A new hotel that will occupy two empty lots just north of Drayton Tower has received the go ahead from the Historic Review Board for its height and mass.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve both the five-story north building and the six-story south building, which adjoins the former Smith’s Texaco building on Drayton Street.

Initial plans for the high-end boutique hotel, which will be located on Drayton Street between McDonough Street and Perry Lane were presented to City Council in mid-May and to the board in June, but was continued at the request of the petitioner, Hansen Architects.

The north building at its highest point is 72 feet high, the south building at its highest point is 76 feet high. The buildings are located in a four-story height zone, but the Zoning Board of Appeals granted the variance for the additional stories in July with the conditions that they not be visible from the immediately adjacent streets.

“... There are taller buildings in the vicinity, so staff feels that height is compatible,” said Ellen Harris, director of historic preservation and urban planning at the Metropolitan Planning Commission, citing neighboring Drayton Tower, which is 12 stories and 120 feet high and the DeRenne Apartments at eight stories and 96 feet high.

The owners of the Drayton Tower, Flank Inc., unveiled their plans to City Council on May 14 for the high-end boutique hotel that will include one level of underground parking beneath the south building.

The historic review board approved the petitions based on the recommendations that the entrances along Drayton Street on the north building be centered, parking access in the south building be removed from Perry Street and located to Floyd Street and both buildings incorporate additional differentiation in detailing and design.

Those details will be incorporated in the second phase of the project, which will be presented to the board next month.

Gas prices dip slightly in metro Savannah

Average retail gasoline prices in the Savannah area have fallen 0.7 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.41 a gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 262 gas outlets in metro Savannah.

The national average has increased 8.5 cents a gallon in the last week to $2.68, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Prices Sunday were 91.1 cents a gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 18.8 cents a gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 9.0 cents a gallon during the last month and stands 77.5 cents lower than a year ago.

“At this point, it does appear that most of the price shocks are behind us, though if there are any curve balls that hit the market, all bets are off,” said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst. “Outside the Great Lakes, most regions are seeing gasoline prices decline. Leading decliners are New Jersey and Oregon, with Washington coming in third.”

Development organization funds $5 million

The Small Business Assistance Corp. (SBAC), a nonprofit economic development organization, has announced it has reached its goal of funding more than $5 million from the State Small Business Credit Initiative for small businesses in the Savannah area.

Since SBAC began the credit initiative funding in 2012, it has deployed $5,052,500 for commercial projects totaling $20.6 million to small businesses ranging from animal hospitals to onion farms, which has led to the creation of 250 new jobs.

“The program delivers outstanding economic development outcomes by making small business capital available to growing small businesses in the area,” said SBAC president Tony O’Reilly.

For more information, go to www.georgia-ssbci.org or www.sbacsav.com.

GSU fashion, design program draws praise

STATESBORO — Georgia Southern University’s fashion merchandising and apparel design program has been named one of the top fashion schools in the U.S. by Fashion-Schools.org.

Georgia Southern’s program was ranked in the top 40 percent of schools considered nationally for both fashion design and fashion merchandising and was ranked seventh among programs in the South.

The review looked at hundreds of institutions, including Savannah College of Art and Design.

“In recent years, the program has seen tremendous growth and recognition nationally,” said Hope Wallace, professor and program coordinator of the fashion merchandising and design program. “We have had an influx of students that are coming to Georgia Southern University to study fashion from other regions of the United States.”

Savannah city elections are less than three months away, and here’s City Talk’s wonky overview.

Of the nine sitting council members, all are running for re-election except for Alderman At-Large Tom Bordeaux. We’re hearing a lot of talk about the need for new leadership in Savannah, but the simple truth is all the incumbents enter their races with clear advantages, especially name recognition.

Sure, there are some obvious openings for challengers, especially since the aldermanic lines have been redrawn using data from the 2010 U.S. Census.

How many voters who are in new precincts even know that the lines have changed?

How many voters even care?

There was plenty of talk of change in the lead up to the 2011 elections too, but only about a third of the city’s 67,000 registered voters showed up to vote.

It’s hard to imagine that turnout will be higher this time around, so 12,000 votes will be enough to win the citywide races for mayor and for the two alderman at-large posts.

Obviously, fewer votes will be needed to win at the district level. In 2011, Alderman John Hall from District 3 and Estella Shabazz from District 5 were both elected with fewer than 1,700 votes.

As we get closer to the elections, I’ll be looking for candidates who aren’t afraid to talk about details of public policy.

Yes, we are all concerned about public safety, but what are we going to do that hasn’t already been tried?

Are candidates satisfied with the work of the city manager?

What about quality of life issues besides crime? For those of us in District 2, that means everything from traffic calming to protecting the residential character of historic neighborhoods in the downtown area.

Everyone is in favor of creating new business opportunities, but what concrete steps do candidates want the city to take? Is it time to move ahead with the new zoning plan that has been languishing for years? What changes can the city make to its permitting processes?

If previous city elections are any guide, we will hear a lot of broad platitudes, but I think voters will be more engaged if candidates are informed enough and daring enough to get into the details.

To their credit, a number of challengers are already answering some specific questions like these. It’s still early in the election cycle, however, and there is plenty of time for other candidates to get informed on the issues and put some concrete proposals on the table.

City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.

NEW YORK — Amazon isn’t the only company that is using data on employees to improve productivity.

A New York Times article over the weekend portrayed Amazon’s work culture as “bruising” and “Darwinian” in part because of the way it uses data to manage its staff. The article depicted a work culture where staffers are under constant pressure to deliver strong results on a wide variety of detailed metrics the company monitors in real time — such as what gets abandoned in people’s shopping cards and what videos people stream — and encouraged to report praise or criticism about colleagues to management to add to more data about worker’s performance. The story led to an outcry on social media.

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos said in a memo to staff over the weekend that the article doesn’t accurately describe the company culture he knows. But experts say the kind of data-driven staff management Amazon uses is set to become more common as technology continues to transform the American workplace.

“Every company is somewhere in process toward using data to get a better handle on who their top performers are and to understand where people stand,” said John Challenger, CEO of outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Companies, both large and small, have been moving away from traditional human resources reviews that rely on annual performance evaluations. They’re moving toward a more data-driven approach with more frequent feedback, check-ins and other metrics.

Consulting firms Accenture and Deloitte both said this year they would revamp their performance review processes, for example, adopting a more data driven approach that includes more frequent ratings by managers and other internal feedback and data that can be aggregated and analyzed to provide a better portrait of performance than a single rating. In an essay in the Harvard Business Review, Deloitte said the new approach uses “the technology to go from a small data version of our people to a big data version of them.”

Tech companies have been even speedier in applying data analytics to staffing. Google, for example, uses data to figure out how to put together optimal-sized teams for projects and figure out what makes effective leaders.

Paul Hamerman, a Forrester analyst who focuses on human resources management and financial applications, says the future may look more like what Glint Inc., based in Redwood City, Calif., is offering clients. The company, with clients including music-streaming site Pandora and marketing automation company Marketo, sends employees what it calls “pulses,” or short surveys about how they are feeling and how they feel about their job.

Glint CEO Jim Barnett said the surveys let executives see how the health of their employees and company are faring in real time, in the same speed with which they might be able to check sales results or marketing impressions. Since the “pulses” to company employees recur more frequently than traditional reviews. And their data can be aggregated to give a clearer picture of how employees are faring overall.

“The old mentality was once a year we would check in with an annual survey, have an annual review, set goals,” said Barnett. “What we’ve learned is the world today moves much faster than that.”

One of Glint’s clients, Marketo, was able to use the data gleaned from the Pulses to see that women in one department were ranking their work/life balance substantially lower than expected. The company found a staffing shortage in that area and increased staff.

“What they were able to do was to go in and increase the staffing before they had significant attrition,” Barnett said. “The beauty of systems like this is you’re able to link actions to outcomes.”

The downside to a data-driven approach is t can seem “Big Brother-ish” to staffers. But Glint said the surveys that the company sends out have an 80 to 85 percent response rate. “Employees tend to be willing to share,” Barnett said.

Another drawback: Relying strictly on numbers can lead to the perception of a cold-hearted workplace. “It’s easy to get so hung up on statistics that you miss the value of what that individual brings to the table in terms of personality, connectivity and those intangible pieces,” said David Lewis, CEO of HR outsourcing and consulting firm OperationsInc in Norwalk, Conn.

That can lead to a dysfunctional workplace. “If everybody is miserable about what they are doing at work that bleeds over,” said Jay Starkman, CEO of Engage PEO.

But in general, performance tracking makes sense, he said: “Companies and jobs should not be family. You can’t fire crazy Uncle Jim. Families aren’t gauged by performance.”

Michael Distefano, chief marketing officer at executive recruitment firm Korn Ferry in Los Angeles, likens the data-driven workplace approach to how data has taken over fitness training. Rather than having your fitness level measured at a checkup or visit to the doctor, it’s now available in real time to everyone with a fitness tracker like FitBit or Apple Watch.

“I envision a world where we’ve all got wearables on and you send a pulse survey to a few hundred employees a day asking about different levels of engagement: ‘Here are four emoticons, which one best depicts how you feel about your job?,’” he said. “That gets transmitted to a dashboard, and the first thing a CEO does in the morning is grab his tablet, plug into the dashboard, see how people are feeling and make a few calls accordingly.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. homebuilders grew slightly more optimistic about the housing market in August, putting their confidence at levels last seen a decade ago during the debt-fueled housing boom.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday rose this month to 61, the highest level since November 2005. The reading was 60 in both June and July. Any reading above 50 indicates more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

“The fact the builder confidence has been in the low 60s for three straight months shows that single-family housing is making slow but steady progress,” said Tom Woods, a Missouri-based builder and chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

The combination of stable job gains and low mortgage rates has bolstered sales of new homes this year. But unlike a decade ago, sentiment has improved without the same dramatic increases in mortgage debt that ultimately led housing prices to crash and threw the economy into a steep recession. Outstanding mortgage debt nationwide fell 0.7 percent in the April-June quarter to $8.12 trillion, putting it at roughly the same level as three years ago when the housing market bottomed, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last week.

Builders’ view of current sales conditions and buyer traffic improved in August, while sales prospects over the next six months were stable. Still, builders say that are finding it difficult to buy land and hire construction crews.

Through the first half of 2015, the government reported that new-home purchases shot up 21.2 percent to 274,000.

This comes as employers have added 2.9 million workers over the past year and the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.3 percent from 6.2 percent. The hiring has infused the economy with new paychecks that have supported the spending on housing and autos, among other expenses.

And average mortgage rates remain under 4 percent, putting them about two percentage points below this historical average.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.94 percent last week.

Carl Gregory Enterprises, which owns an Abercorn Street dealership that sells Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep products and is building a new store on Chatham Parkway, has been sold to a national retailer.

AutoNation Inc., announced Tuesday it has paid an undisclosed amount for Gregory’s 13 stores in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The sale is subject to manufacturer approvals and is expected to be finalized later this year, according to a statement from AutoNation, America’s largest automotive retailer with 237 stores.

Gregory, whose company is ranked as the 113th largest enterprise of its type in the country, was not immediately available for comment.

In 2014, Carl Gregory Enterprises generated $480 million in revenue, selling approximately 16,750 new and used vehicles. The company employs about 600 people.

In a July 5 interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Gregory was asked whether he would consider selling his business.

“Look, at the end of the day we have options that we are always looking at whether it’s acquiring, whether it’s divesting some,” Gregory said. “As a businessman, I have to consider all of the options that are available to me, so I would never say no to anything. That’s how deals are made. You never know. If there’s a sense of consolidation that’s going on, if the deal was right, we would look at it.”

Gregory said at the time that offers for his dealerships came on a regular basis.

“We get a lot of calls from people wanting to sell us stores,” he said. “On the other hand, we get lots of calls from big companies wanting to buy us. And that’s been going on for years and years, and I think that’s the nature of the business. What I’m telling you is this: We will look at all opportunities that arise.”

A household name across most of the rest of the state, Gregory made his first foray into Savannah

when he bought the former Hoover Chrysler Jeep Dodge at Abercorn Street and Montgomery Crossroad in September 2013 and invested an additional $1 million for extensive renovations.

In April, Gregory broke ground next to the Lexus dealership on Chatham Parkway.

Gregory said he chose Chatham Parkway because “there is strength in numbers,” referring to the successful dealerships already along the corridor.

“We found the right property in the right neighborhood and feel like we can be very successful there,” he said.

In addition to the acquisition of Carl Gregory Enterprises, AutoNation also said it is purchasing three stores in the Baltimore market from Valley Motors Auto Group.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to add 13 stores in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and three stores in the Baltimore, Md./Washington, D.C. market and bring AutoNation’s store count to 253 from Coast to Coast,” said Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s chairman, chief executive officer and president, “We continue to seek acquisitions to leverage our scale, expand the AutoNation brand and provide a peerless experience to more customers.”

AutoNation is a public company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

A panel of logistics representatives from around the state gathered Tuesday at the Embassy Suites Savannah Airport to discuss how to bring more perishables, jobs and opportunity to the Lowcountry during the first Savannah Logistics Lunch presented by the Center for Innovation for Logistics and HunterMacLean attorneys.

More people are adopting healthier lifestyles, so there is a growing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. And that has ultimately lead to a growth in imports, said Colin McRae, a partner at HunterMacLean, who moderated the panel discussion.

“Georgia is a state that has historically enjoyed strong agricultural exports... But we want to discuss why growth in perishables and agricultural imports is so important to Savannah and the coastal Georgia region,” MacRae said.

In 2014, food was listed as the number one export from the Port of Savannah with 200,915 20-foot equivalent container units — or TEUs — setting sail, a 46 percent increase over the last five years. On the import side, food ranked sixth on the list with 80,478 TEUs arriving in Savannah in 2014, a 10 percent increase over the last five years. Retail consumer good continue to top the list as top import.

Chris Logan, senior director for trade and development for the Georgia Ports Authority, said balance is necessary for business, and for the last few years the GPA has been working to figure out why Savannah hasn’t been more successful in perishable imports.

“Basically it’s a change of attitude, change of perception because most importers revert to that northeast and south Florida area, so we’ve been trying to bring awareness and remove those barriers. And we’ve been successful. We’ve started receiving citrus via the Port of Savannah, and before that wasn’t allowed...” Logan said.

The GPA has also joined forces with the Department of Agriculture to ensure workers were properly trained to handle and inspect imported fruits and vegetables, he said.

“We’ve done a lot of things to get it all in motion and grease the wheel so that perishables can start flowing,” he said.

Lee Woodham, president of FreshPoint Atlanta, which is a fresh produce distribution company that specializes in dairy products and eggs, said the company over the last four years has experienced double-digit growth each year with the growing demand from chefs wanting fresher ingredients.

“Ten years ago farm-to-table was a trend that few people knew about, but now it’s mainstream. Everything is farm-to-table, whether that means a farm in central Georgia or coastal Georgia or Texas — it’s still farm-to-table. It’s about reducing footprint and sustainability...,” Woodham said.

“Chefs are also bringing new items or revitalized items to the table like brussels sprouts or kale where seven years ago we didn’t sell much kale or brussels sprouts, and now it’s the number one and two item... It drives us to look for lots of local options, and if they’re not available locally, we go out as far as we have to, to find them.”

Logan said the industry faces challenges including building confidence with growers that their products will move through Savannah efficiently and quickly with proper storage and refrigeration space. He cited the recent 25,000-square-foot expansion of perishable space by Nordic Savannah as a helpful solution.

“I feel like we’re well underway in knocking down some of the challenges that have prevented this in the past... I feel like that sends a very positive message to the market that Savannah is and will be a new perishable gateway for the southeast, “ Logan said.

“It’s a wonderful time to come to Savannah with perishables on your mind.”

PANELISTS

Chris Logan, senior director for trade and development for the Georgia Ports Authority

Ross Maple, director of business strategy at Nordic Logistics

Bo Warren, director of the Center of Innovation for Agribusiness

Lee Woodham, president, FreshPoint Atlanta

With the Conference Board predicting that “customer relationships are one of the top five challenges for business in 2015,” conversations about customer service have turned pretty serious latley. And because we know happy customers usually relate directly to happy employees, we’ve started to connect the dots.

However, employee satisfaction has plummeted from a high of more than 60 percent a few years ago to 41 percent today.

We have to do something about this, and I have some helpful tips.

Tip 1

Hire employees with the very best attitude you can find. A successful business guy I know admonished me some months ago when I asked him why his companies continued to win top customer service awards year after year — “hire for attitude, train for skills.”

And “attitude” is something you can test in potential employees. Traits like accountability, humility and passion to serve plus four others are almost always found in top attitude employees. So make sure you know where potential new hires fall in these critical traits, and hire the best.

Tip 2

Unleash your employees’ “inner entrepreneur.” Legendary customer service companies such as Seattle-based Nordstrom have been hiring employees with an entrepreneurial spirit for years. And Nordstrom’s financial results have been consistently higher on a per-store basis than other department stores.

In fact, the company boasts of their “Nordies” being a company of entrepreneurs where employees are really “fashion consultants” who walk the customer around to multiple departments to accessorize that suit or dress with the perfect belt or shoes or blouse to achieve “the look” for a particular season.

Starbucks has a similar approach to hiring employees. In addition to having the focus on the employee be the center of its business from the start, the company spends a lot of time up front in the hiring process looking for potential employees with what the company calls “an enterprising spirit.”

And it pays off for the company in big ways from sales of everything from its newer higher-priced Clover machine exotic coffees to CDs to French coffee presses.

And being entrepreneurial relates back directly to attitude. If you tend to be engaged and passionate about something, you just have to be a pretty good salesman, too.

Tip 3

Get employees onboard in your vision for customer experience. Just as authors Pine and Gilmore remind us in “The Experience Economy,” once you identify what your customer is really looking for, you design your product offering in a way that engages people — an offering that connects with them so they will remember you.

Great employees with great attitudes and an enterprising personality always make an impression on customers.

Starbucks does it with their stores and memorable coffee experience. Zappos does it with their unique and memorable shoe-buying experience. And Lexus does it with their car ownership experience where an employee picks up your car to take it in — not you — for routine maintenance.

So as the customer service bar gets raised a notch these days, what’s your new strategy for upping your game? Specifically, what’s your plan for finding great new employees? What qualifications do you want them to have so that they can better serve the customers in your business?

My money’s on hiring people that exhibit the best possible attitude. I’m looking for that passion to serve. I’m looking for that entrepreneurial spirit. I’m looking for my next employee to want to be engaged in my business and my vision for a customer experience that won’t soon be forgotten.

And I hope you’re after that same person.

William Porter, a former Atlanta resident who lives in the Lowcountry, has published books on customer experience and employee engagement and speaks regularly at U.S. Business schools such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Emory University in Atlanta. Contact Porter at bpwilliamaporter@gmail.com.

Moon River Studios awarded construction permit

FONU2 Inc., parent company of Moon River Studios, announced Tuesday that Effingham County has approved the studio’s request to begin construction of the entrance, roads and water lines for a film production studio.

Grading, road and waterline contracts have been awarded to Preferred Site Construction LLC, the company said.

“The issuance of permits and the actual moving of dirt are major milestones for Moon River Studios,” said Jake Shapiro, FONU2’s board chairman.

He said the firm expects to announce a start date shortly.

“Once construction has begun, we will be posting photos to our Facebook page and website so our supporters can continue to track our progress,” Shapiro said.

FONU2 is developing a 1,560-acre film production facility in Effingham County.

Tour operators visit Savannah for annual conference

The National Tour Association will host more than 150 tour operators in Savannah for its annual Contact Conference today through Saturday. The tour operator retreat offers members a chance to experience Savannah while networking and attending educational sessions.

“Savannah really looks forward to hosting this elite group of tour planning professionals. With attendees from across the country and around the globe, our plan is to showcase the very best that our visitor experience has to offer while they are in town,” said Joseph Marinelli, Visit Savannah president.

In addition to informational sessions, tour operators will go on sightseeing tours, attend an opening reception at the Savannah Theatre and the Green-Meldrim House and a closing reception at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.

“Hosting this conference allows for a great amount of potential business to be sent to Savannah and Tybee Island,” said Mindy Shea, Visit Savannah director of tour and travel sales.

Local redneck games raise money for nonprofit

The Savannah Parrot Head Club has donated $4,000 to local charity Along Came Bill, the Bill Lester Memorial Fund, with proceeds from the 4th Annual Redneck Olympic Games on July 24 at Coach’s Corner.

“The Redneck Olympic Games are such a fun event, and we had a great turnout and awesome sponsors,” said Tony Abruzzio, president of the Savannah Parrot Head Club. “We look forward to seeing these funds put to good use by The Bill Lester Memorial Fund.”

Along Came Bill, the Bill Lester Memorial Fund was established in memory of Bill Lester to raise awareness and money and to honor those who work to enhance the lives of individuals who overcome handicaps to join the workforce and stay involved in life.

On June 26, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages across the country. While this was a cause for celebration for many couples, it should be noted the ruling also has important implications for small-business owners.

Ensuring that your business is compliant with the current law is crucial to avoid potential fines or lawsuits.

The most obvious change relates to the updating of your company’s benefit policies, particularly health care. If you offer a family medical plan to heterosexual couples, this must also be offered to same-sex married couples.

The same holds true for retirement plans and other similar programs that confer benefits upon married couples. And if the language contained in your company’s documents relating to these benefits is not gender neutral, it should be adjusted so it’s also applicable to same-sex couples.

The Family and Medical Leave Act is another example.

The FMLA stipulates that employees are allowed to take up to a 12-week leave of absence to care for a sick family member if they have accrued 1,250 hours of work over the previous 12 months. While this extended leave is unpaid, the law ensures that their job remains available when they return.

Some companies in Georgia previously took the position that a same-sex partner was not a spouse, so the company did not have to offer FMLA to those employees. Now the law is clear that FMLA time must be offered to all married employees.

In a nutshell, offering the same benefits and perks to all married employees, regardless of sexual orientation, is the surest way to keep your business legally compliant.

It is imperative that your supervisors understand that discrimination of any kind cannot be tolerated because the failure to prevent discrimination will leave you open to legal liability. Every company policy that you have in place, from the interviewing process all the way to termination, needs to be reviewed to ensure full equality.

Finally, open communication with your employees will be especially important as the business world adjusts to these changes, and it’s vital that you make the information about these changes available to all employees.

While this sudden change to the law may pose some initial challenges, the result is likely to be beneficial. Demonstrating equality to all employees will generate good will for your business and help ensure that you remain competitive in your industry by attracting the most qualified and talented employees.

Also, every business owner should consider whether the legalization of same-sex marriage may offer the potential for economic growth.

Many wedding-related industries such as planners, photographers, special event companies and others already have seen their customer base grow just in the short time since the ruling. One can only

imagine that divorce attorneys are likely waiting patiently for the inevitable increase in their business, as well.

It is not just these industries that stand to benefit from the Supreme Court’s decision. All companies that welcome LGBT couples and treat them with equality and respect are likely to experience economic growth.

A study conducted by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated that over the next three years, the legalization of same-sex marriage will boost the economy by $166 million. This goes far beyond the provision of wedding and honeymoon services. There are also tax implications for local, state and federal governments, and many major purchases may be attractive now that they can be made in a joint fashion.

With a greater number of people able to marry, small businesses must make certain they remain in compliance. However, these businesses can also capitalize on the opportunities to help more customers fulfill their dreams and enjoy their life with the people they love.

That’s just good business sense.

Charles Bowen is a business attorney who focuses on commercial, banking and manufacturing law and also offers comprehensive mediation services. Contact him at 912-544-2050 or cbowen@thebowenlawgroup.com.

By Charles Bowen

ATLANTA – Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July was 6.0 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 6.1 percent in June, the state labor department announced today. The rate was 7.2 percent in July 2014.

“It’s been more than seven years since Georgia’s unemployment rate was this low, and the credit belongs to our employers who continue to create jobs and put people to work,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “In July, we had 89,400 more jobs than in the same period a year ago.”

The number of jobs in Georgia increased to 4,252,200 in July, up by 4,600, or 0.1 percent, from June. The growth came mostly in local government, 4,300; professional and business services, 3,100; retail trade, 2,800; and leisure and hospitality, 1,700. The overall increase was offset somewhat by job losses in state government, 2,400; educational services, 2,100; and finance and insurance, 1,100.

Over-the-year, the number of jobs in Georgia grew by 2.1 percent, from 4,162,800 in July 2014. The national job-growth rate was also 2.1 percent. Most of the job growth in Georgia came in trade, transportation and warehousing, 32,200; leisure and hospitality, 20,300; professional and business services, 20,200; health care and social assistance, 14,100; manufacturing, 4,400; financial activities, 2,900; and construction, 400. Government lost 2,800 jobs.

“I encourage job seekers and employers to use EmployGeorgia, our new job listing service, where more than 77,000 job openings in Georgia were posted in July,” said Butler. Visit www.employgeorgia.com to learn more about EmployGeorgia and to post or search for jobs.

While the rate declined in July, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 2,868, or 8.8 percent, to 35,487 in July. Most of the increase was due to temporary claims filed in manufacturing and administrative and support services, which includes temporary employment agencies. Over the year, claims were down by 7,171, or 16.8 percent, from 42,658 filed in July 2014. The decline came mostly in manufacturing, administrative and support services, health care and social assistance, and accommodations and food services.

From June to July, the state’s labor force decreased by 15,831 to 4,744,280, but it remained higher than in July 2014, when it was 4,735,848.

The Tybee Island Fire Department donated used firefighting gear to Savannah Technical College’s fire science program Thursday. The gear can no longer be used for firefighting incidents but will be used for training at the college.

“We appreciate the generosity of the city of Tybee Island’s Fire Department,” said Savannah Tech President Kathy S. Love. “The equipment is a welcome addition to Savannah Technical College’s hands-on training opportunities for Fire Science students.”

Tybee is replacing its firefighting gear, and officials said they wanted to find someone locally that could use it.

The donation includes 19 helmets, 16 sets of gloves and jackets, along with 18 pants, 32 pairs of boots and six sets of suspenders. The donated equipment will be used for various training scenarios that do not involve live fires, including hazardous materials operations and fire science dual-enrollment programs in area high schools that are expected to start next fall.

“We are glad to support Savannah Tech’s fire science program to educate, train and certify future and current emergency responders in our area,” said Tybee Island Fire Chief Ashley Fields, who’s a Savannah Tech fire science advisory board member.

The fire science programs at Savannah Tech are designed to prepare graduates for careers in the fire and emergency services fields.

For more information, email afaust@savannahtech.edu or call 912-443-3386.

One question is always on the mind of Visit Savannah President Joe Marinelli as the number of tourists visiting Savannah continues to grow each year: How do we keep them coming back to the Hostess City?

Marinelli, speaking at the Andaz Hotel during the Tourism Leadership Council’s monthly luncheon Thursday, said his team is already planning for 2016 — identifying exciting and unique ways to market the city to bring visitors back and keep them here longer.

“We are enjoying the best of times right now. ... Most of us have done what we’re doing for years. These are the best of times, and this is an opportunity for all of us to get very complacent with those good strong times,” he said. “At our organization we’re looking at different ways to really disrupt that

thinking and think a little bit differently as we plan our marketing for next year.”

Marketing the city is what TLC President Michael Owens said the group does best, often staying ahead of trends or jumping into them early in the game.

“We look to Visit Savannah to help create the brand...,” Owens said. “They’re looking constantly at trends in tourism, trends in marketing and what trends are good for business. Many business owners get ideas or inspiration for their own individual marketing plans based off of the incredible work Visit Savannah does year round.”

One way Visit Savannah is trying to stay ahead of the competition is identifying what Marinelli called “disruptive innovation” — in other words, looking at what companies or ideas are shaking up the markets. He cited Uber, Netflix and larger-than-life presidential candidate Donald Trump as examples that continue to push the envelope in their respective fields.

“In all three of those cases the end product for all of us as consumers will be better because of the disrupters, so we’ve kind of adopted a similar mentality as we think about what we’re going to do in the coming year,” he said before previewing videos from the organization’s Back of House and Savannah Hauntings series, which is new marketing territory for the organization.

“As you can see in both of the videos we’re trying to be a little bit of a disrupter in terms of really not marketing Savannah in the traditional way.”

Dozens of new restaurants and retail hubs such as the Tanger Outlets in Pooler and the slew of new stores on Broughton Street along with impact from new airlines and the emerging film and television industry have all bolstered tourism and economy numbers, Marinelli said.

According to Marinelli, Savannah’s overall occupancy rates have hit 76 percent for the year, which is a 7 percent jump from 2014, and new hotel construction that will add hundreds of hotel rooms to the market is likely to drive that number up in the coming year.

“It’s really quite impressive to see that more visitors are coming to town than ever before and they’re spending much more money,” Marinelli said adding that

occupancy rates in the Historic District have hit 80 percent for the year.

“It’s nice to see the growth... As the product has grown and as we’ve added more rooms and beds we’ve certainly been able to adsorb that additional inventory.”

ON THE WEB

To watch Visit Savannah’s new marketing videos, go to www.youtube.com/user/SavannahEst1733

It took some time for me to appreciate the value of mediation as a tool for resolving legal disputes.

In the early days of my career, there were far fewer lawyers, and they were all on a first-name basis. We knew one another and the judges, and the judges knew us. We would never have dreamed of handling a case out of town in a jurisdiction we were not familiar with.

Lawyers from Atlanta and elsewhere would never consider handling a case here without associating a local lawyer to be the laboring oar. We would encounter lawyers who were on the opposing side of cases on a regular basis at docket calls, at lunch, in the halls of the courthouse or on the streets, and we would talk respectfully.

How a case could be settled by agreement was a constant subject, when appropriate. Of course, this resulted in many early settlements, and coupled with the fact that the civil litigation process then was considerably faster and cost far less, there was no need for a neutral mediator to act as a “go-between.”

The situation is far different today. For better or worse, there are a lot more lawyers, more law and more causes of action, i.e. reasons to sue. It often takes years for the courts to resolve a civil case, and it can cost a fortune.

Today, there are more than 800 lawyers in Chatham County, many of whom would not recognize one another. Lawyers from Atlanta, New York and elsewhere are routinely in Chatham County courts handling cases.

Trial lawyers in Savannah also handle cases in courts all over the country. Heated disputes about process and discovery tactics and abuse often dominate hostile conversations between counsel. Meaningful settlement discussions, without a neutral mediator, do not happen.

So now, mediation as an alternative to litigation is essential. Many courts, including the Chatham County Superior Court, require mediation as a condition to assigning a case for trial.

Mediation dates back to the Middle Ages, but it became widespread in the United States about 30 years ago after lawyers began expanding their use of the discovery rules in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Georgia Civil Practice Act, which, among other things, escalated the costs of litigation and extended the time of the process, in some cases, to several years.

The Georgia Supreme Court has adopted Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules that include rules governing mediation.

All court-mandated mediation requires a neutral mediator who is registered with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. Registered mediators are required to have completed at least 40 hours of training.

Mediation offers several important benefits that traditional litigation does not.

A mediated settlement requires the consent of all parties. That means the parties to the dispute are in control of the outcome. Litigation in the courts is decided by a judge or jury, and at least one party, maybe all, will be unhappy with the outcome.

A mediator cannot decide the dispute.

The mediator will typically meet separately with the parties and discuss their respective interests.

Judges and juries cannot do this.

The parties must agree, and if they do not, the litigation in the courts remains available and uncompromised.

Trials are public; mediation is confidential.

The parties and their counsel are required to sign an agreement that everything that is said and done in mediation is confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone.

The parties are not permitted to subpoena or question anyone about statements or occurrences in the mediation process.

A settlement is always less expensive than continuing to trial and, perhaps, a subsequent appeal.

Mediation substantially enhances the possibility of settlement.

A mediation session typically lasts one day, even in highly complicated cases, and statistics show that a majority of cases that go to mediation are settled.

John M. Tatum is a senior partner in the litigation practice group at HunterMaclean. He can be reached at 912-236-0261 or JTatum@HunterMaclean.com.

By John Tatum

Georgia jobless rate down to 6 percent

ATLANTA — Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July was 6 percent, down from 6.1 percent in June, the state labor department announced Thursday. The rate was 7.2 percent in July 2014.

“It’s been more than seven years since Georgia’s unemployment rate was this low, and the credit belongs to our employers who continue to create jobs and put people to work,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “In July, we had 89,400 more jobs than in the same period a year ago.”

The number of jobs in Georgia increased to 4,252,200 in July, up by 4,600, or 0.1 percent, from June. The growth came mostly in local government, 4,300; professional and business services, 3,100; retail trade, 2,800; and leisure and hospitality, 1,700. The increase was offset somewhat by job losses in state government, 2,400; educational services, 2,100; and finance and insurance, 1,100.

Over-the-year, the number of jobs in Georgia grew by 2.1 percent, from 4,162,800 in July 2014.

Medical Center pledges $125,000 to expand nursing education

HINESVILLE — The Hospital Authority of Liberty County, the governing body for Liberty Regional Medical Center, has voted to support the expansion of nursing education with a five-year, $125,000 pledge to Savannah Technical College.

“With this support, we will be able to strengthen and expand nursing instruction at our Liberty Campus,” said college President Kathy Love.

The expansion will include an additional set of licensed practical nurses at the Liberty Campus.

“We know that demand for nurses will continue to grow, and we are excited that with this program, Liberty County students will have access to greater options for nursing education,” said hospital authority chairman James Rogers.

Pet boutique to celebrate first anniversary

Retail Treat Dog Bakery & Boutique, 7360 Skidaway Road, will celebrate its one-year anniversary from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

On Saturday, Retail Retreat will offer a free All-Dogs-Can-Eat buffet of cakes, pupcakes and treats. For dog owners, there will be a raffle to win a free one-year membership to the Monthly Treat Club. One-time anniversary sales and discounts also will be offered.

“Pet owners appreciate that our store is a refuge from the corporate mainstream. They can trust that we bake our treats on site with carefully selected ingredients such as chia seeds, diced apples, grated carrots, coconut oil and buckwheat honey,” said Barbara Justice, who owns and manages the boutique.

More information is available at iLoveRetailRetreat.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RetailRetreat and on Instagram @Retail_Retreat.

SAVANNAH PORT’S SHIPPING SCHEDULE FOR THE COMING WEEK

Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.

TERMINAL VESSEL ETA

GPA MSC ROMANOS Today

GPA MAERSK WEYMOUTH Today

GPA MAERSK DENVER Today

GPA ROSSINI Today

GPA SC MARA Today

GPA MOL MISSION Today

GPA RHL AGILITAS Today

GPA CPO MIAMI Today

OT BAHRI JAZAN Today

OT TALISMAN Today

OT TAMERLANE Saturday

OT FORTITUDE Saturday

GPA ADRIAN MAERSK Saturday

GPA BUFFALO HUNTER Saturday

GPA

MAERSK KALAMATA Saturday

GPA SEOUL EXPRESS Saturday

GPA HANJIN MALTA Saturday

GPA OOCL MEMPHIS Saturday

GPA WASHINGTON EXPRESS Saturday

GPA HANJIN MIAMI Sunday

GPA CMA CGM CENDRILLON Sunday

GPA CHEM NEW ORLEANS Sunday

GPA KAETHE C. RICKMERS Sunday

GPA MAERSK DETROIT Monday

GPA KAETHE P Monday

TERMINAL VESSEL ETA GPA CAFER DEDE Monday

GPA TOKYO EXPRESS Tuesday

GPA PORTUGAL Tuesday

GPA YANTIAN EXPRESS Tuesday

GPA CSCL VANCOUVER Tuesday

GPA JADRANA Tuesday

GPA HANJIN ATLANTA Tuesday

OT OCEAN PROMISE Tuesday

OT K. JASPER Tuesday

OT ALTAIR LEADER Wednesday

OT BBC OLYMPUS Wednesday

GPA ARIAN Wednesday

GPA YM UNICORN Wednesday

GPA AMALTHEA Wednesday

GPA COLETTE Wednesday

GPA ALM WODONGA Wednesday

GPA MOL EFFICIENCY Wednesday

GPA PRIMAVERA Wednesday

GPA MAYSSAN Wednesday

GPA AENEAS Thursday

GPA MSC BARBARA Thursday

GPA ZIM TARRAGONA Thursday

GPA MOL MOTIVATOR Thursday

OT TONSBERG Thursday

The acting general manager of Georgia Transformer, the manufacturing plant north of Rincon on Ga. 21 formerly known as EFACEC, said he knew the facility had issues but was surprised at how many problems he found.

Prabhat Jain said Thursday the plant that makes large electrical transformers lost $30 million last year, and he expects it to lose $10 million this year.

The new owners have changed the name of the plant to Georgia Transformer and are training employees and trying to lure back customers. They are planning a “grand re-opening” ceremony Sept. 26. The plant specializes in making energy-efficient transformers, competing with those made in Korea, China and Japan.

Jain also is president of Virginia Transformer Corp., which has a strategic alliance with the new owners of the plant — Caravels LLC, a private investment company owned by his daughters.

Caravels bought the facility late last year.

“Three or four months later we realized the plant had more issues than what we knew about,” Jain said. “It's an excellent group of people who want to work and do a good job, but they didn't have good leadership or training.”

Jain said the new owners are emphasizing training, increased efficiency and the importance of reliability and quality. He said none of the 200-plus employees have been laid off since the ownership change. He said the plant had as many as 385 workers at one time as EFACEC under its Portuguese former owners.

He expects the plant to add 150 to 200 jobs over three years, starting in the second half of next year.

Average pay for production workers at the plant is $19 an hour, not including benefits, according to controller Steven Bahlmann.

Bahlmann said the plant is running three shifts and paying a lot of overtime.

“We do have a lot of work but not as much as we want,” said Balhmann, who served as chief financial officer of Moon River Studios for two months before joining Georgia Transformer.

Jain said the large electrical transformers the plant makes are unique and cost from $1 million to $3 million.

Since the lead time from when an order is placed to when a transformer is delivered is 30 weeks, it took a while for customers to figure out they weren't getting a top-quality product from EFACEC, Jain said.

He said he expects the problems to result in a lull in work the first and second quarters of next year “while we are waiting for customers or wooing them to come back.”

The company is trying to bring back business from large utility companies and add business from renewable energy such as solar and wind.

The plant built 34 transformers in 2014 and already has built that many in 2015, Bahlmann said. Jain said he expects the plant to build as many transformers next year as it does this year but not enough to make a profit.

He expects the plant to turn a profit in 2017.

The transformers go to customers all over the world, via train, tractor-trailer or barge on the Savannah River, which is four miles away.

Savannah State to add advanced math degree

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved the addition of a master of mathematics program at Savannah State University. The current academic year will be used to plan, finalize curriculum development, recruit students and promote the program.

Degree offerings will begin with the fall 2016 semester.

Since 2007, Savannah State’s mathematics department has grown from five full-time tenure-track faculty and 15 majors to 11 full-time tenure-track faculty, four full-time temporary instructors and 90 mathematics undergraduate majors.

“It is a natural complement to our STEM-based School of Teacher Education offerings, and it helps to address the shortage of mathematics and STEM teachers within the K-12 system locally, in the coastal Georgia region and statewide,” said Jonathan Lambright, dean of the College of Sciences and Technology.

For more information or to apply, call 912-358-4195 or go to grad@savannahstate.edu.

Extended care center receives ‘gold’ honors

Effingham Extended Care Facility has been recognized as a 2015 recipient of the Gold–Excellence in Quality Award for superior performance in the long term and post-acute care profession.

The award is one of three presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living to recognize organizations that meet rigorous standards and serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality care.

“This award is a symbol of our team’s outstanding hard work and dedication to quality. We will never stop improving,” said Norma Jean Morgan, Effingham Health System CEO and care center administrator.

The Effingham center, a 105-bed skilled nursing facility, was one of six providers nationwide to receive the Gold–Excellence in Quality Award this year.

Mall, nonprofit team to fight childhood cancer

CURE Childhood Cancer and Oglethorpe Mall will host the third annual CURE Kids’ Party, which will be in the JCPenney Court at the mall from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 5.

The event will launch CURE’s Kids Conquer Cancer One Day at a Time, which will honor several local children as part of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. CURE’s website will feature children from throughout the state who are battling cancer or are childhood cancer survivors.

The event at Oglethorpe Mall will feature several local children and families, as well as face painting, a photo booth, gold nail painting, costumed characters and more fun for families. Face and body painting are free for CURE kids and a $10 donation to CURE for others.

For more information, contact Mandy Garola at 912-507-9897 or mandy@curechildhoodcancer.org.

The National Tour Association, an organization whose members have the potential to bring numerous tourists to Savannah, hosted its annual conference in the Hostess City this week and had its opening reception Thursday evening at the Green-Meldrim House.

“We pursued this opportunity for three or four years. Finally, we were selected to host the event,” said Joe Marinelli, president of Visit Savannah. “We’ve really, really worked hard to put together a couple of days that would really showcase the Savannah experience.”

The National Tour Association’s opening reception hosted about 150 tour operators and company owners from all over the world. People were in town to experience what the city has to offer and then sell Savannah travel packages to their clients.

“Why it’s so important to be here in Savannah is we have tour operators who have the capability to bring a lot of people to Savannah…. Lots of cities compete for this event,” said Pam Inman, president of the organization. ”We come and do a site inspection, see what the city can offer… then we select the city we think will be the best. Where we think our tour operators would like bringing people here.”

The event at the 1853 southern Gothic revival mansion featured emblematic southern bites, including shrimp and grits and fried green tomato BLTs created by local Paul

Kennedy Catering. Southern belles in costume and a Forest Gump actor traipsed the Green-Meldrim House courtyard. A pianist played classic Savannah songs inside.

“The main thing that attracted me was the history tied up with the southern charm,” said Jerry Varner of Making Memories Tours from Washburn, Mo. “We come in the springtime with all of the flowers. It’s like a different world from where we come from.”

Another member of the tour association, Beth He from Shanghai, said she was inspired to come to Savannah after she read “Gone with the Wind.”

“It’s my first time in Savannah. I did everything I could just to experience the South — tasted the ice cream, learned the philosophy of having the square instead of another shape, saw the beach. Savannah lived up to my expectations and much, much more.”

Jorge Cazenave, of AirMe from Argentina, said it was fourth trip to Savannah.

“I like the Southern experience in a quiet atmosphere; and the possibility of being in the city and out of the city quite fast,” Cazenave said. “Southern culture is something that my clients in Argentina know about. This is part of what they’d be interested in, soaking up the local culture. When we were at the theater in Savannah, we know all of the songs, like ‘Georgia on my Mind’ and ‘Midnight Train to Georgia.’ We’ve heard these songs forever.”

Marinelli added, “Our goal is for these folks to go back to their communities and their customers and say wow there’s so much going on in Savannah, we had a ball, and you will too”

Maybe you’ve spotted some Hollywood celebrities around town. Even if you haven’t seen the stars, you can see the light they’re casting on Savannah in terms of economic development.

We talk a lot about economic development in the tourism world. But what does it really mean?

The most common definition is a net gain of money into a community. However, some factors go along with that.

For example, the money coming into the area has to be new to the area. You can’t consider a new shirt shop to be good economic development because you’re just asking people who already buy shirts to buy at a different place.

So, in the film example, “Magic Mike XXL” brought about $4 million of spending into our city, which means individuals and businesses had new money in their coffers that would not otherwise have been there.

Some consider economic development to be good when you can offer new jobs to the area. This is the multiplier effect, which means when people make money, they spend it inside the community.

The only downside to the jobs side of economic development is when there are out-of-town managers, owners or stockholders who don’t spend their money in the local community.

This is why tourism and economic development are such good partners — a new activity that creates revenue from outside sources for our community. It also helps as a job creator. In Savannah, tourism is the number one employer with 25,000 jobs.

To maintain tourism as a viable aspect of our community, we have to protect it. That involves all of us whether you’re in tourism or not. Here’s a list of necessary items tourism needs to thrive, according to a group of four city planners who write a blog called “Useful Community Development.”

Retail and restaurants businesses

The city planners say tourism necessarily needs good places to dine, shop and experience the tourism product. In Savannah, we have developed amazing places and reasons to eat, drink and be merry.

Clear wayfinding

The next thing on their list is clear signs to lead guests here. We have visitor centers staged in strategic locations. We have signs welcoming to Savannah. We have a good grasp of wayfinding, but there are opportunities to improve this. For example, we need a better entry to our city from I-16. There is very little to guide the guest on that road.

Parking and restrooms

Even though Savannah was a city before modern plumbing or the automobile, we have made great strides to provide restrooms and parking to our visitors. Of course, parking is something that could always be added, but our lodging partners do a good job of providing parking and then encouraging guests to leave their cars and walk to their destination or take one of the many alternative transportations options such as trolleys, buses or bikes.

Sense of hospitality

In the South, we’re bred to be hospitable. We’re known as the “Hostess City of the South,” but it doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. We can encourage better customer service from all. This is why we teach customer service training at the Tourism Leadership Council.

Feelings of safety

This is the one we’re struggling with the most. If our guests do not feel safe, they’re less likely to return, less likely to leave their hotels and spend money, less likely to increase our economic development. This is why crime and the perception of crime are the biggest issues the Tourism Leadership Council faces.

Protecting tourism as an economic driver for Savannah is important for all of us. How will you get involved to help bring money into our city, protect the job market and increase tourism’s economic development?

If you’re looking for ways, join us at the Tourism Leadership Council, the largest nonprofit protecting the tourism community.

Michael Owens is president/CEO of the Tourism Leadership Council. Contact Owens at michael@tourismleadershipcouncil.com or by calling 912-232-1223.

By Michael Owens