Category Archives: Trash

Surprise trash talk: repeat scheduled for tomorrow! @ LCC 2013-02-11

Not on the agenda, Veolia, excuse me, ADS,
stood up to talk about trash collection

Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
All of the new Commisioners had questions, some of which were answered.
A repeat performance is scheduled for Tuesday evening: don’t miss it!




Dave Shepler, regional manager of Advanced Disposal (not on the agenda)

He said ADS wanted to start March 1 in order to give people time to
mail in their cards and sign up, but the February 1st date was
“what the county wanted to do.”
About 400 accounts that had slow delivery, even though they called
in very early; “coding error”.
Can deliver about 200 carts a day, one crew is doing nothing
but handling complaints.
Some carts delivered without pickup information; he blamed that on the wind.
Missed pickups.
When the Bemiss center (presumably the one at Pine Grove)
was closed over 3,000 people had not signed up,
and there is trash on the ground that ADS is picking up.
After 30 days

Continue reading →

News about Hotchkiss Landing @ LCC 2013-02-11



After the

Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session
was over, a couple of Commissioners indicated to inquiring citizens
that they had seen a contract by which Acree Investments LTD
sold land on both sides of Old State Road to the Alapaha River
to Phillip Connell.
This contract has not been filed with the county,
and that’s why the Tax Assessors’ database doesn’t show it.
I confirmed later today with Dr. Acree that he had sold 16 acres
to Phillip Connell several years ago.
Very interesting; if it is even Old State Road they’re considering closing (see below).


Public Hearing sign on Old State Road
What sort of public hearing is it going to be tomorrow evening
when this new information was not revealed to the public even
in the Work Session, and the only way the public could find out
was by going and asking a Commissioner personally?

In positive news, various Commissioners expressed approval of the
idea of

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Acree Park at Hotchkiss Landing?



How about if Lowndes County buys the land next to Old State Road
at Hotchkiss Crossing on the Alapaha River and turns it into
Acree Park?
That would be a much better solution to the trash, tresspassing,
and hunting problems there than closing the road.
And Lowndes County itsels claims it has plenty of money available
for just such a purpose.

As we’ve seen, Lowndes County’s own Comprehensive Plan says
the county has $500,000 in Acquisition Funds Available to
“Adopt, implement, and update provisions of the Greenspace Initiative Plan to include land acquisition and resource enhancement/protection.”
And that it plans to
“Continue preparation and implementation of the Withlacoochee River Greenway Plan.”

What say the county acquires parkland at Hotchkiss Landing
from

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Ways to fix the trash problem

I commend Commissioner John Page for
his op-ed in the VDT today,


attempting to do what no other Commissioner has tried:
to explain the trash issue.
Indeed, like him, most of the people I talked
to while campaigning for Gretchen were for keeping
the waste collection centers open, and of those
the vast majority were willing to pay more,
which is the main reason the previous Commission
made a big mistake in closing those centers.
Unfortunately his letter seems to indicate nothing can be done.
Well, here are some things that can be done.

Let the contract lapse.

Commissioner Joyce Evans insisted on the contract
with the sole provider being only for one year.
Let it lapse after that year!

Publish the contract.

What’s in the contract?
How do we even know it’s for only one year?
The new Commission already had to

do over a decision of the previous Commission
(remove license fee from Sunday alcohol sales)
because the ordinance written up afterwards wasn’t what
they thought they passed.
Publish the contract and let everyone see!

Publish an accounting for the waste collection sites.

Commissioner Page wrote:

The county was losing hundreds of thousands
of dollars each year because the fees for the permits
were not bringing in enough money to fully fund
the sites.

How do we know that?

Continue reading →

Hotchkiss Landing Road Closing, 3 rezonings, 3 contracts @ LCC 2013-02-11

Monday morning and voting Tuesday evening at the Lowndes County Commission,
three rezonings, three contracts, and the proposed closing of


the part of Old State Road leading to Hotchkiss Landing on the Alapaha River,
with all its complications
such as

why did Code Enforcement do nothing about that road being blocked for many months?
And why was there

no public hearing sign on the road
until (I hear) it suddenly appeared late yesterday?

Here’s

the agenda. -jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

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Why did Lowndes County do nothing about a blocked public road?

Old State Road at the Alapaha River is a county-maintained public road.
How could Lowndes County not have known that it was

blocked by two huge blocks of concrete

Seen by google earth 2012-01-24
at Hotchkiss Landing from late 2010 through at least early 2012?
Why did Code Enforcement do nothing about it?

These blocks of concrete have to be quite heavy.
This is not random litter, and no partier or hunter or 4-wheeler would
have any motivation to block the road, much less with blocks this size.
Who would?
Why didn’t the county find out and do something about it?

-jsq

Public Notice for public hearing on abandoning part of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River

Why is there no sign on Old State Road

about the proposed abandonment of the part leading to the Alapaha River
like there was in 2010?
There’s a clue in the letter of the law Lowndes County is citing.


NOTICE OF PROPOSED ROAD ABANDONMENT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED

NOTICE OF PROPOSED

ROAD ABANDONMENT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1) the

Parcel 0259 030A
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has determined that a section
of Old State Road (CR # 16) has ceased to be used by the public to
the extent that no substantial purpose is served or by it that its
removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public
interest. The section of Old State Road that is proposed for
abandonment lies .85 miles to the east of Good Hope Road (CR # 126)
and travels approximately .17 miles before termination at the
Alapaha River.

YOU ARE ALSO HEREBY NOTIFIED that pursuant to said Code section the

2009: canoeists taking out at that road
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing for
the purpose of determining whether to declare the subject section of
the subject road abandoned. The public hearing will be at 5:30 P.M.
on February 12, 2013, at the Lowndes County Administration Building
located at 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

Any citizen of Lowndes County or any person wherever residing may be
heard by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the
aforesaid public hearing.


County Manager, Joseph D. Pritchard
This 28th day of January, 2013.

Joseph D. Pritchard

County Manager

Lowndes County, Georgia

00046658

2/1,8/13

Note that last part:

“or any person wherever residing may be heard by the
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners during the aforesaid public hearing.”

That means you do not have to be a citizen or resident or taxpayer
of Lowndes County to speak at this public hearing.

There’s no public hearing sign on the affected portion of that road.
Why is that?
Here’s

O.C.G.A. 32-7-2(b)(1):

Continue reading →

Petition the Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access

Seen Monday. -jsq


Lowndes County Commission: Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.



Petition by

April Huntley

This access to the Alapaha River is the only remaining public access
within Lowndes County. It has great historical significance to the
Naylor community. It continues to be used by boaters, fishermen and
families for recreation.



To:

Lowndes County Commission

Keep County Road 16 leading to the Alapaha River open to public access.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

The Commission

decided 26 October 2010 to keep that road open


but because they think they have new information

have scheduled it for another public hearing and vote
apparently at their next Regular Session,
which is next Tuesday, 12 February 2013.

-jsq

Petition the Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers

Seen today; I’ve added some links.
Yesterday I also saw (and signed) a paper version. -jsq


Lowndes County Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.



 Petition by

April Huntley

Naylor, GA

The County

is responsible for protecting the health and safety of the public.
They

have made decisions to

close all the county dump sites
and license

one out of state waste collection company with

little, if any public input.
There is

concern among citizens of
more

trash being on roadways,
more

expense on their part, being forced to

pay for a service the county should provide and

not having choice
in collection companies which

may put small business owners out of business
while backing a large out of state company.

To:

Joyce Evans, District # 1 Commissioner

Richard Raines, District # 2 Commissioner

Crawford Powell, District # 3 Commissioner

Demarcus Marshall, District # 4 Commissioner

John Page, District # 5 Commissioner

Bill Slaughter, County Commission Chairman

Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Video, hearing about abandoning Old State Road at the Alapaha River @ LCC 2010-10-26



Here is video of the

public hearing in which the Lowndes County Commission
decided 26 October 2010
not to abandon a portion of Old State Road leading to the Alapaha River.


This is the same stretch of road

that's scheduled for another such hearing in two weeks from tomorrow.



The camera aim is a bit erratic, and you can see why we hadn't already
posted this video (which is actually several briefer videos pasted together
with a few gaps).
Yet you can clearly see, after
Glenda Cofield and

Steve Bays
spoke against closing the road,



someone else
started speaking from the audience.
Then



Commissioner Joyce Evans asked those opposed to stand up,
and many people did.
You can see County Engineer Mike Fletcher in the background.












Presumably some of the people who stood were among the 450 people
mentioned in

the minutes:

Glenda Cofield, Mullins Lane, spoke against the request, and presented
a petition submitted prior to the work session with the unverified
signatures of 450 area residents included.

Why were the signatures still unverified if she submitted the petition
before the work session of the previous day?

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