Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-10-09

The big item at Tuesday’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session was, same as at Monday’s Work Session, the waste management railroad, terminating in a decision. Other topics included citizen Karen Noll speaking against the charter school amendment.

Here’s the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes, or links to separate posts. Apologies for the poor sound on the first videos; we didn’t have the usual camera. Of course, if the Commission did its own videoing and posting, that problem would be unlikely to occur.

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session — September 24, 2012
    2. Regular Session — September 25, 2012
  5. Public Hearing — REZ-2012-15 Glenn O’Neal, Pecan Plantation Rd. & US Hwy 84 W E-A to C-H, County Water & Septic, ~4.5 acres
  6. For Consideration
    1. Bevel Creek Lift Station Pump Repair
    2. Alapaha Waterline size Increase
    3. Beer License — Naylor’s Pantry — 8777 E. Hwy 135
    4. Refunding Revenue Bonds
    5. Solid Waste Management Request for Proposal
  7. Reports
    1. Community Planning Month Proclamation
      Plus recognition of two planners from Moody AFB.
    2. Employee Health Fair
    Chairman Ashley Paulk interjected not on the agenda
    • some comments about recently deceased former VSU president Hugh C. Bailey,
    • and noted the fire chief had a new fire truck, which was parked outside.
  8. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
    • Karen Noll spoke against the charter school amendment, saying it would implement taxation without representation Karen Noll @ LCC 2012-10-09 and would take more tax dollars from our public schools to give twice as much money to special charter school students.
    • Ken Klanicki never actually even approached the podium. After being asked by the chairman to come to the podium or leave the room, he wandered to the back of the room and was escorted out by a deputy sheriff. He called me by name as he left, but I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish. He called me later, but when I asked him that, he had no explanation.

Here’s a video playlist. It shifts from the first camera (good video, poor sound) to the second camera (video with no closeups, good sound) in the middle, when I arrived with the second camera. The rest of the first camera videos are tacked onto the end. Next time we’ll attempt to have the good camera.

Video Playlist
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 October 2012.

-jsq

 

Charter school amendment: taxation without representation —Karen Noll @ LCC 2012-10-09

Karen Noll spoke to the Lowndes County Commission Tuesday about the charter school amendment, saying it would implement taxation without representation Karen Noll @ LCC 2012-10-09 and would take more tax dollars from our public schools to give twice as much money to special charter school students.

When you’re talking about my kids in the schools and you’re going to take their money and ship it to somebody else’s family and then there’s no accountability, that’s just unacceptable.

Here’s the video.

-jsq

“I don’t think it could get any easier” –Richard Raines on solid waste @ LCC 2012-10-09 @ LCC 2012-10-09

Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission voted to abolish the current rural waste collection centers and to contract with Veolia for waste pickup like in urban areas. This decision on an essentially rural matter was made by three urban Commissioners without any public hearing on their current RFP.

Before deciding, County Manager Joe Pritchard gave the history of the county's waste management railroad. A curiously redacted history.

As y'all know, in FY 04 and 05, operating costs of the solid waste program was approximately $1.1 million increasing at a rate of approximately 10% a year. As a result the at-that-time recently passed service delivery […] act of General Assembly, the county and the cities of Lowndes County were forced to come to an agreement on the delivery of the vasrious services. As a result of that, solid waste came to be funded strictly on a user fee basis.

I'm guessing he's referring to HB 489, the Local government service delivery strategy agreement of 1997. As we learned from Richard Raines Monday, it's not clear HB 489 precluded a special tax district for waste disposal similar to the special tax lighting districts the county often sets up for streetlights in subdivisions. I've seen no indication the county ever seriously looked into that.

In April and May of 2008 the county advertised and conducted a series of eight public meetings in which we were asked by Commission to gather input from the public regarding the various options that were available. During those meetings it was obvious that there was not one clear option that was chosen by the public.

Obvious to whom? For that matter, Continue reading →

WCTV on LCC Chair Candidates

Greg Gullberg at the Lowndes County Palace Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV today, Lowndes County Commission Chair Candidates Polar Opposites,

The Chairman of a County Commission can have great impact on the lives of residents. And in one local county, the candidates couldn’t be more different.

She wants to make it easier to see what the Commission is doing; he worries ordinances make it too difficult for business.

Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes County Chairwoman Bill Slaughter for Lowndes County Chairman

Gretchen Quarterman speaking to the Lowndes County Commission WCTV using LAKE video Here’s the WCTV video, which appears to start with outtakes from LAKE videos of Commission meetings. LAKE videos that were taken by… Gretchen Quarterman. The one of her speaking to the Commission? Camera on a tripod.

-jsq

4 rezonings (one big), 3 water items, and more @ VCC 2012-10-11

200 West Jane Street The item with 9 conditions, VA-2012-14, is at a rather vague location, “the southeast corner of West Brookwood Drive, North Oak Street, North Toombs Street, and West Jane Street” which presumably means 200 W Jane St, as shown in the map here. That’s directly across W. Toombs Street from 1302 N Patterson Street, which is part of VSU.

Here’s the agenda.

-jsq

AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, October 11, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
Continue reading →

Library process transparency —John S. Quarterman

John S. Quarterman videoing SPLOST VII Kickoff Speeches It’s good to see that someone responsible for allocating millions of dollars of taxpayer money is willing to answer questions about related decisions, as Kay Harris is doing! It would be even better if there were a regular process by which the taxpaying and voting and library-using public could ask such questions and get answers.

If there were such a process, it’s pretty likely Ms. Harris or the Library Board or the County Commission would have been asked about the architect selection, considering I wasn’t even involved in that selection and my ear was scorched with complaints as soon as it was announced. Maybe Ms. Harris can suggest a way to produce such a process.

Let me take Ms. Harris’ points in order.

“First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state’s estimate of $21 million.”

That’s very interesting news, which clarifies for me what she was getting at in the VDT writeup on that selection:

Continue reading →

Why we selected an out of town architect —Kay Harris

Received yesterday on New Library —Kay Harris. My response follows in the next post. -jsq

I was never asked why we selected an out of town architect, but will Kay Harris happily answer that question now. First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state's estimate of $21 million. Second, they brought to the project a consultant who is considered the country's leading library consultant; only one of the other four brought in an outside expert. Third, the principals of this firm live right over the county line in Florida—they are within the 50 mile radius that is considered "hiring local", so they are indeed a local firm. They also brought a local engineering firm, from Valdosta, to the table, and have agreed to hire as many subs from the local area as possible. So I truly don't understand the "jab" about hiring non-local… if it was that big a concern, why not just ask me the question? Mr. Quarterman wasn't even in the room at the time I spoke….

-Kay Harris

-jsq

Waste disposal discussions with Richard Raines —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2012-10-09

Gretchen Quarterman Waste disposal issues in Lowndes County are more complex than one might think, and transparent processes could help citizens understand these stewardship issues, while helping the local government do its job.

Commissioner Raines called me yesterday evening after I had left him a voice mail and an e-mail letting him know that I had some questions.

I was particularly curious about the proposals in column “F” which asked for:

Contractor(s) agrees to provide an independent proposal option to address residential solid waste, bulky item, yard waste and recyclable materials collection, transportation and disposal, collection center management and related customer service, records, billing and payment processing services for unincorporated Lowndes County residents.

Proposal “F” Pricing —

Residential solid waste, bulky item, yard waste and recyclable materials collection, transportation and disposal, collection center management and related customer service, records, billing and payment processing services.

$______________ per month/subscriber

This was an opportunity for the vendors to provide some option that the county had not asked for but used their expertise in waste disposal and offer a creative solution.

Lowndes County Solid Waste RFP Summary Sheet October 9, 2012 The prices in column “F” ranged from $8.33 to $19.95 to “Negotiate”.

Commissioner Raines briefly explained what had been submitted by each vendor and it became clear that there was not a creative winning solution proposed there. In fact, submitting a “Negotiate Rates and Program” is clearly a failure.

We then went on to discuss at length the whole solid waste disposal history, problems, options, and so on. Commissioner Raines stressed his focus Continue reading →

Videos: Water, water, water, waste! and planning? @ LCC 2012-10-08

The big news was the waste disposal railroad, but the Lowndes County Commission also heard about three water issues (one a rezoning), plus a beer license, revenue bonds, community planning month, and a health fair at its Work Session this morning.

Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes, or links to separate posts.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Lowndes County Solid Waste RFP Summary Sheet @ LCC 2012-10-08

This is the summary sheet Kevin Beals presented at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning.

Assuming the dollar figures in the table are monthly charges to the end user, note that the only one that comes out less than the current $100/year is the $8.33 in the lower right corner: $8.33 * 12 = $99.96. Presumably plus tax, since this would be a private service. So if the Commission chooses any of these options, we the current waste disposal customers will have to pay more.

The upper end of $19.95 (upper right corner) comes to $239.40 per year. Or 140% more than the current price. A bit more to a lot more: that’s what we’ll have to pay. Plus the socialized costs of privatizing waste disposal, such as code enforcement to pick up trash dumped on rights of way, private fences and gates built to keep trash out, and other costs.

Average is somewhere around $13/month, for $156/year. If they simply charged that for the current service, the already rapidly decreasing budget deficit for waste disposal would vanish, and there would be no need to change to something else.

If you want to see the actual proposals summarized in this table, you can file an open records request. According to the County Clerk’s web page:

Once a request is received, Lowndes County will notify the requesting party within 3 days regarding the availability of information.

So if you file it today, you’ll get a response of some sort within two days after they vote on waste management tomorrow.

Does this seem right to you?

-jsq