Category Archives: VLCAA

Lowndes County Boards and Commissions Term Expirations – Current Opportunities 2022-2023

You may want to apply to get appointed to one of these boards, authorities, or commissions.

Some of these opportunities have already passed, but most are in 2023.

For how to apply, see the bottom of the web page for each body.

Lowndes County, News Flash, April 26, 2022,

2022-2023 Boards and Commissions Term Expirations – Current Opportunities

[Lowndes County Boards and Commissions]
Lowndes County Boards and Commissions

Lowndes County Development Authority

  • Gary Moser – 1/09/22

Board of Health

  • Mary Margaret Richardson – 12/31/22
  • Randy Smith – 12/31/22

Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals

  • Victoria Copeland – 5/7/23
  • Marion Ramsey – 5/7/23

Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority

  • Anthony Payton – 5/21/23

Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority

  • Crawford Powell – 5/31/23
  • Scott Purvis – 5/31/23

Lowndes County Division of Family and Children Services Board

  • Elsie Napier – 6/30/23

South Georgia Regional Library Board

  • Dr. Beverley Richardson-Blake – 6/30/23
  • Dr. George Gaumond – 6/30/23
  • Gary Wisenbaker – 6/30/23
  • Thomas Lovett – 6/30/23
  • DeWayne Johnson – 6/30/23

Valdosta-Lowndes County Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals

  • Tripp Howell – 6/30/23
  • Charles “Chuck” Smith – 6/30/23 (Rotating appt.) now City’s turn to appt.

Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority

  • Suzan Garnett -6/30/23
  • Cisco Diaz – 6/30/23 (Rotating Appt.) – City’s turn to appoint

Valdosta Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority

  • Commissioner Joyce Evans – 12/31/23
  • Michael Smith – 12/31/23

[2022-2023 Boards and Commissions Term Expirations - Current Opportunities]
2022-2023 Boards and Commissions Term Expirations – Current Opportunities

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Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate

RIP Sonny Vickers + two sewer lines fixed @ VCC 2022-06-23

Update 2022-06-27: Trash boom good; more needed –Suwannee Riverkeeper @ VCC 2022-06-23.

Flags are to fly half-mast Sunday across the entire state of Georgia at the state Capitol and in Lowndes County for the late Sonny Vickers, whose absence loomed large over the Valdosta City Council meeting. The funeral will be 3 PM Sunday. There will be a special election for his Council seat, as required by the city charter.

[Sonny Vickers and other matters]
Sonny Vickers and other matters

Mayor and Council also increased the number of vehicles for their on-call transit service, and approved two sewer line fixes.

One Citizen to Be Heard proposed renaming Cherry Street to Sonny Vickers Lane. Two others asked the city to do more about trash.

Also, that was the last Council meeting for Utilities Director David Frost, whose last day was today (Friday).

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. Some of the materials are out of order (I don’t know why), so if you don’t find something at first, keep looking.

Here’s a LAKE video playlist:

RIP Sonny Vickers + two sewer lines fixed @ VCC 2022-06-23
Valdosta City Council Regular Session, June 23, 2022, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Airport, parking lots, transit, CDBG, sewer, and WWTP @ VCC 2022-06-23

Update 2022-06-24: LAKE videos.

The Valdosta City Council tomorrow will consider two sewer line issues, at Sustella Avenue and at the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. Also two airport issues, and more.

Including a special election for City Council District 3, now vacant because of the death of Sonny Vickers (pictured, top left). Terry Richards, Valdosta Daily Times, June 17, 2022, Vickers passes: Remembering Valdosta’s first Black mayor

[Front Row: Mayor Scott James Matheson; Middle Row: Ben Norton, Council At-Large, Sandra Tooley, District 2, Tim Carroll, District 5, Vivian Miller-Cody, Mayor Pro-Tem, District 1; Back Row: Sonny Vickers, District 3, Andy Gibbs, District 6, Eric Howard, District 4.]
Front Row: Mayor Scott James Matheson; Middle Row: Ben Norton, Council At-Large, Sandra Tooley, District 2, Tim Carroll, District 5, Vivian Miller-Cody, Mayor Pro-Tem, District 1; Back Row: Sonny Vickers, District 3, Andy Gibbs, District 6, Eric Howard, District 4.

Here is the agenda.

AMENDED AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, June 23, 2022
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Continue reading

Videos: Seven minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol, plus long County Manager Reports @ LCC 2022-05-10

Two weeks ago, the six-minute Reports took almost as long as the entire rest of the Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

[Appointments and Reports]
Appointments and Reports

Clay Griner did show up to vote on an item in his district, but Scottie Orenstein did not: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. Commissioner Demarcus Marshall was also absent. Commissioners Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker were present both at the Work Session and this Regular Session. Chairman Bill Slaughter was present.

County Manager Paige Dukes was also present, giving many Reports, assisted in a video about Griner Park at Webster and Ashley Street.

Commissioner Joyce Evans provided some amusment, Continue reading

Videos: Five minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol @ LCC 2022-05-09

Update 2022-05-23: Regular Session Videos: Seven minutes for three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol, plus long County Manager Reports @ LCC 2022-05-10.

In the five-minute Work Session yesterday morning, the few Commissioners who showed up breezed through everything with no discussion. Commissioners Scottie Orenstein and Clay Griner were absent, even though this is in their districts: 6.b. Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Sect 2. But of course it is expected that the Commission will approve that item this evening at 5:30 PM. County Manager Paige Dukes was also absent, in her case due to illness.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist. There are no notes, because nothing happened worth commenting on. See also Continue reading

Three appointments, one subdivision streets, and alcohol @ LCC 2022-05-09

The Lowndes County Commission continues to pretend that accepting streets for a subdivision won’t cost taxpayers anything in future maintenance, nor previously in running water and sewer there. Back in October 2019, when the county accepted infrastructure for Phase V, County Engineer Mike Fletcher said that was “the last phase of Grove Pointe”. Yet here we are with Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Grove Pointe Phase V Section 2.

[Beer and Streets]
Beer and Streets

Connecting Grove Pointe to Val Del Road by the Nelson Hill subdivision was planned since at least 2006, and that’s why Simpson Lane and Clyattstone Road got paved. Despite all that, today’s Grove Pointe agenda item is marked “BUDGET IMPACT: N/A”.

Also on the agenda Continue reading

Okefenokee resolution, Planning Commission, Airport, Sewer system, Road renaming moratorium @ VCC 2021-11-11

With a packed agenda, the Valdosta City Council passed eight resolutions, approved five bids or purchases, and appointed people to four boards, yet the longest discussion was after all that.

[Mayor, Howard, Gibbs, WWTP, Manager & Tooley, Suwannee Riverkeeper]
Mayor, Howard, Gibbs, WWTP, Manager & Tooley, Suwannee Riverkeeper

Perhaps the most far-reaching item was one of the briefest, presented by Mayor Scott James Matheson: 3.f. Resolution in Opposition to a proposed strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, opposing the proposed Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) strip mine or any others within ten miles of the Swamp, asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its abdication of oversight, asking GA-EPD for a moratorium on all mining permits until effects are settled of the recent court overruling of 2020 Clean Water Act changes, as well as to reject the TPM permits, or at least to review those applications as thoroughly as the Army Corps would, and asking the Georgia legislature to prevent such strip mines near the Swamp or any blackwater rivers in the Suwannee River Basin. Continue reading

Airport appointment, alcohol*2, courthouse, facilities, Infrastructure for The Landings, Jail hardware, fire station #5 @ LCC 2021-04-26

Only two items have dollar costs attached in the agenda for this Monday and Tuesday. No cost is cited for Acceptance of Infrastructure for The Landings Phase II, even though that will cost the county in future road maintenance, fixing any water or sewer line leaks, sending fire trucks and Sheriff’s deputies, and especially in sending school buses.

Cost What
$796,865.00Lowndes County Fire Rescue Station #5 Additions and Renovations
$26,751.00Purchase of License and Hardware for the Odyssey Jail Project
$823,616.00Total

[Alcohol, Streets, Fire station]
Alcohol, Streets, Fire station

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website:
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-04-26–lcc-packet.

Here is the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2021, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading

Videos: EMT, Cleaning, Bids, VLCIA bonds, Airport Authority, Opioids @ LCC 2018-05-22

By far the longest item was a special proclamation for EMT Services, at 4.5 minutes, followed by cleaning bids, which took almost three minutes for the Lowndes County Commission to reject.

In Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, Gretchen took 2 minutes to invite them to WWALS’ Wild & Scenic Film Festival, at Mathis Auditorium, Thursday, May 31, 2018.

WSFF WWALS Logo, Graphics

Almost everything else was read out and unanimously approved, except the one most contentious the previous morning, 7 b. Additional Deputy Coroner Request, was tabled.

Below are Continue reading

Videos: New County Agents, VLCIA bonds, Airport Authority, Opioids @ LCC 2018-05-21

Not on the agenda, County Agent Jake Price introduced two new people in his office. The Industrial Authority Executive Director explained the bonds are not new, she just wants to refinance them to reduce payments.

Among items they will vote on tonight at 5:30 PM, the longest item at almost four minutes was the request for an additional Deputy Coroner. Looks like they’re finally going to sign up an attorney for the opoioid litigation. They spent more time on the cleaning bids.

The whole Work Session Monday morning took 13 minutes, including the presentaitons. Below are Continue reading