Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

I’m all for openness —Tom Call

The member who hardly ever speaks at board meetings makes a strong case for openness.

Tom Call called me back about the biomass plant, and we talked about a number of other matters. He remarked that he was not an appointed spokesperson for the Industrial Authority, so this is just him talking.

I asked him about Ashley Paulk’s remarks in the 26 April 2011 Lowndes County Commission meeting. Tom Call said VLCIA was not standing behind any other body, and he clarified what had happened.

He said the biomass plant had been brought to the Industrial Authority by Continue reading →

Who’s for What at the VLCIA

I don’t like to publish hearsay, but since the Industrial Authority won’t talk, that’s what I’ve got. According to Leigh Touchton, Ashley Paulk told her Tuesday night:
He said that Jerry Jennett took the biomass vote off the agenda at last Industrial Authority meeting (April 19) even though Mary Gooding and Roy Copeland wanted the vote to be taken ( a vote that was to oppose an extension of the biomass contract since the biomass incinerator had not met timeline benchmarks like having a buyer, etc). He said that Allan Ricketts, Industrial Authority attorney Steve Gupton, and Jerry Jennett went up to Atlanta to meet with Wiregrass officials and that’s when he (Chairman Paulk) got a call telling him all this and he said he wouldn’t keep quiet about it. He said the three men asked Wiregrass LLC officials to rescind their letter asking VLCIA for an extension on their contract and to substitute a new letter saying they were withdrawing their request for extension (or not going forward to ask for extension).
This is in addition to what you can see him on video saying during the meeting. More after this picture of the cast of characters: Continue reading →

Tornado Warning in Lowndes County right now

The National Weather Service map right now shows a tornado warning for part of Lowndes County:

This is at least the second time this month; here another tornado warning for Lowndes County, from 5 April 2011: Continue reading →

Move on, find other avenues, other projects —Ashley Paulk

Ashley Paulk agrees with my mother about what the Industrial Authority should do.

At the Lowndes County Commission meeting last night, Chairman Paulk discussed the biomass plant with Dr. Noll, and said:

Certain people won’t share it with you, and I don’t think it’s fair.

We were approached … almost three weeks ago by the Industrial Authority and we were asked to … ask them not to extend the contract. Well, it’s not our contract; we could do that, but … we didn’t.

And then last week the Tuesday of their meeting, I received a call … on my way back fromm Atlanta and they had gone up there to talk to Wiregrass Power, because they’d written a letter asking for an extension.

My understanding was that they asked Wiregrass to write another letter to remove that extension request.

These are things, I think should be public knowledge.

There’s more in the video.


Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 April 2011
Video by Alex Rowell for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

He told me several weeks ago about the commission being asked to vote not to extend. Continue reading →

How much does it cost to pave a county road?

How much does it cost to pave 3.5 miles of dirt road? Apparently $1,413,097.92, or around a million dollars a mile, when the county insists on paving it like a state highway at the expense of safety:

How MuchTo WhomFromFor What
$7,200.00Lovell Engineering AssociatesValdostaDesign of Culvert
$48,010.00 Doyle Hancock & Sons Construc.Doerun Clearing and Grubbing
$1,357,887.92 The Scruggs CompanyValdosta Paving
$1,413,097.92 All contractors Total

This financial information comes from an open records request filed by Carolyn Selby more than a year ago and finally fulfilled 17 March 2011. Copies of all the pages received are in the flickr set.

How many other roads could have been paved for $1.4 million? If this road had been paved like a local rural road, instead of like a state highway (literally according to state highway standards) it would not have cost nearly as much and probably another shorter road could have been paved, too. And if other roads were paved like local roads instead of state highways, how many more of them could be paved? They still wait while this one got paved to the tune of $1.4 million.

-jsq

LCC 5:30 PM Tuesday 26 April 2011

Even a light agenda includes a water item.

It’s a very light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission; so light the work session was cancelled. However, the regular session is scheduled as usual for Tuesday evening.

They’ve moved Citizens Wishing to be Heard back to the middle of the meeting. Historically, it’s been here and it’s been there in different places in the agenda. I still think at the end is a fine place for it, since then more people may stay for the entire meeting. I posted my other thoughts on CWTBH back when they changed to their current policy on that.

Groundwater sampling near a landfill is an item. The same item was on the agenda last time, but didn’t get resolved. Water is an issue throughout the region.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION CANCELLED
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

May 7: Downtown Valdosta Farm Days

Downtown Valdosta Farm Days begin two weeks from tomorrow:
Bringing the best of the country to the heart of the City!

Downtown Valdosta Farm Days is a bi-weekly farmers’ market featuring local farmers and artisans and also serves to educate the community about eating local, nutrition and food choices.

Downtown Farmers Market
First and Third Saturdays from May to September
9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
Lowndes County Courthouse Square, Downtown Valdosta

There’s a calendar on their website, along with how to become a vendor. And everybody is purring now. Agriculture, economy, and a festival! And, it costs the county nothing.

More on this story as it develops.

-jsq

How much does the owl weigh?

One of LAKE’s intrepid investigative teams managed to get an appointment to visit the Lowndes County Courthouse Owl. John S. Quarterman answers the question: how much does the owl weigh? Here’s the video.


Visiting the Lowndes County Courthouse Owl, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 April 2011. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Valdosta Downtown Farm Days —Mara Register

Mara Register came to the Lowndes County Commission regular meeting to talk about Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, following up from the Farm Days organizational meeting Monday.

I think her main points were:

  1. Provide additional information about healthy eating with food from local farmers, thus helping solve the epidemic of childhood obesity in Georgia.
  2. Economic development opportunity for small farmers.
  3. Promote downtown district.
When? The Saturday after First Friday and the Saturday after Art After Dark.

Where? The parking spaces around the historic courthouse.

No livestock. Local produce. Here’s video of the first part of what she said.


Regular Meeting, Lowndes County Commission, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 April 2011
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Logistics, such as no cooking, because Continue reading →

VLCIA charging for access to agendas and minutes

How much should it cost for a citizen to get access to agendas and minutes of a tax-funded board? How does about $2 per meeting strike you?

Bobbi Anne Hancock filed an open records request for the agendas and minutes of all regularly scheduled and called meetings of the VLCIA letter asking $125.09 for copies of agendas and minutes of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) from 2006 to the present, and got this letter back:

So at 12 meetings per year for five years plus another 3 months, that would be about 63 meetings, divided into $125.09 gets about $1.99 per meeting.

Is this normal practice? Let’s compare. Continue reading →