Mayor Moves to Change Tybee Votes

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Good morning! In the news today: It’s Special Election day in Coastal Georgia; Tybee Island’s mayor proposes election changes — to the city council’s surprise; Coastal Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter schedules a telephone town hall amid swelling local protests; and some notable political developments you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com

---

NEWS: ELECTIONS

Make your voice heard

It’s special election day in Coastal Georgia.

Voters in the counties of Camden, Chatham, Liberty and Bryan are weighing in on continuing for another five years a one-cent sales tax on retail purchases, either for education infrastructure or — in the case of Camden — funds for projects such as a county jail, more ambulances, and park rehabilitation.

In Liberty, the school board hopes that renewal of the education special purpose local option sales tax, or ESPLOST, will produce some $112 million for a range of expenditures, from building and repairing local schools to buying school buses and band instruments, reports The Current’s Liberty County reporter, Robin Kemp.

In Chatham, local Republican organizations are urging a “no” vote on the one-cent tax that county voters have favored since 2006, The Current’s Craig Nelson writes.

Voter turnout is expected to be low — perhaps historically low — and the deciding margins narrow. So, get out and vote and make your voice heard. All precincts in each county will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.. Here’s a list of each county’s priorities for the taxes, if you need info before you vote.

---

---

NEWS: ELECTIONS

‘Surprised’

Without informing Tybee Island’s city council, Mayor Brian West has taken steps to change the island’s election system, claiming the current scheme is antiquated and out of step with the rest of the state.

In an email to the council’s six members on Friday, a copy of which was obtained by The Current, West, who also serves as chair of the council, disclosed that lawyers in the state legislature’s Office of Legislative Counsel in Atlanta were drafting legislation to change the way election winners in Tybee are determined.

West also told council members in the email that he had discussed his proposal to amend Tybee’s election system with Sen. Ben Watson (R-District 1) and Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-District 166) during a visit to Atlanta early last week. One council member contacted by The Current, Kathryn Williams, said she was “surprised” the mayor chose to make such an important announcement on the Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend when “everybody is off or drinking or both,” The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.

---

NEWS: POLITICS

Remote?

Coastal Georgia Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter is holding a telephone town hall next Monday. To what extent it’s a response to growing dissatisfaction in Coastal Georgia with federal government cutbacks in general and Carter, in particular, is unclear.

But the signs are there. Protests have become a regular occurrence outside Carter’s offices in Savannah and in Brunswick, not far from St. Simons Island, where he lives.

The dissatisfaction appears to stem as much from Carter’s perceived remoteness and reluctance to hold public forums open to all of his constituents as from Washington’s policies. The telephone town hall appears to be an attempt to address that.

You can sign up for the call here.

---

ICYMI

Under the Gold Dome: Chatham County-area state lawmakers are busy either proposing the creation of commissions.

There’s a Savannah Music Commission, (HB 762),  proposed by Reps. Carl Gilliard, Jesse Petrea, Bill Hitchens, and Ron Stephens and a Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless HB 730, proposed by Petrea, Stephens, Hitchens and Gilliard as well as Rep. Edna Jackson.

There are also proposals to overhaul existing panels. They include the Chatham Area Transit Authority (HB 756), by Jackson, Hitchens, Petrea, and Gilliard, as well as Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook, and the Chatham County Recreation Authority (HB 615), by Petrea, Stephens, Hitchens, Gilliard, and Jackson.

Going under: Some waterfront property in St. Marys will soon be for sale after a high-profile deal between Camden County’s development authority and mega-developer falls apart, The Current’s Maggie Lee reports. The authority loaned the developer, Jim Jacoby, nearly $11 million to help jumpstart the development dubbed Cumberland Inlet.

On the federal budget-cutting front: There are worries about the impact of cuts to the National Weather Service, cuts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to food banks and school food programs, and Medicaid cuts that could shutter rural hospitals and reduce maternal care.

On the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion front: A Black war hero’s Medal of Honor page reportedly has been deleted by the Pentagon.

---

We want to meet your friends! If you like this newsletter be sure to share it.

---

---

Support independent, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.

---