City Council - workshop

Good afternoon. Mr. City Manager, are we ready to proceed? Yes, sir. All right. So a couple of questions before we get started. Are we going to be audit code in here? Are we going to be? I'm just wondering. I just need to know whether I need to go get iced tea or hot chocolate.

I just need to know. I just need to be prepared. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we'll go ahead and begin. Thank you all so much. We call this workshop of the Savannah City Council to order. Alderman Leggett, if you would, please lead us in the word of prayer.

Thank you very much, and I want to ask your prayers for our friends in Venezuela. It is looking like an extreme devastation event, and they're expecting aftershocks as well. So today, we're starting a little bit early because we have a lot to dive into. We have a presentation for Visit Savannah, and then we're going to look at our budget and financial update, as we do every single year. opportunity to see how we're doing and city manager and team to report to us about how we're managing. We know we're getting into our village rate season and city manager, I was talking a little while ago about

Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. So, Joe, thank you for the presentation and thank you for the work. I think I've had the opportunity to be directly involved and adjacent to the work that you all do and continually impressed by it. I have a couple of questions. So go back, because I think the... Go back a little bit. Back. Yeah, go back to your life cycle, because ours is a little different. Go one more. Forward. Hang on.

See, for us, we build a place where people want to live. and then a place they want to work. We start with the lived experience. Because if it's a place people want to live, people want to visit. People want to visit, people want to build business here. But I mean, I get the point. We couldn't agree with you more. OK. Well, anybody have questions, and then I'll come? Go ahead.

To this point, the council said that we weren't going to do it no more. It wasn't a thing. It was council. It was not working for us anymore. When it worked really well for us, it did uh they changed from who they were and although it was still i think a a fair a pretty good money-making event i mean we we prioritize our residents and really disruption um and as a result uh asked to pivot um to something i think you know i don't think we'll have any large marathons like that i think we've really determined that we could you know a city like savannah that's um so compact and dense could do bett

I became mayor of tourism soon after, and I make no secret that I'm the biggest ambassador for the city. You call, we go, and we take over. And I've been very impressed of you and your team, particularly when I see you around your your colleagues and your contemporaries. They know who we are, they respect us, and in some cases involving cities with C's and next state, they fear us. And that's what I want, I want them to fear us. Yeah, fear us. I want them to fear us.

No, I want them to fear us. He understands. It's all in marketing. What is your annual budget?

So, you know, I mean, great things on the horizon. We went to New York to the Meatpacking District. We took over New York. We recently went to Chicago, took over Chicago. There is a play. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is freaking hilarious. Especially those of us who live in Savannah, it's just so Savannah that hopefully might make Broadway that creates those opportunities. And so I'm appreciative of that. And go back to Mayor Johnson, and you remember the day that you came here and we saw some of the advertisements. and council had a fit because you would have thought that, y

That's what sophisticated means. I'm not sophisticated. It's your interest. The other thing is you've done really a good job, and I don't know how it's happened. We've become really big for girls trips. I've been told that we're second in the country behind Nashville. But I don't know what y'all have done, but I mean, this is like the place for girls. I mean, you know, girls just come and they just hang out and have a good time.

Well, that's the reality. It's not the perception.

Well, my final point, so that gives you a challenge.

There it is. So, and Joe, I would love Joe and Bird and everybody. We used to have ambassadors that helped with those two things. I would love it. And y'all sit on a bunch of money for Hotel Motel. I think we can create an opportunity somewhere because the ambassadors played a huge role not only eyes on the ground, but also being able to address things in real time. Jay, I think there's some way we can create a situation that we can work together to create an ambassador program of individuals with eyes and ears on this problem to help keep people safe, but then also to address issues of of saf

But what a part of our Savannah, part of the hotel motel tax was that Business Savannah would be the DMO. I believe that was part of it. So it's each jurisdiction. Yeah, so I think in accepting the 8% on the hotel motel, it was stipulated in there that Business Savannah would have to be the DMO, correct?

Work for Savannah. They're also helping to register MWBEs. So this is a partnership based on some of the things that came out of the real Savannah report regarding engaging and growing black businesses. The fact is we didn't have the wherewithal within the team to be able to do that. So the accelerator, the force multiplier was the Black Chamber to help us to reach some of those points. What they do on the other side of their business is that they do destination marketing. Matter of fact, when we got into it with them doing this, they weren't doing destination marketing. They're doing it now.

And most of their businesses are in the new businesses. The growth has been in Savannah. So this is people who are, yeah, I mean, these are people who are helping to buy business licenses here. I know there have been some that expanded, Bernetta, to your point, of really helping to market the places and things that historically we have not really lifted up in terms of tours and tourism and storytelling for all of those things. You know, that growth has helped to spur that.

All right, last question, and we'll move on. Yes. Go ahead, Linda.

I don't have a question, Joe. I'm just... so enthused about everything that you do. You've got the second best job, because the first one is being an alderman with the city of Savannah.

And so like Vanna's an ambassador, we talk, and one of the things that a lot of people talk about, public education is a draw too. But I'm a grandparent, and I have my children during the summer. I would like to see more leaning in for activities for children. There are a lot of things that they can do. But like Atlanta, my kids, they live in Atlanta. They have the aquarium and the puppetry and the high resins and stuff like that. And while we have things like that in Savannah, I would like to see if you could personally, and from the people that I talk to who have children, They want to come

But the other zeros behind that. But what I want to press upon you is one of the main things, issues that I have come in with is the housing, right, and child care. There are too many hotels. I believe having a conversation with Mr. Kessler and some other hotel people, we should really have an area where people who work in the service industry have a concerted place where they can have their children. You have empty rooms. You have spaces where somebody would love to be able to have a daycare in one of these areas. Happy people are happy employees. And most of the money that the people, our co

Joe, let me thank you again. I don't know if you had closing comments, but let me thank you. This weekend, starting tomorrow, we'll host the Georgia Municipal Association here, as we do every year for our summer conference, our annual conference. This weekend stands to be the largest GMA conference in GMA's history. We did not have one in January in Atlanta. So everybody's coming to Savannah. And for us, I think it's a great honor to show our home to our colleagues. And they get to go back and be jealous they don't live in Savannah. Next year, next summer, next July, the National Association o

I think, let me just say, I mean, you don't appreciate it until you don't have one. That's right. And so there are some cities who don't. Sure. So I just want to make sure that we emphasize the importance of what you just said.

Well, as long as you come with good news, you can come whenever you want to. Yeah, so just a quick question about your statement of qualifications. You indicated that you all serve 750 municipal and county governments?

So in your opinion, I guess, in words, Savannah is close to some of the other ones that you serve. Pardon? Your opinion of Savannah. My opinion of Savannah? As it relates to the financial health, as it relates to the other... or our statements as it relates to the other.

Because if that's the case, then... Yeah, I don't think you're understanding what his purpose is. Explain it to me.

If my math is right. Maybe this year we can get to 90 days.

Any other questions? Well, I mean, we're really appreciative, again, the goal of this is to make sure we have the receipts and we just had a conversation last night jay of of making sure that our documents are the way they should be it's important to have someone in uh independent independently uh and someone that's experienced to be able to identify that so we appreciate your relationship uh jay i would love the Your finance team to stand, I mean, sure. You're stealing my thunder here.

Yeah. Thank you so much for your presentation. Just have one question and thank Mr. Maxwell and his team. So we evidently must be doing something right before you get those receipts there in line with what you. So I just wanted to ask, you know, we we spend like over $100,000 to make sure that there is the integrity there and people know that there's no corruption or anything that's not in line with what we're supposed to be doing. But to get that amount of money, Can you just, is there a recommendation? We're not so perfect that you don't have an offer or recommendation where we can do someth

And the diversity of our funding sources. I mean, we have, as Jay was saying, we have a pretty unique and diverse economy. We have money coming from everywhere.

Yeah, well, again, thank you, and thank you for our finance department, Mr. Maxwell.

Well, we knew these days would come. There were days when it was good and plenty and everybody had everything that they wanted. Governments are really starting to feel the brunt of it now. Hence, good working results and good predictions. And so we're fortunate that we have know we we're in a position to be cautious because there's some folks who are really in alarm right now um i think we have to rethink that date the dates we'll talk about that offline yes sir um but um my concern is really as we get closer um there'll be a point at which the aspects of the big beautiful bill will start hitt

So it gets heard, you know, along with us, so to speak. So it also creates some opportunities for some savings there as well.

Or do you create a temporary position only to get rid of it, you know, because it's a temporary opportunity. So, but a good conversation to have. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Right. And we want to make sure that we were able to maintain the

Thank you, Jay. Thank you, David. Let me just throw this out here to counsel, and then we can deal with it how you wish. I think we have imprinted our DNA on our team enough that they understand exactly where we are. We always want to decrease our military. I mean, that is a desire. If we can do it, if there's a way to do it, we always want to decrease it. If we can't decrease it, then we don't want to raise it. Right? I think we can agree with that, right? We don't want to do that. However, we also don't want to put ourselves in a position of short-term gain and long-term hurt. The worst thin

Remember last year when we dropped it, we didn't have to have the AB hearings. Right.

Right, we'll have about $2 million there.

I'm done. Well, we have another part of that grand process, and we'll be putting ourselves in that again. I mean, you know, you can't force people.

Well, I mean, we need to change that law. Well, I mean... You have to go to the federal government and the state government for that to happen. We need to put legislators in place to make sure that... That's SCAD, that's colleges, that's churches, that's non-profits, and everybody else.

right so while we uh let's let's i mean let's if we're at a point of consensus where we can at least give the city manager some direction um about where we go as anybody that is absolutely saying to adopt the rollback rate i don't know how we can responsibly do that but if anybody feels that way if we could We would, if we could reduce, I'm sure we would. But I just don't see with all of this and this uncertainty that we could do anything to maintain what we have.

Ms. Manager, do you have what you need, sir?

We'll go ahead. We will notice the public hearings to do that. And I think, Mr. Manager, we did a much better job last year and the year before. We have to educate the public on not only what we're doing, but why we're doing it. We just don't want to be in a situation where we have to raise taxes next year.

All right, we have to have a quick lunch. We were supposed to be starting a little earlier today because of America's 250 if we have some special things happening today. So I'm just going to ask that you don't enjoy your food as much. We don't need an exec, right? All right, so we'll go ahead and we will recess as soon as possible because we have some folks waiting on us. All right, thank you. We're going to have fun.