{"id":22682,"date":"2022-02-02T10:18:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T15:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=22682"},"modified":"2022-02-07T07:56:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:56:11","slug":"secrecy-of-lowndes-county-commission-and-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2022\/02\/secrecy-of-lowndes-county-commission-and-staff.html","title":{"rendered":"Secrecy of Lowndes County Commission and Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update 2022-02-06<\/strong>:\r\n\r\nBoard\u2019s Pleasure should be Deny: Miller Bridge Road rezoning @ LCC 2022-02-07<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nIt’s almost enough to make you wonder why the Lowndes County Commission does not want the public to know what it is doing?\r\n

\r\nA state-funded road restriping with the list of roads\r\n\r\nnot revealed to the public for three months<\/a>, and no minutes for the relevant meetings on the Lowndes County website (but LAKE kept a copy from their old website).\r\n

\r\nA petition with 300 signatures the County Planner\r\n\r\njust took out of the board packet<\/a> so even County Commissioners did not see it.\r\n

\r\nTwo board packets (for Planning and County Commission meetings)\r\n\r\nnot returned for more than the statutory three days<\/a>,\r\nand then one of them only partial.\r\n

\r\nNo board packets on the county’s website,\r\neven though other counties larger and smaller in Georgia and Florida have been doing that for years.\r\n

\r\nNo minutes (except one) before 2014, or maybe some hidden.\r\nNot even any agendas before 2012.\r\n

\r\n\"[Lowndes<\/a>\r\n
\r\nLowndes County Agenda Center for 2013<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCounty Commission staff do take videos of the Commission meetings,\r\nbut they only post videos<\/a> of the Regular Session (not the Work Session),\r\nand not even those between October 2020 and October 2021.\r\nThis is despite spending more than $100,000 for new audio visual equipment for the Commission Chambers, while the Valdosta City Council has livestreamed through the pandemic using an employee’s iPhone.\r\n

\r\nI could go on about\r\n\r\nthe stealth reapportionment of Commission Districts<\/a>\r\nand the half million dollar bailout of a developer,\r\nboth at the same January 25, 2022, Lowndes County Commission meeting,\r\nboth not revealed to the taxpaying public before the voting Regular Session.\r\n

\r\nBut just items related to the Miller Bridge Road rezoning requests\r\nare enough to raise questions about the secrecy of Lowndes County Commission and staff.\r\n

\r\nWhy don’t they want the public and the taxpayers to know?\r\n

\r\nWhat don’t they want us to know?\r\n

Road Striping<\/a><\/H4>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\nLowndes County’s trademark secrecy applied to Miller Bridge Road goes back as far as 2013, when then-County Engineering Services Director Mike Fletcher \r\nannounced a grant from GDOT<\/a> for striking, signs, and raised pavement markers for 30.79 miles of road, for $142,491.75: “I will also give you a copy of the roads that will be restruck under this contract.” Commissioners had no questions.\r\n

\r\nThat list of roads was not in the board packet for that Work Session.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Mike<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nMike Fletcher 2013-07-22<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe next day, July 23, 2013, at the Regular Session,\r\n\r\nhe still did not reveal which roads<\/a>,\r\nbut did, answering a Commissioner’s question, say the work would only apply to those parts of roads with 55 MPH speed limits.\r\n

\r\nAfter I asked in the LAKE blog post for the October 7, 2013, Work Session\r\ndid the Commissioners get that list of roads<\/a>,\r\nthe next day at the Regular Session,\r\n\r\nhe read the list aloud<\/a>:\r\nShiloh Road, Skipper Bridge Road, Miller Bridge Road, Lake Park-Belleville Road, Val Del Road, Old Quitman Road, Johnson Road, and Whitewater Road.\r\n

\r\nSo if you were there, or you read the LAKE blog or watch the LAKE videos,\r\nyou would know about Miller Bridge Road being on that list.\r\nNot so much if you depended on the county’s Minutes.\r\nThe Minutes for that meeting are not on the county’s website<\/a>.\r\nOnly one meeting’s Minutes are on there for 2013, and none for 2012.\r\n

\r\nHowever, Gretchen has the old minutes on her laptop.\r\nHere’s what the Minutes for October 8, 2013 say, typos and all:\r\n

\r\nStriping, Signage & RPM\u2019s[sic] on 30.79 miles of roadway,<\/strong>\r\nCounty Engineer,\r\nMike Fletcher, presentd[sic] the item, with sold[sic] bidder Peek Pavement Marking,\r\nLLC, submitting a bid in the amount of $136,179.50. Mr. Fletcher\r\nadded the entire amount would be funded by the Georgia Department of\r\nTransportation. Commissioenr Powell made a motion to approve the bid in\r\nthe amount of $136,179.50, Commissioner Page second. All voted in favor,\r\nno one opposed. Motion carried.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nNo mention of a list of roads, much less the actual road names.\r\n

\r\nOh, I’m sorry. If you click on HTML or PDF under Agendas and Minutes on lowndescounty.com for that date, you get a link that claims to be for the Minutes, but actually takes you to the Agenda.\r\nIf you click on Packet, you get the Minutes.\r\nI don’t know about you, but right now I don’t have the time to try every single link under Agendas and Minutes to find out what they lead to.\r\n

\r\nAnyway, why does a county pave a road, sign it for 55 MPH, and then \r\nbuff up its stripes?\r\nTo promote development, as in subdivisions.\r\n

R-1 rezoning request<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

\r\nThe 7532 Miller Bridge Road rezoning showed up on the\r\n\r\nGLPC agenda for November 29, 2021<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\"[10.<\/a>\r\n
10. REZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S\/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Rd., 0010 022, 34 ac., Community well & septic, EA to R1<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nLowndes County Tax Assessors map<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAt that GLPC meeting<\/a>, the owners spoke for, insisting that everybody wants to live in the north part of the county, and you just can’t stop growth.\r\nWell, Lowndes County could stop promoting sprawl.\r\n

\r\nAttorney Brad Folsom and local landowner David Adams spoke against, and \r\nalmost the entire room raised hands in opposition.\r\n

\r\nGretchen Quarterman spoke against, on behalf of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., because the entire site is in an aquifer recharge zone.\r\n

\r\n\"[VALORGIS<\/a>\r\n
VALORGIS aquifer recharge zone, Miller Bridge Road<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nPlanning Commissioner Franklin Bailey outright said that he could support it at 2.5 acres but not at 1.\r\nThe Planning Commissioners then unanimously voted to recommend denial.\r\n

\r\nAt the following Lowndes County Commission meetings, December 13 and 14, 2021,\r\n\r\nthe rezoning was withdrawn, but the applicant said it would be back with larger lot sizes<\/a>.\r\nAnd staff dug up a 1999 rezoning a mile south down the road for 3-acre lots.\r\nStaff didn’t mention that almost none of those lots have sold in the past two decades.\r\nSo why do we need more such lots?\r\n

\r\n\"[Hidden<\/a>\r\n
Hidden River Run<\/a>,\r\n\r\nLowndes County Tax Assessors Map<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAt the December 13, 2021, Work Session, Monday Work Session<\/a>\r\nwe learned\r\nthat County Planner JD Dillard\r\n“just took \u2026 out of this packet for now”\r\na petition with 300 signatures against the rezoning.\r\nNot even the County Commissioners had seen it, and it was not returned in response to a LAKE open records request for the board packet.\r\nThe public only learned about this \r\nin response to a question from County Commissioner Demarcus Marshall.\r\nThe missing petition is actually mentioned in the Minutes<\/a>:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\nREZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S\/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Road, ~34 acres, E-A to R-1, Community Well &\r\nSeptic (WITHDRAWN),<\/strong>\r\nPlanning and Zoning Director, J.D. Dillard, presented the\r\nitem. Mr. Dillard stated that the case has been withdrawn. Commissioner\r\nMarshall questioned if a petition was submitted, since there was not a\r\npetition in the agenda packet, Chairman Slaughter stated that a petition\r\nwas available for review.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBut the Chairman did not say for review by whom.\r\nThe Minutes don’t say, but the LAKE video shows, that he said by the folling evening’s Regular Session.\r\n

\r\nNothing new was learned at the December 14, 2021, Regular Session<\/a>,\r\nwhere the Chairman and County Planner merely said it had been withdrawn.\r\nThere was no mention of the petition, not even whether the County Commissioners had seen it.\r\n

\r\nLAKE sent another open records request, and got\r\nthe petition<\/a>.\r\nApparently the county redacted the email addresses.\r\nThat may be useful for privacy.\r\nIt also makes organizing opposition more difficult.\r\n

R-A rezoning request<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

\r\nThe Miller Bridge Road rezoning came back as R-A for larger lots (instead of R-1)\r\non the agenda for the January 31, 2022<\/a> GLPC meeting.\r\nDespite having more than the statutory three days of the\r\nGeorgia Open Records Act (GORA), the county failed to return\r\nthe board packet in response to a LAKE GORA request.\r\n

\r\nHowever, the opposition provided an image of a map of parcels owned by oppisition signers of the petition.\r\n

\r\n\"[Opposition<\/a>\r\n
Opposition to Miller Bridge Road Rezoning<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAfter LAKE reminded Lowndes County of the relevant passage from GORA,\r\nthe three Lowndes County GLPC packet items were sent to LAKE at 8:03 AM on Manday, January 24, 2021.\r\n

\r\nAfter a run-around from county staff,\r\nLAKE got a referral to staff of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),\r\nwhich returned the Dasher packet document in less than ten minutes<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nMeanwhile, county staff \r\nfailed to address<\/a> most of the requirements of the Agriculture\/Forestry\/Conservation Character Area\r\nof the Comprehensive Plan,\r\nwhile saying “existing development pattern and growth of the community” was more important.\r\nNevermind the overwhelming majority of the local community signed a petition opposing this rezoning.\r\nYou know, the petition that the County Planner\r\n“just took \u2026 out of this packet for now”.\r\n

\r\nThe Planning Commission did vote 8:3 to recommend denial of the rezoning.\r\nNow it’s over to the County Commissioners to decide on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.\r\n

Hidden Documentation<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

\r\nFor a year Lowndes County did not post any videos of their meetings,\r\neven for months after they spent \r\n$110,147.78 back in April 2021\r\non\r\n\r\nCommission Chambers Audio and Visual Upgrade<\/a>.\r\nLAKE does not have videos of that Work Session or Regular Session\r\nbecause we were not going there during the height of the pandemic.\r\n

\r\nMeanwhile, Valdosta City Council meetings were streamed on facebook live<\/a>\r\nusing a staff member’s iPhone, since at least June 2020.\r\n

\r\nOn June 6, 2021, we heard that most of the county’s audio and visual equipment would be in by July, and all by August<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nAugust came, and the county’s sound feed<\/a>\r\nto the media corral in the back of the Commission Chambers\r\ncontinued to fail.\r\nEven when the sound feed is working, the speaker’s podium microphone is often so badly placed that county staff or other speakers are inaudible.\r\nAmbient sound using the LAKE video camera’s microphone is better,\r\neven at the Planning Commission meetings, in a room with bad acoustics.\r\n

\r\nApparently Lowndes County has again started posting\r\nvideos of their meetings on YouTube.\r\nBut they only leave them up until the next meeting,\r\nso currently only the December 14, 2021 Regular Session<\/a> is listed under\r\nAgendas and Minutes on lowndescounty.com<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nIf you go to the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners<\/a> YouTube channel,\r\nyou’ll see videos for\r\n“LCBOC CM 11 9 21”,\r\n“LCBOC CM 10 25 21”,\r\nand\r\n“Oct12Meeting”,\r\nwhich if you follow the link to the video you can see is for October 12, 2021.\r\nNothing else for 2021.\r\nBefore that, there’s\r\n“LCBOC CM 10 27 20”,\r\n“LCBOC CM 10 13 20”,\r\nback through\r\n“LCBOC CM 8 11 20”.\r\nNothing before that.\r\n

\r\nThe county does not post video of Work Sessions at all anymore.\r\nThe county does record the Work Sessions, because Gretchen had an audio fail for one of those, asked county staff for audio, and got video on a stick.\r\n

\r\nNo agendas are on the county’s website for 2011 or previous years,\r\nand no minutes (except one) for 2012 and 2013, or maybe they’re hidden in the third link under a column not the one that says Minutes.\r\n

\r\nBack when the county put up its current website,\r\nthe excuse for not including older Minutes, Gretchen remembers, was not enough disk space.\r\nYet she has all the older agendas and minutes on her laptop.\r\nIn this day of multi-terabyte external disks for less than $100 (I’m using one right now),\r\nand the county spending many tens of thousands of dollars on cloud storage<\/a>,\r\nwhat more feeble excuse can the county find?\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>\r\n

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today<\/a>!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Update 2022-02-06: Board\u2019s Pleasure should be Deny: Miller Bridge Road rezoning @ LCC 2022-02-07. It’s almost enough to make you wonder why the Lowndes County Commission does not want the public to know what it is doing? A state-funded road restriping with the list of roads not revealed to the public for three months, and […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[202,552,740,325,88,10675,3,449],"tags":[8750,8777,8801,8701,8764,326,8702,12,7,8734,11505,10520,11555,11503,11544,1109,383,8700,8767,6,11527],"class_list":["post-22682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-comprehensive-plan","category-forestry","category-glpc","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-taxes","category-transparency","category-transportation","tag-agriculture","tag-comprehensive-plan","tag-forestry","tag-georgia","tag-glpc","tag-greater-lowndes-planning-commission","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-miller-bridge-road","tag-r-1","tag-r-a","tag-rez-2021-28","tag-rez-2022-03","tag-secrecy","tag-taxes","tag-transparency","tag-transportation","tag-valdosta","tag-windy-hill-subdivision"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-5TQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22682"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22693,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22682\/revisions\/22693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}