Created by the newspaper, not the county —Joe Pritchard

Thanks to County Manager Joe Pritchard for responding to my letter of Monday. He partly (but not completely) answered my question by saying the VDT did it. More on that later.

He included a PDF copy of Bill Slaughter's letter of January 18th. Perhaps Mr. Pritchard was unaware that letter didn't reach me until after my letter of Monday, because the county sent it to the wrong address. Mr. Pritchard's email response was also sent to the wrong address, although fortunately email to that business address does reach me. He also copied the Chairman at his business address instead of at his Lowndes County address. In any case, electronic copy is almost always more useful than paper, so I thank Mr. Pritchard for sending that PDF copy.

Here's Mr. Pritchard's letter. -jsq

From: Joe Pritchard <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
CC: "Bill Slaughter ([email protected])" <[email protected]>
Subject: Bond Response
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:35:18 +0000
Message-ID: <3509933EA8F94B4BAADE5C223975D3E5035A49@COPERNICUS.lowndesco.lowndescounty.com>

Good Afternoon Mr. Quarterman,

In response to your request for information, please find the following:

I have attached a copy of Chairman Slaughter's letter to you explaining the differences between the two bond issuances, the amount of each and the funding mechanism of each. Chairman Slaughter's letter also speaks to what is outstanding and what bond issuances are involved. Also, as stated the CVD Bonds are being funded by the general fund which is made up of property tax dollars. The Lowndes County General Obligation Bonds are being funding by special purpose local option sales tax funds.

The November 2010 "flyer" you referred to in your email was not created by or distributed by Lowndes County. The document you are referring to was a special section created by and distributed by the Valdosta Daily Times. Lowndes County provided a photo of myself and the "letter" that was included on the front page as well as the building design images. The graphic you are referring to on the right side of the document was created by the newspaper, not the county.

Regarding your request for copies of "financial instruments" and a "paper trail", please provide me with a list of the actual documents you are requesting so that staff may have a clear understanding of what you would like to review.

Thank you,

Joe