Category Archives: Transportation

Videos: Day 1, Planning, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2018-02-19



The 2018 Lowndes County Commission Retreat was just about the exact opposite of a commission meeting, except that same group of people are present (almost). There was discussion, disagreement, laughing, sighing, interrupting, listening, inside jokes, outside jokes, and general exchange of views. Those things don’t happen in a commission meeting. This year’s retreat was particularly different because there was no time frame attached to any agenda item and they didn’t discuss topics in exact order, and some topics got covered repeatedly. Commissioner Evans said to me during a break that the previous format of having departments just give a report can “get boring” and she had suggested that they have a different format with more discussion about communications.

The agenda was available on-line but was hard to find and the link I followed to find it is gone now. I did manage to download it before it went away. Find it here: 2018 LCC Annual Planning Meeting Agenda (plus searchable text). There were paper copies available at the meeting after the first break.

I sometimes think that the commissioners may be getting used to me but then, no, don’t be silly.

At the lunch hour, the Commissioners stepped outside to take a group picture and as County Clerk Page Dukes suggested that they get closer and not have so much “space” between them, Commissioners Orenstein and Griner (I live in their districts) huddled together.

Commissioners Gather Group Photo Close Group Photo

  Commissioners Orenstein and Griner

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

Videos: Rocky Ford Road, Sharp Family, C-G Bemiss Rd @ LCC 2018-02-13



Again like in the

previous morning’s Work Session
the lengthiest regular item was the

rezoning on Rocky Ford Road
for the
church-proposed Camp Rock,
mostly with attorney Jack Langdale speaking for,
including that a “wilderness camp” for unfortunate children doesn’t need
a buffer, and any future buyers of neighboring property beware.

The

Sharp family said for seven years they have been trying to
get somebody to do something about stray dogs,
only to discover Animal Control doesn’t work weekends anymore,
and the Sheriff’s office won’t do anything, even though one
of their family had been killed by the dogs and another bitten, and the dogs
are now into their second and third generations running loose.

Third longest was Continue reading →

Videos: Turner Center presentation, VAWA, Rocky Ford Road @ LCC 2018-02-12



It was Art
(12 minutes of
4. State of the Arts by Cheryl Oliver, Director, Turner Center of the Arts)
Law
(10:46 of

7.c. Solicitor-General’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Grant Application
and
1:31 of

Introduction of new Probation Officer, which was not on the agenda),
and
Development
(
6.b. REZ-2018-02, E-A and C-C to E-A and PD-R, 4391 Rocky Ford Rd, ~72 acres)
this morning at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
Actually, all of those items were about law enforcement one way or another.
The Commissioners vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: Leadership Lowndes, VLCIA appointment, Rivers Radio @ LCC 2017-12-12



In an outbreak of transparency and due diligence in the last Lowndes County Commission of 2017,
they took ten minutes
replacing Mary Goodman
on the

Industrial Authority,
hearing from three nominees, and appointing Brad Folsom.
They took three and a half minutes to choose among three nominees
to the

Tourism Authority
to appoint
Robert Jefferson.
None of those nominees spoke, but the vote was so split
they actually had a runoff, which ended in a 3:2 final vote.
They also reappointed Joyce Evans by silent “acclamation”.


Leadership Lowndes spoke for 12 minutes (as long as three citizens get),

citizen Willie Mae Jones wanted to know what next to get her Black Road paved,
and County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the signatures were verified as 84% of the property owners on the road, so it would go on the paving list
with the 74 projects already on there.
Chairman Bill Slaughter

actually asked for Commissioner comments,
and each of them said a few words, mostly thanks to the staff and Merry Christmas.
Chairman Bill Slaughter even thanked citizens for coming to the meetings. Merry Christmas, Commissioners!

The longest rezoning public hearing was
REZ-2017-13
Quattlebaum-Meadors, N Valdosta RD, R-21 to C-H.

Below are Continue reading →

Turner Center for the Arts presentation @ LCC 2018-02-12

After a decade
as Director of the Turner Center for the Arts,

Cheryl Oliver announce last month she is resigning,
and she is
on

the agenda
for this morning at 8:30 AM at the Lowndes County Commission with
"State-of-the-Art Center" Presentation.


Cheryl Oliver

Plus three well and septic public hearings,
one road abandonment,
subdivision roads,
utility relocation for I-75 exits 2 and 11,
and an annual judicial grant application.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2018, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Approved resolution against state fee diversion, economic strategy, road abandonment @ LCC 2018-01-23



They approved everything in 10 minutes flat,
including the

Special Asessment Rate for 2018,
the

Community and Economic Development Strategy,
and yes, they added to the

agenda
and passed the

Resolution Supporting HR 158 to Stop Diversion of State Fees.

Below are Continue reading →

Regional T-SPLOST public meetings in Pearson and Valdosta 2018-01-29-30

Update 2018-01-28:
LAKE videos of Valdosta Mayor and Council talking about
$406 million and 25% discretionary funds which can be used for things like public transportation.

Preparing for a vote on the May 22, 2018, primary election ballot,
SGRC is holding two public meetings next week to review what the
regional roundtable has come up with for a project list for a regional
one-percent sales tax.
Most of the projects, ranging from $18 thousand to $26 million dollars, are for roads and bridges, but there are also sidewalks and one airport tower light.
There is nothing in the project list for public transportation,
but 25% of the funds are not on the project list, and counties or cities
could choose to use some of those funds for example for paying for
the urban area parts of trips by the Lowndes County MIDS on-call bus service.

When: 4-6PM, Monday, January 29, 2018

Where:
Pearson Sports and Civic Complex,

786 Austin Avenue East, Pearson, Georgia

When: 10AM-6PM, Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Where:
Southern Georgia Regional Commission Valdosta
Office,

327 West Savannah Ave. Valdosta, Georgia


Distribution by Jurisdiction, Revenue

Estimated
Revenue
Distribution
by
Jurisdiction,
Southern
Georgia
Regional
Transportation
Sales
Tax

SGRC Press Release, 19 January 2018,

Public Meetings Set for Transportation Sales Tax Project List, Continue reading →

Videos: Resolution against state fee diversion, economic strategy, road abandonment @ LCC 2018-01-22


1. Call to Order 4. Minutes for Approval, Movies

The

tire amnesty went well, and

added to the agenda:
a county resolution in support of HR 158 in the Georgia legislature,
to stop state fee diversions.

The County Manager reminded them they had heard about the

Community and Economic Development Strategy a few months before
(apparently under another name), and there was some confusion
about Georgia Power’s continued involvement.

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

Economic strategy, road abandonment, alcohol @ LCC 2018-01-22

The big item on
the agenda
for 8:30 AM Monday morning is an MoU and $25,000 to fund a
Community and Economic Development Strategy.
Presumably this is the

2013-2018 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)
that
the VDT says
the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) recently adopted.


LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2018, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Emergency road repair bids! Appointments: Library Board, Development Authority, millage @ LCC 2017-08-22



The added agenda item

6e. Emergency Repairs to Rocky Ford Road
got a couple of bids (unusual procedure; different from their
usual no-bid emergencies) passed.
The Chamber sent

Gary Wisenbaker to speak in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
to ask for (after a very long preamble by John Page)
apparently money from GDOT for a long list (in a letter the taxpayers
did not get to see) of
transportation projects to help “the business community”,
apparently including the truck bypass.

They only appointed six of the seven members of the

Development Authority of Lowndes County,
although a Commissioner did ask about that.
It’s also curious they said all the terms expired right then,
since the Wayback machine has a snapshot of 4 April 2017, which shows three expiring in June 2017 and four already
expired in December 2016.
Apparently they just didn’t bother to appoint anybody to the four slots
that expired in December 2016 until eight months later,
and then they didn’t appoint anybody to one of the 2017 slots.

Below are links to Continue reading →