Tag Archives: Law

Pipeline, road repair, Bailey, water, and Commercial Tax Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-28



They finally made a decision onG

the Bailey rezoning:
the one the applicant liked least.
They accepted

the Creekwood Subdivision detention ponds;
and the

Glen Laurel infrastructure;
will all that be maintained any better than the one at Hamilton Circle?
Dr. Michael Noll

spoke for WACE against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

Agenda item

6.i. is changed in the county’s

online agenda from Rural to Commercial without the agenda being
marked as amended.

See
agenda,
the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session,
and

the board packet obtained via open records request by LAKE and scanned and posted on the LAKE website.
Here are videos of events as they transpired, followed by a video playlist.

Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2014-10-27



Surprisingly, when asked for this packet Monday morning,
the County Clerk agreed to provide it later that same day, and did.
However, she delivered it on paper.
Processing time for that interleaved with other tasks took LAKE
until now.
Here is the

board packet
for the
27 October 2014 Regular Session
of the Lowndes County Commission.
It answers many questions that the public board meeting left hanging,
such as
what land does the county plant to acquire for that booster pump.
If the county would put these board packets on their own website
before their meetings, the citizens who pay their salaries
would be able to see what they were talking about.

-jsq

Videos: Emergency road repair, grandfathered business, water, and Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-27


More detail and issues with

Bailey REZ-2014-16
after
much discussion last time.
Almost ten minutes on

6a. Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention.
Numerous things incomplete or just FYI such as drug seizures in the

financial report, none of which the citizens could see.
This was in the Work Session Monday morning.
They vote Tuesday 5:30 PM in the Regular Session.



They

actually named the multiple bids for a water item,
unlike the
single-source price-not-quoted pump replacement last time.
And they’re buying some property (at some place unnamed)

for a booster pump.

The

Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules
was actually for Commercial land.
We learned why

Shiloh Road needs emergency repairs.
Nothing about that on

the new county Lowndes411 twitter account,
and the county still doesn’t publish its own board packets.

I can understand why the Commission needs to approve

a juvenile justice grant,
a

GEFA loan application,
to

accept quit claim deeds for a subdivision’s detention ponds,
and to

accept infrastructure for a subdivision, not to mention

a CDBG agreement.
But to

replace batteries in a UPS?

See

the agenda.
Here are links to the videos of the items as they transpired this morning. Continue reading →

Emergency road repair, grandfathered business, water, and Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules @ LCC 2014-10-27


Bailey’s back
after
much discussion last time.


This time they’re

actually going for multiple bids for a water item,
unlike the
single-source price-not-quoted pump replacement last time.
And they’re buying some property (at some place unnamed)

for a booster pump.

What’s this mysterious

Rural Land Agricultural Improvement Schedules?
Why does

Shiloh Road need emergency repairs?
Nothing about that on

the new county Lowndes411 twitter account,
and the county still doesn’t publish its own board packets.

I can understand why the Commission needs to approve

a juvenile justice grant,
a

GEFA loan application,
to

accept quit claim deeds for a subdivision’s detention ponds,
and to

accept infrastructure for a subdivision, not to mention

a CDBG agreement.
But to

replace batteries in a UPS?

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Discussion, GLPC, abandonment, septic, pump, and VOCA @ LCC 2014-10-14



Some actual discussion!
20 minutes of it, on

6.b. REZ-2014-16 Bailey, Madison Hwy/Williams School Ln,
at the 14 October 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
With no discussion, they approved

a single-sourced pump replacement
and

the DA’s VOCA grant application.
They

abandoned Water Oak Trail (not Water Oaks Drive),
and they

reappointed Jody Hall to the Planning Commission
with no discussion and no presentation by him.
The county now has a

twitter account,
but the new website still isn’t ready, after how many months?

See the Continue reading →

Protest today against Sabal Trail pipeline


It’s a bad week for Sabal Trail and its proposed fracked methane pipeline,
with three back-to-back protests today alone (March and Protest in Valdosta, GA plus Development Authority meeting, and Protest at Sabal Trail Open House in Jasper, FL, plus Hamilton and Suwannee County Commission meetings)
after one yesterday (at Albany Open House and Dougherty County Commission) and more to come. Continue reading →

Idaho fractivist ejected from jail on own recognizance


Arrested for standing silently in the back of a public meeting,
Alma Hasse refused to cooperate with booking or to eat,
instead helping prisoners with grievances.


After a week, the Payette County, Idaho jail ejected
her on her own recognizance with no bail.
She says they still plan to charge her with something.
Meanwhile, she’s back to filing open records requests,
presumably about the Planning and Zoning Commission that
had her arrested and that has a record of not divulging
information even in response to FOIA requests.
I smell a lawsuit, and not by P&Z.
Maybe they should have gone to

the VDT’s Open Government Symposium in Macon Friday.
Maybe some of our local elected and appointed officials
have learned that this isn’t the answer:

So it’s just if you disagree you’re disruptive.

Alma Hasse’s husband Jim wrote on her facebook page 16 October 2014,

Alma is FREE!!!! PLEASE SHARE!!, Continue reading →

VDT Open Government Symposium: in Macon?

Yay open government symposium!
But why in Macon, why not in Valdosta,


if it’s organized by the new VDT editor?
Sure, Macon is the geographic center of the state, but it’s only
about an hour from Atlanta, and one thing most people in Atlanta don’t
understand is how big Georgia is, so asking them to drive four hours
to Valdosta would be educational for them.
And if the VDT is so interested in government transparency,
why doesn’t it investigate the county’s lawsuit against local business Deep South Sanitation
at the expense of the local taxpayers that benefits nobody but
“exclusive franchise” ADS and its investors in New York City?
Why is the VDT’s front page story that gave a platform for
Spectra’s Andrea Grover no longer online, especially now that
the Sabal Trail deadline she announced has been busted?
Let’s see the VDT lead the way.
Here’s a first test:
Gretchen is going to Macon with the LAKE video camera.
Will the VDT let her video?

Unsigned article, VDT, 11 October 2014,

VDT leading way in open government, Continue reading →

Board Packet @ LCC 2014-10-13



The address is correct for the road abandonment public hearing
agenda item
The

board packet,
unlike on
the agenda,
so if citizens had ready access to this board packet they’d know whether
they should show up tonight
at

yesterday morning’s Work Session
and tonight’s Regular Session
for
6.a. Abandonment of Unopened Right of Way off Water Oak Drive.

There’s one quote, from xylem, for the Continue reading →

Videos: GLPC appointment, abandonment, septic, pump, and VOCA @ LCC 2014-10-13 @ LCC 2014-10-13


300x253 Map on Screen, in Water Oak Trail Road Abandonment, by John S. Quarterman, 13 October 2014
It’s
Water Oak Trail, not Water Oak Drive, for the

road abandonment: how are people supposed to know to show up
for a public hearing when the address isn’t even on the right street?

Update 2014-10-14: The board packet
has the correct address, so if the county put that packet on its website the citizens wouldn’t be confused.
And the
lift pump replacement got a single quote for
$30,040.20, so this is yet another single-sourced non-competitive deal.
Why do Commissioners have no questions about that?

Plus an unscheduled

recognition of Leadership Lowndes attendees,
a

Planning Commission reappointment with no previous
advertisement,
yet another

water pump replacement,
a

well and septic rezoning on Madison Highway,
and a

legal grant,
on the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →