Tag Archives: LAKE

Three appointments, a rezoning, and 2 wastewater but no solid waste @ LCC 2013-06-10

No names for appointments (KLVB, VLCCCTA, ZBOA), and nothing on the agenda about solid waste collection or the public hearing they didn’t hold or why they picked Veolia’s highest bid or ADS buying more companies when its spokesman said that wasn’t forseen or how much the Commission forsees waste collection fees going up or suing a local company at the Lowndes County Commission. Wasterwater is on the agenda twice, which is good after that sewer spill into the Withlacoochee River, but nothing about a five-year action plan. Let’s listen to what the preacher Commissioners pray about: that’s usually a clue to what’s on their minds, even if they proceed to do the opposite.

Here’s the agenda.

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June LAKE meeting Tuesday @ LAKE 2013-06-11

Same agenda as in January, local governance: Water, trash, and money.


View Larger Map
What: Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: about 6:30PM Tuesday
(after the Lowndes County
Commission meeting)
11 June 2013
Where: Let's Eat Cafe
2102 W. Hill Ave.
(just west of I-75,
at the Shell station)
Valdosta, GA 31601

Don't let the location fool you: Let's Eat is locally owned, and serves a lot of locally-grown food.

If you're on Facebook, please Like the LAKE facebook page. You can sign up for the meeting event there, Or just come as you are.

-jsq

Tina Anderson new President of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College

From Moultrie to Valdosta, Dr. Tina Anderson unanimously appointed new Wiregrass Tech President.

Wiregrass Tech PR of 6 June 2013, Commissioner Jackson Appoints Dr. Tina Anderson to be the Next President of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College

Atlanta — Commissioner Ron Jackson today informed the state board that oversees the Technical College System of Georgia that Dr. Tina Anderson, who is currently the president of Moultrie Technical College, is his choice to become the next president of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in Valdosta.

Board Member Ben Copeland of Valdosta made the motion to approve the appointment of Anderson to the position, and the full board voted unanimously in favor of the selection. The announcement and vote were made during the board’s monthly meeting at the TCSG headquarters in Atlanta.

Anderson will move into her new position at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College on July 1. She will replace Dr. Ray Perren, who left the college in May to become president of another TCSG college, Lanier Technical College in Oakwood, Georgia.

Jackson told the board members Continue reading →

ADS revolving door with local and state government

Not paid enough as an elected official? Apply to Advanced Disposal for a job! Then you can run for the statehouse, win, and sponsor legislation about waste collection! Oh, look: there’s Steve Edwards again.

CummingHome.com updated 25 September 2011 a press release originally published 20 September 2009, Former Mayor Joins the Advanced Disposal Atlanta Marketing Team,

Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., a regional provider of integrated solid waste and recycling collection, transfer, and disposal services, is pleased to announce the hiring of Brett Harrell as the Municipal Marketing & Government Affairs Representative for the Metro-Atlanta area.

Mr. Harrell brings a multitude of experience to his new position having spent time as former Mayor of the City of Snellville where he administered the city’s solid waste and recycling program serving Continue reading →

Videos of morning of budget discussion @ LCC 2013-06-05

Here’s a video playlist of Wednesday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Budget Discussion Meeting.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 June 2013.

They broke for lunch shortly before noon, and Gretchen had another appointment, so the video ends there, although the Commission apparently continued te discussion in the afternoon. Hm, if they had real discussion at their other meetings, they wouldn’t have to save it up for long marathon sessions like this….

-jsq

More clues to how much garbage collection fees will go up

ADS proposed last December to Lincolnton, GA, to start trash collection with a rate very like what Veolia bid to Lowndes County, with increases every year after that.

The Lincoln Journal wrote 6 December 2012, Council hears proposal to privatize garbage collection,

The Lincolnton City Council heard a proposal to privatize the municipality’s trash collection service at its regular meeting held Monday, December 3. The Lincolnton City Council heard a proposal to privatize the municipality’s trash collection service at its regular meeting held Monday, December 3.

The presentation was made by Kevin Rupinta, general manager, and Steve Edwards, area municipal marketing manager, of Advanced Disposal, the Columbia County company that also serves Lincoln County.

The written proposal stated: “Since Advanced Disposal collects garbage in Lincoln County and runs through and around the City of Lincolnton, Advanced Disposal offers the following to reduce the city’s expenses:

(1) Purchase the city’s garbage trucks at an agreed upon fair market value.

(2) Purchase the city’s carts at an agreed upon fair market value.

(3) Provide garbage service for the city at rates that mirror those charged to the county.”

The rates quoted were:

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San Onofre nuke closing for good –Socal Edison

A big victory today for anti-nuke and pro-solar activists: the leaky San Onofre nukes will stay closed for good! Cost to close them? Between between $450 million and $650. This is after SoCal Edison and 20% owner San Diego Gas & Electric “more than $780 million replacing the steam generators several years ago, which ratepayers are now repaying.” The new Plant Vogtle nukes are already about a billion dollars over and 19 months behind: let’s stop them now before Georgia Power and Southern Company waste any more of our money on them.

PR from SoCal Edison today, Southern California Edison Announces Plans to Retire San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,

Continue reading →

Budget hearing public notices @ LCC 2013-06-05

Yesterday’s County Commission meeting was billed as a Budget Discussion Meeting, and apparently it was not a public hearing on the county’s budget, because state law requires such a hearing to be advertised in the newspaper or published as a news story, a week in advance. This is different from public notice for other Commission meetings: for budget hearings the notice has to be not just sent to the newspaper: it has to be published, and not in the legal notices section, and it has to appear at least a week before the hearing. It’s also illegal to refuse to provide a copy of the submitted draft budget to the public or the news media:

O.C.G.A. 36-81-5.(d) On the day that the proposed budget is submitted to the governing authority for consideration, a copy of the budget shall be placed in a public location which is convenient to the residents of the unit of local government. The governing authority shall make every effort to provide convenient access to the residents during reasonable business hours so as to accord every opportunity to the public to review the budget prior to adoption by the governing authority. A copy of the budget shall also be made available, upon request, to the news media.

LAKE is a news medium, according to federal law.

Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts has Georgia Law on Local Government Budgets: Continue reading →

Solid Waste Corruption in Gwinnett County?

A federal corruption probe and a developer charged with bribing a county commissioner, who already resigned, admitting it; all that plus drug dealing, nepotism, perjury, cronyism, and at least one prison term, in Gwinnett County. This AJC story has a quote by VSU alumnus and current ADS rep. Steve Edwards.

David Wickert wrote for the AJC 8 September 2012, Widening probe stains Gwinnett reputation,

New details of a federal investigation paint a troubling picture of corruption deeply embedded in Gwinnett County—allegations that may undermine the county’s previously sterling reputation as an economic dynamo.

Bribery allegations have now embroiled two county commissioners, a planning commissioner and a zoning board member….

One of Lasseter’s first acts upon taking office in January 2009 was to appoint Gary — a longtime friend — to the Municipal-Gwinnett County Planning Commission, which would pass judgment on his development plans, including the waste transfer station off Winder Highway.

More dominoes in the federal corruption probe began falling last week, when Continue reading →

Birds stop cleanup work at closed Hanford plutonium plant

Birds nested using radioactive mud from WW II-era nuclear bomb production plant, stopping attempts to clean up some of the worst leaking atomic waste, much of which is liquid in leaking tanks near the Columbia River. We have nuclear plants leaking radioactive tritium next to the Chattahoochee and Altamaha Rivers, and radiation is detectible in the Savannah River near Plant Vogtle. How many radioactive solar panels or windmills have you heard of?

Annette Cary wrote for the Tri-City Herald yesterday, Birds at Hanford vit plant spread contaminated waste,

Work stopped Wednesday morning at parts of the Hanford vitrification plant after radioactive contamination was detected under a bird’s nest, according to Bechtel National.

The contamination is suspected of coming from mud used for the nest, which may have belonged to a swallow, said Bechtel spokesman Todd Nelson. Only a small amount of contaminated soil was found, and the contamination was at a low level.

Should workers believe that?

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