Tag Archives: Law

Four board appointments, plus Justice, Water, and Alcohol @ LCC 2015-06-22

Adoption of the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget to be considered Monday
morning and voted on Tuesday evening (see LAKE videos of Budget Hearing of two weeks ago), plus
a

GEFA Loan Modification
(thought they approved that 26 May 2015 for the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant),
a
Justice Assistance Grant,
a

SCADA lease-purchase agreement,
and the annual controversial
Mosquito Contract.

Two appointees each to
KLVB
and the
Library Board.
We don’t know who, because the county
posted the agenda only in PDF, with no item sheets.

Public Hearing
approved last month for the

Abandonment of Buck Cato Road: what’s causing all of these in the last couple years?
And they’ve found an excuse for their long-desired Continue reading →

Videos: Budget Public Hearing @ LCC Budget 2015-06-09

For the budget they will vote on Tuesday June 23rd,
two weeks ago
Finance Director Stephanie Black said:

“This is the public hearing”

What happened to the requirement for two budget public hearings?

The County Chairman said they had $7 million in requests above the expected
revenue, so they had had a difficult time coming up with a budget.
For (some of) how they did that, see the
LAKE videos of the 18 May 2015 Budget Work Session.

Half of this budget hearing consisted of the same presentation from
that previous meeting.
Then County Manager Joe Pritchard

added Continue reading →

Videos: Deep South Sanitation litigation resolution, Animals, MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-09

Not on the agenda for the 9 June 2015 Regular Session:

settlement agreement for the county’s unnecessary
lawsuit against Deep South Sanitation.
Commissioners had no questions, but I have two:

how much did the county spend on the lawsuit?
how much did the county end up paying DSS?

Also unscheduled:

Recognition of Leadership Lowndes Attendees.

Citizen

Billy Rowland
had some comments about road grading and wondered how Animal Control
could come take his dog from his posted property yet not do anything
when he reported barking dogs.

They approved a Scruggs Co. contract for

Paving on Coppage Road, which includes curb and gutter to
save some of the tree canopy.
They approved a

Bid for Bemiss Road Mowing even though it’s a state highway, plus
a

Bid for a Zero-Turn Mower for the Public Works Department from Nashville Tractor.
They
approved the

Bid for a Fire Pumper for Lowndes County Fire Rescue
and the

LCSO Patrol Car Laptops Lease Purchase and
tabled the

Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from Valdosta utilities.

Via LAKE open records request,
see the

board packet item
for the complicated

Moody Activity Zones
Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code
that were tabled for more time at the Tuesday June 9th 2015 Regular Session
of the Lowndes County Commission.
See the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission
meeting that considered the MAZ and the rezonings on this agenda.
The

Shiver
and

Kinsey
rezonings were
were approved unanimously
with no speakers from the public and no Commissioner comments.
The

Orchard at Stone Creek
rezoning discussion about a retirement home lasted for 14 minutes, including updated maps
that were only provided to LAKE on paper, despite a request for
electronic copy.
See also the
agenda
and the
LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

Continue reading →

Most of June electric bill for overbudget nuke, yet the sun rises

While electric bills still are tilted against local solar generation

and Georgia Power continues to levy its stealth CWIP tax for its
nuke boondoggle, yet solar power is rising this year on
Southern Company and Georgia Power.

Bret Wagenhorst posted on facebook 9 June 2015:

I find it decidedly ironic that a large portion of my last month
electric bill went toward paying for a nuclear power plant that is
hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, and which will no doubt
cost millions of dollars a year to run and to manage its potentially
deadly waste. I wonder if the money spent on the nuclear plant were
used to purchase rooftop solar panels for all certified energy
efficient Georgian homes if we citizens might not be better off in
the long run. Thoughts?

Look for

Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Rider on that bill: Continue reading →

Videos: MAZ, Water, School @ LCC 2015-06-08

Through a LAKE open records request, now

you can see
the complicated

Moody Activity Zones
Text Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code,
which affect everything from animals to retirement homes.
In these LAKE videos you can see the Lowndes County Commission
consider that and other matters at their Work Session of Monday 8 June 2015,
including

Lowndes Middle School Utility Service from the City of Valdosta,
two water well and septic rezonings on
Mt. Zion Rd
and
Touchton Rd,
and
water and sewer for 24 acres of The Orchard at Stone Creek, Tillman Crossing Rd.
Plus
Utility Relocation for the Replacement of Franks Creek Bridge on Morven Road
and
many bids, including for
Paving on Coppage Road;
staff recommends the Scruggs bid.

County Manager Joe Pritchard noted
many of the bids were
related to SPLOST in an effort
“to get those projects up and running as quickly as possible”.

Here’s the
agenda.
See also the LAKE videos of the Planning Commission
meeting that considered these rezonings and the MAZ. Continue reading →

Board packet item for MAZ ULDC Text Amendment TXT-2015-01 @ LCC 2015-06-08

It’s no wonder the Planning Commission wanted more time for these complicated
proposed county code changes to the Moody Activity Zoning Districts (MAZ).
The county could have just as easily put

the PDF of this item online with

the agenda.
They didn’t, so LAKE filed an open records request, which no only makes
these maps and text available to the public, it demonstrates
the county can supply electronic format via email.

Here’s plain text for the
Board packet agenda item sheet
and the
Planning Division Amendment Notes,
and images of all the other pages from the PDF.

Water, septic, sewer, utilties, Lowndes Middle School @ LCC 2015-06-08

What are these complicated
Moody Activity Zoning Districts amendments to the land development code that involve many maps and tables that
county staff are not showing the public, even though
one of the stated reasons is residential dwellings and family ties land divisions?

What has Lowndes Middle School done for water and sewer until now,
when

it’s finally asking to connect to Valdosta utilities because
Lowndes County utilities are too far away?
Plus two water well and septic rezonings on
Mt. Zion Rd
and
Touchton Rd,
and
water and sewer for 24 acres of The Orchard at Stone Creek, Tillman Crossing Rd.
And
Utility Relocation for the Replacement of Franks Creek Bridge on Morven Road.

Many bids, including for
Paving on Coppage Road;
staff recommends the Scruggs bid.

Here’s the
agenda,
which this time (unlike last) at least does have the one- or two-page
agenda item sheets, but is still lacking the rest of the board packet.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 8,2015, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Atlanta TV station exposes ALEC lobbyists in Savannah

Caught on-camera:
ALEC’s off-duty sheriff’s deputies getting TV reporters thrown out of their own hotel

for “taking pictures in the hotel”, after ALEC’s marketing droid denied any
lobbying going on, nevermind the lobbyist and
legislator in a bar spelling out how it works:
ALEC gives “scholarships” to legislators who then meet in closed rooms
with corporate reps (including all the companies involved in the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline) who have equal votes
on draft bills for legislators to get passed as law in many states.
Bills promoting fracking, pipelines, LNG export, and against solar power,
renewable portfolio standards, not to mention for private prisons
and privatized education and against municipal broadband and country-of-origin labelling, plus many other
corporate give-aways subsidized by the taxpayers and the environment.
It’s time for the IRS to revoke ALEC’s 501(c)(3) status.
And for the Georgia legislature to apply the state’s sunshine laws to itself.

Brendan Keefe and Michael King, WXIA-TV, 22 May 2015,

Legislators and corporate lobbyists meet in secret at Georgia resort, Continue reading →

Videos: Bottled water, prisoner details, board appointees, and Easter Seals @ LCC 2015-05-11

One appointee bowed out, architect selection and public defender to the courthouse were clarified, and dog kennels were discussed, in these LAKE videos from yesterday morning’s 11 May 2015 Work Session
of the Lowndes County Commission, with a few notes.
See also

the agenda, plus a
new item

6 f. Server Replacement/Network Core Replacement. Continue reading →

Bottled water, prisoner details, board appointees, and Easter Seals @ LCC 2015-05-11

Picture by Michael Rivera, CC

Why is the county accepting
Bids for Bottled Water Service?
If its own water, or Valdosta’s, is good enough for the taxpayers,
shouldn’t it be good enough for Commission and staff?
They’ve also got a
Bid for Coffee Service,
but we don’t grow coffee here, as far as I know, so that’s not the same issue.

With many local people needing jobs, why does the county continue to renew an
Annual Contract Renewal for Prison Work Details?

Looks like Joseph G. Stevens will be reappointed to the
Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority.
Both G. Norman Bennett and incumbent Anthony Payton want to be appointed to the
one slot opening on the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority.
Their applications were not included with the agenda, so who can say
which one is most qualified?

I guess they didn’t decide

to relocate the Public Defender’s Office into
the historic Lowndes County Courthouse,
since on the agenda is a three-year
Lease Agreement for the Public Defender’s Office at its present location.

Looks like J. Glenn Gregory will provide the
Architectural Services for the Lowndes County Civic Center Renovations
and the
Architectural Services for the Naylor Community Center, both funded via SPLOST VII.
Both apparently without competitive bids.

Here’s

the agenda, which also has
Declaration of Surplus Items and Authorization for Sale/Disposal
and
Easter Seals Southern Georgia Presentation (Work Session Only).

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange