Garden Acres

June 19 Meeting at Pooler Library

Neighborhood Watch Meeting June 19,2012 Introductioin Rachel gave out three door prizes by raffle tickets handed put to everyone. Also, reviewed CYT connect instructions. Personal property identification record was also handed put by Rachel to record all valuables with pictures attached. Mayor Lamb Mayor Mike Lamb spoke at the meeting He lives behind the post office and has lived in Pooler for 35 years. He is "The Buck stops here" kind of guy. Mayor Lamb educated us on the process to bring issues to the city. For example, he is not the person to contact about specific issues. However, if you don't know who to contact you may email Mayor Lamb at MLamb@POOLER-GA.GOV to obtain the correct contact. Also Mayor Lamb indicated that Robby Bryd is the city manager and he runs the operation. Howvever, if we have a problem and have contacted the department and no results are received then we should send an email and copy the mayor or call him and ask to leave voicemail on his phone. Issue Resolution To bring an issue to city council you can attend City Council meetings. They are in session on the first and third Mondays of each month. At the end if each meeting they open the floor to listen to any residents concerns. To be on the agenda please contact Mary Beth two weeks prior to the meeting. Skinner road Allie asked about the Skinner Road issue: What is being done to prevent people from taking shortcuts through Garden Acres to get to Skinner Road. Mayor Lamb is aware that there has been some concern but is not sure what has been done. Mayor Lamb will find put more related to this issue. City Website Leslie asked about the issues with the Pooler City website. ??¢ For example, the ??œLatest Events??? portion of the homepage appears to be updated only about once a year. ??¢ There are broken or incorrect links on the Police Department page: o For example, the link to the Savannah Metro Police department goes to http://www.savannahpd.org/ which tells people how to buy stun grenades. The actual Savannah Police Department website is: http://www.scmpd.org/cityweb/SCMPDorg.nsf o There are several broken links, including: ??¢ http://www.chathamcounty.org/jims/jail/ and ??¢ http://www.pap.state.ga.us/parolee_database.htm and ??¢ http://www.pooler-ga.us/police.php#, Mayor Lamb indicated that he wants the website to be improved. They outsource the maintenance to a third party and he is not happy with the work they are performing. If they don??™t improve, he wants to look for another solution. Speed Reduction on Garden Acres Way Don asked if the city could put speed bumps on Garden Acers Way to make people slow down. The Mayor explained the speed bumps include a significant liability issue because some individuals like to try to jump the speed bumps and if someone is injured or property gets damaged, then the city is liable. Additionally, the bumps cost $9000 each and must be removed and replaced each time the road is resurfaced. The Mayor suggested the most effective cure would be for the police to back into someone??™s driveway and issue citations to speeders. Several homeowners offered their houses for this purpose. Leslie suggested the city place a Radar ??œYour Speed??? sign to call attention to people??™s speed and help calm traffic. The Mayor indicated that he would suggest the idea to the Police Department. City Curfew It was asked what time curfew is for youth in the City of Pooler. The Mayor didn??™t know, but said that he would follow up and try to get the information included in the Water Bills. Many people have seen very young children out on the streets very late at night. Golf Carts The Mayor indicated that the city has become concerned about the number of golf carts on city streets. They are currently considering measures to regulate this traffic. They are considering legislation to require that golf carts be registered. Part of the legislation may include a stipulation that , if children found driving golf carts, the carts may get confiscated. CAT Buses It was asked if city buses would ever come out to Pooler. At this time, there is no plan to do so. The Mayor feels confident that if the issue were brought before City Council they would vote against it. (There would be a cost involved that he thinks the city would not want to pay.) It was noted that there are already public transportation options for disabled citizens. Department Personnel Numbers Pooler Police has 32 officers. Pooler fire has 32 firefighters. The city has tripled in size in the last ten years. The departments need to grow too; they have not tripled; in fact the Fire Dept size lead to a change in ISO insurance rating for homeowners insurance. The city is aware of this problem it and is increasing the size of the Fire Dept to get the insurance rating revised. When that happens, homeowners should see a decrease in homeowner??™s insurance. Chief Revenew has a lot of great ideas like having Police officers on bike or golf carts. Land at Pooler Park Recently, the city purchased a section of land in front of Pooler Park. They cleared the area to reduce unwanted behavior that was occurring in the wooded area. The city may have the opportunity to purchase another tract of land nearby, and would like to clear that land too. Railroad Don suggested that the railroad be asked to clear a wider strip of land around the railroad tracks. To clear all of the wooded area between the tracks and the houses. ? Mayor Lamb was unsure if they would be willing to do that or not. National Night Out: August 5 We??™d like to know how to arrange to get some of the streets blocked off for block parties on that night. The Mayor will find out. Crime Stats for Garden Acres Subdivision Rachel had printouts of all of the crimes and their status (arrest made, investigating, etc.) for the last 6 months. She will try to scan and send to residents. Drawing Three names were drawn for prizes. Next Meeting July 17, 2012