Somebody took down a Commissioner picture from the
entry way to the Lowndes County Commission Chambers.
Could it be
this one?
He did show up briefly this afternoon to collect his stuff. Continue reading
Somebody took down a Commissioner picture from the
entry way to the Lowndes County Commission Chambers.
Could it be
this one?
He did show up briefly this afternoon to collect his stuff. Continue reading
You can go to the rest of the budget meeting, which is tomorrow.
Some time after this morning when I looked for it,
today’s
budget meeting
magically appeared on
the calendar
and in
Current Events
on the Lowndes County front page.
It shows most of the day tomorrow also as budget meetings.
And at 5:30PM tomorrow (Tuesday) there’s still the
County Commission Regular Session.
Plus in the middle of all that, the Airport Authority is having a Board Meeting at the Commission Chambers. Only a little more than a year ago, Continue reading
$
After this morning’s Work Session, there’s an all-day budget meeting. All county departments, including constitutional officers, are reporting.
From Gretchen on the scene:
So far we have heard Board of Elections and Public Defender. Next up the Sheriff.
This is apparently not a public meeting, and there was no public notice that I can find. Apparently it was mentioned at the February retreat. Some candidates for County Commission are there, in addition to current Commissioners and staff.
You may wonder as I do why this is not a public meeting.
-jsq
With only four voting Commissioners left, and two of those
lame ducks, it should be an interesting set of Lowndes County
Commission meetings this week.
On the agenda is adoption of infrastructure for
the Nelson Hill subdivision;
the one with
all the waivers by staff with no public hearings.
Plus four rezonings, one for
a former County Commissioner
and another
for a community well for a development.
And the annual contract renewal for the
MIDS on-call bus system.
While the VDT headline yesterday said Political shuffle continues: County commissioner resigns to run for state Senate seat, actually former Commissioner John Page didn’t resign: he vacated his seat the moment he signed the qualifying papers to run for state Senator. That’s why the Board of Elections has already called a special election that Continue reading
Here are videos of the whole thing.
Updated 31 March 2014: Who stood up.
Updated 4 June 2014: Fixed video links.
Not only did Colquitt County pass a resolution about pipeline depth;
a County Commissioner the county attorney stood up and reminded FERC about it,
which got John Peconom to admit that FERC has required a deeper minimum
pipeline depth in some other states.
So far that’s speaking against the pipeline:
Only one of those county commissions claims there’s nothing you can do; the rest are all doing something.
See also:
The
County Manager’s report was
about FERC’s Scoping Meetings starting next week;
two citizens spoke about the pipeline.
The Chairman
refused to let another one speak because she hadn’t turned in a form,
and then he
spent 20 minutes after the meeting
telling her what the county wasn’t going to do.
We sort of found out where is the unopened right of way off of US 41 South. The special tax lighting districts item went quickly this time. We found out how much the county’s sewer lift station at a subdivision with a private golf club will cost to replace. This is the subdivision for which the Nelson Hill Wells were drilled as possible replacements.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. See also videos from the previous morning’s Work Session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Amusingly, when the VDT fixed the typos in their online story,
they redacted me and Gretchen right out of it.
I’m flattered!
Still, congratulations to the VDT on quoting a lot of landowners
(and a few others who remained unredacted),
and on putting this story on the front page.
Here’s an extract from the online version showing changes from the printed version (pictured) as if the newspaper had used standard blogging markup for changes after posting. Starting with the pullquote in the printed version, which they edited heavily in the online version:
Affected Land ownerLandowner Larry Rodgers said he has been trying to sell his property for a long time, and once heHe had an interested buyerand they found out about, but upon learning of the pipeline running through his propertythey dropped their, the interested party withdrew the offer.“Where do I go to file that complaint
!? Andwhosewho’s responsible for value lost due to property damage?” Rodgers asked. Peconom replied, “I don’t have an answer for you tonight, butwellwe’ll look into it.”
Concerned citizens Gretchen Quarterman said she was concerned about the pipeline moving Natural Gas that has been fracked, and the taking of property from private land owners to benefit a company that does not do business in Georgia. She also brought up safety concerns regarding sink holes, and proposed Florida use an alternate way of producing energy, such as solar “because as we all know Florida is the sunshine state.”Continue reading
Here are videos of the whole thing.
Update 2014-03-08: Fixed date.
See also:
“I just lost a contract on the sale of part of my property because of this pipeline,” said Larry Rodgers, a Lowndes County landowner.
“Why is it set in stone that you pay one price forever for the value of the property they use when they’re gonna be makin’ profits on it forever…the landowner has to continue to pay property taxes. So, I don’t understand why they can’t share the profits,” continued Rodgers….
One concerned landowner, Rick Hastings, questioned whether any information that the third party collected and presented Continue reading
“There’s nothing we can do,”
said Lowndes County Commissioners
about the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline,
after the Chairman refused to let a citizen speak during
the
25 February 2014 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
But there are things local governments can do, as other local
governments and elected officials have already demonstrated.
Citizen Carol Singletary drove 100 miles to get there. As Chairman Bill Slaughter asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting, she said she called in to say she wanted to speak. Slaughter responded,
You have to fill out the paperwork and everything in order.
Phillip Singletary said he did, and it was in the Commission Chamber entranceway.
The Chairman did not relent; “just do it next week; next time”. Nevermind that he has let people speak who hadn’t turned in the paperwork before the meeting started (we have videos). He even let pipeline reps speak from the audience without coming up to the podium and didn’t let any citizens speak at the Spectra sales pitch back in December.
Commissioner John Page moved to adjourn, and added that he would like to see Ms. Singletary after the meeting. Chairman agreed, somebody seconded, and they voted to adjourn.
Do elected Commissioners now have to get a vote of the Commission to talk to citizens?
Here’s the video of that part.
After the meeting, Continue reading
The second day of the Commission retreat is finished. Reporting from location, Gretchen noted:
Chairman Bill Slaughter has a five year goal of making broadband available. Some possibility of creating a fibre ring. He says he’s working with the City of Valdosta.
Well, a year ago in February he said broadband was “one of the number one issues”, but in October he said “we have broadband”, so it’s anyone’s guess what his opinion will be in a few months.
Commissioner Crawford Powell wants to outsource more county services.
That’s working so well, after all; see the next note.