Haley Hyatt videoed
yesterday’s Remerton City Council
decision about Strickland Mill.
Citizens pled, unsuccessfully, for it to be saved.
Then the owners made a surprise offer.
Here’s Part 1 of 3:
The final plea
was made by Celine H. Gladwin.
Category Archives: Remerton
Remerton City Council votes today @ RCC 2012-09-10
Tonight the Remerton City Council votes on
the old Strickland Mill at
1853 West Gordon Street,
same item as
discussed 4 June 2012
and
postponed 11 June 2012.
Also, Remerton doesn’t play mysterious about
the Haven.
All that plus signs, water, and alcohol.
I will be there for about half an hour, after which I have to go video something else. Could someone else video the rest of tonight’s Remerton City Council meeting?
Here’s
the agenda,
which for some reason (I’m guessing City Clerk Rachel Tate not being available)
is a scan instead of a text-extractable PDF.
I’ve transcribed it below this time.
Continue readingCITY OF REMERTON
REGULAR SESSION AGENDA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
5:30 PM
Who are the owners of the Remerton Mill?
Somebody asked:
Who are the owners of the Remerton Mill?
It’s not a secret; some of them are usually at the Remerton City Council
meetings that discuss the mill.
According to the Lowndes County Tax Assessor’s database, the owner of the property at 1853 W Gordon Street (aka Old Mill Site) is Remerton Mills, LLC. According to Georgia Secretary of State’s corporation database, the registered agent is Joseph H. Tillman, Sr., its articles were filed by Barry Chapman, and the LLC’s management consists of Richard J. Nijem, Joseph H. Tillman, Sr., Jesse L. Maranville, J. Glenn Gregory, and Eric M. Tillman.
According to the Tax Assessor’s Database, the adjoining property at 1415 Baytree Road is owned by Richard J. Nijem, Jesse L. Maranville, Eric M. Tillman, Joseph H. Tillman, and J. Glenn Gregory: the same people as Remerton Mill, LLC.
-jsq
Save the Remerton Mill! —Ransom Gladwin
LTE in the VDT yesterday. -jsq
Continue readingPart of my teaching load as a professor consists of supervising
student teachers at schools throughout Valdosta State University’s 46-county service area. I have traveled many South Georgia back roads. What was once a charming rural landscape of unique little towns has slowly morphed into sameness. Chain-brand retail stores, fast food, and gas stations are interrupted by strip malls and storage units. The region’s character has receded in the face of nationalization and globalization. However, historical features, be they a restored courthouse or a crumbling tobacco barn, light this bleakness. They give character, history, and pride to communities. One such structure is Remerton’s Strickland Mill, now in danger of complete destruction.
As a member of the Save the Strickland Mill Committee of the Valdosta Heritage Foundation, we recently toured the mill, with the approval of the owners and accompanied by Remerton officials. The original mill is structurally solid. The 1899 structure reflects
LOST Lawsuits Ahead?
Looks like history may repeat itself like last decade,
now that LOST negotiations between the cities and the county have failed.
Except this time apparently the law has changed so they can’t sue each
other directly.
Instead next it goes to
Superior Court “baseball arbitration”.
However, I bet that still involves lawyers at taxpayer expense,
not to mention the Court’s time.
Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Tax Negotiations Hit Another Dead End In Lowndes County, and asked Gretchen down at the County Extension, who said,
It’s sort of sad because it is a waste, if you will, of taxpayer dollars. That the elected officials can’t get together and come to some agreement to say that they all understand how the money has to be divided up Yeah, it’s sad that more money has to go to lawyers insted of being spent on services.
I continue to think the local governments could spend their time together better trying to increase the size of the pie instead of squabbling over slices of it.
-jsq
“It’s almost like they are out to take advantage of the rubes,” —an economist
Do big box stores count as development? Are they worth millions in tax incentives and bond investments? Maybe we can find something better for local industry and jobs.
Rumors have been flying for years about a Bass Pro store coming to Valdosta, like this one on a Georgia Outdoor News forum:
01-22-2008, 09:05 PM, bear-229
ive heard the land has been bought. very close to the new toyota lot but it has not made it to the “new locations” on the web site
That’s on James Road, in that huge proposed development that Lowndes County approved around that time.
Scott Reeder wrote for The Atlantic 13 August 2012, Why Have So Many Cities and Towns Given Away So Much Money to Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s?,
Both Bass Pro Shops and its archrival, Cabela’s, sell hunting and fishing gear in cathedral-like stores featuring taxidermied wildlife, gigantic fresh-water aquarium exhibits and elaborate outdoor reproductions within the stores. The stores are billed as job generators by both companies when they are fishing for development dollars. But the firms’ economic benefits are minimal and costs to taxpayers are great.
An exhaustive investigation conducted by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity found that the two competing firms together have received or are promised more than $2.2 billion from American taxpayers over the past 15 years.
Where does all that money come from? Bonds, usually. Which is yet another reason why last legislature’s HB 475 to give unelected bodies bond issuing privatizing power would be a bad idea.
What does all that money go for?
Continue readingRemerton Mill discussion @ RCC 2012-06-11
Haley Hyatt took this video at yesterday's Remerton City Council Regular Session. -jsq
The 1899 Strickland Cotton Mill is the reason the little town of Remerton, GA exists. The mill village is unique, being an incorporated town within the city limits of Valdosta, GA. The current owners asked to be granted a permit to immediately demolish the historic mill. But many people came forth and made impassioned pleas that the landmark not be torn down. The Remerton City Council voted to table the request to demolish until its Sept. 4, 2012 work session, in hopes of getting more information before making the final decision.
Here's the video:
Remerton Mill discussion
Regular Session, Remerton City Council (RCC),
Remerton, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 June 2012.
Video by John S. Quarterman Haley Hyatt for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
I wish more citizens would do that: go to meetings, take videos, and post them! Send them here and we'll blog some of them.
-jsq
Remerton City Council Regular Session @ RCC 2012-06-11
Continuing from last week’s Work Session, Remerton City Council meets in Regular Session tonight. Here’s the agenda. The Strickland Mill item is #1.
-jsq
CITY OF REMERTON
REGULAR SESSION AGENDA
MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
5:30 PM
Welcome Guests
Pledge and Prayer
Establish Quorum of Council — Mayor Holsendolph
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
NEW BUSINESS:
- Consideration regarding approval of Regular Meeting Minutes from May 14, 2012 — Rachel Tate
- Consideration regarding Financial Report — Rachel Tate
- Consideration regarding Certificate of Appropriateness 2012-04 for 1853 W. Gordon Street, Remerton, Ga.— Jessica Freeman
- Consideration regarding continuation of moratorium to update Sign Ordinance for an additional 30 days — Jessica Freeman and Brad Folsom
- Consideration regarding Statewide Mutual Aid 2012 Agreement requested by Ashley Pye with Lowndes County — Rachel Tate
ADJOURN.
Video playlist of Remerton City Council Work Session @ RCC 2012-06-04
Here are videos of the Remerton City Council Work Session of 4 June 2012, including three citizens speaking first against demolition of Strickland Mill. They meet again tonight.
First speaking was Emily Foster, who first informed us about this issue.
Here's a video playlist:
Video playlist of Remerton City Council Work Session
Work Session, Remerton City Council (RCC),
Remerton, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2012.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Previously I said I couldn't find the agenda, but it was actually online; here it is.
-jsq
CITY OF REMERTON
WORKSESSION AGENDA
MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS5:30 PM
WELCOME GUESTS.
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD.
NEW BUSINESS:ADJOURN.
- Discussion regarding Certificate of Appropriateness 2012-04 for 1853 W. Gordon Street, Remerton, Ga.— Jessica Freeman
- Discussion regarding continuation of moratorium to update Sign Ordinance for an additional 30 days — Jessica Freeman and Brad Folsom
- Discussion regarding Statewide Mutual Aid 2012 Agreement requested by Ashley Pye with Lowndes County — Rachel Tate
- Discussion regarding removal of speed bumps on Plum Street — Mayor Holsendolph
- DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
- City Clerk —Rachel Tate
- Probation — Jessica Freeman
- Police — Mike Terrell
- Fire/Utilities/Public Works — Scott Fowler
SPLOST with Lowndes County and the cities @ SPLOST 2012-06-11
The second of two meetings on the Lowndes County Commission According to the calendar for Monday morning, 11 June 2011, is about SPLOST, and also involves all the cities in the county.
SPLOST Meeting/ (6/11/2012)
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners along with the City of Valdosta, City of Hahira, City of Dasher, City of Lake Park and City of Remerton will be holding a SPLOST meeting on Monday, June 11, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room on the 2nd floor of the Administration Building.
SPLOST is not to be confused with LOST (created by the legislature), nor with ESPLOST for educational purposes, and certainly not with T-SPLOST for transportation.
Unlike the work session, which has no description of what it's about, there is at least a link on the county Quick Links for SPLOST, which says:
Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
As of July 1, 1985, Georgia law enabled local jurisdictions to use SPLOST proceeds for capital improvement projects that would otherwise be paid for with General Fund or property tax revenues. SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. This is a one-cent sales tax, which the State of Georgia allows counties to collect to fund specific improvement projects. SPLOST must be approved by voters in a general referendum in order to be enacted and last for a maximum of 60 months (five years) or until the total amount of revenue specified in the referendum is reached. The SPLOST projects and the amount of money raised by SPLOST were identified prior to voting on the SPLOST referendum. The proceeds of the tax must be spent for capital (non-operating) items by the county government and participating municipalities within the county.
That page also includes a list of SPLOST projects completed by January 2010.
-jsq