Category Archives: Military

Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28

Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work 2026-07-27

Update 2026-08-08:
Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Regular 2026-07-28.

Update 2026-07-28:
Links to three documents cited in the draft Comprehensive Plan.

Update 2026-07-28:
Datacenter meeting after Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2026-07-28.

The draft 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update has appeared on the county’s own website, lowndescounty.com.
See below for how that happened.

Below are LAKE videos of the Monday morning Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, July 27, 2026, with some notes by John S. Quarterman.
They vote at 5:30 PM this evening, Tuesday, in their Regular Session.

Don’t forget the
second page of the agenda says,
“There will be an information sharing session to address data center ordinance considerations following the adjournment of the regular meeting.”http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/2026/07/datacenter-meeting-after-lowndes-county-commission-regular-session-2026-07-28.html”>separate post.
More on that in a

Comprehensive Plan Update, Appts to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work Session 2026-07-27

Monday morning I was experimenting with an external microphone, which does seem to work better,
although with quite a bit of hiss.

See also the agenda and the board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

Comprehensive Plan

After the meeting, I mentioned to County Planner JD Dillard and County Attorney
G. Walter Elliott that the draft Comprehensive Plan Update is not on the county website, so how can citizens know what to say in the

Public Hearing 6.a. 2026 Comprehensive Plan Transmittal? Continue reading →

Packet: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC 2026-07-27

Update 2026-07-28:
Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update, Appointments to VLPRA and Library Board, Road Resurfacing and Widening @ LCC Work 2026-07-27.

According to page 2 of the agenda, “There will be an information sharing session to address data center ordinance
considerations following the adjournment of the regular meeting.”
That’s the 5:30 PM, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, on the second floor of 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA.

The draft Comprehensive Plan Update recommends under Intergovernmental Coordination Needs, “Strengthen transparency and communication between officials,
staff, and the public”

And under Opportunities & Existing Resources, “Most of the local governments already use their websites and
social media platforms to disseminate critical information and
educational content.”

What draft Comprehensive Plan Update?
The 300-page draft in the board packet for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.

The draft that is nowhere on lowndescounty.com that I can find.
So you get to see it only because LAKE got it via an open records request.

The irony.

Collage, Packet @ LCC 2026-07-28

It’s amusing that LAKE is not mentioned in that draft, but multiple LAKE images are used, at least one of them credited in the image itself.

After their Monday morning Work Session, at their Tuesday Evening voting Regular Session,
the Lowndes County Commission will reappoint Suzan Garnett to the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA)
and will appoint to replace
Timothy McCoppin one of these candidates: Mr. Brent Moore, Mr. Herb Reinhard, Mr. Timothy McCoppin, and Mr. Broc McDowell.

Recently they appointed William Booth to the Lowndes County Library System Board of Trustees, but since discovered he does not live in Lowndes County.
Debra Carruth and Sarah FitzGerald are candidates.

The two usual suspects bid for $5,039,798.50 widening of Hickory Grove Road and Skipper Bridge Road, and Scruggs bid below Reames.

Getting into real money, Resurfacing Batch 1 P.I. # 0020532
will include resurfacing 36 county roads, with a budget of $13,134,000.00.

These road projects are apparently all to be paid for by funds from the
Georgia Transportation Investment Act (TIA).

Here is the
agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: A controversial and an easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, and Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC Regular 2025-09-09

They unanimously denied the controversial rezoning,

5.a. REZ-2024-06 Budd Horace Ave, 1735 Madison Hwy, ~3.0ac, CON – C-H.
The Lowndes County Commissioners approved the other rezoning, and everythig else,
at their Regular Session, Tuesday, September 9, 2025.

In
8. Reports – County Manager,
County Attorney Walter Elliott said the county is required by state law
to initiate the Service Delivery Strategies (SDS) process.
If I heard him correctly, they already did back in April.
We already knew the county intends to stick with the current SDS.

Collage @ LCC 9 September 2025

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Videos: A controversial and an easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, and Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC 2025-09-08

Update 2025-09-12:
Videos: A controversial and an easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, and Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC Regular 2025-09-09.

The Lowndes County Commissioners were quite chatty at their Work Session yesterday morning,
which took more than 35 minutes; very unusual for them.
They vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

Yesterday, they
discussed the controversial rezoning for a suprisingly long time, almost 17 minutes:

5.a. REZ-2024-06 Budd Horace Ave, 1735 Madison Hwy, ~3.0ac, CON – C-H.
Nobody seemed to be defending it.
The Chairman did suggest maybe tabling it.

The other rezoning breezed by,

5.b. REZ-2025-14 Dinkins, 6533 Lake Alapaha Blvd, 1.0ac, C-C to R-21.

Also they spent more than 12 minutes on

6.a. Pet Shop Ordinance
and more than 4 minutes on

7.a. Moody Water Storage Tank Rehab.
It’s an underground concrete tank, and apparently those have to be lined these days.

Collage @ LCC 8 September 2025

Below are Continue reading →

Packet: A controversial and an easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, and Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC 2025-09-08

Update 2025-09-09:
Videos: A controversial and an easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, and Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC 2025-09-08.

The

rezoning on Horace Avenue next to Mud Swamp Creek that the Planning Commission recommended to deny is on the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission this week.

As is the

Lake Alapaha Boulevard rezoning that sailed through the Planning Commission.

Plus a
Pet Shop Ordinance,
and
Moody Water Storage Tank Rehab,
for which Moody is reimbursing the county.

Packet: 1 controversial, 1 easy rezoning, pet shop ordinance, Moody AFB water storage tank @ LCC 2025-09-08

Here is the

agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is

on the LAKE website,
with images of each page below.

For the rezonings, see also the
LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2025, 8:30 A.M.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2025, 5:30 P.M.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Community Service Board, Lake Alapaha Well, Jail Expansion, Bicentiennial, Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Regular 2025-08-25

They actually

increased the Industrial Authority’s millage to 1.1 mil,
above its historic rate of 1 mil.
This was not discussed in the preceding Budget Hearings,
nor I think even in the previous morning’s Work Session.
They unanimously approved that and everything else on the agenda.

Chairman Bill Slaughter

added an item to the agenda, for

5.j. Appointment – Community Service Board – must be elected official.
They appointed Commissioner Demarcus Marshall.
You may recall that on May 27, 2025
they appointed Commissioner Joyce Evans to this board.
She was absent at that meeting, and has been absent from every Lowndes County
Commission meeting since then.
Since she has not made public why, I will not say, other than that her absences are not because she does not want to be there.

County Manager Paige Dukes had three staff give reports at the end
of this Regular Session:

Utilities talked about Lake Alapaha well
Engineering reported on jail expansion
PIO gave report on bicentennial activities

Collage @ LCC 26 August 2025

Below are Continue reading →

Packet: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

The board packet includes the SPLOST IX Agreement and Project Lists,
as well as the agreements for the Opioid and Groundwater Claims
and the Hightower Road Quit Claim
and a resolution for the TREES Act.

This is for yesterday’s Work Session and this evening’s Regular Session
of the Lowndes County Commission.

Collage, Packet @ LCC 2025-08-25-26

The SPLOST IX Agreement and Project Lists are the same as

LAKE already published two weeks ago from a usually reliable source.

The entire board packet,
obtained in response to a LAKE open records request,
is

on the LAKE website, and images of each page are below.

It is still mysterious why Lowndes County does not publish its board packets on its own website, like many counties larger and smaller have done for years in Georgia and Florida.

Videos: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Work 2025-08-25

Only twelve minutes for the Lowndes County Commission to consider millages, taxes, lawsuit claims, and a quit claim,
at their Work Session yesterday morning.

Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Collage @ LCC 25 August 2025

Agenda: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

Update 2025-08-26:
Videos: Millages, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC Work 2025-08-25.

Millages and taxes are the top topics for the Lowndes County Commission this week, plus lawsuit settlements for opioids and PFAS, and a road abandonment quit-claim to the Air Force.

The property tax millage will be set at the rollback rate of 5.051 mills.
That is a reduction of 0.232 mills or about 4.4% from the 5.283 rate of 2024.
Your property taxes are a product of valuation and millage, minus various exemptions such as for homestead or conservation easements.
Since many valuations went up, your taxes may go up.
VLCIA got its rate reduced to 0.823 mills last year, but this year it will
be back to 1.00 mill like it always was before for the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority, aka the Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority (VLDA).
Same 1.25 mills as always for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLCIA).
Same as last year: 2.50 mills for the Special District Millage for Fire Services.
That’s right, twice VLPRA’s millage, and 2.5 times VLCIA’s millage.

In November you get to vote on the SPLOST IX projects the County Commission
is approving this week for the penny Special Local Option Sales Tax.
The county has not published that project list, but LAKE already published
it more than a week ago:

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=25175

And those of us who are tree farmers may get some tax relief after Hurricane Helene, from the
TREES Act Resolution.
This is presumably the same
ACCG Summary of the TREES ACT
as Lowndes County put in its board packet.

Lowndes County may get some money from settlements for lawsuits about
opioids and PFAS.

Agenda: Millages, SPLOST IX, TREES Act, Opioid Litigation, Hightower Road, PFAS Groundwater Claims @ LCC 2025-08-25

The Air Force wants the county to quit-claim the right of way for Hightower Road,
which the county already abandoned in 2023.
Moody Air Force Base is directly south of it, and the Air Force now owns
the field north of it.
Included in this post are the maps from the May, 2023, board packet
from when the county abandoned that stretch of Hightower Road.

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/?p=23550

Here is the
agenda.

We don’t have the board packet, because I forgot to send in the open records request until today.