Matt Flumerfelt
compliments the commission on the good reception he’s gotten previously
and objects to the item in the
new rules
about the commission being able to close subjects.
He notes there is always resort to the law, but he hopes
things won’t come to that.
He concludes:
“The road of respect goes both ways.”
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Gretchen Quarterman applauds Chairman Paulk for increasing
the transparency of the government in the last few years,
then says:
I’m concerned that a barrier to dialog is getting higher, rather than lower. When the citizens make the effort to come to a meeting after a long day of work, or maybe they come in the morning when they don’t actually get to talk, it’s important for them to get a chance to be heard.She describes how the Zoning Board of Appeals (on which she is a county appointee) does it:
When you’re done saying stuff new, then everybody else that has something to say, they just raise their hand.And her main point:
I’d like to sort of suggest that hou have some dialog about this resolution that you just made. Maybe it could be modified so that people could continue to come, rather than three people could come.
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The Lowndes County Commission Tuesday
voted in
and
Chairman Paulk announced
new
Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
Interestingly, since the Commission rushed through these new rules after the last meeting, there was no time to completely implement them, so the first thing the Chairman did was to set them aside for this meeting.
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Metro Atlanta cities want to air their business in living rooms. Alpharetta agreed to spend $68,000 for a video recording system in its council chambers. Dunwoody will shell out $93,000 for a digital video recording system, enabling residents to view city council and planning commission meetings live from home.Continue readingWhile not every city electronically records its council meetings, the practice has become increasingly popular.
“It’s an overall trend of cities, going where people are to share information, to keep people in touch,” said Amy Henderson, Georgia Municipal Association spokeswoman.
Here
I discuss with the mayor
about the Valdosta City Council videoing their entire meetings and putting
them on the web for everybody to see.
The mayor indicated costs of streaming was an issue;
I recommended putting it on YouTube or Vimeo and letting them handle that part.
I think the AJC article he mentioned is this one:
Meeting access video grows among city councils,
by Patrick Fox, 18 Jan 2011.
This comment by the mayor was amusing:
The worst thing you could do would be to have one camera in the back that has room audio.Touche, Mr. Mayor! :-) What do you think, is a noisy video from the back of the room more useful than no video at all? Can you see him waving his arms around? Continue reading
The Act of the Georgia Legislature that created VLCIA in 1960.
Note III.4.F:
F. To encourage and promote the expansion of industry, agriculture, trade, commerce and recreation in the City of Valdosta, County of Lowndes, and to make long-range plans therefor.Hm, so its board appears to have understated the range of VLCIA’s state-chartered scope when it stated:
“We’re industrial development.”See also Section 9. – Liberal construction.
This Act was found via search.municode.com, which notes:
Editor’s note—Printed in this article is 1960 Ga. Laws, page 2786, as adopted by the Georgia General Assembly. Amendments to this act are indicated by parenthetical history notes following amended provisions. The absence of a history note indicates that the provision remains unchanged from the original act. An act (1960 Ga. Laws, page 1359), substantially identical to the act set forth in this article, was also passed as a constitutional amendment. Such constitutional amendment was continued in force and effect by 1985 Ga. Laws, page 3653, as a part of the state constitution.The text of the Act is appended below.
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Patrick Davis
sums up the Valdosta biomass situation from Macon:
It appears to be the mainly conservative power structure of Lowndes trying to force this business venture into Valdosta’s community and not considering the environmental dangers.He has some interesting points, such as who just got appointed to the EPD. I think he overestimates the power of the Valdosta mayor, however.
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At Serenity Church in Valdosta, 15 Jan 2011,
Gladys Lee from Brooks County addressed the Quitman 10 about
justice anywhere,
about the
spirit of conviction,
and she said
“We are residents, property owners, taxpaying voters!”.
Speaking
as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Floyd Rose addressed the
Quitman 10 and the congregation:
Now I want to say though we’ve met on what would have been my 87th birthday may be some place of honor. For this honor I want to thank you, and I must say to you: unless the schools you have named for me teach children how to live as much as how to make a living they will become little more than battlegrounds for the frustrated individuals. Unless the bridges that you have named for meContinue reading
5. Resolution Establishing Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard and Consideration of Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be HeardToday I went by the county palace (hey, they call it that, too!) and asked Paige Dukes, the County Clerk, what was in the old resolution and what’s in the new draft resolution. She said there was no old resolution, and a bit later she sent me the new draft resolution, which is in the PDF below.
It’s a PDF of a scan of a paper page, so I don’t have the plain text. If somebody wants to type it in and send it to me, have at it.From: “Paige Dukes” <paiged@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:32:35 -0500
To: “John S. Quarterman” <jsq@quarterman.org>
Subject: Resolution Draft 1.24.2011.pdf – Adobe Acrobat Professional
See you 5:30 PM tomorrow evening (Tuesday 25 Jan 2011) at 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601. They start on the dot or slightly early, and it’s a light agenda, so be on time and don’t blink or you’ll miss it.
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