{"id":18748,"date":"2017-07-11T10:59:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T14:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=18748"},"modified":"2017-07-11T10:59:14","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T14:59:14","slug":"videos-appointments-to-hospital-authority-and-parks-and-rec-well-pump-lcc-2017-07-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/videos-appointments-to-hospital-authority-and-parks-and-rec-well-pump-lcc-2017-07-10.html","title":{"rendered":"Videos: Appointments to Hospital Authority and Parks and Rec + well pump @ LCC 2017-07-10"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nNope, there are no LAKE videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session,\r\nbecause, remember,\r\n\r\nthey moved the meeting half an hour earlier so when Gretchen showed up it was already over<\/a>.\r\nThe county does not video its Work Sessions, so there is no county video, either.\r\nSince the Valdosta Daily Times apparently did not run a story (I don’t even know if they had a reporter there),\r\nthis means you won’t know what the Commissioners discussed nor who else was there Monday morning before they vote this evening at 5:30 PM.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Valdosta<\/a>\r\n
\r\nCity of Valdosta PR 2017-07-10:\r\n\r\nValdosta City Manager Larry Hanson welcomes new 23d Wing Commander Col. Jennifer Short at the July 10 Change of Command ceremony.<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Scottie Orenstein asked, on facebook, in response to\r\n\r\nyesterday’s LAKE blog post about the moved meeting<\/a>:\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

\r\nPlease don’t make assumptions that we deliberately tried to\r\ninconvenience anyone. The change of command at Moody was this\r\nmorning and the chairman wanted to make sure those attending had\r\ntime to get on base before the 9:23 start time.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nPlease don’t complain that I’m quoting you. You responded as a Commissioner about a Commission meeting, which Georgia Open Records Law says is quotable.\r\nAlso, if your voice mailbox hadn’t been full, Gretchen would have had this\r\ndiscussion with you by telephone.\r\nI do thank you for responding, however.\r\n

\r\nGretchen replied on facebook:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nI would have come to the meeting at 8AM if I had known. What burns\r\nme is that I wasn’t notified by e-mail even though I was subscribed\r\nto all the updates in the clerk’s area through the lowndescounty web\r\nsite. And, not one person thought to notify me as the only citizen\r\nthat regularly attends. That let’s me know for sure that no one\r\nlikes me being there. “Hi Gretchen, just checking to make sure you\r\nknow the meeting is at 8 and not 8:30 on Monday, Thanks, Bye”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nProbably most people don’t have the time or inclination to check to\r\nsee if regularly scheduled meeting times are changed for every or\r\nany meeting. And just for a moment, imagine that you are a regular\r\nperson and show up to attend a meeting and it’s already over, heck\r\nthat could happen when the meeting is held at the regular time but\r\nonly lasts 8 minutes. It is very discouraging to participation.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nI am however pleased to report that after several calls back and\r\nforth with staff in the clerk’s office, a new subscription is\r\navailable that may in the future notify subscribers of changes to\r\nthe front page (that little “alert” bit on the right hand side of\r\nthe web site) and to calendar changes and additions.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nI noted on facebook:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLooks like Valdosta sent the City Manager, not the entire Council.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.valdostacity.com\/valdosta-welcomes-new-moody-commander<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSementha Mathews, Valdosta City PR, 2017-07-10 11:24 AM,\r\n\r\nValdosta Welcomes New Moody Commander:\r\nCommander makes history as first female<\/a>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nMOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — Col. Jennifer M. Short took\r\ncommand of the 23d Wing from Col. Thomas E. Kunkel during a change\r\nof command ceremony on July 10 at 9:23 a.m. Col. Short is the first\r\nfemale and first fighter pilot wing commander of the 23d Wing home\r\nof the world famous Flying Tigers….\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n(WALB posted video<\/a> of Col. Short thanking Valdosta for being welcoming,\r\nbut curiously not Lowndes County.\r\nValdosta Today carried Moody AFB’s press release after the event<\/a>,\r\nand the VDT ran a story<\/a>: neither mentioned Valdosta nor Lowndes County.)\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Orenstein responded:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSo are you suggesting that we should have just sent the County\r\nManager? We both know, John, that if it were the other way around,\r\nyou would have said that we didn’t even have the decency to make\r\narrangements for the Chairman to be there.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTo which I wrote:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nScottie Orenstein, you don’t know what I would say, as has been\r\ndemonstrated many times when commissioners get in a huff when I say\r\nit. Stay tuned for this morning’s LAKE blog post.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd here is what I say:\r\npreviously, the Commission sent Chairman Bill Slaughter to Texas with Moody Colonel [Susan M.] Riodan-Smith,<\/a>.\r\nThe Commission did not reschedule their regular Work Session that time,\r\ninstead the Chairman left\r\nVice Chairman Joyce Evans to chair the 13 March 2017 Work Session<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nAll I criticized about that was that the Chairman’s\r\nwhereabouts were not revealed until he got back.\r\nAnd I dug up what was not revealed, which is the name, date, location, etc.\r\nof the event he was likely attending, and blogged that<\/a>.\r\nYou know, the county could have posted all that and used it as good PR,\r\nlike Valdosta just did yesterday with the City Manager at Moody.\r\nInstead I did that work for the county.\r\nSome Commissions might take that as a compliment.\r\n

\r\nSo no, Scottie Orenstein, I would not criticise the Commission for sending\r\nthe County Manager or any one of their own number to represent them at Moody,\r\nwhile the rest of the Commission got on with the business of the county\r\nat their regular time.\r\n

\r\nIn fact, Gretchen made a point (see above)\r\nof praising the county staff for doing something\r\nafter yesterday’s moved meeting to make sure people actually get notified.\r\nAnd I complimented you above for responding.\r\n

\r\nMeanwhile, the Lowndes County Commissioners do:\r\n