Videos: Airport, alcohol, taxes, road, jail @ LCC 2013-01-22

Commissioners discussed several items much more than last year's Commission at this morning's Work Session; they vote 5:30 PM tonight at their Regular Session. However, you'd think with an ankle monitoring program Commissioners praised so highly, they'd want the public to know the details. Nope, still none of the documents related to that nor any of the other items they were discussing were revealed to the tax-paying public. They don't have a press release about that, nor about the Parade of Champions the Chairman talked about (twice) even though it wasn't on the agenda. He was silent, however, on who the candidates for the Airport Authority are, and none of them were present.

That's four reports that were not on the agenda: Parade of Champions, ankle monitoring, the county's wellness program and the upcoming Bird Supper.

Here's the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes, followed by the video playlist.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2^nd Floor

1. Call to Order

   Parade of Champions.
   Not on the agenda, Chairman Slaughter talked about the Parade of Champions, which he said would be 4PM 30 January 2013, as a joint effort between the City of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Commission, honoring the last three national championship teams out of Valdosta State University.

   That's a huge asset to this community and what it adds to the TitleTown title that we have.

   Sounds great, and VSU and Valdosta have press releases about it, but the county doesn't. Chairman did say more later in the same meeting, but that's not quite the same.

2. Invocation
3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
4. Minutes for Approval
   1. Work Session — January 7, 2013
   2. Regular Session — January 8, 2013

   Ankle Monitoring:

   See separate for this item that was not on the agenda.

5. Appointment — Valdosta/Lowndes County Airport Authority

   Chairman said this was to replace former Chairman Ashley Paulk on VLCAA, and added:

   "You should find some information in your packet so we can make that appointment tonight"

   No names were mentioned. No candidates were present.

6. Public Hearing — Beer Wine & Liquor License — Rascal's — 4875 Hwy 41
7. For Consideration
   1. Special Assessment Rate for 2013

      Crawford Powell:

      "Is there a reason we set it so low?"

      
      Stephanie Black:

      "It's just always been set at 2% above prime. I believe it's in your ordinance".

      
      What ordinance would that be? Is it one of the dozen on the county's website or is it one of the many more that are not?

   2. Abandonment of a portion of Old State Road (CR 16)

      Phillip Connell requests that Old State Road that goes through his property and dead ends at the river be closed. See separate post.

   3. Replacement of the Jail Fire Alarm System in Buildings 001 & 002
8. Reports-County Manager

   Unscheduled items:

   • Employee Wellness Program

     Apparently it's going well, and that's good.

   • Bird Supper

     We previously posted details from a Valdosta press release.

   • Parade of Champions, again

     Chairman once again praised the upcoming Parade of Champions and asked everyone to help drum up support. Hm, maybe putting things like this on the agenda would attract more attention; maybe putting out a press release about them, too.

9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address

   That's only in the Regular Session, 5:30 PM today.

Here's a video playlist.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange 8:30 AM 22 January 2013.

-jsq