May 11, 2017 City Council Meeting

CITY GOVERNMENT
OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CITY COUNCIL
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

The regular meeting of Council was held this date at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison followed by the Invocation by Pastor Kenneth Rouche, Branded Hearts Church.

Upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, unanimous approval was given for the Mayor to sign an affidavit and resolution on Personnel for an Executive Session held today where no votes were taken. 

A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AFFIDAVIT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION.

BE IT RESOLVED by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah as follows:

At the meeting held on the 11th day of May, 2017 the Council entered into a closed session for the purpose of discussing Personnel. At the close of the discussions upon this subject, the Council reentered into open session and herewith takes the following action in open session:

1. The actions of Council and the discussions of the same regarding the matter set forth for the closed session purposes are hereby ratified;
2. Each  member  of  this  body  does  hereby  confirms  that  to  the  best  of  his  or  her  knowledge,  the subject  matter  of  the  closed  session  was  devoted  to  matters  within  the  specific  relevant exception(s) as set forth above;
3. The presiding officer is hereby authorized and directed to execute an affidavit, with full support of the Council in order to comply with O.C.G.A. §50-14-4(b); 17
4. The affidavit shall be included and filed with the official minutes of the meeting and shall be in a form as required by the statute.

ADOPTED AND APPROVED: MAY 11, 2017

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.

Mayor DeLoach presented Dr. Lockamy with a Proclamation thanking him for his years of service to the City of Savannah and the Savannah Chatham County Public School System. 

Dr. Lockamy thanked Mayor and Council for the acknowledgement and thanked the SCCPSS Board representatives and staff members that were present which included: District 5 representative Irene Hines, District 8 representative Ruby Jones, District 3 representative Connie Hall, District 6 representative Larry Lower, District 4 representative Shawn Kachmar, Larry O. Jackson and Kurt Hetager

Alderman Bell read the Resolution which was presented to the family of Rev. Maurice Rouche by Mayor DeLoach.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.

Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.

Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.

Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.

Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.

All alcoholic beverage license hearings were closed upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 11, 2017, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Hall, and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Durrence, Foster and Hall; Aldermen Miller, Johnson and Thomas voted against.

Ardis Wood, 321 East 55th Street appeared to express her concerns with the rezoning of the property stating it is spot zoning and should not be done. 

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 11, 2017, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Foster, and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Durrence, Foster and Hall; Aldermen Miller, Johnson and Thomas voted against.

Ordinance read for the first time in Council April 27, 2017, then read in Council a second time on May 11, 2017, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster Durrence, Johnson and Hall; Alderman Thomas voted against.

Alderman Thomas expressed his concerns with the changes to the ordinance, stating he appreciates all the hard work done by staff. He stated tremendous progress has been made and concessions have been made by the companies but he still has deep reservations with the ordinance. He is opposed to the horses working on the streets during the summer months and hopes the well fare of the animals and the operators and tourist will be taken into consideration. He also hopes that the stinch and smell in several areas of the City will be improved. 

Alderman Johnson stated if provisions are going to be made for the horses the same provisions need to be looked at for the City employees that work outside. 

Sean Brandon, Parking Services Director

The following recommendation were made by Council:

Only areas north of Liberty, east of MLK and west of the east side of Broad Street will be affected at this point (plan can be expanded to other areas later.)

Start with a parking area for downtown workers which would include: (Without this in place—no changes)

• A lot somewhere close to downtown designated for downtown employees and city vehicles
  • It could temporarily be a gravel lot on the Tybee Depot property until parking garages are built (Purchased for this purpose in Dec. 2003.)
    • Must be fenced.
    • Must be secured with cameras and/or police
    • Must be serviced regularly by some sort of shuttle to downtown
    • Must be key-card access to allow only downtown employees and city vehicles (or others we may so designate)
    • Must a shelter to await trolley inside the fence.

Smart parking meters will be installed

• Will accommodate cash, change, credit cards, cell phone pay and parking apps to direct drivers to vacant spaces
• Will be programmable to accommodate special events
  • Hours will be 8 a.m.-8 p.m. six days a week (Mon.-Sat.)

• All parking will be $2/hour
  • Violation citations will increase in price

• • Parking garages

• • Will not be over sold
  • Will move long-term parkers to higher floors
  • Will be equipped with “SMART” signage to accurately display vacancies and locations of those spaces

• Downtown trolleys

• Will be restructured to provide dependable and timely routes.

• Will be free for those with parking passes

Some parking spaces will be reserved for residents in residential areas impacted by hotels and STVRs.

All other changes and additional expansions will be brought to the public's attention before the city proceeds with them.

Continued per the City Manager's recommendation for further consultation with staff on design to the meeting of June 22, 2017.

Alderman Durrence asked will the project extend to other areas of Victory Drive.  

John Sawyer, Water and Sewer Bureau Chief stated he believes this item is for the section beginning at Skidaway to Downing. There will be other phases along the way to catch the other areas. 

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and carried with the following voting in favor: Aldermen Miller, Foster, Johnson, Durrence, Thomas and Hall ; Mayor DeLoach and Alderman Bell voted against.

Alderman Johnson recused himself due to a conflict of interest.

Announcements

Mayor DeLoach congratulated Alderman Johnson for receiving the 2017 ACCG Civic and Community Engagement Advocate Award on April 29th at the 2017 ACCG Annual Conference which was held at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center.

There being no further business, Mayor DeLoach declared this meeting of Council adjourned.