Tag Archives: Valdosta City Council

Sewage into the Withlacoochee again –WCTV

Although the
Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
didn’t overflow in the rains earlier this week, and apparently
not yesterday, either,
there were
manhole sewage overflows then
and according to the
Florida Department of Health
there were similar overflows yesterday, from Valdosta into
the Withlacoochee River.

WCTV posted yesterday a

News Release: Florida Department of Health,



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.

-jsq

Valdosta sewage PR reaches Florida



Valdosta sure has an effective PR mechanism,
famous all the way to Florida again,

for the second time this month.
Most cities wouldn’t think

to dump stuff into the river to get in the news!
But Valdosta buried the solution at the end of

a traditional press release:

“The city has planned, designed and bid a force main project and
will award a $32 million contract in May that will prevent the
majority of these overflows from occurring in the future.”



That would be one of the projects Valdosta will use the
$36.7 million GEFA loan to fund.
Other projects are related to the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which wasn’t the culprit this time.
This sewer spill came from manholes overflowing.

Winnie Wright wrote for WCTV yesterday,

Over 1 Million Gallons Of Wastewater Spills Into Local Waterways,

The Florida Department of Public Health is warning residents to
avoid contact with water from the Withlacoochee River.

Continue reading →

Manhole overflows –City of Valdosta



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.

Winnie Wright wrote for WCTV 18 March 2014,

National Flood Preparedness Week Comes to Valdosta, Along With The Rain,

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.

Continue reading →

Government 101 deadline extended by City of Valdosta

Remember, you don’t have to live in Valdosta to apply!
Plus now high school seniors can apply (with conditions; see below).

City of Valdosta PR today,

Deadline for Government 101 Extended,



The deadline to apply for the 5th annual Government 101 Citizens
Orientation Program has been extended to March 21.

Citizens who are considering a career or public service role in
local government, or who just want an inside look at the services
provided by the city departments, are encouraged to enroll. The
program will meet on six consecutive Mondays, from 5:30 to 8:30
p.m., beginning April 7, 2014, in various facilities of the city.



A maximum of 25 people will be selected for the class from citizens
who submit a completed application by the March 21 deadline and pass
the required background checks. This year the program has been
modified to include up to five high school seniors who have a parent
or legal guardian also enrolled in the program.

Citizens may pick up an application at Valdosta City Hall, at the
city’s Customer Service Center, or may download the application form
at Continue reading →

Valdosta City Council member Tim Carroll files with FERC



Tim Carroll, District 5, has filed a request based on property
rights and water issues for the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) to deny the Sabal Trail Transmission methane
pipeline that Spectra Energy wants to run through Lowndes County.
Here’s the letter:
Property rights and water: please deny the Sabal Trail methane
pipeline –Tim Carroll, Valdosta City Council,
5th District

Valdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, and at
least one landowner with land in the path of that proposed pipeline
lives in the City of Valdosta in Council Carroll’s district.

-jsq

Florida tired of Valdosta’s WWTP spills

Once again,

Valdosta famous into Florida again for wastewater spill,
and Florida residents are tired of it.

WCTV 1 March 2014,

Georgia Spill Leads To Warning In Florida



[Matt] Meersman and his friends enjoy visiting the Suwannee River to train
for canoe races. According to the City of Valdosta, heavy rains have
caused about 7.5 million gallons of highly treated waste water to
wash into the Withlacoochee River, which connects to the Suwannee.
Signs are posted around the Suwannee River State Park to let people
know about the possible dangers of swimming in the water.

“When it’s impacted by stuff like this, it makes it hard on us to
think about it as the pristine place that we like to think of it
as,” said Meersman.

Meersman says there are other rivers around the area they can
practice on in the meantime, but he says he’s tired of the spills.

“It’s bad enough Continue reading →

Broadband, outsourcing, trash, and fire @ LCC 2014-02-28


The second day of the Commission retreat is finished.
Reporting from location, Gretchen noted:

1PM: BroadBand

Chairman Bill Slaughter has a five year goal of making broadband
available. Some possibility of creating a fibre ring.
He says he’s working with the City of Valdosta.

Well, a year ago in February he said broadband was

“one of the number one issues”,
but in October he said
“we have broadband”,
so it’s anyone’s guess what his opinion will be in a few months.

1:06PM: Outsourcing

Commissioner Crawford Powell wants to outsource more county services.

That’s working so well, after all; see the next note.

1:19PM: Trash evaluation

Continue reading →

Six small rezonings and a planned development @ GLPC 2014-02-24



Mostly single-family rezonings this time, plus one 15 acre
planned development request.

Here’s the agenda, supplied by an informant.
This one came as a real PDF, permitted extracting the text,
so that’s an improvement over

last month.
Too bad about that
“the expense” for the county to put it on the web in the first place.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission

Lowndes 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 Avenue

Monday, February 24, 2014* 5:30 P.M. * Public Hearing

Continue reading →

Local government pipeline responsibilities

Make pipeline companies answer questions, motivate implementation of safety standards, announce FERC Scoping meetings, and enforce reasonable local zoning restrictions:
these are things local governments can do, and NTSB and FERC say they should do
most of them.
Gilchrist County Commission in Trenton, Florida has done most of them,
and plans to continue doing more.
The Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council still can, too,
plus all the other county and city governments along the proposed pipeline path,
and their statewide county and city government associations.
Will our local elected officials represent we the people?

Make pipeline companies answer questions



There were

Real questions at the Gilchrist County Commission meeting in Trenton, Florida Monday.
Two hours of first questions from a citizens committee with
Spectra’s reps expected to answer right there in front of everybody,
then questions from locals and people from many counties around,
including attorneys representing landowners and other county
commissions cross-examining Spectra on the spot. The Chairman of the
Gilchrist County Commission said there was a general opinion among
the populace that they were asking specific questions and getting
only general answers. Congratulations, Chairman, Commission, staff,
Committee, and everyone who asked questions for showing the world
how it’s done, and for exposing Spectra’s evasions to public
scrutiny.



This is in sharp contrast to Continue reading →

CJB * 3 + Georgia Trend * 2 @ VLCIA 2014-02-18




CJB Industries is on the agenda twice, and in

an article on VLCIA’s website
and

in an article in Georgia Trend that is the subject of one
of those agenda items.

Here’s

the agenda:

Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 5:30 p.m.

Industrial Authority Conference Room

2110 N. Patterson Street

Agenda

Continue reading →