President's Message - January 26, 2026

From the President:

As a follow-up to last week’s membership meeting, I thought I would pass along City Council’s decision to approve the implementation of the Stormwater Utility Fee aimed at funding drainage improvements and addressing flooding issues.

For those of you who missed Savannah Chief of Water Resources, Ron Feldner’s presentation, it was an excellent overview of the process used to develop the fee, what it can be used for, how it is to be collected and generally how much it would be for various types of property.

Ron even had a team of folks at the meeting with their database on a laptop. If you gave them your home address, they would let you know what the planned fee would be if the measure passed at City Council (which it did two days later).

I was there at the City Council Meeting and I have to say that Mayor Van Johnson closed the Council debate with some insightful comments that clearly articulated the difference between acquiring the needed funds via the millage rate (Real Estate Property Taxes paid only by non-exempt properties) and as a fee that applies to all properties (Non-exempt AND Exempt alike). A distinction quite important to residential properties and applauded by many members present at our meeting last Tuesday evening.

On a different note, last week in my newsletter message I relayed a vehicle wreck that occurred early in the morning on Saturday, January 17^th. We have received the police report and I thought you might be interested to know that the SPD police report indicates that the driver was from Vidalia, intoxicated, attempted to walk away from the investigation, and had no insurance.

This last week was a busy week in Atlanta at the State Capital and we have been in contact with the Atlanta STOP LOUD VEHICLES organization who have been working the halls of the Capital pushing our agenda to get some help from the State Legislature.

Have a great week, and stay warm!!! This next week is going to be a cold one,

Paul Cobet

President

Downtown Neighborhood Association Savannah, GA Inc.