The Industrial Authority board at their 19 June 2012 meeting decided to renominate the same officers for another term at the 19 June 2012 Industrial Authority meeting. All their business park projects are ahead of schedule and under budget, although it seems odd to be cutting down trees to detain water. They’re under budget for the entire year, and next year’s budget is less than that for the the fiscal year just being completed. They have hired a website contractor, and they’ve already made extensive changes to their Valdosta Prospector website. The 100% VSEB native grass landscaping project is underway.

They meet again tonight.

Here’s the agenda. A few notes below on a few specific videos from last month’s meeting.

• CPA Tom Davis expected VLCIA will end the fiscal year underbudget $100,000. He said the county told him collections remain flat. (The county’s version of that at its own budget hearing was a bit more complicated.)
• Jerry Jennett said the proposed new budget included $31,000 less in general operations, clarified expenditures for example in business retention and expansion, and the total was about $906,000, down from $916,000 for the previous fiscal year. Maybe soon we the taxpayers will get to see this budget that they approved at that meeting a month ago.
• S. Meghan Duke said they had selected Marketing Alliance to update their website and they’d be meeting in July for “a creative brief and a site map”. She said it would go fast, although once again she didn’t actually say when she expected it would be visible on the web. And they’d updated all their other websites, Georgia EMC, Select Georgia, Location Georgia, and Valdosta Prospector. Plus they were developing economic development presentations that officials throughout the county could use, on industrial sites, retail and restaurants, etc.
• She gave a lengthy presentation of the GIS website Valdosta-Lowndes Prospector.
• Allan Ricketts said four local businesses were discussing expanding, and VLCIA was considering rebranding its business retention and expansion tools.
• Somebody sent some requests for information regarding an airport project. VLCIA continues to discuss a food distribution project. Miller Business Park development continues “nice trees,” a “cadillac of a park”. They’re considering an open house soon.
• Miller Business Park work is mostly finished, including that related to DuPont. The 100% VSEB native grass landscaping project is underway.
• Rickets said they were cutting down large trees for stormwater detention at Lake Park Business Park. Does that seem right to you?
• He said they were ahead of schedule and under budget on all three business parks they were working on.
• Robert Beardon wants a change to his land contract.
• The nominating committee asked the entire current slate of officers to serve another term and they all said yes: Chairman Roy Copeland, Vice-Chairman Mary Gooding, and Secretary-Treasurer Norman Bennett. Roy Copeland proposed changing the official term length to two years. Attorney Gupton pointed out terms of board members were odd lengths, so one could roll off the board before a two year officer term was up. Jerry Jennett said he’d looked at the enabling legislation (presumably the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Act) and he thought it meant officers were elected every year. Copeland accepted that point, and they voted to accept that slate. They actually elect officers at their next meeting (today). (I’m glad they’re reading their own charter these days, and I no longer have to read it to them.)
• One citizen was heard (me), who congratulated them on organizing the focus group which I was to attend the next day. I congratulated them further afterwards in a letter to the editor of the local newspaper of record. Maybe tonight we’ll hear some report back about the focus groups.
• They adjourned into an executive session for the purpose of future acquisition of real property.

Here’s a video playlist:

Video Playlist
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett, Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton Attorney, Tom Davis CPA, Allan Ricketts Project ManagerS. Meghan Duke Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 June 2012.

-jsq