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

Brooks Stillwell, City Attorney

Bret Bell, Deputy Assistant to the City Manager

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 Rev. Dr. Wilson Scott, Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Shabazz, and unanimously carried the agenda was amended to add item 47: Boards, Commissions & Authorities: Appointment to the Savannah Resource Recovery Development Authority and move items 45, 46, and 47 under Presentations. 

Upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Shabazz, and unanimously carried the agenda was amended to move item 18 under Presentations and add item 3.1: An appearance by Joseph Ervin to introduce the new Metropolitan Planning Commission Director.

Upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Shabazz, unanimous approval was given for the Mayor to sign an affidavit and resolution on Personnel and Real Estate 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 10th day of May, 2018 the Council entered into a closed session for the purpose of discussing Personnel and Real Estate. 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 10, 2018 upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Shabazz, and unanimously carried.

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

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

Brent Boyd, Greenscapes Division Administrator, appeared with Terry Pindar and members of the Trustees Garden Club, to present a donation for Forsyth Park for the replanting, restoring and beautifying of an area just north of the Cafe' at Forsyth Park, which was impacted by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Ms. Pindar introduced Beverly Reynolds, Karen Pannell, Corrine Reeves, and Diana Barrow, Trustees Garden Club members. She briefly reviewed the Club’s history, mission, and partnerships stating the partnership with the City is the most-long standing and one of its greatest success stories.

Alderman Durrence thanked Ms. Pindar and Club members for their contribution and all the work that they have been doing.

City Attorney Stillwell: If you recall at the last meeting you approved this on first reading. The Downtown Savannah Authority at Council’s request is going to issue up to $33 million in bonds for the construction of the first parking garage in Savannah River Landing, and the second bond issue is for the purchase of some fire equipment which is about $1.2 million. The resolutions have already been approved by the Downtown Savannah Authority and it's just a legal requirement that we have a second reading of the fact that this is proceeding.

Alderman Thomas: What is the fire equipment for?

Attorney Stillwell: It's a rescue truck, if I remember right. Is anybody here from the Fire Department?

Mayor DeLoach: What I know is a ladder truck is $1.2 million, for a ladder isn’t that correct?

City Manager Hernandez: No, I think what we're buying here is a specialized piece of equipment, that as the City Attorney said it's a rescue chopper. Trucking typically carries a greater compliment of tools, ladders, hydraulic equipment and so forth, and they typically respond to fires as well.

Alderman Thomas: Is that targeted for downtown?

City Manager Hernandez: I don't know exactly where it will be, but I think in the overall fleet.

Attorney Stillwell: If I recall the Fire Chief told us this goes to a variety of fires because it's rescue equipment for a variety of different kinds of incidents.

City Manager Hernandez: I know we operate two of them. Right now off the top of my head I don't know where they are stationed, but this will be a replacement vehicle.

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

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

Continued to the meeting of June 21, 2018, upon motion of Aldeman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried.

Alderman Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ladies and gentlemen, there are among us in the Savannah city full of history. We have people who are unsung heroes and as you all know that Savannah is a place that is known for its religious contributions, particularly through our houses of faith and worship and in our churches, mosques, and synagogues. Among them all is someone who stands out quite significantly for the work that he's done in carrying out the mandate that God has given in terms of doing service unto others. As he is retiring and he is moved from the place that he occupied so prominently on West 38^th Street, it used to be in the first district, but it's now in a second, but he resides in Carver Village, which is in the first district. We wanted to find some significant way to be able to recognize this great man and his helpmeet because we know that she's much better looking than he is and certainly she is the one that has held him up. Alderman Durrence has been kind enough to work with us to work through now a policy that we have to be able to name an honorary street designation. So, I believe that we do have here with us the Reverend Lexcie E. Aiken and Mrs. Mary Aiken. I’m going to ask for them to come up and as they come up Mr. Mayor if it’s alright with you I would like to ask the members of the St. Luke family to please stand.

Mary Aiken: My name is Mary Aiken and this is Lexcie Aiken and we would just like to say that we really appreciate what the City and the community have done towards naming the street after me and my husband. We appreciate everything. We were working for the last 49 years at one church, so we thank God that there was some way that they could honor us.

Mayor DeLoach: Thank you so much, we appreciate y’all being here and we appreciate what y’all represent. We appreciate the fact that we've got a church leader here that has got the strength to help lead this community as he's done in the past and looking forward to the future and he’s got a lot of folks that came with him too.  

Deacon Clifford King: Good afternoon, sir and City Council. I'm very honored to stand here this afternoon and just say a few words concerning the Reverend Dr. Lexcie Aiken. I serve as Chairman of the Trustee Board at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, Incorporated. In reference to Rev. Aiken, he did pastor St. Luke for 48 plus years. Not only pastoring, he ministered to the community and especially the 38^th Street Park. He is the Past President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance where he also spread the gospel throughout the city of Savannah. He instituted a Feed a Meal Program for not only the St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, but also the community. This organization is approaching 30 years in duration. He was also instrumental in formulating a beautification project for the 38^th Street Park, which is Wells Park as we know it. Rev. Aiken is a lover of people and he's very giving of his time and finances. At no time when there was anyone in need of financial assistance, counseling when Rev. Aiken wasn't there to give financial support and help in counseling. These are just a few things that Rev. Aiken has done in his 48 plus years at the St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church. I'm honored for this opportunity to stand here and say a few words on his behalf. And thank you Council for having me.

Rev. Lexcie Aiken: If I was at St. Luke right now I would sing a hymn. [Rev. Aiken and members sang]. My wife is on one side, and my daughter is on the other pinching me.  

Mayor DeLoach: Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor in recognition of the stellar service of Rev. Lexcie E. and Mary Aiken and as the sole occupant of the West 38^th Street corridor between MLK and Montgomery, I move with Alderman Durrence’s approval that this section of land, the street will be designated as Rev. and Mrs. Lexcie E. Aiken Way.

Vote: Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried.

Alderman Durrence: Mr. Mayor, I have deferred to Alderman Johnson on this because up until recently he represented this area and I felt like that was an appropriate thing to do, but I do want to thank Rev. and Mrs. Aiken for their service to this community. See you at the dedication.

Alderman Hall: Reverend you raised that hymn like it was time for offering.

Alderman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, before they leave I need to make mention of just a small piece of history and that is with Rev. Aiken and Mrs. Aiken’s work not just as pillars of this community and this religious community, but also on a national stage with the National Baptist Convention. They have been the leaders along with the late Rev. Bennie R. Mitchell and I had the privilege to travel with them for about a decade with my newspaper at that time. He represented this area as the Civil Rights leader, as he is. I just had to make mention of the soldier and stellar job that he has done to bring forth our people in this community and on a national base.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation.

Continued to the meeting of June 7, 2018, upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried.

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 10, 2018, 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 Durrence, and unanimously carried. Alderman Johnson was not present for the vote.

AN ORDINANCE

To Be Entitled

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF SAVANNAH ZONING ORDINANCE ARTICLE B, SECTION 8-3028(d)) VICTORIAN PLANNED NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT ORDINANCE PERTAINING TO USE 8a SHORT TERM VACATION RENTAL, 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 regular meeting of Council assembled and pursuant to lawful authority thereof:

SECTION 1:  That Part 8, Chapter 3, Zoning of the Code of the City of Savannah, Georgia (2003) hereinafter referenced as "Code," be enacted as follows:

Note: Text to be enacted shown in blue, bold, and underlined. Text to be repealed shown in red, bold, and strikethrough.

ENACT

Article B, Sec. 8-3028(d) (Victorian Planned Neighborhood Conservation District)

SECTION 2: That the requirement of Section 8-3182(f)(2) of said Code and the law in such cases made and provided has been satisfied.  That 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 12^th day of April,  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: MAY 10, 2018

Alderman Hall: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to take this opportunity in regards to number 11. Two weeks ago when this item was discussed, it was brought to our attention by Ms. Smith that someone on this panel made an unkind and unflattering remark about their business. So, I just want to take this opportunity to apologize to Ms. Smith for whomever made that remark.

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 10, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Shabazz, and unanimously carried. Alderman Johnson was not present for the vote.

AN ORDINANCE

To Be Entitled

AN ORDINANCE TO ALLOW FOR AN INN SPECIAL USE FOR CERTAIN PROPERTY WITHIN A PUD-IS (PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT-INSTITUTIONAL) ZONING CLASSIFICATION; 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:  That pursuant to and subject to conditions of Section 8-3039 of the Zoning Ordinance, Special Uses, the following uses: Specialty Restaurant, Banquet Hall, Catering Business, General Office Space in the main building; Art Studio/Gallery (Education) in one of the Duplex Structures; and Inn or Long-term Tenants in the Eight Residential Duplex Structures, are hereby established within the following described PUD-IS zoning district:

LEGAL DESCRIPTION

Beginning at a point [X: 993700.051495 Y: 734238.175271] located at the approximate intersections of the centerlines of Bacon Park Drive & Skidaway Road, said point being THE POINT OF BEGINNING

Thence proceeding in a Southwesterly direction along the centerline of Skidaway Road for an approximate distance of 614.146 ft. to a point, a point located at the approximate intersections of the centerlines of Bona Bella Avenue & Skidaway Road [X: 993479.388948 Y: 733665.040578]

Thence proceeding in a Northwesterly direction along the centerline of Bona Bella Avenue for an approximate distance of 430.473 ft. to a point [X: 993049.556693 Y: 733688.516087]

Thence proceeding in a N 21-35-41 E direction along a line for an approximate distance of 714.837 ft. to a point [X: 993312.645574 Y: 734353.179059], a point located on the approximate centerline of Bacon Park Drive,

Thence proceeding in a Southeasterly direction along the centerline of Bacon Park Drive for an approximate distance of 404.115 ft. to a point [X: 993700.051495 Y: 734238.175271], a point located at the approximate intersections of the centerlines of Bona Bella Avenue & Skidaway Road and with said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

The property is further identified by the Property Identification Number (PIN) as follows:

PIN: 2-0141-05-005

SECTION 2: The special uses are approved upon recommendation of the Metropolitan

Planning Commission and after a public hearing and findings in accordance with Section 8-

3163(b) of the Zoning Ordinance subject to the following conditions:

1. The catering business shall be limited to hours of operation from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
2. The restaurant shall be limited to a maximum seating capacity of 100 seats and shall be limited to hours of operation from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.  Beer, wine, and spirituous beverages may be served at the restaurant and banquet hall only as part of a full service meal.
3. The banquet hall shall be restricted to the same conditions as the restaurant with the exception that the maximum seating capacity shall be not more than 15 seats.
4. The art studio/gallery shall be limited to a maximum of 35 students with a maximum of 2 instructors.  The art studio/gallery shall be restricted to hours of operation between 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.  Beer and wine only may be served at art shows.
5. The general office space shall be limited to a maximum gross area of 1,375 square feet.
6. There shall be not more than 8 residential duplexes with a total of 16 residential units (2010 Bona Bella Ave Units 1-16), with one bedroom each, for a total of 16 bedrooms.
7. 15 of the residential units may be used for non-transient residential guests (long-term rentals) and/or by the inn for transient guests (short-term rentals).
8. One of the residential units (currently Unit 2) shall be the caretaker’s quarters of an onsite 24/7 manager.
9. Four of the residential units (Units 13-16) may be used as live-work units or offices or for non-transient residential guests (long-term rentals) and/or by the inn for transient guests (short-term rentals).
10. Unit 17 (one of the nine original duplexes built in 1978 with approval by the Mayor & Aldermen) may be used as “The Clubhouse”.  In 2004, the Mayor & Aldermen had approved the conversion of one of the nine duplexes into a nonresidential use.
11. Two storage buildings may be on the western edge of the property.  However, they have to maintain a five-foot setback from the property lines.
12. Commercial deliveries shall be limited to the hours between 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  Delivery trucks shall use only the Bacon Park Drive access.
13. Commercial dumpsters shall be fully screened from adjacent properties.
14. The existing vegetative buffer that extends the length of the western property line shall remain undisturbed.  If it is disturbed, then it shall be replaced with more vegetation and/or a six-foot wood, opaque privacy fence.
15. No modification of the existing building footprint or demolition of existing buildings shall be allowed.
16. New buildings or structures shall not be allowed without approval of the Mayor & Aldermen.
17. All activities associated with the art studio/gallery, restaurant, inn, and banquet hall shall be limited to inside only with no outside events to include music.
18. Compliance with the off-street parking requirement as determined by the City Zoning Administrator.
19. No additional outside lighting shall be permitted unless such lighting is approved by the MPC staff.
20. All proposed signage, with the exception of a freestanding principal use sign shall be in accordance with the sign standards as contained within an I-P zoning district.  A freestanding principal use sign, if desired, shall be limited to a monument style sign with a maximum area of 36 square feet.  Such sign shall be either internally lighted with a reverse silhouette or have indirect lighting.  No directory signage shall be permitted.
21. A Certificate of Occupancy and/or Certificate of Completion shall be required for existing uses and prior to any use changes affecting any and all buildings and accessory structures.
22. This Ordinance incorporates the relevant conditions that were approved under Z-031029-51725-2 on January 22, 2004, 13-003286-ZA on September 5, 2013, and 15-005142-ZA on December 10, 2015.

SECTION 3:  That the requirements of Section 8-3182(f) 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 12^th day of April, 2018, a copy of said notice being attached hereto and made a part hereof.

SECTION 4: 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: MAY 10, 2018

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 10, 2018, then by unanimous consent of Council read a second time, placed upon its passage, adopted and approved upon a motion by Alderman Hall, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried. Alderman Johnson was not present for the vote.

AN ORDINANCE

To Be Entitled

AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTY FROM LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (I-L) AND MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL, 25 UNITS PER NET ACRE (R-M-25) TO A NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS (B-N) ZONING CLASSIFICATION; 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 I-L and R-M-25 zoning classifications to a B-N zoning classification:

Beginning at a point [X: 994509.202326 & Y: 751560.888691] located at the approximate intersection of the centerlines of Wheaton Street & Helmken Street, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

Thence proceeding in a NE direction along the approximate centerline of Helmken Street for an estimated distance of 224.505 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SE direction [S 71-36-10 E] along a line for approximately 114.689 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SW direction [S 18-25-9 W] along a line for approximately 30 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SE direction [S 71-36-10 E] along a line for approximately 127.158 ft. to a point, said point being located along the approximate centerline of Mastick Street,

Thence proceeding in a SW direction along the approximate centerline of Mastick Street for an estimated distance of 171.924 ft. to a point, said point being located along the approximate centerline of Wheaton Street,

Thence proceeding in a NW direction along the approximate centerline of Wheaton Street for an estimated distance of 240.916 ft. to a point [X: 994509.202326 & Y: 751560.888691], said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

PINs: 2-0041 -06-006, -007, -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 12^th day of April, 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: MAY 10, 2018

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 10, 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. Alderman Johnson was not present for the vote.

AN ORDINANCE

To Be Entitled

AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTY FROM PLANNED GENERAL BUSINESS TRANSITION (P-B-G-1) AND COMMUNITY BUSINESS (B-C) TO A CENTRAL BUSINESS (B-C-1) ZONING CLASSIFICATION; 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 P-B-G-1 and B-C zoning classifications to a B-C-1 zoning classification:

Beginning at a point [X: 986983.736624 & Y: 758318.479728] located at the approximate intersection of the centerlines of Zubley Street & Ann Street, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

Thence proceeding in a SE direction along the approximate centerline Zubley Street for an estimated distance of 162.045 ft. to a point

Thence proceeding in a SW direction [S 16-48-15 W] along a line for approximately 152.843 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SE direction [S 73-29-33 E] along a line for approximately 227.332 ft. to a point, said point being located on the approximate centerline of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,

Thence proceeding in a SW direction [S 17-9-55 W] along the approximate centerline of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., for an estimated distance of 135 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a NW direction [N 73-29-33 W] along a line for approximately 233.266 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SW direction [S 17-13-35 W] along a line for approximately 24.071 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a NW direction along the approximate centerline of Alton Street for an estimated distance of 158.881 ft. to a point, said point being located on the approximate centerline of Ann Street,

Thence proceeding in a NE direction along the approximate centerline of Ann Street for an estimated distance of 309.285 ft. to a point [X: 986983.736624 & Y: 758318.479728], said point being located on the approximate intersection of the centerlines of Zubley Street & Ann Street, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

PIN(s): 2-0016 -21-001, 2-0016 -22-003, -004, -005, & -006

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 12^th day of April, 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: MAY 10, 2018

Ordinance read for the first time in Council May 10, 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 Bell, and unanimously carried. 

AN ORDINANCE

To Be Entitled

AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTY FROM PLANNED GENERAL BUSINESS TRANSITION (P-B-G-1) TO A COMMUNITY BUSINESS (B-C) ZONING CLASSIFICATION; 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 P-B-G-1 zoning classification to a B-C zoning classification:

Beginning at a point [X: 986983.736624 & Y: 758318.479728] located at the approximate intersection of the centerlines of Zubley Street & Ann Street,

Thence proceeding in a SW direction along the approximate centerline Ann Street for an estimated distance of 74.111 ft. to a point, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

Thence continuing in a SW direction along the approximate centerline Ann Street for an estimated distance of 338.945 ft. to a point, said point being located on the intersection of the centerlines of Ann Street & West Youmans Street,

Thence proceeding in a NW direction along the approximate centerline of West Youmans Street for approximately 203.216 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a NE direction [N 16-55-58 E] along a line for approximately 338.199 ft. to a point,

Thence proceeding in a SE direction [S 73-31-2 E] along a line for approximately 202.233 ft. to a point, said point being located on the approximate centerline of Ann Street, said point being, THE POINT OF BEGINNING

PIN(s): 2-0016 -20-001

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 12^th day of April, 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: MAY 10, 2018

A motion to approve was made by Alderman Foster, and seconded by Alderman Bell.

Alderman Thomas: Could the City Manager read into the record what this is about.

City Manager Hernandez: The proposed item before City Council is a reconciliation, actually a close out for fiscal year 2017 where the City Council is recognizing unbudgeted revenues to the tune of $6,933,537. In addition, you're recognizing the fact that agencies spent less than they were budgeted for last year, so we ended up having a surplus, if you will, at the end of the year. This particular item first of all recognizes those additional funds and then appropriates those funds across two fiscal years. So, it's recognizing the additional revenue as part of fiscal year 17. We are proposing that a certain amount, based on Council's direction from last meeting, $1.5 million will go into the undesignated fund balance. It then takes the remainder of that money, moves it over into FY18 where it is appropriated in a variety of accounts and I'm going to go through that with you.

• $600,000 is proposed to be reserved in a wage adjustment account pending completion of another item that we're proposing that we fund, which is an updated pay and compensation study for the organization.
• $2 million will be to restructure the financing for the Cultural Arts Center Project. Again, as we've said before, that financing scheme for that project included the sale of some real property that I do not recommend that we move forward with. As well as using department operating funds to complete this project. So I'm proposing that we set aside $2 million for the restructuring of that project.
• $1,000,000 would go towards the Montgomery Street redirection project. That's money that the City had anticipated borrowing in order to convert Montgomery Street from [inaudible] okay there you have it. So, right now it's one way, we were going to convert that to two way traffic to coincide with the opening of the Cultural Arts Center, so that's $1 million there.
• I am proposing that you allow me to put $200,000 as a placeholder while I renegotiate the City's funding for the MPC.
• $500,000 dollars would be set aside for costs associated with relocating the Revenue Department from the Broughton Municipal Building, which we are vacating to the Civic Center.
• $1.4 million of that money will be used to pay off the remaining debt that is owed for the purchase of the fairgrounds property.
• I'm setting aside $500,000 for use as a fund in response to the recent malware incident that the City experienced.
• I mentioned the $300,000 for the pay and comp study.
• Setting aside $800,000 into an account to deal with facility repairs and improvements throughout the City.
• $100,000 for the rental of a backhoe for cemeteries. They have a new backhoe that will be on order, however it's going to be awhile before we get it. So, it necessitates us to rent a backhoe.
• And then $100,000 to go into a relocation contingency because we still have people moving all over the place, we're not settled yet. So, I wanted to set aside some money for that purpose.

And that is an overview of…

Mayor DeLoach: $1 million...

City Manager Hernandez: I mentioned the $1 million that will, I'm sorry, the $1 million that would be set aside for the School Renaissance Project that the Council directed at the last meeting.

Alderman Thomas: Mr. City Manager, can you state for the record what that total is again.

City Manager Hernandez: Let me, I have to go to the actual exhibit.

Alderman Thomas: You used a $6 million figure that doesn't sound…

City Manager Hernandez: Yeah, I used the round number give me one second, let me go to the exhibit.  The 2017 amended revenue budgets will be increased by an additional $5,250,000, that's in fiscal year 17, and then we are transferring, providing a contribution to the general fund balance in the amount of $1,500,000 and transferring $8,500,000 in additional revenues and saved expenses. For the purposes that I just outlined. Does that answer your question?

Alderman Thomas: Well, where did six come from?

City Manager Hernandez: Let's see, increased the budget for certain general fund revenues in recognition of projected 2017 collections being higher than the original budget by $6,933,537. And so, the difference between the $6.9 million and the $5.2 million that I mentioned is the, remember when we started this year, we were anticipating a draw from the reserves of $1.7 million and change. So that's why the numbers aren't the same because we no longer have to draw down from the reserves.

Alderman Thomas: Mr. Mayor, thank you, Mr. City Manager for entering that into the record.

Subsequent motion: Upon motion of Alderman Thomas, seconded by Alderman Johnson a motion was made to repeal the fire fee.

A board vote was taken with the following voting in favor: Aldermen Thomas, Johnson and Shabazz. Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, and Hall voted against the motion. It failed by a 7 to 3 vote.  

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion.

Subsequent motion: Upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Shabazz a motion was made to request Council funding in the amount of $35,000 for a City-wide summer basketball league. Staff has indicated they are prepared to meet the needs of the program provided they have the necessary funding.

Alderman Bell: For this summer, 2018?

Alderman Johnson: Yes ma’am.

Alderman Hall: May I ask a question? Was this brought up last, two weeks ago?

Alderman Johnson: Yes it was.

Alderman Hall: Well why are we revisiting it?

Alderman Johnson: Because it's on second reading.

Mayor DeLoach: Yes, it’s second reading so they can do it again.

Alderman Bell: So, can you, I apologize for not being here two weeks ago, but can you explain what this is?

Alderman Johnson: We do not currently have summer activities on the athletic side for young people. So, this is what I requested last, two weeks ago was $35,000 for a summer basketball league. It wouldn't be the entire summer, but we thought we could do a projected league to reach the age that's not old enough for Summer 500 and are really considered disconnected youth city-wide. I asked staff for a figure, they indicated it would cost about $35,000.  So, that was the amount I asked for.

Alderman Bell: So, I think that's an excellent idea but I think we as a Council have a fiduciary responsibility to the voters. I haven't seen anything written on this and I would, may I finish please… I would be happy to look at this for next summer, but not for May to implement in June in three or four weeks. I think we have a fiduciary responsibility to be very careful about how we allocate the taxpayer's money.

Alderman Johnson: We just allocated $1 million…

Alderman Bell: I’m talking about this one Alderman Johnson.

Alderman Johnson: Well vote against it.

Alderman Bell: I will vote against it, but next summer perhaps, and maybe even a larger program that would cover needed areas, not just in one section of the City. But I can't vote for something that I haven't seen anything in writing on and that we're preparing, we're offering to implement in three weeks. I don't think, I don't think the citizens would have faith in us in doing something like that.  

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor just very briefly. I mean, this is a summer basketball league. We don't get involved with details, staff implements basketball just as we don't implement football during the winter time, staff does that. Obviously they have the wherewithal to be able to do it, they just need the funding. So, I mean obviously it's just a request if the Council’s willing, if not, then it’s not. But the words that I used in the motion was summer and it’s city-wide, not just for a particular district.

Alderman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, just in discussion, it's already been seconded. In reference to, when we did our budget for 2018, I added on that and we did approve to have our recreation, community centers open and extended, one on the east side and one on the west side and that has been done. Now with our crime rates and we know that sometimes that the crime rate goes up during the summertime due to the fact that idle minds just sort of wander in places where they don't need to be wandering. I don't think that a $5,000, $36,000 is a problem, especially with our residents and constituents in the City to fund a basketball program to keep those idle minds that I just talked about in having them in a constructed, overseeing environment, controlled environment so that we can have them doing something positive and keeping them out of trouble. I don’t think the citizens won't mind us using that money. It will be, I believe we have a lot of folks in the Chamber today and we can put this money, we're talking about 35 to $36,000. how much would it cost to incarcerate folks, and how much would it cost to take our police staff off of one call and another call and another call when we can have them doing something positive and not having to go behind a juvenile or somebody who can be at this basketball program and not being in trouble. So, I'm just 100 percent in agreement and I will vote to support it.

Alderman Miller: As most of you know, I've been really pushing recreation for the last two years. I haven't gotten an awful lot of support on doing it. It's not the money, it's the fact that we're throwing it in here on the staff at the last minute. I've talked to the staff even with the money, they don't have the time, they don't have the equipment, they don't have the locations and that pulls them off of other things that they were doing. I've been waiting four months to get just an answer on redoing the basketball program for 2018 and it’s taken them that long to go through all the throws of the organization. We're supposed to announce it sometime next week. It's not a matter of the money. It's a matter of throwing in at a time when the staff is ill prepared to do it. We'll have to take resources away from other programs to do it and I think it's ill-advised to do it at this time as much as I want to support recreation.

Alderman Hall: I concur with Alderman Miller but I have not heard from anybody from staff saying that they could do this. Is anyone prepared to say we can do this in less than three weeks? We can put a summer league together. Can someone speak to that?

City Manager Hernandez: Alderman and members of City Council, it will be a challenge for us to do that...

Alderman Hall: Can you speak a little louder, I did not hear you.

City Manager Hernandez: It will be a challenge for us to do that. I think it is a worthy project and I would love to work on it and if Council directs us to do everything, we will move heaven and earth to try to make it happen. But it is going to be a challenge for us to be able to pull it off this year in addition to, as Dr. Shabazz mentioned, we are expanding hours in two facilities. We purposely selected only two facilities this year because we wanted to make sure that we could actually deliver upon that. We're still moving forward with that, adding more facilities will be a challenge. But again, we take our marching orders from you and if we have to figure it out, we'll figure it out.

Mayor DeLoach: We have a motion and a second on the table. If you're in favor of spending $35,000, please vote yes, if you're against it, vote no.

A board vote was taken with the following voting in favor: Aldermen Johnson, Thomas, Durrence, and Shabazz. Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, and Hall voted against the motion. It failed by a 5 to 4 vote.

Substitute motion: Upon motion of Alderman Bell the following motion was made: I would like to move that staff and I'm asking you in May of 2018, that staff build into your prep or your programming for 2019 a summer wide, not just the $35,000 program, but a summer wide basketball program or whatever. Alderman Miller since he's been working on recreation for two years, work with him and come up with whatever we can do city-wide for all youngsters who are below Summer 500 age.

City Manager Hernandez: Mayor Pro-Tem may I ask that you hold off on that until we have our mid-year budget conference.

Alderman Bell: Okay, but I just wanted the public to know that it's not the idea, but throwing something out in less than 30 days, I certainly think it deserves more thought, and more preparation. And I think it's fair to staff to give them adequate time to implement something that all of us can be proud of city-wide I represent the entire City. So, I would like to see something city-wide.

Alderman Thomas: Mr. Mayor under Robert’s Rules of Order, point of personal privilege. We have that motion that she just made, was not seconded, so the motion that’s on the floor right now is a motion to approve supplemental amendments to the 2017 budget ordinance. Before we do that we have some gentlemen that are here that have asked to speak and I would like to use a point of personal privilege to offer them a few minutes to speak to us.

Alderman Johnson: In reviewing our conversation from two weeks ago and then in reviewing our budget retreat notes, I’m moving that we request to restore the 1% cost of living increase to our employees. The reason why is this, the thought was at the time City Manager, we agreed to doing 2% percent now, and 1% later. The reason why we didn't do the 1% was because at the time we expected not to have the money. We have very hard working employees over 2,600 of them. Just looking over the last couple of nights watching them taking leave from their families attending our meetings that sometime last well into the evening. The fact is I agree with Alderman Durrence that we need a compensation study, but from my professional experience, there are two pieces of it. The first part is the study, the second part is the money to implement the study. In the meantime, we have City employees that are on food stamps. We have City employees that work second and third jobs to make ends meet. And the fact is that they're still working and their bills continue to go up. This is 1%, the City Manager, and I mean rightfully so, obviously prudently says it should be a one-time bonus because obviously it doesn't give us future liability. My position on that is that we're expecting excellent service from our employees, therefore we need to pay them excellently. But the least we can do is go ahead and restore that 1% as we all committed to, during the budget session.

Subsequent Motion: Upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Thomas, a motion was made to restore the 1% cost of living increase to our employees.

Alderman Johnson: We can maintain Alderman Miller’s for the compensation study. I agree. We need to have it. We just might need to look at another category or somehow another or multiple categories to be able to make that happen. But I just, my concern is that we all talked about wanting to do 3%, we were going to do 3% and the only reason we didn't do 3% was because of the money that we projected not to have at the time. We do have the money now so I just think we need to go ahead and restore it.

Mayor DeLoach: I just need to understand what he's asking. You're asking to make that 1% now across the board increase, but you're not wanting to take it from the wage adjustment line?

Alderman Johnson: Not necessarily.

Alderman Bell: For the City Manager am I right in recalling that at the budget retreat we did agree to consider, or actually do the 1% across the board and you called it a bonus, but at mid-year. I still will go for that.

City Manager Hernandez: So, let me address two points. Number one, you're absolutely correct with the Council directed that we would revisit that at mid-year. Based on your conversation and your direction to me, I went ahead and made the recommendation initially that we take it out of this money because it is one time dollars. With respect to Alderman Johnson's concept about leaving the $600,000 in the wage adjustment reserve, but still moving forward with a 1% incentive payment, I would probably take it out of the $1.5 million that we were targeting to go back into the undesignated reserves

Alderman Johnson: And then we could always make those adjustments at mid-year to be able to pay whatever back.

City Manager Hernandez: Correct.

Alderman Johnson: I mean I guess we have the money and we know that the projections are looking really good. Why don't we go ahead and give them the money now and then we can always reconcile on the back-end.

Alderman Foster: My point is that when we had that discussion, we said that would be at mid-year and we all agreed that we had to put the money back in the reserve to get the reserve fund back over the minimum. So, we cannot go do that and be fiscally responsible, what was just suggested. We can look at a mid-year adjustment like we agreed to. You're not doing what you said.

Alderman Johnson: Well, but we didn't expect to have a $10 million surplus.

Alderman Foster: That's true. But we also need to get the reserve fund back above the minimum.

Alderman Johnson: If the money is better in somebody's pocket, than in a reserve fund, we're talking about two months.

Alderman Foster: We're talking about what we agreed to do was to look at it at the mid-year adjustments.

Alderman Johnson: We did not anticipate that $10 million.

Alderman Shabazz: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mr. City Manager, how much money will this 1% equal out to in dollars?

City Manager Hernandez: For the general fund it's about a $600,000 impact.

Alderman Shabazz: Now with that right there, Alderman Foster just mentioned I know that we did say that we're going to do that at mid-year. But as it's been stated before, we did not anticipate this $10 million or plus surplus. Council, colleagues, we are talking about our staff. We're talking about people who are trying to live from day to day. Some of us, probably some of you, all probably can do without for two months, but if we have it here, I think we need to direct it back to the people and especially back to our staff who was working so diligently to do the work of taking care of this City.

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor, in light of I withdraw the motion.

[Alderman Thomas withdrew his second to the motion]

Subsequent Motion: Upon motion of Alderman Thomas, seconded by Alderman Johnson, a motion was made to return half of this surplus to the taxpayers in some form of a discount towards the fire fee.

Mayor DeLoach: Now, let’s let the Reverends speak.

Rev. Da’Henri Thurmond, Sr., and Pastors from the Savannah Alliance of Pastors: [Rev. Thurmond spoke] Thank you Mr. Mayor and Council for hearing us today. We the Savannah Alliance of Pastors, having gathered in spite of differing denominational and faith traditions began meeting in October of 2017, to consider what should the faith community say in response to the needless deaths related to gun violence in our City. After delving into the issue deeply, we have come to the conclusion people in our community are hurting as a result of a number of issues that lead to violence in Savannah. We believe poverty is a key complicating factor to this issue in our City and are developing a proposal to address poverty and other factors that affect vulnerable youth and lead to these senseless gun related deaths. That proposal will be shared at a later date. However, several proposals for policy related to our concerns are being discussed currently by this body and we want to be on record with our position on these issues. We represent many of the hurting families who will be impacted by the decisions you make today and in the future. The unexpected surplus, $10 million or more from the 2017 budget, affords this community several opportunities to offer assistance to people who live here in poverty. This money could be used to offset the proposed fire fee for residents and churches who live under constant financial stress. The average family income for Savannah proper is reported to be approximately $37,000, making the fire fee an onerous burden for those who live at the low end of our socio economic strata. These citizens are already struggling to make ends meet. We would also support renewed consideration of the summer basketball program for at risk youth in our community. And lastly and importantly, some part of this surplus money could and should be allocated to fully fund the End Gun Violence initiative which has so far not been a priority of the City in our view. We can no longer sit quietly as pastors and not speak out for those who are the least, last, and those who feel left out in this community. As faith leaders, we deeply care about Savannah and implore you to consider the needs of our at-risk youth as a priority. We believe that addressing the problems of poverty in our community will benefit all of Savannah and is consistent with the command of Jesus Christ to care for the least of these. This is respectfully submitted by the Savannah Alliance of Pastors.

Mayor DeLoach: Thank you sir.

Alderman Miller: Thank you Reverend Thurmond, I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. First, I’ve heard that the End Gun Violence program wasn't funded. Can you elaborate on that?

Rev. Thurmond: Our understanding after meeting with several members of County government, City government, is that the money that was allocated by this body purely pays for salaries. We would like to see money for programming that would fully function to help that program to be more implemented in different and various and sundry ways. So, now what we understand from this body, and maybe you can correct us and please tell us if we're wrong, that all we understand you funding at this point is money for salaries and benefits.

Mayor DeLoach: That is correct.

Alderman Miller: Mr. City Manager, can you help us? Not necessarily right now, but in the future, maybe in the next week, get us details on what Reverend Thurmond is talking about because it's the first I've heard that we're not funding.

City Manager Hernandez: Yes, I'm happy to provide whatever details you ask. We do fund the End Gun Violence program right now. Essentially we fund two positions. The End Gun Violence initiative also brings together the service providers that exist in the community to the table as part of a consortium. So, while we may not be funding social services directly, that's not to say that social services are not being provided, but I'm happy to provide you or anybody else, whatever…

Mayor DeLoach: We’ll give you a complete list of those that participate in that.

Alderman Miller: If I can give, Rev. Thurmond would you mind maybe helping me, not necessarily right now, but maybe in the next week, either tomorrow or next week by helping me identify the things that you're talking about because you've gotten my attention. I also have another question. We talked about poverty and we talked about the suggestion that the Mayor made to work with the three year old program. Where do you stand on that?

Rev. Thurmond: We have absolutely no problem with that. We think that's a wonderful idea that the Mayor has brought forward.

Mayor DeLoach: Thank you.

Alderman Miller: Thank you, and I appreciate you coming forward.

Alderman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, I want to thank these Pastors for not just standing right now, so I just don't want people to think that you all just got together for the fire fee. We have been talking and I was getting ready to go down and stand amongst this body because I too, along with my husband, we belong to this body also as pastors in our City. That we have been working diligently on issues like this. But as the withdrawal of the motion that Alderman Johnson made and with the other motion that Alderman Thomas made, it was because of, we sort of got ahead of ourselves and we needed to have this motion that's on the floor now, which is more important at this time to take care of, so we can hopefully pass in reference to what we're talking about now, which is the help for our people in our communities throughout all of us in reference to the fire fee. So, this is the reason why things are going the way it is right now. Thank you all so much for taking off your time as we often do when things are hot and necessary and our attention has got to be as we are the leaders that stand for our people. So, thank you all so much for being here.

Alderman Bell: Mr. Mayor, let me thank the ministers and the pastors and all of you for the work that you do, trying to lift our community. Pastor Thurmond, I would like to just reiterate it, because I'm sure most of you know that today is the beginning of Empower Health in this community. Health care services are at the Civic Center, Garden City Recreational Centers, Savannah State University, and Georgia Southern. I was trying to think of the word not Armstrong. But those four sites from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., it's really until 5, but they stopped seeing patients at 4:00 p.m.  Alderman Miller and I were over there earlier today and free healthcare services, free dental, optometry, veterinary services at the Civic Center. Please encourage your parishioners over the next nine or 10 days to go to one of those sites. I would also ask that if you're able to provide transportation for your parishioners, please do so because this is an opportunity that we can't afford to miss in this community. We have too many under-insured, you're talking about poverty, uninsured citizens who need this help. So, the Federal government is providing it and we want to make sure our citizens take advantage of it. Thank you all.

Alderman Johnson: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all so much for the work that you do outside the pulpit. Certainly you all are active and certainly I believe that you're ordained to speak and so thank you for your appearance here today and appreciate you and all that you do.

Alderman Thomas: Mr. Mayor, called the questions.

City Manager Hernandez: Can you restate for me what you're going to be voting on.

Alderman Thomas: The motion is to rebate half of the fire fee to the citizens.

Alderman Shabazz: Mr. Mayor, before we proceed? I need to ask Rev. Tillman and Reverend, my Reverend from the fifth district, New Life. I would like to ask Rev. Tillman and Rev. Roberson if they can come back up for a second. There is another issue that needs to be talked about or mentioned.

Rev. Tillman, Pastor of First African Baptist Church: I want to make it clear that as a Pastors Alliance, we all stand together. The statement that was read by Pastor Thurmond expresses all of our concerns. So again, just to reiterate what's already been said, we're supportive of the fire fee being given back to the community, at least some portion of it, because we know that when it began and the argument was to have a fire fee was that we were anticipating a deficit and that was one of the rationales of why you did it. So, as Pastors why we didn't really come and say a whole lot about it if we have got a deficit, we need money and understand you have to do something. But we had a surplus and the basketball piece was the other piece that we wanted to kind of push. But everything that's been said was with what we wanted to say.

Rev. Charles Roberson, Pastor of Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship: The other thing Mr. Mayor is that we have decided also at the Savannah Pastors Alliance that if this body didn't approve the basketball program, that we would do it ourselves. Our churches will fund it, our staffs will take care of it because we believe it needs to happen this summer and not next summer and as we read through the proposal for the $10 million surplus, it is extremely disappointing that this body would allocate $1 million for a three year old program, which will help young people years down the road, but our young people are hurting now. So, we're going to fund it. We're going to do it ourselves. When we look at numbers like $100,000 to rent a backhoe and we're doing funerals of kids that are being murdered in our streets and we look at $35,000, which is nothing in comparison to some of the numbers we heard. Many of us feel that that's inappropriate and because the City will not do it, we will do it ourselves because we deeply love this community.

Alderman Miller: Mr. City Manager, can you speak to the process that it would take to move that $5 million back out of the fire fee? What would that do? How would we do it, if you did it?

City Manager Hernandez: I'm going to give you an honest answer, I really don't know. Mechanically how we would make that work? Obviously we would have to amend the Revenue Ordinance. I would imagine the additional $5 million would probably save, I'm just back of the envelope calculations here could be anywhere between, let's call it $30 and $43 a year, for this year. Then in 2019, we'd have to turn around and raise it back up to the $256 rate. Remember, these are one-time dollars. So, I'm sorry I couldn’t answer your question with a great deal of detail, because I don't know.

Alderman Miller: I'm taking it from your answer that would completely derail everything we have done and we'd have to start over.

City Manager Hernandez: Would it derail, I wouldn't use that word. I mean, I think we can work through it, just like anything else. It’d be a budget adjustment but we've never done a fire fee before so there's a learning curve for us.

Alderman Hall: You'd be saying that would drop it approximately $43?

City Manager Hernandez:  Don't hold me to that number, those are just some rough numbers.

Attorney Stillwell: Yeah, I think it's about, it's between $45 and $55 per house if I calculated it right.

City Manager Hernandez: Per billing unit. One thing that I do need to mention is that, you know, our financial model anticipates a certain amount of money that is set aside to do the hardship program, a certain amount of dollars that is set aside for hardships. If we go above that for the discounts, that's real money that has to come from somewhere else. So, using round numbers, let's say our formula anticipates $2 million in discounts. If we come in at $3 million in discounts, then staff has to go and find that extra $1 million. It's got to come from somewhere, its real money.

Alderman Bell: And if the hardship request exceeds $400,000, we have to approve them, right?

City Manager Hernandez: So, right now it's capped at $400,000. I would have to come back to City Council and get authority to increase that budget. And again, that money has to come from somewhere, so we have to figure out. The hardship program actually is funded via the general fund, not the fire fee.

Alderman Bell: That came directly from the general? Did the hardship come directly from general funds?

City Manager Hernandez: Yes, we can’t fund that through the fire fee.

Alderman Thomas: I have a question. There's a regressive nature to this fee. A house that's worth $2 million pays the same amount of money as a house worth $50,000, but yet the house that pays, that's worth $2 million, benefited from a one mil rollback significantly compared to the person that lives on the lower end of that spectrum in a $50,000 to $100,000 house. That's something that has not really been brought out and discussed and I noticed in the last couple of meetings that I've had in my district, this is highly unpopular and people are feeling the pinch of this. Someone brought that exact comparison up, of a $2 million house versus a $50,000 house. How do you justify to the person that's struggling in the $50,000 level home that they got no, that millage rollback meant pennies to them compared to the thousands of dollars saved by the person that lived in a $2 million home.

City Manager Hernandez: So, Alderman Thomas let me answer your question this way, and I'm not in any way, shape or form justifying anything. I realize that the fire fee is imperfect. There is no revenue generation mechanism available to local government today that is perfect. Doesn't exist. You know, you look at what revenue sources drive the majority of municipal revenues and help fund the municipal services, it's the property tax and sales tax, all very regressive. So, the fire fee isn't perfect and I totally understand that, I acknowledge that. With respect to an individual who has a home valued at $2 million, I think you've got to look at the overall tax bill. Someone who has a home that's worth $2 million is probably paying double digits, probably playing close to $18,000 to $20,000 a year in property taxes. So, yes that homeowner will get her larger rebate on the millage reduction, but they're still paying significantly above what anybody else pays. In comparison to somebody whose home is worth $50,000 its real money to them, don't get me wrong, I understand. But the overall tax bill for somebody whose home is valued at $50,000 is probably in the low $100’s, if that. And so you've got to put it in perspective again, I understand it's not popular.

Alderman Thomas: But Mr. City Manager, the person that's living in a $50,000 home, more than likely is living on an income that supports that and a person that's living at that level where they can afford a $2 million home is living at a higher significant income. This, in my opinion, is a tax on the poor and the lower middle class and I think it affects them very deeply. I honestly just do not feel this is the best mechanism for us and that we should look at other methods.

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor, I think the angst that people have had over this is that they look at every indicator of an economy that is bustling here in Savannah. They look at over $14 million visitors coming here per year. They look at every economic indicator on the upswing and yet, and on the other end of it their fees and everything associated with them is going up. Obviously for those of us that are blessed to afford it it’s not much of an issue. But for those that are on fixed incomes, for those that are seniors, I've heard from seniors that have had this issue, this is a major game changer for them. Well now they have a financial issue. They go to their church for help, well the church has a fire fee to pay too. And so, you know, they are now less in a position to provide the help they used to be able to provide. You know, I've said before my issue with it is not necessarily against the fire fee and it’s certainly not against staff. I’m certainly in support our Fire Department, but the issue is, that how this was rolled out in such a way very quickly, might I add, but it puts people really with their backs against the wall in terms of how to be able to pay for this. How do we address this in a way that allows people to be able to pay their bills, eat, and have their medication all in the same thing? The hardship fund is a hardship fund only for people who own homes. Most people who are poor don't own homes, they rent. So, the problem is that theoretically the homeowner could take the discount and still turn around and raise the rent of their tenants. So, I mean we have now created a situation that those folks that are less able to pay have become more victimized and for us that's an issue, I mean it is. And so how do I fix it? I'm not necessarily sure, but I mean, I wish there was some way and we've talked about this Mr. City Manager about creating some type of way and I don't know if we've really been able to find a way or model, but to be able to address how do you deal with that person who's working two or three jobs and now all of a sudden, their rent has gone up because they're owner says well we have a fire fee. And we had the other night in Tony's, Alderman Thomas’s town hall meeting the guy said, Mr. Mayor, you heard him. He said, I'm going to, he has 200 some odd properties. He said I'm going to pass it off to my residents. And so now we have, you know, the impact of this has just spread on. So, I mean that's my angst with it. What I was trying to do and I think what Alderman Thomas was trying to do, is really trying to be able to have a release valve on all that steam that’s built up to be able to say, you know what, we realize the fire fee is here, it’s here to stay, we know that, but here's some help, at least right now. We'll worry about next year when we get to next year, but right now we have an opportunity to provide some help to you and here it is.

City Manager Hernandez: All valid points made by Alderman Johnson. I can't dispute any of the points that he made. But let me just remind members of Council and the public why we ended up down this road and it was a basic arithmetic. What was coming in was not equal to or less than what was going out. So, when we sat down and we did our budget projections in order for us to continue to sustain the normal operations of this City government going into the future, we had to do something different because expenditures were exceeding revenues certainly for the long term. So, we talked about, and if you can recall, I talked about that structural imbalance certainly when I first got here and going through the budget process this year. So, basically it's got to come, the monies have to come from two sources. You either have to generate revenue and typically for local government it’s through higher taxes or through higher fees and in terms of property taxes, we know that we have 11% of properties in the City that do not pay anything towards municipal services, that's just the way it is, but the bottom line is your City government must still provide police protection, fire protection and we have to make sure that the street lighting works, and we have to make sure that the sidewalks are in good repair. That's real money that comes out of the budget, out of the General Fund. So, we have a smaller pool of contributors into the general fund that are having to pick up more and more of the costs of providing municipal services. When we initially set forth or set out to approve the budget, our millage rate was at 12.48. Now I've got to give this City Council and all of its predecessors credit because over the last 20 years or so, City Councils have always rolled back the millage rate when you had the opportunity to do so, and this Council rolled back the millage rate for FY 18. We went from 12.48 to 11.48. I will remind you that probably no more than 10 or 15 years ago our millage rate was approaching 18 mills, so take that into account when you look at how much your property tax bill is for your municipal taxes at 11.48 versus what it could have been back in the day when we were at 18. We also realized that because of our millage rate, this City was not as competitive as it could and should be with respect to other jurisdictions in this County and within the region whose millage rates are more than half less than what the millage rate is for the City of Savannah. So, even at 11.48 mills, we are still significantly higher than the communities that we compete with for businesses and for new residents. That is a real concern for us and not speaking for City Council, but I think for you as well. When you approved the budget, I think all of you realize that our millage rate puts us at an economic and competitive disadvantage. So again, we sought a mechanism by which we could generate additional revenue and take the pressure off of the general fund while at the same time, by taking pressure off the general fund not only were we able to lower the millage rate, granted it is not a huge rollback, but it is a rollback. It also freed up funds within the general fund this year to fund other programs and initiatives that are important to all 143,000 of our day to day customers and 14 million seasonal customers that come here. And that included hiring additional police officers, being able to put money back into the capital plan to address park improvements, certainly on the south side. It allowed us to do probably 20 different things and I'm sorry I didn't bring the list with me today that we would not have been able to do without a fire fee. Without the fire fee we were looking at a four mill increase just to break even going into fiscal year 18 based on the projections we had. That just got us even, that didn't even address all the service level enhancements that City Council approved this year. So, I say all that to say that trust me, I pay the fire fee as a resident of the City of Savannah and I have paid the fire fee probably for the last 20 years as a resident somewhere else. I get it, its real money, it hurts. Money is important to everybody. I wish we had an alternative that we could have used, because I will tell you, I will certify that we would have gone down that route. But everything being equal, this we felt was the best solution for the City of Savannah and not necessarily in the short term, meaning this year, but certainly for the next five years and beyond we think that is the solution to address our structural funding issues.

Alderman Thomas: Mr. City Manager, I appreciate that explanation, but I've done some calculation too and for a vast majority of our citizens, even if you would have imposed a four mill increase on those citizens, they would have saved money versus the fire fee.

Alderman Johnson: Call for the question just one second.

Alderman Shabazz: I also want to make mention that with this motion that's on the floor now, I had on April 30^th, I had the first town hall meeting to roll out about this fire fee. I had almost almost 400 people showing up over at the Liberty City Center because you know, I hear the voices of the people and $5, $20, $75, $100 it's real money to people and if we could take $500,000 or half of this surplus and give back to the people then, I just don't get it. That’s a savings to most people and will be a help to them. Initially when this thing came to a vote for a fire fee, I was one of the three that voted against it and I want to remind you all that I was not in support and I'm still not in support of this fire fee. So, any type of savings to the community is what I stand for, whatever it may be, because we don't know everybody's situations. But I heard from almost 400 folks that this thing is a hardship.

Mayor DeLoach: I am interested in making a comment on this, then I'll go back and segway into my comment based on what Dr. Shabazz just said, what Van just said and what Tony just said. All three of them voted against the fire fee, no doubt about it, but the same three sat for the entire process where we went through each individual item and asked, are you in favor of this, are you in favor this? This is what we had to have in our 2018 budget that everyone up here voted in favor of. Nobody can duck the pond, we all voted in favor of it. We set up our budget based on this and at a later date folks started crabbing. So, this is what took place public safety, now this is what comes out of the budget every time we reduce this fire fee, okay, I want everybody to listen to each item. $183,000 for EMT training for the fire department; $940,000 for additional 10 police officers; $918,000 for the Berkshire Study, and the implementation including the seven minute response time that we all agree to, that you all said you wanted when we did the strategic plan, each one of those items, we agreed to. $179,000 for a CAD system; $96,000 for a new police captain, we need an additional cap and so we said a $96,000. We all agreed that we needed it. We said we were going to pay $400,000, at least $400,000 we're going to set it aside for those folks that said they could not afford this. So, we put $400,000 aside. Infrastructure, $50,000 for facility management software; $34,000 to do an assessment of the paved roads to determine what we needed to do as far as paving in the future. Neighborhood revitalization we all agreed on it. $319,000 extended the hours of two different community centers until midnight, which we will have to take out if we reduce the fire fee. $300,000 for tree and stump removal, trying to get over Matthew. $300,000 to increase the tree pruning, trying to get over Matthew. $500,000 for the Waters Avenue revitalization effort, we won't be able to spend that $500,000 on the Waters Avenue revitalization effort because this is what we all voted in favor of all nine of us. $1 million to increase the contract for City-wide mowing of ditches, right-of-ways, and FEMA lots. $453,000 for Code Enforcement software, and neighborhood training so that we can get our neighborhoods cleaned up and back where they should be rather than the way they look at this moment. We also put in $1.6 million for Savannah Shines, which we are implementing and going at as we speak over in Edgemere/Sackville. $300,000 electronic time cards for the City employees; $700,000 for a new budget software. All of these were voted on and all of these are based on having the ability to set the fire department into a budget of its own, put a fire fee on there that each person in the community has to pay for and there is not one up here, there’s not three people up here that can't cry and say the same thing. We all agree and we all understand that we do not want to do this fire fee, but we also understand we've had 20 years where they’ve rolled back the taxes and haven't kept up with what's going on, where other communities have raised their taxes. We are behind and we have been behind and when we walked in the door, the year before we walked in the door the year before I started there were 60 deaths based on the lack of police officers patrolling the street, sir. Now there's six at this moment, that did not happen without expenditures of monies on your part, on this community's part and on our part because we stood there and said we had to do something, so that is what we did. I can't stand here and say we need to do away with this, that’s impossible. You picked out these items, every one of us voted in favor of it and if you pick out one, they'll all jump because we don't want to lose a thing, but in reality it costs money and that's where we are on this. That's where we are, it’s no joke, and this is no game. It’s easy to sit back and holler and say, oh, I'm not in favor of it, after the fact that you've already put the list together and you spent the money already. The fact of it is we have this situation that we need, we need to keep this fire fee in place. I'm not saying anything and it was easy to walk, y’all can walk out the door right now and not vote for me you know, but I've got to do what's fiscally sound for the community long-term folks. I can't do always what feels good. I've got to do what's fiscally sound for this community and we've done this and they did this when they stood here and with us, all nine of us voting and saying these were important items that we needed to do. So, we're here now, we're at a crossroads and we need to make this decision. We've got a fire fee we need to keep in place so that we have a quality fire department long term, just like our trash department is great, just like our water and sewer department is great. All of those items, parking just like its great, those enterprise zones need to be in place and you're going to have to spend $15 a month to make it happen. And I'm sorry I wish I didn’t have to ask for. I wish I could give you $1 million, but that's not going to happen. So, I'm just telling you what's real, okay. All of this other stuff is just not accurate. I will be glad to look at anything else, but I do not see doing anything to the fire fee long term for this community to go forward to where we can put, restore the quality of life that we need to restore in our communities and which we have started in Edgemere/Sackville going over to the west side to Cummings Street, we're in the process of making this place better for all of Savannah. You can't divide us up and start talking $50,000 on one group and $2 million on the other. I wish them all well, I don't care what money you make, God bless each one of you. But the fact of it is we're community that’s got to go together. We got to go together with this, you can't jump boats. You got to stay together and I'm sorry, and I want you to understand that when I go forward and I'm going to vote in favor of this fire fee and I'm going to vote in favor of this 17 budget and I'm sorry, I sympathize with anybody who is hurt by this. But I do know long-term that we will be a better community and all of us agreed on that when we proposed this budget originally, all of us voted in favor of this, okay. So, that being said, I will call the question.

Alderman Johnson: Just for a point of order because some of what you said was substantially incorrect. Let the record reflect that I'm looking at the minutes here from December 20, first meeting of City Council item number 33. Motion to approve ordinance adopting the 2018 Service Program and budget and the record reflects here that upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster and carried a board vote was taken with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Durrence, Foster, and  Hall. Aldermen Johnson, Thomas and Shabazz voted against the motion. So, I just wanted to make sure when you said that…

Mayor DeLoach: Let me yeah, point of clarification you're right, you're right that was on the ordinance but let me say that…

Alderman Johnson: The ordinance, the fire fee and the revenue ordinance.

Mayor DeLoach: Correct, but what I would say is when we walked out of the retreat where we all were located and we all had our idea of what was going to happen, we all agreed that's where we would going and we all voted in favor of it at that point.

Alderman Johnson: We didn’t agree.

Mayor DeLoach: Yes we did.

Alderman Johnson: We didn’t vote Mr. Mayor.

Mayor DeLoach: You know what we did, we all did, do you agree with this, yes. You agree with this, yes. When you go up here and then you sit down and you get something else happening. Unfortunately you can't do anything about it then. But when you walk out of there, when you look at me and you tell me you, you shake your head, yes, I have an understanding with you. I've got an understanding, now what happens after that I can't do anything about, but we as a group, because I'll try to get my money in there for my program and we did not put it in there because everybody including Brian said, we can't do that at this time, and I said, okay, I'm going to come back to you whenever we get additional funding. That's why I'm here today with that $1 million for those kids and it’s something that needs to be there and we need to do it as a community and that passed.

Alderman Thomas: I just wanted to correct you with the misinformation, I didn't vote for the budget. I will also add though that when you came into the retreat for the budget, you and many of the folks that are up here on this Council, y'all already had been discussing what y'all wanted and divided it up and everything else. I know that some members of the Council weren't privy or part of that. So, it was more like a trying to convince us on things that y'all had already decided on that was different than what the City Manager was projecting. So, let's be accurate when we're up here and this is the only auditorium that we do take an official vote in.

Alderman Shabazz: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm so glad that we got the opportunity to bring forward the discussion in reference to the budget retreat. Now, for those who don't know me let me introduce myself a little bit. I don't have to change coats, change directions, change nothing, I'm the same way in the budget retreat, out the budget retreat, sitting in this chair, in front of the cameras and off the cameras. Now if you go back and visit the record, I was screaming and shouting at the budget retreat. I was talking the same way I'm talking right now, my focus was clear then and its clear now. I have not jumped on ship here, and ship there. There was no votes taken because of votes cannot be taken at budget retreats. So, my voice is always clear, because I take the voice and the heartbeats of the people with me wherever I go, so there is no change. There has not been any change, so I'm just making this record clear for the public since we're talking now outside of the budget retreat and to this public platform that I have not jumped ship or anything none whatsoever. I've been screaming and hollering then just like I'm screaming and hollering right now, for the hurt and pain for the people that are hurting and feeling the pain in reference to this fire fee. At that time I was saying that we need to revisit some stuff and true enough, half of us, well the three of us, we didn't know half of what was going on until you all started talking at the budget retreat and now with these comments that you're making Mr. Mayor, I just, I have to make the record clear since we are talking out so that people can hear I’m one way and that is the way for the people. Period.

Mayor DeLoach: Thank you. Call for the question please. All in favor.

Alderman Miller: Excuse me, what are we voting on?

Attorney Stillwell: I think the first vote is a motion on the floor, if I'm not mistaken, to spend $5 million to give a credit against the fire fee. There wasn't any motion about where that would come from, but I suppose that will be decided separately.

Alderman Thomas: It would come from this surplus.

Attorney Stillwell: So, the vote is yes or no do you want to take $5 million and reduce and give it as some kind of credit.

Alderman Bell: And that would equate to how much?

Attorney Stillwell: Approximately $50 per person, well less, that it might be $40, something like that.

City Manager Hernandez: Actually I think I've got a number from our revenue folks. They're telling me its $57, so it would bring the fee down $56 to $199 before discounts.

Attorney Stillwell: We would have to rewrite all the ordinances to do that.

Vote: A board vote was taken with the following voting in favor: Aldermen Johnson, Thomas and Shabazz. Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence and Hall voted against the motion. It failed with a 6-3 vote.

Attorney Stillwell: So, if that vote failed that gets us back to the main motion. There is a motion on the floor that was made at the very beginning of this discussion. If I remember right by Alderman Miller to adopt on second reading the changes in the budget for 18 and 17 that were approved on first reading at the last meeting and that are published with the agenda.

Vote: A board vote was taken with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, Hall and Shabazz. Aldermen Johnson and Thomas voted against the motion. It passed with a 7-2 vote.

Ordinance in its entirety on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council. 

City Manager Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, similar to the previous item which closed our fiscal year 17. This item is your first quarter budget reconciliation, if you will. So, it's picking up the revenues that we’re transferring over from 17, but it is also picking up some additional budget adjustments. Let me just highlight the major ones for you. So, when we put together the FY 18 budget, we did not budget an actual amount related to the settlement of the police demerger issue that we had with the County. As a result of the demerger we picked up as a result of the settlement an additional $2.1 million in revenue. This item is proposing that we take the majority of that, I think it's $1.6 million and we pay off a loan, an inter fund loan that we entered into this year to purchase 82 police vehicles. In addition to the $500,000 that's left over would then go into the police department's personnel services line item to cover, we're projecting right now higher than anticipated personnel related costs because we are now at full staffing and have been at, actually we've been at over strength for pretty much the entire first quarter of the year. So, that provides additional money there. In addition, we are transferring monies in the SPLOST account we're moving I want to say off the top my head $2.1 million from the former Savannah Pharmacy project that we decided we were not going to move forward with. We're putting I think $1.7 million into the Central Precinct project in case we need it. And then we've set aside $500,000 for a portion of that project that was not funded and that is the restoration of a historical duplex located adjacent to the central present site. And so those are the major movements. Everything else is a lot of housekeeping related items.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller seconded by Alderman Foster and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Miller, Foster, Durrence, Hall and Shabazz. Alderman Thomas voted against the motion. Aldermen Bell and Johnson were not present for the vote.

Ordinance in its entirety on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Thomas, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Ordinance in its entirety on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council.

RESOLUTION OF ADOPTION

BY THE CITY OF SAVANNAH COUNCIL

WHEREAS, the Trustees’ Garden Club wishes to help beautify a portion of Forsyth Park just north of the Café which was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2016; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees’ Garden Club approached the City of Savannah’s Greenscapes Division with a Grant in the amount of $3,000.00 from the National Garden Clubs, Inc. for the purpose outlined in the NGC Natural Disaster USA Fund Grant Proposal; and

WHEREAS, the restoration and replanting of the portion in Forsyth Park would be managed by the City of Savannah’s Greenscapes Division. The Trustees’ Garden Club would hold a work day associated with the restoration and replanting efforts to allow for members of their Club to actively take part in the plantings and include an educational component whereby members of the Trustees’ Garden Club could explain to interested parties the nature of the activity and a bit of history of the park; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees’ Garden Club is donating the Grant of $3,000.00 for the restoration and replanting of a portion of Forsyth Park;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Savannah City Council does hereby accept the donation of $3,000 from the Trustees’ Garden Club for the restoration and replanting of a portion of Forsyth Park, and thanks the Club for their generosity.

Adopted this 10th day of May, 2018 SAVANNAH, GEORGIA  upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried.

Adopted and approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Foster, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Alderman Thomas: This is, the City Manager's going to have to give them explanation on this one. This original contract was approved by the City Council in 2008, in the amount of $271,000. The total amount of this contract to date, including this amendment is $604,420. One, how do we have a contract that can last 10 years and two, how do we have one that's 300 percent higher than what it was originally for?  

City Manager Hernandez: If I may have our Chief Infrastructure and Development Officer Mr. Heath Lloyd approach the podium and address the Council.

Heath Lloyd: So, Alderman Thomas, here’s what I can answer. That is a contract that has extended some time. It is a design contract for the Bilbo. So, we started that contract. There have been several different iterations to that contract as it relates to changes that we have done with the Bilbo Canal. So, in fact that project did start, I believe you said 2008, but because of the modifications to actually get to where we are now, we have done several changes and modifications.

Alderman Thomas: That doesn't sound right to me. A contract that lasts that long, that hasn't been reviewed and renewed. I mean 2008 was a decade ago and this thing, at that time, somebody bid against that contract at the price of $271,000. Somebody trying to be competitive some company out there said we can do this work, but we can do it for 285 or whatever and here we are 10 years later on the same contract for $640,000. And, you know, I'm not going to mince words this company has a cozy relationship up here on Council. I think that this is, you know, we need to review this. I'd like to see the original contract along with all amendments that have been made since 2008 on this contract.

Heath Lloyd: Yes, sir. Can I say one thing Alderman Thomas? For a point a point of clarification. It's a design contract, it's not a construction contract.

Alderman Thomas: You know in fact I want to see all contracts that this particular company has with the City of Savannah, right now.

Mayor DeLoach: Who is it?

Alderman Thomas: Thomas & Hutton.

Alderman Bell: But now, you’ve been here for the duration.

Alderman Thomas: I have, but I want to see all contracts currently held by Thomas & Hutton, and I'm unaware that we've had any contracts that have lasted 10 years or more that haven't come back up for us for renewal.

Alderman Miller: Mr. Mayor, I think that’s over and above.

Mayor DeLoach: That’s over and above, we’re not going to get all contracts and give it to him.

Alderman Thomas: I'd like to continue this for two weeks until we can get that information.

Mayor DeLoach: That’s alright with me. Is it a payment deal? What are we talking about?

Heath Lloyd: What this modification number six is, it’s for $18,500 and what it is, is to do some additional surveying and monitoring specifically on the eastern side of the Savannah River Walk. Basically what it is, we want to make sure that the work that we're finishing up with the Bilbo Canal is not impacting the Savannah River Walk. So, this is just additional monitoring to make sure that this work does not or is not impacting the existing River Walk. So, this is really about protecting our own assets.

Mayor DeLoach: Let me ask you this, have they started the contract or is this just an extension?

Heath Lloyd: This is just an extension of the contract, the Bilbo Canal work…

Mayor DeLoach: He's not building tomorrow?

Heath Lloyd: No sir, but the Bilbo work is very much under construction and so we need to start monitoring to make sure that we don't. They will not monitor until we approve it and this contract mod is for $18,000.

Alderman Miller made a motion to approve the contract now, the motion was seconded by Alderman Durrence.

Alderman Thomas: I'd like a subsequent motion to continue for two weeks until we get all the information on this contract and on this company.

[The motion failed due to lack of a second]

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Durrence, and carried with the following voting in favor: Mayor DeLoach, Aldermen Bell, Miller, Foster, Durrence, and Hall. Alderman Thomas voted against the motion. Aldermen Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Alderman Thomas: Before we move forward, I want all contracts currently with this company and I want all information regarding this particular contract before our next meeting.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Alderman Thomas: Number 31, I just need an explanation from the City Manager on what this is for.

City Manager Hernandez: Well we were, during the first quarter we were overstaffed, but as you know the police department being as large as it is suffers from a pretty high attrition rate. We have a lot of individuals that are retiring and moving out of the system. So, it is always a challenge for us to make sure that we have a constant pool of recruits that are going through the police academy because remember it takes a good nine months to train, to take an individual off of the streets and have them be a law enforcement officer on their own, in their own patrol car. So, we have to make sure that we have a large pool of people that are recruited and actually going through the academy. So, this particular item here was initially taking out of the FY18 budget. It allows us to work with a firm that basically conducts electronic advertising and recruiting either through on air ads, on television, social media, and things of that nature to help us with our recruiting program for the police department.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unaimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Alderman Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Aldermen Durrence, Johnson and Shabazz were not present for the vote.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager's recommendation. Alderman Shabazz was not present for the vote.

Alderman Johnson: Mr. Mayor, if I can take, because some of these items are really, the comments are really consistent with several of them, but this simple. This is a clarion call. It's an opportunity for some great alarm. I represent the Savannah Highlands, which is about 23 miles from this space. It is the fastest growing area of our City and we are becoming, we're reaching a critical point as it relates to infrastructure. The intersection of Highlands Boulevard and Jimmy DeLoach is currently graded F due to high traffic and there's several large developments planned for the area. It is already 18 new apartments, town homes, and multifamily projects currently in the permitting process already in the pipeline, totaling 3,312 new units. Growth is continuing and our roadways are already maxed out. As many of you know, the State planned the Effingham Parkway and the County is planning to connect Benton Boulevard to Effingham Parkway. The average traffic is expected to grow from 9,490 to 21,940 over the next 20 years. That's an annual growth rate of 6.6%. Anybody who's ever been out to the Highlands will tell you that it takes a lot of time. I'm sure the City Manager has spent a lot of time sitting in the parking lot of Parker's trying just to get through the traffic that's coming here and we're talking about adding new traffic. Currently the Godley Station School has reached their capacity with nearly 1700 students. We really need now a huge kumbaya moment. We are over-matched. We need the State of Georgia to fund the widening of Benton and Highlands, that's about $10 million. We need an opportunity and I think that Mark Konter is here if you want to come up and say something, but what I'm asking for in approving items number 38, 42 and 43 is really an opportunity for us to bring developers together, to bring our schools together, to bring City staff together, because we cannot let development continue willy nilly without having a plan to address how people come in and out, not only on normal days, but even in terms of emergency. I’m sorry for being a little long winded but this is really a critical point for those who live in a house in the Highlands. It has become speedways on roads and we just need to do something better. So, Mr. Konter has been kind enough to come and indicated a willingness to work with us and other developers to kind of have a convening, to be able to, to address this in a much more purposeful way, much more intentional way.

Mark Konter, SHDC, LLC: My name is Mark Konter, I'm here representing SHDC, LLC, we’re the petitioner for the final plat recordation of Savannah Highlands phases four and five. And so I speak to you solely as a private developer, but also as someone who has a long-term experience in this field. We in the development community certainly understand and believe in a strong public/private partnership and relationship. It is incumbent upon us to our previous clients and our future clients to have areas that, you know, meet their meet their needs and their welfare and we certainly welcome an opportunity to round table with the City as to how to continue to improve the rapidly growing and exciting areas of West Chatham and the western portions of the City of Savannah.

Alderman Miller: I'm a little confused. Mr. Johnson, what are you asking for?

Alderman Johnson: I'm not asking for anything. I'm going to move for approval of those items, but I think it's important for us as a City government to understand, because everybody doesn't go out there. Just to understand what our residents out there that we also represent are dealing with every single day and the fact that we need to really purposely as a government empower the City Manager and empower that team to really have these conversations so that we can try to keep up. Right now the development is happening faster than the infrastructure can keep up and that's the prescription for calamity.

Alderman Hall: Could we possibly have these discussions without the City of Pooler or do we need to incorporate them?

Alderman Johnson: Well really we’re just talking about on the other side of Jimmy DeLoach, we're talking about really the Savannah side. I think there is maybe a small piece of land that's not developed at all that involves Pooler. But most of what we're talking about in terms of development is all within the City of Savannah. My motion is to approve item numbers 38, 42, and 43.

City Manager Hernandez: I'm not putting words in the Council members mouth, but I thought he was basically directing staff to convene a round table, if you will, of all the key stakeholders and local government, the school board and so forth, to try to come up with a holistic approach to dealing with not only the traffic issues but the school issues, the lack of recreation opportunities. This is a good problem to have, believe it or not, folks are flocking to the Highlands and we want that, but at the same time we need to make sure that we're able to accommodate all of that growth.

Alderman Johnson: You said it much better than I ever could say it.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. Alderman Shabazz was not present for the vote. 

Mayor DeLoach: We need to add Ann Purcell in there, she’s with the State of Georgia and you need to get Effingham in there.

Alderman Johnson: We've actually had some discussions and Alderman Durrence has informed me also there’s discussions on the other end as well. So, we're really just talking about a comprehensive round tables.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Durrence, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. Alderman Shabazz was not present for the vote. 

Alderman Johnson: Question, it does not delineate the location of the parcel.

City Manager Hernandez: Alderman Johnson. This is a remnant parcel located on, actually the street address is 0 Crescent Drive. This is part of the Savannah Gardens project, it’s just a remnant property that they need in order to move forward with the last phase.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. Alderman Shabazz was not present for the vote. 

Approved upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Bell, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. Alderman Shabazz was not present for the vote. 

Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. 

Approved upon motion of Alderman Johnson, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. 

Alderman Bell: Mr. Mayor, this item is an Intergovernmental Agreement between Chatham County and the City of Savannah for the establishment of a Multi-Agency Resource Center that will be located at 2203 Abercorn Street, a facility that is being donated by the City of Savannah. The administration of the facility will be undertaken by Chatham County. I would like to applaud several agencies that’s been involved in this process and I won't name all of them. But as Judge Burke from Juvenile Court, the Chief Juvenile Court Judge, said this morning, this particular project represents the largest public, well the largest collaborative relationship amongst agencies in his history. So, we are very happy because it will represent a diversionary effort to keep our juveniles out of the juvenile court systems.

Approved upon motion of Alderman Bell, seconded by Alderman Miller, and unanimously carried per the City Manager’s recommendation. Alderman Johnson recused himself from the vote. Aldermen Shabazz and Hall were not present for the vote.

Mayor DeLoach: I just like to make a comment. I appreciate all the effort that was put in to this by Carol and Julian, and by Judge Burke and all those associated with it. They worked hard and the Police Department, they all worked hard to make this thing happen. So, thank y'all so much because this will improve the outcomes on some of our juvenile situations that we have going forward. So it's a great opportunity for the City of Savannah.

Proclamation read by Mayor DeLoach:

Proclamation Declaring National Travel and Tourism Week in Savannah

WHEREAS: Travel has a positive economic effect on Savannah, Georgia, and the nation’s economic prosperity and image abroad; and

WHEREAS: Travel to and within the United States provides significant economic benefits for the nation, generating more than $2.4 trillion in economic output in 2017, with nearly $1 trillion spent directly by travelers; and

WHEREAS: Travel is among the largest private-sector employers in the United States, supporting 15.6 million jobs in 2017, including 8.8 million directly in the travel industry and 6.8 million in other industries; and

WHEREAS: Travelers’ spending directly generates tax revenues of $164.8 billion for federal, state and local governments, funds used to support essential services and programs; and

WHEREAS: Tourism and hospitality in the Savannah area provide over 27,800 jobs locally and an annual economic impact of $2.9 billion; and

WHEREAS: International travel to the United States is the nation’s number one services export, and number two overall; and

WHEREAS: Meetings, conventions, group tour and sports events being placed in Savannah at a higher rate than ever before with seven consecutive years of record bookings for future business, totaling millions of dollars in visitor spending and city, county and state tax revenues; and

WHEREAS: The Tourism Leadership Council and Visit Savannah work together to promote a healthy and vibrant tourism community in the Savannah area in order to move our local economy forward and serve as a pillar of economic growth, creating jobs at a faster rate than other sector.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mayor Eddie DeLoach, do hereby proclaim May 6-12, 2018, as National Travel and Tourism Week in Savannah, Georgia.

Alderman Shabazz asked that the camera pan around so the public could see everyone present who work, oversee, and administrate the tourism business and industry in our City.

Michael Owens, President/CEO of the Tourism Leadership Council, thanked Council for allowing them to be present. He stated this is a small cross-section of almost 28,000 people who work every day in tourism and hospitality to maintain something. He took a moment to thank each of them for working countless Christmas and Thanksgivings because tourism never stops, never closes and is 365 days a year.

Joseph Marinelli, President of Visit Savannah, stated we are all in this together. They appreciate the confidence, trust, and the support given to the industry every day. He concluded stating it's nice to be in a city where the elected officials understand the importance of the impact of our industry and support them every day.

Alderman Johnson thanked the tourism industry stating they are faces that people come see each day. He stated when accolades go out its not Council’s face visitors have seen it’s theirs. He concluded stating he appreciates the dedication and sacrifices that are made daily.

Alderman Bell thanked them. 

Alderman Miller stated he thinks it’s fitting with this number of people to repeat the number of jobs represented, which is 27,800, that people here have either participated in or are responsible for. He concluded stating they do a great job and appreciate all they do.

Alderman Shabazz stated with the bodies that are here, it shows a broad representation of the diversity of our City.

Alderman Bell introduced Terri O’Neil, Executive Director of the Savannah Philharmonic. Ms. O’Neil introduced Rebecca Brown, Cultural Affairs, and Cynthia Hopson, Edgemere/Sackville Neighborhood member. She thanked the Mayor and Aldermen on behalf of the Philharmonic Staff, Board of Directors, specifically the musicians, for valuing cultural arts in our community, specifically music education. She stated they have partnered with the City of Savannah and the Edgemere/Sackville Neighborhood to take the music to the streets. Ms. O’Neil stated the Philharmonic in the Streetz event will take place Sunday, May 20^th from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the new park site.

Ms. Hopson thanked Alderman Bell for her assistance in getting the event underway.

Alderman Hall invited Mayor and Council as well as the public out to attend the event.

Upon motion of Alderman Miller, seconded by Alderman Hall, and unamiously carried Alderman Brian Foster was appointed as the Council appointee to the Savannah Resource Recovery Development Authority.

3.1 Appearance by Joseph Ervin, Chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Commission to introduce Melanie Wilson, the new Executive Director of the Chatham County Metropolitan Planning Commission.

Mr. Ervin stated it has been a long and extensive search but he is proud to formally introduce Ms. Wilson to Council. He stated she brings over 30 years of experience which spans over large and small municipalities, as well as regional planning, along with cooperative partnerships. She was recently honored amongst her peers at a planning association conference in New Orleans, Louisiana for being not only a trailblazer, but also for being a leader in planning.

Ms. Wilson stated she is looking forward to working with Council in partnership to continue moving the City forward with the vision they have in mind. She thanked them for having her and stated she looks forward to the continued partnership with the MPC.

Mayor DeLoach thanked her and stated they look forward to working with her.

Announcements

Alderman Johnson: Minister Richard Law from the Ogeecheeton Community is here and wanted to invite you all to Saturday, if you're okay with that?

Minister Richard Law, Sr.: Good evening, I wanted it to Minister Richard Law, Sr. they call me Brother Law. But I just wanted to invite you all to our Community Reunion Saturday, May 12^th from 12 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. We have a lot of young people singing, dancing and we would like for y’all to come out and encourage some of these people. It will be in across from the park.

Alderman Johnson: I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I've never eaten so much food in my entire life. I usually gain about five to six pounds just from all the food there, but it's also great people. And you get the see Mama Law as well.

Minister Richard Law, Sr.: When we had this dedication last when on the highway somebody hit somebody right on the back of the car and backed up. Later I talked to Lester to get a turning lane for that and they did. Now they redid the road and we no longer have a turning lane.

Alderman Johnson: That's a State road. So, that's totally a State issue.

Minister Richard Law, Sr.: I wrote this book, it’s been out for maybe a couple of years and has been all over the country, down in Miami and New York, different places. Well, I was born, raised right here in Savannah, in Ogeecheeton. It’s an amazing book, people say once they pick it up, they can’t put it down. I’ve asked our Alderman Van Johnson who is in the book and we will be selling books at the reunion.

Alderman Johnson: And finally, just want to wish members of Council that are mothers and our City staff that are mothers and grandmothers, and big mamas and all those things, a Happy Mother's Day.

Alderman Hall: Mr. Mayor, I just want to tell the 3^rd District residents about a series of town halls we will begin May 15^th at Eli Whitney, May 16^th at the Whitfield United Methodist Church, May 17^th at Myers Middle School, and May 21^st at the East Side Neighborhood Center. All 3^rd District residents are invited to attend at least one of these meetings. The topic of discussion will be the hardship fund and discounts for the fire fee. All are welcome.

Alderman Hall: Mr. City Manager during the meeting today, you asked that we all get one member of our district to serve on that committee with the Police Chief. Well, Alderman Thomas was so gracious to appoint someone from my district, so I still reserve that right to appoint someone too. So, it would be a little weighted from the Third District.