[0:02] Good evening. I'm Shirley Wright, and I want to welcome you on behalf of the League of Women

[0:07] Voters of Coastal Georgia and Forever Taibi. We are partners in hosting candidate forums,

[0:14] and it is my honor to represent both organizations tonight. The league is 101 years old this year,

[0:22] and Forever Taibi is 12 years old. And we are both non-profit, non-partisan organizations

[0:28] with similar goals, to empower voters with facts about issues, to turn out knowledgeable

[0:36] women and men to vote, and to contribute to local government.

[0:41] Tonight, we will hear from six candidates who want to represent Taibi's interest on

[0:46] City Council, and they want you to vote for them on November 2.

[0:51] You will be able to vote for three of the six.

[0:54] We have promised them a time of civil discourse, a polite and respectful conversation tonight.

[1:04] So we ask you, our audience, to also be respectful, don't interrupt with comments or applause

[1:10] until the end of the event.

[1:13] The Taipei community submitted 185 questions for tonight.

[1:19] I'm proud to live in a community that cares that much about the local issues.

[1:23] If we ask each candidate to answer each question for one minute, we would be here for an 18-and-a-half-hour forum.

[1:33] So we won't do that, and not every question will be asked.

[1:37] Instead, our moderator will choose from a wide range of questions and get as many issues covered and as many questions answered as possible.

[1:47] The candidates have not received the questions before tonight, and they will hear the questions

[1:55] for the first time.

[1:56] To make all this happen, we have Taibe's favorite referee and dear friend to so many of us,

[2:04] Carl Lupert, back to serve as our time keeper.

[2:08] Carl

[2:14] will make sure that each candidate has exactly the same minutes as the next candidate.

[2:19] that his lights will be green when they are talking yellow when they are being warned

[2:27] and red when they are finished and if anyone fails to stop when signal that that 15 second

[2:36] pause Carl has a buzzer to get the point across.

[2:41] Joining us also is Susan K. Tron, our moderator who will ask all the questions and the follow-up

[2:47] questions if she does not believe the questions have been answered. Susan Kaytron is now managing

[2:54] editor of the current. She has had more than four decades of experience in the news, including

[3:02] 25 years spent in Georgia. From 2005 until 2020, she served as executive editor of the Savannah

[3:10] morning news where she supervised news content, staff and budgets for Coastal Georgia's largest

[3:17] daily newspaper and several other weekly newspapers and publications. Under Susan's leadership,

[3:26] the paper was named best in the state eight times. We are pleased to have her as our moderator,

[3:33] a woman who knows how to ask questions and to find the truth in the news and we turn over tonight

[3:38] I'd like to her to do that job for us.

[3:42] Welcome, Susan Kaytron.

[3:43] Thank you, Shirley.

[3:49] Thank you all.

[3:49] I'm happy to see everybody here,

[3:51] and I know there are people watching elsewhere.

[3:53] That is fantastic.

[3:54] I love coming to Ty, because everyone cares.

[3:57] I'm happy to be here representing the current,

[4:00] where a year-old in-depth new site for coastal Georgia,

[4:03] we go all the way down to the Florida line with our coverage.

[4:07] And our mission is fueled by the belief

[4:08] that an informed citizenry is absolutely vital

[4:11] to a healthy democracy, so this is what it's about.

[4:15] Electing your representative to make decisions

[4:17] for your home and neighborhoods,

[4:18] the foundation of everything, so we're glad.

[4:21] Our candidates are here, they're seated

[4:23] in alphabetical order, they're spent,

[4:25] host you on the screen over here,

[4:27] he's not able to be here with us,

[4:29] but he is here with us electronically.

[4:34] So he'll be answering from here and we hope,

[4:37] if you have a problem seeing, we'll work on the sound,

[4:39] or if a hearing will work on the sound.

[4:42] Matt Kitchens, Elaine McGruder,

[4:47] Monty Parks, Marie Rodriguez, and Brian West.

[4:51] And they're here for your council.

[4:53] So I'll be asking questions randomly for each of them

[4:56] and not everyone will get to answer the same question.

[4:59] In some cases, we'll have a lightning round

[5:02] where each of them will be asked to answer the same yes

[5:04] or no question.

[5:06] Carle will be keeping time, depending on how many minutes or seconds we have for each

[5:11] answer, and at 15 seconds left, well, when the question is asked, the green light will

[5:17] come on when they start answering, the yellow light will come on when there's 15 seconds

[5:22] left, which means wrap it up, and the red light means we're done.

[5:26] And then he's got noises after that, so.

[5:31] So we've got 76 minutes to go through approximately 12 topics and the gist of hunt of the 185 plus questions that you sent in.

[5:43] I appreciate the league and forever Taibe boiling those down for me so we could work from there and I hope we get to everybody's question in some form or fashion.

[5:51] So let's get started. The candidates will have one minute to introduce themselves each and then we'll do that at the end as a wrap up as well.

[6:00] So we'll start with Monty Parks. We had a drawing to see who would go first, second, third. So there we go. You're first.

[6:10] Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

[6:14] My answers are going to be direct and factual.

[6:17] We may disagree, but at the end of the night I want you to know where I stand on these issues.

[6:25] But most importantly, I want to share my vision of confidence and optimism for this community.

[6:33] I've had eight years in a front row seat while we dealt with storm, blood, and epidemic.

[6:39] I know we can be loud, sometimes rowdy, always opinionated, and very smart as a community

[6:50] we don't back away from challenges.

[6:55] Everyone up here is going to try their best to answer

[6:58] some very difficult questions. And if at the end of the evening, I leave you feeling

[7:04] whether the confidence and optimism I share for our future, I know I've done my job. Thanks

[7:11] again, and thanks, good to see you again, Carl.

[7:17] Mr. West.

[7:19] Hello, my name is Brian West.

[7:21] I want to thank the legal women voters forever,

[7:24] Taibe and our sponsors for this opportunity

[7:26] to be here tonight, and for the chance

[7:28] to see what it feels like to sit in these chairs.

[7:31] That's nice also.

[7:33] I have lived on Taibe for 11 years.

[7:35] I live at 16th St.

[7:37] I have a wife, three kids, grown kids, three adopted kids

[7:42] who are also growing out of the home and a dog.

[7:46] My background is in healthcare administration.

[7:48] I ran a healthcare business for 28 years,

[7:51] and I taught healthcare administration

[7:53] at the college level for five years.

[7:56] My issues are promoting positive experiences

[8:00] for our residents first, for our businesses,

[8:04] and for our visitors last.

[8:07] And my platform, the point in my pyramid, I guess you could say, is in healthcare, we have what's called evidence-based decision-making, evidence-based medicine, and I would like to have an evidence-based government where we make decisions based on information and not just how we feel about things.

[8:29] Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

[8:33] Okay, Mr. Hosty.

[8:35] Hey, everybody. Thanks for having me tonight and I appreciate everybody being there. I've been on time since 1956.

[8:45] You know, my family has been here since 1934. I'll go up in the top of the market, but we've lived on the island. We've seen some good things and some bad things happen.

[8:56] I've always been proud of several city councils and city councils back in the 90s for four years.

[9:03] So it's been a pleasure and if anybody's watched the council meetings, I'm always questioning

[9:11] how we spend our money, that's important to me.

[9:15] And another thing that's important is property rights, freedom.

[9:19] And if y'all have me for another four years this time, just turn me over the week two years.

[9:27] If y'all have me for another four years, I appreciate it.

[9:34] Okay.

[9:35] Mr. Kitchens.

[9:35] I'm

[9:39] sorry. I'm out of order. Yeah. You were next. Oh, I agree. Yes. Sorry. That's okay.

[9:45] My name is Marie Rodriguez. I have lived on tiby almost 30 years. They say if you want something

[9:53] done, ask a busy person to do it. If you know me, you know, if it's getting going to get done,

[9:59] that I'm going to do it. I'm committed to it. I'm committed to the people of tiby. I feel like

[10:07] I have a very successful business. I've also worked in the Magistrate's Court. I've also managed a

[10:13] computer corporation, and I feel that we all need to come together as a community, not against

[10:19] each other, and work together for the betterment of the residents of Taipei, also supporting the

[10:26] businesses too. So I hope that you'll support me in my run for council.

[10:30] Mr. Kitchens my

[10:36] name is

[11:39] my name is Elaine McGruder. I love tiby and I would like to help planning tiby's future. I think we need to work together on the residence quality of life including enforcement of the laws about noise, trash, disorderly conduct and parking both with the STVR's.

[11:58] Speaker louder please Elaine they can't hear you and with the day troopers, okay?

[12:06] Thank you. I believe my experience as a member of the tibia planning commission

[12:12] and as a planner a council member in Atlanta and also as an attorney will help in planning

[12:19] tibia's future. One of the things I hear the most about from residents and businesses is they

[12:25] We feel like the city has not been communicating with them ahead of time about everything.

[12:31] And I would like to help in that regard.

[12:35] And I would think that we could all work together better, one of the things that we could

[12:40] work on is water conservation, another is Tivy's infrastructure.

[12:44] Thank you.

[12:47] Okay.

[12:48] Thank you.

[12:49] Okay.

[12:49] I'll start with questions for the two incumbents with one question.

[12:54] And we'll go, Mr. Hosty, you're first.

[12:56] As an incumbent, tell us what you have learned and how you will use those lessons in the next four years.

[13:04] I've learned a lot about the budget, and it's kind of hard to keep up with that stuff, but it's...

[13:09] And I know we have a lot of issues, such as STVRs.

[13:14] And, you know, we have traffic problems, we have water problems, we have sewage problems.

[13:19] But I think the council's done a pretty good job on the keep up with everything that needs to be done.

[13:24] And I hope we can fix this, you know, just develop, drill a while back.

[13:31] Maybe we can have that redone and our work problems will go, but you know,

[13:35] I think you're steadily working on our store systems stuff like that.

[13:38] We, you know, if we keep our equipment up graded, we spend a lot of money on equipment.

[13:45] I think our city workers have a great equipment to work with and I always appreciate that.

[13:51] I'm sure they do too.

[13:53] And I hope we can keep our salaries,

[13:55] you know, where we can keep policemen

[13:57] and city workers working.

[14:00] And, uh,

[14:02] other than that, you know,

[14:04] you can know what the other STVR problems

[14:05] and all that stuff we were working on that

[14:07] and now we've done, we've done as much,

[14:10] just about everything we try to do as we work.

[14:12] We're still trying to figure out

[14:14] how to improve for the STVR.

[14:16] Time.

[14:17] Time.

[14:19] Okay.

[14:20] Thank you.

[14:21] Mr. Parks, can you repeat it, please?

[14:23] As an incumbent, tell us what you have learned and how you will use those lessons in your next four years.

[14:33] One thing for sure is that I'll make mistakes.

[14:40] It just seems to go with the territory.

[14:45] And hopefully, I've learned to step up and own those mistakes and move on from there.

[14:53] I've learned that it helps to take classes from the Georgia Municipal Association.

[15:00] I'm at 70 hours now that's the equivalent of an associate's degree, and it seems like every

[15:06] time I take a class, I get a little better.

[15:11] I've learned that it's important to keep

[15:13] volunteering for nonprofits and for organizations on Taipei, because people will approach you,

[15:22] no matter where you are. You can't just hang out at the produce counter, at the market, which

[15:27] is another great spot for input. But keep volunteering and keep giving back to

[15:33] the community. And people will tell you what you should be doing. Thanks.

[15:40] Okay, for the non-encoming. Your question is watching City Council actions

[15:46] over the last two to four years, what lessons have you learned and how will it

[15:51] change your actions if elected? And we'll start with Mr. West.

[15:58] Well, you know, I ran for office two years ago in 2019, and I kind of feel the same way I, you know, I did then about things now.

[16:07] I feel like a lot of times, and I hate to be, you know, critical of Council because I want to work with them when elected, but I just wish we had more information about the decisions we're making before we make them.

[16:23] I think a lot of times we rush into a policy or an ordinance that is based on something that we feel should we be done.

[16:32] All of our friends are telling us they're upset about it, or whatever other information you may receive while out in public.

[16:41] And I really want data, I want to know numbers, I want to know if the problem is, one thing that was addressed was smoking on the beach.

[16:50] So that was good, we took away the ability to smoke within that area down by the pier.

[16:57] I think that probably reduced the amount of trash on the beach.

[17:02] But there was no plan.

[17:08] Okay, Ms. Rodriguez.

[17:10] What have I learned by watching Council?

[17:13] One thing I say to them all the time is I actually love the way that they work together, that they're respectful of each other.

[17:23] Even if they have different opinions, they don't attack each other.

[17:27] They're still courteous, it seems that they work well together.

[17:32] And I think it's very important.

[17:33] Like I said, I've been here almost 30 years.

[17:36] I've seen every council that's been up here.

[17:39] And I think whether they agree to disagree,

[17:42] they have to come together on different issues for the betterment of the people.

[17:47] And that's what I've noticed the most is how,

[17:50] even when they don't agree with each other they're still respectful of each

[17:54] person and their comments or their ideas.

[18:00] Thank you, Ms. McGruder. Yes, what I've

[18:03] learned by watching the City Council and also by listening to residents and

[18:07] businesses is that the city really needs to do a better job with its website,

[18:12] with its communication, with letting residents and business owners know what they

[18:18] may be thinking about doing or proposing to do before it's actually introduced as an ordinance.

[18:24] There really needs to be a lot more communication. Not only with the website, I think there

[18:29] needs to be information on Facebook, there needs to be information on next door, there

[18:35] needs to be paper information flyers, for example, put up in the IGA, the library, anywhere

[18:42] else we can put information so that people can see all of the meetings that are coming

[18:48] up for the week and for the month ahead of time and put those agendas out there so everybody

[18:53] knows what's going to be happening before it happens.

[18:58] Mr. Kitchens.

[19:50] Okay, the next question will be for all of you and it will be 30 seconds.

[19:56] The question is, if elected, what conflicts of interest do you have and what about family

[20:01] members?

[20:02] And we'll start with Mr. Hosty.

[20:06] Well, of course, I'm in the restaurant business several times I've had to recuse myself when

[20:13] we put on things that involve the restaurant, but other than that, I don't have any complex

[20:19] of interest on them, but I know about theirs and I need to let you know.

[20:26] Okay.

[20:26] Mr. Kitchens.

[21:08] Ms. McGruder.

[21:09] I don't own a business.

[21:11] I don't own an SCVR.

[21:12] I don't have any conflicts of interest, my family owns none of those either and has no conflicts.

[21:20] Okay, Mr. Parks.

[21:22] I haven't had to recuse myself in eight years.

[21:25] I haven't had to recuse myself in two years with the planning commission.

[21:30] I just, I guess I just don't have the ties.

[21:34] And I'm happy with that, and I like the way it is.

[21:38] Mary goes off the island to work at Camler St. Joe's, doesn't involve Tybee here.

[21:45] Five years ago I used to play in the bars down on 16th Street every once in a

[21:50] while we got paid. But that really doesn't represent a major conflict.

[21:55] Beyond that I'm ready to give him.

[21:59] Ms. Rodriguez?

[22:00] I don't have any complex of interest with any businesses on Tybee and either

[22:06] does my family, my mom lives with me, and she's retired, so she doesn't have anything to

[22:12] do with any businesses on TIEB either.

[22:15] Mr. West.

[22:17] I work in healthcare consulting, and we don't have any healthcare organizations on TIEB

[22:24] this time, so I don't see a conflict of interest there.

[22:26] I also currently have an STVR license, which will expire when my term starts in January.

[22:35] Okay. So that will not be a conflict either.

[22:39] Thank you. The next questions will all be 30 seconds. For the two incumbents it's a

[22:45] long question but well actually we'll make it one minute. Let's make it one minute.

[22:50] It's a long question. Do you read each and every city council meeting packet and how do you

[22:56] prepare for city council meetings and other important meetings? How many hours a week do

[23:01] you estimate, you spend on the job, and we'll start with Mr. Parks.

[23:07] Oh, thanks.

[23:11] Yes, I read them.

[23:13] I make a point of reading them.

[23:15] You can't participate unless you read them.

[23:18] And unless you go the next step, which is to attend a plan and commission meeting where

[23:24] some of the zoning and setback variances are discussed, attend some of the infrastructure

[23:31] and public safety meetings, I estimate that there are times where I put in 30 hours a week.

[23:41] Now that's me. I'm old school. I go back when they used to beat you up if you didn't attend meetings

[23:49] and if you didn't put in that kind of time. Now there are weeks where I go fishing and I'm not ashamed of that.

[23:56] But I will state my preferences for silver trout over redfish right here and now and

[24:03] I'm proud of that position.

[24:05] Carl, you can ring me out, but yeah, I do read them.

[24:10] Okay, Mr. Hosty.

[24:12] Yeah, I mentioned that I'm a business owner, so I'm pretty busy with that.

[24:16] I stay ahead of the issues.

[24:18] I always read the agenda.

[24:21] We have one of the planning commission members comes by every day, and I'm talking to him about what's going on with the planning commission.

[24:31] I know what's going on.

[24:34] There's something affecting the citizens of the island or people asking the constituents.

[24:40] I let you know, I give him a heads up.

[24:43] You know, I think somebody mentioned we're not very transparent, we try to be as transparent

[24:47] as we can.

[24:48] We always put everything on our website, and I agree with Elaine a little bit, you know,

[24:56] we need to get issues out there, these really important issues, they bring up the last

[25:00] minute and then steam by their turn and it's a little bit of a trickery sometimes.

[25:05] But I say on top of things, I know what's going on, I talk about the citizens, I know a lot

[25:15] Okay, for the four contenders, another long question, you'll each have a minute.

[25:20] Will you commit to read each and every packet prior to each meeting?

[25:24] How else will you prepare for the Council meetings and other important meetings?

[25:28] And how many hours a week do you estimate you're willing to give?

[25:32] We'll start with Mr. Kitchens.

[26:20] Ms. McGruder?

[26:21] Yes, I will read every word, even if they're footnotes.

[26:25] I will read every word of it, just like I read the agendas and a packet for the planning commission now.

[26:31] I will go to whatever sites are being talked about for any kind of change for post sites,

[26:38] variances, whatever.

[26:40] I will also post things daily from the planning commission and

[26:45] sometimes from the City Council, because I want to hear back from citizens about what they think about the things that are on the agenda.

[26:53] But yes, as far as time,

[26:58] I think it could easily be 30 hours or more a week because part

[27:01] of what you've got to allow for are answering questions from people whenever they ask

[27:07] them.

[27:09] Ms. Rodriguez, I already do read the packet each time before the City Council meeting.

[27:16] I think in order to be an informed citizen, you need to know what's going on in your own

[27:22] city.

[27:22] I take as long as it takes me to read it.

[27:26] Sometimes there's maps and other things included

[27:29] and you need to know what you're looking at.

[27:32] I've also gone out to different sites

[27:34] when things are going on to see exactly

[27:37] what they're talking about

[27:39] because it's easy to read it on paper

[27:41] but until you go out there and see

[27:43] what they're talking about, you might not understand.

[27:45] I also am like spec, I give a heads up to other people

[27:50] When I think something is coming up on the agenda that they have an interest in or they might want to speak about.

[28:01] Okay, Mr. West.

[28:03] Yes, I will read everything that's in the packet before the meeting.

[28:08] It's important to be informed about what's going to be discussed.

[28:11] And I will take as much time as it takes to get the information I need to make an intelligent decision.

[28:17] And that will include coming, you know, to the city to find the information that I need to make those decisions.

[28:24] Whatever data is available, I think we've learned recently that the city maybe doesn't have the information that we would like to have a citizen sometimes.

[28:36] And so whatever I can do to help with that process to make the data more available to me as a council person and to everyone else so that we can make good decisions would be important to me.

[28:47] And I agree that we should, you know, there's a property issue, you know, we should go out and look at that property and take the time to make sure we understand exactly what's going on.

[28:55] A lot of times it's hard to see the maps and the screens in the room here.

[28:59] So those, yes, that would be extremely important to me to have information.

[29:04] Okay, thank you.

[29:06] The next section we'll do questions, 45 seconds each, and there'll be one question, one person, and then we'll go to the next question and the next person.

[29:16] Okay, Mr. Hosty, do you believe that non-residents should have the same amount of time to speak before

[29:22] City Council own issues as residents are given?

[29:27] Well, they don't get much time at all.

[29:29] I think it's three minutes, so that's not a lot of time.

[29:32] I don't have a problem with non-residents being able to speak as well as residents.

[29:38] Okay, second question.

[29:40] As a Councilperson, this is Mr. West.

[29:42] As a Councilperson, would you prefer hearing from the residents of Taipei, your voters,

[29:46] a council meeting regarding issues involving residents or would you also prefer to listen to the concerns of non-residents own issues?

[29:55] Well the residents you know opinions and points of view are obviously you know the

[30:00] It's a very most important thing that we should be considering. The happiness and positive experiences of our residents is very important to me, but we also need that for our visitors that come in, so it doesn't hurt to hear what they have to say, but I would obviously rank the residents first. And I will consider a business a resident in that respect. Okay, Ms. McGruder, in your role on council, if elected, do you feel it is more important

[30:29] to serve residents of this island, businesses, or visitors.

[30:33] Residents and businesses of this island.

[30:38] Okay. Mr. Kitchens, given all that you've heard from residents,

[30:42] what is the one thing you want to get to work on right away?

[30:50] Sure. Given all that you've heard from residents who live on the island,

[30:54] what is the one thing you want to get to work on right away?

[30:58] for

[31:13] the city and

[31:21] the neighbor of it's

[31:28] any ways to do this since it happened.

[31:50] Ms. Rodriguez, what do you think about allowing non-residents to speak, making the distinction

[31:56] by grouping for council, as well as the citizens and listeners?

[32:01] So are you asking me that we should group residents speaking and then someone else?

[32:10] I don't, I'm not sure. I mean, I believe that everybody, every voice has the right to

[32:16] be heard. Nobody that doesn't have the right to be heard. Of course, the residents will

[32:24] come number one because what they have to say is important in making our decisions. So

[32:30] or what other people say, but the quality of life is gone down here on time. And I think

[32:37] that it's about time that citizens rose up, had their voices heard, and are wanting something done with it.

[32:45] I would like that they would get more time to speak and not be cut off so we can hear what they have to say.

[32:51] But I guess I would do residents maybe five minutes in visitors, three minutes.

[32:57] Okay, Mr. Parks.

[32:59] How would you strike the balance between all file and business owners whose interest may conflict with quality of life interest for residents?

[33:06] It's in terms of speaking in front of council, we're just generally, generally.

[33:15] Number one are the people that live here, the people that pay taxes, the people that use

[33:20] the facilities, that use the streets, that use the infrastructure that put up with me

[33:26] and everything we do on a daily basis.

[33:31] That's without a doubt.

[33:33] Number one.

[33:33] We have a lot of interest from from all violent

[33:37] There's a very

[33:39] Very slippery slope in trying to make sure that they're available to do

[33:47] The things that they do with free commerce, but it's got to be residents first. It has to be in it and it should always be that way

[33:56] Okay

[33:57] Mr. West

[33:58] Do you support the city manager form of government the type he has adopted?

[34:03] Please explain your understanding of how it works.

[34:07] I do support it and the way it works is the city manager runs the business of the city.

[34:14] When he seeks to, you know, make changes or go things, do things that are, you know, under

[34:23] the surveillance of the council, then he goes to the council to get permission for those things.

[34:31] I do think it's a good system.

[34:33] I think it's hard to know sometimes who's leading, you know, I want our mayor to be the leader,

[34:40] and I believe she is, but it's hard to decipher between that and, you know, running the city

[34:46] business, I think, sometimes.

[34:48] Okay, Ms. McGruder, in the city manager form of government, what is the primary mission

[34:53] of the city council as you see it?

[34:56] I think the city council should speak with one voice to the city manager so there's

[35:01] no confusion about what the city manager is supposed to be doing to carry out the business

[35:07] of the city.

[35:10] Ms. Rodriguez, do you commit to staying out of personnel managers when the city managers

[35:15] in charge of those staff. Why would this matter to you?

[35:19] Because it can't be too many cooks in the kitchen and Ty B has changed to a city manager

[35:25] form of government and as a council person I will respect what the city does as far as

[35:32] that's concerned. Mayor and council are in charge of the city manager. The city manager

[35:37] is in charge of the city. Not to say that I'm not open if anybody wants to come talk to

[35:44] But there's also a chain of command just like in the military and I respect that chain of command

[35:51] Okay, mr. Parks

[35:52] Do you think the terms of service for city council members should be linked and shortened or stay the same?

[36:00] That was quite a debate a few years ago and I I agree with the decision of going

[36:06] four years and staggering three on and three off

[36:11] The way it was resolved there just was not enough time in two years

[36:16] to really dig into problems and get things done.

[36:21] It was creating problems in consistency, in performance,

[36:27] and four years goes by in a blink of an eye,

[36:31] believe it or not, eight years has gone by in a blink of an eye.

[36:36] Yes, I do agree with the way it is.

[36:39] I think it works, and I'm more than willing to work with that.

[36:45] Okay, Mr. Kitchens.

[36:47] Can you identify at least one decision of the current council where you disagreed with

[36:52] the decision?

[36:53] Explain why.

[37:13] Okay, Mr. Hosty.

[37:16] In recent months, some residents have done significant research and presented facts on

[37:20] social media that brought to light many important issues, for example, STVRs in water.

[37:27] Where do you see the role of data collection and management within the city's departments?

[37:32] is that a priority, you would support?

[37:36] Yes, ma'am. I think our police department,

[37:40] their computer system is ancient, I believe.

[37:44] It needs to be replaced.

[37:46] I think the opportunity to come up with a program

[37:49] that tracks the STVRs about, I think, in 2020,

[37:54] we actually purchased a program,

[37:56] it was supposed to perform all those tasks

[37:59] But it does it's not working like it should it should have worked and I think we need computer programming

[38:05] We can go and look and see how many STV hours are currently reading how we're the all the STV hours are located

[38:11] So we people can look at that information. They're just here recently

[38:15] I think we found out that there may be a

[38:19] 500 STV hours in the in the R district

[38:23] And we don't even know how many of those are packed

[38:25] So I think we better we can

[38:30] Okay. These are two yes or no questions for each of you and we'll start with Mr. West. Have you read the current ethics ordinance?

[38:42] Yes.

[38:43] Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Yes.

[38:46] Yes. Mr. Kitchens? No.

[38:49] Mr. Hosty? What was the question again? I'm sorry. Have you read the current ethics ordinance?

[38:55] Yes, ma'am.

[38:56] Thank you.

[38:57] Okay.

[38:58] Another yes or no question.

[39:00] Do you believe it is appropriate and ethical for a sitting council member to lobby for his

[39:04] or her own self-interest?

[39:06] We'll start with Mr. Hosty.

[39:10] No.

[39:11] Mr. Kitchens.

[39:13] No.

[39:14] No.

[39:16] No.

[39:17] No.

[39:17] Okay.

[39:18] All right.

[39:19] Here's another yes or no for each of you.

[39:21] So the council recently voted against a proposal to allow a section of the beach to be open to dogs and owners.

[39:29] If you are elected, would you want to bring that back for a vote?

[39:34] Mr. West.

[39:35] I would.

[39:36] I think it's one thing that it was very well prepared by one of our citizens.

[39:41] That was just or no.

[39:42] Sorry.

[39:43] It was just or no.

[39:44] Oh, I'm sorry.

[39:46] Yes.

[39:47] No.

[39:48] No.

[39:49] No.

[39:51] No.

[39:52] Mr. Kitchens.

[40:01] Okay, the next questions will be one minute each answers and there for each there'll be

[40:08] a different question for each of you.

[40:10] The topic is short-term rentals, okay, we'll start with Ms. Rodriguez.

[40:18] What do you think a city should do when many residents believe the city has broken the spirit

[40:23] of their own zoning ordinance to protect neighborhoods and allowed S-T-V-Rs into residential

[40:30] areas. Even if the city was told it was possible at the time.

[40:36] What we should do going forward. I think we need I love the fact that we are now having meetings

[40:43] to get people's input so people can have their voices heard. I think we do need to come up with

[40:49] regulations for them. I've been studying it. I've got all kinds of different ideas and I would

[40:56] love to bring them to the table, but I think we also need to come together as a community. It's not

[41:01] me against you. I don't understand why we can't come together. We want to have the residents first

[41:08] and their voices heard. So I would like us all to come together on the table and come up with good

[41:14] solutions for the STBRs and I have some great solutions.

[41:20] Okay Ms. McGruder, how do you think the infiltration of short-term rentals into

[41:24] tie-by neighborhoods zoned for single-family housing and do-plexes should be handled?

[41:31] I think there should be a cap during the time the moratorium is going on.

[41:36] There should be a cap placed at the level, the existing level of STVRs in the residential

[41:42] areas now. Mr. Parks, given the issues involving the number of short-term rentals, would

[41:49] you support looking at the amount of money that Taivi and the Tourism Council spends

[41:54] to promote tourism? Do you believe it is the right time to look at this item in the budget?

[42:01] The City of Taivi does not spend, is that yes or no? No, you have a minute.

[42:06] The City of Taipei does not spend money on attracting tourism.

[42:12] The visit Taipei receives a little over a million dollars a year out of the hotel

[42:20] motel to promote tourism.

[42:25] That's a state-chartered mandate.

[42:29] I've had discussions with members of visit Taipei on possibly changing some of the approaches,

[42:38] but there's nothing cast in stone.

[42:41] I think it might be wise to back off at this point and put a little break on the activity.

[42:54] I'm not sure how we're going to be coming out of C19, I'm just not sure, and I don't want to hamstring our businesses.

[43:03] Okay, Mr. West.

[43:05] Do you think day visitors should pay an environmental fee or island use fee to help provide more security and employ temporary workers in busy months to control trash, allow issuance of citations to literers, carry away lives and have glass on the beach.

[43:21] In other words, should they pay for extra people to enforce the laws?

[43:27] I think that would be difficult to enforce and make a reality.

[43:32] And I believe we can achieve that goal through parking fees.

[43:40] Okay, Mr. Kitchens.

[43:42] Who do you believe is most responsible for nuisance issues?

[43:45] Trash noise, police incidents?

[43:47] Is it day visitors or STVR visitors?

[43:51] Please repeat the question.

[43:53] Who do you think is more responsible for nuisance issues like trash and police incidents, day visitors or STVR visitors?

[44:06] Okay, do you think day visitors or STVR visitors are more responsible for nuisance issues like litter and police incidents?

[44:17] First of all, sir.

[44:20] Mr. Hosty, do you believe the city should be provided annual proof of proper liability insurance for

[44:27] the specific operation of STVRs and be able to review the policies upon request if the city

[44:34] feels there should be there could be a discrepancy.

[44:39] I haven't really thought about it. That's a tough

[44:43] an answer. I don't I imagine most of these people responsible that they're pretty

[44:49] pretty ridiculous if they don't have insurance. I'm sure most of them probably

[44:54] do. I don't know if it can be a requirement.

[45:00] Okay, here's a quick lightning round. Yes or no answers from each of you. We'll start with Mr. Hosty. If a tidy homeowner is selling a house with a current short-term rental permit, should the permit be grandfathered over to the new owner?

[45:17] Well, I have friends and a dozen people that they don't use their homes in STBR now. It's a yes or no answer. Yes or no? Yes, sir. Yes, I think so. Okay. Mr. Kitchens.

[45:32] No, it's not conforming use of the structure.

[45:36] Is McGruder?

[45:37] No.

[45:38] No.

[45:39] No.

[45:40] No.

[45:41] Okay.

[45:41] Here's another one.

[45:42] We'll start with Mr. West on this one.

[45:44] If an STVR permitted home cannot provide proof that they have rented in a calendar year, should they lose a permit?

[45:56] No, I'm sorry.

[45:59] Yesterday, right?

[46:00] Correct.

[46:01] It depends.

[46:05] No, I'm going to say no.

[46:07] Ms. Rodriguez?

[46:09] Yes.

[46:10] No.

[46:12] Could you repeat the question?

[46:14] I think you're very well.

[46:15] I'm sorry.

[46:17] If an STVR permitted home cannot provide proof that they have rented in a calendar year, should that owner lose the permit?

[46:29] Did they have not rented in a calendar year?

[46:33] No.

[46:34] Okay. Mr. Kitchens?

[46:42] Mr. Gruder? No. Okay. All right. Mr. Hosty, we'll start with you. Do you agree with a two person per bedroom occupancy for STVRs?

[46:56] Yes, ma'am. Some of these places have, you know, they have large, almost like dormitory rooms today. It was just a two-foot house yesterday? Yes, sir. No.

[47:06] Okay, Mr. Kitchens.

[47:08] Repeat a question, please.

[47:10] Do you agree with a two person per bedroom occupancy?

[47:14] Okay, Ms. McGrater.

[47:15] Yes.

[47:16] Yes.

[47:17] Yes.

[47:18] No.

[47:19] Okay.

[47:20] Last yes or no on this round.

[47:23] Mr. West is one parking space per bedroom reasonable given the limited parking on the island?

[47:29] Yes.

[47:31] Yes.

[47:32] Mr. Parks?

[47:34] Yes.

[47:35] Yes.

[47:36] Yes, Mr. Kitchens repeat the question, please is one parking space per bedroom reasonable given the limited parking on the island,

[47:57] okay, Mr. Hosty?

[47:58] No, okay.

[48:00] Okay, we're back to one minute questions for individuals.

[48:06] One minute. All right, Ms. McGruder.

[48:10] Regarding STBRs, what are other ideas on occupancy and parking? How would you control both?

[48:17] Well, obviously, we need to start with enforcement of the existing laws and the regulations both with the police and with the code enforcement officers.

[48:27] And we need to see whether anything that has been brought before the council in recent months would help control that when we're talking about whether we're going to have more parking off street or whether we're going to have more parking on the property itself.

[48:45] Okay Mr. Parks, minimum housing ordinances are enforced in other cities and states.

[48:52] The minimum that is required to operate safely as a rental property is defined.

[48:57] Should this be a requirement with the permitting application for each rental property?

[49:02] Okay, I'm going to have to repeat that.

[49:05] Tuck slowly.

[49:05] It was a little slowly on the minimum housing ordinances.

[49:09] I'm not sure what that means.

[49:11] Okay.

[49:11] Okay. You need the minimum that's required to operate safely as a rental property, the minimum, the minimum you can have, minimum, so we're going to set a limit to the minimum that, what do you need to operate safely?

[49:30] Minimum standard.

[49:31] Well, okay, I'm going to answer that, but it's I'm confused by the question if what you're asking is can we say one person can be in a two bedroom home?

[49:42] I'm going to say yes, but I am going to say that shouldn't that Savannah uses two people per bedroom.

[49:49] Chatham County uses two people per bedroom. I don't see why we shouldn't use two people per bedroom.

[49:56] As far as parking, one car per bedroom, that's tough, that's hard, especially if it's

[50:04] like a birthday party that you've got going on at 4 o'clock for 10-year-olds. Does that

[50:09] mean we bust up the party? No, I don't think so. I think what we're talking about is overnight

[50:14] guests. And then are we going to break down the doors at 10 o'clock at night and say, show

[50:20] us your papers? No government that I'm going to be a member of will do that.

[50:24] But as a guideline, one car for bedroom.

[50:29] Okay, Mr. Hosty, are you in favor of capping the number of short-term rentals on

[50:34] Tybee as a whole and in each specific district?

[50:39] As a whole and in each specific district?

[50:42] I think that's a question for our lawyers.

[50:46] I'm not sure what we can legally do.

[50:48] It's pretty complicated.

[50:49] We have a lot of STVRs, like I said in the board, only 500 in the R1 districts and it's just a complicated issue.

[51:05] Okay, Mr. Kitchens, do you believe code enforcement officers should be authorized or directed by the council to issue citations immediately to STVRs and residents?

[51:16] violence. Instead of issuing warnings when violations are obvious.

[51:25] Yes, it is.

[51:29] Yes, I do. And just in recent I've seen where code enforcement came. There were obvious

[51:39] the

[51:42] regulations as far as noise in wee hours in the morning. Code enforcement didn't write

[51:49] morning's or even citations when it was that they came for a noise violation.

[52:13] Okay, Mr. West, should the City of Taibi make public the names, addresses, and

[52:19] contact numbers of the owners, as well as the agents for each short term rental by email,

[52:25] to all the neighbors and postings at City Hall, so that this information is readily available to neighbors who may have complaints.

[52:35] I think code enforcement should be aware of who the owners are so that they can contact them.

[52:39] I'm not sure.

[52:40] I know, I think if I were a homeowner and I had an STBR next to me, I would find out who the owner is.

[52:49] They're going to be a neighbor eventually.

[52:51] A lot of people come here and do STBR until they retire.

[52:56] I don't know, that's a difficult question.

[52:58] I'm not sure.

[52:59] I don't know the legality of making public that information.

[53:02] I guess it's on the licenses and permits, maybe it's already public, I'm not sure.

[53:07] Probably.

[53:08] Okay, Ms. Rodriguez.

[53:10] Do you believe putting a cap on short-term rentals and residential neighborhoods, for example, 10% or 20% would solve?

[53:17] Do you think a cap would solve the problems Tybie's facing?

[53:21] Well, I was schooled by people higher up in the government just recently, and they cautioned me and Tybie

[53:30] on putting restrictions on the STVRs and they said to go about it carefully

[53:37] because if we decide that we want to put a cap like Savannah does and they

[53:43] bring up a bill over that it'll wipe out all the regulations that we want

[53:48] to put into place so I did not know that until like I said people that are

[53:55] higher up in the government said you better watch what you're doing and I said

[54:00] Well, this is what we want to do.

[54:02] We need to take control of TIEVI,

[54:04] and I was told that we better start with the regulations

[54:09] and then go from there for the STVRs.

[54:14] Okay, we'll do questions for individuals now

[54:16] for 45 seconds.

[54:20] Okay, Mr. Hosty.

[54:22] TIEVI is one of the few beaches

[54:24] that allows unrestricted alcohol on the beach,

[54:27] and TIEVI police deal with a significant amount

[54:29] of alcohol-related issues. The chief of

[54:32] Taibi police asked for restrictions and

[54:35] they were not adopted. Where do you

[54:37] stand now in terms of restricting

[54:39] alcohol on Taibi's beaches?

[54:43] That's it. It's almost, there's no way

[54:49] there's no way to do that. Stop

[54:51] alcohol completely on the beach and

[54:52] I don't think we should stop that

[54:54] because we've had some, someone

[54:56] suggests that we have a police from

[54:58] every crosswalk checking people's

[54:59] course, make sure you don't take more than six peers to the beach.

[55:03] Well, I don't think that's practical.

[55:06] I just don't think it's, we get a comp set.

[55:11] Okay, Mr. Kitchens, do you believe that if we'd ban alcohol on the beach,

[55:16] it would attract a different type of tourist and thereby also reduce a rest for

[55:20] disorderly conduct and violence?

[55:22] Do

[55:43] Asians

[56:14] guest.

[56:20] Okay, Ms. McGruder.

[56:22] Chief Bryson has expressed his concerns about the problems of public intoxication and

[56:26] the safety of police officers.

[56:29] Due to the lack of enough police resources,

[56:31] do you think bar owners should hire security guards

[56:34] at their own expense?

[56:36] To help regulate drunken behavior at their bars,

[56:39] please explain your answer.

[56:42] I think we should talk with the bar owners

[56:44] before we try to do anything differently

[56:46] from what's already been done because one of the things

[56:50] the business owners and the bar owners and restaurant owners

[56:53] have been telling me is that all the prices

[56:56] for everything has gone up already and the latest thing has been the liquor license fee that the

[57:02] City Council voted recently to raise. So I don't necessarily think that we should just say

[57:08] everybody needs to hire somebody that's you're talking about a lot more money if you're saying

[57:13] everybody's got to hire somebody and our police are supposed to be the ones that enforce and regulate

[57:21] disorderedly conduct caused by public intoxication, and DUIs.

[57:28] Okay, Mr. Parks, a little different, an exception was made to the setback restriction on

[57:34] level avenue for temporary classrooms for the Tybie Island Marine Academy.

[57:40] This variance created an eye sore for residential neighborhoods.

[57:43] Would you support the setbacks in the ordinance universally, regardless of the appeal from

[57:48] the petitioner. I've got a long record of voting against setback variance requests. I support

[57:57] our planning commissions findings. I attend the meetings. I think each setback has a different

[58:05] consideration. Personally, I think the maritime is an important part of what we're all talking about,

[58:14] which is developing a community.

[58:18] Young families that come out here want a place

[58:21] where their children can go to school.

[58:25] I've done everything I can to make sure

[58:27] that the maritime has room to grow on the property they have.

[58:33] We have to develop the community as well as restrict

[58:38] other areas.

[58:39] It's a two-sided equation.

[58:42] Thank you.

[58:44] Ms. Rodriguez, what process to engage all parties should the City Council go through

[58:50] before proposing any significant changes to the limited green space in JC and Memorial

[58:56] Parks?

[58:58] Okay.

[58:59] Can you repeat that again?

[59:00] Yes.

[59:01] What process to engage all parties involved should the City Council go through before proposing

[59:07] Any significant changes to the limited green space in JC and memorial parks?

[59:13] I'll be honest and say I don't know how to answer that question. I don't really understand

[59:18] what you're asking. I'm sorry I apologize. Is there a process of that people should go through

[59:23] to propose changes to use that green space and put a permanent restriction on it?

[59:29] To use the green space like well to change the soccer field or something. Yeah,

[59:34] something permanent. Do I think that the city should be talking to everybody that would be involved?

[59:39] How would you recommend that occur?

[59:43] I don't know I guess if they're wanting to build a soccer field

[59:46] or something they would put it out to the city to the citizens to get their voices heard

[59:52] and then contact the people that are going to be doing the soccer field or building it.

[59:57] Okay.

[1:00:00] Mr. West, businesses need tourists. Yet, the extreme tourist population adversely impacts a resident's quality of life. How would you address this conflict and create a balance of diverse businesses and quality of life for residents? I definitely agree that we need businesses on this island that they do impact our quality of life. And especially as residents, you know, we want these businesses to survive. And they need to survive through the winter.

[1:00:30] And it used to be a lot more difficult for those businesses to make it through our winners.

[1:00:35] And it's become less of a problem more recently, probably because of the pandemic.

[1:00:41] I think we have wonderful traveling in the winter than we did in the past.

[1:00:45] When things are, if things ever go that normal, that may change again.

[1:00:49] But I don't want to punish the residents by restricting visitors to come here especially in the winter to support our businesses.

[1:01:01] Okay. Still a quick lightning round. Yes or no questions. We'll start with Mr. Hosty. Do you believe that climate change is impacted by human behavior?

[1:01:14] Yes.

[1:01:15] Mr. Kitchens.

[1:01:17] Please.

[1:01:19] Do you believe that climate change is impacted by human behavior?

[1:01:25] Yes.

[1:01:26] Yes.

[1:01:28] Yes.

[1:01:29] Okay, Mr. West.

[1:01:30] In order to keep the beach and ocean free of debris, would you consider an ordinance making

[1:01:36] Taibe styrofoam and plastic free?

[1:01:39] This is yes or no, Mr. West?

[1:01:44] No.

[1:01:45] Yes.

[1:01:47] Bring it.

[1:01:48] Yes.

[1:01:49] Absolutely.

[1:01:51] Yes.

[1:01:56] Okay.

[1:01:58] Next question, Mr. Hosty, there is a smoking ban on all Florida beaches.

[1:02:03] Which is, would you be in favor of finding a way to implement a smoking ban for the entire beach in 2022?

[1:02:10] Yes or no?

[1:02:12] No.

[1:02:13] Mr. Kitchens?

[1:02:19] Yes.

[1:02:20] Yes?

[1:02:21] Yes.

[1:02:22] No.

[1:02:23] Okay.

[1:02:24] Mr. West, do you support the current recycling program?

[1:02:28] Yes or no?

[1:02:29] Yes.

[1:02:30] Mr. West.

[1:02:31] Oh heck yeah.

[1:02:33] Yes.

[1:02:34] Mr. Kitchens?

[1:02:35] We need more available space.

[1:02:41] Mr. Hosty?

[1:02:42] Yes.

[1:02:43] Okay.

[1:02:44] Yes or no, Mr. Hosty, are you willing to limit new houses being built or more revenue

[1:02:52] producing places, more restrooms, more athletic fields, or more programs?

[1:02:58] What options do we have if it takes up, I'm sorry, yes or no, would you limit any of these

[1:03:04] things. If it takes up more green space.

[1:03:08] No.

[1:03:11] Mr. Kitchens. No. Yes. Yes.

[1:03:18] Mr. Rodriguez.

[1:03:22] I mean it's I can't say yes or no because part of it is yes and part

[1:03:26] of it is no depending on what's being built. Okay. Mr. West. Yeah. I would say the same.

[1:03:32] Okay. Mr. Gillaskin in this round of yes or no. Mr. West. Do you agree not to give

[1:03:39] confidential information or directions to any member of city staff with whom you might

[1:03:44] have a relationship.

[1:03:45] Yes.

[1:03:47] Absolutely.

[1:03:48] Yes.

[1:03:50] Yes.

[1:03:51] Yes.

[1:03:52] Yes.

[1:03:52] Mr. Hosty.

[1:03:53] Yes.

[1:03:54] Okay.

[1:03:56] All right.

[1:03:57] We're going back to individual questions.

[1:04:01] These can be a minute.

[1:04:04] And we'll start.

[1:04:06] Let's see.

[1:04:07] We have a start with Mr. Rodriguez.

[1:04:09] Who's job is it to find enough employees for the local economy, the cities or businesses you can have up to a minute?

[1:04:17] Well, I guess it depends on what, what, who you're talking about, you're talking about for the, working for the city, then it's up to the city manager to find employees.

[1:04:28] If you're talking about businesses, it's up to the individual businesses to find employees for their business.

[1:04:35] This, the city doesn't find employees for businesses and the businesses don't find employees for the city.

[1:04:43] Okay.

[1:04:45] Ms. McGruder, for many years,

[1:04:46] tiby advertising dollars have been spent on promoting tiby as a tourist destination.

[1:04:52] Could those dollars be spent to promote living here in a residential beach community?

[1:04:57] Sure.

[1:04:59] You can elaborate.

[1:05:03] All right, Mr. Parks.

[1:05:05] How will you work to unite all members of the City Council so that clear

[1:05:09] directives are given to the City Manager?

[1:05:17] Council has to meet in regular workshops and has to come up with

[1:05:23] significant direction statements.

[1:05:26] One of the things that our current City Manager,

[1:05:31] form of government, is lacking, is clear direction from Council,

[1:05:38] clear priorities and then a hands-off approach.

[1:05:44] It's confusing to be part of

[1:05:47] city staff at this time.

[1:05:51] I'll get that.

[1:05:54] But we can overcome that. The only way

[1:05:59] I've seen it done is by regular hardworking workshops where you sit down, you

[1:06:06] hash out the priorities and then you stick with it and then includes the budget

[1:06:11] process. They're boring, they just go on and on, but that's where the money gets spent,

[1:06:20] and that's where people's eyes glaze over. But it's a priority. So through the budget,

[1:06:27] through policy workshops.

[1:06:32] Okay. Mr. West, what ways can you as a council member

[1:06:36] support the city manager and the city manager form of government?

[1:06:39] All right, I would like to work with the city manager to work on, in the business that I was a part of and that I ran, my interest was in IT infrastructure and using software to accomplish goals, especially in the adoption of the electronic health records, and I would love to work with the city manager to adopt systems that benefit the city and the citizens of the city so that we can have better information available to.

[1:07:11] Okay, Mr. Hosty, would you support the mayor being the person to whom the city manager directly reports as opposed to reporting to seven people with the city council members giving their ideas to the mayor?

[1:07:25] Yeah, I think it should be to the whole council.

[1:07:27] So I think some things get done in unilaterally sometimes and I don't agree with Councilmember

[1:07:34] Mack make a suggestion in the city of Andrew does it, which I think there should be the

[1:07:38] whole council should discuss it and make a decision that if it's finned in money.

[1:07:47] Okay, Mr. Kitchens.

[1:07:49] Considering that mean sea level rise recorded at the NOAA Tide station at Fort Pulaski has

[1:07:54] increased more than one foot in the past century.

[1:07:57] Do you believe that rising sea levels will impact or already or are already impacting

[1:08:03] Taipei?

[1:08:26] Many Asian, so many Asian levels in the aquifer itself are rates as our draw rates decrease

[1:08:36] sea

[1:08:46] level is rising.

[1:08:59] These are questions that nobody is asking and need to be addressed immediately.

[1:09:08] Okay.

[1:09:09] Mr. Hosty, a few years ago, the plan for a community swimming pool was defeated.

[1:09:15] Now there are private swimming pools being built all over the island.

[1:09:19] Because of the vulnerability of our water source, do you believe there should be a moratorium

[1:09:23] on building new pools?

[1:09:26] Please explain.

[1:09:28] Well, I believe in property rights, and I believe if you have an artesian well, now you're

[1:09:32] allowed to fill from artesian well, we made that decision a while back.

[1:09:35] But I've made suggestions since I've been there as maybe try to get some kind of tax

[1:09:40] extended incentives for having to, you know, turn your property into a zero escape where

[1:09:45] you have stone and we probably, this prank resistance all over the city that probably

[1:09:51] waste a lot more water than the bulls do.

[1:09:55] I don't think, I probably, I don't think it's probably what people have in the bulls.

[1:09:59] I think the prank resistance will work.

[1:10:02] Okay. Ms. McGruder, do you support the addition of code enforcement personnel? Why or why not?

[1:10:08] If you're talking about an addition to the people that we already have hired, no.

[1:10:13] Because I think we've got enough. In fact, they've just gone for training, which they need.

[1:10:18] I think we jumped right in, hired them, put them out there, and they were not really trained to

[1:10:23] handle some of the problems that they've been asked to handle. I don't know. Okay. Mr. Kitchens,

[1:10:29] What more will you do to protect our natural and historic resources to improve quality

[1:10:35] of life for permanent residents?

[1:10:45] That would be one.

[1:10:46] Talking about.

[1:10:47] And historic resources, as well.

[1:10:55] William was put in place as an emergency for our water and trying to find ways to herb

[1:11:05] water here.

[1:11:07] I've seen a tribe

[1:11:10] -evious mayor in water conservation.

[1:11:13] I can tell you that dumping 20,000 gallons of meter water in that median out there is not

[1:11:24] there are a lot of things that we could do as far as irrigation here that we could save some of our plus

[1:11:42] indigenous species of.

[1:11:53] Okay, Mr. Parks, do you feel the island needs twice a week garbage pickup?

[1:11:58] Do you feel it is necessary only because of the STR's generating more garbage, and should the residents be responsible for the higher cost?

[1:12:09] Twice a week pickup is necessary for more than just STR's.

[1:12:16] There's many families as it was pointed out during the discussion that fill up on a regular basis.

[1:12:24] My wife and I don't. There are council members with multiple kids that do. Now, you get one

[1:12:33] can. It gets picked up twice a week. The STRs have been renting out additional cans.

[1:12:41] And that's shit. That's the way it should be. I like pick up twice a week. I like the way

[1:12:47] side door works when they have people that have been trained and when they're

[1:12:53] not short staffed. I think our garbage pickup has come a long ways since the

[1:13:00] days of waste management and since I would get five and six emails on a daily

[1:13:05] basis about missed pickups trash all over the place. I think we're making real

[1:13:11] progress on trash pickup. Okay I've got a question for each of you

[1:13:17] for 30 seconds each, we'll start with Mr. West.

[1:13:21] What do you see as the top two environmental sustainability challenges facing TIEVY?

[1:13:29] What would you do?

[1:13:30] And what would you do to address them?

[1:13:32] I do think, you know, currently we are not near our cap for the use of water on TIEVY,

[1:13:39] but I do think it is a concern.

[1:13:40] And it's something that we should start planning for now for in the future.

[1:13:44] We need to think about, you know, down the road 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, what are we

[1:13:51] going to do?

[1:13:52] Where are we going to get our water?

[1:13:54] And I think we probably should be putting aside money now so that whenever that time comes,

[1:14:00] it's not a big expense for all of us at that time.

[1:14:03] So water is a concern and the seed number two, water again, I don't know, I can't think of

[1:14:14] the second one.

[1:14:15] Ms. Rodriguez?

[1:14:16] Can you ask a question again?

[1:14:17] I'm sorry.

[1:14:18] Sure.

[1:14:19] What do you see as the top two environmental sustainability challenges facing Taibe?

[1:14:24] Okay.

[1:14:25] I also agree with water.

[1:14:27] I think that when it was cited a long time ago, how much water was going to be needed

[1:14:32] for Taibe?

[1:14:32] They never thought that 25,000 people would be here in a day, nor would we have a lot of

[1:14:38] STVRs.

[1:14:39] They probably just figured that it just like Savannah.

[1:14:42] They figured ahead of time and that's why they have extra water because they didn't think it was going to be only 100,000 people 20 years from now and I think that I've got three ideas for the water that I'd like to bring up in council.

[1:14:57] My other one would be beach

[1:14:59] renourishment.

[1:15:00] Our time is almost up on that, and we've got to protect our island. Okay, Mr. Parks? This last year I had seven goals in sustainability that I asked be added into the budget, and council adopted those. I think tree cover on this island is a natural resource that needs to be encouraged and developed. I come in here to this public safety bill

[1:15:30] building and there's all this bare space out here. I've asked that we start some sort

[1:15:35] of program. We should encourage tree planting and we should continue to enforce our tree

[1:15:43] ordinance. I'm extremely frustrated with you, Carls.

[1:15:52] Days come.

[1:15:56] Good job. Are

[1:16:01] we okay to start? I'll read it again for please. What do you see as the top two

[1:16:07] environmental sustainability challenges for Taipei? What would you do? I agree that water's got to be

[1:16:14] the number one, there is a Supreme Court case today between Mississippi and Tennessee,

[1:16:19] our neighboring states, which may impact the way that decisions are made about the

[1:16:24] water that we're talking about getting here.

[1:16:28] I think some simple things we can do that might help with water conservation are rain barrels,

[1:16:34] buckets, rain gauges on their sprinkler systems.

[1:16:39] And I think we really need to seriously not just think about 20 years down the road.

[1:16:43] So we need to start now when we have all this rain that we've been having.

[1:16:48] We need to be able to use the rain.

[1:16:50] The other thing we think to be, setbacks and dunes.

[1:16:55] Mr. Kitchens.

[1:16:57] The recharge, the recharge rate for our aqua,

[1:17:04] that's not very,

[1:17:07] we have a worse problem than

[1:17:09] that.

[1:17:09] Our infrastructure is catastrophically ready to fail and that would affect our flow rates.

[1:17:16] or flow rates are effect

[1:17:26] when it rains.

[1:17:28] The flow rates exceed what the water is being pumped

[1:17:33] that should not be happening.

[1:17:35] We should be flowing less water than it's being.

[1:17:42] Mr. Hosty?

[1:17:43] I think one of the big things important things

[1:17:45] is our beach re-nourishment.

[1:17:48] I think we've done a great job.

[1:17:50] They probably created two or three hundred acres of land

[1:17:54] that they were protected from the storms and looking to back river to see what we could do back there.

[1:18:01] And we got really litigation with this new well they were trying to put in. So

[1:18:06] we got to wait for this litigation to be over made over past three years and maybe we need to

[1:18:10] figure out some way to go around it and that it was being funded by somebody else.

[1:18:16] Nothing's prank resistance or a problem. I know people lived there long.

[1:18:18] Um, uh, I see a sprinkler system running when it's going down and running.

[1:18:24] So I think it weighs a lot more than people have.

[1:18:27] Oh, okay.

[1:18:29] The next question is also a 30 second question for each of you.

[1:18:33] Start with Mr. Hosty.

[1:18:34] You live on Taipei.

[1:18:36] What is important that ensures your quality of life here?

[1:18:40] What will be, what will be the insurance for quality of life?

[1:18:44] I think the 35 foot height limit is really important.

[1:18:48] Uh, you know,

[1:18:49] We can't change the city council comes in and change until they decide to put high rises on the aisle and I think that's

[1:18:59] Like the city's rug one of my house clothes are either bathed in my house and cars or cover with dust every day

[1:19:07] That would be nice

[1:19:08] That's probably not gonna happen

[1:19:12] But I love living here with living everywhere else. They plan on going for either

[1:19:19] Mr. Kitchens you

[1:19:23] live on tiby. What what is important that ensures your quality of life on tiby?

[1:19:27] be.

[1:20:09] Ms. McGruder, you're talking about my personal quality of lunch.

[1:20:13] Sure is your quality of life. I want to be able to walk on the beach every day and not

[1:20:18] look at any tall buildings. Okay, Mr. Parks?

[1:20:26] Every one of these issues keeps coming back to something that I've been involved with for

[1:20:34] at least eight years, and that's dialing back the party. It's just, I just, I have fought

[1:20:43] so hard on so many aspects of this island being noisy, being in litter, being covered with

[1:20:52] trash, being overrun. It's, and for more years, I'm just going to keep fighting. We need to dial

[1:21:03] back this party in so many ways.

[1:21:08] Ms. Rodriguez.

[1:21:09] What ensures my quality of life is that the people that live here are happy.

[1:21:15] That the reason they moved here is how it's going to be, not because we have an oversaturation

[1:21:23] of tourists that we have problems with litter, with noise.

[1:21:28] So, to me, if I can serve the citizens and what they want as a whole, not what I want

[1:21:37] on City Council, that makes me happy.

[1:21:40] Not to see them on Facebook and next store, griping about stuff, but all coming together

[1:21:45] as a community.

[1:21:47] Mr. West?

[1:21:49] I think what ensures my quality of life is a variety of successful businesses, places

[1:21:56] we can shop and eat and meet with friends so that's important to me. I also think it's

[1:22:03] important to have happy residents, you know, people that have positive experiences and

[1:22:09] I know that sometimes visitors can impact that but I think we also need the visitors and

[1:22:15] we need to figure out how to make it a better experience for us and them. Another thing I think

[1:22:20] we should consider is perhaps a city acquiring some of the vacant land that's available right now.

[1:22:27] More green space is better. We don't necessarily need more buildings.

[1:22:33] Okay, we are exactly on time. We will now move into the wrap up and each of you will have one minute

[1:22:40] to wrap up and say anything that you think we missed or you'd like to get out there. We'll start with

[1:22:45] Mr. Kitchens, he's

[1:23:17] starting to see an investor market start to roll back because just because they know restrictions may be coming.

[1:23:25] It could be the start of something better for Tabby, such a better place, way better place.

[1:23:34] But we need to be able to ensure that my children who love Tabby in the future of Tabby in 20 years from now.

[1:23:52] Mr. Rodriguez you have a minute I am not a politician I've always been a

[1:23:58] public servant I always feel that the people that are on city council are

[1:24:03] fiduciaries of the city what that means is just like it used to be in

[1:24:07] magistrate's court the judge was not up there given his opinion but he was

[1:24:13] judging by the law and I think that being a fiduciary the city you have to

[1:24:22] You have to think of who put you up there, what the people want and you need to do, not

[1:24:28] what you want.

[1:24:29] Some people get on city council because they have a personal agenda.

[1:24:34] My only agenda is the quality of life for the citizens of Taipei and we got to come together

[1:24:39] as a whole and make it better exactly how we want it.

[1:24:44] And like I said, you're going to be a fiduciary of the persons in this city.

[1:24:48] maybe you're not doing it for yourself.

[1:24:51] Mr. West?

[1:24:54] Thank you once again for allowing me the opportunity to speak to everyone.

[1:24:58] I once again won't quality of life for the residents of Taipei first, positive experiences,

[1:25:07] good, successful businesses, and good experiences for visitors.

[1:25:11] There are a lot of things to work on, traffic, parking, water resources, all types of things

[1:25:16] it need to be worked on. A lot of the questions tonight were you know one answer yes or no questions

[1:25:24] and I would love to say more about my answers to those questions so if you would,

[1:25:30] if you would like to hear more from me I would love to talk to you. Thank you once again and

[1:25:36] but West. Mr. Hosty? Yeah I think it's one of the important things that we need to do down here is

[1:25:44] you know we spend millions and millions of dollars trying to enhance the tourist experience and

[1:25:51] I think we need to put more money and investment money into our kids on the island as far as activities

[1:25:58] we're looking at right now trying to get money to pay for a soccer field with artificial turf

[1:26:09] you like that a heart attack maybe with rides but I think we need to do more for our kids and we've got

[1:26:14] We're kids on the island. We've had that. So that's very important. I don't think we need to do

[1:26:20] things that hurt the citizens. I'm like some of the projects that they do, you know, have to call

[1:26:28] people and tell them that, you know, this is fixing to happen. And a lot of the time people are kind

[1:26:34] of authority. They just love being here. And they don't want to be involved in politics. So I keep

[1:26:39] and make sure they know what's going on, especially if it's happened in the neighborhood.

[1:26:44] Time.

[1:26:46] Mr. Parks, we've spent several years doing basic foundational structural changes to the

[1:26:54] way things happen in our neighborhoods, step by step.

[1:27:00] I was proud to introduce this moratorium, I'm proud to be considering the next steps on

[1:27:05] things like occupancy, parking, and density in the residential areas. But just like it was said

[1:27:14] here, here we go. Here we go into unknown areas and into areas where we're going to pioneer.

[1:27:24] But I feel like I've got a mandate, and I'd like four years to make, I'd like one year, vote me in

[1:27:31] for one year. And let's make some of this happen so that we can complete the tasks we

[1:27:36] started.

[1:27:39] On the side, I'd like to continue bike trails. I'd like to consider more educational

[1:27:45] opportunities for our youth. I'd like to consider more recreational opportunities for our youth.

[1:27:51] I'd like to consider more limits on behavior. I'd like to consider many of the things that make

[1:27:58] Make this island what we're proud of.

[1:28:01] Ms. McGruder.

[1:28:03] Yes.

[1:28:03] In order to ensure better quality of life for the residents, I think we all need to work

[1:28:08] together on all of the issues we've heard discussed tonight.

[1:28:12] I also think we need to have much better communication between the city and the residents and between

[1:28:18] the city and the businesses about all the issues that we talk about that they should know

[1:28:23] about ahead of time.

[1:28:24] I also think that when someone's in an office,

[1:28:29] when they're elected office, they need to respond

[1:28:32] to the citizens, and I promise you,

[1:28:34] if you elect me, I will respond to you.

[1:28:37] Even if we disagree, I will respond

[1:28:39] and try to find out more information

[1:28:41] about your viewpoint that might help me understand better

[1:28:46] and perhaps even change my mind.

[1:28:49] Thank you.

[1:28:51] And thank you all.

[1:28:52] Thank

[1:29:03] you candidates for being here and for your honesty and openness in

[1:29:08] sharing with us your ideas. Thank you also to Susan K. Tron and Carl

[1:29:14] Looper if we could give them around the plus as well.

[1:29:27] We are right on time. I

[1:29:29] want to encourage you as Brian said to find out more from these candidates

[1:29:35] during October and I know you will do that. We will be posting some additional

[1:29:39] information on the Forever Tobie Facebook page and other places about how to vote absentee

[1:29:46] and also how to vote early this year. We've got new rules and the Board of Registrars is

[1:29:51] getting information out about that. We will also host a meet and greet in the Memorial Pavilion

[1:29:57] from 2 to 5 on October 30.

[1:30:00] First, watch for information about that notice. They've given us a lot to ponder tonight. Thank you for coming. Good night. And Shirley, thank you. Thank you, Shirley Roy. Thank you.

Tybee City Council Candidate Forum 10/4/2021

Transcript