Tag Archives: Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Gov. Deal freezes state gas tax

Why is the governor freezing an 8/10 cent gas tax just before voters are expected to decide on a 1 cent transportation tax? Why do we need T-SPLOST when we could use that gas tax instead?

According to the Governor’s own press release:

Friday, June 8, 2012

Gov. Nathan Deal announced today that he will stop an increase in the motor fuel tax scheduled to go into effect on July 1. Using the formula established in state law, the Department of Revenue determined that average gas prices over the past six months call for the motor fuel tax to rise to 12.9 cents per gallon from 12.1 cents per gallon.

With that 0.8 cent gas tax, why would we need the 1 cent T-SPLOST sales tax? That 0.8 cent gas tax would have gone into effect just before the 31 July 2012 primary election, when voters till vote on the T-SPLOST referendum. T-SPLOST, which is a one cent sales tax. And a gasoline tax is paid by people who actually use the roads, not by every pedestrian who buys food.

The governor’s PR also said:

“We’re seeing a slow and steady rebound in Georgia’s economy, with our unemployment rate going down and state revenues heading up, but Georgians are still paying gas prices that are high by historical standards,” Deal said in a statement. “The state should not add to that burden at this juncture.”

But we should increase everyone’s food prices with a T-SPLOST tax? How does that make sense?

The governor’s PR also says:

The governor of Georgia has the power to suspend collection of a tax, but the action requires ratification from the General Assembly.

Oh, but this freeze only lasts until January, and the General Assembly doesn’t meet until then. How convenient!

-jsq

Video Playlist @ VLCIA 2012-05-22

The first 100% VSEB contract, local industry expansion, new prospects, a bank lost a bond, and new Georgia sunshine laws require attention. Here are videos of the entire 22 May 2012 meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) board. Here’s the agenda.

Guests included a camera crew from VSU, one of whom was Cameron Copeland, Chairman Roy Copeland’s son.

CPA Tom Davis said the county told him revenues were flat, so VLCIA would get about the same amount as last year. Tom Call asked if revenues would catch up over 6 months or 8 months. Call said they would eventually.

Tom Call reported for the budget committee and said expenses were projected to be down for the coming year, plus the budget would be more specific about where revenues were being spent.

Meghan Duke reported they had gotten an article in the newspaper, and they had held an OSHA training meeting at Wiregrass Tech. They plan to hold further courses and will send out a survey about that. She also expected updates to the land-searching Valdosta Prospector website to be ready in a few weeks. She and Andrea Schruijer had selected 3 finalists out of 10 proposals to redo the VLCIA website. Her only stated criterion for picking one was

“I just have to go with my gut.”

Website completion had been scheduled for September, but had been deferred. Roy Copeland wanted to know when. Continue reading →

New Georgia sunshine laws explained by VLCIA lawyer @ VLCIA 2012-05-22

New Georgia sunshine law explained by VLCIA attorney J. Stephen Gupton. Some highlights include:

  • Open meetings now include any time a quorum discusses business,
  • even if there was no scheduled meeting.
  • Committees now fall under open meetings.
  • Executive sessions have specific requirements.
  • Increased penalties from $500 to $100 for violating open meetings, plus potential criminal penalties up to $2,500.
  • A custodian of records needs to be appointed so people will know who is responsbile for satisfying open records requests.

Here’s the video:

New Georgia sunshine laws explained by VLCIA lawyer
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager, Tom Davis, CPA, Lu Williams, Operations Manager, S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 May 2012.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Industrial Authority today @ VLCIA 2012-06-19

VLCIA is even posting notices of committee meetings now! According to their website, the Industrial Authority has two meetings today:

Committee Meeting Notice The Nominating Committee for the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority will meet Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 1:00 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s Regular Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 5:30 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.

The nominating committee is for officers; they elect new ones annually. Here’s the agenda. It has no content, but at least they post one. Unlike their minutes.

-jsq

Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Agenda
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Continue reading →

Hospital authority public hearing on selling Greenleaf @ VLCHA 2012-07-23

The Hospital Authority is selling off a mental health and substance abuse treatment center: a public hearing 9AM 23 July 2012.

Update 8 July 2012: fixed date in title.

Found in Georgia Public Notice:

The Valdosta Daily Times
Lowndes County

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE PURSUANT TO O.C.G.A. 31-7-74.3

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE PURSUANT TO O.C.G.A.

31-7-74.3

The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia will hold a public hearing regarding a proposed sale to Acadia Greenleaf, LLC, an affiliate of Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., 830 Crescent Centre Drive, Franklin, Tennessee 37067, the real estate, assets and operations owned by The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia associated with its operation of the Greenleaf Center located at 2209 Pineview Drive, Valdosta, Georgia and the Greenleaf Outpatient Center, located 2217 Pineview Drive, Valdosta, Georgia. The public hearing shall be held on July 23, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. in Dining Rooms 1 and 2 on Level 1 at South Georgia Medical Center, 2501 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia 31603. At said public hearing, the subject matters required by O.C.G.A. 31-7-74.3 will be described, discussed and disclosed.

J. Randall Sauls, Secretary,
The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia
Walter H. New
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 111
Quitman GA 31643
00030430
5/22,25;06/01/12

-gretchen

Waste disposal again —Joe Pritchard @ LCC 2012-06-12

Why are Commissioners hiding behind Joe Pritchard, instead of discussing trash disposal in open meetings?

At last week’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission, County Manager Joe Pritchard repeated part of what he said the previous morning at the Work Session. After the meeting he came up to me to ask whether he had clarified it more. I do appreciate him doing that, and he did clarify where the new cards are on sale, although he omitted any mention of where they had been discussed previously. And it’s true that the previous morning he did not say anything had been decided. Yet the method of paying for waste disposal has changed (for only six months, and not prorated), so somebody decided that, somewhere where the public was not invited.

That six month period conveniently ends just after the current current Commission will be replaced by a new Commission with two additional members and a new Chairman. Those of us who remember former Chairman Rod Casey’s Commission passing a waste collection plan just as he left the Commission may remain sceptical that the Commissioners haven’t already made up their minds to privatize trash collection and socialize the losses onto landowners, who will have to deal with increased illegal dumping.

Sceptical especially when the VDT has reported twice that the Commissioners have already made up their minds, and about the Commissioners discussing trash disposal at three different meetings at which they knew the public would not be present. Remember the VDT report of the Commission’s stealth 4 June meeting:

Continue reading →

Lack of agendas makes it hard for citizens to speak @ LCC 2012-06-12

Jimmy Hiers said at the Lowndes County Commission hearing on rezoning case REZ-2012-09 Copeland that the Planning Commission had their meeting two days before it was posted, thus making it difficult for people to appear to speak.

County Zoning Administrator Carmella Braswell noted at ZBOA that staff had met statutory requirements even though GLPC had moved its meeting ahead a week. She didn't mention that if those requirements are the same as for the County Commission they only require staff to send letters to immediately adjacent property owners, which would explain why those were the only neighbors who showed up at the Planning Commission. Plus GLPC doesn't publish its agenda in advance, Its chair Bill Slaughter has recently started sending agendas to LAKE for publication, at Gretchen Quarterman's request. Here's the agenda for that GLPC 21 May 2012 meeting. I suppose if the entire county starts reading this blog, problem solved. Or GLPC could publish its agendas on its website, or the county's website, or one or more of the cities' websites.

-jsq

REZ-2012-09 Copeland rezoning @ LCC 2012-06-12

How can a man with health care financial troubles make a living with a shop he’s had for decades when some of the neighbors complain about a rezoning that is now required? A controversial case that raised issues ranging from wetlands to public safety to Moody Air Force Base jets flying out of Valdosta Airport made its way through two appointed boards to a Solomonic rezoning decision by the elected Lowndes County Commission. Nobody wanted to deny a man a living, but many people wanted to limit potential commercial uses of the subject property. The Commissioners attempted to take all that into account, yet failed to incorporate two major considerations raised by neighbors, mentioning one of them only to disparage it. Even that isn’t the end of it, since it may head back to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a buffer variance. Here are videos of REZ-2012-09 Copeland at the Lowndes County Commission.

It had been to the Planning Commission for a recommendation on rezoning, it had been to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a buffer variance, Monday morning it had been to the County Commission Work Session at which we learned a bit more, and Tuesday evening it went to the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session for a vote on rezoning.

Monday 11 June 2012 Work Session

At the 8:30 AM Monday Work Session, County Planner Jason Davenport had several updates since Commissioners had received their packets the previous week.

  • An email from a Mr. Bradford in opposition.
  • Some open records requests to be filled after the work session.
  • Some opponents of the rezoning had hired a lawyer. (Those of you who watched Bill Nijem at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting already would have guessed that. Nijem also spoke the next day at the Regular Session.)
  • Davenport had met with the applicant, Mr. Copeland, who had provided more materials because he believed there were some accusations about lack of continuous operations in the building.

Davenport summarized that he thought there were three camps:

  1. Those not supporting the case.
  2. Those supporting the case,
  3. Those supporting the case with conditions,

He said one possibility would be for he and the county attorney to meet with the opposition attorney to try to work out some conditions.

Tuesday 12 June 2012 Regular Session

The agenda item was

6. Public Hearings – REZ-2012-09 Copeland, 3258 & 3264 Loch Laurel Rd, R-A & R-1 to C-C, well & septic, ~5 acres

Here’s a list of every citizen speaking for, at any of GLPC, ZBOA, or County Commission: John A. Copeland (the applicant), Kevin Copeland (applicant’s son), Nancy Hobby, Charles Miles, Fuller Sorrell, Alan Davis, Robert Roffe, and Norman Bush, plus a petition for.

Here’s a list of every citizen speaking against, at any of GLPC, ZBOA, or County Commission: Bill Nijem (attorney for several neighbors), Jimmy Hiers, Gail Hiers, Greta Vargas, and Patty Haynes.

For the rezoning

Continue reading →

Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2012-05-08

At a recent Lowndes County Commission meeting, I said:

I was interested to learn two weeks ago that my neighbor Timothy Nessmith was interested in getting DSL on Hambrick Road.

He said you can get it as close to him as Quarterman Road. I can attest to that because I have 3 megabit per second DSL, due to being just close enough to Bellsouth’s DSL box on Cat Creek Road, but most of Quarterman Road can’t get DSL due to distance. There are some other land-line possibilties, involving cables in the ground or wires on poles.

Then there are wireless possibilities, including EVDO, available from Verizon, with 750 kilobit per second (0.75 Mbps) wide area access from cell phone towers.

Verizon’s towers could also be used for WIFI antennas, for up to 8 Mbps Internet access, over a wide scale.

Then there’s metropolitan-area Internet. Chattanooga has the fastest such network, with 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps). But hundreds of communities around the country have such networks, including (continued after the video)…

Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 May 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

…Lafayette, Louisiana, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lagrange, Georgia, and Thomasville, Georgia. They use it for public safety, education (Wiregrass Tech, VSU), and

It attracts new industry. If you want knowledge-based industry, they’re going to be expecting Internet access not just at work, but at home, whereever they live.

Other uses include Continue reading →

Video Playlist @ ZBOA 2012-06-05

Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) had one Lowndes County case at its 5 June 2012 meeting, VAR-2012-07, already posted separately. ZBOA, unlike GLPC, does actually make binding decisions, but chose not to do so at this meeting for this case.

First they considered two City of Valdosta cases, APP-2012-06 (Bill Nijem spoke for the applicants) and APP-2012-07, both about signs, one at Academy Sports, and the other at Gander Mountain, both of which had been tabled at their previous meeting. ZBOA approved both with conditions.

Here’s a video playlist. Audience left to right, with name, appointed by, and date term expires:

  • Laverne Gaskins, Valdosta, 05/08/12
  • Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County, 05/07/14
  • Paul Alvarado, Valdosta, 07/01/13
  • Scott Orenstein, Vice-Chair, Valdosta, 10/11/13
  • Dr. Willie Houseal, Lowndes County, 05/07/14
  • Nancy Hobby, Valdosta, 07/01/13
  • Dave Kirk, Lowndes County, 08/28/13
Not present:
  • Allan Strickland, Chair, Valdosta, 05/07/14

Video Playlist
Regular Session, Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 June 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

Here’s ZBOA’s own summary of this meeting. Continue reading →