Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

If you would, please rise, remove any head covering, and we'll call on Commissioner Weizenbacker for the invocation and the pledge. Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this wonderful day. Lord, we do need some rain, and we we just ask that you give us plenty of rain and help put out these fires and protect the fire people over there in Brantley County and Clinch and Echols, Lord. Um Thank you for all of our many blessings. We ask that you be with us here tonight and give us strength and wisdom and patience and persistence as we deal with the issues that Lowndes County is involved in today. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Pledge allegiance to to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh-huh, thank you. Mhm. Thank you, Commissioner Weizenbacker. Do we have any folks with Leadership Lowndes with us tonight? Anybody here with Leadership Lowndes? If you would, please stand and be recognized. Welcome. All right, well, we'll move right on. Um Commissioners, inside your packets, you'll find your minutes of the work session of April the 13th as well as the regular session minutes from April the 14th. If there's no additions, deletions, or corrections to those minutes, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second.

I have a second by Miss Evans. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign. Hearing none, the minutes are approved. We'll now move to agenda item 5A, and this is the adoption of the Lowndes County resolution for emergency management and the local emergency operation plan, Mr. Tye. Good evening. Contrary to popular opinion, we do have a plan. And and so it's here before you. Um over the last year or so, we have um worked to update the plan, as we discussed in detail yesterday. Uh this this updated plan more accurately reflects um how we currently operate, um how we're organized and how we function during emergencies. In addition to adopting the updated plan, um we're also asking the the commission to um adopt an updated resolution, um which reaffirms the original resolution from 2004, um affirming the the maintenance of the emergency management and outlining roles and responsibilities for emergency management. So, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have about the resolution of the plan. Any questions for Mr. Tye? I just say thank you for your efforts on this. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign. Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item 5B is the FY2027 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant application, Mr. Tye. Yes, since 2014, um we've brought this uh application before you every year. Um this has become a tool for the juvenile court judge um, to to provide,

um, in uh, lieu of of detention. And so we're requesting authorization to submit an application for the FY27 funding to continue the providing the functional family therapy services. Be glad to answer any questions you have about the SCRAM. Any questions for Mr. Ty? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Okay, we have a motion to approve by Ms. Evans. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign. Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item 5C is the renewal of disaster-related debris contracts, Mr. Ty. Yes, sir. Um, in 2024, we, um, issued an RFP and entered into agreements with three contractors for disaster debris services. Um, we have used that contract, um, once unfortunately after Helene with AshBritt. Um, and so this is, uh, just renewing the agreement with those three vendors. We have three to make sure that if for once some reason one of them were unable to perform, they were tied up elsewhere or whatever, that we've got some backups in place. Um, and at at the commission's direction, I did ask would they be willing to to lower their prices and they said unfortunately their their costs have not gone down, um, but they are willing to to hold them where they are. So, there's no no price increase, um, at, you know, with with this. So, these prices will be the same as what we have approved last year. Okay. Thank you for trying. Yes, sir. Any questions for Mr. Ty?

One one Actually, I realized last time, I guess during Helene, we, um, wind up getting some assistance from the state with the court engineers. Do they pay the same rate or or does this impact that any type of way? Cuz it was the same same haulers, right?

It it it does not. It So, it it it just so happens that the hauler we used was the same one um that the Army Corps had a had a contract with. Um it's my understanding that our rates are better than what the Army Corps gets. Wow. So. Yeah. So, it So, it actually cost more once the Didn't it was cheaper for us cuz it was free, but it but the Army Corps paid more than what we paid. Um Don't get much cheaper than free, does it? Yeah, it does not. And I will tell you that that there we had some discussions at our emergency management conference um this year um with FEMA. And um the Army Corps is, you know, it is their intent to um engage them earlier and more often in future disasters. So, we've only done that about twice since I've been in this position. Um but that's their their intent is to um make that available more often um cuz obviously it's it's a it's an advantage to everybody. Free is an advantage to everybody, but especially the smaller rural counties. You mentioned three contracts. Did we use all three vendors last year? No, sir. We just used AshBritt. Um but we you know, AshBritt is like I said, they have the Army Corps, they have a lot of contracts. So, the best practice is to have more than one. So, if we call AshBritt, they say, "Hey, all our resources are tied up." Then we can go to number two and we're still able to provide the service.

Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve the chairman to execute the renewal agreements with AshBritt, the ARC Emergency Services, and Southern Discovery uh Recovery. Okay, we have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I I a second by Mr. Weisenbacker. discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign? Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item 5D is the consideration of procurement determination declaring the initial proposal as non-responsive and award of the contract to Cowart Electric. Mr. Todd. Yes, sir. I think I've met my quota for the year. So, um so, back in February uh we brought before you um uh sealed bids that were part of a um uh request for proposal for generators for the five nursing home facilities in Lowndes County. Um the bid was awarded at that time um in good faith to the to the lowest responsive bidder that that met the requirements of um Lowndes County. Once we got into the to the um uh process and and and did a little more um research and they provided their shop drawings, um it was discovered that um for the price that they proposed, they were not able to meet our specifications. Um and so, they um basically declined to continue um at at the price they proposed. So, based on that, the the award was made in error um since they they were not not upfront with their proposal. Um so, we've worked with our finance department to make sure we're on sound footing with our local policies. We worked with GEMA to make sure we're on sound footing with um GEMA and FEMA policies. And so, um

our our request is to declare that original um proposal that was awarded to Current Edge Solutions as non-responsive based on the the new facts and awarded to Cowart Electric who would have been the next next um vendor had we um you know, had the had all the facts and evidence at the time the original bill was made. So, be glad to answer any questions. I know that's maybe a little confusing, but be glad to answer any questions you might have about the request. Any questions for Mr. Town? You feel like Cowart would be able to install these by the end of the year if everything goes all right? That is yeah, you know, obviously there are factors out of their control and but as long as the factory is able to meet the timeline they've they've told them. Um we have a great relationship and Cowart has a great track record. So, I feel confident about the end of the year we'll have these installed which will be a a huge um uh huge thing for for us in future storms. Yeah, I think you said it's when we first talked about it like about 500 residents between all the facilities through what or whatever. So. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Commissioners, I'll consider a motion. Motion to approve declaring the initial proposal from current Edge Solutions non-responsive and awarding the contract to Cowart Electric. Okay, we have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. We have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign? Hearing none, motion carries. Agenda item 5E is the Bible continuation grant application. Commissioners, you heard from the Solicitor General's office at the work session yesterday morning. Uh unless you have any particular questions, I will entertain a motion uh on the approval of the grant request.

I make a motion to accept the Solicitor General uh continuing grant award and authorize the chairman to sign all award documents. Okay, we have a motion by Mr. Smith. Do we have a second? Second. We a second by Mr. Weisenbacker. There's no discussion. I'll entertain a mo- I mean I'll I'll take the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign. Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item 5F is the opioid litigation and this is six remnant defendants, Ms. Bowen. Good evening, Commissioners. Um as we discussed yesterday, a settlement has been reached by six remnant defendants to provide financial resources to combat the opioid epidemic across the United States. Uh special counsel has advised the county to participate in the settlement in order to receive these funds that are aimed at addressing the opioid crisis. To participate in the settlement, board approval is requested to authorize the chairman to execute the combined participation and release form. Any questions for Ms. Bowen?

This is one more How much longer are we eligible for these funds or can we expect to possibly receive them? Um each of the settlements have different terms over the life of them. We still have several years in the settlements that we're currently a part of and if they keep going in the direction that they are, they'll keep releasing new settlements. Um so as we've seen, they keep releasing new ones every maybe six or so months as they are able to get things to that final stage. Um so I would expect to keep seeing these funds coming in for the next couple years at least from what we've heard so far. Appreciate it. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Evans. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed like sign. Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item 5G is the potable well testing, Mr. Staudinger. Yes, sir. Due to our ongoing issues with water quality at the Alapaha Plantation and Stone Creek, staff along with Lovell Engineering met with Scott Ziegler, a hydrologist with Jim Stidham and Associates of Tallahassee, Florida. Mr. Ziegler brings extensive experience working with municipalities in North Florida, South Georgia on well field development and issues related to the Floridan Aquifer. After reviewing the test data from our two wells, Mr. Ziegler recommended extensive testing that involves video and geophysical logging on the Alapaha Plantation well three and the Stone Creek remote well to determine whether these wells can be put back into service. The cost of the recommended service is $43,910 per well. Staff recommends approval of the potable well testing by Jim Stidham and Associates for a total amount of $87,820. Okay. Any questions for Mr. Staudinger? Just one, Steve. I realize we've been

working with Alapaha Plantation for some time. Worst case scenario, best case scenario? Uh worst case scenario is that the the water in the veins do not supply uh good water that's that's able to be treated as is, and then we would have to go to nanofiltration. Best case scenario is we find a zone there that provides decent water that can be utilized with our regular treatment. Thanks. So, this is supposed to help us figure out the depth that maybe good water is. That is correct. Yes. So, this specialist Yes. Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Okay, we have a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor, signify by I. I. All in favor, say aye. opposed, like sign? Hearing none, motion carries. To the next item, six, county manager report, Ms. Dukes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, commissioners. Um, there's been some questions related to what what the current drought category actually means for us and where we are. Are there water restrictions that are going to be um put into place where the state is concerned? So, um both Mr. Tai and Mr. Stalvey have been uh talking to their counterparts at the state on that. So, I'd like to ask Mr. Stalvey to kind of give you all an update. I know that you've recently seen some things that have been put out by other local governments. As you know, the reaction to the drought categories is a call that is made at the state level. I think that with the 69 private water systems that we have here in Lowndes County, we also have concern um about those wells as well as just the in the unincorporated area, those homes that that have private wells. So, um we are certainly watching our well levels, as you well know, and then Steve's got some additional information. Steve. So, the Georgia EPD did issue the level one drought response declaration uh

yesterday. This requires public water systems to implement a public information campaign. Uh part of this campaign uh is to target all commercial and residential users, uh not just on outdoor watering, but on being good stewards of our water resources. And some of the things that they um emphasize and and recommend is regularly checking for repair and repairing leaks on the outside of your home and the inside, not leaving tap water on when you're brushing your teeth or shaving or doing things like that, and then only watering your landscape when necessary and adjusting sprinklers so that they're hitting the actual yard and not the the concrete drive and and sidewalks and such as that. Um under the the level one drought response, general landscaping watering uh should be done between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. The the the time frame other than that you have so much evaporation that you're not utilizing the water very well anyway. Now, there are some exceptions to that. You can irrigate a personal food garden anytime of the day and you can irrigate new and replanted plants or turf can be done for up to 30 days anytime of the day. Drip irrigation or irrigation using soaker hoses can be done anytime and then you can do hand watering and containers that have automatic shutoffs. One thing that we can't do is go with a stronger stance than what the state allows. So, we wouldn't be into the even and odd although that would not be a bad practice to to take up if residents chose to do that, but that's nothing we can enforce at this time. But, I think if we just look at it and and try to do these methods, we can go a long way toward conserving our water and and being good stewards of that resource.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Steve. And Ms. Barrowwick has the public education component that that we will begin tomorrow. Second, I know that the other topic that's been of conversation over the last week is the wildfires, what that means to our region, where Lowndes County is in assisting with the response. So, I'd like to ask Chief Young to come up. He's gotten some updated numbers from forestry. He can talk about our resources, the efforts that we've gone to to be a good neighbor, but also manage our local our local taxpayers' responsibility as well. So, Chief Young. Thank you, Ms. Dukes. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, good evening. Commissioner Weizenbacker, I want to thank you for your prayer. Especially uplifting the firefighters and asking for some rain cuz we need some rain. Uh just give you an update real quick. Just this information is from Mr. Blair Joiner. He's one of our area district managers for Georgia Forestry. The Pineland fire, which is the Clinch Echols fire, is currently at 32,541 acres at a 23% containment. And then the Highway 82 fire in Brantley is currently at 22,600 acres with 32% containment. Uh we've had the boots on the ground with both fires since last Tuesday. Uh our guys will be our personnel will be timing out tomorrow. And when then we'll be reevaluating with Ms. Dukes if we are to send more people over. Uh but our guys will be coming home tomorrow evening. Um just let you know, so the big concern now is the talking about reburn. So the vegetation and all that was, you know, not consumed during the original fire, will start falling. And then as y'all know, dealing with peat in the areas that this fire is in, the peat moss, that fire sitting there smoldering, we start getting the foliage starting to fall, and then starting to have reburns. That's one of their big concerns now that they're looking at. Um just to give you a brief story, um we were over at the Pineland fire on Tuesday. And um to tell you the impact that our person that our personnel

Lowndes County personnel having, um we were able to uh we were off of Register Road, which is off of Weir Roush off in Echols. And uh we were uh structural protection in the area. Uh our guys found a little puppy that had been left behind cuz they had done the mandatory evacuation in that area. And our guys uh rescued the little puppy, put him in the fire truck, and I actually I just got a text. They're reuniting him with the owner this evening. Um one of our captains, Captain Joey Joey Herndon, uh has put him at his home for the past few days. And uh they're reuniting him today. So our guys are making an impact and uh just thank y'all for y'all's support of what you're giving us. And I know I have heard from um Mr. Jimmy Bennett, which is the fire chief of Echols County. He is really appreciative of all that we're doing to help them and we're getting good reports from the Brantley County fire that our guys they have been engaged. They're not just sitting in staging. They're using our equipment, our guys and they'll like I said they'll be home this tomorrow evening. Any questions? Are y'all using the trucks or more the brush trucks in these fires?

No sir. Well, we received we sent over a reserve engine. Appreciate you. Yes sir. Just pass it on to your guys how much appreciation we have that they're over there positively wrecking uh uh Look I'm doing my

Representing. Representing Lowndes County and the great job Chief that you do and all of your staff. So, we're proud of them. Uh just tell them be safe, come on back home and then like you said we'll reassess what we need to do and then we're going to provide the services as much as we possibly can. Uh cuz fortunately we've been able to take care of any fires that we have had here in Lowndes County, but we could be in the same boat. Yes sir. And so it's it's important that we help our neighbors when we can and when we have the resources to do that. So, again thank you for all that. The brothers and sisters from North Georgia they're starting to roll in now to give these South the South Georgia firefighters a break. So,

Yeah. It's statewide they're neighbors helping neighbors. That's good. Good. I thank y'all.

Okay. Thank you sir. Um thank you Mr. Chairman to reiterate uh Chief Young's comments. We are providing primarily structural fire protection. So, that's the reason for the engine. You all remember there are new brush trucks that are provided for in spots. So, Chief Young and his team are in the process now of specking those out. So, we'll have those bidding very soon. The reason that our brush trucks are not responding to either of these fires is because of their age. I'm not quite sure that they we might get one over to Echols County, but it not might might not make it back and I'm not sure that that we could get them to to Brantley and then be any good whenever they get there. And also the reason we're coming back in now is that based on the location of those fires, they're not threatening homes as as much as they were before. And so this you know with a long long long-term event then there's an ebb and flow to to what that that prospective damage could be. So we're still going to be a a good neighbor there. And then also hurricane preparedness week which we could deal with a small tropical storm right now might not be a bad idea. That is next week. Very small. Very small. Very small. But a lot of the things that you would do to prepare your home or your business for a hurricane also relates to wildfire preparedness as far as making sure that your vegetation and you have those clear areas around your home in the event that we should have winds. Commissioner Marshall has talked a lot about making sure that we're still able to provide for the disposal of vegetative debris especially right now. So we have double-checked with our haulers that they can pick those things up. There's a a separate call for that. There's not a a route currently available and they will accept that material at the recycling centers. Also next week is National Small Business Week. As you all know our small businesses were here first. They will certainly be here last and they remain the backbone of our local economy. On Monday May the 4th at 9:00 a.m. at 106 South Patterson Street which is the old Bank of America building there will be a

proclamation I'm to celebrate our small businesses for National Small Business Week. So we hope to see you all there and that concludes my report Mr. Chairman. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Dukes? Just wanted to just humbly request that we uh ask the citizens to honor the ban the the burn ban. I know it's hard. I know it's troubling for a lot of people but you know it's really getting a little rough and I know we're talking about citations and stuff now but some some some don't quite understand the seriousness of it, you know. Well, reality is is that that burn that debris pile that you have piled up, it doesn't have legs, so it's not going to go anywhere. It'll stay right there until we do get favorable weather and we come out from underneath the burn ban, then it can be burned at that point. Uh so, we just want to we just want folks please understand just how easily a fire can get out of one We've had them been started with lawnmowers, uh all kinds of different things. So, it's not just intentional um setting of fires. They're They can be accidentally set, too. But, please, if you have a fire, the first thing to do is call 911, get the fire trucks, the firemen coming to the scene, then you fight the fire because if you take the time to fight the fire and then it gets out of hand, you'll find yourself in a losing battle, and by that time the resources show up, that you may have a fire that's out of hand at that point. So, just, you know, some common sense things that we as citizens should be conscientious of and being able to work through this process until we get some wetter weather coming through. All right. We will now move into our citizens wishing to be heard. Our first citizen is Mr. Jimmy LaPaille. Please come forward and state your name

and and your address for the record, please, Mr. LaPaille.

Jimmy LaPaille, 3561 River Chase Drive. Thank y'all for letting me have a chance to talk. Um yeah, I don't um have a real prepared speech, but I just wanted to to come up and reiterate my concern with uh the consideration of the data center. Um I actually live My back property line is the Withlacoochee River, and at this point in time that part of the river is down to a little trickle. And historically this time of year that river would be probably flooded. Now, I'm I'm I would be the only one person in the planet that didn't know we're in the middle of a huge drought. But it just visually it reiterates to me that you know, maybe we're really not doing that great a job of stewarding our resources. And then when I see the consideration for something like a data center that everybody knows is going to need a lot of water. Um are we really, you know, doing as good a job as we can be doing um how we go about making that decision? I mean, I'm not 1,000% against the data center. I I'm I'm for anything that helps Lowndes County. But I am against anything that does uh has negative effects on the environment and the stewardship of our our property for us and for generations to come. So, I was encouraged uh a few weeks ago I think I saw a publication you guys put out about some action items that uh you plan to take, maybe some trips to some data centers, um talking to other counties, other places that have data centers, and really get to understand what's involved there so you can do a good job making that decision. So, my request would be maybe next meeting or something, is there a chance we could could get an update on where you're on those specific steps and what you plan to do? Okay. Well, thank you,

Sir. Thank you. Are the microphones on at the podium? They should be. Yes, they are. That's because I was 8 to 10 in from the microphone, but I can turn it up. Okay, our next speaker is Mr. Michael Noll. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Uh good afternoon uh Chairman Slaughter and Commissioners. My name is Michael Nolan and I live at 2305 Glenda Drive as I've been doing for about 26 years by now. As I was listening carefully to uh what the individual I'm sorry, I do not remember your name said in terms of the fire department all the work is being done. So, it's good to be reminded that during a time of a crisis we're all are working together. We rolled up our sleeves and it doesn't really matter if you're Republican or Democrat or an independent in the end we're working together. But, it reminded me a little bit on the story. I'm not just making this up. I had a speech. I'm just going somewhere else with this. Just reminded me a little bit on the story when when we had our second of two hurricanes come by and my neighbor who clearly is a Trumper and I'm clearly a not a Trumper he didn't have water, I didn't have electricity. There was no discussion. He got water, I got electricity and that was all that needed to be done in the end. When we are in a moment of crisis, we have the tendency to work together. And I loved it. And it should be that way. Now, I've heard a lot of things about such things as stewardship, um the drought uh low water levels in the Withlacoochee and everything else. And you all know why I'm here today because I've been here before and others will be speaking before and after me uh in in coming um meetings as well. For one, uh we have been really coming to to share our concerns about possible data center that may be moving into town. And Lawn Citizens Against Data Centers,

the group that I'm representing tonight has also organized two different town hall meetings. The first one was with Amy Sherman who is with Georgia for Science and and with uh Hannah Baker who is actually with the Sierra Club. And the second one that just happened on April 17th was with uh Peter uh Hubbard who is currently on the Public Service Commission as well as Craig Kubiak who is running for a seat on the Public Service Commission. I'd like to acknowledge the fact that quite a few of you have read at these meetings and I hope they were instructional. I myself learned a lot. We're all in the middle of a learning curve for that matter as it as it as it is. Also, I would like to reiterate the question that actually was asked just before I came to the microphone. I truly would like to know where we are in regard to first visiting other communities and people that live directly next to data centers, what life has been after this data center moved in. We really need to know this first hand. I myself will be traveling very soon to find that out myself, but I'm hoping that you all are taking up on the promise that you made at some point earlier this year that you were going to visit some of these places. This is really really important. And then I'm also again here to reiterate the fact that regardless of where we stand at the end of the day, regardless of whether or not we have agreements or disagreements when it comes to data centers, and we certainly don't want a hyperscale data center in our community, we need to have guardrails or safeguards in place to deal with them. And there are various examples of data center ordinances that have already been developed or are being developed as we speak, and I wonder whether or not you've had access to any of those and where we are in that process. So, this is the second question basically. So, one, are you going to visit the place? If you need a location, be happy to provide it to you. And two, will you be working on a data center ordinance? And so, um there can be no question that really data centers are going to be part of modern economy. None of us are really pretending that the internet runs on uh magic, but we can determine how that magic unfolds and whether or not it's going to be good for our communities and for our environment.

Since I already mentioned we had two data center town hall meetings, we're working on another town hall meeting that will probably happen in June, and at that time when we come a little closer we'll invite you all. We'll be covering another topic which also sort of bubbled up during the last town hall center town hall meeting on data centers, and once we have a little bit more of the details we'll be happy to share them with you, and then I can count on you on being there because it's going to be a thing of interest to all of you. Thank you so much for hearing all of us tonight, and you have a wonderful day, and stay safe. Thank you, sir. All right, our next speaker is Ms. Susan Whalen. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Hi, my name is Susan Whalen. I live at 2410 Georgia Avenue, um 31602. Um So, thank you for coming to the meeting on last Friday. Those of you I saw, many of you there. Um and it was brought up at the meeting, I think by Mr. Fisher, that um the data center would basically use the same amount of water that the city of Valdosta uses in a day. So, if a drought happens during the data center existence, if it proceeds, I'm wondering whether you would choose to let citizens have the water or the data center have the water. And I'm also bringing up rumors that I've heard that the data center is already in progress, and that the son of one of the commissioners has um already been talking air conditioning and cooling unit contract going on. I don't I'm hearing these rumors. I just want to put them out there cuz I'd like them to be addressed. Um and also, I was just kind of you Those of you that were at the data center meeting, you heard the public service commissioners mention some of the corruption with Georgia

Power, and that they make money off of data centers. So, they're not objective participants. And so, but you named a Georgia Power representative to the South Georgia Regional Commission. That doesn't That sort of feels uneasy to me. Like it doesn't feel right. I would rather have a citizen who is not connected in any way to data centers on that regional commission. I know it's too late and it's I'm not allowed to choose, but lastly, um there are many people in the Lowndes County group against data centers who want to know why we're not live streaming these Board of Commission meetings. The city live streams theirs. I'm wondering why we can't live stream these meetings. Apart from walls, why we can't just do it uh that it's easily accessible to others. Um and I think that's all I want to say. Thank you. Thank you. All right, next speaker is uh Kelly Jarvis. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Hello. I'm Kelly Jarvis. I live at 3120 Put the mic down, please. I live at uh 3120 Stallings Road. Um I'll keep this brief. I want to address the lack of animal population control here. Um I would like to request that we have a few laws put in place such as programs to help and show people how to trap cats to get them fixed. Mandatory spay and neuter for cats by 6 months of age. Require all cat and dog breeders to obtain a pet pet dealer's license and limiting the number of animals per acre as there's currently no limit. I know a gentleman that as of 3 months ago, he stated that he had 20 cats at his home. These cats go in and out as they please. He lives in a neighborhood and does not believe in fixing his cats. That number has probably already doubled by now. If he was required to get his cats fixed and only have a certain number of cats, they would not be

roaming into people's yards that do not like cats or want them there, which has resulted in the death of some of his cats. We also need laws on how long an an animal can be caged or crated and the size of that crate or cage. There was a dog on my road that was locked up 24/7 in a small 10 by 10 fence with a small dog house inside taking up half of that space. This was during the winter when it was in the 20s. Myself and my neighbor called animal control multiple times. Each time they told us that the dog had food, water, and a shelter and that is all the law required. What is the point of having a dog just leave them outside to freeze? They need warmth, shade, and enough space to run around, not just lay. Overpopulation leads to overcrowded shelters, suffering, and euthanasia of unwanted animals. Spaying and neutering reduces the number of unwanted litters, which is a primary cause of pet overpopulation. By controlling the population, resources can be better allocated to care for the animals in need. And for those of you who do not like animals, help us help you by giving us the tools we need to control the population. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. All right, our next speaker is Mr. George Fisher. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. I guess it's evening now. Good evening. I'm George Fisher. My address is 5278 Hall Road, Hayneville, 31632. Mr. George, would you please point that mic a little bit up at your mouth? Okay. All right, is that better? Yes, sir.

Okay. Thank you. Um I've got 30 years of experience in the petroleum industry. As a petroleum geophysicist, I was one of the ones that put the X on the map of where to drill. Not drill at the surface, but drill 15,000 ft deep, sometimes 6,000 ft deep, sometimes 2 mi from where the drill site was you with a directional drilling. Um I've been retired, but a a rock guy never retires. Um I started studying where our water comes from. And we're part of what's known as the upper Floridian Aquifer. It's a huge, it's one of the best aquifers in the United States. It extends from the bottom of South Carolina, a third through Georgia, all of Florida, a little bit of Alabama, and even some of Mississippi. It is made up of essentially two components, the upper and lower Ocala formations. The upper Ocala formation is a limestone, calcium carbonate, that was laid down on a very quiet, warm sea floor, made up of shells and diatoms and living creatures that turned into calcium carbonate. As you get lower, you're getting into more magnesium, when they call that a dolostone. This rock is characterized as being very porous and permeable, with cracks, fractures, caves, sinkholes, and water moves through it very quickly. What's interesting about Lowndes County, and I've started studying it, and I'm compiling a report, if you'd like to see it sometime in the future, I'd be happy to use it. I've got slides, I've got PowerPoint presentations. I'm going to even try to bring in a core. If the officer will let me bring in a core.

pay your attention to here. Okay, yeah. Um and our water level is down. I've got on my phone, I've got the monitor where I look at the the real-time monitoring well from the USGS, right there at the Withlacoochee and North Bell Astro Road. What my concern is is the way the water moves and the way the fractures, the way the water is directed. Underneath this reservoir is a buried graben. This is a basically extensional graben. It It's the earth lifts up, separates, falls down, and this leads to a northeast line. The upcharge, where the our reservoir is charged locally, is where the um Cherry Creek flows in the Withlacoochee. And if you look on the aerial photo, you'll you'll see two or three, possibly four, sinkholes that are there. One of these sinkholes is 72 ft deep. It actually reaches the top of the reservoir. This is where the water charges the reservoir. If you look at where these sinkholes seem to be going, they seem to me to be following this older trend, this north east to southwest trend. Um what I'm telling you is I'm not I'm finding this on the data. I started looking at the the reports that date back to the '40s. And it's my technique to always start with the oldest first and then move on. So, I'm right now up to the the '70s and early '80s. So, I'm continuing this uh study and I'm going to I'm going to pursue it. What my concern is is this data center. And when the data center comes in, who knows what it's going to do. How much water is it going to drink? How much water is it going to accept?

Um if it accepts a lot of water, that means you have a lot of fluids moving through that's going to make the rocks um more it's going to bring in more debris, you're going to lose water quality. Um if they start sucking it out there, it also has an effect on this ground the surface conditions. So, I would expect if we have big rains here in the next couple of weeks, I would expect to see a sinkhole somewhere along that trend. These trends are on echelon, means they're they're not in a straight line, they're they're separated like this. Uh that's why you had the sinkhole at um Snake Nation Road back there uh Shiloh Road sinkhole. Um I am very concerned about my neighbors. Uh in Riverchase, in uh the cemetery, and Foxborough, if this data center is located there, I would be very concerned about subsidence subsidence of the ground. I would also be concerned about sinkhole development. I'd be happy to uh come back at a later date when I've completed some more studies. My time is up.

Good evening. Move this down. I'm short. Dr. I'm Amanda Hall, 2102 North Sherwood Drive. Um I In the handout, I've included the Brooks County and the Tift County animal control ordinance um that relates to tethering. Um when the Brooks County was putting together the ordinance, um this happened right after a young mother was mauled to death by a pack of dogs, and it was very important to um Sheriff Dewey and the rest of the commissioners, their number one priority was that there was a complete ban on tethering. Not because it was just inhumane, but because it's dangerous. Um and every single commissioner was on board with it. And quite frankly, I'm a bit honestly perplexed that there's so much resistance here with the county in not wanting to move forward with with it. Um long-term tethering causes significant psychological harm, resulting in neurotic, anxious, and highly aggressive behavior. Research shows that chronically tethered dogs are three times more likely to bite. And these dogs are deprived of interaction from people. They're unsocialized and are often fearful of unfamiliar familiar people, especially children. And when they're confined to a tether, they do not have the ability to flee when they feel afraid or threatened. Their only perceived recourse is to bite. I've included the um a position statement from the USDA

um that was written in 1996. And they concluded 30 years ago that continuous confinement of a dog by a tether is inhumane. I can promise you one of the fastest ways to create an aggressive dog is to chronically tether it and starve him of starve him of human attention. Section 18 on the handout is from our tethering ordinance. It's um sort of the last line. It says the animal is not to be tethered to a cable run for any duration other or durations likely to cause physical and mental suffering. A dog that is tethered 24/7 is suffering mentally. No doubt about it. Um so our ordinance is completely unenforceable. And there's no disputing the fact that the majority of tethered dogs live in low-income areas of the county. These dogs are owned by people who have very little insurance, if any, that would cover victim's cost of medical care or any damages. Frankly, the victim has no recourse. Lowndes County requires swimming pools deeper than 24 inches to be enclosed by a minimum 4-ft fence with self-closing and self-latching gates. Chronically tethered dogs are just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than unfenced swimming pools. And I question the liability what liability does the county shoulder knowing the well-established evidence between chronic tethering and aggressive behavior when someone is bitten by a tethered dog and the county has not passed an ordinance that would prevent the bite. I know that there's concern about the

financial burden of low-income people, low-income families. I priced a fence at Tractor Supply last night. So, for $300 you can which includes the 40 whole $40 t-post driver, you can build a 1,200 square foot enclosure. The cost to walk into the front door of the emergency vet is $500. If you cannot afford a $300 fence, you cannot afford a dog and you certainly can't afford the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills when your dog mauls a child. Thank you. Members, any questions, comments? No sir. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion.