City Council - Regular Meeting

Let's roll.

Mr. Clerk, if you would please call the role. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, Mayor Van Johnson, present. Mayor Prom and District 5 alderwoman, Dr. Estella Edward Shebass, present. Chairman in District 4 alderman, Nick Palumbo, present. Vice Chair and District 3 alderwoman Linda Wilder Bryant. Ready? Let's go. Post one alderwoman Carolyn H. Bell. Post two alderwoman Alicia Miller Blakeley. Present. District one alderwoman Bernetta B. Lane Lenir present. District two alderman Dietrich Leget here. And District 6 alderman Curtis Pertie present. Mr. Mayor, you have a quorum. Thank you.

All rise. I call this meeting of the Savannah City Council to order. Today is Thursday, January the 22nd, 2026. The time is 2:06 p.m. We want to thank everyone for joining us within our chambers and throughout our various digital platforms. As we are fond saying here, Savannah will be a safe, environmentally healthy, and economically thriving community for all. And for us, all means all. It gives me great pleasure to introduce our invocator for this morning, this afternoon. Um, he's so new that he's only been here less than two weeks. Uh, the Reverend Dr. Andrew Harmon recently began his ministry as the 42nd recctor of Christ Church Episcopal. Prior to coming to Savannah, Father Drew served as the senior associate director at St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he provided strategic oversight of parish ministries, programming, and staff. A native of Baton Rouge, Far Father Drew is a graduate of Milsaps College. He earned master's degrees in divinity and ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary and completed a PhD in historical theology at Marquette University. In addition to parish ministry, he has served in university ministries, retirement community chapency, and as an undergraduate theology instructor. While at Princeton, Father Drew met his wife Anna, an elementary educator who also holds a master in divinity degree and they have three daughters. Um, Father Drew, welcome to Savannah. We're glad that you are here uh in the greatest city of on earth. Um, we're better than Baton Rouge. We'll just say that. Uh, but we're glad you're a part of our city. Welcome.

Mighty God, whose wisdom orders all things and who nations of nations and cities live. We pray those ented with the work of government. Mayor Johnson and all public servants may act with integrity, patience and courage. Not their own good wisdom in your deliberations, and discernment spirit of mutual respect. God understands us. Love our neighbors. the welfare of the communities we serve.

Amen. Thank you. Let us honor our country. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all so much. You may be seated. Father Drew, again, welcome to Savannah. We're glad that you're here. and thank you for uh gracing us this afternoon. We will go ahead and move toward uh our agenda. And good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

Good afternoon. The first item is adoption of the regular meeting agenda for January the 2nd of 2026. Uh there I have it's been requested that we Alderman Leget, help me.

The item which is okay hotel item number 15. Okay. Asking that that item. So it be continued date certain to the next council date. Mr. Clerk, what date is that? February 12th. And so, yes, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. So that we can get to a Okay. I'm I'm in support of that. I will entertain a motion, Mr. Mayor, for that item. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for the adoption of the regular agenda meeting for January 22nd. No, we're talking about the item number 15 to move. Yes, sir. Like to make a motion that we uh make your motion that we continue item number 15 item to our next uh city council meeting. Date certain February 11th. February the 11th, 2026. February 12th. February 12th. There's a second. Second been properly moved and seconded that we continue item number 15 to February the 12th. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. Opposed? Motion passes. Now we'll go to the uh regular meeting. Yes sir. Yes. Like to make a motion for the regular meeting agenda for January 22nd, 2026. Second. So moved. Probably moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item number two. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for items number two and three for the approval of the minutes of the work session and city managers briefing held on January 8th, 2026 at 12:30 p.m. and for the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting held on Jan January 8th, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Second.

Been properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I opposed. Motion passes. Item number four is an appearance in recognition of the Savannah Book Festival. As we know that Savannah Book Festival is a uh a cherished event happening with uh in Savannah every year. So, hello. How are you?

I'm wonderful. Thank you. Uh good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to share a brief update on one of Savannah's signature cultural events. I'm pleased to announce that the Savannah Beck Book Festival will take place February 5th through the 8th in historic downtown Savannah. Every year, residents and visitors enjoy the festival, which is one of the country's leading literary events and features worldrenowned authors from across the nation who engage with our community through conversation, storytelling, and the shared love of books. During festival weekend, the Savannah Book Festival sends over 20 of our visiting authors into local middle and high schools across Chattam County. There they speak directly with the students about the life of a writer, the creative process, and the power of reading and storytelling. These visits leave a lasting impression, inspiring students to imagine new possibilities for their own futures. Through the City of Savannah Cultural Arts Commission ACE Grant, we are blessed to be able to provide copies of the author's books for the students. The personalization and the signing of the books is a very special experience for the students. On festival Saturday, we will host more than 35 events that are free and open to the public, providing attendees with access to these nationally recognized authors and thoughtprovoking discussions. These events are designed to be accessible and inclusive, reinforcing our mission to celebrate literature and learning for everyone. This year's festival will also feature three exciting headliner events. Our opening address with beloved southern writer Shawn Dietrich, a keynote address featuring internationally recognized thriller writers Brad Thor and Ward Larson, and a closing address on Sunday

with Lee Bugo, a historical fantasy phenomenon whose work has captivated readers around the world and her Grisverse book is now a Netflix original series. On behalf of the Savannah Book Festival, I would like to sincerely thank the city of Savannah for the incredible support that makes this event possible. The festival is truly a gift, one that reflects Savannah's deep commitment to education, literacy, and the arts. Thank you, and we hope to see you downtown February 5th through the 8th. So, we we've all heard that, right?

We're all going to support the Savannah Book Festival. We know books are still uh very necessary and very needed. And so, thank you so much for coming and sharing that with us. Now we are celebrating uh the 100th birthday of our beloved economic development authority that does not look a day over 99. We're going to ask the Savannah Economic Development Authority to come up. I have a proclamation that reads as follows. Whereas the second Savannah Economic Development Authority, CEDA, proudly marks 100 years of service advancing economic opportunity, industrial growth, and regional prosperity for the city of Savannah, Chattam County, and the greater Savannah region. And whereas the foundation of CEDA was laid through the early establishment of the Savannah Port Authority, created to foster industrial growth and make long-range plans for the coordination of commerce, industry, and traffic within its territorial limits, setting the framework for modern economic development in coastal Georgia. And whereas in 1951, the organization evolved into the Savannah District Authority, gaining additional tools authorized by the General Assembly of Georgia, including the ability to issue revenue bonds and offer tax abatements, while remaining steadfastly committed to promoting industrial growth and expansion for the public good without profit and without creating debt for the state of Georgia, Chattam County, or the city of Savannah. And whereas this organization is now

known as the Savannah Economic Development Authority, and has expanded its mission to focus broadly on job creation, business attraction, business retention, investment, and regional competitiveness, continually reinvesting all realized funds into the long-term development of industry, commerce, infrastructure, and coordinated planning, and through strong regional partnerships, including collaborative efforts along the Savannah Harbor Interstate uh 16 quarter, CEDA has played a pivotal role in attracting transformative projects that have strengthened the regional economy and created thousands of high-paying jobs. And whereas CEDA provides oversight and strategic direction for the World Trade Center Savannah, fostering international trade, global connections, and export opportunities for local businesses while reinforcing Savannah as a globally competitive destination for innovation and investment. And whereas for a century, CEDA has remained unwavering in his clear and enduring mission to help create, grow, and attract new job opportunities and investment in the Savannah region, strengthening economic mobility, community resilience, and share prosperity for generations of Savanians. Now, therefore, I, Van R. Johnson II, mayor of the city of Savannah, to hereby recognize and commend the Savannah Economic Development Authority on the occasion of its 100th uh anniversary and express the sier gradu uh gratitude of the city of Savannah for his visionary leadership, lasting impact and continued commitment to economic growth and prosperity again for all. And witness where I've set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Savannah to be a fixed. Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for all you do for us uh in in front of the scenes and behind the scenes and thank you for always keeping it 100.

Thank you. Thank you.

Madam Chair, chair, who wants to make comments? Thank you very much. U My name is Trip Talison. and I work at the development authority with all these great people. I'd like to recognize our new chair, Cal Patel. Of course, we have Kay Ford past here. Oh, yep. We have our we have our vice chair, Joyce, and our new secretary treasurer by mistake, Scott Center. And then, of course, we have a fantastic staff. I won't call them by name. The staff could raise their hand. I'm calling names. Go ahead.

All right. We got Angela, Anna, we got Caleb, we got Lee, and we got Jesse. So, thank y'all staff. We have the best staff in the business. So, thank you very, very much. Second best. Um, I do want to say one thing that's really important. We cannot do what we do without y'all's partnership. And I mean that 100%. We drive your staff absolutely crazy. In a good way, especially with all the growth that's going on. I see Ron, Water, and Sewer. We're on the phone constantly with him. We drive the city manager's office crazy. By the way, Father Drew, I encourage you to get to know uh city manager. Y'all both can talk about the shady deal with Lane Keifin at LSU, but that's okay. All right. We we we can watch that and enjoy that. Uh but thank you again. This is a great great partnership that we have and we're very excited to be honored today. So, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you all for what you do. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm quite appreciative. And here celebrating another birthday uh this year. We're going to ask uh WSAVTV on your side to come up by my side. be the news right.

Hey sweetie, how you doing? Good to see

everybody here. Who reporting the news? Well, who's running the station? I mean, everybody's coming. It's not every day you turn 70. So, we'll celebrate. Proclamation reads as follows. Uh whereas WSAVTV first signed on the air on February the 1st, 1956, and for 70 years has faithfully served the people of Savannah, the Coastal Empire, and the South Carolina low country with trusted local and regional news, reliable and accurate weather coverage, local sports, and quality entertainment. And whereas through his distinguished history, WSAV TV has earned a reputation for journalistic excellence, through his commitment to his hallmark on your side reporting, serving as a watchdog for the public, a voice for the voiceless, and an advocate for truth, transparency, and fairness. And whereas WSAV TV has consistently been recognized for superior journalism, receiving national and regional Edward RR Muro awards along with dozens of Georgia Association of Broadcasters honors and regional Emmy awards reflecting the professionalism, integrity, and dedication of his journalists and staff. And whereas beyond its vital role of informing the

public, WSAV has also been an important contributor to Savannah's business and economic ecosystem, supporting hundreds of local businesses through advertising and marketing services that have helped them grow and prosper, thereby strengthening the regional economy. And whereas from his studios on historic Victory Drive in Savannah, WSABTV operates a robust news operation with five bureaus across Georgia and South Carolina, including Atlanta, Statesboro, Columbia, and Bluton, as well as a capital bureau in Washington DC, ensuring comprehensive coverage of issues impacting the regional region locally, statewide, and nationally. And whereas for seven decades, WSAB TV has been more than a television sta station. It has been a trusted community partner, a civic institution, and a constant presence in the lives of generations of Savannah residents. Now therefore I Van R Johnson II mayor of the city of Savannah hereby recognize, commend and congratulate WSAV TV on the occasion of its 70th anniversary and extend the gratitude and appreciation of the city for its enduring service, journalistic excellence and unwavering commitment to our community. We wish WSAVTV continued success and many more years of impactful reporting, community leadership and service to the people of the coastal empire and low country. And witness aware of I've set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Savannah to be affixed on this day. Happy birthday and congratulations. Thank you.

Well, good afternoon everybody. Uh my name is David Hart. I'm the general manager at WSAB and I've got a great group with me today. These a lot of familiar faces. Uh you know, of course, Tina Ty Shaw, Ben Singer who anchor our evening newscast. Kim Gusby who's a legend as well, our chief, Scott Roberts, Joey Lamar's here, Ben Kako, another one of our anchors. I think our entire sales team is here as well. So, we're very proud to have a big turnout today. Um we uh

we're humbled by this resolutions. Uh it it's really remarkable. Uh but it does encapsulate what we've tried to be from the day we signed on the air. Our first transmitter was on Broton Street on the Liberty National Bank building. February 1st, 1956 it signed on the air and uh we've always been a part of Savannah uh since we started uh transmitting our signal and uh today we're uh we're excited to continue that. So, uh, again, to the entire council, the mayor, uh, everybody in the city of Savannah, we very much appreciate this recognition and we promise you that, uh, we're just getting started. Uh, the future's bright and we, uh, continue to plan on being a great community partner, uh, and looking out for the people of Savannah, uh, the coastal empire in the low country. So, again, thank you all very, very much,

Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Uh, it was said up here on the day Uh since all of you are here, who is running the station? So with one who is so tuned in, what you have here are those who come on at 4:30 in the morning and then those who come on at 9:00 and those who come in at the 11:00 uh newscast. So that's how in tune I am with WSV. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations.

Yeah. And in the third district, too. Woohoo. Sorry. Uh I think we're really fortunate that we have so many uh I know and other Marcus people come and they go uh here they come and they stay and I think that's been a really weird part. These two ladies on both sides of me 30 years a piece. Right. Right. Yeah. My goodness. 34 in April. 33. So I mean together older than I am. So but we appreciate all. Now who's over the weather? Scott. Now, Scott, it was 20 degrees last week. It's 71 degrees and then there's a uh a freezing advisory. I We have to get better at this.

I think you did a pretty good job the forecast earlier this week. It's crazy. But we appreciate all of you and certainly we know none of this happens unless the sales folks are doing your job. So, thank you so much for what you do. Um we're all together because WSAV has Savannah in it. So, we're all in this together. So congratulations and best wishes to 70 more. Thank you. Thank you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. All right. All right. Appreciate you. Yes. The longest boo romance together. Thank you all. You're welcome. Go Ben. Okay. We're in good shape. All right. We're officially in good shape tomorrow for weather.

I had to get that. So that's right. The official word. Everybody know the bridge, right? All right. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh, as you also know, um, for our community, um, human trafficking is a big concern and Savannah because of its proximity, because of its uh, assets. Um we are a attractive place for human trafficking and the city of Savannah has been actively engaged with the uh Savannah inter agency um diversity council uh to uh to deal with issues of human trafficking not only on the sex side but also on the labor side. So we have our SIDC here y'all come on up and glad to have you. And traffic jam is coming up this weekend. um that I'll be able to attend now that certain something else has been cancelled.

Let's see, sir. All right. Good. Y'all come on up. Come on. Closer. Come on. Closer. Come on. Come on. First of all, I want to say good evening. Uh my name is Bill Gettis. I'm the chairman of Savannah Inter Agency diversity council and we're getting ready to hold our 11th annual Savannah traffic jam uh starting tomorrow law enforcement training uh 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and on Saturday the general public conference uh from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Conference will be held at Savannah State University Student Union and we definitely welcome you all if you're available to come. Um, human trafficking is a big problem in Savannah and we want to continue to provide awareness to our citizen, not only Savannah but the surrounding areas that it is a problem and we need everyone involved so we can keep Savannah our residents safe. Um on Friday, uh there will be law enforcement only training, great training, and it's being coordinated by law enforcement training coordinator, Miss Dan Mcloud, uh attorney, uh Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and she's also an SIDC member. Uh I'll let her come and give a few uh comments on about what she want to talk about about that training.

Good afternoon, members of council. My name is Dian Mloud. I am also a member of the Savanner inter agency diversity council. Thank you for having us here today. We are looking for a weekend where we will do a lot of training within the law enforcement community but also the community at large. We kick off in the morning with law enforcement only. And this year we are looking to give tools that officers can actually take back to their departments and implement immediately. So we will talk about agencies and sites based within the state that they can utilize free of charge which in this economy everybody is looking at dollars and cents. So we will have someone talk come and talk about the statistical analysis center which is located in Georgia that tracks and trends human trafficking within our in the various areas of the state. We will also have agents who will come and talk to the local officers and agencies about doing demand reduction operations. We know that in the human trafficking arena, the buyers push the traffic. If we wouldn't have buyers, we wouldn't have human trafficking. So, it's very important for local communities and local law enforcement to understand how to effectively implement demand reduction operations. And so we will have agents who will come down, talk to the local officers who come to the training tomorrow on how to implement the best practices when it comes to um implementing demand reduction operations. And then Saturday, we expect to have a very robust day for the community with a law enforcement panel talking about trends going on within human trafficking, not only within the state, within the nation, as well as the local community. And we will also have our NOS's, our non-government organizations, victim services providers who will talk about their needs and what

how the community can help in the fight against human trafficking. I invite all of you to come on Saturday. Join us. I invite our local law enforcement to come tomorrow. Join us. And for a lot of them, the thing that gets them, you get post credits. If you come in the morning, you get three hours of post credits. So, please sign up local law enforcement. and then for the community at large to come on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you and we thank you for being a great partner with this effort in our community. Thank you. Thank you.

We are very appreciative of the city's continuing efforts um to make sure all of our citizens are safe and this is a way to do it. We're very glad that Dr. Takesha Brown uh yeah is a member. Uh, so she really needs no introduction. Um, but we gonna make sure everyone else introduces themselves and their affiliations.

My name is Alicia Brown. I'm a retired master sergeant from United States Army and I've joined the group because I was an MP when I was in the military. So, it kepts me going and doing the things that I can do for my community. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, city council. Uh, my name is Joseph Smith. I'm a member of the SIDC. I have a background in military, and I'm just excited to to be a part of this organization. Um, as much as it's a painoint to discuss, um, it's human trafficking is not inevitable, but it is preventable. So, that's what we're doing here, partnering with the city. And so, we appreciate your help. Looking forward to seeing you guys on Friday and Saturday. Thank you.

Yes. Hello. Thank you so much for having us. My name is Kate Gallup. I'm the outreach coordinator at Theos Place and um we if you know we are a shelter for survivors of human trafficking girls ages 12 to 17 and we are so excited to be a part of Savannah Traffic Jam and um thank you for having us. Yeah. Thank you for Pharaoh's place.

Hello, my name is Phyllis Lawson. I am a retired educator uh after 31 years. Uh I became a domestic abu abuse and violence advocate and was introduced to the uh this organization. I feel that is so important for us to continue to protect our neighbors and I am appreciative of all we do. Thank you.

Thank you. Once again, we want to thank you all for your partnership. Uh we can't we could not do this conference without you. So, we definitely appreciate your support and we want to continue to build a strong uh partnership with you. Thank you very much and looking forward to seeing you either tomorrow for the law enforcement or Saturday for the general public. Want to thank Mayor Jones for his great support since we've been doing this conference since 2016. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Just for our listening um citizens, can you tell us the time for the general population and what building it's going to be in? Kind of.

Uh it's it's the time is 9:00 a.m. to 2 2:00 p.m. and it's going to be in the student union. That's the building right next to Tiger Arena on campus. Savannah State University, right next to Tiger Arena. Thank you, sir. In the third district. All right. Okay. Thank you all so much. and let's give them a round of applause and thank you for all that they do.

All right, let's get jump into this agenda. I'm going to uh move around for purposes of expediency. We're going to start at items number 29 through 34 under the airport commission. Um item number 29 uh approval of change order number four with IU IUIS construction for the terminal concquest expansion project in the amount of $3,242,738. Item number 30, approval to renew services for the MROS common use passenger processing system and common use self-service system from Infax in the amount of $40,135. Item number 31, approval to purchase hold room seating from Herman Miller DBA National Office Systems in the amount of $774,37. Item number 32, approval to renew contract for professional services with Leavon Pacific Aviation Consulting in the amount of $173,250. Item number 33, approval to execute a contract with marketing and PR consultant Joy Pani with Luna PR in the amount of $55,000. And item number 34, approval to award change order number one to Erants general contracting uh for the equipment storage building project in the amount of $554,190.

Move, sir. Is there a second? Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Uh, moving back to item number eight, uh, alcohol license hearings. Uh, please peruse those items number eight through 14. Are there any pullouts? Mr. Mayor,

one moment. Okay. Item number eight is approval of a class C liquor, beer, and wine by the drink alcohol license for Sunday sales to Mark Leeman for Foley House at 14 West Hull Street in District 2. Item number nine is approval of a class A liquor, beer, and wine caterer class C liquor, beer, and wine by the drink with Sunday sales and class E beer and wine by the package alcohol license to Mark Leeman for the JW Marriott at 300 the 500 West River Street at district 2. This is a new applicant for an existing business. Item number 10, approval of a class C liquor beer and wine body drink alcohol license with Sunday alcohol sales to Mark Lee Memphis JW Mary Pavilion 1 at 300500 West River Street and automatic district 2 Newan existing business. Item number 11 is a class C liquor, beer, wine by the drink with Sunday sales alcohol license to Mark Leman for JW Marriott Pavilion 2 at 300-500 West River Street and Automatic District 2. New applicant existing business. Item number 12 is an approval of a class C liquor, beer, wine, by the drink, alcohol license with Sunday sales to Mark Leman for JW Marriott Pavilion 3 uh at 300500 West River Street um in district 2, new applicant existing business. Item number 13, approval of a class C beer and wine body to drink alcohol license for Sunday sales to Sunju Ye for Sushi Kingdom at 7804 Abocorn Street Sweet 63A in District 4. And item number 14, approval of a class C liquor, beer, and wine by the drink alcohol license for Sunday sales to Stacy Richie for J Christophers at 122 East Liberty Street uh in Automatic District 2. Uh this is a public hearing that I'm now declaring open. Does anyone

have anything against any of these licenses? Going once. Going twice. Speak now forever. Hold your peace. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. Ask that we close the hearing. Second a motion. Probably moved and second that we close the hearings. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item number eight. Alderman Legged. Yes, sir. Mr. Max that we approve the class C liquor beer wine by the drink alcohol license with Sunday sales to Mark Leeman for Foley House at 14 West Hole Street. Second probably moved and seconded. All in favor in the K by saying I opposed. Motion passes. Item number nine. Alman Leget.

Yes sir. contracts to be approved the class A liquor beer wine caterer class C liquor beer wine by the drink alcohol Sunday sales and class E beer and wine by the package alcohol license to mark Leman for JW Marriott at 300500 West River Street second properly moved and seconded all in favor by saying I opposed motion passes item number 10 alderman Leot may ask we approve the class C liquor be wine by the drink with Sunday sales alcohol license to Mark Leman for JW Marriott Hotel Pavilion 1 at 300500 West River Street. Second.

Uh properly moved and seconded. All in favor in the case by saying I oppose. Motion passes. Item number 11. Alman Leget. Yes sir. Again Mr. The mayor, we ask that we approve the class C liquor beer wine by the drink and Sunday sales alcohol license to Mark Leman, the JW Marriott Pavilion, 2 300500 West River Street. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor by saying I I oppose. Motion passes. Item number 12, Alderman Leget. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, we approve ask to approve of a class C liquor beer wine by the drink with Sunday sales alcohol license to Mark Leman for JW Marriott Pavilion 3 at 300 to 500 West River Street. Second

probably moved and second it. All in favor of the K by saying I opposed. Motion passes. Item number 15, Augman Palumbo. Uh yes, Mr. Mayor. I move for the approval of a class C beer wine by the drink alcohol license with Sunday sales to Sunzu Yi for Sushi Kingdom at 7804 Abberorn Street. Second properly moved and seconded. All in favor of the case by saying I opposed. Motion passes. Item number 14. Alderman Leget. Yes sir. Mr. Mayor asks we approve the class C liquor beer wine by the drink alcohol license for Sunday sales to Stacy Richie for Jay Christophers at 122 East Liberty Street. Sir been properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I.

Opposed. Motion passes. All right. Thank you all very much. Y'all go forth. Be great. We appreciate your business interest in our city. Item number 15 has been continued to February the 12th. Item number 16 is petition of Josh Yelen on behalf of EJ McClean with First City Brewing LLC for Midtown Savannah Property Investments LLC for a special use permit to establish a micro brewery with conditions in the TC1 zoning district on 57 acres at 1722 Habasham Street in automatic district 2.

Mr. tomorrow. Somebody from NBC.

He was here, right? All right. Let's see if he's You want me to stick my head outside real quick? Yeah. Let's peek outside.

Oh, no. Oh, there he is, man. Look, we moving, man. Look, he we ready to roll and you're not ready to roll with us, man. My friend, there is a delay in that room. I'm so sorry. Happy New Year, man. You almost got left. So nice to see you all. How you doing, sir? Excellent. It's a pleasure to see you all. Thank you. Edward Marorrow from the MPC. Um, so I'm good to go. The first petition 17 uh sorry, 2512 Habsham Street. This was continued.

I'm going to roll right through this. There we go. 1722 Hsham. Thank you so much. All right. Uh so our first petition is a special use request uh to establish a micro brewery within the TC1 zoning district uh which is the traditional commercial one zoning district. Uh you can see the subject property um which was developed uh as a whole block of rare opportunity uh as an infill uh development here in the city of Savannah. Um just to offer you some context here, you can see that it's surrounded by uh traditional residential future land use, but uh we've seen a succession of commercial uses uh come through this particular space. Um just within the last 6 to 8 months, there was another special use permit for accessory alcohol sales within this same spot. Um so again, this is relatively consistent with the activity that we're seeing around this corner. Uh you can see the zoning here is TC1. Uh there's an adjoining TC1 block surrounded by largely TN2. um uh low density residential uses surrounding these parcels. This petitioner has provided uh a sketch uh of the floor u the floor layout for their proposed micro brewery. You can see the majority of it would consist of a tap room with just a very small amount of brewing equipment. Um and you can see that within the TC1 zoning district, this requires a special use permit. Uh this is not the entire building. Uh what you see on that photo are the windows that look into this space. Uh and so this is just a suite within this larger building uh on the ground floor. Uh micro breweries are not uh defined explicitly within the zoning ordinance but they are grouped with eating and drinking establishments uh which conveys that these are intended to be treated similarly. They are relatively low inensity and again intended to be treated uh along the lines of restaurant. With regard to regulations, they are regulated at the state level largely uh with volume limits on direct to consumer sales uh for off-remise consumption. But we expect the majority of consumption to occur on premise. Uh in looking at the

review criteria, one that I wanted to point out again is that we have seen a succession of commercial uses here. Uh special use requests associated with alcohol uh here. Previously, staff does not anticipate that we would see any issues uh in association with this. And with that, NPC staff and the commission have recommended approval. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay. Thank you very much. This is a public hearing and I'm declaring open. Um, I don't know. Mr. Ellen, you want to speak now? You want to uh reserve the right to come after? I don't think there's any speakers. Do we have speakers uh against us? All right. And

right, it was a one rain comment. Miss Ellen, I think you might just want to fade out there. Just count your blessings and slide to the left. Y'all have not been letting me speak lately, but thank y'all. Thank you. going twice. Is there Yes, sir. You want to close the hearing? Yes, sir. Ask that we close the hearing, sir. Second. Probably moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I opposed. Motion passes. Uh the corresp uh is there a corresponding item? It's just the petition on 15. I think it's just it's just it. So, it's a special use. So, uh I'll entertain a motion to approve the special use. Mr. Mayor, can we uh do we we don't have a chance? We already missed that chance to question and Oh, you can ask questions.

Okay. Can I Mr. Maro or either one of them? Thought you was getting away, huh? How you doing, Mr. Maro? The uh uh on on behalf of the neighborhood, I know that we have a a written statement from the neighborhood association, and I'm glad for that. But um when you guys receive the the request for um for someone to have this uh for a special use permit, does it come from the city first to you or do the applicant give you guys a uh application for a special use permit?

Uh ordinarily we would expect to have a pre-application conference. Uh that doesn't always happen. Mr. Yellen is pretty consistent about having those. So I'm confident we had a preapp. Uh the application would be submitted to the city's planning and urban design department. They would officially transmit it to us. And so at that time we would determine all of the relevant uh criteria. Uh I'm guessing we're talking about a a neighborhood meeting to to discuss this. And so you guys reach out to the neighborhood association. When in that process do you reach out to the alderman?

If it is required uh at the point that we receive the application uh officially we would notify them in in a preapp context. We would encourage them to go ahead and make arrangements so that the application comes in with the date of the proposed meeting on it, but officially we notify them once we receive the application if it's required.

And the reason why I'm asking that is I hate to be the last person to find out about something and we have to delay uh actions happening because when I talk to the neighbors and we go knock on doors and ask them do they know about the restaurant or they know about any entity that's coming, they don't know anything about it and then we have to halt the process because I'm not sure. Jay, if uh somebody in uh in our staff is not making us aware of uh businesses as they come online or they put the petitions in to have a application in, but we we're finding out at the latter end now and then we have to play catchup and it and it wastes time with not only uh with them and their staff and their uh and their agents of but we we we just feel like we at the latter end of the conversation. And I think when applications come in, that gives us an opportunity if we are on in the in the beginning of that conversation to talk with the neighborhood, talk with the neighborhood association. Even if somebody else doesn't, at least we have made contact with them. So if there ever issue, we know how to address it.

Um, yes, sir, I understand the request. And I think sometimes there's more petitions that come in than make it through uh the kind of administrative gauntlet. um sometimes um and um don't want to burden council who's at the back end of the process for approval with so many notifications for things that might not potentially I'm asking for the notification.

Yes, sir. We we do notify because of requests that you and and um other council members have made. Uh we do I send a memo to council at the end of every MPC meeting um uh letting council know what's coming down the pike, which is usually a month or two away from a city council meeting. But um let me work on how we can um notify council members earlier for an application.

But I think is I think it what we can do is when staff get it and they start working it. This is the issue that we having with the item number uh 15 that we had to move because a lot of it has uh missed this space because we haven't allowed the older people to get in the middle of that conversation and find out what the issues is really happening between not only the petitioner but also with staff and also with uh the applicant excuse me the applicant the petitioners in the neighborhood. So, when there's a breakdown in communications, then there's always going to be a problem and we're going to always point the finger and then we're going to have to remove items from the agenda that we can uh we can resolve. But when we're not doing our part that make us look bad and we have egg on our face as the legislators to do what we're supposed to do and we sit on the diet and I never ever hate to to answer a question by a a a a entity or a a a neighborhood that I don't know. I never want to say I don't know and I have to go back and find out that all this stuff did not happen. But in this case right here, I spoke with some of the neighbors and and they did not know that this action was happening. And uh I've spoken with Josh and he and I are going to uh work along with the petitioner to make sure that this uh all the processes are are going to move forward. And also with this um I had an issue with the parking requirements that's that's supposed to be allowed with a business like this. Every corner that's around this business has a yellow stripe. So there is no parking there in all four corners of this of 34th at um Havsham Street. So I'm not sure how they would feel that it's a uh it fit all criteria when when there is no parking or does parking criteria uh is it is it warranted in this area because I know is it under 3,000 square feet that parking is not required. I I will say in reviewing the special use

criteria, uh you absolutely have the ability to go back based on these criteria and say under specific circumstances, we believe there are stipulations that should be attached to this. Uh but this would this is within the Tom's the street car historic district, it benefits from the uh provision where no off streetet parking is required for non-residential uses from 3,000 square feet and below. Well, I look forward to uh somebody working with us instead of against us to get u this stuff passed because it's it's it's only quality of life for the people who live around it. And we want to make sure that we want to make sure that this stuff is really um looked at with a with a with a good eye and not allowing just these uh businesses to come up because we don't we we not we we're brand new to micro breweries. We don't know what how are they really pressure cookers? Are they dangerous? Will they blow a hole in the wall? Is it a danger or do these people even know what they're using? Are they just fresh to to the to the business? So, I mean, as a representative of the district, I have to ask these questions and be at the forefront of it because if something happened, I have to be the one that they call.

Thank you. Alderwoman uh Miller Blakeley. Yes. Mr. U Marorrow, does this particular business have a good neighbor agreement? I'm unaware of a good neighbor agreement. Those are private agreements that typically uh occur between the applicant and the neighborhood leadership. Alderman, so my my question is because in the past we've held um other businesses up from getting their this approval. So, uh, Alderman Leget, um, they have no good neighbor agreement

when they got a a letter of support from the neighborhood association that was submitted, um, to Mr. Yellen. Yes, sir. And that this is why I was raising the question because we have two different pages asking the same question. Well, we cannot hold other businesses to a higher standard than we do others. So, um I don't know, Mayor Johnson, you let me know. How do we make sure that we have everything in place before we approve this?

Um I believe from staff's uh perspective, everything is in place. They're just waiting on council to make a decision. We've had the public hearing is required. Um and we had one letter to come in regarding it and I believe that's that's it. So, council, right? So, okay. You stay on it. Okay. Well, Mr. I'm ready to move forward. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Okay, Mr. Mayor, I ask that we uh approve the petition by Josh Yen on behalf of EJ McClean for First City Brewery LLC and Midtown Savannah Property Investments for the special use permit established micro brewery and conditions of TC1. Second. Second.

Probably moved and seconded. All in favor of the By saying I opposed. Motion passes. Item number 17, you're welcome. petition of Jack Parker of Catalyst Design Group for Todd Maxwell of Savannah Health Services LLC for a map amendment to reszone 92.92 acres at 4700 Wers Avenue from PD to PD um for uses allowed in the OI and OE uh office and institution expanded in automatic district 3. Uh this is corresponding to item uh number 30. Uh, I'm sorry, 20. I said, yeah, it is 20. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this is, as you stated, a resoning petition uh to in essence align uh the Memorial Health Center at 4700 Waters Avenue uh with New Zo. So, currently, uh Memorial Health Center operates under a planned development designation that is aligned to the zoning districts that were effective under the previous zoning ordinance. Uh when NUSO was adopted in 2019, um the underlying base zoning districts would have changed. However, because this was tied to the previous zoning districts, uh some action on the part of council is necessary now to realign the regulatory scheme so that they're operating in essence based on uh the current um schema that we have for uh zoning. Uh just to show you the blue area that you see here, uh those are civic and institutional future land uses. Uh not all of that is memorial. on the other side of Waters happens to be Calvary Day School's campus uh and Calvary Baptist Temple. But the the large portion that is to the east of Waters Avenue is what you're seeing that that is affiliated with Memorial uh hospitals campus. You can see to the north there are some lowdensity residential uses. Uh you can see adjoining waters. Um also to the south and west that there are some uh suburban commercial style uses. Uh this is not far from the Sweet Spice area that you all recently also saw a special use I believe for um to show you the zoning that PDS uh indicates the zoning for the uh Memorial Health campus and around that you can see that there are uh largely single family residential zoning districts uh in addition to the office and institutional for the church uh and some neighborhood business uses. It's um one of our later forming areas that reflects a traditional development pattern, but it's transitioning into a suburban feel. Uh and so it's been a challenge to kind of realign that. What this history shows you is that over Memorial Health's um history, they have seen a series of small zoning actions that were aimed at uh rectifying some

small needs in order to um develop parking or to add signage to the the front of the children's hospital. A series of small zoning actions. And so what we would hope to achieve today uh with the proposal is to modify this map that you can see is aligned to previous zoning districts, the PUDS, the PUD ISB, uh the RIP, which are zoning districts that we no longer use. Uh and to bring them into scope with new. Uh the new map that is proposed would put the campus under uh five tier uh districts based on use intensity. the most intense being in the center indicated by pink and that radiates downward uh to the areas in blue that are immediately adjoining residences. Uh, one update I'd like to um include from the staff report is that we are aware that city staff um uh has had some conversations with uh the neighborhood leadership and with leadership of Memorial Hospital uh to ensure that they are um effective partners working together in this transition um as we sort of resituate the hospital for its future growth. uh and so we believe that this particular plan to realign uh these youth intensity districts cascading downward uh is going to be a positive step forward for a smooth transition um as the hospital moves forward. Uh a couple of things that I would like to mention in the most intense youth district uh we have asked that the um petitioner align these districts with the OE and O and I zoning districts which are part of Nuzo currently and what they will do is adjust those based on their specific needs. uh one of the things that they need really from is height restrictions. And so in the most intense area, uh only that pink area, we would see heights up to about 200 feet potentially depending on the proposals that come in. So you could expect a new hospital tower or something of that nature. Uh cascading down to the lowest um conservation. Obviously there are significant storm water uh air stormwater features that are adjoining this site that will be held in conservation but those adjoining

single family residences will be uh in district 4 and they will be more so compatible with the single family residences and other uh moderate density uh residential development that you see in the area. So very contextualized um in looking at the suitability criteria. Again the purpose here is to reconcile uh what are a series of obsolete zoning districts uh and most importantly in looking at how this addresses a future need for the city. Uh Memorial Hospital is a critical regional uh health care provider and employer. A couple of highlights. Um it is the regional referral center for heart care, cancer care, high-risisk pregnancies. uh and it has the region's only level one trauma center uh level three neonatal ICU and the children's hospital of Savannah. And so this is a critical uh regional asset for more than uh just uh the healthcare but also for its impact on our local economy. And so with that, the MPC staff does recommend approval. Uh and the MPC uh itself also supported that recommendation. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about these changes.

All right. Thank you very much. Um, so this is a a public hearing that I'm now deeming open. I do have one uh comment uh item number 17 from Marilyn Jons, Edgeville Sackville Neighbor Association President is here.

Hello ma'am. How are you? Good afternoon. Hello. Thank you. I'm doing well. Happy New Year everyone. Same to you.

I am here today to make sure one portion that was stated is the height along the I have to do streets for me to know where we're talking about the Lexington Avenue Carnell Street side to keep the height restriction no higher than 30 feet. that would be equal to a twostory building. Across from Memorial's campus, we have Georgia Eye, which I believe is a threestory building. And then there's also the Ronald McDonald House and the Center for Digestive Liver Health. That's a twostory building. So the height restriction to the equal to Ronald McDonald House or the center for digestive and liver health would be what the neighborhood recommends to go as high as the Georgia Eye building would be a no for us and also to keep the mature trees. what has been done by Memorial Hospital thus far with the cleaning of the properties and um keeping that particular parcel of land from Parnell Street to Lexington Avenue has been cleared and cleaned. It looks so much better. Thank you all so much for that. It is a better representation of our neighborhood and what the residents expect and I thank you.

Thank you very much. Um, so you you you've heard Miss Jim's concerns. Um, is that properly reflected within the proposal?

Uh, the zoning ordinance naturally includes uh some provisions where you've got potentially dissimilar zoning districts adjoining one another. And so as you move into the adjoining property with the more intense use, there are provisions to limit the height um going into that site. And so the uh maximum height in the residential districts would be approximately 36 feet. Um and so the next district over would be in scale with that 36 foot rather than 30 exactly. But it is contextually sensitive. Uh and that's a feature of the zoning ordinance as it stands. Miss Jeans, did you understand what he's saying?

Um yes. So instead of 30 feet, it would be 36 feet, which would be about a 2 and 12 story building. I think we'll be okay with that, but nothing higher than that. Okay. I just want to make sure we're all clear because once we're done, I don't want any changes. Okay. So, we're Okay. All right. Are there any other comments? Uh, again, this is a public hearing. All right. Going once, going twice. Mr. Mayor. Mayor. Yes. Second motion. Been properly moved and seconded. We close the hearing. All in favor of the by saying I. I. opposed. Motion passes. Alwoman uh Wilder

Bry did an amazing job at MPC with her concerns. Memorial Hospital employs 43 hours. takes care of that I want to acknowledge in our summary and it's clear to see I think and I spoke to uh people at MPC it says that there is no known uh association there but clearly she's there and it's a semi-3rd district. Uh we keep our neighborhood citizens engaged and so we're just glad that Miss Jven showed up and showed out. Uh we have a unanimous decision. Um this particular project is in parody with the new vote and the uh um current city ordinances from 2019. So, it gives me a great pleasure to uh ask for the approval of the petition of Jack Potter of Catalyst Design Group for Todd Maxwell of Savannah Health Services for a map amendment to reszone 92.92 acres at 47 Waters Avenue. Uh, and then I want to make sure that the first and second reading is covered. Hold on a minute.

While while she's getting that together, let me um Here it is. there there are ways to be able to manage growth. Um and growth should always be managed responsibly.

Um you can grow out or you can grow up or a combination uh of of the two. Uh and certainly as we value having health care uh and particularly the quality of Memorial in our uh right in our community uh access to health care particularly during these days becomes even more um necessary. And so uh hearing lies and opportunities as I see it is really a win-win uh not only for the uh for the hospital and hospital system to meet its uh future needs but also for us to be able to safeguard the community uh and make sure that the community around it has viability. Aldwoman Wild Ryan.

Yes sir. And so do I uh make the first reading? Okay. Yeah. So I move that the first reading be considered the second and the ordinance be placed upon its passage and pass second been properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Item number 18. Yes ma'am. Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to thank um the president. Miss Jven, thank you. Miss Jven, thank you for showing up and showing out and being consistent and taking care of your uh association and their members. Appreciate you.

Thank you. Um items number 18 and 19 are uh consistent and uh to 21 and 22 petition of Bridget Litty on behalf of the mayor and alderman of the city of Savannah uh for a future land use amendment for the residential single uh family industry light and commercial neighborhood to plan development for 9.99 acres along Daws Avenue. Uh item number 19 is a petition for a zoning map amendment from the RS F5 CP and uh LI zoning districts to plan development for 99 9.99 acres along Dolls Avenue. Uh so I I assume these are sequential in nature that you have to um do the flum first and then from the flum you can uh do the zoning map amendment. Correct.

That's correct. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh yes, I would like to discuss these concurrently. Uh it it's a a good day when as a planner you get to bring uh projects like this before city council. Um this is a project that will reconcile some um irregularities in this area for uh what are currently 36 parcels and to kind of bring them into harmony with one another. Um I'll take the opportunity while I have this visual to kind of point out that this is a really precarious context. I'm not sure if you can see my cursor. Um but what you're seeing here is uh com actually this is commercial uh indicated on the future land use and this is residential and you've got industrial in that gray that's completely surrounding it. Um and so when you look over at the zoning map you can also see this area is surrounded by light industrial uses. Um in this area, as you will see on another exhibit, there's some uh wetlands uh that are here and so some drainage issues and you've got these dissimilar parcels, right? And so this combination uh of discordant sort of uh future land use and zoning and uh environmental needs. It has uh created a challenge that really only cities often can go in and they can address these issues. And so, uh, this is a great opportunity to see the city of Savannah take its resources, uh, and put it behind this opportunity to develop, uh, some muchneeded, um, reasonably priced, I'll call it reasonably priced, affordable housing. This will be through CHSA, uh, 32 dwelling units on these 36 parcels, uh, in the form of a PUD. And this is going to contain a mixture of residential, single family, industry light, um sorry, this is going to realign those future land use districts, residential, single family, industry light, and commercial neighborhood, but ultimately for the purpose of develop uh developing a plan development that will contain single family conservation uh and a mixeduse uh neighborhood building. And so uh as we've said, this was filed concurrently with a zoning map amendment request. Um, in reviewing our policy documents, we found that this was

consistent with a number of policies from plan 20 240 and also from Savannah's GPS, um, policies specifically related to affordable housing provision, uh, infill and creating diversity of housing types. Uh, responsible growth, storm water management through the infrastructure improvements that will occur here. Uh, and obviously uh, also equitable community development through uh, this rectification of uh, issues that occurred some time ago. um to show you the environmental context, you can see the hundred-year storm hydraulic model um that the city of Savannah recently had updated. And so that pink area that you see there are areas that are uh likely to be inundated in the event of a 100-year uh storm event. And so that is uh the majority of this area. um particularly with regard to the criteria for a future land use map amendment. Uh this is necessary to remediate and mitigate a a precarious interface between residential and industrial uses and it corrects the long-standing deficiencies here. Uh we are definitely seeing with this uh some restorative or uh distributional environmental uh justice occurring. There are uh certainly areas of this town being a port city that have uh borne the brunt of industrial impacts. And so this seeks to reverse some of that uh while also providing some affordable housing and hydraological resilience through the infrastructure improvements. Um we heard Mr. Law come to the MPC and give testimony on a number of occasions. And so uh in doing research on this, I went back and found an original plat in 1987 for part of this area. uh on the lefth hand side, those small um rectangular lots that you can see here were the residential lots that were recombined to form the industrial uh parcels that you see over on the right uh and that are reflected now in those uh small warehouse buildings that you see. And so those were intended to be places where people would live. Uh there was the separation of a community and this is kind of the reunification of that that we're seeing

uh with the city's effort here. Uh moving into the zoning portion of our request, you can see the proposed uh plan development uh master plan here. And so you can see that in addition to the single family detached, there would also be a single family attached unit which would contain uh two units. You would have a mixeduse uh community building uh in addition to uh dedicated green space, conservation areas, um and some parks, sorry, some small tiny uh garden park areas that would be available for uh resident use. In reviewing the criteria um for a reasonzoning, we saw that the PD structure is going to allow the regulatory flexibility that's needed. Uh those small lots that you saw, uh they need to be reconfigured so that in essence they square with zoning. Uh right now we don't have a base zoning district that is going to permit uh lots of this size without a significant number of variances. And so the plan development uh framework allows you to go in and to set appropriate standards for the re-ubdivision for the combination of the re-ubdivision of these lots. And so ultimately they will be allowed to be about 2400 square feet in area but they will absolutely be habitable um and sufficient for their purpose. They are not substandard by any means. Um whether the zone whether the proposed zoning district addresses a specific need. Again, uh we can see in our uh p our policy documents that um this is well supported for the purpose of increasing uh supportive and affordable housing um for uh addressing storm water management needs in this area and also for moving towards uh the realization of our goals in Savannah's GPS. Finally, uh this is purposed to explicitly mitigate the adverse effects of the industrial uh corridor that adjoins this property. Uh and so this is a necessary step forward to see a coordinated redevelopment of this area. Uh MPC staff was uh proud to support

this project uh and the planning commission was as well. And so here you can see on your screen uh the staff and uh planning commission recommendations for both the future land use map amendment and the zoning map amendment. Happy to answer any questions, Mr. Mayor. All right. Um this is a public hearing. Uh there any comments uh regarding this item? Going once, going twice. Speak now forever. Hold your peace. Aldo on Laneir. Mr. Mayor. Huh? It's in the fifth. Okay. Okay. I would like to close the hearing. Second the motion.

Probably moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. opposed. Motion passes. Mr. Mayor, comment. All right. All woman Lair, I I'll go first. Chair chair recognized Alder the motion. I just have a comment. Oh, go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Um, this project has been going on for quite some time, right? I think it was in the mix prior to this council and the last council. Um, that's right.

I think it's a fine project. Chill out. I think it's a fine project. I think it fits there and my comments are not pertaining to what is being proposed and what will go there. My comments are concerning how it impacts the historic Ogishitan community.

In the past, Ogichetan dolls has been one community, two names, one community, same people, kindred people. They had a historic uh connection there. And with this project and with the road widening, it has divided those that community. Uh they're no longer a cohesive community as far as proximity, but they are as far as their their historic connection. Uh the the contractors with Highway 17 project, this project have been working diligently to provide amenities and uh uh road um access uh good uh walking conditions for this project. There has been numerous me and that's been a request and I do believe it's considered in the plan. But the people of Agicheton, they even refused to be here today because they are very dissatisfied and frustrated because they wanted to use this opportunity although they did not want to stand in the way of this project. They wanted to use this opportunity to receive some benefits for the Ogitin side. Uh these neighborhoods I think was founded in like 1909. um historic neighborhoods in Savannah and over in Ogichitton, there are so many conditions and negative quality of life conditions that they were hoping that while we were making this investment, they would have an opportunity to get some of those addressed. Uh there's the street access, the road, another road, another way to get in and out. There's one way in, one way out. Then it's a high BM. And then there there were two uh environmental assaulting businesses, the concrete company and those cars on each side of them. It was horrible conditions that if you stand in

there, you could feel the grit in your teeth if you try to talk to people. It's horrible environmental injustice and there has been no movement and I've been working with them for the last 20 years on these on these same projects. So they was hoping to be able to use the attention that this project is getting and that investment to be able to deal with some of the issues over there. And then now they have a further restriction when they eress when they leaving there because it's a forced right one way uh because of the new road. They could no longer even turn left towards downtown. They have to be forced to make that right. So they're down in there one way in one way out with the forced right on the way out. So they have been asking and and I've been meeting with Jay about it. Um that staff get together and consider another access road either to Styles Avenue or those tracks back there. So they they will have another option to get in and out. That's been one thing that has not been addressed yet. Uh then they were looking they were hoping to have a community space because there will be one in the new development and they have none that they've been advocating for for probably the last uh decades and that hasn't happened. uh the environmental critical issues uh intrusive zoning because of the proximity to the lighting industry. Um so all of these problems are on the Agichitan side. Now the community sits in two districts. The first and the fifth uh uh the DAW's side. So as a disclaimer, no one wants to stand in the way of this project. um but they did want to be able to deal with that uh industrial properties intrusion intruding onto the residential and these other issues that I have mentioned. So I wanted to take this opportunity today just to uh let let you know why um the the the frustration exists in Ogiton. I I do believe staff is working or has has acknowledged these issues. This is not

brand new that I'm saying. We've been meeting on this for probably a couple of years now on these concerns. So, I'm hoping to see some type of resolution to the concerns of the people in Ogiton area. Um and and uh the issue will pass, which it should, but it won't receive my vote as just a protest in solidarity to the people of Agitan. So, older woman,

thank you. Let me let me lift um cuz I represented that area as well for for quite some time and I think it's also uh important to to lift a couple of things that you have spoken to. Um I remembered that we at one point had secured um some some funds, some spots funds I believe it was for some community space and no one in that area wanted to sell it. It was all owned literally um by a couple of families and therefore there was no space to put community space. Um and it's important to note that as you've noticed that um Aichi road is actually highway 17 um which is a state road. Um, and the number one concern for the folks in that community was the fact there was so many accidents at a Gichi road at the foot of that overpass because they could not see coming out of a Gichi road um coming out off of uh a Gichetan um turning on to 17. And so that was part of the testimony given to the state um which precipitated the reasoning uh for making it one way because there was so many accidents from individuals coming off of a Gichien road onto 17 often into incoming traffic without realizing that it was coming. Um I think that you know we can certainly and I support continuing to work on a resident's concerns there. Um, at one point we were uh purchasing uh all of Dolls Avenue uh and some stays so they had to come forth with a another plan uh to be able to do this. But I I appreciate recognizing the need for progress. But uh city manager I would uh echo that we need to continue to uh hold the hand of the good people of Gichin and and help them. again, some of their issues are are are internal um and you know that the more we can assist them and then of course uh there's that

piece of commercial land that we've talked about several times um that might provide some of the um the relief that Aldor Miller is speaking to. Alder woman should ask one one last thing Mr. Mayor one one thing Mr. Mayor please um everything you said I I acknowledge it and I agree. Uh, do staff please make a notation that the action auto building is for sale and the city owns the lot next to it just to the north.

No, you're right. And I've asked the city manager on several occasions now um for some status on that. But I believe uh that's an opportunity u in more ways than one at least for addressing some of the relief issues that the folks need over in that area. But thank you for that. Aldwoman Shabbass. Thank you Mr. Mr. Mayor, I know she was next.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In reference to this um proposed um plan development that is in the fifth district, uh this particular project gave me the opportunity to sit with uh Alderwoman Lane Lenir and to meet with her constituents right across Uichi Road and Highway 17 uh to hear uh the environmental uh just injustices that are going on. heard them for many many years um with the mayor who represented that area and that condition continues to go on. So, I am really in support of what Alderwoman Laneir and the mayor uh is talking about in reference to right across the street over in the first district with the citizens and community and the members of the Ogishitan community with the um with the policy um procedures as we move through with our documents in plan uh uh 2040. We are just um thankful that this project is a part of the policy uh issue of planned uh 2040 in reference to affordability the affordability housing stock and also the uh strategic planning and plan section of the policy document of 2040. Thank you so much Mrs. Wilson from MPC and all of your staff for such an excellent documentation as we move forward into the future with the Dolls Avenue uh proposed project. It's going to be very very good um for uh our community uh with Axeville without question affordability of housing. So, with that being said, uh I would like to

um and also I would like to city manager uh thank uh Mrs. Litty, Bridget Litty for really staying on top of this and um being with Alderwoman Laneir and myself as we move together to get to this point um with bringing this item to city council for a vote and hopefully it will pass so that we can have more affordable housing available uh for our citizens here in the city of Savannah. So, Mr. Mayor, can I go ahead and make One moment, please. Uh, Alderwoman Miller Blakeley. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor Johnson.

Uh, I don't know who to ask this question to. Um, Alderwoman Laneir mentioned that uh, Ogatitin and Daw Avenue individuals were asking for certain items for quite a while. How long have they been asking for uh, the roads and and the community centers and what have you? It's been quite some time. Uh again, let let me stop you right there. The reason why I asked is because how long will it be before we can give them some of the things that they're asking for? Well, I think the number one thing number one thing they asked for was traffic relief on Niguchi Road, which they're getting now. That was the number one issue. There was And that's that one way in,

right? Well, right. The Well, it was one way in, but it was when they came in, you could cross across uh 17 and literally in the road of traffic. you couldn't see coming from the other side and so there was a lot of accidents coming out of there and so when the hearings were occurring from the state regarding that that was really probably the number one issue um they want another issue and all the women len can correct me if I'm wrong uh they wanted another opportunity to get out of um which was not possible because of the commercial business next to it there might be an opportunity now that did not exist for. Okay.

Um, talking about community space again, uh, at one point, uh, we had some some funds identified to perhaps do something there, but the the neighbors down there, um, it's all owned by neighbors. And so there was no one willing to use their land for that purpose. So again, there just a bunch of things that we need to continue to work. And I I'm glad that Aldor Miller lifted it. I think we just have to continue to work work through the issues and when opportunities come available um to be able to address them. So you're saying that there is an opportunity possibly with that plot of land that the city owns next to the auto place. Is that what you said?

Well, while saying too much, I think I think that there there could be some opportunities now that did not exist before. Right. Okay. So the people in Ogatitin and Dolls Avenue will get some kind of relief based on that. Okay. I we hope well I hope that they do. I hope that we do. That's what I'm asking. How can that? That's that's that's that's a legal issue and a staff issue would have to be worked out. And I would just suggest because it deals with some items in real estate that we just don't address those here. Mr. Mayor. Um

Okay. Go ahead. I would like to um make a motion and we're going to go over to item number uh 21 which is um the uh for the future land use map amendment. I move that the first reading be considered the second and the ordinance placed upon it passes and pass second. been properly moved and seconded that the petition of Bridget Litty on behalf of the mayor and alderman for future land use map amendment uh from residential single family industry light to commercial and commercial neighborhood to plan development for 9.9 acres along Dolls Avenue the first read consider the second and so on is placed upon it passage and pass all in favor the by saying I I opposed

opposed motion passes at 72 I believe okay um item number 22 is go ahead. Mr. Mayor, I would like to make a motion on item number 22, which is the zoning map amendment for Daw's Avenue. I move that the first reading be considered the second and the second and be placed on its passage and passed. Second proudly moved and seconded that the first reading be considered the second as ordinance placed upon its passage and passed. All in favor indicate by saying I. I oppose. Opposed. Motion passes 7 to2. Um, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Moody. Have a great day. Okay. Thank you all so much.

Okay. Moves us on to item number 23, which is the uh adoption of the amendment to the 2026 revenue ordinance to establish a stormwater utility uh rate ordinance within the city of Savannah's code of ordinances. Uh if you remember, this was um passed from uh our last meeting in December uh to this time to allow us to have more opportunities uh to to meet with our community. Mr. Manager, would you like to say anything before we go into our hearing opportunities?

Uh yes, sir. Thank you. Uh yes, we did um meet with um many community partners over the intervening weeks since the last um hearing on this item in December. Um the majority of those stakeholders were faith leaders within the city. um uh staff um including Chief Ron Felner and I and Mayor, you were at a meeting um hosted by the Interfaith Ministry Alliance um in early January. Um I also had uh my um quarterly meeting with faith leaders yesterday where we discussed this issue um at length um as well and um tried uh to address concerns and um hopefully answered all of the questions to that we could in terms of how we um came about with this proposal that started from a city council um direction for me to bring a proposal forward. um two years ago at the council's visioning session. Um the storm water utility is a um is a function in a regime that's allowed under Georgia state law um to help support um storm water management infrastructure and operations um and jurisdictions. There are 77 um uh and counting uh storm water utilities across the state. Um this utility as conceived um would uh really with an equity lens try to ensure that our residents um are paying a very small share of what could be a very very meaningful annual um revenue in order to improve operations and

maintenance with canal and ditch cleaning. um doubling our uh our Vector trucks um and associated crews um that go out and routinely clear our catchment basins during heavy water events. Um as well as to have a revenue source to fund and to bond for um smaller capital neighborhoodbased flooding issues. So the way in which the city pays for large capital expenses for storm water and drainage um are mostly through splast expenditures where splastate um a very hefty portion of the city of Savannah's splate list is for major storm water and drainage infrastructure projects. Um this council also established a storm water fund several years ago and used any overages in our general fund um advorum tax collection to fund small capital projects. Um but these are the type of projects where um may not impact the storm water system as a whole but certainly impact local neighborhoods. I know that everybody here and certainly anybody watching um if I ask for a a raise of hands if you could uh if you could close your eyes and and know an intersection that floods during a heavy rain event. I'm sure many of you could name several. Um and some of those intersections and road types um aren't near any other place that flood because we have these localized flooding issues that sometimes take um a thou h 100,000 200,000 a million dollars in order to repair. And this is what this utility is really designed um to address. We're still going to need to lean on our SPLOS programming. We're still going to need to lean on our um general fund contributions to capital, our pay as you

go capital um and um grant dollars from the state and the federal government to do the heavy lifting of the stormwater infrastructure we need for our future uh which right now totals about $500 million in capital needs. Um but with those capital projects, we also have to be able to invest in the ongoing operation and maintenance of those systems. Um we have a lot of infrastructure um laid out today. Um but some of that infrastructure does not work the way that it needs to because we do not have the capability and capacity to be able to maintain those systems to to properly um function as they should and as they were designed. Um, and let me then kind of address the equity component um, of this proposal versus the other way um, to fund this would be through raising property taxes. If we were to raise property taxes to meet this need, um a typical home in um near West Savannah or on the near east side of downtown Savannah where a property value is um taxable property value is somewhere around $225 to $250,000. um to raise the same revenue, you'd have to raise those property taxes by another $100 a year in a storm water utility. Um because of the average size of those homes, um that burden on that same household would be reduced four times. Um so you would see an average annual cost um for the same benefit at around $25 a year. So that's really where we are looking um on the equity component here and the storm water utility is a way to ensure that um all properties are paying their fair

share based on how much impervious surface their property has um and that our residents um um are uh are not having to pay the brunt of the burden on a storm water um infrastructure increase in in revenue. So that those are really the the components there. I want to point to the ordinances which has a community equity provision. Um I want to point to the wisdom of this council that asked us to create an advisory group made up of uh members appointed by this council. Um we are going to continue that advisory group um should council pass this provision um to help make sure they make recommendations on the small capital projects that we would program every year. Um we also have a project prioritization matrix which is spelled out in the ordinance um and associated documents as well which talk about how we would bring forward um the small capital projects every year that we intend to use um this revenue in order to address. Um, and of course, as we started this year in the FY2026 budget where the first time we laid out the streets and the sidewalks that we intend to repair with the budget, we would do that for our storm water utility revenue as well and name the specific projects, those small neighborhood capital projects that we intend to implement that year um, with those years revenues for this council's consideration um, amendment and approval. Um uh we heard many many things from our faith communities that have helped to um shape all of those components um I think a little um bit more crisply. Um we have also discussed the need um for a uh utility hardship fund uh which we would

find an appropriate um 501c3 um that uh may be able to partner with the city in order to be able to provide utility assistance, including storm water utility assistance um for our residents um who who need that assistance because we understand that even $2 a month um is is for many residents in the city um a a lot to ask. Um and so u we need to be able to have those mechanisms in place um there as well and something that we're committed on working on and finding a solution for um in the intervening months.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. I'm declaring this public hearing uh open. Uh for those that want to speak, you have two minutes in which to do so. We ask that you come up, you state your name or any affiliation, and then the clock will start. When we get to two minutes, I will be really nice and I'll bulge my big eyes at you. Uh, and then soon after that, um, I'll be asking, uh, for you to conclude your remarks. So, first we will have Lorine BS. Uh, and then I have Glenda Jones. Okay. Good afternoon, everyone.

Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Lorine BS. I am um a resident of Carver Village and for 30 years I served as a stormwater engineer to a municipality. That municipality implemented a stormwater fee and it also established a quant that's okay start. Okay. Um my name is Loren Bose. I'm a resident of Carver Village and for 30 years I served as a stormwater engineer to a municipality. That city implemented a stormwater fee and established quantitative criteria just as the city manager just described. And what was needed there and is needed here is qualitative criteria to disrupt the forces of marginalization. In the focus group, we did discuss a specific criteria, one in which the city is able to leverage its investments. And that makes sense. The city should leverage its investments. And so, for example, if a street is being repaved and in say within a year, but the stormwater conduit is going to be replaced in three years, that stormwater project would be elevated to coincide with the storm with the um street repaving. Absolutely. I think we can all agree on that. However, in this scenario, marginalized communities receive a disbenefit because where streets are not paved, Stoneberg projects are not elevated. And so what what I would recommend and I hope that we you would be able to find an opportunity to accompany some qualitative criteria to um to that quantitative criteria that you have in order so that we can simply disrupt the the cycle of marginalization and provide um equitable distribution of stormwater resources across all city council districts and and and push forward the equity that you talked about for all for justice. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Uh, Miss BS, you serve on the advisory committee? I do. All right. So, I you you you're in a unique position to make sure that we continue to hear, Mr. Manager. I trust you've

Yes. And I I think that we've um our qualitative approach to that is is um and we'll look for the advisory group to help us shape that. But one big component is keeping that advisory group um on um in perpetuity if this utility um is um is adopted to be that qualitative approach there and to look at the quantitative data um and then to to understand as well where we may need to you know break that cycle of marginalization um that um Miss BS is talking about. Um the other component of that is of course bringing those projects for explicit approval. um to city council as well. Um where you could where city council can also weigh quantitative data um but also weigh what you know um is working or is not working in the community um and uh and shape the prioritization of projects as well.

All right. Thank you and thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Glenda Jones.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Um, my name is Glenda Jones and I'm coming to you as the president of the Liberty City Neighborhood Association. I didn't know whether to do citizen or elected since I'm both, but I'll be here as the president of the association. Um, and one of my uh, neighborhood association members actually was on the task force as well, Donna Myers Oliver. So, we thank you for having her uh, representing the neighborhood. Uh, I don't like a storm water feed tax, whatever we call it. I don't like property tax increases, but I love the neighborhood that I represent. And that neighborhood is a is a neighborhood that sees a lot of flooding on certain of our streets. Um, with this storm waterfree hope, we hopefully we can mitigate some of the flooding that's around the the city. I have been going to meetings um with the Stonewater people for the past year or so. Um the last meeting I went to, I actually gave them uh the address of the house that I own in Liberty City and they gave me an estimate of what I was I would pay. Now, I believe the highest price is 475. Mine's about three times that amount because I do have two auxiliary um buildings on my property. It it would probably come to $1253 according to their estimate. But that's a small price for me to pay to help my neighbor on Champion Street who has to park his car on Liberty Parkway when there's a a heavy rain because it floods at his house. So although we never like to pay more, sometimes we have to pay more in order we can have that quality of life and quality of living that we're looking for. So I'm asking you to vote yes for this. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Pastor Andre Osborne.

Good afternoon, uh, Mayor Johnson and council, and thank you for the opportunity uh to speak today. Uh today I'm speaking on behalf of the interdenominational ministerial alliance, approximately 30 churches, the Berean Association, approximately 50 churches in the Savannah Alliance of Pastors, and we're here in concern uh for our neighbors who are already struggling uh and would hope that we can find a better path forward together. Savannah's been given much and our tax digest is growing. Our city is prospering, but with that blessing comes responsibility to ensure that the prosperity reaches all of the residents. And in our humble opinion, the stormwater fee uh we're considering will fall hardest on those who can least afford it. And to many of our neighbors, they're already choosing between paying uh water bills and putting food on the table or buying medications and another fee, no matter how necessary, uh will push struggling families further to the breaking point. And I want to be honest too about the the track record. Uh I understand the flooding in a very unique way. Uh living in Woodville, growing up in Woodville, my grandmother having a a business uh on Bay Street where for several years uh it would flood in front of her business and we would try to block some of the flooding with our own cars. Uh it took a while for the city to uh get around to doing some of that critical infrastructure work. And for too long, underserved areas of this city have watched investments flow elsewhere uh while streets flood and infrastructure crumbles and the voice uh of marginalized people go unheard. Now, I've heard it suggested that if we oppose this enterprise fund, we must be for raising taxes, and that's simply not the truth. Let's just address that head on. Uh we don't want either. Stormwater management is a core function of

government. uh none of us can control uh how much it rains. Uh this is a this is a core function of government, not an optional service, a basic responsibility. And with the city's growing budget, the city has the capacity to fund this essential service without adding new fees or without raising taxes. Uh I'd also like to address even the equity piece and the question is um in what way? Uh because now we are asking we're requiring uh residents. Is that two minutes? No, you you Yeah, you're Ivon, but go ahead, finish your thought. No, is that two minutes? Yeah, but go ahead, finish your thought.

Um that we're asking those who have been left behind to pay the price for finally catching up. Uh so I'm I'm asking if we can consider uh if we can consider a way uh and this is coming from those who are on the front lines of helping uh our citizens every day. Uh this is going to impact us because it's going to impact our our ability to help people. This will most likely target our mission and outreach budgets. Uh so between those who will be impacted and those who help the impacted uh I do want to indicate if the city can uh that we find a better way forward.

Thank you. Are there any other comments? I don't have any other cards. Is there a motion to close the hearing? I move to close the hearing. Close the hearing. Second motion. Probably moved and seconded. All in favor by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion pass. One one moment ma'am. Um motion passes. Thank you, uh Miss BS. Thank you, Miss Jones. Thank you, Pastor Osborne, for uh raising comments. Uh we'll start down this end. I saw I I saw Aldwoman Bell. Well, we can Well, I saw you first. So, go ahead, Aldwoman Bell. I don't care if you start. Aldwoman Bell, the chair recognizes you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you uh pastors who spoke um um for or against uh citizens and pastors who spoke spoke for and against this um item of this storm water fee, the implementation of a storm water fee. Um, I want to say that over the last several weeks, I guess since the last council meeting, I have been meeting with the interdenomination ministeria alliance with the on my in my other capacity as a minister, I'm a member of IMA and the um there were members of the barina marine association I guess as well. um and listening to the plight of churches and were church leaders and obviously the concern that they have is for their parishioners and although uh the fee is nominal but that's relative and I have to say that you know an increase from my colleague here may not mean the same thing to my household uh it may not affect us equally I don't what you got going. And the same thing applies with the uh pastors because I think as one of the pastors said the um it affects their ability to help their parishioners because in the end they're going to hear it again. So how does this apply? How does this relate to what we're discussing here? I definitely agree that improving our storm water uh system, our infrastructure that's almost 300 years old is necessary. I mean we cannot continue to just do nothing. I am very concerned a little a bit

concerned though about the funding process how we're going to finance this. So today, I don't plan, although I know it's necessary. I know the need is there and I know we have to come up with a way to address those needs. I don't plan to vote for it. However, if it's if it passed, I've already gone beyond that and talked to the city manager. I hope you heard him talk about pastors a hardship fund. and I talked to the city manager about the implementation of that system if it passes today. So, please know that we are not turning a deaf ear to you. We are recognizing what you're saying and feeling you and know that you're thinking about the least of these. So I will certainly be in concert working in concert with the city manager to make sure that an outside body manages perhaps a nonprofit agency manage a fund of sorts or a method I I should say a hardship system so citizens can appeal to that and be evaluated and maybe you know I don't know what the process will be but we'll make sure that something is put in place to address the needs of folks who can't legitimately can't afford to pay. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderwoman Miller Blakeley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First of all, I want to say to the ministers, thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. Um, Mr. City Manager, Splash started when what year? I think it was 1985. The may long time ago. 1985. Okay. We have already reached our 450 million dollar goal for Splash 7, right? Yes. Splash 7, right?

Yes, ma'am. We have Okay. Now, we also have what we call surplus money, right? There's money. That's Uhuh. Just Yes or no? We have surplus money from we have splast 7 tier five which is what's called in the which is money over that which is a which is allocated which is over that amount that from the $450 million which is I spoke to chairman Ellis Chester Ellis

of the county commission he gave me a list of how much money we have collected over the 450 million that we requested. When I did my calculations, we have already received 91,540,627.15. When I met with you on Tuesday, you said that the uh state is 99.9% going to give us what was it? 40 million. You you pretty sure that we're going to get that 40 million for our

I'm very hopeful that we have a very competitive grant in the state.

You said you pretty sure that we're going to get it. Those were your words. Okay. So when you add that amount up, it's $131,540,627.15. Now the minister said we could come up with another way to get the storm water fee uh uh to take care of our storm water fee. I'm looking at this and I'm saying to myself, why would we ask our constituents to add I don't care if it's one more dollar on their bills and then you talking about doing a hardship grant for our constituents that can't pay. We shouldn't have to do any of that when we getting this kind of money. And then on top of that, this money goes into a interestbearing account. What happens to that money? How much is the interest that is acred on that money?

Well, Alderwoman, as I also told you in the meeting, the surplus money that you're referring to that's collected through SPLA 7. Um, this council has allocated and approved unanimously in the FY2 approved something that we don't even know how much we getting. Well, ma'am, I don't know this this and we clearly One second, ma'am. Let Let them finish, please.

So, I I I understand the line of questioning, but I want to make sure that that I'm clear about how staff has handled the transparency of this issue. During our budget retreat and during our one-on-one meetings, Audwoman, I I specifically put the six-year SPLA 7 implementation allocation plan budget on the very last page of our budget book. So, it was I'm looking at it

so it would be easy to refer. I also had staff uh shade the SPLA 7 tier five which you've called surplus funds in a different color than all of the other revenue funds that were included in the other tiers tiers one through four so that there was absolute transparency with what council was allocating um in splash 7 tier five in the surplus. So certainly council as the approver of the annual budget has the opportunity to say that one capital project takes priority over another. Absolutely. So, if council would like to move or defund a capital project that is already approved to fund new capital projects and storm water maintenance, that is absolutely council's purview to do. There is no and should not be any um misinformation about any kind of unallocated pot of money or revenue from the city of Savannah. Every cent of revenue that the city of Savannah projects to earn and raise in 2026 has been accounted for and budget budgeted and adopted unanimously by city council. Um, and that was done on December 11th, 2025, just a few weeks ago. Um, the one thing that SPLS cannot pay for,

the one thing that SPLAS cannot pay for is operations. So, we can absolutely, if it's council's will, reallocate unspent, sposed seven funds to other projects. But that means you have to defund the projects that you've already said were important and approved. What you can't do is take splast funds and move to an operational budget, meaning you can't you can't pay salaries, you can't pay contracts, etc.

Yes, ma'am. Well, I'm making sure um because I want to make sure that I answer the the question comprehensively because I wouldn't want anybody to think that we're anything other than total transparency and above board about this proposal that city council has asked staff to develop um as well as the budget that city council approved again unanimously um in December. Um, so it it is absolutely council's purview to decide whether or not one project um is a priority versus another. In terms of the state grant that we talked about, um uh I I don't bet on our ability to win state grants. I think the word that I used to you I gave you an adage that my grandmother used to say, I don't count dinner until it's dead in the freezer. Um that's what my grandmother uh used to. also said 99.9%. Sure.

Well, but what I what I want to make sure folks know is that we had a federal grant, a brick grant um for um $30 million in federal funds for uh Carver Village, Cloverdale, and the expansion of the Springfield Canal. The federal government canceled those grants. We have been working feverishly to try to find a new opportunity to fund that work. Um, and I'm very hopeful that we have found an avenue to fund that work to the benefit of to the city and the residents in Carver Village, Cloverdale, and up and down the Springfield um canal. That's that's work that that we want to make sure um and money we want to make sure we get back after the federal government pulled those grants away. Um um and uh the I think the the the the truth in in in this matter where in other things is I continually hear from council, staff hears from council that we want to see more things done with storm water maintenance. We want to see more capital improvements done with storm water maintenance. We also want to see um more um rec centers and more recreational amenities built and constructed. We want to see these services expanded. Um, and we work very very diligently um to put together a a budget that makes sense and is responsible and tries to meet all of those needs. As I said in kind of the preamble to this ordinance, um, right now we calculate more than $500 million worth of unfunded capital needs in our storm water system. Um uh so there there's you know uh we're going to have to I think this proposal says we haven't been able to chip away at the work that we need to do um in the way that we've been funding those programs previously. We need to look for

other avenues and availabilities that the states allow to see how we can get further on our goals. Uh we also wanted to to to look through it um from an equity lens which is how do we make sure that the people who have the least pay the least and the people who um produce the most storm water pay the most for that system and and this is what that system is designed to do. Now, we may um disagree or or it may be true that um it's not as uh it might not as be as fair as equitable as some people may want it to be, but we also have to work within the realms of a state regulated system as well. Um and so that's where I just want to kind of point in a in a very clinical way. I think staff has done a a a really amazing job trying to turn over every rock to try to uncover new ways to solve this generational issue. Um but as it relates to the budget, um there is not a untapped surplus of dollars. If council would like to defund a currently approved project and put more money to storm water, that's absolutely in in council's perview to do.

Have you spoken to the county because they have a lot of funds allocated according to the chairman for storm water drainage and repair? Has anybody communicated with them?

Uh yes, ma'am, we have. And um we they they've benefited from the same spa 7 tier five overages as the city have. I don't know where they are in actually approving and allocating those surplus dollars um as um you've named them. Um but the city has taken that step and we we don't want to have any unspent unallocated funds. We want to make sure that we are budgeting appropriately um and have clean, wholesome, wholesome budgets. Um so we absolutely calculate every bit of revenue we project to to collect and and council approves that budget as allocated. So I I couldn't tell you where the county is in in spending some of their um unallocated SPLOs funds. I don't know that. But I'm proud that the city has, you know, has taken those steps to to fund its full allocation. I would like to see how much our um interest on this amount of money that I mentioned

certainly and we can and we can provide that and the interest is included in the allocation right so so there the interest doesn't also sit in another account the interest acrru and becomes part of that that total amount of money that's allocated so um say that again the the money that the county gives Because you're saying the county the county get we receive a proportion of splash. Correct. Yes. More than any other municipality. Absolutely. We're the largest largest. Of course. Yeah. So you just said that the interest money does what now? The interest money any interest that in a it sits in the account with correct

with those spos funds, right? We have to account for them differently than other funds, right? Because they're they're voter directed. they have different strings attached to them. We have to have the right kind of accounting system around them. So yes um uh that money acrru interest just like money acrru interest in correct in your savings account. I would like to see and I can provide that

all of that. I can provide that. But what I want to make sure you understand and those that are listening understand is that even the interest is included in this this page of the budget in the in the SPLA 7 implementation allocation plan. Every cent literal scent that SPLS has collected and we've received is allocated in this budget plan as is any interest gained on those on those accounts. Okay. So 1985 that's when SPLAS started, right? Correct.

1985 everybody was getting folk to vote. The ones the powers that be getting folk to go ahead and and support SPLS, giving all kind of promises that your community was going to get this, your streets were going to be paved. Uh BS Ford Park was going to mirror uh Lake Mayor. Come to find out, Bford Park looked the same way it did back in 1984. A lot of the streets in marginalized black communities still look the same. And uh just getting this information about the overage of SPLAS, there's no way I can support this. I will not be voting for it. And I hope that the constituents will pick up the phone or have picked up the phone and ask our other colleagues to not vote for it either. Find another way to utilize some other resources in our city coffers as opposed to asking our constituents to come out of their pockets. It's sad that you have to decide whether or not you're going to buy medicine, buy food, if you're on a fixed income or pay your water bill or your storm water fee. We got the resources. I say it all the time, Mr. City Manager, the city operates on Antabella money.

Let's find it and not go after our constituents for this. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me just say for the record, first of all, balls for a park has never been on the splash list. Um, never been on the splash list. So, uh, there will be not money from never never been. No, ma'am. No, ma'am. Ma'am, splashed. Splashed again because it's it's important to make sure the facts are told here. Splashed are voter referendums, which means the projects have to be listed and they have to be voted upon just like we did. And we have, if you go to savannah ga.gov/splass, you can see everything that the city has paid for with splass funds since one. The fire trucks that you heard going by here, some of them were paid for by SPLS. from the Truman Parkway to buildings to all of these things to help pro improve equity to communities has been from Splash. So, uh, Savannah ga.govsplash savannah ga savannah ga.gov. Whoa. You mean like the west savannah? You mean you mean like the new the new gym that they're playing in right now?

No, no, no, no. If you're going to talk about talk about all that talk about the sidewalks, talk about all of that. Talk about Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. But we're not talking about that now. So we're going out of alderman peri. But you can go to savannah ga.gov/sblo and you can see everything that we have spent on since 1985. Alman peri it's not a speech. I promise. I just got to stand up. I been here long enough. I'm like you can stand up. Okay. Yeah. Stand up Kurt.

Give me some of those zingers. Come on. So you know it's interesting. We we talk a lot about equity and um we we have some some tough decisions to make as city council. That's why we're up here. Uh but when we talk about equity, often times there are various places that are kind of left out because they're nonprofits or because they're not required to pay a tax, correct, or a fee um at that point. And um I can tell you that I've reached out to a lot of the churches in in my area um and I've had some conversations with with various pastors and though many are on board, there are some that are worried and and rightfully so. And I understand that. I will tell you that a church that has a massive black top parking lot with little green space is probably going to pay more storm water fee than Mount Herman in District 6. Correct. where there is no parking lot and there is a large green space or Mount Pleasant Baptist Church where there is no parking lot and lots of green space or Nicholson Burrow uh uh historic Nicholson Burough Baptist Church in district 6 with no parking lot in green space or even we'll take one downtown at the corner of Henry and Waters Asbury Asbury Memorial large church massive church, no parking lot, large green space. So those those churches, Mr. Melder, uh will receive some sort of tax or credit, sorry, some sort of fe uh credit for the fee, so they don't have to pay as much as maybe another church that has some of those other things I just spoke. Um with what what makes this interesting is oftentimes I come here to this this chamber and there's a lot of conversation even outside this chamber. What does SCAD do? What does SCAD do?

How is SCADAD involved? What is SCAD paying? Why aren't they paying this or that? They're not exempt from this. That's correct.

This is a fee. It's not a tax. It's a fee. And the average household on the south side of Savannah, I can't speak for what's downtown. I can't speak for what's in Midtown. I can just speak for what's in my area. I sat in front of Wilshshire community last night and we had this conversation and it was wellreceived and I wasn't trying to sell them this idea that I think that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But when we had this conversation, I stood up there and I said, "My main focus in the city of Savannah is public safety. Always has been, always will be. Savannah should be a safe place where folks can go outside, walk down the street, go to the store, and not have to worry about getting shot, getting shot at, or have to worry about their own safety or the safety of their kids or their relatives. Many of our city employees are not paid what they are worth. Many, many of our city employees are not paid what they're worth. our sanitation crews, our police officers, our firefighters, our folks that work in the water department. Every single one of these individuals deserve a raise. Every single one of them. Those are the frontline people that are there every single day taking care of our trash on time, taking care of our streets, our buildings, and I cannot fathom the idea of not funding those places because we don't or can't decide to have that fee implemented. For an average household on the southside, it's between four and five dollars a month. I'm not saying that's a lot. I'm not saying it's a little. I'm saying it's something that we can work with. Four to$5 a month, $8 to $10 every two months, which is typically I say typically, which is typically when the water bill or the utility bill goes out, which is another conversation we got to

have about getting these things out on time. And then there's the there's the talk of Splast. What does Splast do? When can we use Splast? We're good in the city of Savannah. We're awesome at building a lot of cool things. And that's what Splast is there for. But Splast is not there to maintain those things that we build. Correct. Splast is not there to maintain the roadways. It's not there to maintain the drainage. It's not there to maintain the community centers, to maintain personnel cost for a police department. It's buildings, its initial infrastructure, capital improvement projects. We have no funding source, absolutely no funding source for storm water and maintenance of storm water. We have old old aging pipes and storm water uh drains in the city of Savannah and many of my areas on the south side and some of you can recall in this room as well as Dr. Shabbaz, our our shared areas were annexed years and years ago back when there really wasn't the thought of storm water in the county area. Much of Coffee Bluff, much of Windsor Forest, much of Wilshshire, all that area was annexed into the city. And that infrastructure is old and the infrastructure downtown is older than that. But how do we maintain it? Do we keep robbing Peter to pay Paul? Do we take away from programs that are successful? Or do we come up with a fee for residents that's between four and $5 on average for the household on the south side of Savannah? Because I'm going to tell you who's going to pay the majority of that fee. Your big warehouses. That's right. Your big shopping centers.

I remember a year ago driving through Bradley Point in my district and watching families get torn apart because they had a flood in their area. And that was one of the worst disasters I had ever faced. 25 years in law enforcement. That is one of the worst disasters that I have ever faced because we didn't have a plan for it. How do we plan for that? How do we maintain that? And now a year later, we're still dealing with it. Many of you might remember when the Savannah Mall district, we got a Savannah Mall district. It's it's old Savannah Mall, but it's a district. It'll be good again someday, I I think. Or when the Oglethort Mall when that those areas flooded. What about downtown on Henry Street? What about South Or what about Southside? What about Midtown and Arsley? Everywhere we look, we're a coastal city. We're a coastal city and we can't always rely on SPLAS to dig us out of something because at some point Splas is going to be intended for something extra for us, right? Not for something that's that's necessary. I think that the thing I'm going to close with um when I say this is it's often said, you know, what is this municipality doing? What is the county doing? What are we doing? Okay. And there's a lot of talk and there's there's there's some disagreement on between what the city's doing and what the county is doing. If if folks are that concerned about it, look at what other counties are doing. Look what making bib did. Look what Athens Clark did. I'm I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna sit down because it's it just sort of ties it in, but it doesn't.

But I'm keeping it short. Two more minutes. But if you really want to if you really want to dig deep and save the taxpayer money, combine the city and county. Come up with a unified county government. Because I'm going to tell you, that's my plan. And that's where I'm going to push the next few years because what may what may not have worked years ago doesn't mean it doesn't work well today. Look at what other counties are doing in successfully and look how much they've saved the taxpayer and look how equal equitable it has become for the residents. When we lose when we relinquish power and control back to the folks in the community, everyone benefits. So, think about that. Thank you.

All right, Mr. Mayor, our time is short. I want to go home someday. So, I'm going to keep it brief. And, you know, I'm not above bringing some props to the show. Right now, I will say I am upset genuinely. I love to Josh around, joke around, but I am genuinely upset. I was never invited to any of these community meetings for the discussion. I think one, a lot of people don't know that I exist. Maybe it's not the impact. And two, they know how I feel. And they might be afraid of what I'm going to say. I won't invite either,

you know, uh because I get the calls. We all get the calls when we're in that cone of uncertainty. The amount of bargaining and prayer that we get to come and bail me out. I mean, they are talking straight to Jesus or Allah or anybody that's up there to do anything that we can. And by then, it's too late. We have the choice. You can pay for infrastructure now or you can pay for disaster later. You may not have lived it in your lifetime, but I have. I have driven down the streets that I grew up on, not able to recognize them anymore because of the impacts of a tropical system because my city wouldn't invest. And I will not live with myself another single day knowing that we didn't do everything that we could to protect our city. The last time we had a direct tropical hit to our city was when all these famous live oak trees that were so famous for were planted. Nobody in living memory has witnessed one. I don't care if if it's Hurricane Floyd or or however many, you know, they were all close calls and you saw the impacts that we had. Uh I know that we can do more. So let me tell you the fatal flaw of SPLS. They will pay for new stuff. Won't pay for the maintenance. Nope.

The fourth district right now has a $40 million traffic calming measure that's operating in real time. And I love the maze that you have to go through to get around, but that $40 million gets you three streets. Three streets. That's it. And it took 25 years in SLOS collections to get there. Are we willing to bet another 25 years that we won't have the next storm? I'm not willing to. So, I'll close it with this because y'all know how I feel and I'm absolutely 110% in support because I want to put my head on my pillow tonight knowing I did everything I could to protect my city that I was willing to lead and maybe even make an unpopular decision because I know it's going to leave the p place better than I found it. But I picked up a souvenir along the way because I've worn a pipe. You know, I I've been out there. I grab I tried to grab some terracotta and I went to my favorite new restaurant, the laundry diner, and I picked up a souvenir. Now, this was commandeered by Mrs. Palumbo, Kristen, I love you. But I love this thing. Look, look at this. This is Welcome to Lake Pollson over at the Laundry Diner, right? It's a tongue-in-cheek moment, right? But constituents, our constituents are trying to say something to us. Now, I love this shirt. You can't get it. I don't know if it's sold out. Um, but they're saying this is right here in the street on Pollson Street and he's out there in the boat and he's having a good time and Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. But they're saying something to us, guys. They're saying something. So, we need to do more. We're not willing to wait. Uh, it's a fee. It's an F-word. I get it. Uh, but it's an investment that I'm willing to make, that I'm going to make. Uh, and I know that our community needs to make as well. So, I'm in support and thank you.

Thank you, Aldoman Shabbass.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My comments will be brief uh because we have been talking about this um over a year or so. So my comments from that time has been recorded and today my comments they're being recorded. I have since we uh met in December and when this item came to the agenda um we put it off and uh and the date certain was today for us to decide on what we were going to do. So between the time of the years worth of uh excellent and I say excellent uh outreach that was done the excellent process I should say that was done by the city manager and staff um of Mr. um our professional engineer Mr. Felner um and his staff uh did and you know my area is this I consider myself a a a subjectmatic expert when it comes to storm water uh drainage um here in on council and through several administrations on city council. So you heard my comments, they all recorded. Go back and take a look at it. So, since the um it finally made it to the agenda, and over the past few weeks, I've had several several several several uh meetings with u individuals, personto persons, small group meetings,

and also large group meetings. The last meeting I attended was over at St. Philip Monumental AM Church with representation of all of the faith leaders here in the city of Savannah. That was the last large group meeting that I was in attend attentive to. On top of that, in all of the majority of the several persontoperson meetings that I've had since December to now, um I've come to this decision uh that I will not be voting for the storm water fee. in talking with the city manager in which I I talk with the city manager on a very very very regular base. Uh and he knows my my my thoughts about all of this. And it was said at the desk at the the podium today by uh Pastor Osborne that um and I'm speaking the same way is that maybe we can find a better way forward uh at this time and in hearing the voices of my constituency and of several other people throughout the city of Savannah, I just cannot come up here with all of my expertise and everything else and have a tunnel vision, I must consider the hearts and minds and thoughts, pocketbooks and situations and lifestyles and qualities of life of the people in the city of Savannah. But if this 2026 revenue ordinance to establish a storm

water utility fee ordinance within the city of Savannah code of ordinance should pass. I will continue to work with our city manager and hoping that and my colleagues on city council so that we can come to some type of consensus to assist and help our community. not to be for those for those who will not be it will be a burden a heavy burden on them. So I will if it should pass. So I just wanted to to um balance the scale with my voice and the seat in the space that I sit in in reference to uh this uh item on the agenda. But today I will not be voting for it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I'm just going to read what I wanted to say because to sit up here, you know, and in every district, there's a flooding. Every district. And so, here we are a year later, our staff, let me just read this. There are 159 counties 70 of them are in line with this. Garden City is doing it. Hadn't had much of that information, but they're doing it and they've had it for a while. We have a master plan. The strategy is to make sure our master plan is in tandem with what we need uh for our citizens. This city was built in 1733 and we still thinking like 1733. This is a long time coming. a dedicated enterprise with a consistent revenue stream and it's in parody with our master plan. We spend over $300 million pulling from everywhere to patch up this flooding. This new department is going to employ 17 additional workers. They'll have their own stream so that we don't have to continue patching up this city. We sit on a council where we're trying to create resolutions and uh solutions and now we have a council of people ministers who did not give all the miners the information that we've been working on for a year. So every day somebody when it rains I happened to went to a church that was on Baker Street. It was 121 Baker Street. We could not even go to church some Sundays because it was flooded. And what did the city do? They bought it from and now it's a park. But

what I want to tell you and press upon you is we have to pay attention to these votes. All these people who gaslighting y'all saying that it can't work. At least we're here trying to do something to make it work. We have ministers and thank y'all for coming, but y'all coming for storm water and that's good, but we got crime. We got an education system that sucks. We want y'all to work on that and come in front of us and tell us that in parody we need to make things work. Now, this plan right here that we have, yeah, it starts with a F. It starts with a fee. The storm water fee is a solution that our staff have been working diligently on for over a year. And now everybody said they don't know what's going on with the storm water fee. It's a crop. And if y'all listen to people, I'm telling you, I'm voting for it. Don't call me wherever you are, wherever you are in the city to complain about a storm water solution that none of us can vote for it to make it. Is it a good solution? Is it one that we could work on? Yes. But we have to do something. We're going to be able to take care of something, be proactive, and not be reactive because we got a maintenance plan. We can do inspections. And now to sit up here and saying if it works and y'all don't vote for it, it just it just hurts my heart. It does because now when we're here to do better and do what our constituents constituents are asking, we obviously say, "Well, I'm not going to vote for it, but if we vote for it and it passes, I'll work for it." We're up here to make hard choices. For me, it's not a hard choice. I'm celebrating everything that we can do that's going to make our constituents happy and not worry and call it me 3:00. I can't get my car's flooded. I can't move. I live in a district where it's horrible sometimes. Y'all each live in a district. But you know what? what we do. We wait until the last minute and we've been working on for you to come and stand in front for us and complain. I've got to do better. Y'all got to do better. We've got to work together. But to not vote for something that's going to have a

consistent stream so that we don't get these calls on what is supposed to be a part-time job, but I'm actually working harder than the job that I got paid for. Every day somebody is calling about something that we can avoid. And to sit here and not vote for it for whatever reason, it is it's alarming that we are not wanting to help the people that we say we are supposed to help. And when we get a chance to vote, we gaslight them. So yes, we got to do better. But Mr. City Manager, I have been talking to you and your staff since the pandemic about water services. Now, that fee is going to be attached to water services, right? And so, we have an opportunity to make sure that we take care of those people who are now paying $1,000 on a balance of water services. I have a balance. And so, if we want to help our people in these churches, y'all get up there and talk about crime, talk about education system, talk about everything. And we can't cherrypick what we want to vote for and what we want to make this city move forward to not vote for this to not we have until July to make it work. But Mr. City manager, you said something that was very interesting. I was reading this water service enterprise started in 1947. Not only do we supply our own cells with water, we supply surrounding communities. And so with that being said, and you mentioned that with the storm water, you would try to find a um a hardship for utilities. Please tell me why we can't find a hardship for the water services. I'm going to vote for this, but if you can find money and they're both enterprises, I can't see why we can't help our constituents pay

for their water bills that they've been paying for at least three or four years. And then on top of that, we're giving them administration fee. My question to you, we talked about it. If somebody has a contract with the city of Savannah and water services, why do we continue to pay make our residents who some people don't get, especially our elderly, they get like $1,000 and now they're having to pay $600 and $700 on a water bill that they've been paid, they're never going to get out there if you keep increasing the $50 administration fee attached to their bill. So, I'm just asking you, if the contract is legal and binding and they're paying these bits and pieces, why are we still including the $50 administration fee? Hold on a minute. I understand if they don't pay, then they should be paying, but you've got people paying $50 quite a few times. And so, I'm just saying we got to move on this. We got to make sure that we're proactive instead of reactive. I'm so appreciative of the minister standing up here, but to not vote for this, I'm telling you, don't call me. Don't ask me to stand for this because now we can pay for this. We can make this work. We can stand with the ministers to help take care of their parishioners and their citizens. But we can't stand up here and say, uh, I'm not voting for this because it's not. Everything that we vote for, we have to tweak. We have the ability to Can we come back to you? Aren't we going to kind of put this together so that at least 85 or 75% of people are going to acknowledge that we did work to make this happen? Can we do that? Mr. City Manager, please answer all those questions. And I digress, but I'm just saying I'm voting for it. And y'all remember those who did not. Thank you so much.

Um, thank you, Alderwoman. the the hardship assistance um that I referred to for utilities um I think would be can be shaped by council as well, but in my mind would be able to support all of the utilities um that the city of Savannah is charged with providing um its customers. Uh currently those utilities are water and sewer. Um if the um council were to adopt this this ordinance, it' be a portion of our storm water system that would also fall under that utility as well, which would which would be that that assistance. Um we've worked with nonprofits in the past. I know I wasn't I know I wasn't here through COVID. Um but um I do know that there were um some assistance given in CO and we're still um working with customers um through through that time where we uh where we made a lot of allowances and I think that's exactly why having public utilities that's the benefit of a public utility right we all we also have private utilities that we pay um and you know rates go up all the time on private utilities without the same kind of um um eyes on as we have here. So, I think we can, you know, be thankful for that that we do have some public utilities that we're that the public is able to control and manage. Mr. City Manager, one one last thing. Um, I've sat up here for about five, six years and all of the things that we vote for, Mr. city manager. Um, I try to vote for things that are going to impact not only the third district, but all of the districts because everybody's calling to make sure that they get what they want. And today, people in Savannah are not getting what

they want because we we have a council. Instead of us fighting together, we're all over the place fighting each other. It is my commitment this year to make sure that I stand in tandem to do the things that people want us to do for this city. And if that includes trying to make men with the people I serve with, I'm going to do that. But I'm not going to sit here and say that the things that we waited and fought for in all the districts for a year and people trying to act like they don't know anything about it. That is a that is what we talk about. Um, Mr. City Manager, Mr. city assistant city manager. We have to do a better job of informing the people in the community so they don't come in the day of we can't really change it or there's nothing that they wanted to include. But I know that we did it in every district and we were able to talk about it. We're doing ourselves a disservice if we don't know what's going on in our community. And I charge the the ma pastors and y'all big churches and small churches to talk about everything and don't wait until it affects y'all. Everything should be affecting y'all. every last thing. And if y'all mad, pray for me because I'm going to still be Linda. I'm going to stand on the truth. And if it hurts anybody, I'd rather for it to hurt me than the people who voted for me and elected me to do the things that we said. There are no hard choices for me. It's only the right thing to do. Thank you so much for your time, your efforts, your energy. Thank you for everybody who showed up. But show up with that vote. Stop talking about what you're going to do after the vote. There's nothing you can do after the vote. You got to do it before the vote. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh thank you, Mr. City Manager and staff. You know, um you see rates go up, but uh service should also go up, too.

Okay. You know, some people go eat at a restaurant, the food can be nasty, but the service is good.

And I say that because the saying in the city of Savannah is this is eight fluid ounces. And a little funny saying in Savannah is you throw one cup of water out the window, you'll flood the whole city. But you know, as a little boy, it used to be a Kmart on Wallin Drive is now a Home Depot. It flooded so bad in there. One time I caught a fish just swimming on the floor, but that was during the time and that was in the 80s. My mother took me to to to the Kmart. But we haven't improved in our drainage since then. and uh we haven't paid into our drainage and we haven't put as much emphasis on drainage and how we're going to uh address it in this city for the past almost 30 years. But you know, people move into the district in which I serve the second district and they said it's a beautiful historic district, but the one thing that they fail to realize is that they move into lakefront property. regardless of where you live at in the second district when it rains at high tide and I know we can't do anything of that we live below sea level that the water rise and where it rise it flood at a at a rate where people are losing property they're losing cars they're losing um their homes because even after the rain subside they they have an issue with mold so we have to find a way and we have to be unique about how we service our community we have to do a lot more than just say we're going to do um a lot for a little bit of people, but we really going to have to invest in ourselves. Um some of these uh moves that we make up here, they are challenging and we have to make these decisions on behalf of the community. A lot of it hurt. Some of us who have children that are in college and if you haven't prepared for your kids to go to college, making that sacrifice sometimes it hurt, but it's for the better of your children as they move forward. But we

have to be better stewards of the people's money also. But when we ask uh our residents to go down to our water department or they getting information about the water bill, they have to get some stuff that really going to impact them and really going to be helpful to them. But it's our customer service. If you telling the community that we're going to give you a fee, you have to make sure that that fee is accurate. I want to make sure that the information that we giving them is going to be the information that that they can go back home and they can budget off of. But when they finally get the bill and the bill does not reflect what we've been telling them, we might have to eat that because we've given them a guarantee of bills and what the bills can look like and how can they budget. We have churches and we have large institutions who have to make big budget decisions. And as they make those budget decisions, they have to put money and set money aside just as we are setting money aside to address a lot of the issues. They have to do the same thing. But we have to be truthful as far as putting the correct information out there and it has to reflect what's going out and what's coming in. If we're going to charge a certain amount, that amount have to reflect each and every time so that that budget amount can actually be utilized within those entities. But if we don't do that, then we're going to continue to have customer service calls and there'll be a lot of people calling and saying that does not look like or does not sound like what you told me at the beginning of the uh the conversation of billing. So, when we talk about fees and we talking about moving forward and and changing how we're going to get water off of this city, it's going to be challenging. And when we make this vote, we're going to have to make a vote knowing that it's not going to be for us. This this vote is going to impact 10 to 50 years down the line and how Savannah is going to uh bounce back from it. Some of us may think that we're going to sit up here and this is a a political move, but this is a move that

we need to make right now that's going to uh impact us as a city and we make uh long-term plans and our plans are moving forward and I have to think about it being the chairman of Chattam area transit. How are we going to move uh a lot of people around this city? Because if we can't move them because it's flooded, then that's going to be a hardship on us in transit. If we can't get to the people when they are having uh medical issues, that's going to be a hardship on us because we can't do it as first responders. The only thing I'm just saying is we have to make a decision. And when we make this decision, don't make it on feelings, make it on logic. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you.

I know everyone's glad down to the first. So, so this decision, this this preponderance of a storm water drainage fee was difficult for me. It was it was hard for me out of all the issues that we have to consider. I spent a lot of time um on this. This came to us quite some time ago. Um and when it was first introduced to us, my first response, the unconscious response, just that um impulse would say, "Oh no, why in the world would I how am I going to convince lowwealth people, marginalized, underserved people to vote themselves or a fee when they haven't been receiving the services on a regular basis? How do you convince people to if I put more money in, maybe this time we'll get the ditch clean. Maybe this time uh we we'll get the pipe uh the ditch closed in. Maybe this time. So So that was difficult, but that was my first response. That was the impulse. Um but I had to switch up a lot of hats in considering this measure. Um, so, so the the public administrator, the the public works person came up and I understand we do need a designated fund to handle the maintenance issue and the growing concerns with our system. Now, uh, so I had to consider I looked at pros and cons the other night. I'm sitting there with some paper and a big board in my office and there pros and cons, cost, benefits, just looking at this thing because we need to make the right decision here. But I need to make the decision that's going to be the best decision for the people that I serve in this activity and going to neighborhood association meetings and going throughout the communities the last

couple of months. I'm talking to people. I think I've spoken to more people on this issue than many many of the other issues. And that was that was by design. I needed to hear from a whole lot of people. Um I heard from all of my used to be straight A friends and they're okay, we need that fee and you know, let's get it and and then people who are every day trying to just pay the bills and trying to pay that water bill. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. In the end, not having a scientific count, um there were more nos than yeses. So, I had to look a little further because we got to have some type of uh fee or some type of fund in order to take care of these problems because these drainage problems are probably more prevalent in my area than most areas, the whole Savannah flood. Yes. But when you have been historically underserved, um, neglected in your communities, it hit a certain kind of way. Especially when those areas were old rice plantations because guess what? One time flooding was a good thing over there. And that's why you see all the canals and the ditches and everything and and and so but now that we're neighborhoods, it it's not such a good thing. Um when the children of the area in my childhood, we were glad when it flooded because we got chance to swim on Bay Street by your grandmama place, you know. So we look forward on Baker Street, we got a chance to swim. Yes, ma'am. Now, uh that problem has been somewhat limited um with the funding that has been in our uh general fund and in the budget because we had to look at that area like a equity project in itself because people were floating out of their homes. We've used that word a lot here today. Equity, equity, equity. And every time it hit me some kind of way because we're saying it, but I'm not seeing it. Now, now, now

let's keep saying it. I'm not saying let's keep saying it because one one of these days we going to get it and and we're going to be able to understand it and employ it. But uh we're working on it and that's a good thing. But a a drainage fee in essence is inequitable. A storm water drainage fee is inequitable in essence because it's uh a fee just like any other tax. and even like the splass is regressive because lowwealth people pay more of a percentage of their income into these things than anybody else. And that's what regression is all about. In the first district, I have three distinct income areas. And I'm sure the people over here right across the river, if y'all look out that window on Hutcherson Island, they don't care anything about that. Yeah, let's pay the fee because we know we're going to flood over here on this island and and it's no big deal because uh we're uh I think the average income over there was 80,000 or something or above. And then you have the Hollands who is about half that uh it's it was three distinct but that's sort of middle class uh fastly becoming based on the school numbers with the children um maybe low low income. And then you have greater West Savannah where probably most of the constituents live and most of the uh lowwealth people. But Savannah has a large impoverished number. And that's why we having this struggle here because people who deal with these people every day. We find it very difficult to charge a fee onto this this population. Now, I'm always looking for a win-win some type of win-win situation. Um, so in the last couple of weeks, there's been a ground swell of attention and interest on this. We've been talking about this a year, over a year, but in the last couple of weeks, people are really horning in on

this thing because they're thinking about their pockets. And so, it's been a ground swell and and that's to be expected. And so, we've been talking to to a whole lot of people. A lot of people have been contacting us, but I have it right now have to lean towards the least of these. Um, let's look at some solutions because I just didn't want to come here today and and say no, no, no, let's not do that. Uh, it's going to hurt the poor people more, which it would would, but what can we do? So in the last week I'm I'm looking around for some best practices in other place and I'm questioning have we done all we can do before we're resulting to a fee. Have we employed u all of the resources we could employ uh prior to going to the juggler going to the fee and and I found out some things that some people were doing that I was a little bit amazed. Um first let's talk about the splse potential funding sources. No, we have not done well with the splast that was created in 1985 and the um intent of that was for infrastructure drainage the problems we had we had so much drainage problems even back then they decided to create a splass for that purpose so we're creating another funding mechanism that we go to the people for the same purpose we got away from the original intent of infrastructure and drainage and we started concentrating I a little bit too much on capital items before we solved the issues. It they may have been solved in some areas but not in the areas where I serve. Um and and so we we're spending money on taking down highways and building arenas and building gyms, all things that are are good projects, but we're using that infrastructure drainage money to do it. And so I'm going to recommend that the

next block as we go to the legislation, let's go back to the original intent. Let's go back to making sure we got that money there. That's what it was created for to take care of these issues. And and if had we done that, then we probably wouldn't be doing um this proposal and this fee. And there were some people doing equity projects. There were some people doing through HUD, the community development block grants, through CDBG, doing some things where they have certain monies that are relegated for historically underinvested in areas. And I know staff has done a a better job of doing more towards looking at these grants. They did great by securing the brick grant that we we we lost unfortunately. Um but that was a good opportunity and that was a good exercise for staff. Uh the US Department of Transportation have some monies there. legacy infrastructure failures exist and I don't know if we have looked into that where legacy infrastructure failures and we have to acknowledge that we have legacy infrastructure failures and then they got some for areas that have been impacted by uh uh environmental problems in West Savannah proximity to the port it creates an opportunity for some type of shared benefit project I said people are doing that they're doing that in California they're not even thinking about doing that here but that's something we could think about Um there's an environmental justice investment fund to to take care of these type areas and these type projects. There are some things out there I'm saying what they got a best practice where historical neglected drainage and flood control can get money through this uh city of Savannah environmental justice trust fund. We could have done that. So there are a lot of things that uh maybe we could maybe we could not have. Maybe they may not have been a good fit for Savannah, but we haven't had this I haven't had this discussion. And right now I'm being asked to vote for um this this fee.

And then there's a a Georgia municipal resilient storm water bond. What we there's such a thing? Yes, these things are out there. Um so I'm thinking Savannah should adopt some type of uh multissource funding strategy. um where we start with splast and rolling that back and redirecting that uh for infrastructure look at these federal resistance resilience funds uh public private collaborations they're doing some things in California with that um west savannah drainage and resilience fund and this approach it it aligns it aligns with fiscal responsibility with moral responsibility especially in areas that have traditionally ally uh been shaped by labor and and land use and systemic exclusion dating all the way back to when these areas were rice plantations. So I at the end of the day um would need I'm going to have to lean towards the least of these. That's all I got.

All right. Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead. I'm I'm going try to be briefer. Um but I I feel myself taking on a couple of roles. Uh not only as a public administrator and a historian, uh a member of our faith community and then finally a truth teller. Um I think some education here is extremely important. Uh and I've said before and the city manager spoke about the necessity of the three pipes. You have water and you have sewer and you have storm water. And we have we have ways of dealing with water and we're growing in the water space. We're growing in the sewer space, not so much in the storm water space. Also, it's important to know and understand that there are um really two ways that cities raise revenue. One way or the other. Through it through taxes or you do it through fees. That's it. We do it through a millage which goes to non-exempt property owners or we do it through fees that are based on usage. And I think that's important uh as we go through this. It's also important now to move to the history of this because this didn't just happen yesterday. It was 2024. November, actually earlier than that, 2020 when we took office and we had our first strategic planning sessions. All the things we put on here, the number one issue for all of us that we were hearing was about dealing with storm water, dealing with flooding. 2024, it was the same thing. When we did our strategic plan, it was

the same thing. And we asked our residents and the residents said the same thing. So we were all on the same sheet of music. Miss Glenda, you your neighborhood said the same thing in the fifth district. Same thing. Flooding, storm water. And so we asked our staff to go back and study it. And they did that for well over a year. 15 16 months they were doing it. December the 19th, let's go back the end of November in the budget session. We actually had our first reading on creating the stormwater utility enterprise fund ordinance. We were talking about that in November of 2024. Council unanimously approved this uh utility fund in December of 2024. Unanimously. And the city manager kept coming back to us. And we unanimously, every single one of us go back, go back, find the best way, turn every stone, look at best practices, see what could be done. And staff did exactly what we asked them to do. And we didn't want to rush it because we wanted to get it right. They came back to us and we said, you know what, we got to have public input. So, we'll put together a focus group or an advisory group. And every single member of this council nominated a member of this community that gave of their time and gave of their energy and gave of their effort to make sure we got it right. Feedback, messaging, service, service delivery,

and reaching consensus. Then we had 17 public meetings between November of 2024 and just this week, 17 public meetings about this because we wanted to make sure that we were not hiding this and we wanted to make sure people knew and people understood. And every district council member hosted one of those public meetings and I went to a couple and it was the same thing. We're explaining to people and having them understand where we were and why we were and what was the best way for us to address these needs. Because annually between 2020 and 2025, every single year, this city manager and his predecessors were hearing the same thing. And even more lately, they wanted more ditches cleaned. You wanted more back trucks. And we need the personnel to be able to do that. And we wanted to do that in a way that those places that did not receive the services were able to receive the services. Staff came back. This is the way unanimously council again. Yes, this is it. Here we are. You know, this is the way to be able to go. And we showed how it could be equitable. This council reduced our millage rate and y'all must seem to forgot that there are other municipalities in this region that raised theirs. We reduced ours in July partly because we anticipated this was to come and we

wanted to provide relief for our property owners and so we reduced this. Well, there was still questions in December. It's all right. And city manager will tell you, I said, "We'll take it off the agenda. We'll put some more time and we'll have more meetings." And we had more meetings. Some I was invited to and some I wasn't. And some I just showed up because we wanted to make sure that we're very, very clear about where we were and why we were doing this. So, the question came up and I asked the questions again. Is there any other way? Well, some people say splast cannot be used for operations. It cannot be used for maintenance. So, we can say splass all day long, but if it cannot be used, it cannot be used. Splast is you surplus is still splass. It cannot be used. Now to Alderwoman Lane Lenir's point and I agree with her. If it requires us now it had to be a state law change for splass to be used statewide specifically for drainage and roads then then let's do that. But SPLS is very clear about the things and the categories it could be used for. It cannot be used for personnel. It cannot be used for maintenance. So that doesn't work. Well, what about other budgeted funds? Because folks think that the city of Savannah, oh, we just have money sitting around somewhere that Jay goes into a big room with gold in and just pulls money out. Well, no. We have to budget and and we're blessed in this is that the city of Savannah has a balanced budget. Expenditures meet income, right, sir? So, that means everything is accounted for. Well, we cannot do this. And y'all going to start hollering again when it starts

raining and you know you got to do something, you got to do something, you got to do something about this and we're going to do this all over again. And the reality is nothing improves until we make a significant sustained investment in our storm water. So this is part of the work being up here making hard decisions. But the elephant in the room is this. And I want to make sure that we're really clear about this. Taxes. Some people pay fees. Everybody pays. Let's be clear about that. Because if we say we'll just fund it by the millillage, we'll go back, we raise the millage back, and we'll fund it that way. All right. Well, only nonexempt taxpayers pay for the mill. I'm sorry. Only right. Non-exempt taxpayers pay the millage. That's the truth. Correct. On the fee side is this. Everybody pays. Y'all complain about SCAD. All SCAD's 100 non-exempt property exempt properties will pay this fee. All of these tax abatement warehouses that receive these these variances from everybody, they pay too. And my calculations, they're correct. $8 million or so a year. $8 million. All right. Y'all have choices. council. If we go with the fee, our residents pay about $2 million of that $8 million. Am I right? If we go

with the tax, our residents pay $8 million of the $8 million. So, I don't want to pay no freaking fees either. I don't. I don't. I don't. And do I like it? Absolutely not. But the reality is is that we cannot continue to kick the can down the road and hope and pray things are going to get better. And they don't and they won't. And things will never change. And I will tell you this uh and Nick could probably elaborate more on me. As our climate continues to get hotter and wet wetter, our day is going to come and we have to be prepared. So I'll end this with some inspiration from Dr. King that cowardice asked the question is it safe? Expediency asked the question is it politic? Vanity asked the question is it popular? But conscious ask the question, is it right?

Hello. And it comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but one must take it because it is right. Ladies and gentlemen, what is your motion concerning this item? Mr. Mayor, yes. Move to adopt storm water feed. Properly moved and seconded. We're going to the board. All in favor, vote. All the woman.

All right. Motion passes two four five to four. Thank you very much. Moving on to the next item. Mr. Manager, let me commend commend you Ron Felner and your entire team. Um, everybody may not appreciate your work, but I appreciate your work because you did exactly what this council asked you to do. And y'all bust y'all behinds for now over a year to get us to this point. And I want you to know for me, I can't speak for nobody else. But y'all did exactly what this council asked you to do. Mayor Johnson, thank you very much. We're moving on, ma'am. Ma'am, I just need to make a comment that surplus money could not be used for anything. I No, ma'am. I did not say that surplus money cannot

be used for uh uh cannot be used for maintenance, right? But it can be used for this. It can be for the storm. Mr. Melder, according to Mr. Melder surplus surplus can be used for capital projects including capital storm water projects. Can it be used for maintenance or operations? No sir. Why can I be why can that be used for maintenance? loss is only for capital expenditures. Who says the state? The state who? State of Georgia. What can it be used for? What can it be used for? Because the person who I talked to is very wellversed. Surplus money said we can't

Let let me help you. I don't know who you're talking Mr. Attorney. So surplus funds are splash funds. They're no different than the the first penny collected. The last penny is the same as the first. It can be used for capital projects, not for maintenance, not for operations, those types of things. Are you an attorney here in Georgia? How long you been an attorney, sir? Y'all passed it. All right. Thank you very much. I just hope people remember. I hope they do. I hope they write it down and take a picture. So, now we're moving on to purchasing items. Items number 24 through 28. Alderman Palumbo. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Move to approve items number 24 through 28 as written on the agenda.

Second move

properly moved and seconded that we approve item and Miss Miss Jones. Thank you. Help is coming to Liberty City. Authorize city manager execute contract modification number one of the awarded primary vendor for section A concrete work and the secondary vendor for section B brick work of sidewalk curb and cobblestone repair contract. Item number 25, authorize city manager execute contract modification number two for illegal dump clearing with Sam J. Services in the amount not to exceed $115,000. I am number 26 authorize the city manager to award a construction contract to Dabs Williams Contractors LLC for the construction of a new cumberarium at Greenwich Cemetery in the amount of 1,327,544. Item number 27, authorize city manage to execute a construction contract with Lynn Construction Company for roof and lighting repairs at the Southside Fleet Maintenance Facility Shop 1 located 6900 Sally Drive in the amount of $294,99. And item number 28, authorizing city managing contract with Metro Elevator for the modernization of the city hall elevator. Thank God in the amount of $1 million.

You've heard the motion. All in favor of the cape. Oh, and item number. Yeah. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item number 35, approval of a water and sewer agreement with Cowan uh uh industrial LLC uh for Hill Durren Town Homes and the amount not to exceed $614,800 in automatic district 5. Mr. Mayor. Yes. I move to adopt the agenda item as written. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Uh item settlements 36, 37, and 38. Alderwoman Shabbaz.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. For item number 36, I move to authorize the attorney's office to settle the claim of Renard Bird in the amount of $78,732.50. Item number 37. I move to authorize the city attorney's office to settle the claim of Michelle Dukes in the amount of $225,000. And item number 38, I move to authorize the city attorney's office to settle the claim of Brandon Moore for $42,500. Is there a second?

Second motion. probably moved and seconded that we move to authorize the city attorney's office to settle the claim of Rayardberg for $78,732.50. Item number 37 to authorize the city attorney's office to settle the claim of Michelle Dukes for $225,000. And item number 38, move to authorize city attorney's office to settle a claim of Brandon Moore for $42,500. Uh you've heard the motion. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Item number 39 is authorize city manager to approve a m major subdivision the pines of New Hamstead phase 5A in automatic district 5 and 40

and 40 is a major subdivision um New Hampshire sorry Edgewater phase 2 Mr. Mayor. Yes. On both items, I move to adopt the agenda item as written. Second motion. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. That ends our agenda. Are there any announcements? Yes, sir. Um, let me just go ahead. I just say I do have something quickly though. Go ahead.

Okay. Uh for all of the uh public who has members who use CAT, Chattam Area Transit Mobility Public Meetings will be uh January 29th and January the 30th. Locations at uh Cat Central, that's 900 East Gwynette Street. You can also see it on Facebook Live from 1 to 2:15 p.m. Uh meeting times midday 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Evening sessions from 6:00 p.m. to 7:15. CAT Mobility invites riders, caregivers, and community members to attend a public meeting focused on paratransit service and join us to share the feedback, questions, and learn more about the current and upcoming improvement at Chattam Transit. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, anyone else? Yes, sir.

Uh, Mr. Mayor, real quick, I want to lift up the uh family of Mr. Lewis Hall in Coffee Bluff. His his mother, Miss Emma Gene Hall, passed away. Ah. and um they had her services last week uh in at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and uh she's she's been buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery uh on the south side. Um so we we pray for that family and may her memory be a blessing. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yes. It's a win-win for the elderly people and also pray for Jamonte Green. He was one of the victims in the uh uh car wreck. And also for our good friend, I can't think of her name right, Miss Angela. Yes, we lost Angela. Angela Duncan,

right? And so February is a love month in the third district. On February 11th, we have the king and queen contest at the park. And on the 15th, we have it at the veranda. Pray my strength so that we can stay healthy to do God's work. Amen. Thank you. Watch God be God, right? Yes, it is. Yes, sir.

Mr. Mayor, coming up next week, slip back to the summer of 59 where love, laughter, and rock and roll shimmer beneath the neon glow of Ryel High. burst in with summer nights. You're the one that I want and Greece Lightning at the Savannah Arts Academy production. We're asking the community to come out uh and support uh our school system with a production of Greece happening Thursday, January 29th through February 1st featuring a cameo from our school board president as as uh Teen Angel uh Roger. Oh, I thought he was going to be I thought No, I thought it was going to be Danny Zuko. No, not not yet. Don't have the hair for that anymore. But uh please come out and support the community and all proceeds go to support performing arts in our community. So

all right. Thank you. Anything else? Um let me just uh say yes. We had uh just want to pray for the young people in this community. I'm getting calls about an incident on Capitol Street. We lost somebody else. Y'all y'all pray for what's going on in

Yeah. I was going to lift up. Thank you. Uh that while we were in this meeting, we were advised that there was an officer involved shooting um at the JW Marriott outside of that property just um couple of hundred yards from here. Um no officers were injured uh during the incident. So I want to thank Savannah Police and our partner agencies uh for their immediate response. Um as many know uh we don't investigate ourselves. So when we have um issues involving use of force with our officers um the GBI or an outside agency investigates that. So um I believe any further um responses regarding the incident will come from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or whoever is the primary investigating agency. So um yes ma'am

I do have an announcement. Um, I want to thank the city of Savannah, the police uh, chief and the police department, city manager, Daffany Williams, and all of you all that um, made Martin Luther King Day on Bull Street a success. I want to tell you all thank you so much. It's going to be bigger and better uh, next year. We are planning a meeting on the 30th of um this month to discuss it to make sure that everything is in place um for next year. So uh again I want to tell you all thank you all so much for your assistance.

Thank you. And I let me add to that uh we had a wonderful uh dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uh civic center which it is now named and Mr. Manager. We have to make sure all of our signage uh within our websites and all of that say that uh Miss Manager, thank you, Madori Carpenter for your team, our civic center team, um our police and fire teams, um uh all of the folks. It was really a good uh way to um usher in that new name uh on our building and certainly um it will usher now the changes we will see. uh some we won't see at first, but ultimately we'll see uh in the uh deconstruction, I think you said, of the um of the former now Martin Luther King Jr. Arena. So, thank you and thank council. Uh we had I think all of council to come. I think that's very very important. So, we appreciate all of you being there.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, that that concludes it. I want you to know that there are some some weather advisories that we'll have to we might have to put out uh over the next couple of days, but uh thank you all. Be safe. We're adjourned. Oh, well,