Tag Archives: Valdosta

Waste disposal decided at stealth Lowndes County Commission meeting? @ LCC 2012-06-04

On today's Work Session agenda, the cancelled 21 May Work Session and 22 May Regular Session are mentioned, but not an unscheduled 4 June 2012 Lowndes County Commission meeting. There is no agenda for it online. It's not in their online calendar, either.

We know about this meeting because of a story by David Rodock in the VDT 5 June 2012, Commission reviews budget proposal,

Commissioners met briefly Monday morning to review the 2013 county budget proposal, which addresses waste management and cost of living increases for county employees.

The whole story is well worth reading, especially since it seems to be the only public record of that public "open" meeting. It includes this paragraph:

“Commissioners also plan to outsource waste management services to a private contractor in the next year. Currently, county residents purchase a card for $100 that allows for annual usage at collection centers. This year, citizens will be able to purchase a six-month card for $50. No firm commitment has been made concerning when the waste management Request for Proposals will be issued, but it's expected before the year's end.”

When did the Commissioners decide this? There's been no such vote recorded in any minutes I've seen. Did they vote at this unannounced and unminuted meeting? If not then, when did they?

-jsq

 

Agenda for work session @ LCC 2012-06-11

Better late than never, I suppose; yesterday there was no agenda posted; this morning it’s there: the agenda for this morning’s work session. It does not appear to have anything about waste management. It does have appointments to there boards, a rezoning, and a bunch of for considerations.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session — May 7, 2012 (May 21, 2012, Work Session cancelled)
    2. Regular Session — May 8, 2012 (May 22, 2012, Regular Session cancelled)
  5. Appointments
    1. Lowndes County Department of Family and Children Services Board
    2. Public Facilities Authority
    3. South Georgia Community Service Board
  6. Public Hearings – REZ-2012-09 Copeland, 3258 & 3264 Loch Laurel Rd, R-A & R-1 to C-C, well & septic, ~5 acres
  7. For Consideration
    1. Speed Zone Ordinance
    2. Abandonment of a portion of Brinson Drive
    3. Motorola Support Agreement for Offendertrak and PMDC
    4. Nondisclosure Agreement with JMF Solutions, Inc.
    5. Contract with Municipal Code Corporation
    6. Lowndes County Fire Rescue Firehouse Subs Grant
    7. Funding approval for a new Message Switch (Server) for Lowndes County Telecommunications
  8. Bid — SCBA Cylinders
  9. Reports-County Manager
  10. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

-jsq

Solar Lowndes High?

What does the world see driving north up I-75 past Valdosta? The empty roofs of Lowndes High School. Every south-facing one of which could hold solar panels.


View Larger Map

That would do more to put Lowndes County and Valdosta on the map as supporting solar and thus knowledge-based jobs than any amount of exit beautification.

Run out of roof space? What about those parking lots:


View Larger Map

And it wouldn’t take a Ted Turner to do it. In all but a few states the Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE) could let a private company finance and install all those solar panels and then lease the electricity for a fixed rate for 20 years, greatly reducing the school’s electricity bill and promoting our local community, all without any expense to we the taxpayers.

But you can’t do that in Georgia! Because Georgia Power doesn’t want us to. Unless we get some laws changed. Follow the link for how.

-jsq

PS: I haven’t forgotten Valdosta High School. All the economic advantages would apply just as well for the Valdosta Board of Education and Valdosta taxpayers. Even Valwood could do this and profit. If we get Georgia law changed to permit it.

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-05-08

An appointment, a road abandonment, three rezonings, and a bunch of for considerations: they did take longer than five minutes. Here are videos of the entire Tuesday 8 May 2012 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. Here’s the agenda. Here are videos of the previous morning’s work session.

They unanimously reappointed four people to the Lowndes County Development Authority. They held a public hearing about abandoning part of an unopened right of way off US 41 South. Nobody spoke either for or against, and they approved the abandonment unanimously.

They heard several items we saw discussed at much more length in the GLPC 30 April videos.

They zipped through everything else on the agenda, approving everything unanimously, including a no-bid item for $60,354.32 to Scruggs Company. There was some discussion about the need for a contract with an audit firm they hadn’t used for three years. They tabled that one, unanimously, of course.

One citizen spoke, me, about Internet speed and access in Lowndes County as necessary for knowledge-based jobs and businesses.

Here’s a video playlist:

Video Playlist
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 May 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

SPLOST with Lowndes County and the cities @ SPLOST 2012-06-11

The second of two meetings on the Lowndes County Commission According to the calendar for Monday morning, 11 June 2011, is about SPLOST, and also involves all the cities in the county.

SPLOST Meeting/ (6/11/2012)

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners along with the City of Valdosta, City of Hahira, City of Dasher, City of Lake Park and City of Remerton will be holding a SPLOST meeting on Monday, June 11, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room on the 2nd floor of the Administration Building.

SPLOST is not to be confused with LOST (created by the legislature), nor with ESPLOST for educational purposes, and certainly not with T-SPLOST for transportation.

Unlike the work session, which has no description of what it's about, there is at least a link on the county Quick Links for SPLOST, which says:

Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)

As of July 1, 1985, Georgia law enabled local jurisdictions to use SPLOST proceeds for capital improvement projects that would otherwise be paid for with General Fund or property tax revenues. SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. This is a one-cent sales tax, which the State of Georgia allows counties to collect to fund specific improvement projects. SPLOST must be approved by voters in a general referendum in order to be enacted and last for a maximum of 60 months (five years) or until the total amount of revenue specified in the referendum is reached. The SPLOST projects and the amount of money raised by SPLOST were identified prior to voting on the SPLOST referendum. The proceeds of the tax must be spent for capital (non-operating) items by the county government and participating municipalities within the county.

That page also includes a list of SPLOST projects completed by January 2010.

-jsq

No agenda for work session: Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2012-06-11

According to the calendar for the Lowndes County Commission, there are two meetings scheduled Monday morning, 11 June 2011. There's no agenda posted for either of them.

Lowndes County Work Session (6/11/2012)

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
327 N. Ashley St – Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor Administration Building
Valdosta, GA
8:30 a.m.

This is the first time in a long time there's been no agenda up less than a day before a County Commission Work Session. Rumor has it that they're going to talk about one of the most contentious and ill-planned issues around: solid waste disposal. Is rumor how we the citizens and taxpayers should hear about that?

The other meeting on the calendar for tomorrow is about SPLOST; see other post.

-jsq

Real discussion! Video Playlist @ GLPC 2012-04-30

Here are videos of the entire 30 April 2012 Regular Session of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, which actually discusses cases when there are points to be clarified or positions to be debated. Here’s the agenda.

GLPC had four cases to be decided 10 May 2012 by the Valdosta City Council:

And three cases to be decided 6 May 2012 by the Lowndes County Commission:

Continue reading →

I’m really trying to develop the property as full as it could be. —Jason Davenport @ GLPC 2012-04-30

In a rezoning case we heard the de facto motto of the Lowndes County Commission:

“I’m really trying to develop the property as full as it could be.”

This was in discussion about REZ-2012-07 McNeil Property, 6888 & 6870 McNeil Road, Hahira, on the agenda for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission meeting of 30 April 2012. According to the tax assessors’ database, they spelled it wrong: it’s McNeal Road. This rezoning was for lot width, such as would have to happen for the Gloria Dave property to be subdivided. Nathan Smith spoke for, representing multiple people. There was concern among the GLPC board that the rezoning would permit more houses than were currently being requested.

This was the only case in that meeting with speakers against. Elizabeth Daniels, lives nearby (I think she said across the road), pointed out that four lots on one section would permit 4 lots on another section, and that would be a problem on that narrow road.

Donya Rigal, 6840 McNeal Road, the property next door, pointed out dust from traffic and other problems. McNeal Road is a county road, 35 feet wide.

County Planner Jason Davenport said:

“They did actually reserve 12 and a half feet of each of these properties in anticipation of improvement, but I don’t know that that’s on any list for improvement any time soon”

On questioning about whether further subdivision would be possible with the requested rezoning, he pointed out that Continue reading →

The solar train is leaving the station, but the nuclear buggywhip is in the way

The president of the Georgia Solar Energy Association Solar Energy Industries Association says the solar train is leaving the station nationwide, but Georgia remains enmeshed in tangled legislation. We could have changed that last year with SB 401 if Georgia Power and Southern Company’s vested interested in new nuclear plants at Plant Vogtle hadn’t gotten in the way. We can change it next year with a similar or better law. The time to contact your Georgia legislator or candidate is now, while election season is on.

Update 14 June 2012: Fixed Rhone Resch employment attribution.

Rhone Resch wrote for the Saporta Report, 3 June 2012, It’s time to put solar to work in Georgia

There are now more than 100,000 Americans employed at over 5,600 solar businesses in all 50 states. Many of these are small businesses that have been hit hard by the recession, but they are finding new opportunity for growth in the solar industry.

In Georgia, there are more than 80 companies in the solar value chain including Suniva, MAGE Solar, Inc. and Enfinity Corporation. I will be joining representatives of each of these fine companies — and many others — at the Southern Solar Summit on June 15 in the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center in Midtown Atlanta to talk about the strides solar is making, and what remains to be done.

These companies are leading rapid innovation — across the entire value chain, from manufacturing improvements to new financing and sales mechanisms, that are allowing more and more Americans to go solar.

He points out that more solar was installed in 2011 than the total installed in 2008 and 2009, which shows that Moore’s Law continues to work for solar: the price per watt continues to go down, causing demand to go up. He projects forward:

The U.S. is on pace to install nearly 3,200 megawatts of new solar capacity this year with an annual growth rate of 30 percent through 2016.

At that rate, the United States would add more than 25,000 megawatts of new solar capacity between now and 2016. That is roughly the size of 25 coal-fired power plants and represents a significant opportunity for states that aggressively move to obtain a share of this exponentially growing market.

Hm, at Plant Vogtle the operating nuclear reactors produce about 2,430 megawatts and the two new ones under construction are supposed to produce about 2,200 megawatts. So that 25 gigawatts of new solar capacity by 2016 would be about 20 nuclear plants, a number that may be familiar from what Germany has already deployed. Somebody remind me again: why are we building any new nukes? How about if we end the nuke boondoggle and get on with clean green jobs for community and profit?

Rhone Resch says what Georgia can do:

Continue reading →

JLUS Transparency and Videos @ SGRC 2012-06-08

The South Georgia Regional Commission held a public hearing on Wednesday June 6th to give an overview of the current Implementation Phase draft of the Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) for Moody Air Force Base and surrounding communities.

Todd Miller, the project coordinator, gave a power point presentation. When asked if the presentation could be made available on the SGRC web site, he said yes (and then called to make sure I could find it).

The complete draft implementation phase documents are available at http://www.sgrc.us/JLUS/implementation.htm and the comment period is open until the end of June. Comments should be sent to Todd Miller at tmiller (at) sgrc.us.

Here's a video playlist:

JLUS Transparency and Videos
Public Hearing, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC), Todd Miller,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, Fri, 8 Jun 2012 10:21:39 -0400.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-gretchen