[0:06] you have before you the 2026 mill rate.
Um we have a short presentation for
[0:12] that. Um just to go over the millage and
the calculation of that.
[0:20] Just a reminder um the millage rate is a
tax levy um for county purposes. It is
[0:25] the tax rate per thousand dollar of
assessed property value. And you
[0:29] determine that by dividing your budgeted
tax revenues by your total digest, which
[0:34] is the value of the of the county, and
subtracting any roll backs. Um the
[0:39] taxpayers's bill of rights comes into
play there. Um that requires a roll back
[0:44] of the millage if there's significant
net value from reassessment.
[0:49] You have to calculate the value of that
reassessment and subtract it from your
[0:53] prior year's millage rate. And that
applies to all existing real property.
[0:58] Um, if you do not roll back to that
computed mill rate, you do have to
[1:02] advertise a tax increase as a percentage
and hold three public hearings.
[1:08] Um, just as an example, if you had $100
million um, added from reassessment and
[1:15] your digest was $2 billion and your
prior year milit rate was 5.283,
[1:22] the millet equivalent of that $100
million is.264.
[1:27] And so your roll back millage rate would
be 5.019.
[1:32] If you left your millage rate at 5.283,
you would have to advertise a 5.26% tax
[1:38] increase.
Um, for the actual calculation, um,
[1:43] there is $102.6 million added from
reassessment
[1:48] and your digest is 5.7 billion.
Last year's millage rate was 5.051.
[1:55] So the millage equivalent of that 102.6
million is 091 mills. Um so your roll
[2:03] back millillage for 2026 is 4.96.
Um if you had left it at 5.051 you would
[2:10] have had to advertise a 1.83% tax
increase.
[2:16] Um there are several formulas that you
use to calculate millage. The gross
[2:20] millage is going to be all of your
budgeted property tax and your local
[2:24] option sales tax divided by that digest
and then you have a roll back for the
[2:29] local option sales tax which is that
local option sales tax amount divided by
[2:34] the total digest. The difference in
those two is your net millage rate.
[2:40] Um just a reminder on local option sales
tax you know we have 8 cent here in
[2:46] Louns County. of that four cents goes to
the state of Georgia. One cent is for
[2:52] transportation splast which is for
regional um transportation improvement
[2:57] projects. You have your splast which is
split between the county and the
[3:01] municipalities and that's for capital
improvements.
[3:05] Your education splast which is split
between the school systems and that's
[3:09] for capital improvements. and then local
option sales tax which is split between
[3:14] the county and the cities and that is
for property tax relief and it has to
[3:19] roll back your property tax.
So this is a calculation of the M which
[3:26] is your maintenance and operation
millage um the countywide millage we're
[3:30] discussing. Um again the total digest is
$5.7 billion. Um your county taxes and
[3:38] your local option sales tax. Um your
total taxes there are 48.9 or just just
[3:44] under $49 million. So that gives you a
gross millage of 8.581.
[3:51] And then when you calculate that local
option sales tax roll back that is 3.621
[3:56] mills which gives you the 4.960 which is
the roll back millage. Um at the 96%
[4:03] collection rate which is what we
typically see in the first year of
[4:06] collection. That's about $27.2 2
million.
[4:12] Your special district millages, um you
have your industrial authority, which is
[4:17] a countywide, um that is recommended to
remain at 1.1 mil. Your rec recreation
[4:23] authority, again, that's countywide at
1.25.
[4:28] And fire services, which is in the
unincorporated area, that is recommended
[4:32] to remain at 2.5.
[4:37] as an example for a property tax owner
who lived in the unincorporated area.
[4:42] This is comparing 2025 with 2026.
Um if you had a property valued at
[4:49] $200,000,
the assessed value of that is 40% which
[4:53] is $80,000.
You subtract your homestead exemption
[4:57] that gives you a net taxable base of
$74,000.
[5:02] Um, your county tax would go from
$373.77
[5:07] to $3674,
which is a reduction of $6.73.
[5:14] There's no change in the recreation or
the industrial. Um, the county school
[5:19] system is PL rolling back their
millillage, so there's a reduction there
[5:24] of about $172
and no change with the unincorporated
[5:29] fire. So, your estimated tax on that
same property overall is estimated to go
[5:35] down about $24
for that same property that's located
[5:41] inside the city of Valdasta. You would
still see that same decrease of the
[5:46] county tax. No change in the recreation
or the industrial. Um, the city of
[5:51] Valdasta is proposing an increase. Um,
so that would go up about $129.
[5:58] Um the city schools are rolling back. So
that goes down about $19. So overall
[6:04] that tax bill would change by about
$104.
[6:10] If you look at the breakdown, um again,
this goes back to the unincorporated.
[6:15] For every dollar of taxes that you pay,
about 22 cents of that actually comes to
[6:21] Louns County. Five cents goes to the
parks and recreation authority, five
[6:26] cent to the industrial authority, 57
cents to the county school system, and
[6:32] 11 cents to the fire department.
Um, for every dollar for someone inside
[6:38] the city limits of Valdasta, about 17
cents comes to Loun County, 4 cents to
[6:44] the recreation authority, 4 cent to the
industrial authority, 28 cent to the
[6:50] city of Aldasta, and 46 cent to the city
school system.
[6:56] If you look at the history of the
millage rate, the bar that you see is
[7:01] the county's millage rate, the
countywide millage rate. And you'll see
[7:05] at the 4.9
um that is about just about half of what
[7:10] it was um back in 2005. It has
significantly come down and it has come
[7:16] down um every year since 2016.
[7:21] Um looking at the property tax and
budget history, this puts it in more of
[7:26] a chart form. You can see that um from
2018 to 2026, the increase in the digest
[7:34] value um of just over $3 billion to 5.7
billion. But you can see that the
[7:41] county's um military has gone from 8.814
to 4.960.
[7:48] Um and while the budget has increased um
over that time period um that next to
[7:55] last column there estimated taxes that
is the tax revenue that that millillage
[8:01] has brought in that has remained almost
um the same through that time period. So
[8:07] even though the the digest has increased
and the budget has increased the amount
[8:11] of tax revenue that the county actually
takes in has remained relatively the
[8:16] same. And this just puts that in a
graphical form. Um this is on two
[8:22] different scales. So the two lines go
with the left hand side that's in
[8:26] millions of dollars. Um that is your
budget and your property tax. Um the
[8:32] area goes to the right side which is in
billions of dollars. That shows the
[8:36] increase in the digest. And while you
see that that dark line at the top,
[8:40] which is the budget increasing, the
actual property tax revenue line has
[8:46] remained relatively flat.
And then finally, where does your money
[8:52] go? Um, this is just a breakdown of
every dollar you spend and how that um
[8:57] comes to the county. Nine cent of that
goes to the board of commissioners and
[9:01] administration.
One cent goes to the board of elections.
[9:05] two cents to the tax commissioner, three
cent to the board of assessors, two
[9:10] cents for engineering, 1 cent for
contingency,
[9:14] um, which are unexpected things that
happen. 11 cents goes to all of your
[9:18] court services, 36 cents to the
sheriff's department, 2 cents for animal
[9:23] services, 2 cents for emergency medical
services, which is ambulance service. Um
[9:29] all other public safety gets four cents,
public works 12 cents, industrial 5
[9:35] cents, recreation 7 cent, and all other
which is um includes your outside
[9:40] agencies gets about 3 cents.
Um so with that, if there are no
[9:46] questions, again, the countywide millage
is before you and that's recommended to
[9:50] roll back to 4.96 mills.
>> Any questions for Miss Black?
[9:56] » Stephanie, thank you for that
presentation. Will that be posted on our
[9:59] website? Yes, sir.
>> Thank you.
[10:01] » I I just wanted to say for clarity, uh I
guess this reflects no tax increase for
[10:05] the county, unincorporated parts of the
county. Correct.
[10:08] » Correct.
>> I want to thank you and staff for
[10:10] helping us save dollars in these trying
times.
[10:14] » Okay. Any other questions? All right.
Commissioners, I'll entertain a motion.
[10:19] » Motion to approve.
>> Motion to approve the 4.960 mill.
[10:25] » Yes, sir.
>> Okay, we have a motion. Second.
[10:28] » We have a second. Any discussion?
Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in
[10:32] favor signify by I.
>> I.
[10:34] » Any opposed like sign?
>> Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda
[10:39] item 5B is the adoption of the special
district millage for the industrial
[10:43] authority. Miss Black, you've already
kind of made some uh recognition to
[10:47] that, so go ahead.
>> Um, yes, sir. Um, prior to 2025, the
[10:52] Georgia Department of Revenue required
the millillage assigned to authorities
[10:55] to be included in that countywide mill,
but with the adoption of House Bill 581
[11:01] and um, related legislation, the mill
assessed for authority funding is now
[11:07] considered a special district and is
adopted separately. Um, the proposed
[11:12] mill for 2026 for the industrial
authority is 1.1 mills, which is no
[11:16] change from 2026.
Any questions for Mrs. Black? Hearing?
[11:22] None. I'll entertain a motion.
>> I make the motion to adopt the
[11:26] Industrial Authority Mill at 1.1.
>> Okay. We have a motion to adopt the
[11:31] Industrial Authorities uh special
district millage at 1.10.
[11:36] Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[11:37] » I have a second by Miss Evans. Any
discussion?
[11:41] Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in
favor signify by I. I.
[11:44] » Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
Motion carries.
[11:49] Agenda item 5C is the adoption of the
special district millillage for the
[11:53] parks and recreation authority. Miss
Black.
[11:55] » Um yes sir. Um as the same as the prior
one, um this is now a special district
[12:00] mill and has to be adopted separately.
Um parks and recreation has been set at
[12:06] 1.25 mills since it was first
implemented and there's no propose
[12:09] proposed change in that.
>> Any questions for Miss Black? Hearing
[12:14] none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to
approve. Okay,
[12:18] » we have a motion to approve the special
district millage for parks and wreck at
[12:21] 1.25. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[12:24] » I have a second. Any discussion?
Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in
[12:29] favor signify by I.
>> Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
[12:33] The motion carries.
Agenda item 5D is the adoption of the
[12:38] special district millage for fire
services. Miss Black.
[12:41] » Um yes, sir. Thank you. Um following the
board's approval to expand fire services
[12:45] in fiscal year 2022, a special district
was in um created that includes the
[12:51] unincorporated area and that fire um
millillage has been set at 2.5 mills um
[12:57] since its inception and there's no
recommended changes.
[13:01] » Okay, any questions for Miss Black?
Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.
[13:06] » Mr. Chairman, I move we adopt the
special district millage for fire
[13:09] services at 2.5. Okay, we have a motion
to adopt the special district millage
[13:14] for fire services at 2.50. Do I have a
second?
[13:17] » Second.
>> Have a second by Miss Evans. Any
[13:19] discussion?
>> Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All
[13:22] in favor signify by I.
>> Any oppose? Like sign?
[13:28] Hearing? None. A motion carries.
Agenda item 5E is batch one of
[13:34] resurfacing group for the transportation
improvement act known as TIA. And this
[13:38] is the project agreement for that
resurfacing. Mr. Mloud.
[13:42] » Uh yes, sir. Thank you. The board
approved the TIA local delivery
[13:46] application for batch one resurfacing
project on July 28th, 2026.
[13:53] G DOT has approved that application and
sent staff the project agreement to be
[13:58] approved by the board. Uh staff cannot
begin any part of the process to
[14:04] construct the project without this
agreement. Uh the agreement is eligible
[14:10] for the project cost up to 13,134,000.
[14:16] Uh this is T2 project and resurfacing 36
county roads.
[14:24] » Any questions for Mr. Mloud?
>> We have a total of the mileage of all
[14:28] these roads. It is fif just a little
over 52 miles.
[14:32] » Thank you, Chad.
>> A lot of new roads,
[14:35] » huh? A lot of resurfacing on roads.
>> All right. Any other questions? Hearing
[14:41] none. I'll entertain a motion. I
>> move we approve and authorize you to
[14:44] sign those documents.
>> Okay. We have a motion to approve and
[14:48] occupi occupi authorize the chairman to
sign the documents. Yes, sir.
[14:52] » Second.
>> Any discussion?
[14:56] Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All
in favor signify by I.
[14:59] » I.
>> Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
[15:02] The motion carries.
Agenda item 5F is the Twin Lakes Road
[15:07] Paving and drainage improvements. Again,
this is a TIA Transportation Investment
[15:13] Act uh project and this is supplemental
agreement number one. Mr. Mloud.
[15:17] » Uh yes, sir. The original agreement
dated 1228 of 2022 with G DOT has a not
[15:24] to exceed amount of 2.1 million for Twin
Lakes Road. Uh staff has requested the
[15:31] TIA office for an additional funding
request
[15:35] of 1.389
million1,389,400
[15:43] uh to cover the remainder of the project
for a total of 3,489,400
[15:54] » and Tia has agreed.
>> Tia has agreed. Uh they've sent the
[15:59] supplement agreement number one for you
to approve.
[16:03] » Gotcha. Okay.
>> Any questions for Mr. Mloud?
[16:06] » That's really just the difference
between bidding something and estimating
[16:11] something in 2022 versus
>> Oh, absolutely.
[16:15] » So, it's not that it was
>> this is this is the difference in
[16:18] estimating 2018
versus 2026.
[16:22] » So, there's no scope change or That's
correct. Or no. Okay.
[16:26] » This has already been started.
>> That's correct.
[16:29] » When will that road be completed in a
rough estimate?
[16:32] » 15 months.
>> Also in the keep in mind in the in the
[16:36] TIA operation, they build in a certain
amount of revenue out of that 1 cent for
[16:43] inflation issues. Tia one that we've
just finished with. Um they they
[16:49] basically really was underestimating
every or actually overestimating
[16:54] everything, underestimating the the
revenue. That's the reason why it ended
[16:58] a little earlier because the revenue
came in. Um, and so really the inflation
[17:03] factor wasn't really touched much on Tia
one until right at the end. Uh, so
[17:08] there's still revenue there for
inflation, but yet TIA 2 also they build
[17:13] in an inflation factor in there just for
this purpose.
[17:16] » Makes sense.
>> Okay, there's no other questions. I'll
[17:21] entertain a motion. Motion to approve
the supplemental agreement number one
[17:25] and authorize the chairman to sign.
>> Okay, we have a motion to approve
[17:29] supplemental agreement number one for
the Twin Lakes road paving and drainage
[17:33] improvements and authorize the chairman
to sign the documents. Do I have a
[17:37] second?
>> Second.
[17:39] » Have a second. Any discussion?
Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in
[17:43] favor signify by I. I.
>> Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
[17:48] The motion carries. Agenda item 5G is
the 2026 community development block
[17:54] grant disaster recovery funding
application and this is in regards to
[17:59] any conflict of interest. Mr. Mloud.
>> Uh yes sir. Loun County intends to apply
[18:04] for the 2026 CDBGDR
for improvements to Riverside Road. As
[18:10] part of the application, Loun County
must comply with federal conflict of
[18:15] interest regulations.
If an employee, agent, consultant,
[18:19] officer or elected official of the state
or of a unit of general local
[18:24] government, or if any designated public
agencies or subreients
[18:30] could be affected in any way by CDBGDR
funding, a full disclosure must be
[18:36] submitted to DCA
as part of the application.
[18:41] Additionally, the person or persons
affected must not participate in project
[18:46] discussion, planning, or voting. Uh
staff has done some due diligence. We're
[18:52] not aware of any conflict of interest
related to the proposed application
[18:58] target area uh based off of our
research. And what we would ask is the
[19:04] commission to discuss this as you
already have to determine that there is
[19:08] no conflict of interest.
>> Okay. Any questions for Mr. Mloud?
[19:13] Commissioners, uh, unless there is a
conflict of interest someone would like
[19:17] to bring to everybody's attention at
this point, then I would entertain a
[19:20] motion.
>> Motion to approve.
[19:21] » Do we have a motion to approve? Do I
have a second? Second.
[19:25] » Have a second by Miss Evans. Any
discussion?
[19:28] Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in
favor signify by I.
[19:32] » Any oppose? Like, sign? Hearing? None.
The motion carries. Agenda item 5H is
[19:39] the 2026 community development block
grant disaster recovery. Again, the
[19:43] CDBGDR funding application and this is
the engineering selection. Mr. Mloud.
[19:49] » Uh yes, sir. As part of the same project
and the same grant application, Loun
[19:54] County has to select a civil engineer
through an R RFP process. Staff prepared
[20:00] and advertised the RFP. staff received
11 submissions, 10 that met the
[20:06] requirements. Uh these scores we
provided to you yesterday morning.
[20:12] Uh the top three were Level Engineering
and Associates, Innovate Engineering,
[20:17] and Axis Engineering. All three of those
are local firms. Uh they scored in that
[20:24] order. And then the cost level was at
12% of construction. Innovate was at 9%
[20:31] and Axis provided a lump sum price of
$255,000.
[20:38] » Okay. Any questions for Mr. Mloud?
All right. Hearing none, I'll entertain
[20:44] a motion.
>> Mr. Chairman, that seeing that the
[20:47] estimated construction cost was uh
according to Mr. Mloud was around $4
[20:52] million. I see that as being the
difference between 9% and 12% being
[20:57] roughly $120,000.
So my motion would be that we approve
[21:02] innovate engineering as the engineer of
record for this.
[21:06] » Okay. So we have a motion then to
approve innovate engineering as the
[21:10] engineer.
>> Second project.
[21:11] » Do I have a second?
>> Mr. Marshall, was that a second?
[21:15] » Yes.
>> Yeah. Okay. So we have a second.
[21:17] » All right. Any discussion on the motion?
Hearing none. I'll call the vote. All in
[21:21] favor signify by I.
>> I.
[21:23] » Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
The motion carries.
[21:29] All right. Agenda item five. I is the
2026 community development block grant
[21:34] disaster recovery. Again, the CDBGDR
funding application. And this is the
[21:39] submittal resolution. Mr. Mloud.
>> Uh yes, sir. Again, as part of the same
[21:44] uh project and application for Riverside
Road, the attached resolution is
[21:49] required to be approved by the board
before staff can submit the application
[21:54] for the grant. The resolution simply
states the facts related to the
[21:59] application and allows the Southern
Georgia Regional Commission to complete
[22:03] and submit the final application.
>> Okay. Any questions for Mr. Mloud?
[22:09] » No, Mr. Chairman, I'd just like to uh
personally thank Chad um Paige,
[22:14] yourself, and the remainder of the
commission, Pastor Morgan, and the
[22:17] residents of that area for helping us
make this happen uh for them.
[22:21] » Yep.
>> Thanks.
[22:22] » Well, again, we're we're we're praying
that it is going to happen because we've
[22:25] got to be awarded the the grant, but
yes, the process of going through the
[22:30] applications, working with the South
Georgia Regional Commission to help
[22:34] guide us through the the grant process.
Again, everybody has really uh done a
[22:38] great job and pulled together because
this turns out to be a very significant,
[22:42] very important road. Uh really didn't
really show itself until we had all the
[22:47] storms uh in place and because there is
a an African-American cemetery on that
[22:52] road. As I've said, we we've actually
had some incidences where funerals would
[22:57] have to be postponed because they just
could not get down the road. It was that
[23:01] bad. So hopefully this will this is
going to eliminate all that and and
[23:05] we'll have a good area over there. So
>> when when would we we know if we're
[23:10] awarded?
>> So the grant application if I'm not
[23:14] mistaken is due October the 5th. It was
September 5th and they moved it to
[23:19] October and then typically by the end of
the year first of the year we would get
[23:24] notice
>> of award or not no award.
[23:29] » Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none,
I'll entertain a motion.
[23:32] » Motion to approve. The chairman to sign
the resolution.
[23:35] » All right, we have a motion to approve
and authorize the chairman to sign the
[23:39] resolution. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[23:40] » Have a second. Any discussion?
>> Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All
[23:44] in favor signify by I.
>> I.
[23:47] » Any oppose? Like sign? Hearing? None.
The motion carries. Agenda item 5J is a
[23:53] data center moratorum on accepting
applications for permits. uh yesterday
[23:58] morning at the work session you heard
from M Miss Dukes. I know she regrets
[24:02] she's unable to be here this evening uh
because she's just a little under the
[24:06] weather. So um commissioners if unless
you have any questions in regards to
[24:12] that over what we discussed at work
session then I will entertain a motion.
[24:16] » Mr. Chairman I move that we approve
resolution as presented.
[24:19] » Okay. We have a motion to approve the
resolution as presented and that does
[24:23] include a 60-day moratorum on the
application uh for permits.
[24:29] » So, do we have a second?
>> Second.
[24:30] » We have a second. Any discussion?
>> Hearing none. I'll call the vote. All in
[24:35] favor signify by I. I.
>> Any oppose like sign?
[24:39] » Hearing none. The motion carries. Thank
you, commissioners.
[24:44] Please. Thank you very much. All right.
We'll now move on to agenda item 6A and
[24:49] this is the one bid item that we have
and this is for the land application
[24:54] system known as LA. This is the holding
pond sludge removal. Mr. Stalin.
[25:00] » Yes, sir. Due to buildup of sludge over
several years, the 25 acre holding pond
[25:04] at the L needs to have sludge removed.
Staff in conjunction with Carter and
[25:09] Sloop Engineering advertised for bids to
have the sludge removed. Five companies
[25:14] submitted bids ranging from $914,240
[25:18] to $6,681,594.
[25:23] Tenderwater LLC doing business as
Southeastern Environmental Service
[25:27] submitted the low bid of $914,240.
[25:32] However, after reviewing its exper its
experience,
[25:37] staff and Carter and Sloop Engineering
have determined that it does not have
[25:41] the capac the capability in all respects
to perform fully and reliably the
[25:46] contract requirements. BAM 2
Incorporated submitted the next bid of
[25:50] $2,978,848
[25:54] and met the contract requirements of the
bid documents. Staff recommends the
[25:58] board reject the bid of Tindlewater LLC
doing business of Southeastern
[26:02] Environmental Services and accept the
bid of BAM 2 Incorporated for 2,978,848
[26:11] and authorize the chairman to sign the
agreement.
[26:14] » Okay. Any questions for Mr. Staly?
>> All right. Hearing none, commissioners,
[26:19] I'll entertain a motion.
[26:24] » Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve BAM
2 incorporated
[26:28] uh as the bid um for this project.
>> BAM two.
[26:32] » BAM two.
>> Okay. We have a motion to approve BAM 2
[26:36] uh for the bid on the project. Do we
have a second?
[26:39] » Second.
>> We have a second. Any discussion?
[26:42] » Hearing none. I'll call the vote. All in
favor signify by I. I.
[26:47] » Whoops. Let's show your hands.
There we go. Unanimous. Thank you very
[26:52] much.
All right, we'll now move on. Well, we
[26:56] won't move on to the county manager
report because Miss Dukes is not with us
[26:59] tonight. Uh, but we will move right on
into our citizens wishing to be heard at
[27:04] this time. Um, let's see. We will start
with Miss Teddiana Babcock.
[27:12] If you would please come forward and
state your name and address for the
[27:15] record, please.
[27:26] All right. My name is Tatiana Babcock.
>> Please.
[27:30] And I live at 3561 Ski Range Road. And I
wanted to point out we do have a large
[27:35] nonpartisan group here tonight. And I
want to welcome them as well. So, good
[27:38] evening chairman, commissioners, and
neighbors. Our county manager, Miss
[27:42] Paige Dukes, has spoke about rising
cost, housing, rent, and everyday
[27:46] pressures on families. That concern is
real. A lot of us feel it every month
[27:51] when the bills come due. So I ask a
simple question. If we are truly worried
[27:55] that people cannot afford rent and the
cost of living, why would we welcome an
[28:00] industry whose entire purpose is to
replace the human work with machines.
[28:06] These are not ordinary warehouses. These
are AI data centers. They exist so
[28:10] companies can run artificial
intelligence at massive scale. The same
[28:15] AI already taking jobs in customer
service, bookkeeping, dispatch, legal
[28:22] research, insuranceances, logistics, and
parts of the healthcare and
[28:28] our education. Reports show AI is
eliminating thousands of jobs every
[28:32] month across the United States and those
numbers are accelerating. That is the
[28:37] business model. A hyperscale facility
does not hire hundreds of local families
[28:42] for the long term. Construction jobs,
they do come and go, and even those are
[28:47] not guaranteed to the locals. After the
concrete is poured, you're left with a
[28:52] small crew, security, a few technicians,
and remote operators who may not even
[28:57] live here. The computers inside work 24
hours a day doing work that used to
[29:03] require people. Here's the
contradiction. We hear concern that
[29:07] families cannot keep up with rent and
groceries. Yet we are asked to accept a
[29:11] project that shrinks the future job
market our children will be walking
[29:15] into. You cannot say you care about
affordability and then help build the
[29:20] infrastructure that makes good local
jobs disappear.
[29:23] And this is where the disconnect becomes
impossible to ignore. Leadership in this
[29:28] county has grown disconnected from the
people who actually live here. When
[29:32] residents show up meeting after meeting
with real concerns about noise, water,
[29:37] power, sink holes, property values, and
their children's futures, their
[29:42] responses, and often a carefully worded
presentation, vague assurances, and the
[29:48] message that we just don't understand.
Hard questions are treated as uninformed
[29:53] or emotional instead of as citizens who
know their own land and know their own
[29:58] lives. That is not leadership. That is
distance. If officials lived the same
[30:03] daily pressures, the same rent, the same
power bills, the same worry about
[30:08] whether their kids have real careers
here, they would not treat a hyperscale
[30:12] AI data center as just another economic
developmental site. They would feel the
[30:16] same fear we feel when something this
large is pushed towards residential
[30:21] neighborhoods with so little
transparency and so few permanent local
[30:25] jobs. If fewer people have stable work,
rent gets harder. Young families leave.
[30:31] Kids grow up watching opportunity move
somewhere else. Our children will
[30:35] inherit three things from the decisions
that are made in this room. First, their
[30:40] jobs. If we train them for careers that
AI is designed to replace. We are
[30:44] setting them up to compete with a
machine that never sleeps and it never
[30:48] asks for a raise. Second, their cost of
living. Data centers demand enormous
[30:53] power. Residents across the state have
already learned that the new loads
[30:57] change the whole system. Generation,
transmission, long-term rates. Our kids
[31:03] will live with those costs for decades,
not for one election cycle. And third,
[31:07] their home, a hyperscale site next to
neighborhoods. It changes the noise, the
[31:12] light, traffic, water demand, and the
character of the land. In a county with
[31:17] sinkholes and carsted, this is not a
small risk. Tax money cannot replace a
[31:22] job that no longer exists. Tax money
cannot buy back quiet neighborhoods. Tax
[31:27] money cannot give a teenager a future if
the work that built this county has been
[31:32] automated away. If the county is serious
about people being able to afford rent,
[31:36] protect the things that let these people
earn a living, such as local jobs,
[31:43] stable utilities, safe land, and a
community that's worth staying in. Do
[31:48] not tell us you're worried about the
cost of living while paving the way for
[31:52] an industry that treats human labor as
the problem that needs to be solved. And
[31:58] do not stay so disconnected from the
people of Loun County that you can no
[32:01] longer hear them when they say clearly
and repeatedly, "We do not want this
[32:06] next to our homes." Put a real moratorum
in place. Finish a strong ordinance
[32:12] before any permits. Put our children's
future ahead of a speculative AI campus.
[32:17] Our kids should not have to pay the
price for decisions made without them
[32:22] and without us. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[32:28] » All right. Our next speaker, Mr. George
Fiser. Please come forward and state
[32:32] your name and address for the record,
please.
[32:38] » Good evening. My name is George Fiser. I
live at 5278 Hall Road in Hehyra,
[32:45] Georgia.
Uh, I've been working, as you know, on
[32:50] what lies beneath our limestone. We all
agree is a carsted limestone. It's got a
[32:56] lot of tunnels and caves in it. What
I've been doing for the last two or
[33:00] three months, I've looked at 22
different images, satellite images
[33:07] over our county. I've looked at uh from
1993
[33:14] to December 26th, 2025. We have
satellite images. These images are taken
[33:22] right above the site. Uh they sort out.
We don't have clouds. We don't have
[33:28] rain. We can see what is there uh very
well. What I've been looking for are
[33:35] trying to identify any carsted features
on the surface. What can you see on the
[33:41] surface? Are they indications of
anything below the surface that should
[33:46] be a concern? I've also looked closely
at existing places that have been
[33:52] studied including Shadri Sinkhole,
Shiloh Road, Riverchase, Ocean Pond,
[33:57] Twin Lake, Snake Nation Road, and
Camelot Crossing. I've looked at all of
[34:01] those in detail. I can actually make it
like a movie. I can get an image up
[34:05] there and I can flip back and forth,
flip back and forth, change the seasons,
[34:09] change the the angles. I can rotate the
angles. Um, a lot of the terminology
[34:15] that we use is a little confusing
because a lot of this work came from uh
[34:20] Slovakia and Croatia. So there it's in a
Slavic language. So there's kind of hard
[34:25] to pronounce. So I'm just going to use
simple terms ones here. Um,
[34:32] all of my ideas, everything technically
that I speak here, I have vetted. I send
[34:40] my notes to recognized professors of
hydrarology, of geology. I've got a uh
[34:46] former fellow I worked with that lives
in Perth, that's Australia, is one of
[34:50] the premier hydraologists in Southeast
Asia. And I get it vetted. I said, "Do
[34:56] you see anything in what I'm saying
that's incorrect or is not right?"
[35:00] Occasionally I get feedback and usually
my illustrations are exaggerated. You're
[35:05] you've compressed it too much. It's
indicating this. So I I change my
[35:09] illustrations that I don't show. What I
have found is where the data center is
[35:15] going to be located off of Coleman Road.
I've identified potentially two large
[35:21] dissolution features. I've named them
Mut and Jeff for the lack of a better
[35:26] word. Uh mut is about 500 feet in
diameter. Jeff is about 400 feet. They
[35:31] are indicated on the 1998 Georgia soils
report as wetlands, as a circle, as a
[35:39] depression. They're on the crest of the
feature, which means they're not bogs.
[35:44] The crest of the feature, the water
would drain off. A recent aerial view of
[35:50] that reveals water in both of these
things. A lot of wa water. So my concern
[35:56] is that they are in communication from
the surface down to the aquifer. The
[36:02] overlying rock, the Hawthorne group is
very shallow there. In fact, the whole
[36:09] the whole county dips down to the east
as far as our aquafer and the
[36:14] overburden. So it's very very very
shallow there. very near the surface.
[36:18] These depressions are aligned in a line
that's probably due to a compressional
[36:24] fra fracture that uh compress pressed
this um
[36:30] and they are designated wetlands. So, we
have to be very careful with the
[36:34] wetlands. I've also looked at other
features that I mentioned last time here
[36:38] to the east of the railroad tracks going
down to the river. What I'm looking for
[36:43] there are depressions, slope failure,
dissolution creasses,
[36:49] fluial washouts, and changing string
patterns, and even some trees that are
[36:53] knocked over there. Um,
so that's what I've been doing. And I do
[37:02] want to correct a previous statement I
made when I'm talking about the aquifer.
[37:06] I really want to change that when I
speak about the groundwater
[37:10] there. I've been talking about the aqua
aquafer aquafer but in researching some
[37:14] of the hydrarology it's really the
groundwater that is my concern you know
[37:20] uh we don't want to contaminate the
groundwater so
[37:25] what I want to ask you to do is to
consider in the ordinance putting in a
[37:31] very strong geohysical study I talked to
a geohysicist yesterday on my road this
[37:37] is what we do this is they're out of
Tallahassee and out Tampa, this is what
[37:41] they do. They they do electrical testing
to measure what the ground is like.
[37:46] Let's build our house on solid rock and
not on shifting sand.
[37:52] Thanks, sir.
All right. Our next speaker is uh Jen
[37:58] Frell. Please come forward and state
your name and address for the record,
[38:02] please.
[38:18] Uh, Jen Frell, 480 Murray Road. I am
here to address the conduct of the
[38:24] commissioners. Um, thank you for
allowing me to speak and let me
[38:28] apologize in advance to the people
behind me. Public speaking is not my
[38:32] thing. On August 11th, in this room, Dr.
Retrieva Gear made a comment to the
[38:38] commissioners that they in the process
of being elected were married to the
[38:42] people. Marriage as we all know is only
truly successful when built upon a
[38:47] foundation of mutual trust. Yet meeting
after meeting while we sit in this room.
[38:53] Thank you.
We are expected to follow and demanded
[38:58] to follow rules of decorum while we
watch all of you on your phones
[39:02] answering calls, sending text messages,
whatever it is that you're doing. As
[39:08] plainly as I can possibly say it, it's
disrespectful. It's giving rules for
[39:12] thee, but not for me.
Uh there are currently matters of public
[39:17] interest that have large portions of the
public involved in attending these
[39:20] meetings regularly and some that are
here for the first time. These matters
[39:25] of public interest are discussed even
more frequently on social media where
[39:29] there are no rules of decorum. Everyone
is free to weigh in as they see fit in
[39:34] these conversations oftent time become
extremely spirited. I am the admin of
[39:40] one local Facebook group with over
31,000 members. The vast majority of
[39:44] whom are Lowdens County residents,
business owners, and taxpayers. Several
[39:49] of you seated before me are members of
that group.
[39:53] I'm here today to place on the public
record comments left by Mark Weisenbaker
[39:58] in that group.
>> We're not going to mention any of the
[40:00] commissioner's names. Now, you can you
can admonish
[40:04] say what you want to say, but we're not
going to call out anything.
[40:07] » I'll take his name out. That's fine.
>> Okay.
[40:09] » On the evening of July 28th, someone
came into Miss Rachel's internet to tell
[40:15] me, and I quote, "There will be another
meeting like this one. Get off the
[40:20] couch, show up, and see for yourself.
Then maybe, just maybe, others will
[40:24] notice you probably have a brain or part
of one. It puts in question the validity
[40:30] of our marriage.
These comments have now been spread far
[40:34] and wide throughout the community. I
brought 50 printout copies that have
[40:39] already been given out. You may each
have one. We've also turned all of those
[40:43] comments into vinyl stickers
for anyone in the audience that may want
[40:48] them.
suggesting people should not be asking
[40:51] questions about these meetings unless
they are also willing to attend
[40:56] ignores your disabled constituents who
may not be able to physically attend. It
[41:01] ignores your economically challenged
constituents who may not have
[41:04] transportation to and from these
meetings. It ignores your constituents
[41:08] who work second shift or long hours. It
ignores our local farmers and farm
[41:13] workers and a large number of Lowdens
County residents who may otherwise want
[41:18] to attend these meetings but can't.
Which then brings forth the question,
[41:22] what happened to the high-priced
equipment that was purchased to live
[41:25] stream these meetings.
This is unacceptable conduct by someone
[41:31] uh who we, your constituents, expect a
higher level of professionalism and
[41:36] integrity from. In closing, I would like
to remind the entirety of you that we
[41:41] elected you to sit up there. We can
remove each and every one of you by
[41:47] recall.
>> We expect more and we deserve more.
[41:53] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[41:56] » All right. Our next speaker is Brida
Mink.
[42:00] Please come forward and state your name
and address for the record, please.
[42:18] My name is Britta Mink, 807 Blackwood
Road, Valdasta.
[42:25] I
am disappointed.
[42:29] I'm terribly disappointed. Um,
I'm glad I followed Jen because
[42:37] what she said is um,
a lot of what I feel and that is unheard
[42:45] completely unheard.
Uh, I think a lot of us in this room
[42:50] feel unheard. U, we do not want this
center. We do not want this data center.
[42:58] We want a complete moratorum. We 60
days. That's great. Thank you. I think
[43:04] that's wonderful and we appreciate it.
We do appreciate the 60 days.
[43:10] But we want we do not want it at all.
If if for some reason you guys cannot
[43:18] understand this,
um please hear it now.
[43:24] We do not want this.
[43:32] Um, there are a lot of reasons
it's not going to be in my backyard,
[43:41] but I've lived here since I was three.
I love this area. I don't want to move
[43:48] out.
And all of the things that are going to
[43:52] happen, they may happen after I die. I'm
old. I don't have children.
[43:58] My nieces and nephews don't live here.
My great nieces and nephews don't live
[44:03] here. They never will. So, you could say
I don't have a dog in this fight.
[44:09] But the people that I love are still
here and they're going to be here.
[44:16] And the fact that you guys are even
considering this,
[44:21] that means that you don't love this
place.
[44:24] And that's upsetting to me. If you can't
tell them I'm upset,
[44:29] then then you have less of a heart than
I thought you did.
[44:36] This is going to ruin a lot of people's
lives. This is going to take down
[44:44] the value of their houses.
This is going to ruin
[44:51] the land.
[44:55] This is going to destroy
the a lot of the animals.
[45:02] Like I said, I'm an old woman, so I bird
watch. Do you know how many birds are
[45:08] going to go away and never come back if
this place is built?
[45:15] We have beautiful birds here,
and this is going to make those birds go
[45:21] away.
Please don't do this.
[45:28] Please.
This isn't right. This This is This is
[45:32] not for us.
It's not my backyard, but it's my home.
[45:41] It's your home, and you should care more
about it. You really should.
[45:49] All right. Our next speaker is Charlotte
Noel Lundy.
[45:54] Rick, please come forward and state your
name and address for the record, please.
[46:02] » Hi everyone. Uh, my name is Noel Lundy
and I am a resident and student at
[46:08] Valdasta State University. Um, that's
1500 North Patterson Street. Go Blazers.
[46:13] Um, I am here to talk about the
proposition to build an AI data center
[46:17] in the Foxboro subdivision.
Aside from the fact that we as a
[46:21] community are saying we do not want a
data center here and that the voice and
[46:25] opinions of the people should be enough,
a data center would damage our community
[46:29] in several ways. The sound levels of the
methane gas turbines used to power AI
[46:35] data centers have been compared to that
of jet engines, making it impossible for
[46:39] residents and children nearby to sleep
at night, which increases rates of
[46:43] insomnia. And according to
uncalthcare.org,
[46:47] lack of sleep increases risks of
dementia, depression, and weight gain.
[46:51] It's especially damaging to newborn
babies and young children as it can have
[46:55] lasting effects of damage to their brain
development, putting them at increased
[47:00] risk for developing issues related to
mood regulation and intellectual
[47:04] disabilities.
A data center would also cause community
[47:08] electric bills and water bills to
skyrocket, a precedent set by residents
[47:12] in other parts of the country who have
been so unfortunate to have a data
[47:16] center built in their neighborhood. This
would affect all kinds of people in our
[47:20] town. Everyone like elderly on fixed
income, both single and dual inome
[47:25] households. And it would only add to the
many factors that affect rent
[47:29] affordability already. It also has huge
impacts on our environment like
[47:35] contaminating groundwater, taking away
crucial amounts of clean water from
[47:39] residents, and the decimation of local
bird populations.
[47:43] Data centers are not only an attack on
lowincome people. The increased use of
[47:48] reliance on generative AI is an attack
on our humanity and our right to
[47:53] sustainable living conditions. We cannot
separate ourselves from this land. We
[47:58] cannot live without clean air or
consistent affordable access to clean
[48:02] water. Our future is at stake and a
future where the world is a desolate
[48:07] wasteland of data centers is no future
at all. Please choose the people of
[48:11] Valdasta. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[48:15] All right. Our next speaker is Mr. Jimmy
Lefiles. Please come forward. State your
[48:19] name and address for the record, please.
[48:26] Jimmy Lefiles, 3561 Riverchase Drive.
First of all, thank y'all for giving me
[48:33] a chance to talk. I appreciate it. Um,
as y'all know, my family are longtime
[48:39] Loun County residents and intend to stay
that way. I'm an industrial chemist, as
[48:44] I've reported already. My research on
the chemical side of data centers
[48:48] indicates that the proposed 480 megawatt
data center will have over 7 million
[48:53] pounds of either ethylene glycol or
propyline glycol on site and could have
[48:59] tens of thousands of pounds of highly
toxic PAS chemicals aka forever
[49:05] chemicals because they never degrade
into safer chemistry.
[49:10] These are highly toxic water-soluble
chemicals that if released in the
[49:14] environment will migrate into the
groundwater and into our drinking water
[49:18] and we have no way to fix that problem.
50 pounds of PAS pollutes the entire
[49:23] Georgia Florida aquifer above the EPA
safe drinking water standards of four
[49:29] parts per trillion.
But I've reported all this already. So
[49:34] tonight I want to talk about something
else. Every one of these meetings starts
[49:37] with an invocation. We ask God to be
present in this room and to bless us and
[49:42] guide the people that here making these
decisions. And I take some solless in
[49:46] that because I know the job you guys
have is really hard trying to balance
[49:50] economic growth to the county and at the
same time maintain a high standard of
[49:54] living for the people there. On the one
hand, the data center could provide a
[49:59] lot of tax revenue revenue for the
county that could be used for many good
[50:03] purposes and some jobs. On the other
hand, the data center could generate a
[50:07] lot of serious problems. Nearby
neighborhoods may be faced with nuisance
[50:11] noise, lower property values, flooding
from increased storm water runoff, and
[50:16] possibly more frequent sink holes.
If there are chemical spills, all Loun
[50:22] County citizens will be faced with
drinking water polluted with even higher
[50:26] level of forever chemicals that we have
now, which will be there for generations
[50:31] to come. And these chemicals are known
to cause several kinds of cancer and
[50:35] autoimmune dysfunction.
All of the problems I just mentioned are
[50:40] specific to the proposed Coleman Road
site.
[50:46] A data center built on a site that
didn't have all the all the
[50:49] characteristics of the Coleman Road site
wouldn't present all these problems.
[50:55] The day the Coleman road site is close
to nearby neighborhoods in the width of
[51:00] Coochie River and combined with that
it's on a highly unstable porous car
[51:06] geology.
I am sure DC blocks the company that
[51:11] will build the data center, sell it and
then leave town with their money will
[51:15] claim to have answers to all these
issues. Do I believe that DC blocks can
[51:20] design and build a 480 megawatt data
center on car limestone within 2500 feet
[51:26] of the width of Cuchi River that will
run safely for years? No.
[51:31] I've got 40 years of experience with
with heavy industrial chemical plants,
[51:37] designing them, building them, managing
them, and I can tell you it's just not
[51:41] going to happen. The margin for error is
too small. Remember 50 pounds of PAS
[51:47] pollutes the whole aquaer.
Over time, equipment fails, pipes crack,
[51:53] inspections fail, people fail to follow
procedures, extreme weather happens,
[51:58] budgets get cut. Given the fragile car
substrate, the buildings may fail
[52:03] structurally as we've already seen with
Camelot Crossing. But the difference is
[52:08] that data center is going to have
millions of pounds of chemicals in it
[52:12] when it goes.
When is that going to happen? Is that
[52:16] going to happen in year three or is it
going to happen in year 10? Do you want
[52:20] to have to constantly worry about that?
Do you want that to be your legacy as a
[52:24] commissioner?
So, I go back to the invocation. God
[52:29] calls on us to love our neighbors as we
love ourselves. We can't make the world
[52:33] perfect for our neighbors, but we're
called to help them whenever we can.
[52:37] People in Foxboro and other nearby
neighborhoods need a safe, decent place
[52:41] to live, and some cannot afford to move.
The citizens of Loun County depend on
[52:46] the Georgia Florida aqua for water that
is safe for drinking and agriculture and
[52:50] recreational uses. No amount of tax
revenue is worth compromising the basic
[52:55] needs of the citizens you're serving.
I understand that the path forward is to
[52:59] write an ordinance that protects the
citizens. To really protect the
[53:03] citizens, the ordinance must eliminate
the possibility of chemical spills, not
[53:07] just to establish what happens after a
spill because removing these chemicals
[53:12] from our aquifer can't be done. With all
due respect, I don't think it's possible
[53:17] to write such an ordinance.
I'm asking you to please conscientiously
[53:22] consider the implications of the current
path forward. If you do that, I think
[53:27] you'll follow your heart and agree that
the Coleman Road site is just too risky
[53:31] for the cit citizens of Loun County
and maybe start focusing your energies
[53:37] on a more appropriate site.
Thank you for your service.
[53:41] » Thank you. Thank you.
[53:45] All right, our next speaker, and I'm
sorry I can't read the first name, but
[53:50] it looks like Dixon. Sarah Dixon,
please come forward and state your name
[53:57] and address for the record, please.
[54:05] » Hi, my name is Laura Hannah Dixon. I
live on 3978
[54:10] Apple Cross Road. Um
>> Laura, if you'll stay about 6 to 8 in
[54:15] from the microphone, I'll amplify it. It
will sound much better.
[54:19] » Okay. Can is that good?
>> Yeah, that's fine. Okay, thank you.
[54:28] Um, a lot of what I have written here
has already been stated. Um, but I'm
[54:34] going to reiterate it anyway. And if I
need to move around for the microphone,
[54:38] please let me know. Um,
as taxpayers,
[54:45] our voices need to be heard. Um,
and so many of us have said so many
[54:53] times that we don't want a data center
here in Valdasta or in any of the
[54:59] surrounding areas. There are livestock
and animals dying and being still born
[55:05] because of data centers and we can see
that in in other towns in other places
[55:11] where the data centers have been
implemented. So we should learn from
[55:15] example rather than uh try to make the
same mistakes that are causing real
[55:22] problems like the livestock dying um
like the polluted water. And I know that
[55:28] a few weeks ago um we saw a presentation
of what might happen to the water uh if
[55:39] an ordinance is created
uh to take the water somewhere else. And
[55:44] I would like to echo what Dr. Tva Gear
uh said two weeks ago when she stated um
[55:51] even if the water is taken away, where
is it going to be taken? uh is it going
[55:57] to be dumped somewhere uh else? And you
know, someone on this planet is going to
[56:03] have to deal with the consequences of
the forever chemicals that we can never
[56:07] remove out of the water. Um and there
are cancer clusters popping up where
[56:13] these data centers are. And um it is not
wise for us to see these mistakes to see
[56:21] the damage from the data centers in area
other areas of Georgia and all over the
[56:27] United States and to not
pause and say we don't want that here
[56:33] because we don't want this damage to
happen here. Um
[56:40] at the very least uh consider the
moratorum to be more than two months. Uh
[56:48] that is not enough time to really think
about making the ordinance stronger.
[56:54] It's not enough time to get input from
the community. Um
[56:59] which we really hope that you will allow
input from the community. Um, I spoke
[57:06] with a commissioner a couple of months
ago and I asked for community
[57:11] representation
uh to help develop the ordinance and I
[57:16] was immediately told no, we are not
going to allow uh a citizen to be part
[57:21] of the drafting the ordinance because I
the commissioner said uh of course we
[57:27] wouldn't want a citizen on the committee
because y'all are opposed to it. Um, I I
[57:34] think that that's ludicrous and uh it's
really just of course we would want to
[57:39] be on the committee. This is our town.
We are the taxpayers and we elected the
[57:45] commissioners. So um
please uh consider working with us on an
[57:51] ordinance and one example and we don't
want the data center at all but for
[57:55] example something that might be included
in a strong robust ordinance that would
[58:01] really protect the citizens would be um
to not have the data center run on
[58:08] fossil fuels because what that would do
is create a heat island and make the
[58:14] temperature of our area even higher uh
than it is. And we're about to we're
[58:21] approaching hurricane season. So um we
are having hurricanes and weather that
[58:27] is not normal for our area. And part of
that is because of global warming. So we
[58:32] really need strong protections uh
environmentally
[58:37] um for the water for example uh to
protect us from sink holes as others
[58:42] have already stated and because of
rising temperatures um
[58:51] I don't want to believe that we are
living in a different Loun County than
[58:57] we were in 2010 and 2011 whenever we
fought the biomass. Well, actually, I
[59:05] was I didn't know that was going on. I
was living in Alabama at the time, but I
[59:10] was born in Loun County and I've lived
here all my life except for a couple of
[59:14] years. And um during that time, the
community was able to stop the biomass
[59:21] uh from happening. And I hope that we
still live in All County where the
[59:26] commissioners will hear what we have to
say with a conscience.
[59:30] All
[59:34] right, that's the end of our citizens
wishing to be heard. Commissioners, any
[59:38] questions, comments? I'll entertain a
motion to adjurnn. So moved.