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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 Litigation, Real Estate, 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 5th day of July, 2018 the Council entered into a closed session for the purpose of discussing Litigation, 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: JULY 5, 2018 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.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.
Alderman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor thank you sir. I want to first of all say good afternoon everyone. I want to thank our City Manager and the staff for probably about maybe a year ago that we were up in the Think Tank on the fourth floor of City Hall and the City Manager and staff were sitting there listening to a vision that I had. On this day I am so glad to tell you all thank you so much for bringing that vision that I had on that day into a reality on today. As we move forward, these events that we were getting ready to talk about now will become annual events here in our City to communicate and collaborate, and then move into action and delivery. The City of Savannah is hosting Connecting the Dots. It’s conversation on poverty. This will take place on the last Tuesday of this month, July the 31st from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the Savannah Civic Center. As the facts are stated according to the 2015 Census, 26.5% of Savannah's population live in poverty. It is an issue that the City has tackled for over some years now, but often in silos and only realizing success in some areas. The conversation on poverty is a work session designed to bring together social service providers, public sector administrators, faith based leaders, and private sector employers for an intense day of discovery and collaboration that will materialize into a day of service in which our staff who is present will come in a few moments to discuss more of that into detail, which will provide immediate access to services. We are asking local agencies and other community stakeholders to join us on the last Tuesday of this month, July the 31st. Save the date, it is something that we really need in our City and our City Manager and staff and also to include our Mayor, who has also come in with this effort. I'm so glad and thank you so much Mr. Mayor for coming in and adding to this effort.
City Manager Hernandez: Thank you Alderwoman Shabazz, Mayor, members of City Council. I'd like to turn it over briefly to Taffayne Young, Chief Community Services Officer, to give you a little bit more background on the event.
Taffayne Young: Thank you, good afternoon Mayor and City Council. We're really excited about being the coordinators for a series of events. As you all know, poverty has been an issue for a while in Savannah and we have on an annual basis, whether it's the City or another organization have a conversation on poverty. We wanted to do something a little different this year, so we're actually announcing a series of events, three events so that we're moving from conversation into action. We’d also like to not only invite our social service agencies that typically provide services, but also the folks who touch people who live in poverty every day, our ministers, our small businesses, and our small businesses that are in neighborhoods that have folks that are coming in and out every day. They see people but they're not aware of the services that we actually have available. So, with that I'd like to also introduce the two women that are accompanying me, Ms. Kerri Reid and Ms. Margaret Williams, the Director and Assistant Director of the Human Services Department, to talk about these three events very briefly.
Keri Reid: Thank you and good afternoon Mayor and Council. As Ms. Young has stated and Dr. Shabazz, we are very excited to host the Connecting the Dots approach to addressing poverty, it's a local approach that is multi phased. Our first event is July 31st, which is the last Tuesday of the month. The event will actually serve as a work session for our stakeholders in the community to include our churches, our businesses, as well as our social service agencies. One of the major outcomes of that event, we're hoping to build a framework for our second event, which will be a day of service. If you've been to the Civic Center for the homeless stand down we're looking to bring something to our community even bigger and better than that. We're hoping to engage all of those stakeholders from that first meeting, mobilize them to bring services to one place for individuals in our community to be able to benefit, so that event will actually take place September 8th in the Savannah Arena. Our third event will actually be part two of the Savannah Job Fair. In conjunction with the job fair that was hosted earlier this year with the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce, we're looking to bring that around again for our third phase in Connecting the Dots. So, those individuals that have been touched during that second event who are ready to move into the next level of advancement we're hoping to make those opportunities available for them as well. So, on our website http://www.savannahga.gov/481/Human-Services we will have more information of how nonprofits, churches and businesses can register to have a booth available at that second event and also for anyone wanting more information about the event as well we'll have it posted on our website. Thank you.
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 Miller, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Alderwoman Shabazz: The only thing I wanted to state Mr. Mayor on this in reference to the Bradley Point South area, it was stated in our staff notes that a meeting with the neighborhood association, have you done that? How did that turn out?
Mr. Patel: Yes. We had a meeting to speak and he signed and I have a paper too. He had no objections.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Alright, I just wanted to make sure.
A public hearing was held. No persons came forward to speak either for or against the item.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderwoman Shabazz, seconded by Alderman Johnson, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Shabazz, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
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 Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Yes sir, Mr. Mayor in the description it states that the police has requested to continue this alcohol, Ms. Jones this alcohol transfer to the next Council meeting.
City Manager Hernandez: So, Councilwoman in the initial packet there was a memo submitted by the Police Department requesting that the matter be continued while they worked with the business owner on some corrective actions. During that time they have met with the owner, the owner took the corrective actions that were necessary. The Police Department feels confident that this hearing should move forward. So, that request to continue the meeting was actually retracted by an updated memo that was in your packet.
Alderwoman Shabazz: But I need to ask the property owners or the people who is requesting this license to please come to the mic because we have some serious concerns about this location. I'm glad that you all did the improvements that were needed. There is still a growing concern about your business and the location. The appearance of your location with the amount of items that's covering your windows. There are a number of apartments that surround your business. Also, there is a vast amount of young children that live around your business and it's been a concern of the neighborhood association presidents. There are two that are in that area from Colonial Village and also from Leeds Gate in reference to your business with that situation of underage selling alcohol, liquor, beer to under age persons. You all need to keep an eye on that and we just need the appearance of the business to be brought up a little bit more because there are significant complaints that are coming from the residents and the businesses in that area.
[Mayor DeLoach asked the Alcohol License department to come forward to answer questions]
Alderman Shabazz: Can you please expound on the troubles so that the community will know exactly what's going on and any improvements that have happened, we also need to know.
Lt. Shinita Young: Yes ma’am, I am Lieutenant Shinita Young with Savannah Police Department, I'm over the ABC Unit. What happened on June 20th we actually had an underage operation there where they actually sold to a minor. They were cited and also Georgia State Revenue was in town with us and they actually assisted on that operation. Since then we had an administrative hearing with City departments and ourselves and we discussed as far as that operation. In turn they actually have a point of sale system which you have to actually swipe your ID and that's for every customer that comes in to let the employee know that that person is 21 years of age or older. We also suggested what is called an age calendar, which actually calculates the date that they have posted, and that calendar will tell them whether or not that person can actually purchase alcohol, and that’s alcohol and tobacco. They also, that actual employee, they have removed him from employment and we talked to them about servers training. So, that employee will have that training and that's something that they're going to make sure that they have all their employees have that training, alcohol awareness training.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Well we’re not looking for that level of corrective activity for right now gentlemen, but as you continue in business, we need to have that level of oversight continued. I think my colleagues too have some questions for you.
Alderman Thomas: Actually, this establishment is on the border of Tibet Avenue between the Fifth and the Sixth Districts. Now, I want to echo my colleague's concerns. I've heard the exact same concerns from other residents that live on the opposite side of the road. This establishment being close to the bowling alley on Tibet, next to the Chu’s right there off of Abercorn. The sign, window coverage, and different issues that have been stated by the officer I think are very serious matters. They are reflecting a bigger issue that we're facing with the Tibet corridor that goes all the way down to the old Nickel Pumper, which is on Middleground Road that we're going to have to start looking at that corridor a little closer with activity that's happened there because the exact same thing's happening on the south end or on the west end I guess of that area. So, I want to echo what Alderwoman Shabazz said, I hope that you will learn from the recent citation that you received and will take those measures and take them very seriously, also work to keep that environment a little cleaner as you know it has an issue. I think you also need to take a special look at people that are coming across the street from the bowling alley and going back across the street to make sure that people are of legal age that are purchasing alcohol and if there's not straw buys that are occurring in your parking lot over there.
Alderman Hall: They had an under aged buy there, when was that?
Lt. Young: That was on June 20th, sir.
Alderman Hall: June the 20th, and when was the transfer applied for?
Lt. Young: It was before the actual operation.
Hearing closed upon motion of Alderwoman Shabazz, seconded by Alderman Thomas, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Shabazz, seconded by Alderman Thomas, and unanimously carried.
Alderman Hall: I’d like to make a motion to continue this item at the request of one property owner. If we have any of the other six property owners who approve of this rezoning, if you are here and you would like to speak, we will allow that. But please be mindful that you cannot speak at the next hearing which will be July 19th.
[Mayor DeLoach asked Ms. Wood if she would like to speak today, or wait until the next hearing]
Ardis Wood: I served on the Victory Drive corridor study, which among other things recommended the creation of the Victory Drive conservancy that I now coordinate, although today I speak for myself. The study produced some wonderful recommendations for this roadway which as you know is a memorial for World War One service men and women. What it did not recommend was spot zoning, which this request certainly is. One member of this development team told a nearby resident, you know this is going to be a shopping center. Really… why, is this the best use for the land owner, perhaps for the road, the neighborhood, the traffic impact, no. The map they show makes it look harmless and I want to give you this map. We don't have an overhead projector, so maybe the camera can pick it up and then I will pass out a copy to you. They show this area which is somewhat commercial here, wanting to start commercial coming into this residential area but what they don't show you is what's down here. So, if you really add this to that you're going to see that there is a very large area of residential. So, let’s go back up a little higher and look at the area, not just one little individual spot. It's easy to say yes to this request and move on, but the right action I think, is clearly to refer to the corridor study and treat this historic drive with the respect it deserves before it is irreparably nibbled away.
[Motion and vote]: Upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried the hearing was continued to the meeting of July 19, 2018.
Alderman Bell: Is this behind the Whole Foods?
Alderman Hall: It’s one street over on Dixie Avenue where there are several property owners. This is a continuation of something old that's been going on in that neighborhood. The people, six other property owners are intimately involved in this and they want it resolved. At the request of one property owner I was asked to continue it because he was out of town.
[Motion]: Continue to the meeting of September 28th.
Attorney Stillwell: Mr. Alderman, the City Manager and I met with the party to whom we have a contract, Geyer Morris, in response to a significant amount of community input we've had on this and asked them if they would consider trying to redesign the project in a way that would not involve leaving the lane closed. In other words reopening it. It was closed by the City, by resolution of Council, in a deed in 1984. The RFP that the City put out advertised that we would be selling the lane to the developer. The contract that we have with the developer presently contemplates we will be selling the lane to them. We asked them to look at redesigning to see if they could redesign the project in a way we would not be selling the lane to them, which will take a significant amount of time and additional money because it changes the entire layout of the project. It may make building an upper story parking garage unfeasible because of the lack of circulation within the small footprints of the two lots and it's going to require a good bit of study. So, they have agreed to study that and they've asked for a delay until September 28th on the zoning hearings while they consider this. I think it's item 40 on the agenda that we recommended an extension of the due diligence period under the contract for six months to give them time. If they find they can redesign it in the way that we're requesting, it'll take a significant amount of time to completely redesign the project. So that's our recommendation.
Alderman Durrence I want to amend my motion to continue to September 27th, for items 10 and 11 until September 27th.
[Motion was seconded by Alderman Miller]
Alderman Thomas: Are we within our legal guidelines to extend the contract for sale and everything on this?
Attorney Stillwell: Well we're requesting that they redesign it and take out part of the project that we've agreed to sell to them, so yes I think so.
Alderman Thomas: So there wouldn't have to be another contract?
Attorney Stillwell: If in they do agree to do that, we will have to amend the contract to take the lane area out of it and that may involve other changes in the contract obviously because it's different than what we advertised and agreed to do.
Continued to the meeting of September 27, 2018 upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Continued to the meeting of September 27, 2018 upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, if I may I'd like to read something into the record. The Board of Assessors released the 2018 Tax Digest which indicated a 4.37 percent overall increase in property assessments throughout the City of Savannah. State law requires taxing entities that experience an increase in tax digest to calculate a rollback rate, which is a millage rate that will generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year's millage rate minus new construction or annexation. Due to the higher tax digest, the City's rollback rate for 2018, is 12.008 mills. The proposed millage rate is 13.40 mills. Although the millage rate represents an increase in the rate from the 2017 adopted rate of 12.48 mills, it still represents a 23 percent reduction in rate over the past two decades. We recommend that City Council amend the 2018 Revenue Ordinance adopted tax rate on real and personal property of 13.40 mills on the dollar or $13.40 per thousand dollars in assessed value and we recommend that you adopt a special service district tax rate for the water transportation district of .2 mills on the dollar or $.20 per thousand dollars in assessed value.
No Action
Ordinance read for the first time in Council July 5, 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.
Ordinance in its entirety on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council.
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor I would just like to provide you with an update. So, you directed staff to move forward with the appropriate legal actions to repeal the fire fee and I would just like to make a comment. Again, we know that the fire fee was very controversial, but representative government sometimes can be messy, but it works. The City of Savannah government listened to our stakeholders, the public, and we altered our course based on the feedback we received from the public. But I want to thank the public first and foremost for all of its efforts in assisting us as we went through the process of implementing the fire fee. I want to give you some interesting statistics. Over 10,000 property owners submitted discount applications to the City, certifying that their fire safety devices were installed and available to help occupants remain safe. That's one in five properties in Savannah, that is a positive for us. More than 6,000 residential properties submitted evacuation plans, meaning that they discussed and practiced what they would do in the event of a fire in their homes, that perhaps is one of the greatest wins or one of the greatest, most positive aspects of our journey with respect to the fire fees. It was clear that our residents took the task of creating a home safety plan and an evacuation plan for their family very seriously, and we are grateful to the public for doing that. This year alone the Savannah Fire Department personnel spent close to 5,000 hours in the community conducting home safety surveys and installing smoke detectors. The participation from our public was a huge success and I’ll share some other interesting numbers with you in a second. We conducted over 3,000 home fire safety surveys in 2018 compared to 408 by this time in 2017, that's a 778 percent increase in home fire safety surveys. We thank the public for taking this seriously. We installed a total of 576 smoke detectors in 2018 compared to 82 by this time in 2017, a 700 percent increase, so the public took our request seriously to ensure that they had operable smoke detectors and Savannah Fire personnel attended 832 public fire safety events in 2018 contacting more than 13,000 citizens compared to 434 events in 2017 and reaching out to 8,000 residents, a 62 percent increase. This was all as a result of our discussions on the fire fee. We also were able to initiate through our Fire Department the Praise and Preparedness Program where we encourage faith based organizations to promote the message of emergency preparedness and readiness before disaster strikes. All property owners, over 10,000 parcels who submitted an application for the fire fee discount, also validated that their property address numbers were displayed in accordance with the City ordinance, that also impacts the safety of the occupants in their properties. And so for that Mr. Mayor, and members of City Council, I want to thank the public for its help and its support and taking fire safety seriously.
Alderman Hall: At this time, can we officially say the fire fee is gone?
Ordinance read for the first time in Council July 5, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Thomas, and unanimously carried.
AN ORDINANCE
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND PART 3, PUBLIC SAFETY, CHAPTER 2, FIRE PREVENTION AND PROTECTION, BY REPEALING ARTICLE G, FIRE SERVICES SPECIAL REVENUE FUND, AND ARTICLE H, FIRE SERVICE FEE, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (2003); TO PROVIDE FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, Georgia, in regular meeting of Council assembled, and pursuant to lawful authority thereof:
SECTION 1: That Article G, Fire Services Special Revenue Fund, of Chapter 2, Fire Prevention and Protection, of Part 3, Public Safety, of the Code of the City of Savannah, Georgia (2003) is hereby REPEALED in its entirety.
SECTION 2: That Article H, Fire Service Fee, of Chapter 2, Fire Prevention and Protection, of Part 3, Public Safety, of the Code of the City of Savannah, Georgia (2003) is hereby REPEALED in its entirety.
SECTION 3: This Section shall be effective when the Mayor affixes his signature below.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED: JULY 5, 2018
Ordinance read for the first time in Council July 5, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Thank you Mr. Mayor and my comment may have been for item 14 or 15. What I wanted to say is in reference to doing these changes with the fire fee, the Charter was changed, am I correct Mr. City Attorney?
Attorney Stillwell: Yes, the Charter was updated to adopt the language that I believe that the GMA uses in charters which allows cities to impose fees, but they have to do it by ordinance. So, in order to have a new fire fee you'd have to reenact some version of the ordinance you’re now repealing.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Alright, so with this ordinance being changed, do we have to do something to change the Charter since the Charter has been tampered with or changed?
Attorney Stillwell: Well, you could do that. You don't need to do that, but you could do that. If you do that, then when you want to put any kind of additional fee for anything in you would have to amend the Charter again, but the fire fee is dead once you adopt the resolution you're already adopting.
Alderwoman Shabazz: But as I've been doing some research on this, which is why my comments are so pertinent at this time, is that not just doing a surface change of the ordinance and moving forward without further discussion with this, but that we also changed the Charter so that in future plans, events and discussions of what we as policy makers here in the City of Savannah would like to do. My practice is to hear the people's voice, the voice of the people and come up here and make the laws and policies according to what our citizens would like to have in place. So, with that being said as we move forward and not having the Charter changed, without us paying attention and things moving the way that it was moving before, that we take and do something like a fire fee or any type of anything that we want to do in the future, make it a referendum so that we can first hear from the people and not go on the back side of this and make changes to the ordinance, change the Charter, then hear from the people and do all this, all this back lashing. So, that was my point I wanted to put into the record today.
Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor I don’t want to belabor the point, but I believe that, hence why my comments have been minimal, I believe that the Charter was changed to allow the City to enact fees not specifically a fire fee. So, therefore it still allows the City by ordinance to enact fees rather than say anything specifically about a fire fee. So, therefore we're just eliminating the ordinance, which allowed us to enact a fire fee and a fire discount program.
Attorney Stillwell: Correct, again you could not put a fire fee in, in the future, without going back and amending and redoing a new ordinance.
Alderman Johnson: So, to answer Alderman Hall’s question that after we pass this particular item then it’s clear to say the fire fee is now six feet underground.
Alderwoman Shabazz: So, does that suffice my statement?
Alderman Thomas: I just have a question for the City Manager. The supplemental appropriation that's involved in item number 15, I don't see the additional dollars for grass cutting.
City Manager Hernandez: That was not removed, that stays within the budget.
Alderman Thomas: Okay, so the schedule that we talked about with Mr. Heath and all is still on target to be maintained?
City Manager Hernandez: Yes.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, can I make a statement before we move forward because the question was called and I am still not satisfied. Mr. City Manager, I want to make it clear because folks are calling me in reference to this repeal and making sure that it's done on all levels, the City level along with the Charter level. So, is everything clear and done with and over with Mr. City Attorney?
Attorney Stillwell: Once you repeal this, it's done, yes.
Alderman Johnson: Have we repealed it?
Attorney Stillwell: Yes, you just voted on it.
Alderman Johnson: Is it done?
Attorney Stillwell: Yes.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Thank you, that's all I needed to make sure of.
AN ORDINANCE
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND PART 3, PUBLIC SAFETY, CHAPTER 2, FIRE PREVENTION AND PROTECTION, BY REPEALING ARTICLE G, FIRE SERVICES SPECIAL REVENUE FUND, AND ARTICLE H, FIRE SERVICE FEE, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (2003); TO PROVIDE FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, Georgia, in regular meeting of Council assembled, and pursuant to lawful authority thereof:
SECTION 1: That Article G, Fire Services Special Revenue Fund, of Chapter 2, Fire Prevention and Protection, of Part 3, Public Safety, of the Code of the City of Savannah, Georgia (2003) is hereby REPEALED in its entirety.
SECTION 2: That Article H, Fire Service Fee, of Chapter 2, Fire Prevention and Protection, of Part 3, Public Safety, of the Code of the City of Savannah, Georgia (2003) is hereby REPEALED in its entirety.
SECTION 3: This Section shall be effective when the Mayor affixes his signature below.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED: JULY 5, 2018
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, I'm going to have your Budget Director, Ms. Melissa Carter, walk you through the proposed changes to this year’s budget in order to accomplish your directive to us that we eliminate the fire fee and impose a millage rate at the rate of 13.40 mills.
Melissa Carter: Good afternoon Mayor and Aldermen. I'd like to briefly go through our rebalancing strategy as a result of repealing the Fire Services Utility Ordinance and the fire fee from this year's budget. Through recent deliberations and discussions with you, you have directed us to make certain appropriations in the operating and capital improvement program budgets to accomplish a rebalancing of our fiscal year spending plan. One of the first things that will be adjusted will be, you have decided to move forward with setting an FY18 millage rate at 13.40 mills. Additionally, we will be recognizing projected growth in our tax digest to bring forward any new revenues to offset this expenditure reduction, actually this expenditure increase, back over in the general fund. We are shifting our remaining fire service related revenues that were initially placed in the fire service funds, we have to pull those back and recognize them in the general fund. Just as we're pulling back all of our fire operations staffing and our fire administrative staffing that were moved over into the special revenue funds, we're bringing them back on the general funds allocation as well. We are going to amend the funding source for one recreational capital project through our discussions. We will also be decreasing our FY18 budgeted OPEB contribution to our actuarial recommendation. This is one that is significant, it's a significant support to the rebalancing strategy. I'm not sure if we talked about it at length, but this is about a $1 million reduction to our expense budget as a result of our actuarial recommendations that came forward after the budget was set. We are also going to shift the Arena Development Program Management for the last quarter of this year to our SPLOST 6 projects. We're going to impose a hiring freeze across general operations, which will include those non uniformed, sworn personnel within our general fund, but it does impact our public works divisions. It will impact our general overhead and administrative arms and several community service agencies. We will also be reducing our general operating budget. Those will be across all commodity areas and across all outside services areas as we deem necessary to rebalance this year's budget. We will be reducing the additional funds that were previously appropriated as a contribution to the MPC. You may recall earlier this year, you processed a budget amendment to allocate an additional $200,000 to the MPC. We are now going to roll that back by 50 percent. We will also be eliminating funding that was set aside previously this year for our partnership with the School Board. A combination of the operational adjustments and capital adjustments will rebalance this year's budget as a result of repealing the fire fee and shifting our fire services back over into the general fund. Thank you.
City Manager Hernandez: If I may just add two points. We're also eliminating the enhanced tree stump removal program that we were trying to undertake this year and we are also reducing our contributions to special events, sponsorships and community celebrations.
Alderman Johnson: I think that we need to modify that somewhat to allow the City Manager either to come to Council to request that hiring freezes are lifted for specific positions. I don't think that we need to impede operations if you have a critical position that may be in general operations that you need to fill, but because we have imposed a hiring freeze you aren't able to do that. So, I mean I think we need to create a way where you have some flexibility in terms of requesting exemptions from this should it happen.
City Manager Hernandez: Yeah, I think Alderman Johnson that what I've laid out is my recommended strategy for meeting your policy statement, which is to have a balanced budget. The way I view it I don't think that I need to come back to the Council if I want to fill a position that I deem is operationally necessary. So, I think I have the flexibility unless the lawyer disagrees with me.
Alderman Johnson: I just want to make sure that it's implicitly clear because when we say hiring freeze and we're doing that as for a budget that we've adopted, I just want to make sure that it does not impede your operation.
City Manager Hernandez: No, I'm trying to get to the total of $500,000 in personnel savings, so every request to fill a position is vetted by our Chief Operating Officers, and then any decision to approve a position to be filled it then automatically goes through an appeal process directly to me. Then based on their input to me and my review of the information, if I deem it to be a crucial position, then I will allow that.
Alderman Johnson: So, you feel comfortable that you have the flexibility.
City Manager Hernandez: Yes.
Alderman Miller: In my district I’ve gotten quite a few comments about the potential increase in the millage rate based mainly on some misinformation that was put out. I think it is important that the public understand that we're making an adjustment in the middle of the year because of changes we were having to make. If we did not have this extra nine tenths of a mill that we're about to vote on, we were not going to be able to do such things as: $2.2 million the City was going to withdraw from its reserve; $1.3 million in Savannah Shines program, that is in Edgemere/Sackville, an area that really impedes in other areas as well. We have 44 property owners who will participate in that program right now to help clean up that area; $700,000 in software upgrades to our computer system and I'm not sure everyone understands how deplorable the City’s computer system is, we’re still running programs that most people have abandoned twenty years ago; $300,000 for a time keeping system that is supposed to save the City as much as $1 million per year from what I've been told; the $500,000 for the Waters Avenue improvements that have been delayed for 12 years, and now sparking development in a crucial corridor; $453,000 for a Code Compliance software to oversee Code Enforcement issues; $491,000 to allow vacant positions to be filled, 146 others have been eliminated; $250,000 to extend community center hours in neighborhoods that really need it; $800,000 to enhance right of way maintenance, which means we'll mow the grass every two weeks instead of every four weeks, which is something we got a lot of concern about; $66,000 to continue the 311 program; $77,000 to operate swimming pools over the summer; $135,000 to continue the Office of Business Opportunity; and $60,000 for Picnic in the Park. Of course there are others, I didn't go through all of them, but none of these would be able to be financed if we don't move ahead with this millage increase. I think it's important that the public understand that and I appreciate you allowing me to point that out.
Alderwoman Shabazz: I agree a 98.9997 percent on these supplemental appropriations. I agree 99.9 percent of what my colleague Alderman Miller just rolled down. But I must state the reason why I will not be voting for this. Simple fact is that when I ran my election, I told the people that I will not increase any taxes. So, that will be my only reason for not voting for this motion. Thank you.
[Alderman Johnson stated he believes because Alderwoman Shabazz is voting against the motion, it cannot be on first and second reading.]
[Attorney Stillwell clarified that the vote can be taken on first and second reading, unless she objects to holding the first and second reading at this meeting.]
[Mayor DeLoach confirmed that Alderwoman Shabazz only wanted to vote against the motion and not the first and second reading.]
[Alderwoman Shabazz confirmed]
[Motion and vote]: Ordinance read for the first time in Council July 5, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Durrence, and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, Johnson, Thomas, and Hall. Alderwoman Shabazz voted against the motion.
Alderman Thomas: I do want to reiterate that when we talked about this, the millage increase, this is only the second time that we've raised a millage since 2000 and that every effort will be in the 2019 budget to reduce the millage based on anticipated revenues and other revenue streams.
City Manager Hernandez: I don't want anyone to leave here today with a rosy picture for the FY19 budget development process. I'm very sensitive to the fact that this City Council has done an outstanding job rolling back the millage rate over time. But as we have said in previous fiscal years, we are structurally imbalanced and I think we've had conversations here where we've identified the fact that almost a third of parcels in the City of Savannah either pay no taxes or little property taxes. Despite the growth in tax digest and despite the growth in all of our other revenue lines. The fact of the matter is that that growth in revenues has actually not kept pace with the growth in expenditures. So, I don't know at this point in time, because it's still too early in the process for FY19 to determine, whether in fact we're going to have a smooth budget process or we're going to have a rocky budget process like we've had for the last couple of years. So, please do not leave here today thinking that the budget process for FY19 is going to be a smooth one, because I can't guarantee that.
Alderman Foster: I just wanted to add to what Alderman Thomas was saying and remind the public that we have hired and trained over 200 new patrol officers in our police department, and the net increase in staffing is over 120. I'm not sure what the current number is, but we are fully staffed and have been for a while, for the first time in over a decade. That's what the public asked for and we have successfully done that and continue to maintain that as the crime rate decreases.
Alderman Johnson: I just want to say just for purpose of context that over the ensuing months we need to be very, very sure that we have clear conversations not only as a Council, but as a community, of reconciling what we want and what we have to spend. That is what our fundamental issue is. We have citizens that have wanted and have expected a high level of services and we do that. We have a region that takes advantage of many of the services that we provide, that they do not pay for, and that our residents have to be able to pay for. So, I think part of this discussion is educating individuals. We can give everybody what they want, but there is a cost to it, our costs go up every day. We have and we want to retain the best trained and skilled employees, we want to be able to recruit, we want to be able to promote from within, but these folks also need to be paid their worth, and I think they should be. But of course that comes with a cost. So, I just want to make sure that maybe we need to start framing that conversation well before the budget process. Maybe we need to go out into the communities as we did with the fire fee. Let's do Budget 101, educating people about what actually happened. I mean you can't spend more than what you have. I think unfortunately people will say that the City of Savannah, oh we have lots of money and we get all of this money and I don’t think they really understand the difference between what we get in and what we spend.
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, if I may just respond. I'm actually glad that I'm Alderman Johnson brought that up because that's exactly what the Budget Director is proposing to do this year. She came to me with an idea of having several citizen engagement panels where we're out in the community and actually walking them through the budget process, and allowing them to see how difficult it really is to put together a $400 million budget for an enterprise the size of the City of Savannah. So, we plan to do that this year.
Alderwoman Bell: Alderman Johnson, City Manager and Budget Director Carter, Alderman Durrence and I had the privilege in maybe 2017 or 2016 to attend an NLC workshop where that model was actually demonstrated. So, NLC has a model called Participatory Budgeting, where citizens actually get to participate in the budget process on a much smaller scale where maybe $1 million would be $100, so it can be very understandable. I would suggest that you may want to contact NLC because there’s a model out there and there are communities in this country that do exactly that. Now I would have to say that most of them probably are a lot smaller than Savannah, so you would have to make some adjustments, but the point is well taken. Our citizens want a Cadillac perhaps on a Volkswagen budget so I think it might help if the citizens understand through a civic engagement process, the struggles that you guys have to go through. I applaud your efforts.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Ordinance in its entirety on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Durrence, and unanimously carried.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
[Alderman Hall asked for clarification]
City Manager Hernandez: Alderman Hall, this is essentially a truing up of the final costs associated with this project and this is actually a reduction in costs to reflect the actual materials that were used in the field. So, this is actually a savings of $3,912 off of the approved contract.
Alderman Hall: Will that money go back to the Traffic Calming fund?
City Manager Hernandez: If it came from the Traffic Calming capital account, that's where it will go.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Thomas, seconded by Alderman Durrence, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
[City Manager Hernandez stated this is a SPLOST VI funded project].
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, members of City Council, unless I'm corrected by the City Attorney this a 180 day extension?
Attorney Stillwell: Correct.
[Alderman Miller asked staff to explain what is being done and why as it relates to this item, as there is a lot of concern about it]
Attorney Stillwell: We have a contract with this company to sell them all of the property at Oglethorpe and Habersham, including the former lane, which was closed by City Council in 1984. There has been a lot of community request that we restore this lane that's been closed for what is that 40 years or something like that now, it's been officially closed. It was actually deeded to prior developers and there have been numerous development plans for the property over that 40 year period, all of which have included building one thing or another over the lane, usually parking garages of some sort that are wrapped with apartments or condos or something. When the City Council decided to sell the property last year, we issued an RFP which included selling the lane and the intent of the Council's direction to us, as we understood it, was that you wanted to encourage more permanent residential development downtown as opposed to vacation rentals and hotels. The project that was proposed would accomplish that, but in order to build residential development downtown you have to build much more onsite parking than you need for a lot of other kinds of uses because people who want to live somewhere usually want a parking space. The City also required that we keep 50 parking spaces within this new garage because there's a police station next door and we need the parking spaces. So, that was the RFP we issued and that was the basis on which the developer made a bid on or made a proposal which the City accepted. They have expended very substantial amount of money developing plans and a proposal for that. Kind of in the middle of the process the community has gotten in an uproar about wanting to bring this lane back, which formerly back in the, I guess until the mid-20th century sometime had various houses and other developments on it or other housing basically. So, after we've listened to y'all and listened to the public, the City Manager and I met with the developer and said well we need to explore the option of possibly restoring that lane. Of course to restore the lane you have to completely redesign the project from the way that they proposed it and the way that we proposed selling it to them. It will probably involve a different sales price, and probably involve some major change in the parking because the basis of being able to build a parking garage there is you can circulate the parking stack within residential development, or a larger footprint. If you have very small lots to build on you can't very well build a parking garage above grade and that may necessitate underground parking, which is much more expensive than above ground parking. So, to make a long story short, it is a major redesign of the project and a change in the deal to do that. Again it's requested by the City, not requested by the developer. They have agreed to consider that, they will come back to us as soon as they are able to do that, probably in two or three months, because they have a various zoning changes that need to be made. Assuming that they can redesign the project and wish to proceed and the City Council is willing to accept whatever deal we can negotiate to do that then, they would redesign the project during the rest of this period we're talking about. So, I hope that answers your question.
Alderman Miller: It does. I want to highlight two things. One is the property, the deal was set based on the requirements that we've had since 1984 and we now are reviewing those requirements to look at the possibility of reestablishing the lane. These are discussions that have been going on for quite some time between the City and the developer. The developer is willing to go back and look at it during the due diligence period, but the developer is asking for a little bit more time in the due diligence to make sure they can make it work. Is that correct?
Attorney Stillwell: Yes, they have to, again it completely changes the project, so they've got to look at how that would work.
Alderman Miller: Some published reports did not understand that one, this has been going on for quite some time, and two, we're trying to do what we can.
Attorney Stillwell: I think there's a lack of understanding really by a lot of people. I’ve always said that General Oglethorpe’s defect in his plan was he didn't anticipate Henry Ford. You know we've got parking issues downtown, we've got car issues downtown, that aren't addressed by the narrow streets and the multiplicity of lanes, and small footprints we have downtown. When you want people to build on-site parking, which everybody does you have to have bigger building footprints generally than you can build on these historic blocks. So this is the struggle and I guess that's why we have architects and city planners to come up with solutions to difficult problems, but for anybody that suggests it's not a difficult problem they are wrong because it certainly is, but they're trying to get there.
Alderman Thomas: Mr. Attorney, should City Council members be talking with the developer regarding this development.
Attorney Stillwell: Well there's no pending RFP right now, but I wouldn't recommend that you do that. I would recommend you allow the negotiation stage…
Alderman Thomas: Just to clarify, any City buildings that's been bid on and all, City Council members should not be involved in that process or discussing anything.
Attorney Stillwell: That's correct.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderwoman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and carried per the City Manager's recommendation with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, Hall and Shabazz. Aldermen Johnson and Thomas voted against the motion.
[City Manager Hernandez stated this is extending the entitlement period to October 31, 2018].
Alderwoman Shabazz: Is this the property of the Central Police Department?
City Manager Hernandez: No, this particular property used to house the Traffic Unit.
Alderman Thomas: Mr. City Manager, this is a $687,000 in revenue. Where will this money go?
City Manager Hernandez: We have an account that captures all revenue associated with the sale of any City property and that is going to go into that account, subject to further City Council direction in terms of how it is expended in the future.
Alderman Thomas: Are there monies already in that account?
City Manager Hernandez: Well, we sell properties throughout the year, so there is money in the account.
Alderman Thomas: Can we be provided with an accounting of that.
City Manager Hernandez: I can do that.
Alderwoman Shabazz: Mr. City Manager, can you give me the boundaries of this property?
City Manager Hernandez: This is generally between 38th and 39th.
Attorney Stillwell: I believe that’s right, I’ve forgotten the exact address. It’s on Bull Street going west off of Bull Street, it includes that church. This is the property, Alderwoman, that is directly across the street from the Vault Restaurant, in the Starland District. If you know where the Vault is, that former bank building, its right across the street. There's an old church in there and this is the vacant lot, immediately north of the church.
City Manager Hernandez: This extension was requested by both the City and the purchaser because there was a lawsuit that was filed, just dismissed, I think just this past Monday, if I'm not mistaken. So, the proposer has lost a considerable amount of time as a result of the lawsuit because they had to suspend their activities. So, we were extending the term of the agreement to basically reflect the time that was lost as a result of the lawsuit.
Approved upon motion of Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderwoman Shabazz, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
[Alderman Thomas asked what this was for].
City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, members of City Council, this is some retail space that the City’s Police Department has actually leased at no cost in the McAlpin Shopping Center. What we're doing here is merely extending the term of that lease again, at no cost there. We've got to do some internal renovations that will be our costs, but those improvements will be portable and if we were to ever leave that location, we will take those improvements with us.
[Alderman Bell asked how much space is it]
[City Manager Hernandez stated he did not presently have that information]
Mayor DeLoach: This is an item that came up while working with The Kessler Group. He’s proposing to put up a monument at the end of the MLK to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. I just wanted, we want, to participate with them in the sense that we want to be able to bring all of our expertise in on it that need to be, and those that know some of the folks in this area. So, I didn't want to be the point on this so I asked Carol and Brian to head this up since they are the Council-at-Large and cover the whole City, and just let them take this and lead this direction as far as where it goes and see what we can do and go from there.
Christian Sotille, Urban Designer and Architect for the Plant Riverside District: It is an honor to be here and to assist with the coordination of design for this new City park at the capstone of the 52 block long MLK corridor, where it meets the river in a City renowned for its civic places. It's fitting that the opportunity to create a new civic space dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. be realized. I would also like to thank the many people that have been involved, including Richard Kessler for providing support and sponsorship for the project, Former Mayor of Savannah Edna Jackson for assembling and leading a working group to develop the design and the concept, and Alderwoman Carol Bell and Alderman Brian Foster for their leadership on the City Council in working to bring this to fruition. To provide some background and additional background on the process and where we are today, the plan for an MLK, Jr. Park to include a commemorative monument was previously approved four years ago with the master plan for Plant Riverside. After much work we're pleased to say the project is under construction now and is planned for completion by next June. To advance final details for the park, the proposed design for the monument was brought to the Historic Sites and Monuments Commission in May and they reviewed the proposed design in detail, and unanimously recommended approval and it received a certificate of appropriateness. The next step as this is a public project is to receive a recommendation for approval from this body, the Mayor and Council, affirming that this project is appropriate for Savannah. Subsequent to this meeting, the City will continue to develop and coordinate all the final approvals with the King family prior to implementation. So, in closing, we are excited to be at this point in the process. It is an honor to be adding to the great tradition of civic spaces and monuments in Savannah and we look forward to continuing to support and assist the City Council as this project moves forward. Thank you.
Alderwoman Bell: In that vein we began the process of contacting the appropriate individuals relative to gaining approval for this project. We also will be gaining, working with the committee, Alderman Foster and I on behalf of the Council, working with the committee, and gaining input from the community as well.
Alderman Foster: I just wanted to commend Mr. Kessler and his group for this significant investment. This will not cost the City anything and they have agreed even to maintain it as part of the park there. It's an extension of the MLK Boulevard pretty much because that's where it comes down to the river. I think it was a completely appropriate gesture on his part. Certainly the legacy of Dr. King and the legacy of Savannah are intertwined and I think this is a great thing to be doing. I think it's important to understand that some of what has been proposed may not be able to be done because there are some things that have to go through in the process to do a statue. So, it will be a monument of some kind of work. We're not sure until the appropriate approvals are gathered and I just want to point that out. But it will be a significant park and a monument of some kind. We're not a hundred percent sure yet.
Alderman Johnson: I just wanted to, I’ve been kept apprised by the committee about this. This is in my district and I voted on the master, the initial master plan. So I'm asking to officially be kept in the loop regarding this in my district.
Mayor DeLoach: I think when they come up with something, maybe we could have a workshop so that we can all be brought up to speed on it.
Alderman Johnson: It’s in my district so, I want to make sure… I shouldn't have to hear informally about what's going on in my district.
Alderwoman Shabazz: I just want to also commend our Historic Sites and Monuments Commission for doing a very good job on what they're doing with the inclusiveness here in our City with sites and monuments. Thank you.
Approved upon motion of Alderwoman Bell, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.
Announcements
City Manager Hernandez reminded City Council the City will have the first of three public hearings on the millage rate tonight at 6:00 p.m.
Alderwoman Bell, on behalf of City Council, extended condolences to Mayor DeLoach and the DeLoach family, particularly Mrs. Virginia DeLoach, on the passing of Jimmy DeLoach. Mayor DeLoach, on behalf of his family, expressed his appreciation for the outpouring of love and condolences from the community. On behalf of City Council, Alderwoman Bell also extended condolences to the Richardson family and to the City’s Assistant Clerk on the loss of educator Ivy Dianne Page Richardson, who taught in this community for over 30 years, and stated in her loss this community lost a great servant.
Alderman Johnson offered condolences to the family of Shawntray Grant and stated they will be looking for a more permanent way to honor his memory. He also extended condolences to the family of Lawrence Marley, an LGBT activist and social worker in the community, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.
Alderman Thomas thanked Michelle Gavin and Matthew Wirth for their assistance with the flag raising event on July 3rd at the new Veterans Memorial Park.
Alderwoman Shabazz commented on how special Ms. Richardson was to this community and how much she helped our children.
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=CePTEa3gpR63
