Tag Archives: 2017

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: 911, T-SPLOST details, delinguent subdivision, Juvenile Justice Incentive, GDOT Exits @ LCC 2017-04-11

The Lowndes County Commission did not meet this week (no reason given: the meetings merely marked Canceled on the county’s online calendar), but it did two weeks ago.

On April 11, 2017 we discovered the T-SPLOST meeting would be at the regular SGRC location in Pearson, 1PM Monday April 17, 2017. Michelle Williams of Hahira noted a phenomenon of people not checking for ownership of lost and found pets. The week of 10 April 2017 was Telecommunications Week and the Chairman thanked 911 Center personnel.

The GDOT Mowing Contract includes all the exits in Lowndes County. They unanimously approved that and everything else, The longest item at almost eight minutes was the Tuscan Palms subvision asking to be forgiven paving money the county gave it that never was used. Continue reading →

Videos: T-SPLOST report, delinguent subdivision, Juvenile Justice Incentive, GDOT Exits & Mowing @ LCC 2017-04-10

They vote 5:30 PM Tuesday about what they discussed this morning. The longest item at five minutes was 6a. FY2018 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Program REquest. Third longest was a subvision asking to be forgiven paving money the county gave it that never was used. And second longest, although not on the agenda, was a T-SPLOST report by the County Manager.

Below are Continue reading →

No T-SPLOST, Juvenile Youth Action and Justice Incentive, GDOT Exits & Mowing, late subdivision @ LCC 2017-04-10

No T-SPLOST on the agenda for Monday morning, despite tabling it two weeks ago until their next meeting. That may be because while Lowndes County dithered, ten other of the 18 counties in the region agreed to put it on the ballot, so now it doesn’t matter what the Lowndes County Commission decides about that. Remember, even with it on the ballot, it can still be voted down, like in 2012. Meanwhile, according to the VDT,

In the coming weeks, a regional roundtable of government representatives will determine when the public vote will take place, the projected revenue from the tax and what projects the tax would fund if passed.

You, the taxpayers, are not invited to those roundtables, which will be held on unknown dates at unknown locations.

On the agenda for Monday morning and Tuesday evening is the ironic justaxposition of Special Proclamation Presentation to the Teen Explosion Youth Action Group and FY2018 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Program Request for Proposals (RFP). There are two GDOT items and a late payment by a subdivision, with its name spelled wrong by the county, or by Trulia, or somebody.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

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 →

Videos: Sheriff still wants warrants, elections, judges, EMS coroner, Budget Requests (2 of 3 days) @ LCC 2017-03-28

Sheriff Ashley Paulk still wants a warrant before he turns anybody over to ICE. I agree with him that there’s no point in arresting people who are busy working in the fields. Georgia already tried that a few years ago, and crops rotted.

These are the LAKE videos from day 2 of 3. They’re back at it this morning, and Gretchen is there with the LAKE video camera.

The Board of Elections got the second-longest discussion at 44 minutes, partly because the Elections Supervisor kept using jargon it’s not clear the Commissioners understood. Longest discussion was with newly-elected Coroner Austin Fiveash, whose office has been kicked out of Remerton, which used to heavily subsidize it, and he apparently didn’t know the Coroner doesn’t get a car supplied, nor any office help. When asked why he picked an assistant coroner who already had a half-time job, he said nobody wanted this job. Well, apparently he did: he ran for it.

And still no agenda on the county’s website. Why doesn’t the county want the tax-paying public to know what they’re doing? Continue reading →

Videos: Budget Requests (1 of 3 days) @ LCC 2017-03-27

Still no agenda on the county’s website, and it wasn’t posted on the front of the building, either, but a county employee (not the Clerk) did finally get Gretchen a copy, which you can see here, for the first of three county budget meetings. The Tax Assessors and Behavioral Health didn’t show up. All the Superior Court judges did show up, so if you want to see them and many other public officials and their budget requests, you can in these LAKE videos. Very few if any citizens other than Gretchen showed up to watch in person. They’re back at it today, so you can go see for yourself whoever they have asking for money today.

Agenda

That was the third public meeting yesterday morning, 10:30 AM to 4:50 PM, Monday, March 27, 2017, after the Work Session and the Goals meeting. After lunch, County Manager Joe Pritchard supplied a chair for Gretchen to sit in.

We can guess this is a followup to the Continue reading →

Videos: Lowndes County Commission Goals @ LCC 2017-03-27

The Chairman confirmed that yesterday’s “Lowndes County Commission Goals” was a continuation of the rather testy goals discussion at their February planning session, in which they disagreed on things such as whether to hold Work Sessions at times when working people could attend. And ten days later held a three-minute Work Session. There’s still no agenda for that 9:30AM to 10:30AM Goals meeting on the county’s website, even though it appears they had one.

They declared Solid Waste Management accomplished, yet they spent even more time discussing Litter Control and Beautification and kept that on their short-term goals. Later they seemed to decide to make a special class of ongoing issues, including litter and Moody AFB.

The elephant in the room is that tax revenue is down and inconsistent.

Below are links to each LAKE video of that Goals meeting, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. 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 →

First of three budget meetings @ LCC 2017-03-27

In the third public meeting this morning, after the Work Session and the Goals meeting, the Lowndes County Commission is holding the first of three daily budget meetings. This one is 10:30 AM to 4:50 PM, Monday, March 27, 2017. There’s no agenda, just this calendar notice.

We can guess this is a followup to the audit report and finance discussions from their February planning session.

Why they didn’t post an agenda is mysterious. They didn’t post one for the Goals meeting, either.

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!

-jsq