Tag Archives: Jerry Jennett

Talk to my chairman —VLCIA board members

Yesterday I wrote that we were left with hearsay through Ashley Paulk
and people he talked to about what the Industrial Authority is up to,
and I had

left telephone messages with all five VLCIA board members.
So far, three out of five have called me back.



Roy Copeland referred me to VLCIA Chairman Jerry Jennett
for an update about the present status of the biomass plant.

He also had many good things to say about the activism in the community,
including this:

Because people in the community are concerned, that makes us better.
And sometimes there are good things that come out of disagreement.

This opinion is not new from him: he told me many of the same positive
things about activism months ago after a VLCIA board meeting.
We discussed

that there were other things VLCIA does that were worth supporting.

He also said he is in favor of

putting the minutes online,

Continue reading →

Who’s for What at the VLCIA

I don’t like to publish hearsay, but since the Industrial Authority
won’t talk, that’s what I’ve got.
According to Leigh Touchton, Ashley Paulk told her Tuesday night:

He said that Jerry Jennett took the biomass vote off the agenda at last
Industrial Authority meeting (April 19) even though Mary Gooding and
Roy Copeland wanted the vote to be taken ( a vote that was to oppose an
extension of the biomass contract since the biomass incinerator had not
met timeline benchmarks like having a buyer, etc). He said that Allan
Ricketts, Industrial Authority attorney Steve Gupton, and Jerry Jennett
went up to Atlanta to meet with Wiregrass officials and that’s when he
(Chairman Paulk) got a call telling him all this and he said he wouldn’t
keep quiet about it. He said the three men asked Wiregrass LLC officials
to rescind their letter asking VLCIA for an extension on their contract
and to substitute a new letter saying they were withdrawing their request
for extension (or not going forward to ask for extension).

This is in addition to what you can see him

on video saying during the meeting.
More after this picture of the cast of characters:

Continue reading →

Biomass is a bad idea —Matt Flumerfelt @ VLCIA 19 April 2011



Matt Flumerfelt says he’s a musician, writer, and poet,
and doesn’t usually go in for speaking about politics.
But he’s come to the conclusion that the biomass plant
is a bad idea.

Here’s

the video:




Biomass is a bad idea —Matt Flumerfelt @ VLCIA 19 April 2011

Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,

Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director, 19 April 2011,

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman

for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Wiregrass Solar is connected to the grid —Col. Ricketts @ VLCIA 19 April 2011



Acting Executive Director Allan Ricketts reported to the VLCIA board
that the Wiregrass Solar plant is connected to the grid now.
He gave a bit of detail about the commissioning ceremony that
was cancelled due to weather; apparently dignitaries from across
the state were expected to attend.
No new date has been set.
He’s still

supposed to let me know when the new date is set.

Here’s

the video:




Wiregrass Solar is connected to the grid —Col. Ricketts @ VLCIA 19 April 2011

Biomass protesters,
Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,

Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director, 19 April 2011,

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman

for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

About those minutes —Bobbi Anne Hancock @ VLCIA 19 April 2011



Stonewalling is a good way to get your Industrial Authority

on the front page
of the local newspaper (again).
Here’s video of what Bobbi Anne Hancock said to the board about their minutes (and other things).

First, here’s is VDT reporter David Rodock’s excerpt of what she
said last night:



Bobbi Anne Hancock, the woman who made an Open Records request with the
Authority for meeting minutes from 2006 to the present day, spoke to
board members during the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting.

“The majority of your costs for the request are for the five hours

Continue reading →

Protesters at Industrial Authority, 19 April 2011



The protesters are revolting these days!
Is there nothing an Industrial Authority can do to keep them off its doorstep?

Where are

these people protesting?
Could it be outside the Industrial Authority?




Protesters @ VLCIA 19 April 2011 Part 1 of 4:

Biomass protesters,
Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,

Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director, 19 April 2011,

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman

for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Why that sign says

Continue reading →

Industrial Authority Defensive about Minutes



Could the Industrial Authority try any harder to make it look like
they’ve got something to hide?
Of all things to go to the mattresses about: their board minutes?

The VDT picked up on our series about

a local citizen being overcharged for an open records request for
VLCIA agendas and minutes.
In a front page Sunday VDT story,

David Rodock reports:

In response, The Valdosta Daily Times submitted their own Open Records
Request for the salaries of all Industrial Authority employees.

According to the information provided by the Authority, the lowest paid
fulltime employee, the Operations Manager, is paid an annual salary
of $46,526.

When this number is divided by 2080, (52 weeks multiplied by 40 hours
per week) it shows that the lowest paid full-time employee is making
$22.40 per hour.

The salary quoted on the invoice is not the same as either

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Explain about the penalties if the voters don’t pass T-SPLOST? –Norman Bennett

What about those penalities Corey Hull of VLMPO mentioned when he

explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA?



Norman Bennett, VLCIA board member and former chairman of the Lowndes County Commmission,

asked Corey Hull:

Can you explain that again for me about the penalties if the voters don’t pass the tax?
If the county’s got a project, then they’ve got to put up ten percent
or whatever the percentage is?

Continue reading →

Corey Hull explains T-SPLOST to VLCIA, 15 Feb 2011



What’s this about yet another sales tax decided on by
regional transportation boards and GDOT?

Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization
(VLMPO)
explained T-SPLOST
at the regular monthly meeting,
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Georgia HB 277, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law
last year,
calls for a 1% regional sales tax (T-SPLOST) to fund
transportation projects.


The region including Lowndes County has 18 counties,

Continue reading →

Georgia is CCA’s model partner

“Primary site?” Really?

The

initial writeup in the VDT quoted CCA as being all coy
about if a need arose from the state they would be ready
to deploy the private prison in Lowndes County:



“This is (for) a future need that we don’t even know what it’ll
be yet,” Frank Betancourt, CCA’s vice president of real estate
development said. “There’s no ground breaking to announce. When the
need (for a facility) does arrive, we can be the first ones to offer
(our services).”

Yet if you look on

CCA’s own website under partnering:

CCA has been a great partner with us for nearly a decade now. Coffee
Correctional Facility and Wheeler Correctional Facility certainly meet
the standards of the Georgia Department of Corrections. I particularly


appreciate CCA maintaining exemplary accreditation status with both
the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on
Correctional Healthcare. I look forward to a continued long relationship
with them.”

—Commissioner James E. Donald, Georgia Department of Corrections

And over in Decatur County people actually asked about this, and were
told

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