Tuesday morning assailant Peggy Green apologized a year after
Nydia Tisdale asked.
The judge remarked he was happy at the outcome so nobody had to face jail time.
So, if you want your meeting to be private, don’t advertise it as
“open to the public”.
And when someone shows up with a camera, don’t try to throw them out,
especially not physically.
From
Nydia’s blog post here’s
the video: Continue reading
Here is the
board packet for the
11 November 2014 Regular Session
and
10 November 2014 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Although the County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper
and only in black and white, we got via CD-ROM color maps for
REZ-2014-17 Grand Bay Estates
and
REZ-2014-18 White
from County Planner Jason Davenport in response to a separate Open Records Request.
The request to the County Clerk also asked for
electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.
But who can say?
Perhaps things will be different after
the Open Government Symposium this Friday, 21 November 2014.
Meanwhile, I have already filed an Open Records Request for the board packet
for the next County Commission meeting, which is in December.
-jsq
They vote tonight at 5:30PM. Probably there won’t be a repeat of
yesterday morning’s presentation
by
District Health Director Dr. Grow.
The county wants
an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod;
it’s considering two interagency agreements,
one for
Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park
and the other for
the county extension,
plus
setting election qualifying fees
and
a Special Assessment Rate for 2014.
There’s a
beer license
and acceptance of
infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.
Here’s
the agenda with links to the videos:
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
We can probably guess who
“Dr. Grow” is
and the general topic of his presentation,
but why does the county make us guess?
The county wants
an architect for a new roof and shower in one jail pod;
it’s considering two interagency agreements,
one for
Valdosta Inspections for Lake Park
and the other for
the county extension,
plus
setting election qualifying fees
and
a Special Assessment Rate for 2014.
There’s a
beer license
and acceptance of
infrastructure for part of Grove Pointe Subdivision.
Here’s
the agenda: Continue reading
Who’s responsible for the recent partiality in budget reports?
The newspaper, or its source of information, namely the county government
at its secretive retreat on the Chairman’s private property that even the VDT reporter had trouble finding?
When
the Coroner
and
the Sheriff
(often
at odds lately)
agree that
the VDT’s version
of
the county government’s remarks about their budgets
was at best partial,
where is the source of that partiality?
Who’s responsible for budgeting for the county, reporter Matthew
or editor Kay Harris or Dean Poling?
Or is it the local government our taxes pay to do that job,
namely the Lowndes County Commission and its staff,
which is managed by County Manager Joe Pritchard?
Maybe somebody down at the county palace should,
as Gretchen suggested recently,
“check our work”.
-jsq
LTE in the VDT today. -jsq
Sheriff’s Response to “budget woes”
The Sheriff’s Office has received a lot of criticism in the last
several months. It appears to be the fashionable thing these days
and an easy target. Sheriff Prine did not receive an invitation to
the Chairman’s personal property
for a review of the county’s budget
and criticism of the Sheriff’s budget in particular. There are some
facts that have not been reported
by the Valdosta Daily Times,
which may or may not have been provided.First it should be noted that the Sheriff’s Office general fund
budget was reduced from last year’s budget by $171,306.
This was
before another $130,492 was taken away in August as a result of
shift in
traffic citation processing
responsibilities
to the Clerk’s Office.A closer look at some of the specific line items targeted for
criticism will show Continue reading
Sent Wednesday. -jsq
Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:43:49 -0500Dear Mr. Pritchard,
Thank you for
your message of 1 February.Yes, the binders of the documents for the closings of the various
bonds are the sort of financial instruments I requested in
my message of 28 January, and that Chairman Slaughter listed in
his letter dated 18 January
(that I received 28 January). Monday 11 Feb
2013 after the Work Session will be a good time for me to inspect
and copy those binders. I will bring a camera and a photocopier. If
that time will not work, please advise me of times that would.Yes, there are other documents I would like to inspect. Please provide
The County Manager has found the legal documents on
issuance of the
the bonds Chairman Slaughter listed in his letter of 18 January.
Received yesterday (as a *.docx file, and still to the wrong email address,
but this time including both residence and postal addresses),
County Manager Joe Pritchard followed up on his
email of 29 January,
in which he had seemed puzzled about the term
"financial instruments"
(it's a standard term in business and investing)
such as
I asked for 28 January.
I thank Mr. Pritchard once again for responding.
(I thanked Chairman Bill Slaughter in person the other day.)
The relevant correspondance about the flyer that Mr. Pritchard
previously wrote
was created by the VDT is still missing.
I will ask for that Monday, when I respond to Mr. Pritchard's most courteous
offer to inspect the financial instruments.
Here's Mr. Pritchard's letter.
-jsq
February 1, 2013John Quarterman
6565 Quarterman Road
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605Dear Mr. Quarterman:
To follow up my email of yesterday, I have obtained the binder of
the documents executed at the closing of the $15,500,000 CVDA
Thanks to County Manager Joe Pritchard for responding to
my letter of Monday.
He partly (but not completely) answered my question by saying the VDT did it.
More on that later.
He included a PDF copy of
Bill Slaughter’s letter of January 18th.
Perhaps Mr. Pritchard was unaware that letter didn’t
reach me until after my letter of Monday, because the
county sent it to the wrong address.
Mr. Pritchard’s email response was also sent to the wrong address,
although fortunately email to that business address does reach me.
He also copied the Chairman at his business address instead of at
his Lowndes County address.
In any case, electronic copy is almost always more useful than paper,
so I thank Mr. Pritchard for sending that PDF copy.
Here’s Mr. Pritchard’s letter. -jsq
Many thanks to Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter for taking
the time to respond to a citizen's question in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard!
The response didn't actually answer my question, but that may be because
the question wasn't clear enough without a copy of
the flyer that claimed the county's new judicial and administrative complex
was "100% Paid by SPLOST" and "$0 Balance Owed";
see
next post.
An hour or two after I sent
a letter to County Manager Joe Pritchard Monday,
someone from the county called to say Chairman Bill Slaughter
had sent me a letter in response to
my question to the Commission about bonds,
but it had been returned by the Post Office.
As you can see by the image of the envelope,
they sent it to my residence address, where I don't get mail.
That's why I always include my postal address on Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard forms, open records requests, etc.
Anyway, they made it available for pickup at the county palace.
Ten days after the PO sent it back to them is better than never.
Here's Chairman Slaughter's letter. -jsq
