{"id":1420,"date":"2011-10-09T21:19:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T01:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/valdosta-city-council-voted-to-oppose-school-consolidation.html"},"modified":"2011-10-09T21:19:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T01:19:42","slug":"valdosta-city-council-voted-to-oppose-school-consolidation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/valdosta-city-council-voted-to-oppose-school-consolidation.html","title":{"rendered":"Valdosta City Council voted to oppose school consolidation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\nMayor Sonny Vickers said he thought it was important for children\nand grandchildren and proper for the City Council to take a stand\nagainst school consolidation, and City Manager Larry Hanson read\nthe statement (transcript appended).\n

\n
\nFor:\n
\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nJames Wright\n
\nDistrict 1\n

\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nHoke Hampton\n
\nDistrict 3\n

\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nAlvin Payton\n
\nDistrict 4\n

\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nBen Norton\n
\nAt Large\n
\n
\nDidn’t Have
to Vote:\n
\n\n\"Valdosta<\/a>\n
\nSonny Vickers\n
\nMayor\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n
\nAgainst:\n
\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nRobert Yost\n
\nDistrict 6\n

\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nTim Carroll\n
\nDistrict 5\n

\nMissing:\n
\n\n\"City<\/a>\n
\nDeidra White\n
\nDistrict 2\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\nAfter very brief discussion, the vote was 4 for\n(James Wright of District 1, Hoke Hampton of District 3,\nAlvin Payton of District 4, and Ben Norton At Large)\nand 2 against\n(Robert Yost of District 6 and Tim Carroll of District 5).\n

\nThat means Ben Norton changed his vote since since\n\ntheir last non-binding vote related to school consolidation.<\/a>\n(Nonbinding because \nthey didn’t have any authority to decide whether the referendum\nwent on the ballot or not.<\/a>)\nCouncil Deidra White of District 2 was absent throughout the meeting,\nwhich I find rather odd since she seemed quite aware when I spoke to her\nthe previous day that this vote was going to occur.\nBack in August\n\nshe voted against putting the referendum on the ballot.<\/a>\nYes, I know the motion was not exactly the same, so the votes\nare not exactly comparable.\nIn any case, this time there was no tie and thus no need for the (new)\nmayor to break a tie.\n

\nHere’s\n\nthe video:<\/a>\n

\n