Tag Archives: Economy

County Commission retreats to Lake Park Thursday and Friday @ LCC 2015-02-05

Everything from Animals to ZBOA

agenda


for the annual Lowndes County Commission retreat, now billed
as 2015 Annual Planning Meeting.
Unlike
the Valdosta City Council,
this retreat is in Lowndes County,
at the same location as the recent Lake Park Chamber of Commerce
annual dinner.
Gretchen will be there with the LAKE camera.
You can go, too: it’s an open meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

2015 Annual Planning Meeting

Quail Branch Lodge

7601 Zeigler Road, Lake Park, Georgia

Thursday, February 5- Continue reading →

Fixing climate change is profitable

Batteries are just one of many reasons,
including electric vehicles, smart grid, solar and wind power
(including

pass HB 57 and you can profit by getting financing
for your own solar panels),
plus massive savings on health care and electricity bills;
batteries are one of many reasons that fixing climate change will
save us all money, clean up our air and water, expand our forests,
preserve property rights, and make some people rich:



In fact, a recent report suggests that revenue from the distributed
energy storage market — meaning battery packs and other
storage devices located directly at homes and businesses (many of
which now generate electricity through solar) —

could exceed $16.5 billion by 2024.
Another report predicts

$68 billion in revenue in the same time frame from the grid-scale storage market.
This includes large-scale battery packs, hydro-storage systems that
use cheap abundant electricity to pump water uphill to drive
turbines later on, or even solar thermal systems that store energy
as heat in molten salt.

And it’s all happening fast,
so fast your jaw will drop if you’re not paying attention.
So let’s stop talking about the costs of fixing climate change.
It’s not just

no-cost and free, not just in the future but right now;
we’re all actually going to be better off through fixing climate change:
healthier and more prosperous.

Sami Grover wrote Continue reading →

Videos: Mike Allen, Anti-Tethering, Budget, Surplus, Abandonment, Evidence, Workers Comp, Manhole @ LCC 2015-01-27



The room was packed as

the Chairman commented on

Dr. Amanda Hall’s proposal
for an

anti-tethering ordinance,
as did
four citizens
(realtor Alan Canup,
veterinarian Jeff Creamer,
LCDP Chairman Tom Hochschild,
and
Carol Kellerman),
plus

Chairman Slaughter again.
Citizen

Frenchie DePasture
commented on trash,
at Tuesday evening’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Mike Allen, Utilities Director until last Friday,
got an offer he couldn’t refuse from Hilton Head, South Carolina
and

a presentation from County Manager Joe Pritchard.
Finance Director Stephanie Black

read from the agenda
about

a budget award (or

passing grade) received by Lowndes County for the ninth year in a row,
as one of 1400 awardees this year.

No rezonings, but Continue reading →

Videos: 1 church, 2 small, 1 subdivision @ GLPC 2015-01-26



Videos of the Planning Commission recommending Monday 26 January 2015.
The Central Avenue Church of Christ wants

to rezone 5.6 acres to Downtown Commercial,
while the two small rezonings are on

Old Pine Road
and

Skipper Bridge Road,
plus

Devine Subdivision
on Tillman Crossing.

See
the agenda.

Videos: Anti-Tethering, Budget, Surplus, Abandonment, Evidence, Workers Comp, Manhole @ LCC 2015-01-26



Mike Allen, former Utilities Director,

no longer works for the county as of last Friday, according to
County Manager Joe Pritchard.

Dr. Amanda Hall
proposed an

anti-tethering ordinance.
Both at yesterday morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Lowndes County won

an award for its budget as “a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device.”


All good except: as a communications device?
They’d probably have to publish drafts of it before they passed it for
that to be true.
Unless they mean as in a public telling, not a public hearing.
They won last year, too,

along with 45 other winners in Georgia,
including Valdosta.
Award, or passing grade?
They’ll

present it tonight
at the Regular Session.

No rezonings, but

surplus computing devices,
abandonment of

Deloach Road E (CR 95),
more on the
never-ending juvenile justice Evidence Based Associates topic,

Workers Compensation Insurance Renewal,
and

sewer gasses corrode manhole covers. I wonder how much gases
corrode pipelines?

See the agenda.
Videos are linked below, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

1 church, 2 small, 1 subdivision @ GLPC 2015-01-26



The Central Avenue Church of Christ wants

to rezone 5.6 acres to Downtown Commercial,
while the two small rezonings are on

Old Pine Road
and

Skipper Bridge Road,
plus

Devine Subdivision
on Tillman Crossing.
This meeting already happened tonight.

Thanks to Lowndes County for starting to

post Planning Commission agendas
including

this one. -jsq

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park


REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA


Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office

325 West Savannah Avenue


Monday, January 26, 2015 * 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

Videos: Packets, paving, safety, trash, education, appointment, jail, taxes, water @ LCC 2015-01-13



Teri Lupo

reappointed to VLDA
and almost all the Commissioners asked questions at some point during the
at the Tuesday 5:30 PM 13 January 2015
Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, at which

two new Commissioners got to vote.
Several citizens spoke, on

getting board packets on the web,
on

getting their road paved,
on

safety on Val Del Road and reopening some of the waste collection sites,
and
the

National Council of Negro Women;
the

Chairman weighed in on a couple of topics.

They meet again Monday morning 26 January 2015 plus a
Special Called Meeting on Waste Management that same morning.

The

Alapaha River Water Trail resolution,
according to the Chairman before the meeting, is waiting until
they’re ready to dedicate the new boat ramp at US 84, which
is waiting until the river water goes down enough to pour concrete.
Maybe some time this spring.

See the agenda
for details on what they were considering, and see
the

videos of the previous morning’s Work Session for background.
Below are links to the LAKE videos of each agenda item, followed
by a video playlist.
See also

the county’s own much more professional one big long video.

Continue reading →

Videos: VLDA appointment, jail, taxes, water @ LCC 2015-01-12



Teri Lupo was available for questions about

being reappointed to VLDA at the Monday 8:30 AM 21 12 January 2015
Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
There were no questions, but
Commissioners Demarcus and one other (I think Mark Wisenbaker) had compliments.
The Chairman asked for a motion to appoint, but was reminded this was
a Work Session, so wait until the next evening for that.

The agenda item for the resolution in support of

the Alapaha River Water Trail,
according to the Chairman before the meeting, is waiting until
they’re ready to dedicate the new boat ramp at US 84, which
is waiting until the river water goes down enough to pour concrete.
Maybe some time this spring.

See the agenda
for details on what they were considering.
Below are links to the LAKE videos of each agenda item, followed
by a video playlist.
See also

the county’s own much more professional one big long video.

Continue reading →

TVA needs to listen to former chair S. David Friedman about solar power

Will you bet on the blinkered money-only policies of the current
TVA Chair, or the accurate clean solar future predictions of former
TVA Chair S. David Friedman?

Seven years ago S. David Friedman wrote:


“As a substitute for oil, coal, and nuclear energy, the sun can
replace the three poisons with inexhaustible fuel.”

The former TVA Chairman wrote that in 2007 his boook

Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How,
which also says (page 4):

There are breakthroughs in new technology that promise to make
the cost of solar power as low as that of coal, nuclear, and oil.
Almost simultaneously in South Africa and the Silicon Valley in the
United States, companies are building huge new solar factories to manufacture
a paper-thin solar coating that can generate electricity that could
actually lower our electric bills.
These breakthroughs promise solar power at 75 percent less than today’s price. Continue reading →

Budget, Surplus, Abandonment, Evidence, Workers Comp, Manhole @ LCC 2015-01-26

Update 25 January 2015: Additional item #5 Anti-Chaining Ordinance Request – Dr. Amanda Hall;
see separate post.

Lowndes County won

an award for its budget as “a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device.”


All good except: as a communications device?
They’d probably have to publish drafts of it before they passed it for
that to be true.
Unless they mean as in a public telling, not a public hearing.
They won last year, too,

along with 45 other winners in Georgia,
including Valdosta.
Award, or passing grade?

No rezonings, but

surplus computing devices,
abandonment of
Deloach Road E (CR 95),
more on the
never-ending juvenile justice Evidence Based Associates topic,
and

sewer gasses corrode manhole covers. I wonder how much gases
corrode pipelines?

The agenda (PDF) still doesn’t give the dates; just Monday and Tuesday, so I’ve inserted them in [brackets].
But congratulations on having the agenda online a week in advance!

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, [January 26th] 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, [January 27th] 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →