While LAKE would be ecstatic if all elected and appointed bodies did their own PR so we didn’t have to, in the meantime, we’re here, and we do what we can, with a little help from everyone involved.
| How Much | To Whom | From | For What |
|---|---|---|---|
| $7,200.00 | Lovell Engineering Associates | Valdosta | Design of Culvert |
| $48,010.00 | Doyle Hancock & Sons Construc. | Doerun | Clearing and Grubbing |
| $1,357,887.92 | The Scruggs Company | Valdosta | Paving |
| $1,413,097.92 | All contractors | Total |
This financial information comes from an open records request filed by Carolyn Selby more than a year ago and finally fulfilled 17 March 2011. Copies of all the pages received are in the flickr set.
How many other roads could have been paved for $1.4 million?
If this road had been paved like a local rural road,
instead of like a state highway (literally according to
state highway standards) it would not have cost nearly
as much and probably another shorter road could have been paved, too.
And if other roads were paved like local roads instead of state
highways, how many more of them could be paved?
They still wait while this one got paved to the tune of $1.4 million.
-jsq
Continue reading
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
Policy Committee
Special Called Meeting Agenda
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
1:30 PM
Do you ever wonder what your regular SPLOST 1% sales tax goes for?
Some of it goes to buy vehicles for Valdosta Public Works.
Here’s the video:
6.a) Four F-650 Trucks for Public Works, some from SPLOST @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
-jsq
Public Notice of a Public Comment and Review Period and Public Open HouseContinue reading
In accordance with requirements set forth in 23 CFR 450.316, 42 USC 2000d, Executive Order 12898, and Executive Order 13166, and other laws and regulations; the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO) has developed the Draft Public Participation Plan (PPP) which includes a Limited-English Proficiency Plan and Title VI Compliance Plan, for the Valdosta Metropolitan Planning Area which includes all of Lowndes County and portions of Berrien and Lanier Counties.
This PPP is available for public review and comment from April 15, 2011
He says there’s a lot more to learn,
T-SPLOST has got a good regional executive committee,
etc., but:
Right now, I do not have a good or warm fuzzy feeling about this. That could change.And previously he said if it did change, he would come back and tell us about it.
That was Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC), talking at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting about T-SPLOST.
Here’s the video:
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Next: Questions.
-jsq
Gretchen Quarterman, Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
thanks
Corey Hull of VLMPO and says the next speaker will give us
some inside knowledge about T-SPLOST.
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
is not a fan of T-SPLOST.
He says:
He made that point at least three times.Y’all know I’m on the executive committee, so I guess I should be a salesman. But I’m sorry. Y’all know me pretty well, I’ve got to really be not just a little bit correct, but it’s got to be good for the people. I think what disturbs me, is when you’ve got to put something in the law that’s a stick, carrot and stick, you don’t do what I’ve said you’re going to get punished.
He also doesn’t like Continue reading
OK, so
the regional executive committee selects from the T-SPLOST lists
submitted by the local jurisdications and boomaranged through GDOT.
Then what?
Corey Hull of VLMPO says:
Public meetings will be held in August and September before the regional transportation roundtable meets before October 15th; that’s what their deadline is to vote….Here’s the video:The referendum will be in the summer of 2012 … July or August 2012….
Then the tax begins January 2013.
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Next: Ashley Paulk talks about the T-SPLOST executive committee.
-jsq
Corey Hull of VLMPO explains that next they go to GDOT and then back.
Here’s the video:…
On June 1st or thereabouts, the executive committee that Chairman Paulk is on is gonna receive the unconstrained project list. It won’t be … constrained to the amount of money the economists say we will receive.
…
It is that executive committee’s responsibility to go through and select projects and select the projects off that we can afford for the region.
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Next: Referendum in 2012.
-jsq
That’s Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant Program (LMIG). So if they get $100,000 from LMIG they’ll have to match that with $50,000. This will affect smaller communities the most, since they use the most LMIG funds proportionally. And the most likely way to raise the funds to match is to raise property taxes.If the regional transportation roundtable does not agree on a list to present to the voters by October 15th of 2011, then each jurisdiction in this region must match their Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant … at a rate of 50%.
So what if there is a list on the ballot but the voters vote it down? Continue reading