This Reminder came in today, refreshingly explicitly mentioning agriculture. Note the different location, this time at the Health Dept. office after the Planning Commission meeting.
The next workshop for the 2016 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan Update will be:
Monday, March 21, 2016
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 W. Savannah Avenue
Valdosta, GeorgiaAt this workshop we will Continue reading
So well attended there weren’t enough handouts,
as remarked on by Greg Odom,
who
later also said the proposed Comprehensive Plan Update didn’t have any plans for canopy roads, or roads on existing rights of way like in Virginia:
“For the past 25 years there has not been a healthy attitude
about people who want to maintain dirt roads.
There has been an attitude of let’s pave everything,
and let’s pave it in an outrageous way….”
Last night’s meeting was billed Continue reading
Only one citizen spoke at the second Budget Hearing 5PM 23 June 2015:
Gretchen Quarterman asking for approval of the VLMPO request
for funding for a public transportation study.
The Chairman said they weren’t going to, and shortly afterwards
at their Regular Session they didn’t, although they did approve more than that for a water main subsidy for
private developers.
The 5PM meeting was billed on the county’s website as Budget Adoption Meeting and the previous morning by the Chairman as a presentation by the Finance Director. Is it a public hearing if it’s never advertised as a public hearing?
At least the proposed budget is on the county’s website, just not where Continue reading
A Budget Adoption Meeting 5PM before the 5:30 PM Regular Session,
as alluded to at
yesterday morning’s Work Session.
Is this a second Budget Hearing?
Does it count if it’s not advertised as a Hearing?
And it turns out the proposed budget is on the county’s website,
just not where they previously said it would be.
[5:00-5:30PM] Tuesday, June 23 Continue reading
For the budget they will vote on Tuesday June 23rd,
two weeks ago
Finance Director Stephanie Black said:
“This is the public hearing”
What happened to the requirement for two budget public hearings?
The County Chairman said they had $7 million in requests above the expected revenue, so they had had a difficult time coming up with a budget. For (some of) how they did that, see the LAKE videos of the 18 May 2015 Budget Work Session.
Half of this budget hearing consisted of the same presentation from that previous meeting. Then County Manager Joe Pritchard added Continue reading
“Once you put in your transfers in and out, you have a balanced budget,”
said Finance Director Stephanie Black.
Transfers in from where?
How does this magic work?
Even the Commissioners had no agenda to look at, although they did have printed copies of the draft budget, which the public could only see as it scrolled by on the screen at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Budget Work Session, which was over by 10AM even though it was announced as 8:30AM to 5PM. However, it is good that they had this Work Session in public. County Clerk Paige Dukes told Gretchen afterwards that no draft budget would be available to the public until after two changes requested by the Chairman were incorporated. She did not say when that would be finished or when the draft budget would be available so taxpayers could comment. She did refer people to last year’s budget. The slides that Finance Director Stephanie Black presented do provide an interesting high level overview. Other than Commissioners and very few staff, the only people in the room were VDT reporter Joe Adgie, someone unidentified, and Gretchen taking these LAKE videos so you can see what happened. Continue reading
Update 2015-05-18: Still no agenda posted as the meeting starts; not online; not on the outside of the building; not on the inside of the building. Is this legal?
An all-day Commission meeting with no agenda.
And no draft budget that the public can see.
PUBLIC NOTICE-BUDGET WORK SESSION
Date: May 18, 2015 Time: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM Location: Lowndes County Commission Chambers Address: 327 N. Ashley Street, 2nd Floor
Valdosta, GA 31601The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a Budget Work Session for Monday, May 18, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. For questions please call County Clerk, Paige Dukes, at 229-671-2400 or pdukes@lowndescounty.com
Over on the Finance Department web page, it Continue reading
The
Airport Authority got inserted among the judges and lawyers,
and the
Coroner’s Office failed to turn in a budget.
The day was mostly sitting around waiting,
because most of the actual presentations were only a few minutes each,
yet were scheduled hours apart,
in the last day of the
three days of
“Budget Hearings” which aren’t really hearings because nobody from the
public can speak and they don’t have a budget to hear yet.
See the first day for
the agenda.
Here are links to videos of each item with some notes by Gretchen, followed by a video playlist. No video for the first item, EMS, due to camera failure; sorry. For the rest, as the Chairman said, referring to Gretchen and the LAKE camera:
We have our videographer back there, so we’re ready.
Hm, maybe LAKE should submit a budget request to the county…. Continue reading
Maybe Georgia should fund mental health facilities instead of
local jails having to act as mental hospitals.
On a positive note,
Agriculture is an $81M industry in Lowndes County.
Law, taxes, and education, in the second day which was only in the morning,
of the
three days of
“Budget Hearings” which aren’t really hearings because nobody from the
public can speak and they don’t have a budget to hear yet.
See yesterday for
the agenda.
Here are links to videos of each item with some notes by Gretchen,
followed by a video playlist.
And one more day to go today. Continue reading
It’s good the Commission is having these meetings where they can
hear directly from the various department heads.
And with LAKE’s videos, you the citizens can hear what the departments
are asking for.
Also, why are these called budget hearings? The public doesn’t get to speak, so they are not actually public hearings, and they are not the state-required budget hearings before passing a budget: they don’t even have a draft budget yet. And the next time the Commission rushes citizen speakers to finish, remember this 14 minutes of dead air or the several others like it in yesterday’s meeting.
They met in the Commission Chambers, nevermind the address on the Commission’s calendar yesterday, and still says for today’s meeting.
There’s still no agenda posted, except for paper copies in the Commission building, which read as below. Continue reading