Tag Archives: Law

Videos of Special LOST Lowndes County Commission Meeting @ LCC 2013-10-15



In a highly irregular 4 to 1 vote with the Chairman voting,
the Lowndes County Commission voted to stick with
58% for the county, 42% for the cities from
LOST,
the same as the county’s

original position
from

April 2012.


No real agenda was posted by the county,
so below I’ve made one up to match the videos.


  1. Call to Order

    and immediate adjourn to executive session
    for attorney-client privileges.


    County Manager Joe Pritchard shooed
    the Commissioners,
    the alleged County Attorney, the County Clerk,
    the Finance Director, and one or two other staff into the back room.




  2. Reconvene into open session

    Chairman Bill Slaughter divulged the purpose of the meeting so they could
    vote on it.
    The decision was
    58% of SPLOST for the county and 42% for the cities,
    to be divided among the cities as they see fit.
    The vote was 4 to 1.
    Which is rather odd, since you can clearly hear Chairman Bill Slaughter voting ”
    aye”
    and raising his hand. Continue reading →

Lowndes County LOST like Hall @ LCC 2013-10-15

Gretchen reports
LOST was the topic at today’s

special called meeting of the Lowndes County Commission.
And yes, they went into executive session.
Rumor has it that it’s not

120 days to come to an agreement,
rather this week is the deadline.
That’s what seems to be happening over in Hall County.

Sarah Mueller wrote for Gainesville Times today,

Hall commissioners to consider new local option sales tax certificate,




Hall County Administrator Randy Knighton said the special called
commission meeting today at 4 p.m. at the Hall County Government
Center in Gainesville was in response to a suggestion from the
Association County Commissioners of Georgia. ACCG has talked with
the Department of Revenue and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

“(ACCG) has advised us that each county who has been engaged
in the LOST arbitration proceedings submit a new LOST certificate to
the Revenue Department this week,” Knighton said.

Knighton declined Monday to say Continue reading →

Special Called Lowndes County Commission Meeting @ LCC 2013-10-15

Could that pending litigation be

the county’s lawsuit against

Deep South Sanitation
about
that

exclusive franchise
that benefits

ADS investors in New York City?
Will they go straight into executive session?

On the county’s

online calendar, with nothing on their
front page,
and nothing in the online VDT public notices.
Here’s the county’s

PDF and here’s the text:


Lowndes County Commission logo
Lowndes County, Georgia

Board Of Commissioners

SPECIAL CALLED MEETING

A Special Called Meeting of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, October 15, 2013, at 3:00 p.m.
The meeting will be held in Commission Chambers, located on the second floor of the Lowndes County Judicial‐Administrative Complex, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia.
The Special Called Meeting is being held for attorney client communication regarding pending litigation.

Office of the County Clerk

K. Paige Dukes

229‐671‐2400

pdukes@lowndescounty.com

-jsq

France unfracked

No fracking France, affirms France’s highest court.
No, silly utilities, fracking is not like geothermal power.
Yes, utilities, you’ll have to write off a lot of fossils in the ground.
But there’s far more money to be made in clean energy, so get on with it!

Mat McDermott wrote for Motherboard yesterday,

You Can’t Frack France



After a constitutional court review, France's
ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural
gas and oil has become "absolute,"
in the words of Environment Minister Phillipe Martin. In its
decision, the court found Continue reading →

Corrupt cocaine cops in Florida



This could never happen in Georgia, right?
Right?

Matt Gutman, Erin Brady, Seni Tienabeso and Candace Smith wrote for abc News 9 October 2013,

How Undercover Cops in a Florida City Make Millions Selling Cocaine,



Police in a Southern Florida community outside of Fort Lauderdale
have been using a controversial tactic to conduct cocaine sting
operations and have been raking in millions of dollars in the
process.

For years, the Sunrise, Fla., police have been conducting what are
called “reverse stings.” Undercover police detectives play the role
of cocaine dealers and try to lure in potential buyers who drive or
fly in from all over the country with wads of cash. If the stings
are successful, informants can receive large payouts and police can
seize cash, cars and other non-monetary assets. The busts have Continue reading →

No contracts for tenants of Leila Ellis Building @ LCC 2013-10-07



Two, four, six, many:
that’s how Lowndes County counts tenants.
It’s great the county is providing space for organizations
that help the needy,
but it’s kind of curious that the county didn’t seem to know
who or how many organizations were using the Leila Ellis building,
and had no lease agreement with them.
Not to mention it took twenty questions from Commissioners to get
staff to admit that lack of contracts,
at Monday morning’s

Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

6.b. Leila Ellis Building-Available Space

Kind of like they have

no contract with the alleged county attorney.

Chad McCleod at one point said
two organizations are currently in the building,
LAMP and Cash Prosperity.
He said the County let LAMP use it, and LAMP let Cash Prosperity use it.

In response to a question from Commissioner DeMarcus Marshall,
County Manager Joe Pritchard said under normal circumstances
any organization would need to come to the Commission to ask for space.
They currently have more applicants than space.

Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted to know if the county was going
to set up guidelines for who could lease.
Pritchard said they could, and they couldn’t lease to a private business.

Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know if annual leases were the practice
of this board.
Pritchard, not actually answering the question asked,
said “That would be my suggestion.”




JoTaryla Thomas
came up to speak for Continue reading →

Rotating vice chairmanship @ LCC 2013-10-07



Six minutes on who will be
Vice Chairman and when,
a ceremonial position, as far as I know.
13 minutes on a parade of organizations that want to rent space in the
Leila Ellis.
They vote tonight at 5:30 PM.

The storm that wasn’t was the subject of
Ashley Tye’s report.
They tabled
Nottinghill
like the Planning Commission did.
They vote tonight on letting
Barrington subdivision
sprawl into the county.
Did Commissioners ever get that list of roads for
striping?
Do we have enough
evidence yet for juvenile justice?
Or will we continue to concentrate on
fining people coming off of I-75?
All that and a

group photo.
At least the Work Session yesterday morning
had some actual discussion in it for a change.

Here’s

the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

WWTP surveying, Norwood withdrawn, Colbert on agenda, radar, benefits, and parking @ VCC 2013-10-10



Valdosta wants to survey to prepare for moving and upgrading the

Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The City Council is awarding

retirement benefits,
and the

employee of the month is three people this month.
One rezoning has been
withdrawn
and another
is up for action
Thursday.
Plus somebody didn’t like the Valdosta Historic Preservation Commission
actually requiring preservation and is appealing
to the City Council.
It would be interesting to see what’s in that WWTP surveying and engineering
contract and which parking is being appealed, but Valdosta City Council
doesn’t publish its agenda packets online, unlike for example
Augusta,
which has the second highest high tech job growth in the country.

Here’s

the agenda.
They also have a Work Session Tuesday 8 October 2013 at 5:30 PM,
inconveniently the same time as the
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 P.M., Thursday, October 10, 2013

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →

No Nottinghill + 3 other rezonings, 3 contracts, a bid, and vice chairmanship @ LCC 2013-10-07



Will the County Commission take up
Nottinghill
even though the Planning Commission tabled it?
Is
Barrington subdivision
now ready to sprawl into the county?
Did Commissioners ever get that list of roads for
striping?
Do we have enough
evidence yet for juvenile justice?
Or will we continue to concentrate on
fining people coming off of I-75?
Who was
Leila Ellis, anyway?
And who will be
Vice Chairman (hint: Joyce Evans is now)?
All that and a

group photo, continuing the tradition of County Commission
meetings as content-free photo-ops.

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Georgia Power wants to charge you for your solar power

Georgia Sierra Club’s Seth Gunning batted away Georgia Power’s proposed
solar tax, which would charge about $22 a month for many new home solar
installations.
GA PSC needs to call Georgia Power’s proposal out,
because it was a bad idea when Dominion Power did it in Virginia,
and it would be a worse idea here in sunny Georgia.
Besides, Austin Energy already established that the purported basis
for such a solar tax is nonsense: actually, utilities should be paying
more for home solar power because of the benefits they receive.

Jonathan Shapiro
wrote for WABE yesterday,

Georgia Power’s Proposed Solar Tariff Scrutinized,



The company is proposing an average tariff of about $22 per month
for new home solar systems that aren’t a part of

Georgia Power-sponsored solar initiatives.

Company officials argue the tariff is necessary because most solar
users still require the power grid as a back-up when the sun isn’t
shining. As solar use spreads, the company stands to collect less
revenue from those customers. What doesn’t change is the cost to
maintain the grid. Georgia Power says non-solar customers shouldn’t
have to bear all the costs.

“We don’t want to contribute to the problem of shifting costs
so before we do that we very much prefer to get these tariffs right
so all customers benefit,” said Roberts.

PSC Chairman Chuck Eaton wondered if the tariff is about making up
for lost revenue, why not consider new fees for any number of energy
efficiency measures.

“What makes solar unique?” asked Eaton. Continue reading →