On the LAKE Front

Broadband top priority, education, jobs, quality of life —Angela Crance @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

Angela Crance, Special Assistant to the President of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, told the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013:

I'm here for Wiregrass, and we just want to thank you for bringing this up and making it a top priority for the community [looking at Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter] and the Industrial Authority....

 

 

It's definitely a priority for us.... Only 14% of our citizens have a college degree and we need 70% to have a college degree within ten years. To be able to accomplish that we'd better have

Broadband "one of the number one issues" —Bill Slaughter @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

 

Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter told the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013 that broadband is: "one of the number one issues".

...certainly one of the most important recruiting tools that we're going to have to figure out in this community how we can get it. To be honest with you, it's a wide open question. Do you have the infrastructure? How much will the infrastructure that we currently have support? We're going to have to find a way to get with the professional providers and find out just exactly what these capabilities are in our community.... I see that as the big question. We've got to figure out where to start with it.

I think it is probably in my opinion one of the number one issues that this community is going to have to address from the standpoint of where we go with economic development in the future for this community not only for new economic development but for existing businesses as well. As a business begins to grow,

Companies need broadband, especially in rural areas of our county —Andrea Schruijer @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

Andrea Schruijer's Executive Director's Report to the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013 had one theme: Internet broadband speed and access.

It's a concern, especially in more rural parts of our county....
It's up to us to make sure that we create an awareness of the importance of having that technology in our community.

Why the sudden (just started late last year) emphasis on broadband?

We've worked with a few of our existing industries that do not have the capacity. Operations have had to change or move to different locations that have better connectivity.

That's a not-so-veiled reference to the the company that located in Lake Park and discovered there was no broadband, and to the two companies that moved their IT operations to Thomasville.

She emphasized again that broadband throughout the county was important:

Industrial Authority prospects need Internet broadband speed @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

Internet access (as "telecommunications infrastructure") came up in Project Manager Allan Ricketts' report to the Industrial Authority 19 February 2013 as a requirement for a Fortune 500 customer service operation and for a National health care service provider, both considering locating here, also as bandwidth, as a requirement for jobs.

• Fortune 500 customer service operation
  Needs secure telecommunications infrastructure; site visit 5 March. (And once again Col. Ricketts believes a company that says we're the primary option, without any sign of any due diligence to find out whether that's true.)
  Later, Tom Call asked how many jobs that company might bring, and Col. Ricketts elaborated on 100 jobs or more, with some detail on timeframe for bringing them on.
  Then Chairman Roy Copeland asked for elaboration on the telecommunications infrastructure issue. Col. Ricketts' answer was support for the training facility was what was needed, including bandwidth and security.
• National health care service provider
  Needs telecommunications infrastructure.

Continued in the next post.

Here's a video playlist:

-jsq

Industrial Authority meeting tonight, about what, who can tell? @ VLCIA 2013-02-19

Same old agenda tonight at the Industrial Authority (only the dates change each month). It's now buried three levels down on their website, but at least they've started archiving old agendas. Still no minutes, though, going on two years since the VDT publicly exposed VLCIA's expensive price tag for old minutes.

-jsq

Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Agenda
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street

I-75 as the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway?

Did you know the legislature is likely to rename much of Interstate 75 through Lowndes County in honor of a former governor, and spend $4,500 for signs to do so?

The Valdosta Daily Times, Lowndes County

NOTICE OF ROAD FACILITY DEDICATION

Notice is given that there will be introduced at the regular 2013 session of the General Assembly of Georgia a resolution sponsored by Senator Tim Golden, 121 State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, (404) 656-7580, to dedicate the portion of Interstate 75 in Lowndes County from the West Hill Avenue exit to the North Valdosta Road exit as the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway in honor of his achievements, accomplishments, and contributions to Lowndes County and to the State of Georgia; and for other purposes. The estimated cost of such dedication is $4,500.00.

00046038

1/19/13

And such a bill has been introduced in the Georgia House (not the Senate) as HR 47, Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway; Lowndes County; dedicate, sponsored by (1) Shaw, Jason 176th, (2) Carter, Amy 175th, (3) Black, Ellis 174th, (4) Sharper, Dexter 177th, (5) Houston, Penny 170th.

Here's the part that ties Gov. Thompson to here:

WHEREAS, Governor Thompson was instrumental in the success of the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County, where his leadership as a founding member of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority spearheaded much of the urban development and planning for Valdosta and the surrounding areas, including the Azalea City Industrial Park; and

And establishing Industrial Parks was a cutting-edge idea: in the 1950s.

The bill adds:

Videos: new website @ VLCIA 2013-01-15

Both Meghan Duke (PR and Marketing) and Andrea Schruijer (Executive Director) invited comments and additional information for the new website. They were speaking to their board at its meeting last night, but in the Industrial Authority's new conversational spirit, maybe they'll take suggestions from the rest of the community, as well. Both Allan Ricketts (Project Manager) and J. Stephen Gupton (Attorney) said the Hahira well site work was going well. They've got a new intern, and I reminded them about the need for fast Internet access. It was a long meeting by County Commission standards, yet short for Industrial Authority meeting: about half an hour.

Here's the agenda, with links to the videos, and a few notes.

-jsq

Industrial Authority: new website, same old agenda tonight @ VLCIA 2013-01-15

The Industrial Authority has a spiffy new website under a new domain, buildlowndes.com, and with their new logo, formerly only on their facebook page. Their meeting agenda for tonight, however, is the same old recycled content-free placeholder.

I sure don't miss the old hexagon menu, the new menu is up top and usable before they waste a bunch of space with stock photos. The Our Team page even links to the Linkedin profiles of Andrea Schruijer and Meghan Duke. While Allan Ricketts does have a Linkedin profile, it's not very fleshed out and they don't link to it.

The Recent Investments page is interesting, although it would be more so if

Videos @ LCC 2013-01-07

The public defender said the county palace (that we're still mysteriously paying on) didn't have space for his office. The Industrial Authority request to buy some still-unspecified property “has been pulled from the agenda” by unspecified forces. The new 4-H agent spoke and a bus was discussed. One Commissioner forgot to show up until late to hear Workers' compensation is going up and the Commission's own schedule is being adjusted for holidays. There was little substantive discussion, and there's no sign anything will change at the Lowndes County Commission unless enough people want it to. They vote this evening at 5:30 PM, and they do have Citizens Wishing to be Heard, although it is still at the end, after all the votes.

Here's the agenda, with links to videos, and a few notes.

New Commission meets Monday morning and Tuesday evening @ LCC 2013-01-07

Pictured: newly elected Commissioners Page, Evans (re-elected), Slaughter, and Marshall

The Industrial Authority wants to buy some unspecified property public defender needs renewing, plus 4-H agent and school bus activity. Also workers' compensation, and the Commission needs to approve its own schedule, since it's a new Commission now, with two more voting members than last year, and a new Chairman.

Here's a list of the current Commission members:

• Bill Slaughter, Chairman, At-Large
• Joyce E. Evans, Commissioner, District 1
• Richard Raines, Commissioner, District 2
• Crawford Powell, Commissioner, District 3
• Demarcus Marshall, Commissioner, District 4
• John Page, Commissioner, District 5

Their Commission web page still has at the top this mission statement:

“To provide an efficient, effective and responsive local government to all citizens of Lowndes County while maintaining the financial strength to meet any contingency”

The county government has apparently been pretty good about that last thing (although that $8.9 million discrepency could make some wonder). On responsiveness, not so much, considering the trash non-solution railroaded through at the last meeting of the previous Commission. Maybe this new Commission will be different.

Here's the agenda.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2^nd Floor