Tag Archives: Southern Georgia Regional Commission

Videos: 2 of 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Regular 2025-12-09

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Could be a record: an hour and 14 minutes for Tuesday’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

After many months, they had Recognition of return of Commissioner Joyce Evans. She is clearly still recovering from her medical issues, but Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wheeled her in. She didn’t say anything then, but, then, she seldom does. She did thank them at the end of the meeting.

[Collage @ LCC 9 December 2025]
Collage @ LCC 9 December 2025

The did not reappoint incumbent Tommy Willis to the Planning Commission. Instead they appointed John “Mac” McCall by a vote of 3-2. As near as I can tell, Commissioners Mark Wisenbaker and Demarcus Marshall were the 2.

By acclamation they reappointed incumbent Felicia Williams to the Lowndes County Board Of Assessors. Nobody even nominated Gretchen Quarterman. Ms. Williams later spoke about the Tax Commissioners in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard (CWTBH).

Mr. Gary Wisenbaker was appointed to the Lowndes County Library Board after he recused himself from the vote.

The seat reserved for Wild Adventures on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center And Tourism Authority had a new WA General Manager appointed: Donald Spiller III.

The meeting length was because of many agenda items, some postponed from last month, some because there’s only one Regular Session in each of November and December, and some year-end items.

The only item that took more than ten minutes was Continue reading →

Videos: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Work 2025-12-08

Monday morning’s Work Session took 55 minutes, despite many measures to power through it.

They vote tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 5:30 PM.

[Collage @ LCC 8 December 2025]
Collage @ LCC 8 December 2025

Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said two of the presentations would be made Tuesday evening at the Regular Session. Ditto for the appointments to four boards.

They did spend almost nine minutes on 7.b. REZ-2025-16 2480 Copeland Rd, ~18ac, R-10/C To R-10, for example about ingress and egress.

And almost six minutes on 8.k. 2026 Public Defender Contracts, which they moved to the front of section 8 because the presenter had to get to another appointment.

Plus more than three minutes each on three other items.

If I heard correctly, 8.g. Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Val Del Road Widening, they’re going to four-lane at least part of Val Del Road.

They said the reason 8.h. Design-Build Contract For Lowndes County Animal Shelter. took this long because of requiring the contractor to stay within a tight budget.

Commissioners had some cost questions about 8.o. Motorola Migration Assurance Plan (MAP).

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Packet: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC 2025-12-08

Update 2025-12-08: Videos: 4 Presentations, 4 Appointments, 2 Rezonings, 1 Dec. Lighting, 16 For Consideration, 1 Pump Station Upgrade @ LCC Work 2025-12-08.

Many people have asked when this would happen. 8.h. Design-Build Contract for Lowndes County Animal Shelter is to award a contract to Kellerman Construction, Inc.

“The breakdown for the contract is $450,000.00 for sitework, $4,050,000.00 for construction, $200,000.00 for contingency, and $300,000.00 for Architectural & Engineering. If approved, the design process will begin immediately and the Design-Builder will submit a final proposal for construction to Lowndes County for approval in April 2026.”

That firm was selected out of seven proposals by a scoring process.

[Collage, LCC Packet 2025-12-08]
Collage, LCC Packet 2025-12-08

For 9.a. LAS Pump Station Upgrade they’re upgrading from 3 to 4 pumps at the Land Application Site (LAS), plus adding a backup generator.

Last month the Lowndes County Commission tabled appointments to two boards, Library and Planning Commission. This month they will appoint to those and also to the Board of Tax Assessors.

They also postponed a rezoning on Copeland Road. This month it’s back, plus one on Shiloh Road.

For 6.a. Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, the term of Tommy Willis expired. He and John McCall want to be appointed.

For 6.b. Lowndes County Board of Assessors, the term of Felicia Williams expired. She and Gretchen Quarterman want to be appointed.

For 6.c. Lowndes County Library Board, Catherine Ammons resigned after she resigned as Valdosta Assistant City Manager. Kendal Crawford, Dean Poling, and Gary Wisenbaker want to be appointed.

Last month they postponed 7.b. REZ-2025-16 Copeland Road Subdivision, 2480 Copeland Rd, ~18ac, County Utilities, R-10/c to R-10 because of an error in the advertisement, so it’s on the agenda for December.

Plus 7.c. REZ-2025-17 Shiloh Road, ~8.2 ac 6641 Shiloh Road, E-A to R-A, Well & Septic, which the Planning Commission heard at its most recent meeting.

This week the Commissioners will consider about $15.5 million in the items on the agenda. Some of that is paid via state or federal grants. The biggest item (MAP) is split over five years. The next most expensive item, the Animal Shelter, comes from SPLOST. Then the LAS upgrades come from federal ARPA money. But the insurance payments appear to come out of the general fund, i.e., property taxes. The power line relocation comes from TSPLOST, i.e., another penny sales tax. Continue reading →

Workshop 1, Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan Update 2025-10-20

Why I went to the Monday GLPC Work Session: after it was the first Workshop for the Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan, including the cities of Valdosta, Hahira, Remerton, Dasher, and Lake Park. Updates to the Comprehensive Plan are required by the state of Georgia every five years.

James Horton of the Southern Georgia Regional Planning Commission (SGRC) conducted the Workshop.

[Workshop 1, Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan Update, James Horton, SGRC, Monday, October 20, 2025]
Workshop 1, Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan Update, James Horton, SGRC, Monday, October 20, 2025

For the current Plan, see:
https://lowndescounty.com/DocumentCenter/View/1512/2021-Greater-Lowndes-Comprehensive-Plan-PDF?bidId=

James Horton gave a very comprehensive review of what’s in the Comprehensive Plan and what it is for. Then most of the session consisted of people filling out a SWOT analysis, mostly online. That’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You can SWOT, too: follow the QR code.

Afterwards, County Manager Paige Dukes mentioned she had just been to a session with One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL) and we all needed to make all these plans work together. I was slow to get the camera restarted, so I missed the first part of what she said, but you can get the gist from what’s on the video.

Each of the cities has its own planning beyond what’s in the Comprehensive Plan, Parks and Rec and the Tourism Authority each have their plans, and of course OVL was intended for projects that affect all of the above.

Reminds me of the old joke about when there were a dozen standards, so somebody started another standard to merge the standards. Then where were a dozen plus one standards.

James Horton says:

The next meeting is Workshop 2 on Monday November 17, 2025 at 325 West Savannah Avenue at 6:00 PM following the work session of the Greater Lowndes County Planning Commission.

And the third Workshop will also be after a GLPC Work Session, on January 20, 2026. Continue reading →

Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Regular 2025-07-22

Two citizens spoke at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Gretchen Quarterman about water wells, including private wells getting contaminated since Hurricane Helene, or running dry, and expenses of testing and well drilling. Commissioners actually discussed afterwards that you can take a water sample and get Public Health to test it.

Keyara Hamilton spoke about Goodwill.

[Collage @ LCC 22 July 2025]
Collage @ LCC 22 July 2025

The Lowndes County Commissioners appointed Scottie Orenstein, Joe Brownlee, and Rob Green to the Lowndes County Development Authority, which apparently never meets. Then they also reappointed Jerome Tucker and Barry Green.

They reappointed Michael Walker and J.D. Rice to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Then they also appointed Lowndes County Commissioner Mike Smith to succeed Clay Griner, and Andy Griffin to succeed Crawford Powell. They also clarified the when each term will end.

Chairman Bill Slaughter recommended that Commissioners should get a list of boards and their meeting dates and times so they can attend an learn things. This is good advice for citizens in general.

The Commissioners approved everything else unanimously.

County Manager Paige Dukes’s Reports lasted almost ten minutes, including Fire Department people speaking.

Below are Continue reading →

Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Work 2025-07-21

Update 2025-07-25: Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Regular 2025-07-22.

The Lowndes County Commissioners discussed much more than usual, making yesterday morning’s Work Session 44 minutes long.

[Collage @ LCC Work Session 21 July 2025]
Collage @ LCC Work Session 21 July 2025

They vote today at 5:30 PM, which is about now.

Yesterday, the County Attorney weighed in on both the board appointment items.

The Comprehensive Plan update won’t change the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) that the county and the five cities agreed would last for ten years.

Both of the Juvenile Justice grant items lasted more than 9 minutes.

The longest item was not on the agenda: a report by Jeff Lovell on well issues and river water infiltration.

And we got a clue where the Blue Lake Lift Station is: near I-75 Exit 13.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Packet: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC 2025-07-21

Update 2025-07-22: Videos: Appointments to 2 boards, 2 law grants, 2 lift station items, 1 Comp. Plan contract @ LCC Work 2025-07-21.

The Lowndes County Commission this Monday and Tuesday will consider and decide on many appointments to two boards, and two Juvenile Justice grants.

The county is also outsourcing part of its five-year Comprehensive Plan Update to the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC), for $30,000.

[Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-07-21]
Collage @ LCC Packet 2025-07-21

Lowndes County is still fixing problems from Hurricane Helene, this time at the Blue Lake Lift Station.

  • In September 2016 they replaced a pump there for no-bid $43,959.
  • In June 2020 they did a $71,789 no-bid emergency repair there due to corrosion.
  • In October 2021 they applied for $700,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for “Permanent bypass pumps at lift station” for Bevel Creek, Whitewater, Heart road, Blue Lake, Highway 84, and Frances Lake, as well as $300,000 for “On-Site Crane/ Hoist lift station” for Whitewater, Frances Lake, and Blue Lake, all at the recommendation of Carter & Sloope.
  • In June 2022 they approved an apparently no-bid agreement with Carter & Sloope:

    “The scope of work at the County’s lift station is two-fold. A permanent bypass pump will be installed at the following six (6) lift stations: Bevel Creek, Whitewater, Heart Road, Blue Lake, Highway 84, and Frances Lake. The bypass pump will serve as the station’s backup/redundancy method if the primary pumping failed at any time. The new pump will be connected to the existing wet well and force main at the station on a concrete housekeeping pad. Where necessary based on location, the pump can be installed in an enclosure to reduce sound (i.e. if near a residential neighborhood). Electrical and controls will be installed on site with the new pump. Of the 6 stations, the following three (3) will also be retrofitted with an on- site crane/hoist system: Whitewater, Frances Lake, and Blue Lake. Those stations need a local mechanism for retrieving pumps from the wet well because of their layout and location.”

This time they have bids for the control panel, but still only one no-bid source for the pump: xylem, Inc. However, the county is going for repairing the pump this time, for $44,661.

It’s good Lowndes County is fixing its sewer infrastructure before it breaks. And it’s good they’re bidding at least part of the repairs this time.

Meanwhile, we still don’t know where the Blue Lake Lift Station is. So far as I can tell, there is no waterbody, road or street, or subdivision name Blue Lake in Lowndes County. More on that in a later post.

Cost What
$44,661.00Blue Lake Lift Station Pump Repair
$43,615.00Blue Lake Lift Station Control Panel
$88,276.00Blue Lake Subtotal
 
$30,000.002026 Comprehensive Plan Technical Assistance Contract
 
$118,276.00Total

Here is the agenda.

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website. Images of each page are below.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 21, 2025, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update 2024-12-05

The first meeting was last week, but there will be plenty more, in the state-required five-year update process for the Echols County Comprehensive Plan.

[Begin Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update in Statenville, organized by SGRC]
Begin Echols County Comprehensive Plan Update in Statenville, organized by SGRC

That was a kickoff meeting.

Continue reading →

Videos: GLPC appointments, ULDC Amendments, 2 rezonings, Street Lighting, Beer and Wine, UPS, infrastructure acceptance, Regional Transit, Georgia Power, VSU, LMIG, Fire @ LCC Regular 2024-11-12

Ed Hightower was reappointed to the Planning Commission and. Calvin Graham was appointed to the seat previously held by Vicki Biles.

Two citizens spoke in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard. Burton Fletcher thanked various people for running for or winning office and other things. Janice Strickland spoke about flooding on Pin Oak Circle, which is in the City of Valdosta, so she was referred to the City Council.

In a thirteen and a half minute discussion, “County Planners JD Dillard and Jason Davenport went over the proposed changes to the ULDC which was “in the room” at the seat of the Lawyer Walter Elliott.”

[Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024]
Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024

Jason Davenport mentioned their goal was to get these changes approved by the County Manager and then to the “development community”. No mention of the public, other than the request by “Mrs. Quarterman” for a copy, which LAKE did get and publish. The county did not publish them before that Regular Session. The latest copy of the ULDC on the county’s website is still earlier than that, ULDC Unsigned Searchable Copy – July 9, 2024 (PDF).

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted affirmation that these changes required existing systems to have generators if they expand. Davenport agreed they do require that.

Commissioner Scottie Orenstein, County Manager Paige Dukes, and County Chairman Bill Slaughter discussed other existing systems. It doesn’t look to me like the ULDC changes require those to have generators.

Commissioner Orenstein wanted to hear more about subdivision policy goals. Davenport’s answer was they would be looked at on a case-by-case basis and “appropriately address” them. County Chairman Bill Slaughter expressed concern about dense subdivisions where the county could not bring utilities and for subdivisions with a single point of ingress and egress (cul-de-sacs). Davenport mentioned they chose not to have separate rules for septic vs. county utilities.

At the Public Hearing, Gretchen Quarterman spoke in opposition to the amendments, noting that the time available to actually review the final language was only a couple of hours before the meeting, especially since the Planning Commission no longer gets ULDC text amendments on its agenda. She also recommended “continuously” instead of “consistently” for private well generators. She liked the explicit list of grandfathered subdivisions. She mentioned Val Del Estates, which flooded recently, despite the county rezoning it a few years ago in what were claimed not to be wetlands.

The Commissioners did not discuss most of those topics, nor removing pine trees from being protected species. They did unanimously approve the ULDC text amendments.

They also unanimously approved everything else, including the Loch Winn rezoning, even though several people spoke in opposition. That one took twelve and a half minutes.

They discussed the purchase of VSU South Campus for almost five minutes.

The Chairman paused other items several times for recognition of various groups and individuals. An agenda item at the front would simplify all that. Similarly, a Commissioner Comments item at the end would be easier than ad hoc asking Commissioners for comments.

Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

Videos: GLPC appointments, ULDC Amendments, 2 rezonings, Street Lighting, Beer and Wine, UPS, infrastructure acceptance, Regional Transit, Georgia Power, VSU, LMIG, Fire @ LCC Work 2024-11-12

Update 2024-11-16: Videos: GLPC appointments, ULDC Amendments, 2 rezonings, Street Lighting, Beer and Wine, UPS, infrastructure acceptance, Regional Transit, Georgia Power, VSU, LMIG, Fire @ LCC Regular 2024-11-12.

There was so much discussion at the Work Session this morning that the meeting was 30 minutes long. They spent ten minutes on the ULDC Text Amendments; the ones that remove pine trees from being protected species. Even the UPS replacement got discussion.

Regarding the purchase of VSU South Campus, Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wondered how this could so easily move forward when the proposed animal shelter is taking so long. There was a little discussion.

They vote at 5:30 PM this evening.

[Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024]
Collage @ LCC 12 November 2024

Here are LAKE videos of each agenda item, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →