{"id":23,"date":"2013-03-20T10:05:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T14:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/kay-harris-resigned-as-chair-and-from-library-board.html"},"modified":"2013-03-20T10:05:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T14:05:38","slug":"kay-harris-resigned-as-chair-and-from-library-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/kay-harris-resigned-as-chair-and-from-library-board.html","title":{"rendered":"Kay Harris resigned as Chair and from Library Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nReceived today: \nPDF<\/a>, with transcription appended below. -jsq\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\"Kay<\/a>\nMarch 15, 2013
\n
\nJoe Pritchard
\nCounty Manager
\nLowndes County
\n327 N. Ashley St.
\nValdosta, GA 31601
\n
\nDear Mr. Pritchard:
\n
\nIt is with great regret that I find the need to step down from the Lowndes County
\nand South Georgia Regional Library Board of Trustees. I fear that I am no longer
\ncapable of holding this position in light of the county’s recent actions.
\n
\nAs you are aware,\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\nthe Board has worked for nearly 4 years to plan the future of
\nthe library system in Lowndes County. The result has been a comprehensive
\nstrategic plan based on current and future needs, and a sensible building plan.
\nThe library is already on the “hot list” of library projects to be funded by the
\nGeneral Assembly next year as well as having a pledge of $1 million for naming
\nrights, with another $1 million potential pledge for the new facility, significantly
\nreducing the cost of construction to be borne by the county.
\n
\nHowever, the county’s recent decision to abandon the library project in favor of
\nallocating additional dollars to the city to replace infrastructure the city’s leaders
\nhave knowingly and wilfully allowed to deteriorate for 30 years is beyond
\ncomprehension. Considering that more than half of the City’s SPLOST VII list
\nconsists of debt repayment, county residents are essentially now paying the city’s
\nbills. Not all county residents are residents of Valdosta and should not have to
\npay for that city’s issues.
\n
\nIf the SPLOST VII passes, the library will not be able to receive construction
\nfunds for a minimum of six additional years, leaving it to stand for at least 10
\nmore. The building cannot sustain that many more years of usage, nor can the
\nequipment.
\n
\nNot only does the county’s decision affect the library building and staff, it affect
\nthe children, students and educators of the community by denying them
\nadequate and sufficient access to educational materials, adequate computer
\naccess and therefore, will cost the community dearly in terms of opportunities
\nand educational attainment.
\n
\nThe county’s decision also directly impacts South Georgia Medical Center. As
\nthe construction on its main campus draws to a close this year, and construction
\ncontinues on its joint project with VSU, SGMC was looking to purchase the library
\nproperty in order to turn its main fa\u00e7ade to the Woodrow Wilson side and expand
\nfurther. As one of our region’s primary economic engines, to deny SGMC the
\nability to complete their campus footprint for nearly a decade is choking off the
\nonly area of growth they have available to them.
\n
\nI do not respect or support the decision of the county commission to put one
\nmunicipality’s wants ahead of the county’s needs that would have provided direct
\nbenefit to all of the citizens of the county, not just those in a select geographic
\nregion. The city has millions in funding available if they so chose to make them
\navailable, with no need to further cripple county services.
\n
\nMy resignation from the library board will allow me to continue working on behalf
\nof the library, but unencumbered by the direct oversight of the county.
\n
\nI am determined not to give up on this very worthy cause, despite the fact that
\nthe county appears to have done so.
\n
\nSincerely,
\n
\nKay Harris
\n
\nCc: Board of Commissioners
\n       Library Board of Trustees
\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Received today: PDF, with transcription appended below. -jsq March 15, 2013 Joe Pritchard County Manager Lowndes County 327 N. Ashley St. Valdosta, GA 31601 Dear Mr. Pritchard: It is with great regret that I find the need to step down from the Lowndes County and South Georgia Regional Library Board of Trustees. I fear that […]","protected":false},"author":1,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[40,14,49,8,2,41,132,20,88,21,22,52,53,54,133,134,55],"tags":[8717,8704,8721,8701,8699,8718,8741,136,135,8702,8710,12,7,8734,8711,8712,139,138,137,8724,8725,6,8726,8742,8743,8727],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-economy","category-elections","category-georgia","category-government","category-health-care","category-internet-access-speed","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-planning","category-politics","category-splost","category-sustainability","category-valdosta-city-council","category-vdt","category-vsu","category-water","tag-community","tag-economy","tag-elections","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-health-care","tag-internet-access-speed","tag-joe-pritchard","tag-kay-harris","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-sgmc","tag-south-georgia-medical-center","tag-south-georgia-regional-library","tag-splost","tag-sustainability","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-city-council","tag-vdt","tag-vsu","tag-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}