City Council - workshop

I wanted to, as we get started, I wanted to thank city manager and members of council, team Savannah, for what I called our march through equity, our equity march throughout our city as we continue to make sure that all neighborhoods, all areas of town have access to state of the art facilities we know That march is long. We know it's continuous. We know that it's all income passing, but it's still something that we must do. And so $25 million in six days. We started off with Alderman Pertee in District 6. Folks are real happy. As we broke ground on the South Side's first ever community center

cut the tide to town, which was money that we all contributed, but Nick, District 4 contributed to get it completed. We now can go from Lake Mayer to Daffodil Park. Seven more miles available. And I wanted to say, just as a matter of setting the conversation, setting the table for city managers, that what people saw was the continuation of the combination of work that takes years to get to where you are. It just doesn't happen like that. We don't just go to a place and say, all right, we're going to break ground. No, you have to get to a point of breaking ground. You have to get to the point o

ultimately where the public gets to see this in real time as well. Because we get asked, well, what is this? What does that mean? I mean, ultimately, with the work, you know, OpenGov and all things we were trying to do, ultimately, you know, it shouldn't be a secret. I mean, Jay, I know you have thoughts about that, but...

That was part of the hotel-related product we were able to use that fit the category. Where was the $50,000 grant from?

There's additional money. Please remind me. Um, because somebody pledged money to that particular project. It had something to do with the arena. And so I'm trying to remember what it was. Okay. Let's talk about that. Cause that might be something we can use for whatever enhancement the community might want. Yes.

They also did win an award from GMA that same day for the work they'd done in South Georgia. Gross did, so.

I co-led a NLC committee of cities with at least a playbook that, because it's already out, we're behind it, Mr. Manager, Mr. Attorney. We need to have at least a framework for at least some acceptable use.

And then to be able to at least put together a multi-jurisdictional group of folks to kind of build it. Because if not, we'll find ourselves running behind it. And I don't want that to occur. I mean, fortunately we're not the only one. But I mean, the fact is, you know, you have to have a basis for all this other stuff to kind of stand on.

You got it, sir. We just need to kind of... Go ahead. I see you itching.

No, yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I get to work with AI implementers on a daily basis. I would be proud to draft a first crack at it for an ordinance.

I'll show you the ones that we came up with. And let's, you know...

But to the topic at hand and for this workshop, Mr. Kasten, have these been sent out in the mail yet already?

Oh, good deal. And I may exhaust myself with this policy that I'm going to implement on myself, but if I can tell that it's AI, I'm going to ask every city staff person that delivers a presentation, is this AI generated? And if I can't tell, well, then you've gotten away with it. But for this one, pretty...

And for any implementation, it's worth its own workshop, and we'll certainly, we deserve to discuss this thoroughly about how we implement it, how we choose to do it, With pride at Team Savannah, we are a community of doers and makers, of graphic designers, artists, and creatives that are only a stone's throw away from City Hall to be able to implement every opportunity that we use AI as an opportunity to employ a local person, to be able to produce this, and for city staff to be able to embrace them and empower them. I understand the speed and efficiency, and if you want to use that as a plac

No, you can tell. This isn't a Savannah street.

a scientific side-by-side analysis. But I'll tell you this with all due respect. I know some people like to make it clear that I'm a New Yorker by birth. Until you went to New York, a place like that, you don't know potholes. People disappear in potholes in some of those places. We have a lot of roads. And they're very, very busy roads. And I think the best way is that, you know, sometimes we don't, I mean, although we might proactively address the mismanagers, I mean, you know, people complain to me about potholders. Did you call not the 311? No, just complain about the potholder. I think we

Oh, I mean, well, you see, how many potholes did we're six months in? When did we go to Hodge School? I mean, not Hodge, Hubert to name. In the last year. It was last year? In the last year. Yeah, because, I mean, we filled the first pothole, like, right there, and it took minutes. So, I mean, you know, as far as, you know, as soon as we know about them, you know, I think we'll be able to address them.

I think we also learned some lessons. I mean, I remember I was against us selling the B&B. Some of y'all went for it. I'll get into that. But the same thing that we thought was trash now like the dang hotel and I mean now I mean it is night I'm walking I'm like this is the freaking B&B I mean, it is a significant building. I'm glad that the Gable building did not suffer the same fate. And I'm glad that we are now retrofitting this building to fit our current and future needs. We learned that. wasn't going to work. Our staff ended up all over the place. We rented buildings, buildings we didn't

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to make my comments now because we're running out of gas and we're running out of time and we're not getting the most valuable portion, which I think is the feedback and the discussion. And I'll be very clear about my feedback and this discussion because I've noticed the projects that are placed on this list and I noticed the ones that are missing. I noticed that some are funded in hotel-motel tax and are underway and are getting into implementation phase. But I noticed that the Tier 1, Priority 1 project of Montgomery Crossroads, Other than the bullet point, 35%

I get it. Y'all do a great job. You're doing a great job. And look, that's on us for failing to prioritize the needs in my district. So I've failed you. I have failed you by not speaking up loud enough or being the squeaky wheel or being angry enough or going to the mat in the city manager's office. But it shouldn't take that. It shouldn't take that and it's not the first time that I've asked for this request to be prioritized. So see it not that the danger of having a comprehensive presentation is that it has to be comprehensive. And I don't see it in my district and I don't see the prioritie

a public-facing opportunity for us so people can track it independently. It also holds our feet to the fire about when people can expect to reasonably think that something is going to occur. I want to prioritize only as far as saying that it's important. There are, like you said, funding, there's technical things that, well, this may not be able to happen as quickly as this and this and that. So I think, obviously, that's a meeting of the minds. We tell you what we really think is important. You tell us what you think you can get done first, understanding the realities that we don't understand

But I do really want us to get back into the project management space. In the last administration before me, they got rid of it because they didn't think it was going to be helpful.

I mean, but really in a way that allows our professional staff

It's a lot of juggling. It's a lot of moving parts, a lot of balls to keep in the air, and you can't let any of them fall.

No, they can't really get their first $10 million day first ever. But anyway, ladies and gentlemen, we've got a meeting. $10 million what?