Category Archives: Water

Videos: Litigation Executive Session, Lighting Ordinance, Drainage, Well, Trash, Software, Trucks @ LCC 2018-03-26



An

Executive Session for pending or potential litigation
:
are they going to sue Deep South Sanitation again?
Some of them sure seem to want to find any excuse
not to re-approve

DSS’s franchise
, which was the longest item at three minutes.

Second longest was two minutes for the

Bid for Mini Excavator for the Utilities Department
.
Slow morning at the County Commission.

Below are links to each LAKE video with a very few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
agenda.
They vote this evening at 5:30 PM. Continue reading

Lighting Ordinance, Drainage, Well, Trash, Software, Trucks @ LCC 2018-02-26

The
Street Lighting Ordinance
on
the agenda for this morning and tomorrow evening
is not among those on the

County Ordinances
web page.
How are we to
“Know the Laws”, as the link from the county’s front page says,
when unknown ordinances keep popping up?
Ah, it’s currently
a resolution and they want to make it an ordinance.


Lighting-ordinance-agenda-sheet-0001,

The

agenda sheet
says
“For
reference, copies of maps Continue reading

Videos: Branham subdivision, Trash, RR crossing @ LCC 2018-03-13



Most of the meeting (13 and a half minutes) was about

Bill Branham’s subdivision
,
which passed,
with the Chairman breaking the tie because one Commissioner recused himself.
Opponents took up almost another minute

leaving the room
.

On a split vote the Commission

declined to modify the solid waste ordinance to give the County Manager more power
.

Second longest at more than 6 minutes was

Michael J. Killeen’s R-A to M-1 rezoning
.
Virdie Mae Lyons got her

well and septic rezoning
in a minute and a half.

Two water items:

not clear how much Continue reading

Videos: Conference Center, Branham subdivision, Trash, RR crossing @ LCC 2018-03-12



Lengthiest at more than three and a half minutes was

the Bill Branham subdivision rezoning
,
plus a tie for second at 2 minutes 13 seconds between

the new Conference Center CEO

and

the
Virdie Mae Lyons Old Clyattvile Road well and septic rezoning
,
at yesterday morning’s Work Session.
Gretchen is off with the LAKE video camera to the voting Regular Session
tonight.

The County Manager wants more power through

an ordinance

that would further favor Advanced Disposal Services (ADS)
over Deep South Sanitation (DSS).

Two water items: Continue reading

Conference Center, Branham subdivision, Trash, RR crossing @ LCC 2018-03-12

On

the agenda

for Monday’s Work Session,

the agenda

a word from the

new-as-of-January CEO
(not Executive Director) of the

Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority
.
On the agenda for both Monday and Tuesday evening’s Regular Session,
Bill Branham’s Copeland Road subdivision,
back for at least the third time in four calendar years,
plus

an ordinance

that would further favor Advanced Disposal Services (ADS)
over Deep South Sanitation (DSS).
Better news:

bids for a
Portable 65 KW Generator
to keep lift stations from leaking.


Chris Hamilton


Photo: Chris Hamilton via

Valdosta Daily Times
.

See also
the LAKE videos
of the most recent Planning Commission meeting
for all three rezoning cases,
and that post also has
links to videos of most
of the previous appearances of the Branham Project.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2018, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order

  2. Invocation

  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

  4. Chris Hamilton- CEO, Valdosta- Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority (Work Session)

  5. Minutes for Approval

    1. Work Session- February 26, 2018

    2. Regular Session- February 27, 2018
  6. Public Hearing

    1. REZ-2018-04 Lyons, 1350 Old Clyattville Rd, R-A to C-H, Well and Septic, 8.05 acres

      GLPC Recommendation: Approval
      TRC Recommendation: Various

      Documents:Rezoning Case REZ-2018-04.pdf

    2. REZ-2018-05 Killeen, 1228 S Main St, R-A to M-1, 27.5 acres

      GLPC Recommendation: Approval with 1 Condition (Paving)
      TRC Recommendation: Various

      Documents:Rezoning Case REZ-2018-05.pdf

    3. REZ-2018-07 Branham Project, 2480 Copeland Rd, R-1 to R-10 Water/Sewer, 18.04 acres

      GLPC Recommendation: Approval with 4 Conditions
      TRC Recommendation: Various   

      Documents:Rezoning Case REZ-2018-07.pdf

  7. For Consideration

    1. Transportation Safety Improvements Agreement

      Execute Agreement

      Documents:Transportation Safety Improvements Agreement.pdf

    2. Ordinance Amending 2015 Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance

      Approval of ordinance

      Documents:Ordinance Amending 2015 Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance.pdf

    3. Water Meter and Register Replacement

      Approval of water meter and register replacement

      Documents:Water Meter and Register Replacement.pdf

    4. Beer License- Marilyn Lewis of Palak Corporation DBA Bigfoot #908 – 1255 Lakes Blvd., Lake Park, GA

      Approval of Beer License

      Documents:Beer License- Marilyn Lewis of Palak Corporation DBA Bigfoot 908 Lakes Blvd, Lake Park, GA.pdf

  8. Bid

    1. Portable 65 KW Generator

      Bids solicited for a 65 KW portable generator to service smaller lift stations that do not have backup generators. Staff recommends awarding bid to Cowart Electric for $49,750.00

      Documents:Portable 65 KW Generator.pdf

  9. Reports – County Manager

  10. Citizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address

  11. Adjournment

-jsq

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!

Videos: Day 2, Planning, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2018-02-20



These videos are for those of you who have jobs, or responsibilities, which prevent you from taking random days or hours off at a time. Commissioner Marshall was absent from the second day of the retreat because he has a job which does not allow him the flexibility of daytime hours off. (The first day of the retreat was on Presidents Day.)

The topics of discussion ranged from the ever popular litter and trash collection, to special tax districts, fire and emergency response, animal control and the animal shelter, and one of my favorites, electronic records. Most presentations were made either by the county manager or clerk but the current Deep South Solid Waste Authority Chairman Kevin Beals was first up to talk trash.

Below are links to each LAKE video of Day 2, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the LAKE videos of Day 1
and Continue reading

Videos: Day 1, Planning, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2018-02-19



The 2018 Lowndes County Commission Retreat was just about the exact opposite of a commission meeting, except that same group of people are present (almost). There was discussion, disagreement, laughing, sighing, interrupting, listening, inside jokes, outside jokes, and general exchange of views. Those things don’t happen in a commission meeting. This year’s retreat was particularly different because there was no time frame attached to any agenda item and they didn’t discuss topics in exact order, and some topics got covered repeatedly. Commissioner Evans said to me during a break that the previous format of having departments just give a report can “get boring” and she had suggested that they have a different format with more discussion about communications.

The agenda was available on-line but was hard to find and the link I followed to find it is gone now. I did manage to download it before it went away. Find it here: 2018 LCC Annual Planning Meeting Agenda (plus searchable text). There were paper copies available at the meeting after the first break.

I sometimes think that the commissioners may be getting used to me but then, no, don’t be silly.

At the lunch hour, the Commissioners stepped outside to take a group picture and as County Clerk Page Dukes suggested that they get closer and not have so much “space” between them, Commissioners Orenstein and Griner (I live in their districts) huddled together.

Commissioners Gather Group Photo Close Group Photo

  Commissioners Orenstein and Griner

Below are links to each LAKE video, with a few notes followed by a LAKE video playlist.
Continue reading

Videos: Rocky Ford Road, Sharp Family, C-G Bemiss Rd @ LCC 2018-02-13



Again like in the

previous morning’s Work Session

the lengthiest regular item was the

rezoning on Rocky Ford Road

for the
church-proposed Camp Rock,
mostly with attorney Jack Langdale speaking for,
including that a “wilderness camp” for unfortunate children doesn’t need
a buffer, and any future buyers of neighboring property beware.

The

Sharp family
said for seven years they have been trying to
get somebody to do something about stray dogs,
only to discover Animal Control doesn’t work weekends anymore,
and the Sheriff’s office won’t do anything, even though one
of their family had been killed by the dogs and another bitten, and the dogs
are now into their second and third generations running loose.

Third longest was Continue reading

Videos: Resolutions and Railroad crossing @ Hahira 2018-01-30



The Hahira City Council passed two resolutions at its February 1, 2018
Regular Session, one
supporting GA HR 158 to stop state fee diversions,
and another

supporting the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail
.
Two days before I spoke about both and there was discussion at the Hahira Work Session of January 30, 2018.

Another item from that Work Session has unfortunately
become big news:

possibly closing the Lawson Street railroad crossing
,
where
a man was killed February 5 when a Norfolk Southern train struck a dump truck, according to WTXL.
WALB says, “The Georgia State Patrol identified the driver as Dexter Brown, 48, of Barnwell, S.C.”.
Mayor Bruce Cain gave a statement to Hahira Today,
which also included some discussion of that agenda item: Continue reading

Videos: Turner Center presentation, VAWA, Rocky Ford Road @ LCC 2018-02-12



It was Art
(12 minutes of
4. State of the Arts
by Cheryl Oliver, Director, Turner Center of the Arts)
Law
(10:46 of

7.c. Solicitor-General’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Grant Application

and
1:31 of

Introduction of new Probation Officer
, which was not on the agenda),
and
Development
(
6.b. REZ-2018-02, E-A and C-C to E-A and PD-R, 4391 Rocky Ford Rd, ~72 acres
)
this morning at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
Actually, all of those items were about law enforcement one way or another.
The Commissioners vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.

Below are Continue reading