Category Archives: Water

Videos: Public Works GA-EPD request, Regional T-SPLOST, 2 ZBOA appointments, 2 rezonings, surplus, quit claim, lift station pump, and Naylor Community Center bids @ LCC 2017-05-08



Not on the agenda this morning:

Public Works is applying to GA-EPD for a grant for
tire disposal amnesty.
11 of 18 counties have voted to hold a
Regional T-SPLOST referendum,
and Lowndes County now needs to decide whether to support or oppose that: they vote Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked why all the lift station pump repairs.
Utilities Director Steve Stalvey said the county has 114 lift station pumps,
all either duplex or triplex, with the duplication very important to maintain
service.
They typically last about 15-20 years,
there were periods when money was short and maintenance was slack,
and quite a few of them are coming to end of life,
most recently this one

at US 84.

They spent the longest time, 3 3/4 minutes, on
the Continue reading →

Regional T-SPLOST, 2 ZBOA appointments, 2 rezonings, surplus, quit claim, and lift station pump, and Naylor Community Center bids @ LCC 2017-05-08 @ LCC 2017-05-08

They

list the three applicants for

ZBOA, Victoria Copeland, Michael Cooper, Mike Elkins, but they do not supply the actual applications.
These are for two slots, currently held by Dr. Willie Houseal,
who does not wish to be reappointed, and ZBOA Vice Chairman Gretchen Quarterman, who does.

Both the

rezoning cases
have different applicant names than

the Planning Commission listed two weeks ago,
this time as
REZ-2017-05 Jay Carter rezoning from R-A to R-1 for subdividing for independent sale and
REZ-2017-04 Rieffel rezoning to CON and E-A for animals.
REZ-2017-04 is located at 3621 SE Johnson Road,
which is just north of Mud Swamp Creek, which downstream joins with
Grand Bay Creek to form the Alapahoochee River, which flows into the Alapaha,
into the Suwannee, into the Gulf.


Parcel 0188 167H

Lowndes County Tax Assessors Parcel 0188 167H

After the
regional T-Splost roundtable meeting 1PM Monday, April 17, 2017, in Pearson,
the Lowndes County Commission this week votes to
Take action to support or oppose Regional T-SPLOST.
If I understand correctly, 10 of the 18 counties in the region
voted Continue reading →

Videos: regional T-SPLOST tabled, Trash disposal renewals, another lift station pump, Dasher Streets @ LCC 2017-03-28

They

tabled T-SPLOST until their next meeting
because they got a complaint from the Chamber about process,
and also from others.
Remember, even if it gets on the ballot, it can still be voted down again, like in 2012.


Meanwhile, John Stephen, VDT, 7 April 2017,
T-SPLOST headed for referendum,

Even though the Lowndes County Commission delayed a vote on the
regional T-SPLOST at its last meeting due to local confusion on the
one-penny sales tax, enough counties in the area now support the tax
(10 out of 18 were needed) to move it forward to a public vote even
without the commission’s approval.

In the coming weeks, a regional roundtable of government
representatives will determine Continue reading →

Southern Company Shareholder meeting: renewables more than doubled in one year 2017-05-24

While its natural gas percentage remained flat, and coal and nuclear decreased, Southern Company (SO) more than doubled its renewable energy generation percentage in one year.
Maybe I’ll mention that at the annual shareholder meeting in May.

2017 Mix:


2017 Energy Mix

2016 Mix:


2016 Energy Mix

When:
10:00 a.m., ET

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Where:
The Lodge Conference Center

Callaway Gardens

4500 Southern Pine Drive

Pine Mountain, GA 31822-2593

Event:
Annual Southern Company

Shareholder Meeting

Southern Company has all its

SEC filings
online,
including Continue reading →

Videos: Trash disposal renewals, regional T-SPLOST, another lift station pump, Dasher Streets @ LCC 2017-03-27



More than four minutes yesterday morning on

Residential Solid Waste Franchise Renewal: maybe it’s still contentious
because they still don’t have a good model.
Maybe not everybody wants to have their trash picked up at the end of their
driveway like they lived in town.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM, and they agreed
add an agenda item amending the ordinance to change insurance requirement from $5 million to $1 million.
As of this writing at 8AM, they have not yet changed their online agenda.
We’ll see how it eventually changes from

the agenda already blogged.

They spent more than three minutes on

Regional T-SPLOST; follow the link for details.
Another
Lift Station Pump

lift station pump
needs replacing
And

Dasher wants the county to maintain a couple of dirt streets.

Below are links to each LAKE video, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
See also the agenda. Continue reading →

Trash disposal renewals, regional T-SPLOST, another lift station pump, Dasher Streets @ LCC 2017-03-27


Regional T-SPLOST is on the agenda this morning.


Back in 2012 we all voted down a statewide T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Sales Tax).

As we learned at the

February Lowndes County Commission Planning Session Day 2,
on 28 February 2017 in Waycross there was a “public hearing” about a possible regional T-SPLOST.
When I asked SGRC about that, they sent the Waycross agenda, saying
“This is
not a public meeting and was not advertised as such, however it is open
to the public.”
Apparently something happened at that meeting, since T-SPLOST is on the
Lowndes County Commission agenda now, with this in the attached document:

HISTORY, FACTS AND ISSUES: According to House Bill 170, counties within a Regional
Commission District have the option to institute a Regional T-SPLOST. The Georgia
Department of Transportation is requesting action to be taken by April 1, 2017, either in
favor of or opposed to a Regional T-SPLOSI’. If ten (10) of the eighteen (18) regional
counties fail to get support for a Regional T-SPLOST, then individual counties can initiate an
independent T-SPLOST’.

.

After Lowndes County spent unknown hundreds of thousands of dollars suing Continue reading →

Videos: Coal ash, Calles, Val North PD Water Sewer, Habitat CDBG, Sewage Valves, Stone Creek Antenna, Sheriff, Alcohol @ LCC 2017-03-14



Not on the agenda:
Coal Ash
and

Y-Lead from Hahira Middle School and Teen Explosion.
Also

Stone Creek train quiet hours.

In a fifteen minute item, the Commission approved a split rezoning for
REZ-2017-02 Calles,
and they approved the removal of conditions from
REZ-2017-03 Val North Dr, Stewart Circle.
They approved the
CDBG Grant preparation,
but they didn’t mention they can’t actually apply until the resolve
their feud with the local cities about tax allocation.

Below are links to each LAKE video of the 14 March 2017 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
See also Continue reading →

Videos: Sewage, Coal Ash, Historic Preservation, a dead cat, and turkeys @ VCC 2016-03-09

The Valdosta City Council heard from citizens about

coal ash,

wastewater,
and

toxic waste in the landfill.
Mayor John Gayle

offered to answer later in his office Eric Howard’s
question about wastewater in his yard.
The Mayor expressed his opinion that he and the council

couldn’t do anything about the landfill,
and read for yourself what he said about

the Florida county resolutions about Valdosta wastewater.
George Boston Rhynes

told a droll tale about a dead cat and turkeys.

The

Historic Preservation appeal was long and contentious,
with the Mayor twice breaking a tie because only four City Council members
were there: the appeal was approved.
A citizen

spoke about that afterwards, as did

Council Tim Carroll.

Council Robert Yost recommended

all the Hospital Authority Board should resign.

They unanimously approved

both
of the

rezoning items; ditto the

right of way maintenance bids.

And

Firefighter Michael Penland is employee of the month.

Below are links to the LAKE video of each item, with a few notes (some drawn from Valdosta’s own
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS),
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also the agenda.

Videos: Calles again, Val North PD Water Sewer, Habitat CDBG, Sewage Valves, Stone Creek Antenna, Sheriff, Alcohol @ LCC 2017-03-13



Maybe more will show up at 5:30PM today for the Regular Session
than the Chairman and only two Commissioners at yesterday’s Work Session
(Joyce Evans and Mark Wisenbaker).

Chairman Bill Slaughter

revealed why he had been missing from the meetings two weeks before:
he had been attending an America’s Defense Community event in in San Antonio, Texas about Moody AFB.
Follow

the link
for more about this.
He complimented Vice-Chair Joyce Evans for running the meeting better than usual
in his absence.
She did beat his former record of five minutes by holding a
three-minute Work Session.

The returning
REZ-2017-02 Calles rezoning now
wants to split half conservation and half R-A.
Apparently the other rezoning,
REZ-2017-03 Val North Dr, Stewart Circle, PD Amendment and Conditions Removal, Water & Sewer, ~9 acres
had been heard before and was now being reconsidered because
a road had been paved.
Remember that when they try to claim roads don’t drive development.

Below are links to each LAKE video of the 13 March 2017 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
See also

the agenda, and the LAKE videos of the 27 February 2017 Greater Planning Commission meeting. Continue reading →

Calles again, Val North PD Water Sewer, Habitat CDBG, Sewage Valves, Stone Creek Antenna, Sheriff, Alcohol @ LCC 2017-03-13

The county apparently doesn’t want its
Peterson Road Isolation Valves
leaking like Valdosta’s famous January 2017 WWTP failure.
Two other water cases are on
the agenda
for this morning’s 8:30 AM Work Session, both rezonings:
REZ-2017-02 Calles, Alexandria St, R-10 and CON to R-A and CON, Well and Septic, ~13 acres
back again (Planning Commission still doesn’t like it; staff maybe),
a new one,
REZ-2017-03 Val North Dr, Stewart Circle, PD Amendment and Conditions Removal, Water & Sewer, ~9 acres.


Parcel 0167 098A

Parcel 0167 098A

The “Conflict of interest certification, resolution, and authorization”
under
FY 2017 CDBG Grant, Valdosta- Lowndes County Habitat for Humanity
actually means no conflict of interest, according to
the agenda sheet,
which also notes “Lowndes County is currently on course to apply for $750,000.00 in CDBG funds from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for a
new public facility for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Habitat for Humanity.”
Well, they’re not on course until they stop feuding with the local cities
about tax revenue allocation, because they can’t apply for any state
or federal grants until that is resolved.

Two safety items:
Stone Creek Antenna Space License Agreement
and
Sheriff's Office Vehicle Lease Agreement.

And no County Commission meeting is complete without alcohol:
Beer & Wine License – Rajendrakumar N. Patel of Bhumi Corporation – 6685 Bemiss Rd., Valdosta, GA.
I don’t recall they’ve ever denied one of those,
so I don’t know why they don’t just make an ordinance that permitting
staff can approve them.

Here’s
the agenda.
Gretchen is there with the LAKE camera.
Will the meeting take more than the three minutes last time?

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, March 13, 2017, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, March 14, 2017, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →