A tiny town of about 3,000 people grilled pipeline reps for two hours.
Why didn’t the pipeline companies fix the leaky pipelines they had
before building new ones, their Board of Selectment wanted to know
among many other good questions.
Representatives from Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGP)
said stuff happens and those were bigger issues and basically
don’t worry your pretty little heads.
The locals weren’t buying it. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Transparency
Opaque Planning Commission agenda from Lowndes County @ GLPC 2014-04-28
Just in case it might work, I sent an Open Records Request to the
Lowndes County Clerk before Monday’s Planning Commission meeting.
The result just arrived, two days later, 47 hours after the meeting started.
It is in electronic form, as I requested, but it’s a
PDF of a scanned
image, so turning it into HTML would require OCRing it or transcribing it,
unlike
the real PDF I got by another means before the meeting
and posted Monday.
If the agendas and minutes for the Planning Commission were posted
on the web like the Lowndes County Commissions own agendas
and minutes already are, this problem wouldn’t arise,
and there would also be less work for county staff.
-jsq
Gretchen Quarterman on Chris Beckham radio show 2014-04-29
“People would have a lot more confidence in the government
if they understood it and they could see it happen,”
said Gretchen Quarterman this morning on drive-time radio.
She used last night’s
Brookhaven apartment building rezoning public hearing in
Lake Park to illustrate: local landowners have property rights and
there was a lack of communication between the developers
of a proposed apartment building, the Lake Park city government,
and the neighbors.
She also talked about jobs, including in local agriculture.
For example, she ran the
2014 South Georgia Growing Local Conference.
Money spent on local agriculture supports the local economy,
not companies far away.
She talked about stewardship of resources,
including preserving local property and environment from
the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline.
She advocated Continue reading
One Hahira rezoning and annexation and Two Valdosta Conditional Use Permits @ GLPC 2014-04-28
It seems unlikely the Hahira
rezoning
and
annexation
will go anywhere tonight, due to the
Lowndes County Commission letter of objection of 22 April 2014,
even though that may be based on a misunderstanding.
Hm, somebody wants
to establish a recycling center.
And Langdale Ford wants
to establish a minor automotive repair facility.
Here’s the agenda, which arrived as a PDF actually convertable to text!
Greater Lowndes Planning CommissionContinue readingLowndes County City of Valdosta City of Dasher City of Hahira City of Lake Park
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
AGENDA
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah AvenueMonday, April 28, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing
Board appointments by Lowndes County
Here’s Lowndes County’s
list of Boards, Agencies & Commissions.
Unfortunately,
unlike
Valdosta’s list,
most of the names in the county’s list have no links to further information,
and there’s no indication of which positions might be open
or how to apply for them.
Update: 4:30 PM 24 April 2014: And there’s the Board of Elections which is decided by a completely different process with a quicker deadline of 28 April 2014.
We do know there’s a vacancy on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), which presumably will be filled after the upcoming Special Election May 20th, but the county has given no indication of when. The only way the county usually announces open positions is when they appear on the County Commission’s agenda, which usually shows up online Friday for voting on Tuesday. For example, the county has appointed: Continue reading
You can apply to serve on a board or commission
You can apply to be appointed by Valdosta to a local board or authority that
decides or recommends on issues that affect everyone:
do interesting work and serve your community.
Dealine: April 30th.
You don’t even have to live in Valdosta: anybody in Lowndes County can apply.
If you want to run for a city council or county commission
seat someday, this is a good way to start.
And if you want to run for the state legislature or higher office,
that’s the most common path to get there.
Update: 4:30 PM 24 April 2014: And there’s the Board of Elections which is decided by a completely different process with a quicker deadline of 28 April 2014.
Winnie Wright wrote for WCTV 23 April 2014, City Of Valdosta Looking To Fill 15 Vacancies In Boards, Authorities, and Commissions, Continue reading
Videos: No you cannot speak @ LCC 2014-04-22
Two citizens from Hahira couldn’t speak in Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard, but the Chairman
would go into the private board room out of camera range afterwards
to speak to them.
The Chairman did
describe a statement about the Sabal Trail pipeline.
Veterinarian Amanda Hall didn’t appear but was appointed to the Dangerous Dog Board. They objected to the Hahira annexation request. They approved a bid for an mobile emergency bypass pump on a trailer, a computer lease purchase agreement, and two Juvenile Justice grant application items, for Continuation and for Enhancement (more about that). And all four remaining voting Commissioners showed up.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Videos: Dangerous Dog Board, Juvenile Justice, a pump, Hahira Annexation, and weather @ LCC 2014-04-21
Local veterinarian Amanda Hall for the
Dangerous Dog Board,
a very long weather report,
another
Hahira annexation request,
a
bid for an emergency bypass pump (water well? wastewater force main? other?),
two
Juvenile Justice grant application items, for
Continuation
and for
Enhancement (more about that).
Oh, and all four remaining voting Commissioners showed up,
unlike either the Work Session or Regular Session two weeks ago.
Here’s the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Dangerous Dog Board, Juvenile Justice, a pump, and Hahira Annexation @ LCC 2014-04-21
Another
Hahira annexation request (on the agenda this time),
a
bid for an emergency bypass pump (water well? wastewater force main? other?),
two
Juvenile Justice grant application items, for
Continuation
and for
Enhancement (more about that), and
I didn’t know we had a
Dangerous Dog Board.
All I can find is
some related Georgia laws.
Here’s the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Change order, KLVB, and Pipeline @ LCC 2014-04-08
$78,892.56 for an unbid change order for Val Del Road.
The Board of Tax Assessors’
appeal to a Board of Equalizations
decision to grand PCA an unusual depreciation was approved
by the Lowndes County Commission
by a rare split decision, 2 to 1.
Greg Powell of Langdale Industries
appointed to KLVB.
And
Citizen Noll recommended the Commission pass a resolution
or ordinance about the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline.
Three voting Commissioners (Raines was absent and Page vacated his seat) unanimously approved three rezonings with nobody speaking for or against. They granted permission to the Sheriff’s office and to Emergency Management to apply for equipment grants. There was a weather report, and a report on an animal adoption event the previous weekend.
Here’s the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes. See also the videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor