Lowndes County Clerk, Paige Dukes, provided a PDF of the slides from
the presentation.
They are available
on the LAKE website.
-gretchen
No, not that city council! No, not that county commission! Not even the state board of corrections. (Although some of them might want to try that bureaucratic shoe on to see if it fits.) Here’s who: Continue readingSchuster told the directors that he thought [that organization] was supplying “vague” information and he directed that henceforth the sides meet monthly in his office for updates on the liquidation process. In short, Schuster is learning first hand — just like members, the media and the public at large have learned — that prying information out of [that organization] is usually about as fruitful as trying to squeeze information out of the Kremlin.
Here’s the agenda:Well, shiver me timbers and bless their little hearts! Their new executive director, Andrew Schruijer, remarked at Tuesday’s board meeting that the agenda for that meeting had indeed been posted since Friday. In Citizens to be Heard I readily admitted I didn’t look too hard for it, and expressed astonishment and pleasure at this positive development. Linked from their front page, there’s now an agenda page:Just joking. They don’t publish their agendas!
It has links to agendas for June, July, and August, each with an agenda in PDF. That seems a bit odd for some of those months, when there were several meetings. But, hey, it’s a start!Agenda
Agendas will be posted one day prior to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority regular scheduled monthly meeting.
Here’s the aganda for yesterday’s meeting. That’s in PDF, so here’s a web-readable HTML version:
Continue readingValdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Agenda Tuesday, August 16, 2011 5:30 p.m. Industrial Authority Conference Room 2110 N. Patterson Street
That’s at 2110 N. Patterson Street in Valdosta. Here’s the agenda:August 16, 2011 Industrial Authority Board Meeting 5:30 pm at the Industrial Authority Conf. Room
Just joking. They don’t publish their agendas! Or their minutes.
-jsq
Received 12 August 2011, with attached PDF. -jsq
Continue readingHi all,
We have some really interesting projects and events this issue. Since school is back in session most are planning for football games and other semester activities. Since we are in the planning mode, please read our article on Community Planning Month in October. We have lots of fun and exciting events for citizens to participate in this year. Our theme is “New Ideas for America’s Future”. Since the youth are our future, we want to extend this invitation to any youth groups that may be interested in government and planning. Please contact us to RVSP for a lunch & learn or tour. We look forward to seeing you there!!
Also, check out an update on the Five Points Project and Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation.
August 2011 Planner’s Post
http://www.valdostacity.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=3D4017
Received yesterday. It’s a YouTube video. -jsq
Video by George Boston Rhynes for
K.V.C.I. Keeping Valdosta Citizen Informed
George has written up most of this in K.V.C.I. with pictures and YouTube videos.
Also, I appreciate the shoutout, George, and I’m sure the other people involved with LAKE and this blog do, as well.
-jsq
Continue readingThe LAKE blog has been doing an excellent job of publishing what is happening in various Valdosta and Lowndes County public meetings. I have been attending the Hahira City Council meetings for several months now and decided I would start posting a monthly blog summary of council meetings so Hahira residents will be aware of what is happening in their city. This is not intended to be an official documentation and citizens should depend on the official meeting minutes and/or discuss issues with city officials.
It was announced that a hearing had been advertised to discuss changing the millage rate for the city and it was decided the mileage rate would remain the same with no increase.
The review of bills/budget overages were approved by the council.
Addendum to the summary – Per history records, on Feb. 15, 2011 the Valdosta Daily Times printed an article about a special meeting of concerned citizens and Hahira city officials which discussed several agenda items relating to the city’s trash services. During the meeting citizens were not allowed to speak. Mayer Wayne Bullard recused himself after stating he was employed by All Green Services which could be a
County resident Ernest McDonald laid out a list of issues he said the
county hasn’t addressed correctly.
He said it wasn’t anything personal.
He wasn’t mad.
He just thought there were some issues that needed to be addressed.
For example, regarding moving a power line from one side of the road to another as agreed:
We met every person involved. The state, the high pressure gasline…. The telephone buried cable people, they came.It’s been so long the stakes rotted down, and nothing ever got done. As Ernest McDonald said:The county engineer came…. And we all agreed…. Put stakes in the ground…. The stakes had rotted down.
That’s not right.The County Engineer was missing from the meeting. It’s a bit hard to see in the picture, but there are only two heads in front of the glaring window, and the Engineer would be the third head in the middle.
In another issue, Ernest McDonald paid $650 to find a sewer line, marked it, and the county tore up Continue reading
Who approved the $40 million purchase of Smith Northview Hospital by
South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC)?
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Hospital Authority.
Who is that?
Let’s look on their web pages.
We would, if they had any.
Let’s try the
Valdosta city web pages:
the link to Hospital Authority gets 404 not found.
How about the
Lowndes County web pages? Don’t be silly! The Lowndes County government
doesn’t provide links to any of the 20+ boards and authorities to which
it appoints members.
So where can we find a list of who’s on this board? Why, SGMC: Continue reading
But there are still those who don’t understand the purpose of a newspaper, and it’s clearly not to be a marketing tool for the community. In addition to reporting the news of the day, a newspaper’s job as a member of the “fourth estate,” so deemed by Thomas Jefferson, is to hold public officials accountable for their actions.Now let’s see them apply the same standard to CUEE, or can the VDT not see through the bogus claims of an organization it supports?
To The Times and its editorial board, it’s far worse for the community’s image to have public officials knowingly lie, illegally withhold public documents and try to bully those who are only after the truth.
“When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are.” When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are. You can’t be accused of lying if you don’t lie. You won’t receive an open-records request if you answer questions honestly and in accordance with the law.
Companies looking to settle in a community are understanding when it comes to crime, as it happens everywhere. But far more interesting to them is the honesty and integrity of the community’s officials.
If an entity will lie and withhold information from the local news media and the citizens, why would industry expect any different?
There was an old game show called Truth or Consequences. Too often, some entities ignore the truth and are surprised by the consequences. Sadly, the public too often feels the consequences when it could use a little truth.
-jsq