As Eric Curl reported last week in his article “Savannah employees await delayed pay increases,” the city of Savannah is planning salary adjustments for approximately 1,600 employees.

The process has been ongoing since fall of 2014, but it can’t move ahead until the city manager’s office forwards crucial information about pay levels to a consultant.

The city has also not resolved issues of salary equity for experienced public safety officers.

“I don’t think this council is willing to wait much longer,” said 4th District Alderman Julian Miller.

The delayed salary adjustments join a backlog of items at City Hall, including a rewrite of the alcohol ordinance, a proposed food truck ordinance and a zoning overhaul. Not to mention understaffing of the police department and the interminable process to construct a new Cultural Arts Center, about which many questions linger.

Sure, crafting good public policy can be a slow process at times. And, yes, in some cases it made sense to let the new mayor and council take a look at new policies before they are implemented.

The delays probably aren’t having dramatic effects on the area economy, but they are having real consequences to real people.

Imagine that you’re one of the veteran police officers who is being paid less than someone who works under you.

Or imagine that you are a young entrepreneur who wants to launch a food truck but have been waiting for several years for any ordinance at all.

Or imagine that you are considering an investment in a large performance venue, but the numbers only work if you can cater to patrons who are over 18 years old and if you can also serve alcohol. As I’ve noted before in this column, that’s a standard business model across the Southeast, but it’s against the law here in Savannah.

The new city council has divvied up some responsibilities, with newly elected 2nd District Alderman Bill Durrence taking on the unenviable task of monitoring ordinance changes. Let’s hope that the new structure helps us get somewhere on these and other issues.

In many ways, the Savannah economy is booming relative to many other cities, but that’s despite the slow and convoluted decision-making at City Hall.

Beyond the effects on individual business owners and investors, the food truck and alcohol ordinances have become symbols of a city government that simply can’t keep up with the times and can’t judge the public mood.

Those are terrible signals to send would-be entrepreneurs and investors.

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.

Bethesda Academy farm stand opens

An organic farm and garden stand operated by Bethesda Academy students and staff will be open to the public from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday on the academy’s grounds at 9520 Ferguson Ave.

The farm stand sells fresh produce, seasonal vegetables, herbs, free range eggs, a variety of plants, goat milk soap, firewood and other items.

Grass-fed ground beef raised and distributed by Bethesda Academy’s Cattle & Beef Operation is also available along with specialty cuts.

Students are involved in planting, cultivating, and harvesting all items on-site using sustainable, organic farming techniques.

For more information, go to www.bethesdaacademy.org or contact Merrin Slocombe at 912-344-7196 or merrin.slocombe@bethesdaacademy.org.

Henry, Clara Ford to be focus of lunch & learn

The Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce will have a “lunch & learn” from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Richmond Hill City Center with am emphasis on Henry and Clara Ford’s role in the community.

The luncheon will feature a presentation by Christy Sherman, executive director of the Richmond Hill Convention and Visitors Bureau and president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, and Mark Campbell, treasurer of the Henry Ford Heritage Association in Michigan.

Campbell is a great-great nephew of Clara Ford.

Guests also will hear about preparations for The Clara Ford 150 events in Richmond Hill on April 23 to commemorate her 150th birthday.

Lunch is $15, and RSVPs are required by Friday, Jan. 29. Call 912-756-3444 or email info@RHBCchamber.org.

Neighborhood Walmart to open in Hinesville

HINESVILLE — A new Walmart Neighborhood Market will open Wednesday in Hinesville with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening scheduled for 7:30 a.m.

The new store will have as many as 95 full- and part-time employees.

The new 41,000-square-foot market at 801-A E. General Stewart Way will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Its local Facebook page is www.facebook.com/walmart4519.

The grand-opening celebration will include presentations of $8,000 in grants from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation to local community groups including the Hinesville Fire Department, Hinesville Police Department, Foster Care Support Foundation, Hineshouse Project Inc., Lewis Frasier Middle School, The Coastal Georgia Alzheimer’s Association, United Military Care, Wreaths for Warriors Walk and YMCA of Coastal Georgia.

“We are proud to be a part of the Hinesville community,” said store manager Doris Delgado. “We look forward to opening and providing area residents with Walmart’s everyday low prices.”

I’m lying in my bed, eating a banana and thinking about business. I’m also thinking about myself. I’m an artist. And I’m creative. But what does creativity have to do with business?

I feel there are a thousand ways to tell this story. So I’ll just start at the beginning.

I come from Germany, from a city called Halle, which is about half an hour away from Leipzig.

I grew up speaking French to my mother and big brother and German to my father. I went to a classical music-oriented high school. When I graduated, I felt that I was not ready to continue my studies and that I should first get some experience.

On my first trip to the United States, I did social work in Pennsylvania with special-needs children. It was a good, and sometimes hard, experience. While in Pennsylvania I had my first interview with Bea Wray, executive director of The Creative Coast.

I was struck by Bea’s positivity and contagious enthusiasm. She thought it would be “great and awesome” for us to work together.

Then I went back to Germany, hoping to come back as soon as possible. I secretly hoped I would be back in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve in America. By late December I was back in the United States for my first experience as an intern in a business environment at The Creative Coast.

When I was younger, we made jokes about the appearance of businessmen: dark blue suits, briefcases, perfect smiles but cutthroats to the core. OK, this might be a little extreme, but it has some truth. Now I’m 19 years old, and I am meeting some pretty cool, even nice, business people in Savannah.

In fact, most of them have a good sense of humor.

What an interesting, and confusing, world business is. I meet dozens of new people every day: “Hi, how is it going? My name is Justin Cardiff, business development manager at HQ, a crowd funding consulting firm.”

And Elva Jiang, founder of Eva Design House, a marketing and PR platform for high end fashion designers. And Casey Herrington, program director at Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). And Taffanye Young with the city of Savannah.

Handshakes. Handshakes. And more handshakes. And on and on the day goes.

Also, what odd language we use in the business world: CEO, LLC, networking, introducing, marketing, corporation, nonprofit, tax-relief, TCC, FYI, follow-up and so on. And I must admit, some of the phrases leave me a bit perplexed: “Look how smart you are!” says Bea Wray. “Staying out of trouble?” asks every third person who walks in the door.

I know Bea is smart. Yes, it is smart to tell people they are smart. And why not tell them? We are surrounded by smart people here in Savannah and beyond. Telling people they are smart seems like good management.

In my three short weeks here in Savannah, I have attended numerous meetings, events and programs, including Lean Startup Circle, my first team meeting, a TAGTech talk, a presentation at Armstrong State University and the Downtown Rotary Club followed in the evening by the Emergent Savannah meeting.

There is not one day like another. Boredom does not exist here. OK, except maybe the first day, when I spent hours and hours sitting at a table, reading untold web pages and material about The Creative Coast, our programs, the system, and Kait Lance’s “Stuff TCC” for new interns.

Wednesdays have become special to me because of 1 Million Cups. I love to hear when a business person-slash-entrepreneur tells his or her “starts” stories. Through these you can feel the creativity it truly takes to create a new business.

It sounds like a successful business is a long ahead planned adventure. Through five years at least. This impressed me, because you can’t plan adventures, but you can learn to be prepared for every turn.

So far, it seems that one of the great strengths of The Creative Coast is this: They give people with good ideas space to let their ideas grow. They help creative people communicate with the right people, and they connect investors with brilliant startup businesses. So called “networking.”

As I listened to the discussion at last week’s 1 Million Cups gathering, the question became to me what is not business? Everything we do, from art to social work to making widgets, involves some aspect of business.

I’m a musician and will probably pursue music as a career, but knowing how business operates will help me focus even more on what is really important to me.

Maëlle C. Ludwig is a German citizen who is interning with The Creative Coast. Maelle can be reached at 912-447-8457 or maelle@thecreativecoast.org.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is bracing for its first sales decline in 13 years, despite selling a record 74.8 million iPhones in the final three months of 2015.

The giant tech company says revenue could fall at least 8.6 percent during the January-March quarter, compared with a year earlier. Analysts say the latest iPhone models are selling reasonably well, but they’re not providing the boost Apple needs to match the massive sales growth it enjoyed last year.

The company inched past its previous record, established when it sold 74.5 million iPhones in the holiday quarter of 2014. But Tuesday’s forecast implies Apple doesn’t expect to match the 61 million iPhones sold in last year’s January-March quarter.

Apple’s stock has been in a slump for months, as investors worry that the company won’t be able to duplicate last year’s growth in sales, which were in the double-digit percentages. In an interview, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said a strong dollar helped reduce revenue, as sales made with foreign currencies abroad convert into fewer dollars. He also said the company isn’t concerned about what he characterized as a short-term slowing of growth, because it has a large base of customers who can be relied on to buy new devices and pay for other services.

“We think we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been,” Maestri told The Associated Press, adding that the company estimates 1 billion Apple devices — including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Mac computers — are now in active use.

The iPhone, however, is Apple’s biggest-selling product, contributing nearly two-thirds of its revenue and a similar share of profit. Despite the introduction of new models, analysts say global demand for new smartphones isn’t growing as fast as it has in recent years. Apple is also confronting an economic downturn in China, one of its biggest markets.

The giant tech company is in no financial danger. It earned $18.4 billion in profit for the October-December quarter, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. It had $75.9 billion in revenue, an increase of 1.7 percent. Earnings amounted to $3.28 a share, which beat the $3.23 average forecast among analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates, which averaged $76.7 billion.

No one expects Apple to match those results in the current, January-March quarter, as sales traditionally drop after the holiday shopping season and the introduction of new models. But Apple’s forecast, which calls for revenue between $50 billion and $53 billion in the current period, means the company will likely fall short of the $58 billion it had a year earlier.

That would be Apple’s first year-over-year sales decline since the January-March quarter of 2003 — long before the company began selling iPhones and iPads. Back then, Apple was a fraction of its current size, reporting quarterly revenue of just $1.45 billion.

While the iPhone has been a phenomenal success, analysts say it’s difficult to match the sales surge that Apple enjoyed last year, after it introduced the first iPhone models with significantly larger screens to compete with big-screen phones from rivals like Samsung, which were hugely popular in Asia.

Analysts say last September’s release of two more big-screen phones, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, made less of a splash because they were viewed as relatively similar to the previous models, despite some new features. Analysts say the slight increase in sales for the December quarter came in part because Apple began selling the newest models several days earlier in key markets such as China.

Apple is expected to release the next iPhone models, with new features, later this year. That could fuel another surge in sales. Along with first-time buyers and people who switch from competitors’ phones, analysts say Apple can count on a loyal base of iPhone owners who will buy a new model every two years or so.

Skeptics, however, note that Apple hasn’t come up with a blockbuster product to replace the iPhone. The company’s latest report showed sales of Mac computers and iPads both declined in the previous quarter.

Apple has introduced new gadgets like a larger iPad for business users and the Apple Watch, along with new online services like Apple Pay, Apple Music and other apps. In a report this week, analyst Colin Gillis of BGC Financial warned that “the big issue for Apple” is whether the company can garner significant amounts of revenue from those new products.

NEW YORK — Soon, losing your ATM card won’t be the financial life-stopping event it used to be. Just don’t also lose your phone.

JPMorgan Chase customers will soon be able to withdraw cash or initiate other transactions using their cellphone at Chase ATMs being upgraded later this year.

The move will include new cash machines that don’t require a card and upgrades to existing machines that will allow customers to withdraw more money and in different denominations, said Chase spokesman Michael Fusco. The withdrawal limit will also be substantially higher, up to $3,000 during branch hours.

The first generation of these new ATMs will allow customers to access the machine by inputting a code found on their Chase mobile app, Fusco said. Future upgrades of machines will allow customers to use their cell phone’s near-field wireless communication feature to access their accounts, using the technology that enables shopping checkout features such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Customers will still be able to use their ATM cards if they want to, Fusco said. The cell phone technology will just be an option.

The bank’s plans were first reported by the New York Post on Monday.

Chase and other banks have been rolling out new and upgraded ATMs in a continuing effort to replace the fleets of bank tellers at each branch once needed to handle routine customer transactions. Fusco said Chase now does more transactions each month via ATMs than with tellers.

Tellers will still be in branches, however, to help with specialized customer transactions, Fusco said. Chase is also moving tellers from behind the counter to the branch floor to help customers navigate the new machines.

Other features being rolled out with the new machines eventually, the company said, will allow customers to cash checks, and pay Chase credit card bills and mortgages at the ATM. Those features will arrive within the next two years.

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday as the price of oil made another abrupt reversal, this time rising almost 4 percent after falling sharply the day before.

Energy stocks climbed along with the price of oil, and Chevron and Exxon Mobil made major gains. Strong fourth-quarter results from beleaguered wireless provider Sprint gave telecom stocks a boost. Quarterly earnings also sent several stocks higher, including Post-it Notes maker 3M, Procter & Gamble, which makes Crest toothpaste, and luxury handbag maker Coach.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 282.01 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16,167.23. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 26.55 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,903.63. The Nasdaq composite index added 49.18 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,567.67.

Energy stocks gained ground as the price of U.S. crude rose $1.10, or 3.7 percent, to close at $31.45 a barrel in New York. It fell almost 6 percent Monday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, rose $1.30, or 4.3 percent, to $31.80 a barrel in London. Despite the rebound, U.S. crude is down almost 18 percent this month.

Exxon Mobil picked up $2.72, or 3.7 percent, $76.70 and Chevron rose $3.23, or 4 percent, to $84.12.

Quarterly earnings contributed to many of the biggest moves of the day. Procter & Gamble reported a larger profit in the fourth quarter as it raised prices and cut costs. The maker of Pantene shampoo, Crest toothpaste and Charmin toilet paper added $1.96, or 2.6 percent, to $78.81.

Coach reported a greater profit than analysts had expected, and its stock rose $2.98, or 9.8 percent, to $33.33. Even with that big gain, however, it’s down 10 percent over the last 12 months.

3M, which makes industrial coatings and ceramics, reported a greater profit and more revenue than analysts expected. It rose $7.21, or 5.2 percent, to $144.78.

The Dow had its best day since early December. Many of the companies making the biggest gains, including Exxon, Chevron and 3M, are Dow components. The Nasdaq made smaller gains because tech stocks didn’t rise as much as the broader market.

Huntington Bancshares agreed to buy competitor FirstMerit Corp for $3.4 billion. The deal would create the largest bank in Ohio, and the companies would have about $100 billion in combined assets. FirstMerit added $2.82, or 18.3 percent, to $18.19 and Huntington lost 75 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $8.50.

Sprint, the fourth-largest wireless provider in the U.S., posted a smaller loss in its third quarter and said its aggressive promotions lured in more users. The company raised its outlook for the year.

Sprint’s stock rose 47 cents, or 18.7 percent, to $2.99. The stock, which hit an all-time low last Wednesday, has been on a wild ride the last few days, jumping almost 15 percent Friday and then falling 12 percent Monday, when Sprint said it had cut about 2,500 jobs since last fall, or 8 percent of its staff.

Other telecom stocks also jumped Tuesday. Verizon Communications gained $1.22, or 2.6 percent, to $48.25.

While the market made broad gains and undid most of Monday’s losses, it’s still down substantially this year and there are signs investors have big worries about the global economy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2 percent from 2.01 percent and the yield on the two-year Treasury note dipped to 0.84 percent from 0.86 percent. In the last week the yields on those two bonds have gotten closer than they’ve been since June 2008, a sign that investors are concerned about economic growth.

“Fear is the biggest driver,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist for Janney Capital. LeBas said investors are also anticipating weaker inflation and think the Federal Reserve will be more cautious about raising interest rates because the market has experienced so much turmoil this month.

U.S. government bonds get more popular with investors when the economy looks dicey because the U.S. government is extremely likely to make good on its debt. Investors are willing to accept lower interest payments when they are concerned about safety.

When yields on longer-term bonds like the 10-year bond fall toward the yield on short-term bonds, it signals that investor expectations for future growth have dimmed.

France’s CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent and Germany’s DAX picked up 0.9 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.6 percent. However Asian markets were hammered by Monday’s slide in oil prices, which can signal weak demand. The Shanghai Composite dropped 6.4 percent to finish at 2,749.78, the lowest since December 2014. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.4 percent to 16,708.90.

Gold rose $14.90, or 1.3 percent, to $1,120.20 an ounce and silver gained 31 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $14.564 an ounce. Copper picked up 1.9 cents to $2.158 a pound.

The price of gold has risen 5.8 percent this year. Only 13 stocks in the S&P 500 have made a bigger gain.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 1.7 cents to $1.047 a gallon and heating oil gained 3.2 cents, or 3.5 percent, to 96.8 cents. Natural gas added 2.2 cents to $2.18 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The euro edged up to $1.0844 from $1.0837, and the dollar rose to 118.54 yen from 118.48 late Monday.

Strong fourth quarter for Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. reported net income of $1,584,000, or $0.19 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to $1,310,000, or $0.16 per diluted share a year earlier.

Net income available for calendar year 2015 was $5,998,000, or $0.71 per diluted share compared to $4,843,000, or $0.57 per share in 2014.

Bank officials said the 23.85 percent increase in net income was driven primarily by a reduction in provision for loan losses, non-interest expense and preferred stock dividend payments.

“In addition to solid earnings for the year, we also had significant asset quality improvement,” said Ed Loomis, president and chief executive officer. “Total non-performing assets were $23.25 million at Dec. 31, 2015, which is a reduction of 19.10 percent from the prior year end.”

The highlight during the quarter, he said, was approval by regulatory agencies to redeem 5,146 shares of preferred stock at par.

Real estate group named Keller Williams number one

The Heather Murphy Real Estate Group of Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners has been named the top Keller Williams team in the Greater Savannah Area with more than $50 million in sales production and 211 homes sold in 2015.

This is the third consecutive year the group ranked as the No. 1 sales team in the area for Keller Williams.

“Fortunately, I have the honor to work with an incredible team of experts,” Murphy said. “We all play a vital role and offer a diverse depth of industry knowledge …”

The Heather Murphy Real Estate Group was founded in 2011.

For more information, go to www.heathermurphygroup.com or call 912-398-6368.

Tech companies asked to apply for ‘top 40’ contest

Savannah area tech companies are invited to apply for consideration for “The 2016 Top 40/Top 10 Innovative Companies in Georgia” presented by The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

The Top 40 will be awarded based on specific criteria including: degree of innovation, scope and financial impact of innovation, likelihood of success and promotion of Georgia’s innovative efforts nationally and internationally. Eligible companies will be Georgia based and focused on the development and dissemination of technology.

Top 10 companies will be asked to present at the 2016 Georgia Technology Summit on Thursday, March 17, at the Cobb Galleria Center in Atlanta.

Interested companies have until Jan. 29 to apply.

To apply, go to https://tagonline.wufoo.com/forms/p9thlie14gjfyp/.

For more information about TAG and the Georgia Technology Summit or to register for the event, go to http://www.tagonline.org/events/georgia-technology-summit/.

Safe Kids Savannah, a part of The Children’s Hospital on the campus of Memorial University Medical Center, has received a $150,000 grant from the Georgia Power Foundation.

“At Georgia Power, safety is our No. 1 priority,” said Cathy Hill, vice president of Georgia Power’s Coastal Region. “Both Georgia Power and Safe Kids Savannah work to reduce accidental injuries to children in southeast Georgia.”

Safe Kids Savannah provides outreach and education in home safety including electrical safety, sports and recreation safety, water safety, pedestrian and bike safety and child-occupant car safety.

“As the only children’s hospital and the only Level 1 trauma center in the region, Memorial has the facilities to care for seriously injured children, but we know that the best medicine is prevention,” said Bill Lee, Memorial senior vice president and chief strategy officer. “This generous grant will help us provide education and resources to keep our children safe.”

Safe Kids Savannah is a partner with Chatham County Public Works and Park Services, the Coastal Health District, the Chatham County Aquatics Center, Georgia Safe Routes to School and First Steps, Parents of Newborns.

The importance of online marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) for business growth is one of those ideas that not too many people disagree with. It’s also vague enough that many business owners don’t know exactly what that means and where to start.

Let’s change that. Below are the core essentials to help you create a focused — yet overarching — online marketing plan.

Define your brand

Name? Check. Logo? Check. Website? Check. Having these are great, but that doesn’t make a brand. Your brand should define your business story and voice.

Just as you represent your business in a meeting personally, your site should represent yourself and your business online.

It serves to create a memorable impression and set you apart.

Everything on your site should define or enforce your brand and story.

Not just colors or logo but the content you provide, wording, the fonts, photos, everything. Those should all be a part of your brand.

How do you go about defining your brand?

Ask yourself why you started your business and talk about where you focus your passion.

Do informal surveys among your customers to find out what they do and don’t like about your company.

Research your competitors to find out what or why you do things differently. Your brand story should always answer the question; “Why would someone choose me?”

Create your goals

It’s a deceptively simple question, but the most important one. “Why?”

Sit down and brainstorm what you specifically hope to accomplish with an online marketing plan (other than to get new customers).

To better focus on different goals, create two categories: macro goals such as getting a new customer or online sale, and micro goals such as signing up for a newsletter, submitting a contact form or clicking on an ad.

Macro, or monetary goals typically have more tangible pieces for feedback such as pricing or features.

Micro goals are just as important as they paint a picture of your customer’s habits over time.

They can give you a specific look into what resonates with customers and how best to connect with them.

Research your keywords

This is a biggie and can’t be rushed. If your online marketing is attempting to capture traffic from keywords that are too broad, you won’t be able to compete with national brands. Keywords that are too specific may only get five searches a month.

Search patterns have changed a lot, and it’s no longer about one keyword like “shoes.”

Search query phrases and long tail keywords are what to focus on like “what are the best running shoes?” or “running shoe stores near me.”

The good news is they typically are easier to rank for and the customer is further along in the purchase funnel as opposed to just doing research.

It’s a delicate balancing act, but a lot of keyword tools are out there to help you make good decisions.

A good starting point is Google AdWords Keywords Planner (even if you’re not doing paid ads).

Make sure to take time just to brainstorm how customers may search for your services.

Track your success

You can’t tell what’s working unless you’re keeping track.

There’s lots of ways to track what’s working, from phone or email tracking programs to spreadsheets.

Even simply asking customers how they found your business and writing it on a list is better than nothing.

Spending a little more time to be organized and able to reference all of your metrics will allow you to be more efficient with both your dollars and your time.

Google Analytics is a “must-have” for your site to track visitor behavior. It can require a little coding knowledge, but there are plenty of great step-by-step tutorials.

In addition to your site’s traffic you’ll definitely want to track how your leads are coming across.

Phone, form and newsletter tracking are infinitely helpful and are offered by many third-party services.

Check any and all metrics you’re tracking at least once every two weeks to create an “executive summary” to notice any trends or areas of opportunity. Go out there and begin your beginning.

Jeremy Miller is an SEO Cowboy at Boost by Design. For questions contact him at 912-445-2359 or boostbydesign.com.

The Georgia Ports Authority opened a new, eight-lane truck gate early Thursday, simultaneously bringing online an additional 30 acres of storage for empty containers at its Garden City Terminal.

It’s all designed to facilitate the ports’ unprecedented growth while maintaining the terminal’s reputation for efficiency, said chief operating officer Griff Lynch.

“Adding 700,000 additional 20-foot equivalent container units over the past 24 months without congestion is the result of hard work and effective planning,” Lynch said. “This latest addition to our infrastructure will help ensure Savannah remains best in class.”

At its meeting Monday, the GPA board approved $55 million in additional infrastructure, which included $8.2 million to complete the third and final phase of the new Mason Empty Depot next to the Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, the on-port rail yard serving Norfolk Southern Railroad.

A growing number of empty containers continues to place a strain on terminal yard operations, GPA executive director Curtis Foltz told his board.

“The delivery this week of the first two phases of the Mason Empty Depot alleviates this strain and frees up working dock space and adjacent container yards, allowing for more efficient movement of containers to and from vessels,” Foltz said.

The new depot will add more than 1,500 container slots and increase capacity 8 percent.

Lynch said the authority will be ramping up use of the new $27 million gate as the Georgia Department of Transportation widens and adds a center turn lane to Grange Road, which will bring trucks from Jimmy DeLoach Parkway into the terminal. Construction on Grange Road improvements should be complete by 2018, he said.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is expected this spring to complete the parkway extension, providing a direct truck route between Garden City Terminal and Interstates 95 and 16.

“Adding the eight-lane interchange gate will more evenly distribute truck traffic among our three main gates and ensure the GPA’s gate infrastructure stays ahead of demand to support future growth,” Lynch said. “In conjunction with the Georgia DOT’s improvement projects on Grange Road and the Jimmy DeLoach Parkway, Gate 8 will strengthen the traffic beltway around the terminal, which is geared toward pulling trucks off heavily trafficked local roadways.”

Gate 8 is expected to process roughly a third of all truck interchanges at Garden City Terminal and will provide immediate access into the new container yard. The new traffic pattern will improve efficiency because fewer trucks will need to cross the center of the terminal.

The new gate and container yard are part of the board’s plan to maintain capacity at least 20 percent above current demand, according to GPA board chairman Jim Walters.

“Our board is guided by a proactive, rather than reactive policy,” Walters said. “The new gate and container yard will ready the terminal for future volume increases and provide service advantages for shipping lines, motor and rail carriers.”

Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.

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

GCT MAERSK SERANGOON Today

GCT JPO PISCES Today

GCT SINGAPORE EXPRESS Today

GCT SPIRIT OF COLOMBO Today

GCT HEINRICH SIBUM Today

GCT YANTIAN EXPRESS Today

GCT MAERSK WINNIPEG Today

GCT MSC ORIANE Today

GCT NYK REMUS Today

OT PARSIFAL Today

GCT COLUMBIA Saturday

GCT YORKTOWN EXPRESS Saturday

GCT MAERSK MEMPHIS Saturday

GCT MAERSK KOTKA Saturday

GCT JACK LONDON Saturday

GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESSSaturday

GCT ROSSINI Saturday

OT GENCO PROGRESS Saturday

GCT MAERSK SYDNEY Sunday

GCT MSC BEIJING Sunday

GCT NYK FURANO Sunday

GCT PAMINA Sunday

GCT ZIM TARRAGONA Sunday

OT TIGER Sunday

GCT MAERSK DENVER Monday

GCT MAERSK KINGSTON Monday

GCT SEA-LAND CHARGER Monday

GCT NYK DAEDALUS Monday

OT ENDURANCE Monday

GCT NYK ORPHEUS Tuesday

GCT CMA DON GIOVANNI Tuesday

GCT NINGBO EXPRESS Tuesday

GCT ZIM LUANDA Tuesday

GCT COSCO PRINCE RUPERT Tuesday

GCT HANGZHOU BAY BRIDGE Tuesday

OT K. JASPER Tuesday

GCT FRISIA INN Wednesday

GCT XIN CHONG QING Wednesday

GCT AL BAHIA Wednesday

GCT MAERSK KOKURA Wednesday

GCT OSAKA EXPRESS Wednesday

GCT NEVZAT KALKAVAN Wednesday

GCT DEIRA Wednesday

GCT NYK DEMETER Wednesday

GCT NYK ROMULUS Wednesday

GCT BEAR HUNTER Wednesday

GCT HANJIN BUENOS AIRES Wednesday

OT BBC FUJI Wednesday

GCT NORTHERN MAGNITUDE Thursday

GCT MSC KLEVEN Thursday

GCT SANTA BETTINA Thursday

GCT MOL EXCELLENCE Thursday

GCT MOL MAESTRO Thursday

GCT ZIM VIRGINIA Thursday

GCT MSC MICHAELA Thursday

GCT LESSOW SWAN Thursday

GCT ATLANTIC ALTAIR Thursday

Metro Savannah’s unemployment rate for December was 5 percent, up from 4.9 percent in November, the Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday. The rate in December 2014 was 6.1 percent.

The rate for the three-county area — Chatham, Bryan and Effingham — rose as the labor force rose by 1,772 to 175,301.

New entrants in the labor force searching for a job are counted as unemployed. Also, the number of new layoffs as measured by number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 63.1 percent.

The number of initial claims rose by 514 to 1,328 in December. Most of the increase came in administrative and support services, manufacturing and construction, trade, transportation and warehousing and accommodations and food services. However, over the year, claims were down by 408, or 23.5 percent, from 1,736 in December 2014.

While the rate increased, employers created 900 more jobs. The number of jobs increased to 175,200, or 0.5 percent, from 174,300 in November. Most of the increase came in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and manufacturing.

Over the year, Savannah gained 6,900 jobs, for a 4.1 percent growth rate, up from 168,300 in December 2014. Most of the job gains came in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation and warehousing.

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.3 percent, while the heart of Georgia-Altamaha and the River Valley regions had the highest at 6.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was 5.5 percent, down from 5.6 percent in November. It was 6.6 percent in December 2014.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.georgia.gov.

Jaycees announce dates, topics for leadership series

The Savannah Jaycees’ Leadership NOW Series for 2016 will feature six presentations from area experts sharing insights on professional development.

Open networking will begin at 5:30 p.m. for each program, which will run from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Savannah Jaycees’ headquarters, 101 Atlas St.

The first lecture “The Psychology of Productivity” will be presented Tuesday, Feb. 2, by Melissa Gratias, who has a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology and 15 years of corporate management experience. She will discuss the importance of being organized, setting priorities and balancing work and life.

Other programs will include:

• April 5: financial planning

• June 7: health and wellness

• Aug. 2: mentorship

• Oct. 4: city government

• Dec. 6: professional and personal branding

Speakers will be announced throughout the year via Savannah Jaycees’ Facebook page: facebook.com/savannah.jaycees

The sessions are free for members, $10 for guests with the first visit free. Dinner and drinks will be provided.

For more information, go to savannahjaycees.com.

Lean Six Sigma seminar set for South University

South University, Savannah will host a Lean Six Sigma seminar for business professionals on campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 11.

The seminar will offer insight into how to make data-driven decisions, solve problems more effectively and improve overall business operations.

Participants who complete the day’s course work and score at least 80 percent on the certification examination will receive Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification of Completion.

Peter J. Sherman, a partner at Riverwood Associates, will lead the workshop.

Standard registration is $385. Georgia Manufacturing Alliance members and South University alumni and students will receive a rate of $249.

For more information and registration, go to http://ow.ly/TCBzB.

Coffee networking set in Bluffton

BLUFFTON, S.C. — The Greater Bluffton Chamber of Commerce will have its February Morning Coffee Networking event from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the Holiday Inn Express in Bluffton.

Jasper County Economic Development Director Phil Richardson will talk about the new Jasper County Port, a joint project between South Carolina and Georgia as well as the new PointSouth Commerce Park in northern Jasper County.

The 50,000-square-foot building will have a 30-foot ceiling to accommodate both manufacturing and distribution operations.

The morning coffees are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Greater Bluffton Chamber at 843-757-1010.

Pace Lighting wins highest industry honor at arts awards

Savannah’s Pace Lighting was awarded the top honor for a lighting showroom on Jan. 22 during an annual awards gala recognizing the top tier of lighting and furniture retailers, designers and manufacturers in North America,

The company received the ARTS Award in the “Retailers” category for Lighting Showroom in the East/Atlantic region of the United States during the event led by the Dallas Market Center and the Accessories Resource Team (ART).

Pace Lighting was judged against two other lighting showrooms after finalists were selected by a nominating committee of industry professionals who evaluated the hundreds of nominees submitted online.

“Winning an ARTS Award is a dream come true and is one of the most humbling honors Pace Lighting could receive from our distinguished peers,” said Pace CEO Lisa Dixon. “It is a testament to the entire Pace Lighting team and the passion with which we serve our mission – the inspired illumination of your space.”

For more information, go to dallasmarketcenter.com/artsawards.

SXSW Savannah Takeover networking event

Creative Approach and the Metro Atlanta Chamber will host the SXSW Savannah Takeover networking event for Savannah innovators and business professionals from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at 408 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Guest speaker Kate Atwood of the Metro Atlanta Chamber will discuss the partnership opportunities available, including expos, venues and signature panels at this year’s SXSW event in Austin, Texas.

Last year’s trade show exhibit drew more than 70,000 people, with 90,000 expected this year. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact Cale Hall at cale@mycreativeapproach.com or at 912-308-7247. An event page has been created at www.Facebook.com/MyCreativeApproach.

Junior League accepting scholarship applications

Kids Who Care is a program designed to salute high school seniors who have made a difference in the lives of others by volunteering, and $5,000.00 in college scholarships are available for those students.

The scholarships will be awarded to seniors from the Lowcountry area in recognition of their outstanding volunteer service and outstanding community involvement, not on academic or athletic ability.

To nominate a student, go to the Junior League of Savannah website at www.jrleaguesav.org (under Community Impact & Applications). The application deadline is March 15.

Nominations may be made by principals, counselors, students, community groups and individuals, as well as self-nomination by the student.

For more information, email Yuntalay Gadson at ycgadson@gmail.com.

The iconic Realty Building at 24 Drayton St. in Savannah’s historic district has been sold for $7.9 million.

SCG Drayton LLC sold the 94-year-old building to 24 Drayton Street Properties LLC.

It currently consists of commercial/retail space on the first floor, which is occupied by Rivers & Glen Trading Co. and Ameris Bank, and traditional office build-out in the remainder of the building.

Ashley Smith of Colliers International in Savannah represented the seller in the transaction. Smith also was responsible for leasing the building, taking it from 45 percent leased to 95 percent at the time of the sale.

The 10-story, 55,560-square-foot building was built in 1921. Smith took over as leasing agent in 2013. The building was put on the market in the summer of last year and immediately attracted a lot of attention, Smith said.

“We had five offers and a contract by October,” he said.

24 Drayton Street Properties LLC is owned by Northridge Capital, a Washington, D.C., private equity firm. The seller, SCG Drayton, is a subsidiary of South Coast Commercial, an Atlanta real estate developer.

Smith said the last half of 2015 was especially strong for the Class A Office market.

In addition to the Realty Building, which closed last month, the Garfunkel building at 400 Mall Blvd. sold in October for $16.25 million and the Mulberry in Pooler sold in August for $10.6 million.

“We haven’t seen sales of this magnitude in office market in quite some time,” he said.

“I think it bodes well for 2016 and beyond.”

Deeds, not words — facta, non verba. You may have heard this popular phrase as “actions speak louder than words.”

In the world of communication studies, we call it “nonverbal.” It’s all the stuff of communicating without words. And, as it turns out, we do a lot more communicating without words than we do with them.

In the world of customer service, the nonverbal is everything. Think about the cashier who smiles at you, the valet who holds the door or the server who looks professionally dressed for the day. These are all things that make for a good customer service experience.

At the Tourism Leadership Council, we offer training classes improve the customer service for an individual organization. We tailor these classes to fit the needs of that organization.

No matter what’s the purpose of training, we seem to always center around nonverbal communication. It affects the way we relate to the customer, the way we relate to our co-workers and the way we relate to ourselves.

Just this week, I conducted training for employees of one of the largest catering companies in Savannah. We spent a good bit of time on how we communicate without words.

Maybe you work in tourism or another industry in Savannah, and knowing the characteristics of the nonverbal can help you. Take into consideration the following points:

1. We’re always communicating something.

Whether in the way you wear your hair or the time you show up for work or the fact you said nothing at all, you are communicating something.

Take notice of what you’re communicating. Is it what you believe about yourself? Or do you need to make a few changes? Ask a trusted friend, “What am I communicating when you look at me?”

2. We convey emotion without words.

This is why dogs and kids are good at reading adults. They’re looking for the nonverbal cues we’re sending about our emotional state. It’s also one of the reasons why we talk often in customer service about smiling. It’s a great way to set a positive mood.

3. We don’t even know we’re communicating.

What we say with our words and what we say with our nonverbal may conflict. It’s because our gestures, expressions and tone are largely unconscious. As a rule, people generally trust the nonverbal cues more than the words that come out of your mouth.

Maybe you’ve seen those detective shows where some character is really good at catching a liar. The method the character uses is to watch the subtle nonverbal cues and see if they conflict with what they’re saying.

In customer service, you have to be mindful of what message you’re sending. If you say, “Welcome to the restaurant” when a guest walks in the door but your tone and facial expression are indifferent, then your guest will not believe your welcoming statement.

4. We can be confusing with our nonverbal.

Because this type of communication can be more ambiguous, it can be miscommunicated. This is why we have to be clear, and for those who are really adept at communicating, follow up a nonverbal with words.

This is a common complaint I hear about a guest who mistakes kind customerw service with a pickup line. At times, you have to back off and make sure you’re communicating clearly with a guest.

Knowing a little more about the characteristics of nonverbal communication is good, but you may want to control it. It’s easier said than done.

You can become more self-aware. When you are fully aware of the signals you send, you have a greater opportunity to not only control them but evaluate them as well. When you notice you are sending unintentional signals, you can try to suppress them or change them.

You can also control your emotions. Tap into what you’re feeling and begin to produce a counter response to mask, control or subdue your actual reaction.

Whether in the world of customer service, business or life, a closer look at what you’re communicating will only stand to benefit us all.

Molly Swagler is Vice President at the Tourism Leadership Council. She teaches customer service skills to the tourism community. You can reach her at Molly@TourismLeadershipCouncil.com.

By Molly Swagler

New Homewood Suites hotel has grand opening

North Point Hospitality Group Inc., celebrated the grand opening of its newest Savannah hotel, the 160-suite Homewood Suites by Hilton Savannah Historic District/Riverfront, on Jan. 21 with elected officials, local dignitaries and senior executives from Hilton Worldwide and North Point Hospitality Group.

“We always strive to be in the best markets with the best brands at the best locations and feel that the Homewood Suites by Hilton brand compliments the vitality of the Savannah market perfectly,” said S. Jay Patel, president and CEO of North Point Hospitality Group.

The hotel is the first to open in River Street East, a mixed-use riverfront development with multiple hotels, retail space, riverfront dining, 360 linear feet of floating dock and a parking structure with up to 600 parking spots.

The project, wholly owned and operated by North Point Hospitality, is estimated to have a total cost of more than $200 million.

E-retailer named Bluffton’s ‘start-up of the year’

BLUFFTON, S.C. — Aunt Laurie’s was recognized as the 2015 “Business Start-Up of the Year” at the first Bluffton Ball on Jan. 8 at the Bluffton Rotary Community Center.

The award, known as the “Golden Oyster,” recognizes a business that opened in 2015 by selling products and/or services in the Greater Bluffton area.

“This award is a reflection of both the contribution Laurie Brown makes to the local business community and her character,” said Shellie West, executive director of the Greater Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

Aunt Laurie’s, which was founded and is owned by Laurie Brown, is a national e-retailer that offers products and gifts made, assembled and/or packaged by individuals with disabilities. Its gift baskets and gift sets are hand-assembled by clients at the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Beaufort.

For more information, go to www.auntlauries.com or contact Laurie Brown at 843-248-421-7411 or laurie@auntlauries.com.

Armstrong State to host clothing closet

Armstrong State University’s Office of Career Services will host the Fifth Annual Clothing Closet, which provides Armstrong students with the opportunity to receive one free professional outfit to prepare for interviews, internships and jobs.

The closets will be open from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, and from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, in the Student Union Ballroom, 11935 Abercorn St.

The Clothing Closet initiative began in 2012 with a single suit donation from Armstrong President Linda M. Bleicken. By 2015, more than 1,500 articles of clothing and accessories had been collected from faculty, staff, local businesses and community members, benefiting more than 300 students.

The recent angst about the fate of Johnny Harris Restaurant got me thinking about some other interesting uses, reuses and demolitions of commercial properties in recent years.

Consider The Grey, which took over a former bus station that later turned into an auto garage before becoming Café Metropole in the 1990s. After Metropole closed, the building sat empty and deteriorating for years.

But the old Greyhound station clearly had cultural, historical and architectural significance, and it had something else too: good bones. I say that despite the crumbling ceiling and myriad other problems The Grey’s owners had to address.

It was simply a building that was well-designed for public gatherings and for food service.

Consider The Florence on Victory Drive, which took over a long-neglected space that had once been home to the Savannah Ice Factory. If you’re looking for an example of a developer incorporating older structures into a new development, Jamestown’s One West Victory is certainly an interesting one.

Consider Cotton & Rye, which took over a Habersham Street space that was originally built as a bank but later became a series of food-related businesses.

I mention those examples because they are open to the public and fairly recent, but other examples abound, especially in the downtown area, where history and architecture are regarded as more important than in some other parts of town.

The preservation movement has been a driving force in Savannah for 60 years, but for much of that time attention has been primarily focused on the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

And even in the downtown area, the forces for preservation have taken a few hits recently.

In my opinion, which is not shared by all of my readers, developer Ben Carter and his team deserve high praise for their restoration work on Broughton Street, but they were allowed to demolish a historic building at 240 West Broughton St. That lot is now covered by the massive new H&M building.

In 2014, despite the objections of a variety of preservationists and architects, the city of Savannah demolished the historic mid-century pharmacy at 916 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The building was structurally unsound, but many of us did not trust that city leadership explored all available options.

In 2015, city officials also plowed ahead with the demolition of Meldrim Row between Montgomery Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Those were residential properties, but they were rentals and warrant at least a mention in this column.

The oldest homes in Meldrim Row dated to the 1880s and almost certainly would have been occupied by Savannahians who had been enslaved just a generation earlier. It still stuns me to think that we wiped so much tangible history away.

Asking questions

Which brings me again to Johnny Harris Restaurant.

I wrote about Johnny Harris in a recent column, but the restaurant was back in the news last week after company President Norman L. Heidt sent a letter to Metropolitan Planning Commission Executive Director Tom Thomson explaining the decision to demolish the iconic Victory Drive building.

Heidt’s reasoning was clear.

The aging, sprawling 9,000-square-foot restaurant needs major investment in infrastructure, according to Heidt, and does not meet modern standards for efficiency. The owners have simply decided to close the restaurant.

And Heidt detailed an interesting trademark issue. Since Johnny Harris will still make BBQ sauce and use the image of the building on the logo, the company doesn’t want another entity to occupy it.

On social media, Heidt’s letter was met with widespread frustration, anger even derision.

Heidt made no attempt to speak for ARS Ventures LLC, but it also seems probable that the developer does not see any profitable way to fit the oddly shaped restaurant, which dominates much of the Victory Drive frontage, into a larger site plan.

In other words, the money just doesn’t add up like it did in the smaller examples of adaptive reuse that I mentioned at the top.

So could anything have been done in terms of public policy to save the building?

Historic designations, especially those that bring tax breaks and credits, might have changed the equations at some point.

We’ve also made the collective decision, over a period of decades, that we would encourage suburban-style commercial development on that stretch of Victory Drive.

If there are other commercial properties that Savannahians desperately want to be preserved, perhaps we need to start asking questions right now about possible historic protections and about the underlying zoning and future land use plans.

At the end of the day, we have a capitalistic economy and landowners have broad rights to do what they want with their own properties.

Sure, we can create systems that incent preservation and encourage development patterns that the community wants, but those efforts need to be proactive rather than reactive.

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

By Bill Dawers

Anyone looking for independent proof that Georgia Ports Authority is the fastest-growing container port in the country need look no further than the area’s historically low industrial vacancy rates.

With developers and contractors scrambling to catch up to demand, industrial vacancy rates in the area – think warehouses, distribution centers and the like – finished 2015 at the lowest year-end point ever recorded.

At the end of the fourth quarter, overall available space was at a paltry 3 percent, while availability in 100,000-square-feet and up — known as bulk inventory — was even lower at 2.7 percent.

“The market is starting to respond with some speculative building underway, but it’s still very low,” said David Sink of Colliers International in Savannah, which publishes an industrial market report every quarter.

Vacancy rates in the five-county Savannah area hit an all-time quarterly low in the third quarter of 2015 with 2.25 percent overall vacancy and 1.1 percent in the bulk category.

“So, they came up slightly at the end of the year, which is a positive sign, but the numbers are nowhere near meeting the demand,” Sink said.

Presently, some half-dozen companies — with projects in various stages of development — are pursuing build-to-suit options because they can’t find available speculative space to fit their needs, Sink said.

“Of course, building from the ground up takes longer and can cost more.”

At any rate, it’s a slow process, averaging a year to 18 months to put up a building, depending on size and use.

And time is of the essence, according to Georgia Ports boss Curtis Foltz.

With containerized cargo volume for the last two years up 700,000 — a total of 23 percent — the state’s ports continue to lead container growth in the country, Foltz told his board Monday.

The port moved a record-breaking 3.73 million TEUs — or 20-foot equivalent units — in 2015, an 11.7-percent increase over 2014, which also was a record-breaking year.

Even with December numbers down from the same month a year ago, last month was the second-highest December on record, Foltz said, giving the port container volumes it wasn’t expecting to see until 2018.

As those numbers grow, so does the demand for warehouse and distribution space.

Total industrial inventory at the end of the fourth quarter was 46.5 million square feet, with only 1.1 million square feet vacant. Another 3.2 million square feet is under construction.

Of the buildings currently under construction, five are speculative and four are being built for customers.

With a 200,000-square-foot expansion for Nordic, a 230,000-square-foot expansion for Port City Logistics, a 200,000-square-foot build for Peeples Industries and a 1.1 million-square-foot building for JLA Home, the build-to-suit properties comprise the lion’s share of new builds.

Speculative construction underway includes a 315,000-square-foot building for Chicago-based Center Point development that’s close to completion, as well as 475,000 square feet and 320,000 square feet under construction for two separate Atlanta developers.

To say that’s not enough is an understatement, Foltz said Friday.

“Available industrial space has dwindled to historic low levels,” he said. “The market demand is currently very high for space, and additional capacity can’t come on line quick enough.”

Average retail gasoline prices in metro Savannah have fallen 3.4 cents a gallon in the past week to $1.77 a gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 262 gas outlets in Savannah.

The national average has fallen 2.5 cents a gallon in the last week to $1.80, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Prices Sundday in the Savannah area were 25.2 cents a gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 20.0 cents a gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 19.8 cents a gallon during the last month and stands 25.3 cents lower than one year ago.

According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on Feb. 1 in Savannah have ranged widely over the last five years:

• $2.02 a gallon in 2015,

• $3.22 a gallon in 2014,

• $3.43 a gallon in 2013,

• $3.47 a gallon in 2012 and

• $3.00 a gallon in 2011.

Current prices elsewhere in the region include:

• Jacksonville — $1.74 a gallon, down 2.4 cents from last week’s $1.76.

• Augusta — $1.69 a gallon, down 2.7 cents from last week’s $1.71.

• South Carolina — $1.59 a gallon, down 2.4 cents from last week’s $1.61.

“February looks to start the month with gasoline prices averaging under $1.80 a gallon nationally, the lowest level since Jan. 16, 2009,” said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com senior petroleum analyst. “Crude oil prices have rebounded back above $30 per barrel in the last two weeks and with more talk of an organized cut in oil output between some of the world’s largest producers, there may be more upside potential in the future, should those talks pan out.

“For now, due to a lag time from rising oil prices, gasoline prices in many areas may continue to drift lower, but don’t be caught by surprise if in a few weeks they revert and move higher. Refiners have already begun some winter maintenance, and while supply of winter gasoline is abnormally high, once that inventory is liquidated, I fully expect gasoline prices to march higher,” DeHaan said.

For live fuel price averages, visit http://media.gasbuddy.com.

ATLANTA — Georgia Power Co. intends to add more renewable energy sources as part of its long-term plan, but not enough for environmental groups.

The plan is awaiting approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission at the end of a series of hearings. The company submitted it late Friday.

It’s a 20-year plan that the commission must approve every three years. Like the previous plan, this one seeks to add 525 megawatts of generating capacity from renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass, effectively doubling the company’s current renewable capacity.

The document doesn’t specifically include a blueprint to comply with the federal government’s Clean Power Plan because company officials note that an ongoing court challenge could alter it significantly. However, the company does address other federal environmental regulations taking effect since the last plan in 2013.

“As we navigate the changing energy and environmental landscape, striking the right balance between reliability and affordability is crucial to protecting our customers,” said John Pemberton, senior vice president and senior production officer for Georgia Power. “We remain committed to best meeting customers’ needs today while maintaining the flexibility to provide a secure energy future for Georgia.”

Where the last plan included the shuttering of 15 coal-fired generation units across the state, the latest version only calls for closing one near Albany and a combustion-turbine unit at Plant Kraft in Savannah.

Plant Kraft is already idle, with its other units shut down in the fall and the workers transitioned to other plants in the company. This was the final unit operating there, and workers from nearby Plant McIntosh ran it, according to company spokesman Jacob Hawkins.

“The overall site is in the process of decommissioning and demolition and the plant will be dismantled over the next few years,” he said. “Future use of the site has yet to be determined.”

While few observers say they’ve read the 202-page report and the multiple files of backup data, the initial reaction from environmental groups is disappointment. They wanted to see more coal plants retired this go-round, and they wanted to see more renewable fuel added.

“It wasn’t nearly as helpful on renewables as we had hoped it would be,” said Anne Blair, clean-fuels director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

A new feature in the new plan is a formula Georgia Power wants the commission to adopt for comparing the costs and benefits of renewable generation to fossil fuels and nuclear. Environmental groups have long sought such a formula, but they haven’t had enough time to figure out if what the company is recommending is agreeable.

By the time the five-man commission votes on the plan, it could look different. In the 2013 vote, commissioners increased the amount of solar the company had planned to add.