Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

How much will we pay for a new gate? LCC meets Monday AM and Tuesday PM, 2012 January 23-24

A VLMPO appointment, a rezoning, five special lighting districts, and refunding taxes? What’s this one:
7.a. Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program and Associated Resolution
Is that for T-SPLOST? Is it about the discretionary funding? Or is it about re-applying for $12 million to widen old US 41 North? Or is it a periodic update for the MIDS bus system? If they put the agenda packets on the web with the agenda, we’d know.

Oh, and this one:

8. For Consideration – Contract with the Scruggs Company for Davidson Road Project
Maybe we’ll hear some answers to some of the questions raised by that project last time.

Here’s the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10

Discrepancy? What discrepancy?

Staff presented the agenda item “7.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads”:

Lowndes County received a $2M grant from the Federal Highway Administration for construction of a new Moody AFB entrance gate, the gate to be located located at the intersection of Davidson and Roberts Roads. $477,991 of this money has already been taken for the railroad crossing improvements, leaving a balance of $1.52 million. The low bid is from Scruggs Company, $1,648,497.05.
Wait, what? The low bid is for more than the funds available? Surely somebody will explain that?

Nope, no discussion. Instead, Commissioner Crawford Powell said:

I’ll make a motion we approve the bid as presented by staff.
Commissioner Evans seconded, and they all voted for it. Hey, what $128,497.05 discrepancy?

Here’s Part 1 of 2:


Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10 Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

If we look at the previous morning’s work session (9 January 2012), we do find a bit more information. The grant was presented as involving both the Federal Highway Administration and Homeland Security, and:

Mr. Fletcher has additional information.
Continue reading →

3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 9-10

Who is on the Tourism Authority Board, and why do they have such rapid changeover in executive directors?

The Commissioners considered Monday 9 January and made Tuesday 10 January three appointments to the Tourism Authority: Commissioner Joyce Evans (reappointment), Jerome “Andy” Anderson (reappointment), and Greg Charbeneau apparently to replace Linda Jenson (who had been appointed to fill a vacancy for ? Montgomery).

5.a. Valdosta/Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority
County Manager Joe Pritchard said at the Tuesday Regular Session that Greg Charbeneau is a Vice President at Wild Adventures. Here’s video of that session:


3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 10
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

According to Wild Adventures’ own press release of 29 July 2011 and the VDT 14 August 2011, Greg Charbeneau is also their general manager.

We learned a little more at the Monday Work Session, but not much. Here’s video:


3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 9
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

VLCCCTA’s own webpage has no indication that such a board even exists, much less Continue reading →

Videos of 10 Jan 2012 LCC Regular Session

The Tuesday 10th January 2012 Lowndes County Commission meeting was pretty brief, except for all the speakers regarding
7. Public Hearings-Abandonment of a portion of Bethany Road (CR 1271)
More about that later.

Here’s the agenda.

Here’s the playlist:

Videos of 10 Jan 2012 LCC Regular Session
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Videos of 9 Jan 2012 LCC Work Session

This was mostly an ordinary Lowndes County Commission Work Session, except for a few items, perhaps most notably this one:
9.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads
More about that later.

Here’s the agenda.

Here’s the playlist for the entire meeting:


Videos of 9 Jan 2012 LCC Work Session
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

“We’ve been chosen” —Barbara Stratton

Received Saturday on Public hearing doesn’t mean the public gets to know anything. -jsq
I’ve made these same comments before. It’s just part of the attitude that is popular with some elected & appointed officials “We’ve been chosen. Now go away & don’t ask any questions about what we are doing until it’s time to vote again.” I don’t think all the individuals share the attitude, but some do & over time it has become standard procedure. Hopefully, as more citizens pay attention & ask for more insight procedure will adjust. There is a reason for open meetings & sunshine laws & it’s not so citizens can listen to or read about decisions based on information they are not allowed to hear or observe.

-Barbara Stratton

Public hearing doesn’t mean the public gets to know anything

Jane Osborn wrote:
Requesting such a hearing before January 24 would give the opportunity to have all this information presented and for questions to be asked and answered.
Except that’s not the way it works around here. Public hearing locally means the chairman or mayor or whoever says “Who wants to speak for?” and maybe somebody speaks. And then “Who wants to speak against?” and maybe somebody speaks. It doesn’t mean that the Commission or the Council or the Authority presents anything for the public to consider.

Witness the hearing the Lowndes County Commission held in December on the documents related to the Comprehensive Plan. The only reason the public knew anything about what was in those documents was that Gretchen got them from somewhere else after the Commission refused to supply them in response to an open records request. The Commission never distributed any of the relevant documents to the public. Only one citizen spoke, perhaps because nobody else knew what to speak about.

Almost none of the local municipalities or boards or authorities routinely present to the public the information that is in the packets they see before the discuss or vote. There are rare exceptions, such as the VLMPO and other organizations or projects administered by the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). SGRC is a state agency, not a local agency. Why does Lowndes County and all its municipalities and boards avoid transparency?

Why can’t you, the public, see what’s in a rezoning request before Continue reading →

No public hearing unless someone asks for it —Jane Osborn

Received yesterday on Public transportation and public records in Lowndes County,
Another issue here is that there will be no public hearing on this issue unless someone ASKS for it. Without a hearing, it just goes forward with no other public information about being presented. Anyone may ask for a hearing, but I would especially think that there are people who really need a functional system that is not just focused on people who have access to Medicaid as a payment source due to illness or disability. Requesting such a hearing before January 24 would give the opportunity to have all this information presented and for questions to be asked and answered.

-Jane Osborn

What is MIDS, anyway?

Here’s a bit from a VDT article about MIDS, by Malynda Fulton 11 July 2009, The bus stops here: Proposed plan will not affect county buses
Lowndes County officials assure citizens who use the county’s current transit program that they will not be affected if the proposed Valdosta-Lowndes County Transit Service Plan is implemented in the area.

The current Lowndes County 5311 Transit Program falls under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Ten percent of the program is subsidized by the state and 80 percent is subsidized by federal funds. Lowndes County provides 10 percent of the cost of each bus.

Lowndes County’s 5311 Transit Program was implemented in December 2001 with only three buses. The program now includes six buses that provide transportation throughout Lowndes County.

That may make MIDS the biggest bus system in the county. VSU may have more busses. Does Moody run busses?

More about MIDS: Continue reading →

Public transportation and public records in Lowndes County

Jane Osborn asked me 6 Jan 2011:
Here are the notices about public transportation that was supposed to be done some time ago. I am trying to figure out how the county will compensate private providers for all this transportation.
Good question. I can’t answer it, but maybe I can point at some related information that might help.

She was referring to two public notices in the VDT of that same day, Exhibit 8B, which is about the MIDS service, which is one of the ones in the list in Exhibit 8A. If you call MIDS, a small van will pick you up and deliver you, all for a flat fee, if I understand it correctly. It’s the closest thing we have to a bus system around here.

It looks like MIDS comes up for renewal about every two years, according to the agendas: Continue reading →