 |
CITY GOVERNMENT
OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CITY COUNCIL
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
PRESENT: Mayor Eddie W. DeLoach, Presiding
Aldermen Carol Bell, Julian Miller, Brian Foster, Bill Durrence, Van Johnson, II, Tony Thomas, John Hall and Estella E. Shabazz
Rob Hernandez, City Manager
Bret Bell, Assistant to the City Manager
Brooks Stillwell, City Attorney
William Shearouse, Assistant City Attorney
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 Mayor Pro-Tem Carol Bell.
Upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, unanimous approval was given for the Mayor to sign an affidavit and resolution on Real and 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 2nd day of August, 2018 the Council entered into a closed session for the purpose of discussing Real Estate and 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:
- The actions of Council and the discussions of the same regarding the matter set forth for the closed session purposes are hereby ratified;
- 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;
- 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
- 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: AUGUST 2, 2018 upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.
Upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried the agenda was amended to add item 35; continue item 4 until the Council meeting of August 16, 2018, move item 33 under Presentations; continue item 12 until the Council meeting of August 30, 2018; and withdraw items 18, 24, and 32 per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.
Continued to the meeting of August 16, 2018.
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, members of City Council, just like to weigh in with staff's recommendation. We recommend that you deny this request and that you direct the City Attorney to prepare a letter to that effect outlining staff's recommendation to the applicant.
Alderman Johnson: I think probably a little bit more explanation might be needed at this point, in terms of the actual reasons.
City Manager Hernandez: Sure. Mr. Mayor, members of City Council, we are making the recommendation for denial based on the applicant's history of noncompliance with the City's alcohol beverage ordinance.
Alderman Johnson: I think it goes back to the point that was raised two weeks ago. It’s important because we're making decisions based on what's presented before us. So, if we can come up with some type of system to exhaustively, particularly for individuals who had licenses before and have been off the scene for a minute and come back in, that we have some means of being able to understand the history, because obviously if we did not ask for staff to review it, we would have approved it. So, hopefully we can just figure out how to do it better.
City Manager Hernandez: If I can just respond to that Mr. Mayor and Aldermen. We’re limited by the software system that we have and unfortunately the information that we currently capture in our software system does not capture the history beyond a certain date. So, had it not been for the memories of several of you that sit on this Council actually we wouldn't have caught it.
Alderman Johnson: Is there some way that perhaps we can ask if they held a license before and then if there's some way of dealing, if we find some issue that we can then revoke it based on the fact that they were not truthful on their license or some type of provision?
Attorney Stillwell: You can always revoke if somebody's untruthful.
Alderman Johnson: Correct, so maybe that's the way you know, and again, in this case, we remembered that before, but if a person says they have a license before, then that gives us the impetus to be able to search, you know, so I appreciate you coming back with that.
Attorney Stillwell: We will prepare the letter if that's Council's wish and, so we would continue this for two weeks so we can give a notice outlining what the objections are to the attorney for the petitioner at their request.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, do we need to close the hearing and then move forward with the motion according to the recommendations that's been given to our City Manager and the recommendations from our City Attorney?
Attorney Stillwell: You don't need to close the hearing because you're going to continue it for two weeks and then we'll have a hearing at that point.
Alderwoman Shabazz: So, we're going to continue it until August 16th, and the letter is going to be prepared to the owner.
Alderwoman Bell: But don't we have to deny what was presented to us?
Alderwoman Shabazz: So we have to make a motion to deny it according to the staff recommendation?
Attorney Stillwell: Your motion would be to continue the matter for two weeks and to instruct the City Manager and the City Attorney to prepare a notification letter to the petitioner giving the reasons for the City Manager's recommendation of denial. Continued to the meeting of August 16, 2018, upon motion of Alderwoman Shabazz, seconded by Alderman Durrence, and unanimously carried to instruct the City Manager and the City Attorney to prepare a notification letter to the petitioner giving the reasons for the City Manager's recommendation of denial. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried. Alderman Miller was not present for the vote.
Continued to the meeting of August 30, 2018.
Marcus Lotson, Metropolitan Planning Commission: Mr. Mayor, members of Council, I'll be brief with my remarks as we had a lengthy discussion on this property during the workshop. This text amendment that's before you, item number 13, is related to an item that's further down the agenda, item number 15, a rezoning that was heard by this body on your last meeting. The intent of item number 13 is to address the boundaries of the district. The physical boundaries are laid out within Article K of the Zoning Ordinance, which is the Mid-City Zoning District, in order to include these properties that are likely going to be rezoned today we need to amend the physical boundaries of that district in the description. So, that's the intent of this ordinance.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Ordinance read for the first time in Council August 2, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
AN ORDINANCE
To Be Entitled
AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTY FROM THE B-G (GENERAL BUSINESS) ZONING DISTRICT TO THE TC-2 (MID-CITY DISTRICT’S TRADITIONAL COMMERCIAL) ZONING DISTRICT; TO REPEAL ALL OTHER ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, Georgia, in a regular meeting of Council assembled and pursuant to lawful authority thereof:
SECTION 1: The following described property be rezoned from its present B-G zoning classification to a TC-2 zoning classification:
Beginning from a point [X: 985373.138207 & Y: 751759.159962] located at the approximate intersection of the centerlines of the Right-of-Way of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. & West 32nd Street, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING
Thence proceeding in a NE direction along the approximate centerlines of the Right-of-Way of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. for an estimated distance of 141.0 ft. to a point,
Thence proceeding in a SE direction [S 73-12-11 E] along a line for an estimated distance of 136.6 ft. to a point,
Thence proceeding in a SW direction [S 16-34-58 W] along a line for an estimated distance of 139.9 ft. to a point, said point being located on the approximate centerline of West 32nd Street,
Thence proceeding in a NW direction along the approximate centerline of West 32nd Street for an estimated distance of 137.5 ft. to a point, said point being located on the approximate centerline of the Right-of-Way of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING
PINs: 2-0066 -10-008, -009
SECTION 2: That the requirements of Section 8-3182(f)(2) of said Code and the law in such cases made and provided has been satisfied. An opportunity for a public hearing was afforded anyone having an interest or property right which may have been affected by this zoning amendment, said notice being published in the Savannah Morning News, on the 1st day of July, 2018, a copy of said notice being attached hereto and made a part hereof.
SECTION 3: All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall be effective as of the date hereof.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED: AUGUST 2, 2018.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried.
Attorney Stillwell: In connection with the previous matter that you just approved, the grant acceptance. I just wanted to advise Council that I’ve been advised by the Airport, I think you were advised of their major construction projects they have going on in the next year, including the expansion of the terminal concourse and the security area and this screening area that this particular grant has to do with. They're expecting to receive several Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants for tens of millions of dollars over the next few months and frequently when those come in, we've had this happen before, we sometimes only have five or six days to turn the acceptance around and get it back to the FAA not to lose the grant. So, I would request that Council authorize the City Manager in the event that they get a grant from the Airport to accept the grant and then present it to Council at the next meeting instead of having to wait for a Council meeting.
Alderman Miller: You need a motion to that effect?
Attorney Stillwell: If you would make that a motion.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried per the City Attorney's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried.
Withdrawn per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Withdrawn per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried the following appointment was made to the Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizens Advisory Committee CORE MPO - CAC
- Brent Buice
[Alderman Durrence stated Mr. Buice is a part of the Savannah Bicycle Campaign and Georgia Bicycle and thinks he will be important to the transportation planning.]
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Withdrawn per the City Manager's recommendation.
Keturah Greene, Public Information Coordinator with the Savannah Police Department, introduced Chief Mark Revenew, Assistant Chief Robert Gavin, Sue Else, Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, and members of her team, Adriana Tatum-Howard and Tara Nobles, who appeared before Council to formally accept a donation from the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia. Ms. Greene stated during their QuestFest event last month, the girls were commissioned to donate school supplies for the children in our community. The supplies comprised of approximately 1,000 items ranging from notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, erasers, and a multitude of other items. She stated the City of Savannah is very thankful and believe the items will truly make a difference in the lives of the children in our community.
Ms. Else thanked Mayor DeLoach and Council stating the event was a huge success, and the City truly rolled out the green carpet. She also thanked the Savannah Police Department for their presence, and the overall feeling of safety. Ms. Else stated there was a total of 1,200 girls from 28 states that attended the event. During the event the girls learned about history, Juliette Gordon Low, and S.T.E.M, (science, technology, engineering and math). Additionally, while they're here to learn those skills, a big part of being a Girl Scout is giving back so while they're questing, they were also asked to do things. This year they supplied 1,200 packs of school supplies to the City, they also supplied 1,800 gently used books to the United Way and they supplied over 1,000 cans of protein to Second Harvest. Ms. Else concluded stating it was a wonderful festival and look forward to working with the City next year.
Mayor DeLoach thanked the Girl Scouts on behalf of the City of Savannah and the citizens of Savannah, and stated it is great to be in a city that brings out the best in everyone.
RESOLUTION OF ADOPTION
BY THE CITY OF SAVANNAH COUNCIL
Whereas, Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia donated over 1,000 school supply items to the Savannah Police Department; and
Whereas, the supplies were collected at the 2018 Girl Scouts QuestFest in Savannah, Georgia; and
Whereas, these supplies will be utilized by officers to give to families in our community who are in need; and
Whereas, Girl Scouts of the United States of America was founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12, 1912 in Savannah; and
Whereas, the Girl Scouts is an organization comprised of young girls and adults who believe in the power of every girl to change the world; and
Whereas, their mission is to inspire girls to be leaders in their own lives by building girls of courage, confidence, and character who raise their voices to advocate for the issues and ideas important to them.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the Savannah City Council does hereby accept the donated school supplies from Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia to help families and children in our community have a successful start to the school year.
Adopted this 2nd day of August, 2018 upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
[Alderman Miller stated since this has been a public issue he thinks attention should be brought to the fact that it has been resolved, and asked the City Manager to give a very brief explanation.]
City Manager Hernandez: At our last City Council workshop, your Police Chief, Chief Revenew identified for you that we had experienced a little bit of an operational delay with respect to our officers being able to qualify on the Chatham County shooting range. There was an issue with regard to who the appropriate contracting entity would be. We resolved that, we will be entering into a tri-party agreement with the County and the Sheriff's Office to allow the City of Savannah to continue to use the firing range. And as we've said before, we understand that we have a certain responsibility toward remediating the cost of lead removal and the inter-local agreement spells out our responsibilities related to it.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Alderman Johnson recused himself from the vote due to him being an employee of Chatham County.
[Alderman Miller asked City Manager Hernandez to explain this item.]
City Manager Hernandez: This morning you heard a request through the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) asking the City Council to consider authorizing a fourth level of Freeport Exemptions, in order to keep our region, specifically the City of Savannah, competitive with other states and other areas within the city as e-commerce expands. And as we all know that with the Internet, e-commerce has exploded considerably over the last 10 years and essentially is replacing a lot of the brick and mortar stores that we’re used to shopping. And so this request asks that we add the fourth category, which will be the Freeport Exemption that will allow those facilities that serve as fulfillment centers, that is those facilities that process requests to purchase merchandise and so forth. They do not have a retail operation that we add that category, that type of business operation to the existing three classes of Freeport Exemption, which include the in process goods, finished goods and goods awaiting shipment. This exemption would qualify for inventory on hand for less than 12 months and once inventory exists beyond that 12 month mark, then they would be subject to taxation. So, if you approve, this item would be placed on the ballot for this November requesting the voters to authorize the City Council to add this as a Freeport Exemption. Now all it does is it authorizes the City to implement the fourth class of Freeport exemption if you choose to do so. It does not mandate that you do that, it doesn't specify the amounts that you do that, nor does it specify the timeframes in which we implement such an exemption if it is approved by voters. Now, your record up until this point with the phase out of the other class of Freeport Exemptions has been that you've been phasing it out 20 percent a year. I think we are in the fourth year of the phase out with one more to go.
Alderman Miller: So, if I could just explain a little bit further. In order to get it on the ballot because of the nature of the election that is coming up. This kind of got sprung on us at the last minute. So, we're trying to get this thing on the ballot. We still don't know all the ramifications of it. So, whether or not we're going to support it afterwards, is yet to be…
City Manager Hernandez: That's correct, because we don't have a handle number one on the number of businesses that could meet the definition of a fulfillment center. And as you mentioned, the speed in which this item needs to be placed on the agenda because it is a federal election and my understanding is that what is dictating the timeframe here, in order for us to place it on the agenda, you need to take action today. However, we don't know what the fiscal impact will be. And if the voters approve this prior to you implementing the phase out, we would of course provide you with an estimate of the financial impact to the City at the appropriate time.
Alderwoman Shabazz: I want to explain the reason why I'm not going to support this. And the reason being is that we are being asked to sign this resolution that was brought to us this morning and my not supporting this is because we're talking about putting this on the ballot for November. I have not had a full detailed discussion so that I could go out and discuss this with the citizens and also get feedback from them. So, I just wanted to let the public know the reason why I am not supporting this particular item on our agenda. Thank you.
2018-________
RESOLUTION CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA PURSUANT TO THE GEORGIA CONSTITUTION, THE OFFICIAL CODE OF GEORGIA ANNOTATED SECTION 48-5-48.2 AND THE CITY OF SAVANNAH CHARTER CALLING FOR A SPECIAL ELECTION FOR A REFERENDUM FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING THE QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA SHALL BE AUTHORIZED TO EXEMPT FROM AD VALOREM TAXATION CERTAIN TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY HELD BY A FULFILLMENT CENTER AS ALLOWED BY A LEVEL 1 FREEPORT EXEMPTION.
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, Georgia, have determined that is in the best interests of the City to exercise its powers under the Georgia Constitution, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 48-5-48.2, and the City of Savannah Charter to call for a special election by referendum for the purpose of submitting the question of whether or not the governing authority of the City of Savannah, Georgia shall be authorized to exempt from ad valorem taxation all or any combination of the types of tangible personal property held by a Fulfillment Center as allowed by a Level 1 Freeport Exemption.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and Aldermen are hereby authorized to direct that a referendum occur on the November general election date as prescribed in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 48-5-48.2 et seq., for the 2018 year, submitting the question of whether or not the City of Savannah is authorized to exempt from ad valorem taxation all or any combination of the types of tangible personal property held by a Fulfilment Center as allowed by a Level 1 Freeport Exemption.
THIS RESOLUTION READ AND ADOPTED this 2nd day of August, 2018 upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and carried per the City Manager’s recommendation with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, Johnson, Thomas, and Hall. Alderwoman Shabazz voted against the item.
Announcements
Alderman Miller commended City staff for a job well done and their quick response to an incident that occurred earlier this week when a truck that collects the grease from different restaurants drove through town unknowing that the nozzle that controlled the tank was open and it spread cooking oil and grease all over the City. He stated City staff from several different departments came out in an effort to clean it up before most citizens even realized there was an issue. He concluded stating he just wanted to draw attention to the matter and to the work that City staff does day in and day out with little recognition.
Alderwoman Bell stated she and Mayor DeLoach recently participated in a Mayors Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina on reduced jail use, hosted by the National League of Cities (NLC). They were able to present, share ideas and best practices, and get feedback with colleagues from Madison, Wisconsin, Gainesville, Florida, St. Louis, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama. She stated she is looking forward to sharing the information with the rest of Council at an upcoming work session as it was an opportunity to share with other colleagues from other cities who are facing some of the same challenges that the City of Savannah is facing and get feedback from them regarding best practices and any kinds of actions they may have implemented in their cities that have been helpful. She concluded by thanking Chief Revenew and Assistant Chief Gavin for their involvement on the monthly conference calls.
Alderwoman Shabazz stated the first phase of the Connecting the Dots Conversation on Poverty occurred this past Tuesday at the Savannah Civic Center. The meeting included almost 200 people, with over 84 agencies represented. She thanked the City Manager and staff who helped make the first phase a success. She concluded stating she looks forward to everyone being involved in the day of service that is coming up.
There being no further business, Mayor DeLoach declared this meeting of Council adjourned.
The video recording of the Council meeting can be found by copying and pasting the below link in your url:
https://savannahgovtv.viebit.com/player.php?hash=rmU2mchuE87d
