Category Archives: Military

Videos: Calles again, Val North PD Water Sewer, Habitat CDBG, Sewage Valves, Stone Creek Antenna, Sheriff, Alcohol @ LCC 2017-03-13



Maybe more will show up at 5:30PM today for the Regular Session
than the Chairman and only two Commissioners at yesterday’s Work Session
(Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker).

Chairman Bill Slaughter

revealed why he had been missing from the meetings two weeks before:
he had been attending an America’s Defense Community event in in San Antonio, Texas about Moody AFB.
Follow

the link
for more about this.
He complimented Vice-Chair Joyce Evans for running the meeting better than usual
in his absence.
She did beat his former record of five minutes by holding a
three-minute Work Session.

The returning
REZ-2017-02 Calles rezoning now
wants to split half conservation and half R-A.
Apparently the other rezoning,
REZ-2017-03 Val North Dr, Stewart Circle, PD Amendment and Conditions Removal, Water & Sewer, ~9 acres
had been heard before and was now being reconsidered because
a road had been paved.
Remember that when they try to claim roads don’t drive development.

Below are links to each LAKE video of the 13 March 2017 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
See also

the agenda, and the LAKE videos of the 27 February 2017 Greater Planning Commission meeting. Continue reading →

Videos: Annual Planning Meeting Day 2 @ LCC 2017-02-17



We learned why Lowndes County has gotten religion about Internet access and speed:

Moody AFB wants it.

Commissioner Scottie Orenstein made the case for

board packets and agendas in electronic form
instead of the paper packets they currently use.
Maybe they’ll even reveal them to the public before their meetings,
like real MSAs do.
Meanwhile,

Community Engagement
means marketing, as in telling people what the county did,
not listening to the citizens.

They talked about

interconnecting (almost) all of the county’s water systems,
about

routes to get trucks out of downtown Valdosta.
The

water-sewer ordinance is in ten or twelve pieces,
and the county is all for expanding water and sewer throughout the county
as long as it doesn’t cost developers money.

There’s

a regional T-SPLOST meeting in Waycross by SGRC Feb 28 2017,
but Lowndes commissioners and staff said nothing Continue reading →

Videos: Water, VSU bonds, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-11



Two weeks ago,

County Manager Joe Pritchard announced that
Commissioner Joyce Evans is now serving as Vice Chairman,
yes, the
resolution to approve the VSU bonds
was requested by the
South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA),
and

John Stevens is the new VDT reporter.

Citizen Shirley Moore said she’d like a connection to
county water and sewer.
They tabled the

Comprehensive Plan update, apparently because the Commissioners wanted to
“dig into it deeper”.

The rest was mostly approving what they
already discussed the previous morning.
They meet again Monday morning.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Videos: Art, hurricane, engineering reports, VSU bonds, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-10



The Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and others already in the county
came up in the

Comprehensive Plan approval discussion, as you can see in these
LAKE Videos from Monday morning; they vote tonight 5:30 PM.

Stephen Spradley and Georgia Forestry
were still helping after Hurricane Matthew,
but

Ashley Tye reported on evacuees,
Chad McLeod

reported on engineering projects including the Naylor Boat Ramp at the Alapaha River,
and
Angela Crance reported on

an art district; actually Buddy Boswell did that.

They also heard about a

self storage rezoning,
three

road abandonments, a

road widening, the annual

MIDS bus service renewal,
and
a

county resolution about bonds for another private LLC by the

South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA),
different from the one

with the public hearing October 21st at a private law firm.
What does the resolution say?
It’s not in the documents with
the agenda.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

VSU bond resolution, 3 road abandonments, 1 widening, MIDS bus, Comprehensive Plan @ LCC 2016-10-10

Monday morning 8:30 AM,
a

self storage rezoning, (final?)

Comprehensive Plan approval,
three

road abandonments, a

road widening, the annual

MIDS bus service renewal,
an

art district presentation by Angela Crance,
a

Georgia Forestry presentation by Stephen Spradley,
and
a

county resolution about bonds for another private LLC by the

South Regional Joint Development Authority (SRJDA),
different from the one

with the public hearing October 21st at a private law firm.
What does the resolution say?
It’s not in the documents with
the agenda.




U.S. Air Force Col. Billy Thompson, 23d Wing commander, expresses his gratitude to Continue reading →

Videos: Jerry Wallace reitrement, ZBOA, Verizon, abandonment, landfill @ LCC 2016-08-09

The engineering department utlity player, Jerry Wallace, is retiring.

Jerry Wallace

They approved everything they discussed at the previous morning’s Work Session.
See also

the LAKE video of the Zika and mosquito control report
from that Work Session.

Below are links to the LAKE videos plus a few notes
for the Regular Session, August 9th 2016, of
the Lowndes County Commission.
They vote again tonight.

Here’s

a video playlist:



Videos: Jerry Wallace reitrement, ZBOA, Verizon, abandonment, landfill

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, August 9, 2016.

-jsq

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Videos: Mosquitoes! ZBOA Reappointment, Verizon tower, Strong abandonment, closed landfill @ LCC 2016-08-08



Most controversial and not on the agenda:

Zika and mosquito control in the County Manager’s report.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

The county wants to operate and maintain water treatment, wastewater,
and three swimming pools

at Moody AFB.
Are they changing the

speed limit on your road?
And the county is

re-evaluating its job descriptions.

Also on

the
agenda: Continue reading →

ZBOA Reappointment, Verizon tower, Strong abandonment, closed landfill @ LCC 2016-08-08

Are they changing the

speed limit on your road?
The county wants to operate and maintain water treatment, wastewater,

Option 1 Summary Maintain WWTP
and three swimming pools

at Moody AFB.
And the county is

re-evaluating its job descriptions.

Also on

the
agenda
for this morning at 8:30 AM (they vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM):
reappointing Mac McCall to ZBOA,
the

Verizon tower from the previous Planning Commission meeting,
Abandonment of Strong Road (CR 250),
and
Execution of the Resolution for the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund
for the closed landfill:
yes the same one they signed an easement for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline to go through. Continue reading →

Southern Company buying half of SONAT from KMI

SO is buying 50% of SONAT from KMI,
as multiple people have pointed out,
including someone from Southern Company.

SO: SONAT in the Southeast
Unfortunately SO is not just investing in existing pipelines:
this purchase is about
“specific growth opportunities”,
and yes, it’s tied to

SO’s recent purchase of AGL.
Southern Company needs to stop plugging dying 20th century fossil fuels
and get on with what it’s already started with solar power (and offshore wind).

Southern Company PR 10 July 2016,

Southern Company, Kinder Morgan enter Southern Natural Gas pipeline strategic venture, Continue reading →

Videos: Runner Ernie Andrus, Brookwood again, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-28



For an authority that gets 1.25 mil of your property tax dollars,
the Commissioners didn’t even know who was wanting to be reappointed,
none of them asked what happened during a year when one of them
was apparently serving on that board without a formal appointment,
not all of the Commissioners were present even voted,
and none of the candidates for any of the board appointments even shhowed up, much less spoke.
The Lowndes County Commission at its June 28th 2016 Regular Session also

unanimously adopted the budget for what the Chairman repeatedly called
“the physical year”, despite only perfunctory public hearings in advance,
and no draft budget available on their website for the public to see.
After they approved the budget to spend the money
(and according to County Manager Joe Pritchard after earlier that same morning the Tourism Authority approved their budget),
the Lowndes County Commissioners

unanimously approved a hotel/motel tax rate increase.
Odd order, eh?

About the 1.25 mil property tax

Parks and Rec Authority,
the Chairman finally got around to saying Continue reading →