Tag Archives: Economy

Video Arraignment for Juvenile and Magistrate Court @ LCC 2013-06-25



Hm, if video saves the county all this money,
how about video of the County Commission’s own meetings to
save the public money keeping track of what the Commission is up to?

7.h. Video Arraignment for Juvenile and Magistrate Court

IT Director Aaron Kostyu said
at

the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission:

As discussed

yesterday morning,
this is the video arraignment solution for the magistrate juvenile court.
This solution will save tens of thousands of dollars a year for staffing
and transportation that will not be required.
It will save us quite a bit of money, and time as well.
This solution will allow for the video presentation, signature,
and certification of warrants and the carrying out of video arraignments
and first appearances as well for Magistrates and Juvenile.
And this will benefit the Magistrate Court, Juvenile Court,
and all the local law enforcement agencies.
As noted yesterday, the city of Valdosta is awaiting your approval,
and they will purchase a portion of this to go in their facilities
as well that will allow them to speak in the video warrants portion.

Commissioners had no questions.
County Manager Joe Pritchard recommended Continue reading →

County bus system reapproved @ LCC 2013-06-25



Didn’t know the county had a bus system?

It does; you can call

316-2153 and they’ll pick you up for a flat fee.
The county’s contract with the state Department of Transportation
and with the contractor

MIDS, Inc. was reapproved
at

the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

7.b. Section 5311 Rural Transportation Operating Contracts

The contract is with GADOT, and
the contractor is MIDS, Inc.
Per Commissioner Joyce Evans’ request of the previous morning,
County Engineer Joe Pritchard said there had been
12,322 trips with six buses over the past 5 months.

The County Engineer referred to

some discussion of the previous morning,
The Engineer said the federal government put in the first $220,000,
and while the county had to pick up any shortfalls,
there have been no shortfalls over the past twelve years.
This is different from County Manager Joe Pritchard’s
answer of the previous morning that it “has been budgeted”.
At least staff managed to come up with budget detail
after being asked in public by Commissioners.
No questions.
Unanimous approval.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:

Continue reading →

A librarian on the library board! @ LCC 2013-06-25



The political appointee was replaced by a librarian,
and the marketing guy by a marketing guy,
at

the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

5.a. Lowndes County Library Board

Back

on June 10th

Library Director Kelly Lenz brought
candidates
Jack Hartley, Linda Most, and Matt Lawrence,
who spoke, and

at the June 24th Work Session

County Manager Joe Pritchard not naming candidates for the library board
Commissioner Joyce Evans submitted the name of Mr. Robert Jefferson,
who did not speak.

This time County Manager Joe Pritchard mumbled behind his monitor
and did not deign to name any of the candidates, referring to “a list”
that Commissioners could see but the public could not.
He did say that the openings were for the board slots previously occupied by
Kay Harris and Ray Devery.


Kay Harris
Previous political appointee Kay Harris

failed to get the new library at Five Points approved
in

last year’s failed SPLOST VII vote
and

resigned as Library Board Chair and from that board 15 March 2013.
Here are

some related points she never seemed to discuss.
And while she and the County Commission and the Valdosta City Council
and Mayor pointed fingers about who lost SPLOST, Continue reading →

Vogtle nuke loan deadline extended for third time

We don’t know

the federal cost estimates or the

terms and conditions
or why Plant Vogtle just got another three month extension
on that $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee.



Rob Pavey wrote for the August Chronicle yesterday,

Federal loan guarantee offer for Vogtle expansion extended again,

The owners of Plant Vogtle have secured — for the third time
— an extension to allow further negotiation with the U.S.
Energy Department over its 2010 offer of up to $8.3 billion in
federal loan guarantees to help finance two new nuclear reactors.

Georgia Power and co-owners Oglethorpe Power and Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia were conditionally approved in February 2010
for loan-guarantee financing, in which the government promises to
assume a company’s debt if the company defaults. However, the
details were never agreed on. Two extensions have since expired,
with the most recent deadline — June 30 — passing
without any formal agreement in place. Jeannice M.W. Hall, a
Southern Co. spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Wednesday that the new
extension sets a Sept. 30 deadline for completing the loan guarantee
arrangements.

With Southern Company’s stock already

downgraded because of Kemper Coal and Plant Vogtle,
after

S&P’s downgraded SO’s credit,
and with

still more cost overruns at Kemper
on top of

Vogtle being 19 months late and a billion dollars over budget,
as
Gloria Tatum asked back in May,
why is SO gambling on nuclear instead of solar?

If you’re tired of this, you can

ask DoE Secretary Ernest Moniz to revoke that loan.

-jsq

Coal and natural gas cost effective vs. energy efficiency, wind, and solar power? –Stephanie Coffin @ SO 2013-05-22

SO CEO Tom Fanning is a true believer in “all of the above”,
yet a skeptic about natural gas.
However, he really doesn’t have much faith in renewables,
as he indicated at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
and even more strongly in the Wall Street Journal.


retirees and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary --Stephanie Coffin
This question is from Stephanie Coffin of Atlanta, Georgia, and she
holds 18 shares of stock.

TF:
Hello, Stephanie.

SC:
How are you, Tom?

TF:
Dynamite. How are you?


your income --Stephanie Coffin
SC:
Last year, I came to this meeting to ask a question and to listen to
the Southern Company reports. And so before I came I got to thinking
about what has changed since the last meeting. I think two things,
and then I’ll ask my question.

The first is the chairperson’s salary
increased 34 percent, over $13 million a year. I’m sure the retirees
and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary and
see that as negative PR in the face of continuing recession. $13
million a year, most of us are on fixed income. I mean, your income

My income --Stephanie Coffin
is fixed, too, but it’s very high. Mine is pretty low and we all
have to pay electric bills.

The second change, and then I’ll ask my
question, is that now 70 — 97 percent of all scientists
believe that climate change — that is, global warming —
is real and caused by human activity and this is a big shift. Last
year we were the climate deniers, we’re in control, and now 97
percent of all scientists say it’s real, it’s coming, you better get
ready.
In the face of this scientific consensus the Southern Company
has maintained its reliance on fossil fuels, mountaintop coal, old
coal plants and pushing nuclear power with huge wattage demands and
the dangers of nuclear wastes.

While I applaud the Southern
Company’s baby steps Continue reading →

More cost overruns at Southern Company’s Kemper Coal in Mississippi

Why all these overruns?
All sorts of excuses about everything but
bad management and it was a bad idea in the first place.
Does anybody believe this coal plant will be completed anywhere near on time?
Why not stop wasting money on it and invest in solar and wind instead?



Only a few months after

the last cost overruns,
Jeff Amy wrote for AP 2 July 2013,

Miss. Power: More overruns at Kemper power plant:
$4.45B price tag latest estimate,

The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. told stockholders on Monday
that an ongoing review of costs at the coal-fired plant initially
has identified at least another $160 million in cost increases.

Mississippi Power spokeswoman Amoi Geter said Southern Co.
shareholders would absorb any cost increases. The parent company was
hit with $540 million in charges in April, although the after-tax
cost to shareholders was lower. In a January settlement with
Mississippi regulators, the company agreed to shield customers from
further cost increases.

The overruns could push the cost of the plant, adjoining lignite
mine and associated pipelines to $4.45 billion. That’s more than
$1.1 billion above original estimates.

It’s only supposed to produce 582 megawatts if ever completed.
SO could have already built far more solar and wind power
for that $4.45 billion, on time and on budget.

Why is

Plant Ratcliffe Kemper IGCC so late and so expensive?

Continue reading →

Why are you gambling on nuclear instead of solar? –Gloria Tatum @ SO 2013-05-22

Why is SO gambling our health and dollars on Plant Vogtle
when Georgia Power could be getting on with solar power?
SO CEO Tom Fanning avoided the first part of Gloria Tatum’s question
by simply denying it, and danced around the second part by saying
the rate hike for Plant Vogtle’s cost overruns would only be
6 to 8 percent, not 12 percent.
Do you want to pay 6 or 8 percent more for a radioactive white elephant
when you could be getting power from the sun for less?

The floor person at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
introduced Gloria Tatum with 164 shares, representing Nuclear
Watch South, and the SO CEO insisted

TF: Call me Tom. Gee whiz.


Gloria Tatum
GT: Tom. Hi,Tom. It’s great to be here on this beautiful day.

TF: Thank you. Yes ma’am.

GT: And I know Southern Company’s done many wonderful things, but I want
to point out a few things to you today.

First, you know, after the
Fukushima meltdown, TEPCO’s $50 billion nuclear complex became a
worthless liability. The deadly radiation still circles the planet,
polluting the earth and increasing cancer. Other countries have
abandoned their nuclear and they’re looking to renewable, but
Southern Company’s affiliate, Georgia Power, continues construction
on two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Now Shell Bluff is a
community down the stream from Plant Vogtle and it has experienced a
25 percent increase in cancer since Vogtle 1 and 2 have been built.

Another problem with Vogtle Continue reading →

ADS buys three more waste companies, one in Valdosta

That’s five ADS purchases since Veolia.
So much for

Steve Edwards not being able to foresee any
further acquisitions back in April.
Somebody remind me, why was it a good idea for
the Lowndes County Commission granting
an

exclusive franchise to a monopoly that’s only getting bigger,
and already had

little reason to keep prices down?
County Commissioners certainly

have not been able to explain it.

Allan Gerlat wrote for Waste Age 2 July 2013,

Advanced Disposal Buys Three Waste Haulers,



Advanced Disposal Services Inc. continued its recent buying spree
with the acquisition of waste haulers in Pennsylvania, Georgia and
Illinois.

The Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based Advanced Disposal said in news releases
it purchased Winsor Disposal in Kane Pa.; Valdosta Waste Services in
Valdosta, Ga.; and Benson Disposal Services Inc. in Macon, Ill.

Here’s a list of just the ADS purchases I know of, not counting the rumor: Continue reading →

The stars all lined up for the homeless –Deidra White @ LCDP 2013-07-02


The homeless formerly living under the

James Beck Overpass
now have homes and most have jobs,

said Valdosta City Council Deidra White
at last night’s

Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

White said the encampment under the overpass had been growing
for some time, and people in her district, which contains
the overpass, were increasingly concerned
yet had had little success in dealing with the situation.


Deidra White speaking at Lowndes County Democratic Party July 4th BBQ
So I contacted many people in the community,
homeless advocates, churches, governmental, civil,
nonprofits; anyone that I’ve ever come across who has ever
worked in any capacity helping with the homeless situation.
And in a very,almost seemingly the stars all lined up a couple
of weeks ago.
Many people came together to do something
about the specific eleven homeless persons who were living
under the James Beck Overpass.

A private citizen donated property and said
that they could stay on this property for a temporary time
until we find a permanent solution.
Members of the homeless coalition immediately
began identifying potential employers….

She referred listeners to

the recent newspaper stories
for some details, and then continued:

Continue reading →

Georgia Power wants more of your money to pay for its bad bets

It’s the annual Georgia Power rate hike, blaming everything
except coal and nukes.

Georgia Power PR 28 June 2013,



Georgia Power seeks cost recovery for infrastructure investments,

Georgia Power today asked the Georgia Public Service Commission
(PSC) for permission to increase its base rates approximately $482
million, or 6.1 percent. The request is being made to allow the
company to recover the costs of recent and future investments in
infrastructure —including environmental controls, transmission
and distribution, generation, and smart grid technologies —
required in order to maintain high levels of reliability and
superior customer service.

The proposed change in rates would be effective Jan. 1, 2014.

What a coincidence!
One year to the month after

the last rate hike.
Once again

blaming “smart grid technologies, environmental controls”, etc.
Much more likely, this has to do with

the recent downgrades of Georgia Power’s parent the Southern Company,
and those were for coal and nukes.
As Adam Smith said two centuries ago,
“utilities levy an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow citizens”.

-jsq