Tag Archives: Tim Carroll

Pictures: Two Mile Branch Berkley Drive Cleanup 2023-03-25

It went well, the joint WWALS and City of Valdosta cleanup of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive, on March 25, 2023.

Many good things have happened since then.

However, there is still plenty the City needs to do about trash.

[Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25]
Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25

Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading, neighbor Jan Powell for rustling up some participants and helping at the table, to City Engineer Ben O’Dowd, City Council Tim Carroll, and Mayor Scott James Matheson for helping, along with quite a few other volunteers.

See also facebook photosets and videos by:

Some of the things the Engineer and Mayor promised have happened. Continue reading →

Valdosta promises an upgraded Watergoat; offers no plan for cleaning it out or nearby woods 2023-02-17

Update 2023-02-22: Valdosta will maintain Berkley Drive trash trap 2023-02-22.

Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd says Valdosta has purchased an upgraded Watergoat trash trap, to be installed in approximately March.

It will go in Sugar Creek, he says, and the old one will go into Two Mile Branch below Berkley Drive.

[Valdosta promises new Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash report, Old Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash]
Valdosta promises new Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash report, Old Watergoat, Two Mile Branch trash

That’s all good. Thanks for doing that, Engineer O’Dowd, and City of Valdosta.

But he did not mention any plan for cleaning out that new trash trap location on Two Mile Branch. Remember, Continue reading →

Two Mile Branch Trash 2023-02-11

Update 2023-02-18: Valdosta promises an upgraded Watergoat; offers no plan for cleaning it out or nearby woods 2023-02-17.

Lots of trash is on land owned by the City of Valdosta at Berkley Drive, upstream on Two Mile Branch, especially after the recent rains.

[Trash and fire extinguisher, Two Mile Branch 2023-02-11]
Trash and fire extinguisher, Two Mile Branch 2023-02-11

This is in City Council District 5, Tim Carroll.

I’ve heard that the city goes out and cleans this up, but it just comes back. If I were them, I’d start to wonder where it’s all coming from, and how to stop it. Like maybe by enforcing the city’s own ordinances prohibiting letting trash escape parking lots, and requiring trash cans.

The yellow lines in this map outline city-owned tracts of land. Continue reading →

From bad to worse: Cherry Creek 2023-02-12

Update 2024-01-28: Four more Valdosta sewage spills 2023-12-17.

Update 2023-02-17: Valdosta sewer main collapse, US 84, effects to E. Park Ave., along Knights Creek 2023-02-15.

The Withlacoochee River tested worse than Cherry Creek for E. coli both upstream and downstream from where Cherry Creek comes in, after Valdosta’s Saturday sewage spill.

[Cherry Creek tests 2023-02-12]
Cherry Creek tests 2023-02-12

So that 2,800 gallons of raw sewage apparently did not materially affect the Withlacoochee River.

But the test results mean it would be wise to steer clear of creeks and rivers for a few days. Continue reading →

Cherry Creek water quality sampling after Valdosta sewage spill 2023-02-12

Update 2023-02-12: From bad to worse: Cherry Creek 2023-02-12.

Valdosta had a small sewage spill Saturday, next to a branch of Cherry Creek. It was probably too small to have much effect on the creek and even less on the Withlacoochee River. WWALS sent water quality testers out to sample anyway.

[Boys & Girls Club Lift Station, Lake Laurie Drive, The Dip, Lake Cleve, Cherry Creek 2023-02-12]
Boys & Girls Club Lift Station, Lake Laurie Drive, The Dip, Lake Cleve, Cherry Creek 2023-02-12

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson texted me yesterday. He says the spill was first reported to Valdosta Utilities about 7:30 PM and “stopped discharging about 11:00p last night.” He was referring to Saturday, February 11, 2023.

The amount is estimated to be 2,800 gallons. That’s a minor spill (less than 10,000 gallons).

The spill was from Valdosta’s Boys and Girls Club Lift Station, 3658 Lake Laurie Drive, Valdosta, GA 31605. That’s in Valdosta City Council District 5, Tim Carroll. Continue reading →

Personnel and trash at Valdosta City Council 2022-08-11

It wasn’t us this time.

Council Sandra Tooley brought up trash, Click ‘n’ Fix, and Valdosta’s favorite excuse for not doing much: “we’re short on staff“ and “A lot of people have a lot of things going on in their departments.” This was in the last five minutes of the August 11, 2022, Valdosta City Council meeting.

[Council Sandra Tooley requests Executive Session about personnel and trash]
Council Sandra Tooley requests Executive Session about personnel and trash

The Mayor said they had a request for an Executive Session, and asked for a motion. Council Tim Carroll wondered why.

Council Sandra Tooley explained, “Citizens have come to me, and they have this thing they like to say, that we do not have enough staff, that we’re short on staff, that we’re not getting things done.”

See for yourself in this excerpt of Valdosta’s own facebook live video of the meeting. Continue reading →

Valdosta completing buys of 37 sewer lift station generators @ VCC 2022-03-10

Tonight Valdosta Mayor and Council will approve the last two of 37 emergency standby generators for lift stations, which is a milestone for Valdosta’s ongoing upgrades to its sanitary sewer system. Congratulations, Valdosta Mayor and Council and staff!

About Item 5.a. Consideration of bids for the purchase of two emergency standby Generators for Lift Stations located at Dillard’s and the Second Harvest Food Bank, on tonight’s agenda:

[Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10]
Photograph of a lift station generator @ VCC 2022-03-10

BUDGET IMPACT/FUNDING SOURCE: User Fees

HISTORY: To ensure continued sewage lift station operations during power outages and to satisfy the Georgia Environmental Protection Division requirements, the Utilities Department developed a scope of work to purchase two emergency standby generators. These generators are needed to prevent lift station failures due to power outages from storms or other unexpected causes. Several years ago, the City initiated a program to purchase standby generators or emergency standby diesel pumps for all of its existing sewage lift stations. These are the final two generators needed to complete the Program. Once they are installed, all 37 of our lift stations will have some form of dedicated emergency backup capability from generators and/or backup diesel pumps. Additionally, this will complete Condition 18 of the EPD Consent Order which requires the installation of fixed generators and/or backup pumps at all lift stations by September, 2023. Moving forward, all new City lift stations will include a dedicated emergency backup capability as part of their construction.

I added the emphasis to the above quotation. The italicized part about going forward is maybe as important as the boldfaced part about catching up.

Thanks to Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll for pointing out this completion of the lift station generator purchases.

Now we look forward to Valdosta finishing fixing manholes and sewer lines that leak in big rains, such as the one on Wainwright Drive at One Mile Branch.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Valdosta passes resolution opposing strip mine near Okefenokee Swamp 2021-11-11

Update 2023-01-05: News again: Valdosta’s 2021 resolution against the strip mine proposed too near the Okefenokee Swamp 2023-01-01.

Yesterday the most populous city in the Suwannee River Basin passed a resolution opposing the proposed Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) strip mine or any others within ten miles of the Okefenokee Swamp. The resolution further asks the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its abdication of oversight, asks GA-EPD for a moratorium on all mining permits until effects are settled of the recent court overruling of 2020 Clean Water Act changes, as well as to reject the TPM permits, or at least to review those applications as thoroughly as the Army Corps would, and asks the Georgia legislature to prevent such strip mines near the Swamp or any blackwater rivers in the Suwannee River Basin.

You can also ask the state to stop this mine: https://wwals.net/?p=55092

[Mayor and Riverkeeper]
Mayor and Riverkeeper

Continue reading →

Denied: Deannexation of Cherry Creek Mitigation Bank @ VCC 2021-08-19

Update 2023-11-20: Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Valdosta Old Clyattville Road Widening 2023-10-19.

WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman heard it on Valdosta’s facebook livestream. The result was surprising only in that it was unanimous.

Bryce Ethridge, Valdosta Daily Times, Aug 24, 2021, City denies de-annexation request, approves park projects,

VALDOSTA — After tabling it at the last meeting, Valdosta City Council denied the de-annexation of 310 acres from the city.

This was a request made by the Uvalde Land Company for the city’s portion of the Cherry Creek Wetlands Mitigation Bank property located between the Withlacoochee River and Cherry Creek residential neighborhoods.

The company wanted the change for “wildlife management and recreational use” for a hunting ground.

The request, even before being brought up in the council meeting, was opposed by nearby residents, some of whom were concerned about being in the path of stray bullets because of their homes’ proximity to the area.

Mayor Pro-Tem Tim Carroll said the applicants can seek permits to hunt on the land while it remains within the city.

“None of the reasons given warrant the de-annexation of the property, especially when you consider there are a host of homeowners that have homes above this property,” he said. “They are citizens of Valdosta and they deserve to have their voices heard by their representatives.”

Carroll motioned to deny the request, followed by a unanimous vote in favor of the action.

[Aerial of proposed de-annexation]
Aerial of proposed de-annexation in 2021-08-05 Regular Session, Valdosta City Council

The picture is from the preceding City Council meeting, when they held the Public Hearing, before tabling at the landowner’s request.

Tim Carroll is visible behind the small monitor at the speaker’s podium. The de-annexation would have been from his City Council district, so, as is usual in such cases, the other Council members followed his lead, although some of them also had other reasons to deny.

See also: Continue reading →

Pictures: Langdale Park Withlacoochee River logjam, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper 2021-05-15

Update 2023-07-30: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-09-09.

In which the Mayor of Valdosta does work. I lent him my Sawzall and he sawed off a deadfall.

[Boats, Withlacoochee River, Deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper]
Boats, Withlacoochee River, Deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Salty Snapper

Many kinds of boats started out at Langdale Park Boat Ramp. Continue reading →