Tag Archives: Lowndes County

Who’s qualified so far, according to Deb Cox

I called Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections, and asked her who has qualified so far. Here’s the answer, where * indicates incumbent. This data also pretty much answers the question of why we keep seeing the same people in office: because hardly anybody else runs. If you want to run, you’ve got the rest of today and tomorrow to do qualify. -jsq

Valdosta

Mayor John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James Wright *
Council 3 Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Continue reading →

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

50% increase for Old US 41 North widening: now $12 million T-SPLOST

In addition to the Draft Constrained List for T-SPLOST draft constrained list of T-SPLOST projects, which doesn’t even include dollar estimates, this longer report contains details for each project. And the cost to widen Old US 41 North from North Valdosta Road to Union Road has gone up from the previous estimate in June of $8 million to $12 million in August, for a 50% increase! I wonder if the County Commissioners know about this rapid cost inflation.
PreviousCurrentDifferenceIncrease%
PE $650,000 $800,000 $150,000 23%
ROW $850,000 $1,200,000 $350,000 41%
CST $6,500,000 $10,000,000 $3,500,000 54%
Total $8,000,000 $12,000,000 $4,000,000 50%
Curious how when the components went up by odd amounts, the total went up by exactly 50%. It’s almost like the total was increased and then the components were arranged to add up to that.

Also curious how the biggest increase, percentage (54%) and total ($3,500,000) is for construction. I could see how Rights of Way (ROW) acquisition costs might go up because people might not want this boondoggle in their front yards, but why was it so hard to estimate construction costs the first time?

And curious how that construction increase is a bit more than Continue reading →

The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardella @ VBOE 29 August 2011

Craig Cardella said his wife Anne was a current Valdosta City Schools teacher and former Teacher of the year, and he was a former city manager who had done community development all his life.
I can tell you without doubt this is the most damaging useless thing I’ve seen proposed in many many years. This will do more damage to our community than just about anything I can think of short of a hurricane running through the middle of town. It will damage both the county and the city school systems severely. It will hinder the growth of the education of our children. It will cause chaos among the city and county school staffs, both of which are like this, because a lot of times they’re the same people.

Here’s the video:


The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardell @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More transcription; he’s just getting to the best parts: Continue reading →

Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011

I see nothing in consolidation that would improve education, so I see no need for it ever.

I got to the VBOE meeting really early, so I was the first to sign up to speak. My main topic was to praise the Valdosta Board of Education for putting their agendas online in web-readable form (rather than entombed in PDF as so many other organizations do).

Here’s the video:


Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I.

Later I also complimented the chair for having one of those rare objects, a clock on the wall where everyone can see it so they can know how long they’ve spoken already.

Thanks, George, for the compliments in the information on your YouTube video. You were blogging long before LAKE. Everyone please look at George’s blog, K.V.C.I. Keeping Valdosta Citizens Informed.

-jsq

LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith

Here is the text of the resolution against school consolidation adopted today by the Lowndes County Board of Education. It does not seem to be on their web pages yet. First a video of Superintendent Steve Smith reading the resolution, followed by the text of the resolution.

Here’s the video:


LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
called meeting, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

This text is my transcription of what was read. I have added a few links.

-jsq

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS the Lowndes County Board of Education, Valdosta, Georgia, met on August the 30th 2011, to discuss positions regarding the consolidation of the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System.

WHEREAS the Valdosta City School System met in session on Monday

Continue reading →

Video of LCBOE adopting resolution against school consolidation

It took the Lowndes County Board of Education less than two minutes at today’s 1PM called board meeting to adopt a resolution against school consolidation.

Here are a few excerpts, followed by the video:

Superintendent Steve Smith: As y’all are well aware, we have had numerous requests from our constituents that we adopt a stance regarding consolidation. So I think this resolution pretty much describes our position regarding consolidation.
Nobody had any comments or discussion.

So they moved and seconded. Philip Poole made the motion. I didn’t catch who seconded.

Chair Fred Davis asked for a vote indicated “by raising your hand individually and reciting your name, please.” Continue reading →

8 to 0 Unanimous: LCBOE votes to oppose school consolidation

Update 5:30PM 30 August 2011: Text of the resolution and video of the board adopting it are posted.
Update 7:12PM 30 August 2011: a recent LHS graduate points out it was 7 to 0, since there are 7 board members. Let’s call it unanimous.

Karen Noll of FVCS illustrates the result of today’s Lowndes County Board of Education meeting: eight to zero unanimous for a statement opposing school consolidation. More videos of the meeting will follow.

-jsq

1PM (confirmed) today LCBOE to vote on school consolidation

The Lowndes County Board of Education has put up an agenda for today’s called meeting at 1PM, which includes these items:
VI. a. Resolution Regarding Consolidation
VII. a. Resolution Adoption
Hm, another school board that puts its agendas online in web-readable form. Maybe the municipal elected and appointed bodies could adopt this format.

On the other hand, would you want to merge with a school board that doesn’t know when its own meetings are? I went to the Lowndes County Board of Education at 11:30, and the woman (Terri) who previously told me that was the time of today’s called meeting now says it is 1PM. She apologizes for the confusion. She says it was previously 11:30, but they changed it to 1PM.

Here’s the video:


1PM (confirmed) today LCBOE to vote on school consolidation
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

FVCS @ VBOE 29 August 2011

You can see them inside during during the reading of the statement and after the vote. Many of them spoke during Citizens to be Heard; video to come of that. Here they are outside afterwards:

-jsq