Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Third no-bid contract for same firm proposed this month @ LCC 2013-08-26

This time
the County Engineer said Lovell was the only qualified


consultant for an ecological and environmental study
(because of what requirement we don’t know),
for a land swap (for what we don’t know),
not funded by the county (funded by whom we don’t know).
You the taxpayers and people potentially affected by any
ecological and environmental problems: do you think you might
want to know?
They vote tonight about what was proposed
at the

26 August 2013 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

6.a.

Environmental Engineering Services for GDOT Land Deed for Parks and Recreation

Invisible County Engineer Mike Fletcher said he had received a proposal
from Lovell Engineering Services for the
62.49 acre tract
just north of the existing skate park Parks and Rec owns
and just north of the old rest area.


The county Tax Assessors maps don’t show any tract of that size
near that location, but they Continue reading →

Special Presentation by State Court Judge John Edwards @ LCC 2013-08-26



State Court Judge John Edwards came before the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners

to ask them to begin the process of asking for an additional State
Court Judge for Lowndes County. An additional State Court Judge
would have to be authorized by the Georgia Legislature, then filled
initially by an appointee by the Georgia Governor.

At this morning’s Work Session,
the Judge noted that with the

recent reforms enacted by the Georgia Legislature,
many crimes previously classified as felonies are now
classified as misdemeanors. This has reduced the burden on the
Superior Courts and on the prison populations (a good thing)
however, it has raised the load on the State Court without an
increase in resources.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:

Continue reading →

UHS Pruitt * 2 and Teramore * 2 @ GLPC 2013-08-26

Two Valdosta cases, both for health care company

UHS Pruitt,
and two Hahira cases, both for
real estate developer

Teramore Development,
at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission tonight.

Here’s the
agenda.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

AGENDA

Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office

325 West Savannah Avenue

Monday, August 26, 2013* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

Videos: Moody, Moody, acre, water, and SPLOST VII @ LCC 2013-08-13



The

big item was a public-private partnership for units to be rented only to
military personnel, built on top of the same soil as has a sinkhole
next door.
They also approved a no-bid contract for
a drinking water treatment plant upgrade near the Alapaha River,
plus another no-bid contract for Lovell Engineering, for
wastewater treatment.
And they’re so confident SPLOST VII will be approved
by the voters (even though they never held a town hall or public hearing)
that staff is going to ask the state

to continue collections in January;
plus Gretchen pointed out that
if citizens knew what was in SPLOST they might be more willing to vote for it.
Including maybe even
the woman who noted that since garbage trucks
are coming down her road it needs to be fixed.

Here’s

the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes, including a few links to related posts.



LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Access to information about SPLOST –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-08-13



If voters knew what they were voting for with SPLOST VII,
maybe they’d be more likely to vote for it,
noted Gretchen Quarterman
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Gretchen Quarterman said she was happy about the work the county
had done with the cities to figure out SPLOST VII, but:

Last year we didn’t do a good job in the county about getting
the county residents to go and vote for SPLOST
so now we’re in this gap.
Thank you for figuring out how to
fill the gap; if we do that, that’s good.

One of the things that I think would really help us Continue reading →

Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong @ LCC 2013-08-13



Yet another side effect of that

exclusive franchise to Veolia (excuse me, ADS):
dirt roads being damaged by garbage trucks,
came up
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County resident and taxpayer Anita Armstrong
said now that garbage trucks are coming
down her road it’s in bad shape and they need help.
Commissioners seemed to think that was comical.

Here’s

the video:



Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 August 2013.

-jsq

Ground-penetrating radar and karst topography –Michael Noll @ LCC 2013-08-13



Yes, we can look under the ground at the Moody Family Housing site,
and it won’t take very long,
said a VSU professor
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Dr. Michael Noll further answered

Commisioner Richard Raines’ previous question
as to what Dr. Noll was offering
regarding REZ-2013-09 Moody Family Housing
by saying


VSU does have ground-penetrating radar equipment on campus,
and a survey would take only a few weeks.
Here’s

an example of VSU work using that equipment.

Here’s

the video:



Ground-penetrating radar and karst topography –Michael Noll

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 August 2013.

-jsq

No-bid contract for Alapaha Water Treatment Plant @ LCC 2013-08-13



A no-bid contract for the engineering firm that already wrote a letter
to GA EPD on behalf of the county, this one for upgrading the
Alapaha Plantation Water Treatment Plant, at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

7.b.

Engineering for the Alapaha Water Treatment Upgrade


Alapaha Water Treatment Plant Parcel 0261 057


Timeline --Demarcus Marshall
Utilities Director Mike Allen said the
engineering agreement with Lovell Engineering

(presented at the previous morning’s Work Session
was ready for the board to approve in a no-bid agreement with Lovell Engineering.

County Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know Continue reading →

River gauge, park deed, personnel costs, pest control, and a special presentation @ LCC 2013-08-26

Five minutes for tomorrow morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session?
The mysterious “Special Presentation” might take longer Tuesday.



The last time the river stream gauge funding came up was I think
10 September 2012.
At that time I thought Emergency Director Ashley Tye was referring
to the Withlacoochee River, but he actually didn’t say which river,
and USGS only lists a gauge on the Little River at GA 122,
not on the Withlacoochee.
If the county put agenda packet information online with the agenda,
that sort of confusion wouldn’t be so easy.

Here’s

the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

How big might a sinkhole be? @ LCC 2013-08-13


Viral Internet video
of a human-caused sinkhole swallowing a clump of trees whole,
in Bayou Corne, Assumption Parish, Louisiana.

>

WCTV posted 22 August 2013,

Sinkhole Swallows Trees In Seconds



Assumption Parish, LA – Cameras were rolling just as a sinkhole swallowed a group of trees….

CBS News reports that the sinkhole now covers 25 acres, and is expected to keep growing.


Video from NOLA.com of another tree going in: Continue reading →