Tag Archives: Georgia

Valdosta Downtown Farm Days —Mara Register

Mara Register came to the Lowndes County Commission regular meeting to talk about Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, following up from the Farm Days organizational meeting Monday.

I think her main points were:

  1. Provide additional information about healthy eating with food from local farmers, thus helping solve the epidemic of childhood obesity in Georgia.
  2. Economic development opportunity for small farmers.
  3. Promote downtown district.
When? The Saturday after First Friday and the Saturday after Art After Dark.

Where? The parking spaces around the historic courthouse.

No livestock. Local produce. Here’s video of the first part of what she said.


Regular Meeting, Lowndes County Commission, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 April 2011
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Logistics, such as no cooking, because Continue reading →

Master Gardeners Graduate

Grand Bay Master Gardeners (GBMG) has been holding a class to become master gardeners, and they just graduated yesterday!

I’m not going to attempt to name all of them, because the ones I missed would be miffed. I will say that’s Gretchen Quarterman on the right. And that these are people from all over the area, city and country, Democrat and Republican. Growing food is the universal community builder.

GBMG is “organized as a cohesive working group in Lowndes, Brooks, Echols, and Lanier Counties”. They’ll be holding more classes, so you, too, can become a master gardener.

-jsq

VLCIA charging for access to agendas and minutes

How much should it cost for a citizen to get access to agendas and minutes of a tax-funded board? How does about $2 per meeting strike you?

Bobbi Anne Hancock filed an open records request for the agendas and minutes of all regularly scheduled and called meetings of the VLCIA letter asking $125.09 for copies of agendas and minutes of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) from 2006 to the present, and got this letter back:

So at 12 meetings per year for five years plus another 3 months, that would be about 63 meetings, divided into $125.09 gets about $1.99 per meeting.

Is this normal practice? Let’s compare. Continue reading →

Farm Days: Connecting Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta

Yesterday I wrote that interactions about Valdosta Farm Days between the Lowndes Commmission and the City of Valdosta “could have been smoother if one or both of the parties had been proactive.” The VDT reported that the County Commission wants to know about Valdosta Farm Days, and apparently there was a disconnect between the staff and the Commissioners. Here’s how the Commission came to be informed, through interactions of citizens and staff.

First, an excerpt from the paper paper story by David Rodock, “Farmers market proposal discussed by commission”, Tuesday, April 12, 2011, page 3A (it’s not online): Continue reading →

Jeanie P. Boland resigns as executive director of Brantley County Development Authority

Chris Buchanan wrote in Enterprise online on 4 March 2011, Boland resigns from DA executive director’s post:
Boland had also been working to gain more information on the possible expansion of the Humpty Dumpty Hotel owned by Foodonics, however, she came under fire for holding private meetings with the company without the knowledge of the rest of the authority which has caused some in the community to cry foul.

But after the allegations arose, Boland maintained that the meetings were for gathering information only and that she was merely waiting to get all the facts before presenting them to the board.

Their board is considering passing an open records policy to match the Georgia state law, but doesn’t like it much:
“They can ask you until you’re blue in the face and they don’t have to explain what they’re going to do with them,” he said. “But I know there’s nothing you can do about it.”
They also want to change their financial audit cycle from annually to every three years.

-jsq

Being proactive —Gretchen Quarterman

At the Lowndes County Commission work session on Monday morning, County Manager Joe Pritchard distributed a map to the Commissioners from the Valdosta Main Street Manager, Amanda Peacock, detailing a proposal for a Farmer’s Market on the sidewalk of the old County Courthouse.
proactive: serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation; anticipatory


Lowndes County Commission work session, 12 April 2011, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

While apparently supportive of the initiative, the process could have Continue reading →

15.a) VA-2011-09 rezoning for 100 Black Men @ VCC 7 April 2011

Rezoning some land for 100 Black Men of Valdosta was the first order of business on the agenda for Valdosta City Council for 7 April 2011:
5.a. Consideration of an Ordinance to rezone 0.24 acres from Single-Family Residential (R6) to Office-Professional (O-P) as requested by 100 Black Men of Valdosta (File No. VA-2011-09). The property is located at the southeast corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Drive and South Troup Street. The Planning Commission reviewed this request at their March Regular Meeting and recommended approval (7-0-1 vote).

Planning Director Matt Martin, presented the case. Continue reading →

Open Board Appointments

We need to watch local boards regardless of whatever else happens. But to ensure local boards and agencies become more responsive to the community, even better is to appoint people to them who want to be more responsive to the community. Many such appointments are available right now.

Valdosta’s list of open appointments, qualifications, etc. can be found here. There are 14 positions open on 8 boards, ranging from the Parks and Recreation Authority, which has its own dedicated tax millage larger than that of the Industrial Authority, to the Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful Board, which has a paid executive director. Here’s an excerpt: Continue reading →

Georgia following Florida down the private prison path

Florida is already forging down the path Georgia wants to follow on private prisons. Steve Bousquet writes in the Miami Herald:
The Florida Legislature’s push to privatize many more prisons, its most far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, could open a lucrative door to politically connected vendors who stand to profit.

Senate and House budgets require the state to privatize prisons in South Florida, home to one-fifth of the statewide inmate population of 101,000. The region is the home of the GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest private prison operator, which currently runs two private prisons, including the largest private lockup, the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton.

Why is this path so popular with the Florida legislature? Continue reading →

LCC 8:30 AM Monday 11 April & 5:30 PM Tuesday 12 April 2011

It’s a light agenda but you never know what will happen. Some of those who are concerned about their community may want to attend.

Oh, look, they’ve apparently taken up Scott Orenstein’s suggestion and moved Citizens Wishing to be Heard to the end of the meeting! Personally, I think that’s a fine idea as long as Commissioners stay for that item.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →