Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission

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 →

Farm Days: Connecting Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta

Yesterday I wrote
that interactions about Valdosta Farm Days between the Lowndes Commmission
and the City of Valdosta

“could have been smoother if one or both of the parties had been proactive.”
The VDT reported that the County Commission wants to know
about Valdosta Farm Days,
and apparently there was a disconnect between the staff and the Commissioners.
Here’s how the Commission came to be informed, through interactions of citizens and staff.

First, an excerpt from the paper paper story by David Rodock,
“Farmers market proposal discussed by commission”,
Tuesday, April 12, 2011, page 3A (it’s not online):

Continue reading →

Being proactive —Gretchen Quarterman

At the

Lowndes County Commission work session
on Monday morning,
County Manager Joe Pritchard

distributed a map to the Commissioners
from the Valdosta
Main Street Manager, Amanda Peacock, detailing a proposal for
a Farmer’s Market on the sidewalk of the old County Courthouse.

proactive: serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an
expected occurrence or situation; anticipatory




Lowndes County Commission work session, 12 April 2011, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

While apparently supportive of the initiative, the process could
have

Continue reading →

Open Board Appointments

We need to

watch local boards regardless of whatever else happens.

But to ensure
local boards and agencies become more responsive to the community,
even better is to
appoint people to them who want to be more responsive to the community.
Many such appointments are available right now.

Valdosta’s list of open appointments, qualifications, etc. can be found

here.
There are 14 positions open on 8 boards,
ranging from the Parks and Recreation Authority, which has its own dedicated
tax millage larger than that of the Industrial Authority, to the Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful Board,
which has a paid executive director.
Here’s an excerpt:

Continue reading →

LCC 8:30 AM Monday 11 April & 5:30 PM Tuesday 12 April 2011

It’s a

light agenda
but you never know what will happen.
Some of those who are concerned about their community may want to attend.



Oh, look, they’ve apparently taken up
Scott Orenstein’s suggestion
and moved Citizens Wishing to be Heard to the end of the meeting!
Personally, I think that’s a fine idea as long as Commissioners stay
for that item.




LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2011, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

T-SPLOST Executive Committee —Ashley Paulk of LCC at LCDP (Part 2)



He says there’s a lot more to learn,
T-SPLOST has got a good regional executive committee,
etc., but:

Right now, I do not have a good or warm fuzzy feeling about this.
That could change.

And previously he said if it did change, he would
come back and tell us about it.

That was
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
talking at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting
about T-SPLOST.

Here’s

the video:




Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010

at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),

Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Next: Questions.

-jsq