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By Jeff, on March 29th, 2010%
Yesterday, the Albany Herald featured an article by Carlton Fletcher and an editorial by the Editorial Board discussing recently developing cooperation among Lee and Dougherty Counties.
First, I want to discuss some positives. Growing lines of communication between neighbors is basic common sense. There is no reason not to acknowledge each others’ presence at a bare minimum, and there are many solid reasons to openly talk to each other – such as the fact that many EMTs in the area are employed by both Dougherty and Lee Counties, on different days.
There are also issues, such as fires that start on one side of a county line and spread to the other, where you need those lines of communication, and you need cooperation between the neighbors. Or maybe some crime spree happens near the County line, such as the rash of robberies in Eagle Trace on the Dougherty County (Albany City) side of LeDo Road last fall, and you want the other County’s law enforcement officials to be aware of the issue so that they can watch for suspicious activity while on their patrols as well.
But there is also much to be troubled about in regards to this “spirit of cooperation”.
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By Jeff, on November 2nd, 2009%
Carlton Fletcher got a call last Thursday with some GREAT news regarding some projects along Robert B Lee Rd in Leesburg. Apparently, we’ve been given the go-ahead for some major improvements there, including installing a number of turn lanes, improving some intersections, and even re-aligning Old Stage Rd and Lovers Lane. The State will fund half of the project – $800K worth – and the County will fund the other $800K through SPLOST money.
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By Jeff, on August 26th, 2009%
Last night’s Lee County Commissioners meeting was interesting, to say the least.
First up, we had a man that Carlton Fletcher identified as Southwest District Superior Court Chief Judge Rucker Smith proposing to expand government on the backs of Lee County taxpayers using an Obama stimulus grant as seed money. Basically, he wants the grant to allow government to take over handling misdemeanor probation – even though he repeatedly said he is perfectly satisfied with the private organizations currently handling that program. He claims that by the time the grant is over, the program will be self supporting and possibly even a revenue generator – and that if it isn’t, it will be shut down. Gee, I wonder where we’ve heard THAT before when it comes to government? No, as Smith noted several times himself, he sees this program in existence for anywhere from 5 – 20 years (numbers he used himself) – even though the grant expires in less than a year and a half. Also note that the program the grant funds won’t even be operational until 6 months into the grant, per Smith himself! Further note that Smith is just now coming to Lee County with this proposal, which would make Lee County taxpayers solely responsible for funding these positions that would then serve the entire six county Southwestern Circuit – without any funds from any of the other counties assisted.
When Chairman Duffy called for the vote, Commissioners Roland and Williams did the right thing and voted against this government takeover of matters currently being outstandingly handled by private organizations. Commissioners Muggridge and Johnson voted for this expansion of government, and Chairman Duffy himself voted for it to break the tie.
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By Jeff, on August 6th, 2009%
Continuing our brief series on the Lee County Library, let’s use yesterday’s listing of the costs, advantages, and disadvantages to try to select a particular site.
As I said in Part 1 of this series, good visibility from the highway is key to me. That would make the library/meeting center easy to find, easy to give directions to, and hopefully even get some spur of the moment drive-by traffic. Therefore any site not easily visible from Hwy 82 is automatically out of contention, meaning Sites F, H, and I are gone – and site G is barely on.
Next, in order to maximize actual space that can actually be developed, the site needs to have off site storm water retention. This eliminates Site C, leaving us with Sites A, B, D, E, and G in contention.
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By Publius, on May 18th, 2009%
In an effort to understand better how our county government works, I’ve been attending the County commission meetings for the last 4 months. What I’ve learned is that much of the bad press the commission gets is self inflicted. Case in point is the last commission meeting on Tuesday, May 12th. Continue reading Lee County Commission Doesn’t Like Public Scrutiny
By Jeff, on May 13th, 2009%
 Batts Rd Location in Lee County GA We have a situation ongoing in Lee County that has attracted quite a bit of attention. A property owner that owns all of the property on either side of a particular road wants this road closed to the public, yet wants the County to continue to pay for its upkeep. Continue reading Can private citizens close public roads?
By Bill Waller, on April 23rd, 2009%
Lee County is having a problem collecting money for trash pick-up.
I have read that a remedy the county is considering is to simply tack the trash fee onto the property taxes each year. That would amount to a huge increase in the annual bill of each property owner. Why should all of the property owners be subject to a solution designed to reign in the delinquency of a few?
How can this be a major problem? If people do not want to pay their bill, do not provide the service. It is that simple. Pick up the trash cans that have been issued to each house and do not give the cans back until the bills are paid in full and institute a heavy fine if a delinquent homeowner is using or caught taking the trash can of a neighbor. County officials do not know how many trash cans are currently in use by the residents though.
Perhaps Lee County could look for a vendor to not only collect the trash but to also collect the revenues. Putting services like this in private hands rather than under the control of the government is always the best solution. I cannot imagine a private company not knowing how many trash cans are in use by its customers.
If this is a glimpse of what life will be like with universal health care, I cannot wait!
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