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Lake Park City Council is in the process of hiring a new police chief. It can only be hoped that whomever is hired provides stability to the Lowndes County town’s rollercoaster developments of the past 15 months.
At the start of 2012, Lake Park swore in a new mayor and councilmembers who immediately terminated the positions of city employees with decades of service. These terminations included the city clerk and the police chief; a police officer was promoted to chief.
To protest the terminations, two council members resigned a few weeks later, which kept the Lake Park City Council from meeting for several weeks due to a lack of quorum. A judge granted the city permission to hold a special election early to elect two new council members so Lake Park could resume business.
By summer, the election held and new council members elected, the mayor attempted to have a council member charged with trespass for coming to city hall. About six months after taking office, the mayor resigned. After trying a few different new city clerks, the city rehired the former long-serving city clerk. Another special election was held in the fall to elect a new mayor who happened to be one of the council members who had resigned earlier in the year.
He took office. The council met in December then couldn’t meet for two months because of a lack of quorum stemming from the absence of two council members.
Last week, the Lake Park City Council officially met for the first time in three months. The meeting lasted more than five hours. Council met again this past weekend when it voted in a 3-2 tie-breaker to demote the police chief who had been promoted in January 2012.
Lake Park leadership needs stability. Stability doesn’t mean everyone has to get along, but leaders need to agree on at least a few things: Attend meetings, serve their terms, put city business before petty politics, quit firing and demoting city employees with each election turnover.
Disagree, bicker, have spats, but put an end to the soap-opera drama that has consumed Lake Park City Hall for more than a year.
Citizens deserve better. Lake Park leaders need to commit themselves to working together before the city falls apart.
What We Think
Lake Park: Work together
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Thoughts on graduation
Graduation ceremonies reflect how life marches on. For the students receiving their diplomas and degrees, graduation is a culmination of the majority of their lives’ work.
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Thumbs up, thumbs down
THUMBS UP: To Dr. John Gaston, retiring dean of Valdosta State University’s College of the Arts. For the past 10-plus years, Gaston has worked to build a more interconnected program with various artistic and communications departments working together. Given that you are likely to see one College of the Arts department collaborating with another during events is proof of Gaston’s success.
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On the go this weekend
Take a breath.
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Sharing the roads with motorcycles
With the recent pleasant temperatures and sunny skies, the number of motorcycles on area roads has increased.
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Thank your local law enforcement today
Today, May 15, was designated Peace Officers Memorial Day back in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy was in office.
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Visit musical roots this weekend
Beginning Saturday, May 18, Nashville, Ga., will be hosting a special Smithsonian exhibit, “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.” The exhibit will continue through the end of June and Nashville has done a tremendous job in promoting and planning for the exhibit.
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Happy Mother’s Day!
A few years ago, a television commercial asked, Who first believed in you? Many folks may have instinctively answered by simply saying, Mom.
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Thumbs up
THUMBS UP: To mail workers, volunteers and food bank staff for gathering food for the annual Stamp Out Hunger postal food drive today. A plastic bag designated for canned goods and other non-perishable food items should have arrived in your mailbox earlier this week. If you haven’t already, take a few moments to fill the bag with food and hang from your mailbox. If you didn’t receive the special Stamp Out Hunger bag, any plastic bag filled with food will do. This food drive helps feed thousands of South Georgians annually. Valdosta-Lowndes County often donates more food than nearly all other cities and counties in Georgia.
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Celebrating nurses
She is considered the founder of modern nursing so it seems only natural that National Nurses Week would include Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
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Helping the hungry: Mail it in!
Valdosta-Lowndes County continues revealing its generous spirit.
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Thoughts on graduation
