Tag Archives: Law

County picked the highest bid from Veolia for trash pickup @ LCC 2012-10-09



The facts don’t match County Chairman Bill Slaughter’s assertion
(according to the VDT Thursday):

That decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest
possible rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County,
he said Tuesday.

Commissioner Richard Raines moved and

the Commission voted to approve 9 October 2012
Proposal D and awarded it to the lowest bidder for that specific proposal, which was Veolia.
But that wasn’t the lowest-priced proposal,
according to the sheet of choices they were using in that meeting:

Continue reading →

Judge rules against school-to-prison pipeline in Mississippi



It’s a good start. Next: stop locking so many people up in general.
It costs

far less to educate than to incarcerate,
and educated children can contribute to society, instead of being
a drain on resources.

Brentin Mock wrote for ColorLines Friday,

Good News in Mississippi: School-To-Prison Pipeline Closes,

The sealing of the school-to-prison pipeline in Meridian, Miss. has
officially started after a U.S. District Court judge approved what
the Department of Justice is calling “a landmark consent
decree” that features a “far-reaching plan to reform
discipline practices … that unlawfully channel black students out
of their classrooms and, too often, into the criminal justice
system.

In March, the Justice Department reached agreement Continue reading →

County told VDT curbside pickup would be non-exclusive @ LCC 2012-03-31

Former Chairman Ashley Paulk may say he didn’t tell Cory Scarborough
of Deep South Sanitation that
any contract by the county for curbside pickup would be non-exclusive
(VDT 30 May 2013),
but David Rodock reported for the VDT from Ashley Paulk’s guest house
at a Lowndes County Commission retreat chaired by Ashley Paulk that:



Commissioners decided that getting out of the “trash
business” was best and that a non-exclusive agreement with
current curbside pickup companies (which about 12,000 citizens
already employ) would provide service without putting any people out
of business.



The VDT reported
(
Commission tackles key issues:
Waste management, tax lighting districts and SPLOST discussed at retreat
by David Rodock, 31 March 2012)
Commissioners “decided”.
Yet there is no vote recorded, in contravention to Georgia open meetings law
and a recent
Georgia Supreme Court decision.



How is this doing

“the people’s business”?
Maybe if they took a vote and recorded it properly we’d all know what they said.

-jsq

State law requires public hearing before trash decision

Counter to state law,
Lowndes County did not hold public hearings within 45 days before
the decision to close the waste collection centers.


Georgia Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act of 1990

GEORGIA COMPREHENSIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1990
AS AMENDED THROUGH 2004:
An Abstract from
OFFICIAL CODE OF GEORGIA ANNOTATED
Volume 10
Title 12
Article 2
Part 1
Conservation and Natural Resources:


§ 12-8-24.2. Public hearing prior to entering contract regarding landfill

The governing authority of any county or municipal corporation and
the directors or managers of any local authority or special district
shall hold a public hearing before entering into a contract for the
sale, lease, or management of a landfill or solid waste disposal
facility owned by such county, municipal corporation, local
authority, or special district. The party responsible for holding
such a public hearing shall cause notice of the hearing to be posted
at the site of the landfill or facility and to run in a newspaper of
general circulation serving the county, municipal corporation, local
authority, or special district not less than 30 nor more than 45
days prior to the date of the hearing.

Can anyone argue that
“or solid waste disposal facility owned by such county”
does not include Lowndes County’s former solid waste collection centers? Continue reading →

VDT should dig deeper into county trash



The VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection.
Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for
the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether
the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s
version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law..
Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair
is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it,
the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.

Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday,

Concerns continue over garbage agreement:
Business owner argues case against County



The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any
company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That
decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible
rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said
Tuesday.

Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart?
Is money the only value the county government can name?


Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already
had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more
to keep the sites open.
Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.

And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low?
Look at

Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year.
But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection
anyway?

Continue reading →

Exclusive franchise on photographing County Commission? @ LCC 2013-05-28



Does the county ordinance that adversely affects Deep South Sanitation
and no other company follow a pattern already set by the county?
The VDT posted pictures clearly taken not from the media box during
last night’s

Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission:
this one shows Gretchen videoing for LAKE from that media box.
Has the Lowndes County Commission granted an exclusive franchise
to the VDT for photographing, like the one it granted to ADS for trash collection?
Or has the Commission admitted its anti-videoing ordinance was actually
an illegal bill of attainder directed at LAKE alone?
If so, why is it still posted on the door?
And why is the county still planning to sue Deep South Sanitation
on account of an ordinance and contract that directly adversely
affects no other business?
Hm, could that also be an illegal bill of attainder?



In case you had any doubt the VDT’s pictures were taken during the actual
Commission meeting in session, this one is of

Steve Parker speaking in Citizens Wishing to be Heard.

Even the Cumming City Council, which

illegally ejected Nydia Tysdale for videoing an open meeting,
realized its error and she now

videos from the front row.
Only Lowndes County, Georgia continues to post a sign on the door
saying all videoing and photographing must be from the back of the room.
And then it lets one news organization violate its own ordinance,
but not another.

To quote

former Chairman Ashley Paulk: Continue reading →

Videos: trash, appointment, GEMA, juveniles, mowing, and wellness @ LCC 2013-05-28




Trash wasn’t on the agenda, but it was the biggest issue.
Like

last Regular Session
a Commissioner who happens to be a Christian minister
prayed for one thing
while

the Commission does the opposite.
Commissioners and staff also seemed confused about
a mowing contract but we don’t know why,
since none of us have seen what they were looking at.
A Board incumbent was reappointed without discussion.
In good news, county employees have lost 600 pounds.

Here’s

the agenda, with a few notes and links to the videos.
See also

the Work Session of the same morning.


Lowndes County Commission

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Losing our individual freedom of choosing –Carl Johnson Jr. @ LCC 2013-05-28



A veteran said he was concerned about losing our freedoms
right here in Lowndes County because of the Commissions’
recent trash collection decisions,
in yesterday’s

Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Excerpts from what Carl Johnson Jr. said:


Carl Johnson Jr.
As I drove into town today I drove by… Brown’s produce.
Right across the way was Mr. Carter’s produce.
Both of them same business.
Why not just take Mr. Carter’s business,
and say, well, we’re going to give it all to Mr. Brown….
We think it’s in the best interests of the county.
That’s not the American way of life.
Competition in everything is the strength of America….

[Applause]


Walter Elliott, Attorney for Lowndes County
He said he didn’t know the intricacies of the law,
but he asked the Commission to reconsider.
Attorney for Lowndes County Walter Elliott looked on stone-faced.
County Manager Joe Pritchard, as usual, paid no attention to citizen speakers.

There’s more in

the video: Continue reading →

A county that eats its own –Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-05-28


“Stop wasting taxpayer money” said Gretchen Quarterman
in yesterday’s

Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.


Gretchen Quarterman
I sort of wish that I had been able to observe the executive session
where you discussed the pending lawsuit against Deep South
Sanitation. I wonder who asked the question “Is it beneficial to all
concerned?” I wonder which one of you said “This will really attract
people to start or relocate business in our county when we sue one
of our local business owners.”

If I were considering a business move, I wouldn’t move to a county
that eats its own.

I ask that you drop the lawsuit and stop wasting taxpayer money.
Thank you.

[Applause]



Bill Slaughter and Gretchen Quarterman were inducted into Valdosta
Rotary on the same day (12 September 2012); that’s John Page,
already a member, standing behind them.
County Attorney Walter Elliott is also a member.
The Rotary Continue reading →

We like doing business with Deep South Sanitation –Duane Roark @ LCC 2013-05-28



A 47-year local resident got up to say he liked Deep South Sanitation
after he tried the monopoly company, and he likes having a choice.
This was in yesterday’s

Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Duane Roark said he was a satisfied customer of the recycling
centers the county closed,
and he didn’t like it when he heard

he had to do business with ADS.
Nonetheless, he signed up, but he wasn’t happy
because of

numerous mistakes
so he switched to Deep South Sanitation, where the CEO answers the phone
and delivered a can that same day.
DSS: a man with one truck: what harm is he doing?


Duane Roark
We like that we have a choice….

And he’s got my vote.

[Applause]

Some of the incumbent Commissioners may find votes hard to come by.

More in

the video:

Continue reading →