the small communities figuring out what pieces do we put together to make our community better for tomorrow.
Afterwards in the entranceway,
Ralph Clendenin showed Steve Oppenheimer how
he'd figured out that Georgia Power was charging about 73% maintenance
above the electricity cost of the streetlights.
Oppenheimer said there were many options.
Clendenin suggested one:
The option I see right now is, the Commission somehow, has got to change the rules on how Georgia Power… structures payments.
Oppenheimer suggested a way to get there:
We need a commission with some new leadership, with some separation from industry, that doesn't have the apparent conflicts of interest.
Ralph summed it up pithily:
Ralph Clendenin: 73% is that forever payment to Georgia Power.
Steve Oppenheimer: It's a great deal, if you're on the right end of it.
[laughter]
What say we change the end of the stick we the taxpayers are getting from the PSC?
Here's a playlist.
Work Session, Hahira City Council, Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 1 October 2012.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
-jsq
A local middle school teacher spelled out problems with the
charter school referendum: no local control over creation or operation
of the charter schools it would authorize; money siphoned off from
existing local schools; and charter schools actually perform
worse than traditional public schools anyway.
Christie Davis, a teacher at Hahira Middle School, speaking at the Lowndes County Tea Party monthly meeting Thursday, pointed out it’s not just the preamble to the referendum that’s misleading. The actual wording of the referendum is also misleading:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?
She remarked:
It sounds very good that we should say yes. It’s very misleading. And the reason why it’s misleading is totally purposeful. It says something about local communities. We already have that right in our local community, our local boards, to go ahead and implement a charter school, if we see the need. However, they put it in there so that voters that don’t really know what’s going on think they’re helping our local schools by voting yes. However, by voting yes, it will be funding a parallel state school system that we have no control over.
Here’s the video:
A parallel state school system that we have no control over. —Christie Davis
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2012.
Thanks to Diane Cox, President, Lowndes County Tea Party, for the invitation.
She also got into the financial aspects:
Continue readingIt would be easier for people to vote for SPLOST VII if they knew what they were getting. So far, that’s difficult to tell from what’s been published. Many questions remain to be answered.
We’ve already seen the WCTV story that quotes a total of $35 million for SPLOST VII. And Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT 5 August 2012, SPLOST project list released: Renewed sales tax would build library, auditorium
The county projects penny sales tax collections through SPLOST VII to total at least $150 million during a six-year period, a sum that could fund a library complex, an auditorium, the installation of a mandated public safety radio system, an array of municipal water and sewage improvements, new equipment for police officers and firefighters, and road maintenance projects.
There is not adequate funding for these projects if the SPLOST referendum does not pass, according to city and county planners.
$150 million is not $35 million. $150 million divided by six is $25 million, not $35 million.
The mystery deepens.
Continue reading
Looks like history may repeat itself like last decade,
now that LOST negotiations between the cities and the county have failed.
Except this time apparently the law has changed so they can’t sue each
other directly.
Instead next it goes to
Superior Court “baseball arbitration”.
However, I bet that still involves lawyers at taxpayer expense,
not to mention the Court’s time.
Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Tax Negotiations Hit Another Dead End In Lowndes County, and asked Gretchen down at the County Extension, who said,
It’s sort of sad because it is a waste, if you will, of taxpayer dollars. That the elected officials can’t get together and come to some agreement to say that they all understand how the money has to be divided up Yeah, it’s sad that more money has to go to lawyers insted of being spent on services.
I continue to think the local governments could spend their time together better trying to increase the size of the pie instead of squabbling over slices of it.
-jsq
It's Hahira Third Thursday tonight from 5PM to 8PM: farmers market, food, hot dogs, hamburgers, music!
Third Thursday comes again on the 20th of September.
The following Saturday, the 22nd of September, it's Motor on Main from 2-6:30 PM and Fall Dance 6:30 to 10:30 PM.
For more information, please contact:
Stacey Dershimer
Special Event Coordinator
City of Hahira
102 S. Church Street
Hahira, GA 31632
229.794.2567 office
229-560-0627 cell
downtown@hahira.ga.us
Hahira Happenings on facebook
-jsq
Do big box stores count as development? Are they worth millions in tax incentives and bond investments? Maybe we can find something better for local industry and jobs.
Rumors have been flying for years about a Bass Pro store coming to Valdosta, like this one on a Georgia Outdoor News forum:
01-22-2008, 09:05 PM, bear-229
ive heard the land has been bought. very close to the new toyota lot but it has not made it to the “new locations” on the web site
That’s on James Road, in that huge proposed development that Lowndes County approved around that time.
Scott Reeder wrote for The Atlantic 13 August 2012, Why Have So Many Cities and Towns Given Away So Much Money to Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s?,
Both Bass Pro Shops and its archrival, Cabela’s, sell hunting and fishing gear in cathedral-like stores featuring taxidermied wildlife, gigantic fresh-water aquarium exhibits and elaborate outdoor reproductions within the stores. The stores are billed as job generators by both companies when they are fishing for development dollars. But the firms’ economic benefits are minimal and costs to taxpayers are great.
An exhaustive investigation conducted by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity found that the two competing firms together have received or are promised more than $2.2 billion from American taxpayers over the past 15 years.
Where does all that money come from? Bonds, usually. Which is yet another reason why last legislature’s HB 475 to give unelected bodies bond issuing privatizing power would be a bad idea.
What does all that money go for?
Continue reading 
Here are the rest of the videos from the Hahira City Council meeting of 2 August 2012, including the very interesting scheduled agenda items in which each Council member, the City Manager, and the Mayor give their thoughts on issues relevant to the City of Hahira.
12.A. Council Ralph Clendenin 
12.A. Council Allen Cain 
12.A. Council Terry Benjamin 
12.A. Council Rose Adams 
12.B. City Manager Jonathan Sumner 
12.C. Mayor Wayne Bullard Here’s a video playlist of the entire meeting:
Regular Session, Hahira City Council (Hahira),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 August 2012.
Other city employees present included Continue reading
Here’s a video playlist of most of the Hahira City Council Regular Session of Thursday 2 August 2012. Hahira City Council (population about 2,800) spent more time in open public discussion about each of
several individual agenda items than the Lowndes County Commission (population 111,000+) typically spends on an entire “open meeting”.
They held a millage hearing and lowered the milage. They discussed developer tap fees (nay), discussed the now-ritual topic of bidding for waste disposal ( nay), and approved a GEFA loan for a new water well (yea). A surprise vote on fixing a tractor (yea) was not on the agenda.
Near the beginning they still have Citizens to Be Heard. Maybe they’re not afraid of their citizens? Citizens mostly wanted to talk about the police chief’s proposal to fine people who didn’t mow their lawns.
A few more videos will be added, probably today, (now available as
Council Comments)
of the votes on cost of living increases (yea), SPLOST VII (yea), the consent agenda (yea), and council comments at the end of the session.
The agenda is below after the videos; thanks to City Manager Jonathan Sumner for sending it. Here’s the video playlist:
-jsq
Video Playlist Hahira City Council
Regular Session, Hahira City Council (Hahira),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 August 2012.
Received yesterday on Hahira approved for water well loan by state. -jsq
It’s nice to know Hahira will get a break in interest, but tax
payers will still have to pay back the loan. I missed the council meeting which is unusual for me. Does the video show anything about the fact some council members voted not to raise the tap fees for new construction which would certainly help pay back the loan instead of depending so much on tax monies? Developers should not be allowed to come in and make huge profits from new construction, then take their profits and let the citizens pay the price for increased water demands. Raising the one time tap fees would have distributed some of the costs to the developers who enjoy the profits from increased demands on the infrastructure and water usage.
-Barbara Stratton
Yes, we have video of the entire Hahira City Council meeting, which will be posted soon. LAKE is always happy to accept help in taking or labeling videos.
-jsq