CHIP Grant: Twice Ashley Paulk Broke the Tie @ LCC 27 September 2011

Twice Tuesday Ashley Paulk broke a tie to vote for assistance state-funded assistance for poor people for affordable housing. Joyce Evans made the motion, Crawford Powell said nothing, Richard Raines was absent, and Paulk seconded and broke the tie for.

Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission considered a routine acceptance of a Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP) grant. The previous morning at the work session, Commissioner Raines had (according to the VDT) said he was against it. (This is the same Richard Raines who thought NOAA Weather Radios were "wasteful spending" back in March.) However, Raines was not at the regular session Tuesday; presumably he was on one of his many sales trips. Twice, Commissioner Evans made a motion related to CHIP, and Commissioner Powell did nothing. Twice, Chairman Paulk exercised his privilege in such a case and broke the tie, seconding and voting for the CHIP grant.

The first CHIP vote was 9.a. Resolution of Intent to Submit a 2012 CHIP Grant Application and Commitment Letter

Here's Part 1 of 2:

CHIP Grant: Twice Ashley Paulk Broke the Tie @ LCC 27 September 2011 Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

The second CHIP vote was 10.c. 2012 CHIP Grant — Professional Services Contract with Varnadoe & Associates, Inc. Commissioner Evans asked if the contract had been put out for open bid. County Manager Pritchard appeared never to have thought of that, but made some sort of assurance. (If you can't hear what, thank the commissioners for the award they gave LAKE.) Once again, Commissioner Evans made the motion, Commissioner Powell said nothing, and Chairman Paulk seconded and Evans and Paulk voted for the motion.

Commissioner Powell a few minutes earlier did make a motion to renew a contract to rent county land to a saddle club for an arena. One could interpret that as county assistance (location and price: $100/year) to comparatively more well-off horse owners. But he could not bring himself to say a word about the CHIP grant, which assists comparatively less-affluent people.

Four citizens stood up in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard and spoke about CHIP: two for, and two against. Video of that will follow.

Here's the Georgia Department of Community Affairs writeup about CHIP:

The Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP) uses a portion of DCA's HOME funds to assist local governments, nonprofit organizations and public housing authorities to address the needs of affordable housing development in their communities. CHIP funds may be used to provide down payment assistance or homeowner rehabilitation funding to eligible low- and low-moderate income households. Eligible communities are those outside of a HUD-designated Partipating Jurisdiction as defined by the HOME Program.

Here's Part 2 of 2:

CHIP Grant: Twice Ashley Paulk Broke the Tie @ LCC 27 September 2011 Part 2 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq