Tag Archives: Finance Director Stephanie Black

Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Regular 2025-07-22

Two citizens spoke at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Gretchen Quarterman about water wells, including private wells getting contaminated since Hurricane Helene, or running dry, and expenses of testing and well drilling. Commissioners actually discussed afterwards that you can take a water sample and get Public Health to test it.

Keyara Hamilton spoke about Goodwill.

[Collage @ LCC 22 July 2025]
Collage @ LCC 22 July 2025

The Lowndes County Commissioners appointed Scottie Orenstein, Joe Brownlee, and Rob Green to the Lowndes County Development Authority, which apparently never meets. Then they also reappointed Jerome Tucker and Barry Green.

They reappointed Michael Walker and J.D. Rice to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Then they also appointed Lowndes County Commissioner Mike Smith to succeed Clay Griner, and Andy Griffin to succeed Crawford Powell. They also clarified the when each term will end.

Chairman Bill Slaughter recommended that Commissioners should get a list of boards and their meeting dates and times so they can attend an learn things. This is good advice for citizens in general.

The Commissioners approved everything else unanimously.

County Manager Paige Dukes’s Reports lasted almost ten minutes, including Fire Department people speaking.

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Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Work 2025-07-21

Update 2025-07-25: Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Regular 2025-07-22.

The Lowndes County Commissioners discussed much more than usual, making yesterday morning’s Work Session 44 minutes long.

[Collage @ LCC Work Session 21 July 2025]
Collage @ LCC Work Session 21 July 2025

They vote today at 5:30 PM, which is about now.

Yesterday, the County Attorney weighed in on both the board appointment items.

The Comprehensive Plan update won’t change the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) that the county and the five cities agreed would last for ten years.

Both of the Juvenile Justice grant items lasted more than 9 minutes.

The longest item was not on the agenda: a report by Jeff Lovell on well issues and river water infiltration.

And we got a clue where the Blue Lake Lift Station is: near I-75 Exit 13.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading

Packet: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC 2025-07-21

Update 2025-07-22: Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Work 2025-07-21.

The Lowndes County Commission this Monday and Tuesday will consider and decide on many appointments to two boards, and two Juvenile Justice grants.

The county is also outsourcing part of its five-year Comprehensive Plan Update to the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC), for $30,000.

[Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-07-21]
Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-07-21

Lowndes County is still fixing problems from Hurricane Helene, this time at the Blue Lake Lift Station.

  • In September 2016 they replaced a pump there for no-bid $43,959.
  • In June 2020 they did a $71,789 no-bid emergency repair there due to corrosion.
  • In October 2021 they applied for $700,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for “Permanent bypass pumps at lift station” for Bevel Creek, Whitewater, Heart road, Blue Lake, Highway 84, and Frances Lake, as well as $300,000 for “On-Site Crane/ Hoist lift station” for Whitewater, Frances Lake, and Blue Lake, all at the recommendation of Carter & Sloope.
  • In June 2022 they approved an apparently no-bid agreement with Carter & Sloope:

    “The scope of work at the County’s lift station is two-fold. A permanent bypass pump will be installed at the following six (6) lift stations: Bevel Creek, Whitewater, Heart Road, Blue Lake, Highway 84, and Frances Lake. The bypass pump will serve as the station’s backup/redundancy method if the primary pumping failed at any time. The new pump will be connected to the existing wet well and force main at the station on a concrete housekeeping pad. Where necessary based on location, the pump can be installed in an enclosure to reduce sound (i.e. if near a residential neighborhood). Electrical and controls will be installed on site with the new pump. Of the 6 stations, the following three (3) will also be retrofitted with an on- site crane/hoist system: Whitewater, Frances Lake, and Blue Lake. Those stations need a local mechanism for retrieving pumps from the wet well because of their layout and location.”

This time they have bids for the control panel, but still only one no-bid source for the pump: xylem, Inc. However, the county is going for repairing the pump this time, for $44,661.

It’s good Lowndes County is fixing its sewer infrastructure before it breaks. And it’s good they’re bidding at least part of the repairs this time.

Meanwhile, we still don’t know where the Blue Lake Lift Station is. So far as I can tell, there is no waterbody, road or street, or subdivision name Blue Lake in Lowndes County. More on that in a later post.

Cost What
$44,661.00Blue Lake Lift Station Pump Repair
$43,615.00Blue Lake Lift Station Control Panel
$88,276.00Blue Lake Subtotal
 
$30,000.002026 Comprehensive Plan Technical Assistance Contract
 
$118,276.00Total

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. Images of each page are below.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 21, 2025, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

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Videos: Budget Public Hearing @ LCC 2025-06-23

Update 2025-06-29: Notice: Special Called Meeting to adopt FY 2026 Budget @ LCC 2025-06-30.

The 2024 millage of 5.283 is little more than half the 8.974 it was in 2017. Not counting the 2.5 mils of fire tax on unincorporated Lowndes County since 2021, and of course the 1 mil to the Industrial Authority and the 1.25 mils to Parks and Rec, which have not changed since 2008.

About 85% of the county’s revenues come from taxes. About 57% of that comes from property taxes, and about 31% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).

Of expenditures, about 41% goes to Public Safety (Sheriff Department, Jail, etc.), about 12% to Juducial (courts), and about 18% to General Government.

[Collage @ LCC Budget Hearing 23 June 2025]
Collage @ LCC Budget Hearing 23 June 2025

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked how the rising cost of gasoline was dealt with. Finance Director Stephanie Black said there was some leeway built into the budget, but if the price rise exceeds that, at the end of the year, additional funds would have to be allocated.

Commissioner Scottie Orenstein wondered about the fire services budget. FD Black said it is going down 10%, because new fire trucks were moved into a SPLOST line item.

County Manager Paige Dukes said a few words about property assessments that were mailed out by Tax Assessors staff. I think this was about the recent opt-out of the county from the statewide homestead exemption (the county actually has better homestead exemptions).

Almost no citizens attended, and none asked any questions.

Below is the LAKE video of the session, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist of this Lowndes County Commission presentation at 9AM this morning.

See also Continue reading

Half a million or zero dollars for the bar Lowndes County bought with no agenda item? 2024-07-09

Did the Lowndes County Commission spend nothing or half a million dollars to buy an old bar in Lake Park? And why did they vote to buy it after an Executive Session, with no item entered on a public meeting agenda?

Where did the money come from? Apparently, it did not come from SPLOST. Since the property is to be repurposed for a fire station, did it come from the special fire tax?

[Half a million or zero for the bar Lowndes County bought with no agenda item?, Rascal's into a fire station]
Half a million or zero for the bar Lowndes County bought with no agenda item?, Rascal’s into a fire station

The only times I see Rascal’s appearing in Lowndes County Commission meetings of the past five years is in this week’s meetings of June 9 and 10, 2025, in April 2023, and in March 2025.

April 2023 Liquor license for Rascal’s become Twin Lake Club and Grill

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