Tag Archives: American Rescue Plan Act

Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19

Update 2022-06-23: Videos: Process for non-profit applications for ARPA funds 2022-05-27.

Update 2022-06-21: Valdosta Watergoat installed in Sugar Creek 2022-06-21.

Council Sonny Vickers was welcomed back warmly after abscence due to illness (I welcomed him before the meeting). Later, he thanked staff and council for their assistance.

[Collage]
Collage

Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the ARPA fund disbursment committees, for non-profits and for for-profit businesses.

After Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman asked for action about trash, Council Andy Gibbs and Mayor James vied for who would get to announce what the city had already done. Mayor James in Council Comments announced the city had ordered Continue reading →

Audit, Crime Lab Hydrogen Generator, 2 ARPA Grant Selection Committees @ VCC 2022-05-19

Update 2022-05-20: Videos: Mayor announces first trash trap, committees for ARPA funds @ VCC 2022-05-19.

In a very light agenda for tomorrow evening’s meeting, the Valdosta City Council nonetheless will contemplate $1,978,502.40 in spending. They will also hear an audit report.

AmountWhat
$33,502.40 Consideration of a request to purchase a Hydrogen Generator for the Valdosta-Lowndes Regional Crime Laboratory.
$945,000.00 Consideration of appointments for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Non-Profit Grant Selection Committee.
$1,000,000.00 Consideration of appointments for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Small Business Grant Selection Committee.
$1,978,502.40 Total

The Hydrogen Generator for the Crime Lab will come out of $36,000 from the General Fund. “This is the equipment that is used for drug identification and blood alcohol testing.”

The two Grant Selection Committees will dispense funds from the $16,254,692 allocated to Valdosta by the federal government in an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant, of which $8,127,346 has been received to date. The City Council previously allocated $945,000 for nonprofits and $1,000,000 for small businesses. These Committees will decide which organizations get the funds. You probably recognize many of the names on the committee candidate lists.

[Selection Committees]
Selection Committees

Here is the agenda. The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, May 19, 2022
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

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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 →