Category Archives: Sports

Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19

Update 2022-06-23:

Videos: Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27.

Update 2022-06-21:

Valdosta Watergoat installed in Sugar Creek 2022-06-21.

Council Sonny Vickers was
welcomed back warmly
after abscence due to illness (I welcomed him before the meeting).
Later, he
thanked staff and council for their assistance.

Collage

Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the
ARPA fund disbursment committees, for
non-profits
and for
for-profit businesses.

After

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman asked for action about trash,
Council Andy Gibbs and Mayor James vied for who would get to announce
what the city had already done.
Mayor James in Council Comments

announced the city had ordered Continue reading →

Roads, Wastewater, and Trash @ VCC 2022-02-24

A twelve-foot alligator surfaced twice at the briefest Valdosta City Council meeting of recent memory, in
Special Recognitions
and
Citizens to Be Heard, related to the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle organized by WWALS,
with Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman as a speaker.

Valdosta City Council, Staff, and Citizens

Four from Leadership Lowndes where there,
and there’s a New Neighborhood Development and Community Protections Manager, Anetra Riley.
The Mayor recognized WWALS, which is a first.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also Continue reading →

Videos: Valwood award, river gauges, Comprehensive Plan, Alcohol @ LCC Regular 2021-10-25

Update 2021-11-08:
Videos: Comprehensive Plan Update Public Hearing 2 @ LCC 2021-10-26.

The County Manager
said the Character Area Maps were not changing in the
Comprehensive Plan Update,
so she expected the Public Hearing Tuesday
to be brief, but a quorum would be required.
At the end,
I thanked the Commissioners for not changing the character area maps
and asked them to follow them in future rezonings.

County Manager, PIO, Valwood Valiants, Character Area Maps

The

river gauge funding and the

beer and wine license sailed through unanimously.
The longest items were the
two part
Proclamation

Presentation to Valwood Valiants Volleyball Team
and the
County Manager’s Report.

Here are links to each LAKE video of each agenda (and non-agenda) item,
with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the
LAKE videos of the same morning’s Work Session,
the
agenda,
and the
board packet which we received in response to a LAKE open records request and put on the LAKE website.
Some day the county will put its own board packets on its own website. Continue reading →

Videos: VLPRA, RV sales, Moody AFB Fire Dept., Tax Assessors @ LCC 2021-09-13

By far the longest item at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session yesterday morning was the

presentation on the VLPRA Master Plan by their consultant David Barth, taking 34 minutes.

Second longest was

8.d. GMASS Commercial Contract for the Tax Asessors office.
Each of these got more than a minute:
the
RV sales expansion item,
and

8.b. Fire and Emergency Services Agreement between Lowndes County and MFAB.

VLPRA, RV sales, Moody AFB Fire Dept., Tax Assessors

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also Continue reading →

Subdivisions, quit claim, fire tax district & draft pit, Chambers A/V, deannexation, resurfacing, soccer complex, shooting range shelter @ LCC 2021-04-21 2021-04-12

A couple weeks ago Lowndes County approved almost $3 million dollars in expenditures, including
$110,147.78 for Commission Chambers Audio and Visual Upgrade,
even though other counties and cities livestream their meetings using an iphone
and facebook live.

Rezoning, quit claim, audio-visual

Cost	What
$1,811,758.00	North Lowndes Soccer Complex Phase II
$429,634.23	Resurfacing of Various County Roads
$304,252.00	A New Shooting Range Shelter for the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office
$225,329.00	A New 30,000 Gallon Draft Pit for Lowndes County Fire Rescue
$110,147.78	Commission Chambers Audio and Visual Upgrade
$2,881,121.01	Total

The shooting range was actually not listed as BUDGET IMPACT,
but it comes from SPLOST taxes, so I don’t know how it’s not part of the budget.

Not marked as costing anything was the rezoning for
REZ-2021-04 Union Station on Union Road,
“for a multi-family housing complex to be constructed,”
even though that sprawl will cost in sending fire, sheriff, and school busses out there.

Also not counted was
Acceptance of Infrastructure for Creekside West Phase 6 & 7
for which “All roads will remain private. Lots will be served by Lowndes County water and sewer.”
So if a water or sewer line breaks, the county will have to pay to fix it.
And see above about sprawl.

Here is
the agenda.
The entire board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-04-21–lcc-packet Continue reading →

Videos: SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-23

Five and a half minutes of the
Regular Session fifteen minutes was on

the county guaranteeing refinancing Hospital Authority debt,
due to County Manager Joe Pritchard reciting what’s in the agreement,
and Hospital Authority CEO Bill Forbes
speaking, and Chairman Bill Slaughter thanking him.
The agreement is in the board packet on the LAKE website from a LAKE open records request.

Citizen

Michelle Williams of Hahira asked for a spay and neuter ordinance,
noting Macon and Dalton have those already.
County Clerk Paige Dukes

praised Michelle Williams and other volunteers.

Second at almost two minutes was Continue reading →

Special Called Meeting to approve SPLOST VIII Projects @ LCC 2019-07-31

You got a notice about this meeting two days in advance,
if you signed up for the county’s alerts, which is twice as long as they usually do.

Special Called Meeting,

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

A special called meeting will be held to adopt the amended SPLOST VIII Agreement.

Date:
July 31, 2019

Time:
8:30 AM

Location:
Board of Commissioners

Administration Building

Address:
327 N. Ashley Street

2nd Floor

Valdosta, GA 31601

Lowndes Project List

PDF

Here is Lowndes County’s SPLOST VIII Project List.
The biggest items are water and sewer at $23 million
and sports at $13,274,912,
followed by the historic Courthouse at $12 million.
Note nothing about Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2019-07-22

For the first time ever, the county returned the complete board packet before the Lowndes County Commission voted on it!
This was in response to an open records request sent Wednesday,
so the statutory three days were actually up Monday morning.
They emailed the packet Monday afternoon about 5PM.

Google Map annotated by LAKE to show the quit claimed part of Reed Road in magenta (this map was not part of the board packet).

All the dirt part of Reed Road, back from the old Skipper Bridge over the Withlacoochee River,
to the entrance to Pine Grove Middle School, is what is being abandoned.
It is possible to decipher this from the quit claims in the board packet for
yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session and tonight’s Regular Session.

All the SPLOST VIII Project Lists, for the county and the five cities, are included; see below.

Everything the county sent, plus images of each page,
is on the LAKE website.
LAKE looks forward to the county putting all these packet documents
on the county’s own website, along with the agenda and agenda sheets.

SPLOST VIII Project Lists

Valdosta Project List

PDF

Hahira Project List

PDF

Remerton Project List

PDF

Dasher Project List

PDF

Lake Park Project List

PDF

Videos: SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-23 2019-07-22

The whole Work Session took eleven minutes,
of which three were about

the county guaranteeing refinancing Hospital Authority debt.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM; Gretchen will be there with the LAKE video camera.
Update 2019-07-23:< Obtained in response to an open records request from LAKE, board packet is on the LAKE website.

Second longest yesterday morning at a minute and a half was the

SPLOST VIII Agreement, for which it seems the list is already finished,
finalized at a “public” meeting between the county and the five cities,
which was not announced to the public.

Most of the bids for the

Grassy Pond Sewer Connection
were not in the board packet, we discovered due to a question by a Commissioner.
The

Abandonment of Portion of Reed Road
is the bit to the Withlacoochee River,
which they county says was “unopened”, which is a strange
way to describe the old dirt road that used to cross the river on a bridge.

Below are Continue reading →

SPLOST VIII, Grassy Pond Sewer, and Hospital Authority funding @ LCC 2019-07-22

Not on Lowndes County’s online calendar, the county already met with the five cities about SPLOST VIII:

On July 8, 2019, Lowndes County met with the cities of Valdosta, Hahira, Lake
Park, Remerton and Dasher to officially call for SPLOST VIII. As a result,
the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement
between Lowndes County and the cities has been prepared for consideration. Once approved by Lowndes
County, the agreement will be forwarded to the cities for consideration during a public meeting.

Lowndes County on the previous SPLOST.

Will when and where for that upcoming “public meeting” be announced in advance?
Where is “the attached SPLOST VIII Agreement”?
Wednesday morning at 9:35 AM,
I sent the county a Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) request for the board packet
for this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings.
By a very generous interpretation of the three business days GORA permits to
respond to such a request, time’s up this morning at 9:35 AM.
So far, the county has not even acknowledged receipt of the request.

The
Hospital Authority,
over whom the county has so little authority it has to Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange