Category Archives: Transportation

Appointments, well and septic rezonings, road naming, and evidence @ LCC 2015-07-13

This morning at 8:30 AM, with voting Tuesday at 5:30 PM, on this agenda, for reappointing Dr. Martha Giddens to the Lowndes County Division of Family and Children Services Board, two well and septic rezonings, Lowndes County Road Naming Resolution and Procedure that they haven’t published even though it’s because a Commissioner said citizens requested it, and the latest in the long-running Juvenile Justice Court diversionary program grant contract.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 13, 2015 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

County and landowners still paying for failed 2007 James Road mega-mall boondoggle @ LCC 2015-06-22

Back again: the James Road subsidy for a failed mega-mall that we just keep on paying, eight years later!

Five companies showed up at the May 27th pre-bid meeting, but only one bid for $71,192 was received from Rountree Construction for the Commercial Driveway for Raceway on James Road, said County Engineer Mike Fletcher at the 22 June 2015 Lowndes County Work Session. The Commission at their 23 June 2015 Regular Session approved that yet another fix-up payment caused by the county’s 2009 widening of James Road “from a two-lane local road with ditches to a five-lane road with curb and gutter” for the never-happened Market Street mall and subdivision project. And local elected officials say bus systems need subsidies? Every road and bridge is a subsidy for private developers. And James Road is a subsidy we just keep on paying year after year.

The county spent SPLOST VI funds and $587,000 in GDOT funds on this subsidy for private developers, some of them from Tampa, while requiring local James Road property owners to Continue reading →

Videos: Four board appointments, plus Justice, Water, and Alcohol @ LCC 2015-06-23

$16,915 to upgrade a water main to subsidize a developer, but no approval of $15,957 to study public transportation and truck routing.

Speaking of subsidizing private developers, there’s yet more fallout from the failed 2007 mega-mall-and-subdivision Market Street project; see separate post.

And the Chairman gave an excellent demonstration of why elected officials would benefit by interacting and even debating with citizens, instead of jumping to conclusions and preaching at them.

Here’s the agenda, and the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session and the budget hearing immediately before the Regular Session. Below are the Regular Session LAKE videos with a few comments, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Videos: Regular Session GEFA, road abandonment, bids, and water @ LCC 2015-05-26

Attorney had to remind Commissioners that a road abandonment such as for Buck Cato Road requires a public hearing. They declared the solid waste equipment surplus to be leased to “prospective franchisees” such as DSS; County Manager said “we have the lease agreement here”, but did not put it on the county’s website for the public to see. County agent arrived just in time to hear the Langdale bid accepted for a truck for the Extension Service. They accepted the Lee Office Supply bid for Emergency Operations Center tables and chairs. And of course they approved the Interconnection of North Lowndes and Kinderlou Water Systems and the GEFA Loan Modification for the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant. They started a minute late. At the end, after the County Manager had no report and no citizens wished to be heard, as usual they adjourned without a vote.

This was all at the afternoon Lowndes County Regular Session. For background and more details, see Continue reading →

Videos: GEFA, road abandonment, bids, and water @ LCC 2015-05-26

The County Manager said it’s “in the hands of the clerk, if you’d like to look at it” for at least two documents, so not only did the agenda on the web lack even the one-sheet agenda item writeups, Commissioners weren’t provided copies of contracts they were being asked to approve. They vote this same evening, and the Planning Commission also meets 5:30 PM Tuesday.

The GEFA Loan Modification turns out to be about Continue reading →

GEFA, road abandonment, bids, and water @ LCC 2015-05-26

We don’t know what the GEFA Loan Modification is about,
Photo: Michael Rivera, CC attribution share alike because not even the one-page agenda sheets are included this time. Similarly, we don’t know why they want to abandon Buck Cato Road (CR 880), or what vehicles they want to surplus and sell, or who else bid for the 3/4 Ton Truck for the Extension Service, or for the Tables and Chairs for the Emergency Operations Center, nor why the want to interconnect the North Lowndes and Kinderlou Water Systems.

Here’s the agenda. Because of the Monday Memorial Day holiday, the Work Session is Tuesday morning, the Regular Session is that same evening, and the Planning Commission also meets 5:30 PM Tuesday.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015  8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Why can’t we have our own energy system?

Good question.

EWA, 7 May 2015, The Tesla Battery Heralds the Beginning of the End for Fossil Fuels,

Rather than wondering “Can we have our own energy system?” people are going to be wanting to know “Why can’t we have it?”

This is why early adopters like Alton Burns and George Bennett matter: other people start asking: why can’t we have that? And now that HB 57 is finally law, lots more people can have solar power without mortgaging the farm. Then they ask this question: why can’t we have storage?

The Tesla Energy program unveiled last week is Continue reading →

Tesla announces prices for home battery

Power generation for both traditional electricity uses and transportation is changing.

Michael Liedtke and Jonathan Fahey wrote for AP and Inc. 1 May 2015, Elon Musk Unveils Tesla’s Ambitious New Home Battery System: “Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Musk told reporters gathered in Hawthorne, California.

The batteries are likely to become more useful if, as expected, more utilities and regulators allow Continue reading →

Videos: Justice, Trash, Telephones, Investment, DUI, Liquor @ LCC 2015-04-27

They vote tonight at 5:30 PM on what you can see them discussing yesterday morning in these videos.

They got a Deep South Sanitation, LLC Application for Franchise for trash collection, including use of the county’s collection facility at 345 Gil Harbin Industrial Blvd. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked what about recycling; Chairman Bill Slaughter said there would be recycling at the collection centers. Which means yes ADS’ price went up and service reduced since no curbside recycling collection anymore.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked County Engineer Mike Fletcher to report and to be added to the Regular Session emergency Nankin Road Repair due to a water-eroded box culvert. And it’s a single-source no-bid, this time for Rountree Construction.

Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker had a few remarks about the letter to support plans to “renovate Arbor Trace II Apartments in Lake Park” by Investment Management Company of Valdosta, Inc.

The body armor request from two weeks before got Continue reading →

Videos: Fire aid, drinking, driving, and air conditioning @ LCC 2015-03-24

One citizen got cut off just as he said the county attorney thought he could interpret state law however he liked. In addition to the Lake Park Fire Department Automatic Aid Agreement the County Manager asked at the Work Session to add to agenda, they also added Southern Region Traffic Enforcement Network (SRTEN). Plus not on the agenda there was recognition of student guests. See also the previous morning’s Work Session Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful cleanup presentation. They meet again this morning.

Also voted on two weeks ago were changes to the speed zone ordinance, a GEMA grant application, a proposal for engineering services for Exits 22 and 29, HVAC for county buildings, and a liquor license. Here’s the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015  8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →