The board packet for tonight’s Valdosta City Council meeting, full of wastewater, stormwater, and trash items, is
on the LAKE website, all 137 pages of it.
The packet includes some details about the proposed Lakeland Avenue Regional Stormwater Facility,
which is item 5.c)
on the
agenda.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate
Flags are to fly half-mast Sunday across the entire state of Georgia at the state Capitol and in Lowndes County for the late Sonny Vickers, whose absence loomed large over the
Valdosta City Council meeting.
The funeral will be
3 PM Sunday.
There will be a
special election for his Council seat,
as required by the city charter.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item with a few notes,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the agenda.
The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is
on the LAKE website.
Some of the materials are out of order (I don’t know why), so if you don’t find something at first, keep looking.
Cave in at manhole on Sustella Ave. along One Mile Branch.
Inspection discovered 525 feet also in danger of collapse.
Due to emergency, Utilities selected a contractor without bids.
Main input line to the plant, so “pretty critical.”
Replaced 5500 feet of cement line with epoxy line.
Emergency contractor selection with no bids.
Work already completed April 6th.
$259,430.86.
Council Tim Carroll pointed out that this is David Frost’s last Council meeting,
and tomorrow is his last day. Applause, and mutual thanks from Frost.
Gregory Williams, 806 West Gordon Street, said he was a son of Sonny Vickers’ work.
He proposed renaming Cherry Street to Sonny Vickers Lane.
Vickers always lived on Cherry Street.
Gracie Bacon, 708 Holly Drive, said three houses had junk cars and trash that made it difficult to breathe.
She invited Council to come see for themselves, then do something about it.
John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper, thanked the city for fixing two sewer lines and installing a trash boom at Sugar Creek.
He reminded them that there was more to do.
For example, that trash on Holly Drive probably washes into waterways.
More than that, fast food parking lots need trash cans and to keep trash from escaping.
The city has ordinances, so if they don’t do it, the city can fine them.
And the city should put trash cans on its own parking lots to set an example.
He invited Mayor and Council to a chainsaw cleanup on the Withlacoochee River.
Council Vivian Miller-Cody said
the funeral for Sonny Vickers will be 3:00 PM this Sunday at
Woodlawn Forrest Church of Christ, 1515 Barack Obama Blvd.
If there’s no room, people can go to
Harrington Funeral Home, 713 Lake Park Road, 229-242-2828.
She said the family requests no flowers, rather donations to a cancer foundation
which they are starting in honor of Council Sonny Vickers.
Mayor Scott James said the state proclamation from the governor
is to fly flags throughout the state at half mast this Sunday.
Standing ovation.
RIP Sonny Vickers + two sewer lines fixed @ VCC 2022-06-23
Valdosta City Council Regular Session, June 23, 2022, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
Mayor Scott James added two council members each as observers to each of the
ARPA fund disbursment committees, for
non-profits
and for
for-profit businesses.
A twelve-foot alligator surfaced twice at the briefest Valdosta City Council meeting of recent memory, in
Special Recognitions
and
Citizens to Be Heard, related to the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle organized by WWALS,
with Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman as a speaker.
Four from Leadership Lowndes where there,
and there’s a New Neighborhood Development and Community Protections Manager, Anetra Riley.
The Mayor recognized WWALS, which is a first.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also Continue reading →
Maybe they could spend some of that to help fix the well and river testing costs downstream on the Withlacoochee River of
Valdosta’s record 7.5 million gallons of raw sewage spill into Sugar Creek, which has taken two months to maybe finally get diluted down the Withlacoochee River, twice entering Florida, with three Florida river advisories, and with Georgia warning signs on the Withlacoochee River downstream of Sugar Creek by Lowndes County and by WWALS (but not by Valdosta).
One City Council member tells me that audit doesn’t mean Valdosta has $2 million cash lying around.
But they do have several hundred thousand unspent.
Maybe they could also budget some of that surplus to help fix the stigma,
the decades-long reputational damage to all our rivers,
caused by Valdosta’s chronic sewage spills.
That would involve for example water quality testing or paying for testing downstream on the Withlacoochee River and doing marketing.
Bids will be considered for the sewer main at Sugar Creek near Gornto Road and near the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
The sewer main has become exposed due to ongoing steam bank erosion, and the sewer main has started to sag. The city said this exposure needs to be repaired sooner rather than later, as the exposure could lead to a failure, and could allow raw sewage to directly leak into Sugar Creek.
This would be a violation of the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit with the state.
The recommended bid comes from Garney Companies, Inc., for $286,000.
Valdosta didn’t mention it and the Florida Department of Health doesn’t seem to know it,
but
Knights Creek is in the Alapaha River watershed.
Valdosta spilled sewage into it twice in February.
Plus that 16 February spill into Dukes Bay Canal
also ends up in the Alapaha River.
But never you mind,
Valdosta also spilled
into the Withlacoochee River through the usual Sugar Creek.
Somehow I don’t think all these spills are not Valdosta’s fault.
Seems like it’s time for Valdosta to finish fixing its wastewater problem.
And since the most recent spills were due to rainfall directly on
Valdosta,
the
levee proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers on Sugar Creek
at the Withlacoochee River wouldn’t help,
nor would it help at any time for spills directly into the Withlacoochee
River at GA 133, nor for Dukes Bay Canal nor Knights Creek,
which flow into the Alapaha River.
TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Department of Health today issued an
advisory to residents in counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and
the downstream Suwannee River. The City of Valdosta has reported a
spill, made up of a combination of storm water and untreated sewage,
that has overflowed into the One-Mile Branch, Two-Mile Branch, Sugar
Creek and Cherry Creek which flow into the Withlacoochee River. Lab
test results received April 18, 2014, indicate higher than normal
levels of fecal coliform bacteria in the river waters.
Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be anything about this on
the city of Valdosta’s own website yet,
but no doubt there will be.
More in later posts about what that.
Maybe that SPLOST money will build that force main and stop this.
Meanwhile, they don’t call it Sugar Creek for nothing.
And Twomile Branch flows into Sugar Creek, which flows into the Withlacoochee
River, which flows into the Suwannee River through Florida into the Gulf of Mexico.
Today we’ll probably see stories from Florida about river water warnings.
It’s pretty ironic that National Flood Preparedness Week has come
right alongside 5 inches of rain in South Georgia, but for residents
of Valdosta who remember the flood of 2009, that much rain can be a
real problem if you don’t have flood insurance.
“Many people don’t realize that flood is not covered in their
homeowners policy. It’s important to know what is and isn’t covered
in your homeowners policy”, says Christi Marsh, a State Farm Agent
based in Valdosta.
Winnie Wright reports homeowner Carrie Eager found flood insurance preferable
to evacuating by boat like before.
![[Collage, Valdosta City Council Packet 2024-01-25]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2024-01-25--vcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Agenda, Valdosta City Council, 2024-01-25 and Lakeland Avenue map]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2024-01-25--vcc-agenda/many.jpg)
![[Agenda, Valdosta City Council, 2024-01-25]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2024-01-25--vcc-agenda/big/012524-0001.jpg)
![[Sonny Vickers and other matters]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-06-23--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Collage]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-05-19--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
![[Valdosta City Council, Staff, and Citizens]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/valdosta/2022-02-24--vcc-videos/many.jpg)
