Jordan Chase introduced Bret with a Top 10 List of things we might not know about him
: - Bret does not like wearing new clothes.👕
- He loses his phone at least once a day. 📱
- Bret makes a mean mojito. 🍹
- He’s one of the best skiers she knows. ⛷
- Bret used to be a reporter for Savannah Morning News. He’s a big fan of police reports.🗞
- He hails from Gloucester, Massachusetts - pronounced "glostah" - rhymes with "lobstah".🦞
- Bret is married to Adrienne and has a 14 year old son Hal. 👪
- He was our club president and managed to run most meetings with a top ten list.🔔
- Bret can break-dance! 🕺
- She believes he has a special aura where things just always seem to work out for him, due to his positive attitude, attention and care for those around him, and he holds all parties' best interest in mind. 😇
Metro's own Bret Bell was appointed City Manager of Tybee Island in September 2024. For the previous 18 years, he served in various positions for the City of Savannah, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Information Officer, Assistant to the City Manager, and Public Information Director. He’s a charter member of Metro Rotary.
Bret blames Jordan for recruiting him into our club, and Cecilia for instigating the Top 10 list. (It’s basically impossible to say no to both of those ladies!)
He’s been on the new job for only four months and he’s ready to share the Top 5 questions he gets thus far:
- Q: Do you wear shorts to work?
A: Heck yeah, I do! (well, once)
- Q: What’s going on with the beach?
A: The beaches have been going through a lot! Two named storms and weekly un-named storms as well, which ate away a lot at the beach. They started calling him “Bad Luck Bret” since ⅓ of the beach has eroded away since he started the job. They are trying to smooth out the ledges to make it safer, but some areas needed to be shut down. Like all barrier islands, Tybee is in a constant state of erosion. Sea level rise also contributes to this challenge. Today’s solutions are focused on Green Infrastructure and Beach Re-nourishment (the last one was in 2019 and the next one will be in Fall ‘26). This is a 20 million dollar project – not included in this is the north end erosion. There’s a big study in progress with the goal to put a permanent solution in place during the next harbor deepening project, including raising the height of the jetty. This is a long term project costing over a 100 million dollars. Another challenge are the homes close to the shore. Tybee Island is in it on their own and are working on a plan.
The 2017 Hurricane Irma aftermath led Tybee to work with the Army Corp of Engineers to start a half mile of dune construction project. Natural vegetation is doing quite well and it’s considered a national model for green infrastructure. They have partnered with the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to fly drones and measure different impacts of their work. He discussed the difference between gray and green infrastructure.
- Q: What’s going on with the flooding?
A: The south end of the island is the lowest part of the island, which is why it floods more often. One of the biggest concerns is in the case of a medical emergency, they are limited. Tybee has the fastest rate of sea level rise in America (yikes!) Between 2010 & 2023 the average level rose 7.3 inches. The previous 3 decades it only rose 3.7 inches. Six of the top 10 highest water level records have happened since 2015. They experience 7-9 coastal flooding days per year and expect 70-75 days in the next 30 years.
A2: Why? Warming oceans: Gulf stream, melting ice in the polar caps, sinking land due to over-pumping of aquifers. One of their solutions is a “living shoreline” which provides native habitat for sea creatures.
- Q: What’s happening with short-term rentals?
A: Tybee started tackling this about 5 years ago. During COVID, Tybee became a very attractive destination for regional people. Visitor numbers sky-rocketed and peaked in 2022. Along with that came a huge growth in vacation rentals. 1400 dwellings are currently permitted as vacation rentals. The City Council adopted new ordinances and they are try to phase out vacation rentals in the long run. Anyone with a rental prior to 2022 can keep the rental as long as they are still the owners. If they sell it, the permit cannot be transferred. They cannot gift it to their family and if it’s under an LLC, if any of the parties on the LLC change, the permit is void. This has created a division on the island. They are facing a number of lawsuits and there have been attempts to take away the local government’s ability to regulate the industry.
- Q: What’s the deal with Orange Crush?
A: Orange Crush has been around for a long time. It started as Spring Break for Savannah State University students. It wasn’t a big deal because it was primarily local kids. It then turned into a different event because of competing promoters with the goal to get as many eyeballs on their sponsors and logos that they are hired to promote. They started charging for beach access as well as access to various clubs to promote their client’s products. To this date, nobody has completed a full permit application. Bret has been meeting with these promoters for the past few months. He says it’s really tough and it’s why his predecessor is no longer the city manager. This year's proposed Orange Crush weekend is over Easter weekend. (In 2023, there were over 50,000 in attendance. It was rough, people were shot, officers were assaulted, and there was a lot of property damage.) In 2024, they basically shut the entire thing down with checkpoints and blocked all parking. Bret says that didn’t feel great though either, since all of the local businesses lost money on what would have been a lucrative weekend. For 2025, Bret wants to find a hybrid solution and work with all parties to come up with something everyone agrees on. This will still include heightened security, but also shared responsibility for sanitation and emergency vehicle aid.
Savannah, GA 31405
United States of America