{"id":21513,"date":"2020-01-14T18:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T23:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=21513"},"modified":"2020-01-15T08:14:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T13:14:21","slug":"videos-water-quality-testing-bids-leaase-appointments-lcc-2020-01-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/videos-water-quality-testing-bids-leaase-appointments-lcc-2020-01-13.html","title":{"rendered":"Videos: Water quality testing, Bids, Leaase, Appointments @ LCC 2020-01-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nNot on the agenda, Chairman Bill Slaughter\r\n\r\nat the end of the meeting<\/a> said Utilities Director Steve Stalvey\r\nhad been testing water quality on the Withlacoochee River.\r\nOn December 31, bacterial counts were acceptable.\r\nBut on January 6, 2020, counts were quite high, so the county made and\r\nposted some warning signs at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line (GA 31) Boat Ramps.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHere is one of the county’s signs, at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp,\r\nwith a sign by WWALS Watershed Coalition (Suwannee Riverkeeper)\r\nat the bottom of the other pole with\r\n\r\n the water trail signs.\r\n

\r\n\"[County<\/a>\r\n
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS, County and WWALS warning signs<\/a> at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 2020-01-10.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know if Troupville Boat Ramp was clean.\r\nThe Chairman couldn’t answer, because they didn’t test there (can’t test everywhere).\r\n

\r\nHere are the county’s test results thus far<\/a>, as well as results from all\r\nthe other parties that have been testing.\r\n

\r\n\"[Most<\/a>\r\n
Most recent contamination<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCounty Manager Joe Pritchard wanted to say that the county is using two testing laboratories.\r\nThe Chairman remarked that their numbers matched, and on January 6 they were high when Florida’s numbers were high at GA 31.\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know if there was anything else\r\nthe county could do, since if there were problems in Florida such as he heard\r\nabout Wednesday, there are probably problems in Georgia.\r\n

\r\nThe county is also going to test at US 84 on the Withlacoochee River and\r\non Okapilco Creek.\r\nSince they usually test Mondays, we should expect some results for this week by tomorrow.\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Scottie Orenstein wanted to know if the county had any liability.\r\nThe Chairman said it is not a county spill; it is a city spill.\r\nWhich is true, so I don’t see how the county has any liability.\r\n

\r\nThe Chairman said since Valdosta is inside Lowndes County,\r\nhe thought the county should test and put up signs, but that\r\nwas the limit of what the county should do.\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Demarcus Marshall wondered if there was anything beyond\r\nsucking the sewage out of the water that could be done,\r\nsuch as putting some chemical in there to counter the sewage.\r\nThe Chairman said he thought people would object to that and with flow\r\nthe river would eventually clean itself.\r\n

\r\nValdosta did dump lime into Sugar Creek, which is what they usually do at spill locations.\r\n

\r\nThe only other thing that took much more than a minute was\r\n\r\n6.c. Request to Purchase New Firefighter Turnout Gear<\/a>.\r\n

Update 2020-01-15:<\/strong> They tabled both the turnout gear and the other fire item,\r\n7 a. Bid for a 3,000 Gallon Tanker for the Fire Department<\/a>,\r\nuntil some time in February, after the annual county retreat.\r\nThe retreat itself has no publicly scheduled time yet.\r\nLast year it was Thursday-Friday, February 7-8, 2019.\r\nThe equivalent dates for this year would be Thursday-Friday, February 6-7, 2020.\r\n

\r\nBelow are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.\r\nSee also the agenda<\/a>,\r\nand the\r\nboard packet on the LAKE website<\/a>,\r\nnow with the Work Session minutes from December 9 and the Regular Session minutes from December 10.\r\n<\/p>\r\n