Tag Archives: Deep South Sanitation

You’re losing the democratic process –Gary Wright @ LCC 2013-06-11

“I hope you’ll consider a democratic process working into your rules,”
remarked a military veteran at
Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

After saying he was also concerned about how Deep South Sanitation
is being treated,
Gary Wright said:

There is a little bit of a lack of democratic process in your meeting
groundrules.
On your website I don’t know anything in there that said
you have only thirty minute meetings for the entire thing.
I don’t know if this happens whenever you have a meeting
that’s only thirty minutes long; I’ve never been to one.

Their rules

don’t say that,
but it’s not surprising there is confusion, given Continue reading →

Do the right thing –Steve Parker @ LCC 2013-06-11

The right thing is not letting one company take all the money to New York
while putting another out of business, said a local resident
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

When you get a company like Veolia or Advanced that’s taking
all the money to New York, and then they come to my house
and they leave, I put garbage bags beside my can and they
won’t pick it up.

And then my guy, Cary Scarborough, comes
and picks up everything,
and you know what else he does guys? Continue reading →

I want a choice in who I use –Jerome Tucker @ LCC 2013-06-11

“Let me decide who I want to haul my waste,”

said a former Chairman of the Industrial Authority
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Jerome Tucker thanked

Commissioner John Page for bringing up the topic of freedom,
since that was his main topic, too.

I’m here to talk about… where I have a choice who handles my waste…

Cary didn’t come to me looking for business.
I saw his truck come along and Continue reading →

Thanks to the community, and I don’t understand –Cary Scarborough @ LCC 2013-06-11

The owner of Deep South Sanitation thanked the community and his family
and said he didn’t understand what was going on.
The Commission offered no explanation.

Cary Scarborough handed in a petition and sat down.
The crowd applauded.

That rapidly turned into a standing ovation. Continue reading →

What if we only had one hardware store –Duane Roark @ LCC 2013-06-11

Does the Commission already has reputation problems when
it’s being compared unfavorably to Lester Maddox?
A citizen canceled a business trip to ask “what if we only had one hardware store”
at last night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Our prices we pay would be through the roof; we would not have a choice.

And you’re welcome, Duane Roark:
it was LAKE who

put you on YouTube last month.

He also quoted a headline from the Fayetteville Observer,

Operation Tarnished Badge: Years later, tarnish remains.

A corruption investigation that sent the Sheriff and 21 others to prison
still casts a shadow over law enforcement in Robeson County.

If we put Deep South Sanitation out of business, it’s gonna give
Lowndes County a black eye.
People are to say, Continue reading →

A few Citizens to be heard for a few minutes only @ LCC 2013-06-11

Only fifteen minutes on any topic, said Chairman Bill Slaughter,
even though 8 people wanted to speak about trash
at last night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
But there is no such rule in the county’s relevant ordinance.

He was enforcing an odd mashup of the county’s 25 January 2013 ordinance about
Citizens Wishing to Be Heard.
It does have these two rules: Continue reading →

Freedom or Order? @ LCC 2013-06-11

At last night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session,

Commissioner John Page prayed about

“the freedoms to serve in government,
knowing that this government is supposed to be
of the people by the people and for the people”.

But the Commission seems to care more about this part he also said:

“our decisions and everything be done decently and in order”.

The county government still seems determined to take

the shirts
off these people’s backs.

Here’s

the video:

Freedom or Order?

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 June 2013.

-jsq

Exclusive Franchise for Solid Waste Collection Services @ LCC 2012-12-11

Why did the Lowndes County Commission make

this exclusive franchise
with a Florida or Alabama or New York company

and then

sue a local Lowndes County company after

the VDT reported the previous spring that any contract
would be non-exclusive and wouldn’t put anybody out of business?

Here, obtained by LAKE through an open records request,
is the

contract with ADS of Middle Georgia, LLC.
The

the agenda item for the 11 December 2012 Commission meeting at which
this contract was approved
says ADS of Central Alabama, Inc.

The contract says ADS is “a Florida corporation”,
and we know ADS is owned by

Highstar Capital of New York City.

Once again,

why is granting a cheap monopoly to an out-of-state company
more important than either letting local companies compete for the service
or having the county continue to provide a public service directly to
its taxpayers and citizens?

The termination clause

I pointed out to the Commission
after
an ADS executive made excuses for nonperformance
is

Paragraph 18 of the contract:

Continue reading →

More clues to how much garbage collection fees will go up

ADS proposed last December to Lincolnton, GA, to start trash collection
with a rate very like what Veolia bid to Lowndes County, with increases
every year after that.

The Lincoln Journal wrote 6 December 2012,

Council hears proposal to privatize garbage collection,

The Lincolnton City Council heard a proposal to privatize the
municipality’s trash collection service at its regular meeting held
Monday, December 3. The Lincolnton City Council heard a proposal to
privatize the municipality’s trash collection service at its regular
meeting held Monday, December 3.

The presentation was made by Kevin Rupinta, general manager, and
Steve Edwards, area municipal marketing manager, of Advanced
Disposal, the Columbia County company that also serves Lincoln
County.

The written proposal stated: “Since Advanced Disposal collects
garbage in Lincoln County and runs through and around the City of
Lincolnton, Advanced Disposal offers the following to reduce the
city’s expenses:

(1) Purchase the city’s garbage trucks at an agreed upon fair market
value.

(2) Purchase the city’s carts at an agreed upon fair market value.

(3) Provide garbage service for the city at rates that mirror those
charged to the county.”

The rates quoted were:

Continue reading →

How much will trash collection rates go up in Lowndes County? @ LCC 2012-10-09

Speaking of

Veolia winning its high bid for garbage collection,
here’s a clue to how much more its rates may go up.

Remember
~~ADS~~ Veolia was bought hardly a month later by ADS, owned by Highstar Capital
of New York City?
Look at ADS’s bid for Proposal D: $18.39.

That’s $220.68 a year.
Which is even higher than
Wakulla County, Florida’s $196 a year,
which Gretchen warned us all about more than a year ago.
And more than double the $100 a year for the former county waste collection sites.

Want to guess how much ADS’s monthly rates will rise?
Maybe Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange