And now a word from
award-winning
Valdosta
City Clerk Teresa Bolden. -jsq
Good morning — I wanted to let you know that the Work Session
scheduled
for January 8th
and the Council Meeting scheduled for January 10th
have both been cancelled due to the lack of items on the Agenda. Our
next Regular Council Meeting will be held on January 24th.
And now for some good local news:
Valdosta City Clerk Teresa Bolden has been recognized by an international
institute.
Valdosta city PR 18 December 2012,
Valdosta City Clerk Teresa Bolden Earns CMC,
City of Valdosta Clerk Teresa Bolden has earned the designation of
Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC), awarded by the International
Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), Inc. IIMC grants the CMC
designation exclusively to municipal clerks who complete the
demanding education requirements and who have a record of
significant contributions to their local government, their community
and state.“In light of the speed and drastic nature of change these days,
lifelong learning is not only desirable, it is necessary for all in
local government to keep pace with growing demands and changing
needs of the citizens we serve,” said City Manager Larry Hanson.
“Teresa performs her duties with the highest degree of
professionalism and integrity and is a great credit to our city and
to her profession. We are fortunate to benefit from her talent and
ability.”
As an example of Clerk Bolden’s work, here is
baldosta’s apparently complete online list of ordinances.
-jsq
Bainbridge City Hall now hums with solar energy,
Tristan Baurick wrote for Kitsap Sun 2 August 2012:
City Hall’s array of 297 rooftop solar panels is expected to produce
the equivalent of 20 percent of the building’s energy needs,
according to Joe Deets, executive director of Community Energy
Solutions, the Bainbridge nonprofit group that spearheaded the
privately-funded project.“This is a great day for Bainbridge,” Deets said.
How many solar panels do you see on Valdosta City Hall?
Well, that’s a historic building.
But how about City Hall Annex?
The parking lot?
The
formerly “100% Paid by SPLOST” Lowndes County palace that
we’re now paying almost $9 million in bonds for?
Nope, not a solar panel in sight.
Oh, sorry, that’s
Why should businesses have to pay an additional license fee
for Sunday alcohol sales, if the only justification is
to raise money to pay for administering that license?
That was a topic at yesterday morning's
Lowndes County Commission Work Session
for agenda item
6.a.
Revision to the Lowndes County Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance.
Finance Director Stephanie Black mentioned the things
we already heard from the staff,
brown bagging,
social hosts (serving alcohol at private events to underage drinkers),
and the
Sunday package sales.
She said for the
voter-approved Sunday alcohol sales
the license fee would be $250,
plus a requirement for an immigration affidavit.
Commissioner Powell took exception to that additional license fee,
which would be on top of a license fee already necessary for the
rest of the week.
Black and Chairman Paulk defended it as necessary to collect
money to administer the license fee.
Powell wondered if they'd need the money if they didn't
have the license fee.
Paulk said the city of Valdosta charges $1000 for a Sunday license.
Powell said he disagreed with that, too.
Here's
the video:
Additional license fee for Sunday alcohol sales?
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 December 2012.
-jsq
Why did SPLOST in Houston County, Georgia win by a landslide
while SPLOST VII in Lowndes County lost?
Houston County’s SPLOST passed in March 2012 by a landslide.
Christina M. Wright wrote for The Telegraph 6 March 2012,
UPDATE: Houston officials celebrate landslide SPLOST approval,
“This is a ‘thank you’ for the voters,” said Houston
County Chairman Tommy Stalnaker as Warner Robins Councilman Paul
Shealy presented the black and white sign. “They are the real
victors of this thing tonight.”…Unofficial results showed the SPLOST received 10,029 ‘yes’ votes
to 4,799 ‘no’ votes. More affirmative than negative votes were
cast in every precinct.
That’s 67.6% to 32.4%, and a difference:
Houston County local elected officials
thanked the voters.
Lowndes County Chairman Ashley Paulk,
who rushed through a SPLOST vote a year early,
Here is a list of the members of the
Lowndes County Board of Health:
Board Members |
|
|
William R. Grow, MD, FACP District Health Director |
|
|
Mark Eanes, MD Chair, Physician |
|
|
Mary Margaret Richardson, EdD Vice Chair, Licensed Nurse |
|
|
Randy Smith, DDS Secretary, Consumer Advocate |
|
|
Sheila Warren Advocate for Needy, Underprivileged or Elderly |
|
|
Richard Raines Lowndes County Commissioner |
|
|
John Gayle City of Valdosta Mayor |
|
|
Wes Taylor Lowndes County Schools Superintendent |
|
As we’ve seen, solid waste is a matter of public health, safety,
well-being, and the environment,
according to Georgia state law.
Whose responsibility is it to protect the environment
and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste?
Many health and safety issues are handled through the health department,
including the Georgia Department of Public Health,
and the
South Health District
(Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift and Turner Counties).
Particularly, water quality (septic tanks, well water), food safety,
cleanliness of hotels, motels, restaurants, swimming pools and so on
are the responsibility of the local health department,
such as the
Lowndes County Health Department.
However, disposal of solid waste (trash/garbage) is handled by
the local municipality or governmental body (county).
The EPA has a variety of documents available about solid waste.
So does the state EPD, as enabled through Georgia Legislation:
Existing Rules and Corresponding Laws.
So, where does this leave us?
See next post.
-gretchen
Here’s
a video playlist of the 20 November 2012 South Georgia Regional Library Board meeting.
And here’s
George Rhynes’ editorial on what he saw, heard, and was asked at that meeting.
He’d prefer SPLOST being spent first on sidewalks
than on moving the library where people would have
to go farther to get to it.
Also, like many of us, he’s tired of a few people controlling
the purse-strings without input from the rest of us.
He gave an example:
At
Tuesday’s South Georgia Library Board meeting.
a board member (his nameplate said Willis Miller)
wanted to know about SPLOST:
How we know it’s going to come up next November or at another time?
Good question.
Here’s video of the discussion as
it resumed later in the meeting:
SPLOST VII discussion at Monthly Meeting, South Georgia Library Board (SGLB),
Video by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I. and bostongbr on YouTube,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 November 2012.
Kay Harris said there had to be a
minimum of twelve months, so November 2013 would be the next possible time.
She said County Commissioner Richard Raines had expressed full support for the new library,
and she was talking to the other commissioners.
She was asked whether the SPLOST lists would be the same,
and said there might be some changes,
but she hadn’t heard anyone suggest that the Five Points property might be deleted.
That’s curious, because
she quoted Valdosta Mayor Gayle in the VDT 7 November 2012 as saying:
The VDT went out and did some research and discovered that
agriculture is not only still here in Lowndes County,
it’s one of the biggest industries here, and by some
measures it’s increasing.
What if the local elected and appointed and self-appointed
boards and authorities helped promote agriculture
as a local industry?
Kay Harris wrote for the VDT yesterday,
South Georgia agriculture alive and well,
Agriculture and forestry remain among the strongest economic engines
in South Georgia, including Lowndes County.A look at the recent farmgate value for 2011 for Lowndes County
shows a $70 million effect on the local economy, making it one of
the strongest private-sector industries in the county following
South Georgia Medical Center.The popularity of The Times’ bi-monthly sister publication Ag Scene
led this newspaper to look at the ag/forestry industry to see if it
has diminished in economic importance over the years.
Actually, the number of farms in Lowndes County
has slightly increased in recent some recent years.
The VDT proceeded to do som research, asking Jake Price,
Lowndes County Extension Agent, who noted there are actually
more farms in Lowndes County than in some surrounding counties,
because they tended to be smaller here, with quite a few people
farming on the side.
That and agriculture-based events have become more popular,
such as last week’s Hog Show.
(And he didn’t mention the new last year Valdosta Farm Days.)
He continued:
