Tag Archives: Amy Carter

Videos: 3 Tax Assessors appointed, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Regular 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20:
Packet: Appoint another Tax Assessor, Special Assessment Rate, VOCA, federal consultant @ LCC 2024-01-22.

Two weeks ago the Lowndes County Commission appointed three new Tax Assessors:
Gene Felts and Thomas Reed to 3-year terms and Sandra D.S.Jones to the 4-year term.
Gene Felts resigned two days later, after being sworn in but before his first Tax Assessors Meeting.
They still have 12 – 3 = 9 applicants to choose from.
Maybe somebody should tell them they have to take substantial hours of training after being appointed.

We the taxpayers and voters still haven’t seen
the applications, which were not in that board packet.
At least the appointees did show up at the meeting.

Gretchen took these LAKE videos with her iPhone.
The LAKE camera is old and tired and refused to function.
If anyone wants to donate so we can get a new video camera, that would be wonderful.

The added agenda item,

6.f. 412-416 North Lee Street Purchase,
was apparently the result of the Executive Session in the same morning’s Work Session.

The Commissioners unanimously approved everything else with little discussion.

There was a weather report by

EMA Director Ashley Tye.

Collage @ LCC Regular 8 January 2024

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few comments by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Videos: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Work 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20:
Videos: 3 Tax Assessors appointed, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Regular 2024-01-08.

Even the County Commissioners did not get to see the applications of those who
applied to be Tax Assessors; not unless they trouped upstairs and asked the County Clerk.

County Manager Paige Dukes

read off the dozen names of applicants
and added, “Ms. Lovern has their appointment sheets in her office.”
Commissioner and Vice Chair Demarcus Marshall said he wanted to see their appplications; he noted Amy Carter is a former state legislator.
Chairman Bill Slaughter said “Certainly if you would like to look at those applications, you’ve got those that you can go through.”
He did offer to ask Ms. Lovern to call the applicants and ask them to show up at the Regular Session.

Why the secrecy is mysterious.
So far as I know, they’re the same application forms everybody fills out
to apply for any board or authority.
They contain the same kind of information people put on LinkedIn or even facebook,
and they are usually included in the board packet, but not this time.

The County Manager said two of the Tax Assessors posts will be 3-year terms, and the third will be a 4-year term, to keep terms staggered.

Collage @ LCC 8 January 2024

The

new Vice Chair of the Lowndes County Commission is Demarcus Marshall.
Chairman Bill Slaughter thanked Mark Wisenbaker for doing that for the past year,
presiding at meetings when the Chair was absent.

Demarcus Marshall wanted to know Continue reading →

Packet: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-20:
LAKE videos of the Work Session 2024-01-08.

The board packet for last week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings does not include
any further information about the dozen applicants to be Tax Assessors beyond their names that were in the
agenda.

This is odd, since for every other board or authority, application sheets are usually included in the board packet.

We do learn what roads the county plans to resurface with the LMIG grant.
Also confirmation in writing that $123,523.13 is the amount of the required 10% LMIG match.

Collage @ LCC Packet 2024-01-08

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is

on the LAKE website.

Agenda: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08

Update 2024-01-14:
Packet: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08.

The Lowndes County Commission will hold both meetings Monday:
the Work Session at 8:30 AM, and the voting Regular Session at 5:30 PM.

Collage @ LCC 2024-01-08

They will choose from a dozen applicants to fill

three Tax Assessors positions:

In December 2023, the Board of Commissioners expanded the Board of
Tax Assessors from three to five members. In addition, the initial
three-year term of James Puckett ended December 31, 2023.
Accordingly, the Board of Commissioners needs to make three
appointments to the Board of Tax Assessors:

one to succeed James Puckett to complete a three-year term ending December 31, 2026

one to fill a new position to complete an initial three-year term ending December 31, 2026

one to fill a new position to complete an initial four-year term ending December 31, 2027

David Westberry, Samuel Clemons, Mike Tanner, Lucinda Guess, Mary
Ellen Weeks, Elizabeth Highsmith, Sandra Jones, Richard Holcombe,
Mary Green, Gene Felts, Amy Carter, and Thomas Reed have all
expressed a desire to be appointed to the Board of Tax Assessors.

OPTIONS: 1. Make appointments and approve completion and execution of attached Orders as applicable

2. Board’s pleasure

It is hard to tell who many of these people are, for example there are several Amy Carters hereabouts.
The county did not include the applications with the agenda.

We also don’t know what the “attached Orders” are, since they were not included with the agenda.

The BUDGET IMPACT is given as N/A for
2024 Georgia Department of Transportation Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) Application .
But the agenda sheet says, “Lowndes County has been allocated $1,337,694.10 for FY 2024. As a part of this
grant program, Lowndes County will be responsible for a minimum 10% match in local funding.”

Seems to me 10% of $1,337,694.10 is $133,769.41. Continue reading →

Crazy Qualifying Season Finally Completed

Update 31 March 2014:
Withdrawals of Thomas Sims and Don Thieme from Lowndes County Commission District 3 and of
Crawford Powell from House 174. See also
school board election.

Additional entries in County Commission Districts 3 and 5,
plus a swap and a withdrawal,
continued the
musical chairs in local qualifying.
Plus three out of four County Commission seats up for election
will actually be decided in May, not November.
And one state House seat and the state Senate race are hotly contested.

The three County Commission seats that will be decided May 20th are: Continue reading →

Secret meeting of Lowndes County Commission and state reps @ LCC 2013-12-20

The VDT report doesn’t say when or where, and doesn’t say whether
Dexter Sharper (District 177) wasn’t invited or chose not to attend.

There’s nothing about this meeting in the online

agendas
or

calendar,
even though that calendar lists

Pictures with Santa at the Historical Courthouse (12/19/2013).

There is this undated

public notice with no agenda:

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will meet with members of
Lowndes County’s Legislative Delegation on Friday, December 20,
2013, at 4:00 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Conference Room located on
the 3rd floor of the Judicial-Administrative Complex, 327 North
Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.

K. Paige Dukes, County Clerk

pdukes@lowndescounty.com 229-671-2400

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 22 December 2013,

Commissioners host local delegation,
oddly omitting the when and where and much of the why from
the traditional

who, what, when, where, and why of journalism.

The Lowndes County Commission hosted Continue reading →

Tim Golden and Amy Carter at Chamber Legislative Lunch @ VLCoC 2013-12-04

The event posting (noon today at Wiregrass Tech)
doesn’t say, but I’m told state

Senator Tim Golden (District 8) and
state

Rep. Amy Carter (R 175) will be there.

Continue reading →

Event Name:

State Legislative Lunch

Event Type(s):

Chamber Calendar
Community Calendar
MetroOne

Description:

A luncheon featuring a program presented by State Legislators on issues on top for the upcoming State Legislative Session. Tickets are $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members. Seating is limited!

Legislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Tech by Chamber and Rotaries @ VLCoC 2012-12-05

No questions and no mention of Moody AFB at the Legislative Luncheon at
the
Legislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Technical College Wednesday by
the Chamber of Commerce and the three

Rotary Clubs.

State Sen. Tim Golden R-08,
and

State Rep. Ellis Black R-174
plus
incoming

State Rep. Dexter Sharper D-177 spoke
(Reps. Amy Carter R-175 and Jason Shaw R-176 were not present).

But they didn’t answer any questions.
The organizers didn’t even
take questions on cards from the 75 or so people in the room.
It’s nice they’re going around to all the organizations and talking to them,
but it might be more helpful if they listened to the concerns of their
constituents all at once.
Lowndes County Commissioners Joyce Evans and Richard Raines were there,
but they did not speak,
and none of the state legislative delegation said anything
about Moody Air Force Base encroachment,
unlike

Houston County where their state rep. helped organize
“$7.5 million to
help resolve the encroachment issue affecting Robins Air Force Base.”

Ron Borders
on behalf of the Chamber’s
Governmental Affairs Council (GAC) did

invite people to a
Members to the Heard session
Monday 7 January 2012 at Valdosta City Hall Annex Multi-Purpose Room.
Waiting a month to provide feedback to legislators through the Chamber
does seem a tad indirect.
Overall, it would be nice if the legislators would at least actually listen to
(even if they don’t want to answer) questions and concerns from citizens without
those citizens having go go through some filtering system (ie chamber legislative affairs
or county commissioner).

With a room full of 75 or more people, wouldn’t it be refreshing for
elected officials to say “We can’t necessarily answer all your questions
today, but we would like to know what they are. Please come to the
microphone and ask your question or state your concern”.
Citizens Wishing to be Heard in the County Commission meetings
is not really the same as having a session dedicated to listening to citizens’ concerns.

The Chamber’s pre-announcment of this meeting said:

The Chamber’s Government Affairs Council will present its top
business issues to elected officials.

Yet though the GAC the previous day in a contentious meeting

voted to oppose encroachment on Moody Air Force Base,
he said not a word about that at the Legislative Luncheon.

In his keynote,

Sen. Tim Golden said

Continue reading →

Challengers made statehouse incumbents work in south Georgia

Hardly-funded insurgents led by Haley Shank put a scare into turncoat south Georgia statehouse
incumbents.
What would happen with well-funded candidates?

As we’ve already seen,

in new district 177 Dexter Sharper (D)
won 2 to 1 over opponent J. Glenn Gregory (R).
(All election data in this post is from
GA Secretary of State.)

Conversely, Jason Shaw (R-176) ran unopposed, perhaps because
he is the least offensive of the incumbents (he voted
against HB 1162
that put

the Atlanta-power-grab “charter school” amendment on the ballot,
although

he did vote for HB 797
that will funnel more of your local tax dollars to charter schools
imposed by Atlanta even if your school board doesn’t want them).

Other south Georgia statehouse incumbents, all Republicans, had
challengers, all Democrats.
All the challengers opposed Amendment 1.
Haley Shank did best, in District 173 against Darlene K. Taylor,
8,324 to 12,048 (40.86% to 59.14%).

Next was

Continue reading →

The power of going solar —John S. Quarterman

My op-ed in the VDT today. Remember
to vote today or Tuesday.
-jsq

This spring,

the University at Buffalo turned on 750 kilowatts of
solar electricity.

Rutgers U., in New Jersey, installed 1.4
megawatts in 2009 and started on 8 MW this summer. Down here with a
lot more sun, how about solar panels on VSU parking lots?

There’s

plenty of private solar financing available. Also in New
Jersey, a company installed 6 MW of solar on high school land and
leased the power to the school supplying most of its needs win-win.

You can go see a solar farm already working fine here,

200 kilowatts at Mud Creek Wastewater Plant.
Why not do the same

View Larger Map

at Lowndes High School, where all the world on I-75 could see,

attracting business to our community?

Why not?

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Tag Archives: Amy Carter

Videos: 3 Tax Assessors appointed, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Regular 2024-01-08

Videos: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC Work 2024-01-08

Packet: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08

Agenda: 12 applicants for 3 Tax Assessors, Francis Lake Warehouse $397,980, LMIG Match $133,769.41, VOCA Grant down but match up @ LCC 2024-01-08

Crazy Qualifying Season Finally Completed

Secret meeting of Lowndes County Commission and state reps @ LCC 2013-12-20

Tim Golden and Amy Carter at Chamber Legislative Lunch @ VLCoC 2013-12-04

Legislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Tech by Chamber and Rotaries @ VLCoC 2012-12-05

Challengers made statehouse incumbents work in south Georgia

The power of going solar —John S. Quarterman

Event Name:	State Legislative Lunch
Event Type(s):	Chamber Calendar Community Calendar MetroOne
Description:	A luncheon featuring a program presented by State Legislators on issues on top for the upcoming State Legislative Session. Tickets are $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members. Seating is limited!