Tag Archives: county palace

Videos: Naylor Boat Ramp and Appointments to Public Facilities Authority @ LCC 2017-10-10



By far the most time, almost eight minutes, on

6b. Abandonment of Portions of Old Lake Park Road and Hickory Grove Road SE
,
the Lowndes County Commissioners spent two weeks ago,
involving reference to minutes they approved in that meeting
but that still aren’t on the county’s website two weeks later,
and resulting in a split vote.

More interesting: the county is finally starting construction on the

Naylor Boat Ramp
.

By their customary silent “acclamation” they appointed people to the

Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority
.

Below are Continue reading

Videos: Public Facilities Authority, Health Fair @ LCC 2017-10-09



The longest item was not on the agenda:
a

Health Fair Update
in the County Manager’s Report.

They breezed through everything else including

5 a. Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority Appointment
,
although the Chairman did have another name to propose.

Below are links to the LAKE video of each item,
plus a very few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also Continue reading

Appointments to Public Facilities Authority @ LCC 2017-10-09

Appointments to the board that floated bonds for the county palace,
REZ-2017-10 Laurel Run Homes, and two road abandonments,
to be considered this morning at 8:30 AM and voted on Tuesday evening.

What is the Lowndes County Georgia Public Facilities Authority, which issued
the bonds
548757BE2
and
548757BG7
“Refunding Judicial Administration Complex”?


According to

the county’s website

it’s a Continue reading

DeKalb County is a slum –DeKalb County Commissioners

I could see our Commissioners using this reasoning. -gretchen


DeKalb County as a slum


Urban Redevelopment in DeKalb County


Erica Byfield
reported for WSBTV yesterday,

DeKalb commissioners declare most of county a slum
,

What’s this urban redevelopment zone about?
Tax breaks for businesses that produce new jobs,
leaving taxes to be paid mostly by… Continue reading

About that flyer

Sent Wednesday. -jsq



Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:43:49 -0500

Dear Mr. Pritchard,

Thank you for

your message of 1 February
.

Yes, the binders of the documents for the closings of the various
bonds are the sort of financial instruments I requested in

my message of 28 January
, and that Chairman Slaughter listed in

his letter dated 18 January

(that I received 28 January). Monday 11 Feb
2013 after the Work Session will be a good time for me to inspect
and copy those binders. I will bring a camera and a photocopier. If
that time will not work, please advise me of times that would.

Yes, there are other documents I would like to inspect. Please provide

Continue reading

I have obtained the binder of the documents —Joe Pritchard

The County Manager has found the legal documents on
issuance of the
the bonds Chairman Slaughter listed in his letter of 18 January
.

Received yesterday (as a *.docx file, and still to the wrong email address,
but this time including both residence and postal addresses),
County Manager Joe Pritchard followed up on his

email of 29 January
,
in which he had seemed puzzled about the term

"financial instruments"

(it's a standard term in business and investing)
such as

I asked for 28 January
.
I thank Mr. Pritchard once again for responding.
(I thanked Chairman Bill Slaughter in person the other day.)
The relevant correspondance about the flyer that Mr. Pritchard
previously wrote

was created by the VDT
is still missing.
I will ask for that Monday, when I respond to Mr. Pritchard's most courteous
offer to inspect the financial instruments.

Here's Mr. Pritchard's letter.
-jsq


Joe Pritchard

February 1, 2013

John Quarterman

6565 Quarterman Road

3338 Country Club Road #L336

Valdosta, GA 31605

Dear Mr. Quarterman:

To follow up my email of yesterday, I have obtained the binder of
the documents executed at the closing of the $15,500,000 CVDA

Continue reading

Created by the newspaper, not the county —Joe Pritchard



Thanks to County Manager Joe Pritchard for responding to

my letter of Monday.

He partly (but not completely) answered my question by saying the VDT did it.
More on that later.

He included a PDF copy of

Bill Slaughter’s letter of January 18th
.
Perhaps Mr. Pritchard was unaware that letter didn’t
reach me until after my letter of Monday, because the
county sent it to the wrong address.
Mr. Pritchard’s email response was also sent to the wrong address,
although fortunately email to that business address does reach me.
He also copied the Chairman at his business address instead of at
his Lowndes County address.
In any case, electronic copy is almost always more useful than paper,
so I thank Mr. Pritchard for sending that PDF copy.

Here’s Mr. Pritchard’s letter. -jsq

Continue reading

Regarding the recently refinanced bonds —Bill Slaughter

Many thanks to Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter for taking
the time to respond to a citizen's question in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard!
The response didn't actually answer my question, but that may be because
the question wasn't clear enough without a copy of

the flyer that claimed the county's new judicial and administrative complex
was "100% Paid by SPLOST" and "$0 Balance Owed"
;
see

next post.

An hour or two after I sent

a letter to County Manager Joe Pritchard Monday
,


someone from the county called to say Chairman Bill Slaughter
had sent me a letter in response to

my question to the Commission about bonds,

but it had been returned by the Post Office.
As you can see by the image of the envelope,
they sent it to my residence address, where I don't get mail.
That's why I always include my postal address on Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard forms, open records requests, etc.
Anyway, they made it available for pickup at the county palace.
Ten days after the PO sent it back to them is better than never.

Here's Chairman Slaughter's letter. -jsq

Continue reading

Dear Mr. Pritchard: How are we paying on something that was 100% paid off? —John S. Quarterman

I sent this today. -jsq

 

From: John S. Quarterman <questions@quarterman.com>

Cc: bslaughter@lowndescounty.com, jevans@lowndescounty.com, rraines@lowndescounty.com, cpowell@lowndescounty.com, dmarshall@lowndescounty.com, jpage@lowndescounty.com, questions@quarterman.com

Subject: How are we paying on something that was 100% paid off?

Dear Mr. Pritchard,

You may recall that at the Lowndes County Commission meeting
of the 8th of January 2013, I asked the following:

“When this building complex was opened in 2010, the county put out a


double-sheet flyer saying it was completely paid off out of SPLOST money,
with zero dollars owed. I’m wondering how it is that then, either in
November or

December
, the Commission just before your one here, refinanced
bonds that included I think it was six or seven million dollars for this
very building complex? I’m very confused by that. I wonder if someone
could clarify how we’re paying on something that was completely 100%
paid off with zero owed.”

I asked Commissioner Crawford Powell this question at the going-away
reception for former Chairman Ashley Paulk on 14 December 2012, and
he referred me to you for an answer. It has been more than two weeks
since I asked in a Commission Regular Session and I have received
no answer. So I ask again.

Specifically:

Continue reading

How are we paying on something that was 100% paid off? —John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2013-01-08



Why are we furloughing librarians to save $30,000
when we apparently floated bonds for unbudgeted millions on the county palace?
That’s essentially what I asked
the Lowndes County Commission at their

8 January 2013 Regular Session.

Nobody had an answer.

Just to add to what Commissioner Lee said,
in addition to everyone appreciating all your service, I’m sure
we all appreciate all his long years of service.

Of course there are some things that have come up since he was first
on the Commission.
For example, Internet access.

The Internet is the roads of the future.

Perhaps funding that might be as important as

striping roads.

It’s a thought.

For more on that, see
what Idelle Dear said just before.



And I really appreciate that clock there.
It’s a sign that sometimes change is good.

At least they are doing a few things differently.



When this building complex was opened in 2010,
the county put out a double-sheet flyer saying it
was completely paid off out of SPLOST money,
with zero dollars owed.
I’m wondering how it is that then, either in November or December,
the Commission just before your one here,
refinanced bonds that included I think it was six or seven million dollars
for this very building complex?
I’m very confused by that.
I wonder if someone could clarify how we’re
paying on something that was completely 100% paid off with zero owed.

It’s actually about $8.9 million.
Why are we paying that?
Nobody answered.
County Manager Joe Pritchard, pictured below,

on that 2010 flyer I mentioned,

paid no attention.

A prominent local member of the fourth estate said nobody was
allowed to answer.
Actually, the Commission’s own

Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to be Heard

include these lines:

Continue reading