Tag Archives: Lowndes County

3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 9-10

Who is on the Tourism Authority Board, and why do they have such rapid changeover in executive directors?

The Commissioners considered Monday 9 January and made Tuesday 10 January three appointments to the Tourism Authority: Commissioner Joyce Evans (reappointment), Jerome “Andy” Anderson (reappointment), and Greg Charbeneau apparently to replace Linda Jenson (who had been appointed to fill a vacancy for ? Montgomery).

5.a. Valdosta/Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority
County Manager Joe Pritchard said at the Tuesday Regular Session that Greg Charbeneau is a Vice President at Wild Adventures. Here’s video of that session:


3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 10
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

According to Wild Adventures’ own press release of 29 July 2011 and the VDT 14 August 2011, Greg Charbeneau is also their general manager.

We learned a little more at the Monday Work Session, but not much. Here’s video:


3 Appointments to VLC Conference Center and Tourism Authority LCC 2012 Jan 9
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

VLCCCTA’s own webpage has no indication that such a board even exists, much less Continue reading →

Videos of 10 Jan 2012 LCC Regular Session

The Tuesday 10th January 2012 Lowndes County Commission meeting was pretty brief, except for all the speakers regarding
7. Public Hearings-Abandonment of a portion of Bethany Road (CR 1271)
More about that later.

Here’s the agenda.

Here’s the playlist:

Videos of 10 Jan 2012 LCC Regular Session
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Videos of 9 Jan 2012 LCC Work Session

This was mostly an ordinary Lowndes County Commission Work Session, except for a few items, perhaps most notably this one:
9.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads
More about that later.

Here’s the agenda.

Here’s the playlist for the entire meeting:


Videos of 9 Jan 2012 LCC Work Session
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

ACLU podcast against private prisons —Alex Friedmann

CCA inadvertently rehabilitated former prisoner Alex Friedmann and gave him a new career, lobbying against prison privatization. He says:
In my view, the worst thing is that they have normalized the notion of incarcerating people for profit. Basically commodifying people, seeing them as nothing more than a revenue stream….

If you incarcerate more people and you put more people in your private prisons you make more money. Which provides perverse incentives against reforming our justice system. And increasing the number of people we’re putting in prison, whether they need to be there or not, just to generate corporate profit. I think that’s incredibly immoral and unethical, I think that’s the worst aspect of our private prison industry.

This comes from the ACLU’s Prison Voices, Episode 1: Private Prisons: Continue reading →

Complaint #1 @ Hahira Ethics Commission, 12 January 2012

Here are videos of the Hahira Ethics Commission (HEC) on 12 January 2012 considering complaint #1 against Mayor Wayne Bullard:
1.) In 2010 permission was given by Bullard to Allgreen, the mayor’s employer, to store Allgreen equipment on city property, 6571 Union Road Dumpsite, without bringing the issue before the City Council.
HEC decided that while he shouldn’t have done it, the Hahira City Council already met on that subject and he already agreed not to do it again, so there was nothing more for the ethics commission to do on that complaint, although the City Council could take it up again if it wanted to.

Regarding the other two complaints, at the insistence of the complainant, Clay Tilman, that he had further evidence to present, Commissioner Marilyn Dye made a motion to consider the other two items in a following session.; the commission agreed to do that: they’ll meet again today, 19 January 2012, at 5:30 PM. Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the substance of the complaints.

Here’s the VDT’s writeup on the 12 Jan meeting, with this Kafkaesque moment: Continue reading →

My job: create environment for jobs —Andrea Schruijer of VLCIA @ LCDP 5 Dec 2011

In a refreshing changes from “jobs, jobs, jobs” as everything, Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), told the Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting, 5 December 2011, that it wasn’t her job to create jobs, jobs, jobs; it was her job to create an environment that let jobs be created. Towards that end, she announced several new jobs at VLCIA, including a PR and marketing position. VLCIA Chairman Roy Copeland also spoke and helped answer questions from the audience, including about wages, workers, and green industries.

Perhaps not shown is her answer to my question about what does VLCIA do to promote new local industry. I believe she said VLCIA looks to the Chamber of Commerce for incubation, and helps once local businesses are established.

Here’s a playlist:


My job: create environment for jobs —Andrea Schruijer of VLCIA @ LCDP 5 Dec 2011
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director of VLCIA,
Monthly Meeting, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 December 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman.

-jsq

“We’ve been chosen” —Barbara Stratton

Received Saturday on Public hearing doesn’t mean the public gets to know anything. -jsq
I’ve made these same comments before. It’s just part of the attitude that is popular with some elected & appointed officials “We’ve been chosen. Now go away & don’t ask any questions about what we are doing until it’s time to vote again.” I don’t think all the individuals share the attitude, but some do & over time it has become standard procedure. Hopefully, as more citizens pay attention & ask for more insight procedure will adjust. There is a reason for open meetings & sunshine laws & it’s not so citizens can listen to or read about decisions based on information they are not allowed to hear or observe.

-Barbara Stratton

Projects, PR, and Planning at Industrial Authority this evening

Today is the third Tuesday of the month, so the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Board of Directors meets tonight. A list of specific projects, a PR position, and a strategic planning presentation are on their agenda.

I see they held a special called meeting 16 December 2011, but at least they listed it on their web page. Maybe they’ve got control of their technical glitches.

Appended is the schedule for 2012, and the agenda for tonight’s meeting.

-jsq

Meeting Schedule

All Meetings will be held at 5:30pm in the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street, unless otherwise notified.

Special Called Meeting

**December 16, 2011**

Meeting Schedule for 2012

January 17, 2012
February 21, 2012
March 20, 2012
April 17, 2012
May 15, 2012
June 19, 2012
July 17, 2012
August 21, 2012
September 18, 2012
October 16, 2012
November 20, 2012
December 18, 2012
**Please note date change**
Here’s tonight’s agenda.
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Agenda
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Continue reading →

If Gov. Deal can investigate school elections, why not jail deaths? — George Rhynes

George Rhynes suggests that if Gov. Deal can investigate a school board election in Brooks County, he could also
issue another Executive Order and STOP the jail deaths in the Valdosta, Lowndes County Jail. (30 Jail deaths from 1994-2009) Today the general public is told that the public does not have a right to know under the law.
In this video George goes into many years of evidence regarding jail violations.

-jsq

Public hearing doesn’t mean the public gets to know anything

Jane Osborn wrote:
Requesting such a hearing before January 24 would give the opportunity to have all this information presented and for questions to be asked and answered.
Except that’s not the way it works around here. Public hearing locally means the chairman or mayor or whoever says “Who wants to speak for?” and maybe somebody speaks. And then “Who wants to speak against?” and maybe somebody speaks. It doesn’t mean that the Commission or the Council or the Authority presents anything for the public to consider.

Witness the hearing the Lowndes County Commission held in December on the documents related to the Comprehensive Plan. The only reason the public knew anything about what was in those documents was that Gretchen got them from somewhere else after the Commission refused to supply them in response to an open records request. The Commission never distributed any of the relevant documents to the public. Only one citizen spoke, perhaps because nobody else knew what to speak about.

Almost none of the local municipalities or boards or authorities routinely present to the public the information that is in the packets they see before the discuss or vote. There are rare exceptions, such as the VLMPO and other organizations or projects administered by the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). SGRC is a state agency, not a local agency. Why does Lowndes County and all its municipalities and boards avoid transparency?

Why can’t you, the public, see what’s in a rezoning request before Continue reading →