Tag Archives: Work Session

Rezoning density outside of Hahira @ LCC 2012 05 07

Two rezonings had no comments. The third, just north of Hahira, got opposition at the Planning Commission, which recommended a qualification, which County Planner Jason Davenport interpreted as trying to limit the density of development of the property.

At the Lowndes County Commission at its 7 May 2012 Work Session during the discussion on

7.c. REZ-2012-07 McNeal Property, McNeal Road E-A to R-A, Well & Septic, 25 acres

Crawford Powell, Commissioner for District 3, which is the south end of the county, asked a question, while Richard Raines, Commissioner for District 2, which is the north end of the county including Hahira, sat silent, although he did nod his head.

A neighbor sent a letter with details of opposition. I wonder what’s in it? If you want to know, you can submit an open records request to the county. Of course, with the three day time limit for the county to respond, the Commission will have already voted on it this evening before you find out what’s in the letter.

Here’s the video:

Rezoning density outside of Hahira
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 May 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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Development Authority of Lowndes County @ LCC 2012 05 07

What’s this Development Authority of Lowndes County (LCDA) and who’s on it? If a voting board member of a board being appointed is on that second board, should he recuse himself? What if he’s one of the people being considered for appointment?

The Lowndes County Commission at its 7 May 2012 Work Session considered 5. Appointments – Lowndes County Development Authority. That’s a completely different board from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). You may wonder, what does it do? I wonder that, too.

According to County Manager Joe Pritchard, the County Commission is considering reappointing several people to LCDA.

They are Jerome Tucker, [mumble, mumble, and mumble].

The Commission didn’t give us anything in writing to go by. However, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs tells us:

Continue reading →

Busy schedule @ LCC 2012 05 07

An appointment, a road abandonment, three rezonings, and a bunch of for considerations. How long do you think the Lowndes County Commission and staff will discuss these things in their Work Session tomorrow morning? Five minutes? Ten? Maybe even fifteen minutes?

Here’s the agenda.

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LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 7, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 8, 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 — April 23, 2012
    2. Regular Session — April 24, 2012
  5. Appointments – Lowndes County Development Authority
  6. Resolution – Abandonment of unopened Right of Way off US 41 South
  7. Public Hearings
    1. REZ-2012-05 Gloria Dave, Bethany Drive R-A to R-1, Well & Septic, ~3.8 acres
    2. REZ-2012-06 Hart Property, Whitewater & Clyattville Lake Park R-A to R-1, County Water & Septic, ~3 acres
    3. REZ-2012-07 McNeal Property, McNeal Road E-A to R-A, Well & Septic, 25 acres
  8. For Consideration
    1. Letter and Resolution of Support for Brookhaven III Apartments
    2. Acceptance of Proposal for Patching of Ousley Road
    3. Section 5311 Rural Transportation Program Supplemental Agreement #1
    4. Proposal from Doubletree Communities, LLC.
    5. Piney Wood Mobile Home Park Trust Indenture
    6. Beer License-Right Shop 2-6872 Lake Park-Bellville Rd.
    7. Traylor Business Service Inc. Contract
  9. Reports-County Manager
  10. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

Videos, Regular Session @ LCC 2012-04-24

Here are videos of the entire 11:11 minute 24 April 2012 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. They time at 0:57 (before call to order; doesn’t count), 0:42 (mostly dead air), 0:33 (invocation and pledge: not business), 0:29, 0:37, 0:40, 0:10, 0:46, 1:09, 0:46, 0:53, 1:22, 2:08, 1:30, and 0:08: eleven minutes and eleven seconds total. And that’s including the invocation and pledge and the two citizens who spoke (3:38 for those last two). It would seem a good guess that the Commissioners and staff discussed more in the previous morning’s work session, but not really; you can see for yourself.

In the Regular Session (here’s the agenda) they appointed [“mumble”, said County Manager Joe Pritchard] to the Courthouse Preservation Committee. They approved a beer, wine, and liquor license for Southern Landing Restaurant. The liquor license for Rio Grande Bar & Grill was withdrawn. The adopted the infrastructure for Jimmy Rodgers Way. They decided to hold a public hearing next meeting for unopened ROW off US 41 South. They decided to switch banking from Regions Bank to SunTrust. They accepted bids for water and coffee service for county buildings; (apparently the county’s own water that its citizens drink isn’t good enough for Commissioners and staff).

A Commissioner asked a question! Before they accepted a bid for mowing Bemiss Road, Joyce Evans wanted an explanation of the timeframe of the cutting of the grass. Public Works Director Robin English wanted to know work time or response time? County Manager Joe Pritchard and somebody else simultaneously said “response time”. Hm, how did they know that? In what open meeting was that question previously raised? Also, Pritchard demonstrated he could speak into the microphone and be heard when he wanted to. English clarified the response times quoted by the bidders, and Evans moved to go with the low bidder, which the Commissioners approved, unanimously as usual.

Two citizens spoke:

See those two separate posts for details.

Here’s a video playlist for the entire Regular Session:

Videos, Regular Session
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 April 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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Videos, Work Session @ LCC 2012 04 23

Here are videos of the entire ten and a half minute 23 April 2012 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission. As you can see, these videos time at 1:01, 0:33, 0:44, 1:07, 1:45, 1:40, 0:33, 2:59, and 0:10, and that’s with a camera that stops and starts almost instantaneously. Those times add up to 10 minutes and 32 seconds. Is that adequate discussion for the county’s business?

A former member of the Courthouse Preservation Commission, has moved, and the Chairman said Mike somebody was a good one to appoint as a replacement. No Commissioners asked any questions. They didn’t ask many questions on anything else, either. On 8a. Abandonment of unopened ROW on Walker Avenue (off of US 41 S) in Twin Lakes area, Commissioner Crawford Powell had a question, but it was only where the engineer was in the map.

Finance Director Stephanie Black said the county sent out an RFP for banking services to local banks. Three responded, and one was incomplete. The two complete bids were Regions Bank and SunTrust. Regions will waive charges with $6M balance; SunTrust will waive charges $2.8M balance.

On the FDIC charge, Regions will charge .135 per thousand dollars; SunTrust is waiving that.

She said that was currently about $3500 or $4500 per month. Commissioner Powell asked who they were currently using. Answer: Regions. There’s more in the video, and there was a written report the Commissioners were looking at.

Apparently the county’s own water isn’t good enough for Commissioners and staff, Continue reading →

More alcohol licenses, another road abandonment, and an RFP for Banking Services @ LCC 2012 04 23

Also an appointment to a Courthouse Preservation Committee and a subdivision infrastructure acceptance.

Here’s the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Four minute work session @ LCC 2012 04 09

As I walked in the door, a couple minutes late due to construction on the hospital parking lot, Commissioner Crawford Powell said,

John, you’re late!

They were milling about and looked like they were about to start. But no, they had started early and Chairman Paulk told me the meeting had lasted four minutes because there hadn’t been much to say. So there are no videos of this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

I remarked that it had seemed like a fairly complicated agenda, but he didn’t think so.

I asked him about this mysterious item:

7.b. Request from LCSO — GOHS Grant #2013-TEN-0077-00 & #2013-GA-0040-00

He said it is about some equipment to automate Sheriff’s deputies checking license plates against databases. I told him I had assumed they had already been doing that. He said they could do it by hand, but they’d get really tired trying to do as many as this device could do.

Presumably it’s similar to the Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) described by Doug Nurse in the AJC 20 March 2009, New police license plate scanner eyes criminals.

Alpharetta Police Officer John Allen said that a few weeks after the system became went online last August, he was driving home after a shift when the system alerted him that he had passed a stolen car. He wheeled around, and after a chase, arrested the thief.

“I never even saw the tag myself,” Allen said. “I would have just kept going. It catches things I would be unable to see.”

While I don’t know that I’m in favor of ALPR, it’s common enough elsewhere that I was actually surprised the famously drug-interdicting LCSO wasn’t already using it.

To the Chairman’s credit, as soon as I asked about the LOST meeting with the mayors, he said it was at 9:30 in the room next door, and the public was invited. I took videos of that LOST meeting, and they will appear soon.

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Alcohol, development, and a tank? @ LCC 2012-04-09,10

A somewhat complicated agenda at Lowndes County Commission Monday morning (Work Session) and Tuesday evening (voting Regular Session): adoption of infrastructure for Laurelbrooke Subdivision Phase II, four public hearings (a rezoning, a road abandonment, a beer and wine license, and a liquor license). And these cryptic items:
7.a. Seminole Circle Property
7.b. Request from LCSO — GOHS Grant #2013-TEN-0077-00 & #2013-GA-0040-00
Your guess is as good as mine about the Seminole Circle Property. If the Commission wanted we the public to know, they would have told us.

Update 2012 05 06: fixed the date in the title.

However, I believe that 7.b. alphabet soup translates as Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) — Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). The TEN in the grant numbers makes me wonder if those grants are related to GOHS’s Georgia Traffic Enforcement Networks:

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies has organized regional Traffic Enforcement Networks around the State of Georgia. There are currently sixteen regional traffic enforcement networks servicing all 159 counties in Georgia. The regional networks are open to all sworn law enforcement officers and prosecutors and are designed to enhance traffic enforcement activities through networking, training and legislation. The networks serve as a catalyst for traffic enforcement officers to voice their concerns and share ideas with their counterparts from other agencies in their region. Guest speakers and panelists have included state and municipal court judges, prosecutors, legislators, MADD representatives, Public Service Commission, and ALS judges.
LCSO participates in this TEN:
Southern Regional Traffic Enforcement Network (SRTEN) Counties included: Atkinson, Lowndes, Berrien, Brooks, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Ben Hill and Tift.
Or maybe they’re just buying another tank. Or will the Commission require that “surrounding counties could be persuaded to contribute” financially like they did when refusing an emergency vehicle grant?

I’m guessing the Commissioners won’t like me guessing what they’re up to. But, you know, if they told us, for example by putting board packet details online with the agendas, we wouldn’t have to guess.

Here’s the agenda.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Videos @ LCC 2012 03 26

These are videos of the Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012. They vote at their regular session tonight, 5:30 PM.

See also these special presentations:

Here’s the agenda.

Here’s a playlist of everything except the above two special presentations.


Videos
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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Parks and Rec @ LCC 2012 03 26

George Page, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreational Authority (VLPRA), gave a presentation to the Lowndes County Commission Work Session, 26 March 2012.

Here’s a playlist:


Parks and Rec
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq