{"id":3723,"date":"2013-05-31T13:41:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T17:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=3723"},"modified":"2013-05-31T14:01:35","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T18:01:35","slug":"if-effingham-county-can-do-it-why-not-lowndes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/if-effingham-county-can-do-it-why-not-lowndes.html","title":{"rendered":"If Effingham County can do it, why not Lowndes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903984098\/sizes\/z\/\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7281\/8903984098_3c5a8102dc_t.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8904039358\/sizes\/z\/\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2892\/8904039358_1c57e0dd1b_m.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nA county half the size of Lowndes has all its Commission\r\nmeeting documents online.\r\nWhy doesn&#8217;t Lowndes?\r\nIs there something the Lowndes County Commission doesn&#8217;t want\r\nus to know?\r\nIf not, why are they hiding the people&#8217;s business from the people?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903985082\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"contract change order\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8903985082_55b913582d_t.jpg\" alt=\"contract change order\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903985994\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"library board bylaw\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7369\/8903985994_607943d80e_t.jpg\" alt=\"library board bylaw\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903369859\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"applications to volunteer for board\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7407\/8903369859_6265ef8f89_t.jpg\" alt=\"applications to volunteer for board\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903987926\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"board responsibilities\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5342\/8903987926_34a216789b_t.jpg\" alt=\"board responsibilities\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903989152\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"CPA agreement letter\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7420\/8903989152_fdd29fd5c4_t.jpg\" alt=\"CPA agreement letter\"><\/a>\r\nContract change orders,\r\nlibrary board bylaws,\r\napplications to volunteer for boards,\r\nboard responsibilities,\r\nCPA agreement letters,\r\ninvoices\r\nwith\r\nitemized expenses,\r\nzoning amendment applications,\r\ndeeds,\r\n\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903989794\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"invoice\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7301\/8903989794_f84d42b75c_t.jpg\" alt=\"invoice\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/solar-effingham-county.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3755\/8901364833_4509a63810_t.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nplats,\r\ncell phone tower applications with maps,\r\nand that\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/solar-effingham-county.html\">solar farm application<\/a>:\r\n\r\nthe Effingham County Commission has\r\nall this and more in its\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.effinghamcounty.org\/Commissioners\/CommissionersMeetingDocAgendaandMinutes.aspx\">\r\nmeeting documents<\/a> online along with its agendas and minutes.\r\nThe format is kind of clunky: one big PDF for all the meeting documents.\r\nBut it&#8217;s also easy for any competent County Clerk to assemble and post.\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903382189\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"itemized expenses\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3693\/8903382189_65536d5e3a_t.jpg\" alt=\"itemized expenses\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903382969\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"zoning amendment application\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5325\/8903382969_faf827c10a_t.jpg\" alt=\"zoning amendment application\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903383711\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"deed\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7435\/8903383711_2afcdcdaee_t.jpg\" alt=\"deed\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903384583\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"plat\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2818\/8903384583_64b45e28bc_t.jpg\" alt=\"plat\"><\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/98706376@N00\/8903385683\/sizes\/z\/\" title=\"cell phone tower applications with map\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5321\/8903385683_6e5834c4ce_t.jpg\" alt=\"cell phone tower applications with map\"><\/a>\r\nThat way local citizens can get all this information without having\r\nto guess what they need to find out, file an open records request,\r\nwait at least three days (or years), see what excuse the county came up with\r\nfor not answering or try to deduce what was left out, etc.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWith meeting documents online, you can just go to the web and look.\r\nIn Effingham County, with\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/publicdata\/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&#038;ctype=l&#038;strail=false&#038;bcs=d&#038;nselm=h&#038;met_y=population&#038;scale_y=lin&#038;ind_y=false&#038;rdim=country&#038;idim=county:13103:13185&#038;ifdim=country&#038;hl=en&#038;dl=en&#038;ind=false\">\r\nhalf the population<\/a>\r\nof Lowndes County:<!--more-->\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"325\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/publicdata\/embed?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&amp;ctype=l&amp;strail=false&amp;bcs=d&amp;nselm=h&amp;met_y=population&amp;scale_y=lin&amp;ind_y=false&amp;rdim=country&amp;idim=county:13103:13185&amp;ifdim=country&amp;hl=en_US&amp;dl=en&amp;ind=false\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nIt seems a safe assumption that Lowndes County, with twice the population\r\nand presumably twice the resources of Effingham County could post\r\nits meeting documents.\r\nWhy doesn&#8217;t it?\r\n\r\nTo quote\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/opinion\/x1225455824\/Citizens-entitled-to-open-government\">\r\na VDT editorial of 3 March 2012<\/a>:\r\n<\/p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/no-choice-on-trash-representatives-from-lowndes-county.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8117bd7970d-pi.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<blockquote>\r\nWhen officials act like they have something to hide, they often do&#8230;.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nWhat is Lowndes County trying to hide?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A county half the size of Lowndes has all its Commission meeting documents online. Why doesn&#8217;t Lowndes? Is there something the Lowndes County Commission doesn&#8217;t want us to know? If not, why are they hiding the people&#8217;s business from the people? Contract change orders, library board bylaws, applications to volunteer for boards, board responsibilities, CPA [&hellip;]","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,2,88,3],"tags":[6350,6349,8704,8701,8699,8702,12,7,8734,6348,8700,6,328],"class_list":["post-3723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-transparency","tag-applications","tag-deeds","tag-economy","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-meeting-documents","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta","tag-zoning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-Y3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723","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=3723"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3742,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723\/revisions\/3742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}