I just want to take a min of my time & thank you all the Lowndes county
commissioners for Consideration of Proposed List for a boat ramp & a new
community center in our community. This mean a lot to our community &
our surrounding counties. It’s a good asset to Lowndes county. Lowndes
County needs public access to the beautiful scenic Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. Now our community will
have something to cherish for generations & more generations to come. I
hope the community will come together. Continue reading →
I would like to inform the community that the Lowndes County Board
of Commissioners has announced their “Consideration of Proposed
List” for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII on July 22-23,
2013. It can be viewed on LowndesCounty.com.
The part of the budget that is most impressive to me is the
allocation to Parks & Recreation. Its allocation is 3.5 million
dollars. We need good recreation for our families in Lowndes County
and to me this number sounds like our county commissioners take it
serious.
I would also like to send out a big thank you to the commissioners
for putting a Community Center in Naylor and a boat ramp on the
Alapaha River as part of the purpose for the Parks and Recreation
allocation.
Lowndes County needs public access to the beautiful Alapaha River as
residents have enjoyed the river for generations. I hope the
community will come together over this project and create a legacy
for generations to come. Please send thank yous, ideas and comments
to the commission about the Naylor project:
Valdosta Mayor Gayle was standing next to the video ghetto
after the county’s rather rudimentary SPLOST VII presentation
Monday morning, so I asked him why I hadn’t seen anything about Internet
access either Valdosta’s or Lowndes County’s SPLOST lists?
He said that was because it was being handled by the Community Assessment Group (CAG).
What’s that?
Mayor Gayle said CAG is a group of representatives from the county
and all the local cities, the two school districts (Valdosta and Lowndes County),
VSU, Wiregrass Tech, the Industrial Authority, the Chamber, and he may have
said others.
It’s an attempt at better local cooperation, specifically about issues
that cross all the various local governmental and non-governmental groups.
So far they’ve had two meetings, Continue reading →
Here’s
the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Chairman Bill Slaughter recognized Valdosta Mayor John Gayle,
who was sitting in the back.
Invocation
Only in the Regular Session.
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Only in the Regular Session.
Minutes for Approval
Work Session — July 8, 2013
Regular Session — July 9, 2013
County Manager Joe Pritchard was also confused as to
what did the Commissioners approve
regarding the “conjoined” items in the 9 July Regular Session:
For Consideration
Video Arraignment for Magistrate and Juvenile Court Contract
Enterprise and Backup Storage Solution Scope of Work
Pritchard noted County Attorney Walter Elliott referred to the
purchase orders
for item 6.a., saying purchase orders item 6.b. were “not present”.
Pritchard wanted to know if Commissioners approved both of them.
Commissioner Crawford Powell said he thought the way “Walter”
stated it they didn’t approve either one of them.
Little joke.
“Walter” got it, and eventually Pritchard did, too, after everyone
else laughed.
Then Powell clarified that they had approved both items.
Which anyone can see in
the LAKE video of those items.
Hm, if the Commission kept their own videos, Pritchard could have
just looked at those and seen.
Three details at $39,500 each, no increase from last year, said Public Works Director
Robin Cumbus;
see
other post for what Commissioners Marshall, Slaughter, and Powell had to say.
It’s because of a notice of violation from GA EPD, said Utilities Director Mike Allen,
and he’d been working with Lovell Engineering on a letter to say the problem
of disinfection byproducts would be fixed by the end of March 2015.
Commissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know if
Lovell Engineering would be submitting “on our behalf, or would we be submitting it?”
See
separate post for more.
The county has received a grant from GDOT for striking, signs, and
raised pavement markers for 30.79 miles of road, for $142,491.75.
I will also give you a copy of the roads that will be restruck
under this contract.
Commissioners had no questions.
Why wasn’t that copy in the board packet and online with the agenda?
How can you find out if your road is on that list?
File an open records request.
Adopt Resolution accepting infrastructure for Barrington Subdivision Phase I
Engineer said it was mostly complete but they were waiting on a punch list
from the developer before signing off on it.
Commissioners had no questions.
Videos: SPLOST, Children’s Appointment, Prisoners, and Water @ LCC 2013-07-22
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 July 2013.
Not quite most of the money for roads, streets, and bridges
(none of them named to the public), plus everything from animals to public safety,
in the county’s SPLOST VII list.
But don’t be alarmed: it contains no new library and no new auditorium,
and the Chairman referred to it as a “back to basics” list.
It also contains nothing about Internet access; more on that in a separate post.
You can be told about this list tomorrow night or at a forthcoming joint county-cities
public telling: no town hall meetings have yet been scheduled.
These videos and slides are from
this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
5.
Special Presentation & Consideration — Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII
There was something new in what Joe Pritchard said:
Commissioners each had an opportunity for independent review and evaluation.
That’s better than the county tradition of the staff write down the list
and Commissioners rubber-stamp it.
However, where are
those town hall meetings Commissioner Joyce Evans promised?
She reminded me afterwards that she had said “hopefully”.
Mayor Gayle told me afterwards the problem was they were too close
to the deadline for turning in the lists for the election.
He indicated that was because the county was late.
Remember Valdosta already presented its list
9 July 2013.
Rumor has it the delay was in some Commissioners insisting on actually
having input.
That’s a good thing, but if the county planned ahead, there still
would have been time for the rest of us to provide input before
the lists were finalized.
The slides presented say they’re also available on the county’s website,
but I don’t see them there, so I’m posting stills from the LAKE video here.
A SPLOST VII presentation, an appointment to the
Department of Family & Children’s Services Board,
rehiring prisoners who are cheaper than local labor,
and a letter to GA EPD about an upgrade to
the Alapaha Water Treatment Plant they’ve been tinkering with since
13 and 14 August 2007 at least.
Is this the upgrade
Reed Construction Data says is on US 84,
was engineered by Lovell Engineering?
If so, it’s for:
Water Treatment, Sewage Treatment The Work To Be Done Shall Consist
Of Furnishing All Labor Materials & Equipment Necessary To Construct
The Project Titled Alapaha Water Treatment Facility As Shown On The
Construction Drawings In General Construction Consists Of
Approximately 950 LF Of 6 PVC Watermain, Relocation Of 20000 Gallon
Hydro-Pneumatic Tank, Valves, Fittings, Controls, Erosion Control
Grassing, 2 Submersible Wells, Water Supplies Sulfide Removal
Stripper Tank, 2 Booster Pumps, 16′ X 16′ Blcok Masonry Bldg & All
Other Associated Apertures Necessary For A Complete Installation
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Valdosta’s proposed SPLOST list will be presented Tuesday
at the city’s Work Session 5:30PM Tuesday 9 July 2013:
be there, or be blindsided by what’s on that list.
Scan by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2013.
You know that if you read to the middle of the
ad in today’s VDT about the Work Session and Regular Session.
That’s in the paper paper;
ads in the paper don’t get put online.
There’s no agenda online for the Work Session.
The agenda for the Regular Session says nothing about SPLOST.
There’s nothing on the city’s calendar about SPLOST.
There’s no PR about this on the city’s website.
There’s nothing about it in any of the city’s TV videos that I can find.
Don’t be surprised if nobody shows up….
Back
on June 10th
Library Director Kelly Lenz brought
candidates
Jack Hartley, Linda Most, and Matt Lawrence,
who spoke, and
at the June 24th Work Session
Commissioner Joyce Evans submitted the name of Mr. Robert Jefferson,
who did not speak.
This time County Manager Joe Pritchard mumbled behind his monitor
and did not deign to name any of the candidates, referring to “a list”
that Commissioners could see but the public could not.
He did say that the openings were for the board slots previously occupied by
Kay Harris and Ray Devery.
“Hopefully” there will be four town hall meetings before
the final SPLOST lists are settled, said
Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans (District 1)
at last night’s
Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.
We’re beginning to put things together for the SPLOST.
Hopefully we’ll be able to do several….
I know the mayor has stated that they were going to do
two town hall meetings and the county’s going to do
a couple of town hall meetings and then we’re going to come together
with the information that we’ve received from the community
and go and put together an overall SPLOST
for the city and the county.
So please, take time, think about it, and be involved.
We shall see.
At least it’s a small change in the old boy backroom behavior so popular among elected officials around here
that the famously reclusive commissioner said this in front of a video camera.
Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans
July 4th BBQ, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Dennis Marks (Vice-Chair / Elections),
Amanda Hall (Vice-Chair / Membership), Richard Saeger (Vice-Chair / Qualifying), Jerrell Anderson (Secretary), James J. Parker (Treasurer),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 July 2013.
I just want to take a min of my time & thank you all the Lowndes county commissioners for Consideration of Proposed List for a boat ramp & a new community center in our community. This mean a lot to our community & our surrounding counties. It’s a good asset to Lowndes county. Lowndes County needs public access to the beautiful scenic Alapaha River as residents have enjoyed the river for generations. Now our community will have something to cherish for generations & more generations to come. I hope the community will come together. Continue reading
