A BETTER HOMETOWN

May/June “Third Thursdays” Update

June’s Third Thursdays on Tybee was from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at the Tybrisa / Strand Roundabout featuring THE VIGUBA TRIO.  Peter Berquist on Bass and Bruce Spradley on guitar were joined by Jody Espina on sax / flute and brought their musical talents with an emphasis on jazz standards.

May’s concert also took place at the roundabout and listeners very much seemed to enjoy the performance by Savannah duo Darryl E. Van Horne and Megan Panther.

If anyone would like to be a sponsor or contribute to continue Third Thursdays on Tybee please. contact Chantel Morton for information.

Tybee Island Information Providers

Another exciting movement on the Island is the beginning of a pilot program – Tybee Island Information Providers!  This BHT start up program is designed for locals to share your Tybee passion and assist visitors in the Southern portion of the Business Corridor.  You’ll be helping with questions about shopping, dining, parking, and sightseeing activities during our busiest “in season” times.  What a wonderful way for you to volunteer and socialize at the same time!

Plus, kids can earn Community Service hours.  There will be an orientation soon with those wanting to volunteer, so let me know if you want to help share your Island knowledge with our guests.

Remember, while you are out enjoying this island paradise, “Buy Local Tybee”.

Tybee has over 35 cool spots to quench your thirst and satisfy your hunger; more than 30 shops to find everything you must have from beach towels to whimsical art to sandwich fixings and personal services from dental care to banking and remember to take advantage of the variety of natural and cultural experiences from the waterways to high in the sky. It’s all right here on Tybee! Please feel free to contact members of the Better Hometown Board of Directors or me with suggestions, concerns, or to help.

Contact information for the Board can be found on the City of Tybee Island’s website.

Here’s to you and the whimsy of Tybee!

Chantel Morton
912.844.9771, EXT 123
cmorton@cityoftybee.org

Notices from the City Of Tybee Island:

1. Community Resource Committee Applicants sought: The Mayor and City Council of Tybee Island are considering applicants for the Community Resource Committee. Community Resource Committee members serve three year terms.

2. Seeking Ethics Commission Applicants: The Mayor and Council continue to seek applicants for the Ethics Commission.

(Visit the City’s website at cityoftybee.org for more details about the position and how to apply.)

Please, submit resumes to Vivian Woods, City Clerk or assistant Denise Woodard – appointments will continue by Council until all vacancies are filled.

PRESS RELEASE: New Wayfinding Signs to Debut on Tybee Island

NEW WAYFINDING SIGNS DEBUT ON TYBEE ISLAND
Press Release by Michael Bodine

Tybee Island, GA – (January 12, 2010) The City of Tybee Island is trying to make life easier for visitors, as well as residents, with the unveiling of a new series of wayfinding signage that will be going up in the next few months around the island. Every resident has a story about being asked by a visitor where the Tybee Lighthouse is while standing in its very shadow, or being stopped by someone in front of a Pay-and-Display meter asking where you go to pay for parking, or even “Which way is the ocean?”

To help make it easier to find some of the major landmarks, the Community Development Department has been working on getting effective signage designed, manufactured and installed since the creation of Tybee’s new Master Plan. With government budgets shrinking, thanks to the economy, original proposed high quotes put the project in jeopardy until Richard Adams, President of the Tybee Arts Association (TAA) found a creative “Tybee” solution.  Adams partnered with Shannon Marino of Tybee Island Customs, an auto and motorcycle customizer on Thunderbolt, to create a demonstration sign and a proposal to marry Tybee’s relationship with sea turtles and tourism to create a unique and eye-catching design. Each sign is a brightly colored loggerhead turtle with the words painted on its shell.

The prototype sign, pointing the way to the Tybee Lighthouse, from Van Horn near Meddin, was met with enthusiasm by the community and the City Council.  This enthusiasm quickly motivated TAA and Tybee Island Customs to get the project under way. There was some fine tuning of the design to make sure it conformed to local and state traffic safety requirements, such as changing the color of the sign posts, which resemble an anchor chain, from black to silver, and also modifying posts to break away. The first installation of these signs is scheduled to be at the corner of Tybrisa and The Strand, near the roundabout by the Walter J. Parker Pier and Pavilion this coming Friday, January 15th, at 2:00 PM.

A total of 22 turtles will help show the way on Tybee, with the project scheduled for completion before the 2010 tourist season begins. Just in time for the real sea turtles to start nesting on the Tybee beaches!

The Tybee Arts Association’s first major public art project was the Tybee Turtle Tour.  Several of the fiberglass turtles from that project are still on display around the island. Shannon Marino has been involved in several artistic endeavors in the Tybee Island area, one of which involved helping with the on-going maintenance and repairs of the fiberglass turtles, which use clear auto body finish to protect them from the environment. Thus, a successful collaboration was born.

To find our more about the City of Tybee Island, visit our web site at http://www.cityoftybee.org/

Tybee Inagaurates a New Council

Tybee Island, GA. Members of Tybee’s newly elected City Council posed for pictures immediately after the official swearing in ceremony at 2:00 pm on Jan. 4th, 2010 at City Hall. The Inaugauration of the Mayor and Council took place at 7:00 pm, and there was standing room only in the auditorium. Mayor Jason Buelterman who wasn’t present earlier also attended the evening ceremony and spoke to the public, as did Savannah Attorney, Judge Steven Scheer and City Attorney Bubba Hughes. A festive community reception hosted by Marlin Monroe’s Restaurant immediately afterward served up a delicious buffet and was also well attended. First City Council meeting of the new year will be on Thurs., Jan. 14th, 2010.

(Photos by Nancy Heffernan, Copyright 2010, The Tybee Times)

Tybee Island Announces Citizen Alert with Opt-in Program

Press Release by Michael Bodine

Tybee Island, GA – (December 29, 2009) Earlier this year, Tybee Island’s Emergency Management and Information Technology staff selected a dial-out notification system called Everbridge Aware. This system will be used to provide various levels of notification to residents and others interested in newsworthy events on Tybee, including non-emergency events like public hearings, urgent messages like road closes or utility repair outages, or full-blown violence or weather emergencies.

The City of Tybee has been increasing ways to keep citizens aware of events on the island. While newspaper advertising and public service announcements are the traditional way to communicate non-urgent events, avenues such as the world-wide web or local cable access television can provide more immediate and facile channels. Over this last summer, City staff added Twitter and Facebook for quick and less formal updates. The Everbridge Aware system caps off this effort with a full set of customizable notification options.

The basic notification system is pre-populated with landline phone numbers for residents and businesses provided by AT&T. Anyone included in this database will always get notification on their regular phone in the event of a major emergency, such as a hurricane evacuation order. Less urgent messages will not be automatically sent out to these telephone numbers.

The optional piece of this system allows users to select the kinds of events about which they wish to hear, and the method by which they wish to receive notification. The available notification types are: inclement weather, road closures, traffic delays, utility outages, public hearings, crime bulletins, and beach closings. The available methods include: home phone, business phone, cell phone, email, text message, or other telephone. For people with only a cell phone, or who use a digital, VOIP phone, must use the opt-in system to get notifications.

Anyone wanting to sign up for these notifications can do so by visiting the City’s web page, www.cityoftybee.org, and clicking on the “Citizen Alert – Notification Sign-up” button. The visitor will be taken to the Everbridge sign-up page where one can create a free login/password account, and then, using an easy-to-follow menu, proceed to select the types of notices and destination devices on which to receive them.

Users should be aware that they will need to acknowledge receipt of a message in order to stop the system from contacting them on every selected channel. For example, if you have asked for a phone call, an email, and a text message, you will be notified on one device after the other until you listen to the entire message and respond. On the phone, you would listen to the message and press a key to acknowledge you’ve heard the message. Once you press that key, the system will stop trying to reach you. If your phone is busy or you hang up without responding, the system will then send you an email, and finally send a text message to your phone. If you don’t answer your phone or otherwise check for messages, you can still miss an urgent notification!

CONTACT: Jimmy Brown, TEMA Coordinator, (912) 786-4573, Ext. 112

Ask The Mayor

January 2010

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and of course a happy new year!  This month’s question is: “Are we voting again on four year terms for mayor and city council?  I thought we just did that a few years ago.”

The simple answer is that there is a referendum on the ballot for Tybee voters in November 2010 about this issue.  A vote in the affirmative would give the mayor and council four year terms.  Should the referendum obtain a majority of votes, the first election cycle which would be affected would be the 2011 Tybee municipal elections.  For the first election under this possible new system, the winning candidate for mayor and top three council candidates would get four year terms and the fourth through sixth place council candidates would get two year terms.  In 2013, those three two year council seats would be on the ballot.  The three winning candidates and would get four year terms.  In 2015, the mayor’s seat three seats that were in the top three in 2011 would be on the ballot and subsequently all successful candidates for mayor and council would serve four year terms.

The issue was placed on the ballot for 2010 after the previous council (the one that served from 2008-2009) voted to ask the state legislature to place it on the ballot.  Our state legislators all agreed to this and consequently the referendum is on the ballot for 2011.

It is also true that this issue was recently on the ballot on Tybee and was emphatically rejected by the citizens.  Many felt that the referendum was defeated because it took place during the same election cycle as a Tybee municipal election leading to some confusion over which candidates would get four year terms.  Some felt the ballot language wasn’t clear enough.  And of course many others simply felt that the voters wanted to keep two year terms for the mayor and council.  I am optimistic that the next eleven months will give us a chance to analyze the pros and cons of four year terms and we can–one way or the other–put this issue to rest once and for all.

Thanks for the great question!
Jason Buelterman

Send questions to “Ask the Mayor,” City of Tybee Island, P.O. Box 2749, Tybee Island, GA 31328, or e-mail them with an “Ask the Mayor” header to buelterman@hotmail.com.