{"id":21576,"date":"2020-02-10T12:42:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T17:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=21576"},"modified":"2020-02-10T12:42:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T17:42:51","slug":"videos-new-valdosta-mayor-mayor-pro-tem-and-2-million-budget-surplus-while-record-raw-sewage-was-spilling-vcc-2020-01-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/videos-new-valdosta-mayor-mayor-pro-tem-and-2-million-budget-surplus-while-record-raw-sewage-was-spilling-vcc-2020-01-09.html","title":{"rendered":"Videos: New Valdosta Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem, and $2 million budget surplus while record raw sewage was spilling @ VCC 2020-01-09"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nA month ago at the Valdosta City Council we learned\r\n\r\nthat Valdosta has a $2,410,000 budget surplus<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Valdosta<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\n5b) Presentation of the Municipal Audit for Fiscal Year 2019<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMaybe they could spend some of that to help fix the well and river testing costs downstream on the Withlacoochee River of\r\nValdosta’s record 7.5 million gallons of raw sewage spill<\/a> into Sugar Creek, which has taken two months to maybe finally get diluted down the Withlacoochee River, twice entering Florida, with three Florida river advisories, and with Georgia warning signs on the Withlacoochee River downstream of Sugar Creek by Lowndes County and by WWALS (but not by Valdosta).\r\n

\r\nOne City Council member tells me that audit doesn’t mean Valdosta has $2 million cash lying around.\r\nBut they do have several hundred thousand unspent.\r\n

\r\nMaybe they could also budget some of that surplus to help fix the stigma,\r\nthe decades-long reputational damage to all our rivers,\r\ncaused by Valdosta’s chronic sewage spills.\r\nThat would involve for example water quality testing or paying for testing downstream on the Withlacoochee River and doing marketing.\r\n

\r\nFour Citizens spoke at the end of the meeting:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGeorge Boston Rhynes<\/a>,\r\n\r\nBrenda Vickers Johnson<\/a>,\r\nprovoking some discussion of\r\n\r\nstreet and bridge naming process<\/a>,\r\n\r\nSuwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman<\/a>,\r\nand\r\n\r\nRonnie Pierce<\/a>.\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> and the LAKE pictures along with that previous LAKE blog post.\r\n<\/p>\r\n