Tag Archives: Robert Yost

“Because it would be monitored” —Robert Yost via Karen Noll

This comment from Karen Noll came in last night on

“Well Councilman Yost certainly believes Councilmen should give their opinion”. -jsq



On Friday, April 29, 2011 I met with Mr. Yost to discuss the biomass
issue in person. Mr. Yost stated that he is FOR the biomass project and
FOR selling (grey) water to the plant.

When asked for his reasons, he said it “would be good for the citizens
of the county”. When pressed to clarify, he said that the jobs and
the energy would be good for the citizens. He had no clear rationale
for how these 25 jobs would positively effect his constituents, nor how
diversifying GA Powers energy sources would help his constituents.

The other reason given for supporting the biomass project

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Well Councilman Yost certainly believes Councilmen should give their opinion —Leigh Touchton

From Valdosta City Council minutes on their webpage. I was told point blank
by Mr. Carroll that he would not deliver his opinion on biomass (or anything
else apparently) until the moment he casts his vote. -Leigh Touchton


*COUNCIL COMMENTS 07/08/10 CONTINUED *



Councilman Yost stated that Mr. Rhynes asked some good questions earlier
about the proposed Travel Ordinance and a mountain has been made out of a
mole hill on that subject. The reporter that usually covers the Council
meetings did call Councilman Eunice and that was reported in the newspaper.
She was asked by Councilman Eunice to call other Council persons to give
their view on the Ordinance and what happened at that meeting. She stated
that everyone was on their way to Savannah to attend the Conference.
Councilman Eunice was also on his way to Savannah when she called.
Councilman Yost stated that if she had asked then he would have given her
his opinion; however, now that Mr. Rhynes has asked he would give his
opinion

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Equal opportunity criticizer —John S. Quarterman

Leigh Touchton

remarked:

…apparently Yost thinks your criticism of people not staying is something
he can use to good effect to nullify the need to publicly address
citizen complaints.

Well, good luck to him: it doesn’t seem to be working that way.

I think I’m an equal opportunity criticizer.
Remember



I pointed out that the council is not a law enforcement body
and gave a recent example of that.
And I pointed out that the mayor of little old Gretna
put out a proclamation saying no biomass
and the great city of Valdosta could go ahead and do that
instead of waiting for somebody else to make the decision for them.
And yes,

I criticized the protesters for not staying.
I’m not surprised various people choose to ignore part of what I said
and pick up on other parts; life’s like that.

I understand that some people don’t like to take a strong position
in public.
Clearly not everybody has to be an advocate for or against any given topic.

However, my opinion is that anybody who runs for elected office should be willing
to say in public what their opinion is.
Sure, sometimes it’s good to say “I’m thinking about it” or “I’m studying it”
or even better “I’d like to know more about X”:
that could promote a dialog.
Even “I’m working on it behind the scenes” would be a useful public statement.
But elected officials refusing to take any position is ridiculous,
and I see nothing wrong with laughing out loud at the ridiculous.

-jsq

Public criticism —Leigh Touchton



Leigh Touchton posted a comment with a report from
last night’s Valdosta City Council meeting:

I won’t stay to the end in the future because if they are going to
make public attacks on citizens and then go into Executive session so
they don’t have to hear a rebuttal, then I don’t care to listen to their
bombast. Yost apparently thinks
your public criticism of the activists not
staying (and also the Tea Party left right after one of their members read
from the Bible about how laws and regulation are a sin–I had difficulty
keeping from laughing out loud—we’re in a recession because laws and
regulation were thrown away and banks made a video called Banks Gone
Wild…but I digress)…apparently Yost thinks your criticism of people
not staying is something he can use to good effect to nullify the need
to publicly address citizen complaints. Here’s his position, distilled:

“You won’t stay to the end, I’m offended. You called our important work
boring, I’m offended. (much redness of face, some veins popping out)
You come in here and talk to us like that then I’m not going to address
your complaints, I’m offended.”

Well I’m offended that a grown man elected to represent Valdosta acts
like that.

Let me go back and educate the gentle readers out there who haven’t

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Disturbing things —Dr. Noll



Dr. Noll posted a comment today about last night’s Valdosta City Council
meeting, and we thank him for his report:

What I found most disturbing are actually the following things that
happened at last night’s meeting:

  1. A Mayor in absentia because he is celebrating his birthday and decided
    not to attend because of a lack of agenda items for the meeting.

  2. A mother being harassed by Mr. Taylor who makes sexist comments when
    her daughter is receiving an award for an essay contest.

  3. A City Council and ALL of its members who continue to hide behind a policy
    that supposedly does not allow them to respond during meetings. As if
    they would respond before or after meetings.

  4. City Council member Yost going into a tirade about my wife’s comment in
    regard to “boring” meetings, when she is referring to the experience
    of our children who have been sitting through quite a few of them by
    now. Such meetings are indeed “boring” to a 9 and 12 year old.

  5. Council member Yost then goes on to “thank” all of us for staying until
    the end of the meeting so that we could witness the important work
    they do. Like what? The replacement of two belt press sludge pumps, the
    renaming of a street? If there is an important piece of work Mr. Yost
    and his colleagues could impress us with, it would be a resolution to not
    sell water to a biomass plant that threatens the health of our community!

-Michael Noll

Sometimes sludge replacement parts are boring,
but if we don’t replace them and the wastewater treatment plant
overflows, it may pollute your yard or your creek.
Best we take of it ahead of time and be proactive, rather than reactive.
Let’s take care of a problem before it happens!

-gretchen

PS: Don’t forget to go to the Planning Commission on Monday.

Parks and Rec. Appointment, Lowndes County, Georgia



Previously, the Valdosta City Council appointed City Council member
Robert Yost to the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority (VLPRA).
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners debated appointing a Commissioner
to the VLPRA at their June 8 meeting:

They decided to appoint their chairman, Ashley Paulk, to the VLPRA.
Chairman Paulk said he would serve, but as a private citizen.
I wonder then what the point was of appointing him, rather than
someone else.

When Valdosta appointed Yost, Ashley Paulk provided

this statement to the VDT:

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New Members, Valdosta City Council, 7 Jan 2010

The Valdosta City Council inducted three members:
Deidra White (first time), Alvin Payton Jr. (re-elected), and Robert Yost (re-elected). The Council then elected John Eunice Mayor Pro-Tem.
Here’s
a playlist for the whole thing:

City Manager Larry Hanson read the election results.

Deidra White was elected for the first time, to District 2.

Here she organizes the news photographers, gets sworn in, and gets
a standing ovation. The Valdosta Daily Times doesn’t appear to have posted a story about this meeting afterwards, but it did
post a story beforehand, spelling her first name wrong, and concluding:

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