Lake Park Chamber of Commerce wrote 21 Oct 2011, Lunch & Learn: What is Lowndes County Extension:
Where: Lake Park Civic Center
123 N Essa St.
Lake Park, GA 31636
When: Wed 9 Nov 2011
from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Don’t miss out on this Lunch & Learn!The Lowndes County Extension Service is a program dedicated to educating our future workforce and getting the local community involved.
-jsq
According to their letters of transmission to the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Valdosta, Hahira, Remerton, and Lake Park all held public hearings on the Short Term Work Programs and Report of Accomplishment documents.
Here is video of the Valdosta Public Hearing.
The
Lowndes County resolution
does not say that a public hearing was held.
That’s because no public hearing was held, as you can see in the video below.
A public hearing was listed in the agenda of the 11 October 2011 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
7. Public Hearing
a. REZ-2011-13, Fred’s Dept. Store, 4401 Bemiss Rd., 145c-90a, 2.0 ac., water/sewer, C-H(c) & C- G(c) to C-G
b. Greater Lowndes 2030 Comprehensive Plan Updates – Lowndes County Report of Accomplishments (ROA) and Short Term Work Program (STWP)
However, citizens were not invited to speak for or against the document. In fact, the document was not provided to the citizens for comment and an open records request for the document has not been satisfied by the county. Here is video of items 7a and 7b.
The County’s Resolution to Transmit says in part: Continue reading
The Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning,
established by the Georgia Planning Act of 1989, require updates
to the Short Term Work Projects (STWP) list and the Report of
Accomplishments (ROA) every 5 years.
Lowndes County and the cities in Lowndes County have submitted the
documents to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs
(DCA)
An open records request to Lowndes County for the documents was not satisfied. However other government agencies were willing to abide by the Georgia Open Records Law ocga 50-18-70.
The documents are available for review on the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange website for Valdosta, Lake Park, Remerton, Hahira and Lowndes County.
I encourage you to read carefully what our elected officials see as the future of our community.
-gretchen
The Chamber’s Meet the Candidates Reception provides an opportunity for Chamber members to meet and hear from candidates running in the Nov. 8 general election. All Chamber members and guests are invited to attend this event at the Rainwater Conference Center. There is no cost to Chamber members to attend.Here’s the link to RSVP or if you need directions.
Here’s a list of who qualifed to run. As you can see, most local incumbents are running unopposed. Maybe they’ll show up anyway, and there are at least a few contested positions (Valdosta Mayor and Council At Large, Hahira Council 3, Dasher Post 3, and Lake Park Council At Large. This being an odd year, there are no county-wide posts up for election, but the municipal elections affect everyone around here, even people like me who do not live in any of the cities. Whether at this event or elsewhere, you may want to ask the candidates their platforms and positions on local issues.
Usually there’s also an AAUW Lowndes County Political Forum; I don’t know what’s up with that this year. Usually it’s immediately after the Chamber thing, and the AAUW Forum is open to all.
-jsq
Dan Bremer of the
Lake Park Chamber of Commerce talked about their
Exit Strategy, which encourages drives to exit I-75 and spend money
in Lowndes County.
He thanked two Lowndes County employees.
And he asked for some use of a prison detail for cleanup before
events in south Lowndes.
Here’s the video:
The Exit Strategy —Dan Bremer @ LCC 13 September 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
This post includes an update on who has qualified for the end of the day Thursday September 1st from Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections; * indicates incumbent. This is basically the same as the list I posted yesterday afternoon, with a few corrections: the Dasher candidates (except for Post 2) are now correctly marked as incumbents; Lake Park Mayor candidate Keith Sandlin is listed; Lake Park and Dasher Council At Large elections are described correctly; Paul Mulkey has also qualified for Lake Park; various names are filled out more completely. This morning’s post is taken from a text document sent by Deb Cox, so it’s probably more accurate than yesterday’s writing it down from her telling it to me on the telephone.
-jsq
| Mayor | John Gayle
Gary Minchew |
|---|---|
| At Large | Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton * |
| Council 1 | James R. Wright * |
| Council 3 | Joseph Sonny Vickers * |
| Council 5 | Tim Carroll* |
| Mayor | John Gayle
Gary Minchew |
|---|---|
| At Large | Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton * |
| Council 1 | James Wright * |
| Council 3 | Sonny Vickers * |
| Council 5 | Tim Carroll* |
The organization that considers every rezoning request
for Lowndes County
or any of the cities of Valdosta, Dasher, Hahira, or Lake Park,
the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission,
meets tonight, 5:30 PM, 29 August 2011.
This appointed body decides nothing, but it does make recommendations to the
elected governing body of the appropriate county or city,
which does take those recommendations into account before deciding.
If you want to rezone, or if there’s rezoning near you,
you would do well to go to the Planning Commission meeting
before it gets to your local elected body.
The Planning Commission’s remit is not just rezoning cases. According to the City of Valdosta’s writeup:
The mission of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) is to look beyond short-term solutions in planning for the future of the Greater Lowndes community; to improve the public health, safety, convenience and welfare; and to provide for the social, economic and physical development of communities on a sound and orderly basis, within a governmental framework and economic environment which fosters constructive growth and efficient administration.
The Planning Commission meets at the old Lowndes County Commission offices: Continue reading
The VDT points out that city elections usually don’t get much turnout, but this year there are two referendum questions on the ballot that may cause record turnout. They are: Continue readingOn Monday, qualifying week begins for candidates interested in running in the November election for Valdosta Mayor, City Council At Large and Council Districts 1, 3, and 5; Hahira City Council Districts 2 and 3; City of Dasher Post 3 and 4; City of Lake Park Mayor and four council positions; Remerton Mayor and five council seats; Valdosta School Board Districts 4, 5, and 6.
Found in the August Valdosta Planners Post:
According to the FAQ for the 2030 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan: Continue readingSTWP Update Due Fall 2011
The five‐year Short Term Work Plan (STWP) for the 2030 Greater Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan is due for an update later this year. The STWP is a key implementation tool that reflects the activities and strategies to support the Comprehensive Plan goals, which the City of Valdosta has undertaken for the past five years (2007‐2011). It also sets future activities and strategies for the next five years (2012‐2017). A ‘report of accomplishments’ that identifies the current status of each activity in the current STWP must be submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. A local public hearing must be held and a local resolution passed in order to adopt a the STWP update. Please check our website at www.valdostacity.com/planning for news and meeting schedules related to the STWP update.