Here is the
Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)
2012 Executive Director’s Report,
provided to LAKE by KLVB Executive Director Aaron Strickland.
This is the report he discussed at the
10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
-jsq
John Page, recent winner of the Republican Primary for
Lowndes County Commission District 5,
spoke as a citizen wishing to be heard in
yesterday’s Commission meeting.
He said he was resigning from his appointed post on the Planning Commission
effective 31 December 2012
because he sees it as a conflict with his upcoming elected position as a
County Commissioner, plus he said he does not have time to do both.
(Since there is no Democratic or other candidate for District 5,
Page will be the Commissioner.)
Page recommended
his primary runoff opponent Jody Hall
as his replacement on the Planning Commission.
Update 2012-09-20: Fixed video embedding.
Here’s
the video:
Resigning from Planning Commission; suggest appoint Jody Hall —John Page
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 September 2012.
I commend John Page for both of his decisions, and for announcing all this in a public meeting in front of a video camera. Maybe as a County Commissioner he will support transparency. And I commend Jody Hall for being willing to serve on the Planning Commission. Maybe as a Planning Commissioner he will support transparency.
-jsq
Yesterday morning’s County Commission Work Session
started on time!
In addition to the open records and open meetings items,
it included a report from KLVB, two rezonings, typo fixes and date changes
in the ULDC, a vanity road name change, an alcohol license and an
alcohol ordinance change, a USGS river gauge, surplus vehicles,
purchase of a new fire truck, and more!
They vote on all this tonight at their Regular Session, 5:30 PM.
Here’s
the agenda.
5.a. Unsurprisingly, the County Manager suggested the County Clerk be appointed the Open Records Officer now required by state law. 5.b. They also have a resolution before them about review and approval of minutes of executive sessions, but of course they don’t allow we the taxpayers to see that before they vote on it.
They considered adopting subdivision infrastructure for 5.c. Glen Laurel and 5.d. Crestwood.
6. Videos of the KLVB report and of applicant Emily Macheski-Preston are in a separate blog post.
7. Public Hearings:
Continue reading
Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye
reported to the Lowndes County Commission at their
Work Session yesterday morning
that
after the floods of 2009, Lowndes County negotiated with USGS to put a
stream level monitor on the Withlacoochee Little River at the GA 122 bridge,
and the county typically renews that funding once a year.
We shall see whether they approve that this evening.
Here's the video:
Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.
-jsq
In
yesterday morning's Work Session,
County Finance Director Stephanie Black
proposed a letter of understanding
for Morgan-Keegan to act as underwriter for
approximately $17 million
to refund the original bonds done for this building as well
as the water-sewer bonds only if the terms are favorable and
the net value savings are at least 3%.
Current projections show a savings of
$1.2 million or a little over 7% at this time.
Chairman Ashley Paulk remarked that:
The bond market has changed drastically.
At least the county palace that former Chairman Rod Casey got a former commission to approve at his last Commission meeting now won't cost we the taxpayers quite as much as we thought. They vote on this tonight.
Here's the video:
County to renegotiate bonds for the county palace
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.
-jsq
In
the 10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
Aaron Strickland of
Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)
said there were two applicants for appointement to the
KLVB board: Emily Preston and Deanna Wagner.
They did not speak;
Emily Macheski-Preston and Deanna Wagner.
Ms. Macheski-Preston spoke (included below); Ms. Wagner did not;
maybe tonight.
He gave a brief verbal report, which he said was a summary of a report he submitted last week (which we the taxpayers haven’t seen). He said at their Rivers Alive event last year they had a record number of sites cleaned: seven. Great American Cleanup, KLVB’s signature event used to be 1 day, but this year was 3 days.
He read some statistics on numbers of volunteers and things cleaned up. He listed some future events. There’s more in the video.
Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know how much time commitment was involved. Answer: an hour per board meeting and helping out with events and committees.
Here’s
the video: video of Aaron Strickland’s aural report:
Apparently the Lowndes County Commission has noticed the
new provisions of the Georgia Open Records and Open Meetings laws
that
VLCIA’s lawyer explained to the Industrial Authority back in May,
seeing these two items on the agenda for Monday morning and Tuesday evening:
5.a. Adopt Resolution Appointing an Open Records Officer
5.b. Resolution Regarding Review & Approval of Minutes of Executive Sessions
Plus infrastructure for two subdivsisions, one of them the famous Glen Laurel, several well/septic rezonings, approval of USGS Funding Agreement for HWY 122 Stream Gauge (one of the four that let us know about river flooding in Lowndes County less than a month ago), a beer license, and approval of the changes to the ULDC that were discussed in the recent Planning Commission meeting, in the public hearing the public didn’t know about. And more.
Here’s
the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The sinkholes are not just
in the garage
and
under the front steps,
there’s one
under Michael McCormick’s tool shed.
He already jacked up the shed and put blocks under it
after the ground sunk underneath it.
With all these sinkholes on his lot (and more in the yard),
how are they connected underground?
How will they expand?
Here’s a video playlist:
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 August 2012.
-jsq
The sinkholes are not just in
Michael McCormick’s garage.
According to groundscan radar by a VSU professor and students,
the sinkholes are also
spreading
under his
front steps and
his house.
The steps are sinking and there’s a crack on the wall inside the house.
Continue reading
In what the County Planner calls “central Lowndes County” there’s
a sinkhole in a garage,
deeper than a hoe handle.
Michael McCormick called me up yesterday and told me about this
sinkhole in his garage at 4326 Norman Hall Road.
Naturally he’s a bit concerned about this problem.
He thinks his insurance may cover it, but he’s looking for other
options in case.
So far, nobody seems to know what to do.
Which can’t be the case:
this isn’t the first sinkhole in Lowndes County.
We’re helping get the word out to help find whoever does know more about
sinkholes and what resources are available to deal with them.
It’s not only straight down and under the carport concrete.
Continue reading