Lowndes County commissioners on an evening meeting approved minutes, appointed Corey Millirons to the 7 Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council and authorized a network-hardware replacement and two residential solid-waste franchise renewals for the 2025 collection year.

The actions were taken by voice vote and acclamation during a regular session of the Lowndes County Commission. The commission approved the minutes of the February work session, executive session and regular session; appointed a county resident to a regional council; and approved contracts to replace end-of-life network equipment and to renew residential solid-waste franchises with Advanced Disposal Services and Deep South Sanitation LLC.

Commissioner Orenstein called the meeting to order and led the invocation and pledge. The commission recognized 9-1-1 dispatchers earlier in the meeting for winning the state 9-1-1 center award, and later moved to routine business.

Votes at a glance: the commission approved the minutes of prior sessions (voice vote); appointed Corey Millirons to the 7 Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council by acclamation; approved a network-hardware replacement contract for three county data centers described as end-of-life and end-of-support; and renewed two residential solid-waste franchise agreements—Advanced Disposal Services and Deep South Sanitation LLC—for the April 1–March 31 collection year beginning April 1, 2025. All motions carried on voice votes with no recorded opposition.

During discussion of the Advanced Disposal renewal, a county staff member said the franchise agreements adopted in 2023 set a not-to-exceed price and that Advanced Disposal had indicated an upcoming monthly rate change from $20.00 to $20.96 per month for service. The staff member also said, "there is an item in the franchise agreement that states no collection is supposed to start before 07:00 in the morning," and offered to contact the company if commissioners reported early-morning commercial-route collections.

The county staff presentation on the network-hardware replacement described the equipment as located at three smaller county data centers and characterized it as end of life and end of support. Commissioners asked no substantive questions during that presentation.

During public comment, Britney Bayshore, who identified herself as a Lowndes County resident, invited commissioners and county staff to an "excellence in education" homeschool-group event scheduled for April 8 at 11:30 a.m. at Charity Baptist Church and said the group would provide a short presentation and food afterward.

The meeting closed after a motion to adjourn was approved.