Tag Archives: citizens

Communities watching boards

Susan Hall Hardy says that in most places industrial authority executives


don’t interact with their communities.
Well, paraphrasing what Yakov Smirnoff used to say,
in Lowndes County, community interact with officials!

Here is

her comment from 15 March 2011 on this blog:

Not to be rude, although honesty is very often perceived that way
these days, but, the industrial authority executives rarely thank their
communities. In the six states I’m most familiar with, these fellows
see themselves as beholden only to their employers. After all, they work
with their directors, elected officials, a few bankers and city/county
department heads. Rarely do they come in direct contact with the average
voter, employee or homeowner, although all those people often pay a large
part of their salaries and office operating expenses. Despite the public
funding, these groups are usually tight lipped about how they do business
and rarely provide the public with records or audits. We’ve all put up
with that manner of doing business for so long we now see it as just
that — the way you do business. We’d never accept that from a nonprofit
organization, a charity group or most elected officials. Shame on us all.

Susan, you’re helping by reading, and you’re helping more by posting.
Many local officials have noticed LAKE and this blog because
they know people read it.

Anyone who wants to help still more,
you, too, can go to a meeting.
The Industrial Authority is a good one to attend,
but I hear the Tree Commission isn’t trying as hard to enforce things,
and does anybody know anything the Hospital Authority does?
The Airport Authority?

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New Meeting, New Rules –Lowndes County Commission



Remember,

the new rules take effect at the upcoming County Commission meeting:

  • 8:30 AM Monday Febuary 7th, 2010: Work Session
  • 5:30 PM Tuesday February 8th, 2010: Regular Session

Both meetings will be at 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.
Only the regular session has Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.

The
Lowndes County front page
has links to the resolution the Commission
passed last time, to the new rules, and to the new sign-in sheet,
along with this notice:

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Celebrate citizen participation –John S. Quarterman

A message to the only elected
body in Lowndes County that represents the entire county.
I’ve added a few links, and otherwise what you see is
the suggestions I sent to the Commissioners and the County Clerk
Thursday after

offering them Tuesday.
-jsq



From: John S. Quarterman

Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 1:40 PM

To: Commissioner@lowndescounty.com

Cc: Paige Dukes

Subject: Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to be Heard

Dear Commissioners,

At your most recent meeting I mentioned I had a few suggestions
about your new Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing
To Be Heard, and at least one of you has indicated he would
like to see them, so here they are.

“2. A maximum of 10 persons shall be allowed to speak at any meeting.”

I think that number is too low. On the one hand,

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VDT Civics Lesson on How to Stop a Biomass Plant



The VDT explains how to effect change, if anyone is listening.
Editorial, 13 Jan 2010,

Powerless to stop the power plant
:

This week as the rhetoric around the proposed biomass facility has
continued heating up, leading up to

last night’s forum,

one of the main themes has been that “government should do something.”



While the Times does not condone or condemn

Chairman Paulk’s actions in the commission meeting Tuesday night,

understanding the situation may
help shed light on the issue. The county is powerless to do anything to
stop this power plant. The only governmental entity with any power over
the project is the city, and that’s only in the form of the services
being extended and the water being sold to the company, as well as the
sewage sludge that’s being burned. They too are powerless at this
point to stop it.



The editorial continues with the tired old excuse “they can be sued”.
Don’t they have insurance for that?
If the whole thing goes as bad as some opponents predict,
they could be sued for the kind of financial disaster

that faces Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

There is one governmental entity that does have the power.
Ah, here it is:

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VLMPO Planning Meeting



A local planning organization that studies advertises frequent meetings
for input and studies facebook usage data to see what people care about?
That’s the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO),
which holds frequent and repeated hearings on major projects.
Next week it’s having its regular

Policy Committee Meeting

1:30PM to 4:30 PM, Tuesday 11 Jan 2010,
at the SGRC office at 327 West Savannah Ave., Valdosta.
You can see what they’re up to
about traffic congestion, busses, trains, bicycles, Moody access, conservation, or other issues,
and voice your concerns.

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