Running to fill the vacancy are a pair of republicans – Austin Hill and Wayne Noha. Since no democrat qualified for the race, the winner of the May 21 republican primary will likely be elected unopposed in November’s general election. District one is not the only election for Chatham County voters this cycle, but it is an important one for one of the county’s most populated districts.
Chatham County's first district map (in 2023)
[CHATHAM COUNTY]
Both Hill and Noha sat down with Connect Savannah to answer questions about their campaign platform, the issues they hope to address if elected, and more. Their answers are presented separately in a Q&A format.
Second candidate: Austin Hill.
Hill, 44, is the President of Austin Hill Realty and has been chairman of the Savannah Philharmonic Board of Directors. He has also sat on the boards of Leadership Savannah, the Savannah Board of Realtors and the Housing Authority of Savannah. He is Chairman of the Historic Savannah Foundation.
NOTE: This interview has been edited and condensed. Editor's notes added for clarity and further explanation.
Connect Savannah: Why are you running to represent district one? Have you wanted to get into politics before now?
Austin Hill: Clearly my background is real estate and I've done a lot of construction as well. So, as a small business owner for 25 years, people have asked me if I think that local government should be run like a small business. And my answer is absolutely, yes. It’s about accountability. It's making sure that you can offer the best product for the least amount of dollars. And it's honestly managing the county budget, and the fiscal responsibility that comes with accounting for and spending taxpayer dollars.
So, my goal is to keep property taxes at bay. You know, find ways to pay for other expenses via TSPLOST, if passed, etc. – but funds that we can use because we have so many visitors that can help us pay for our infrastructure so we can go ahead and keep those property taxes at bay. Like small businesses, you would need to make sure that all wasteful spending – like on county projects, etc. – make sure that kind of thing is cut down as much as possible.
It seems to be a common theme with a lot of the candidates running, the theme of spending and maybe wasteful spending, is that the way you see it?
Absolutely. And, to be honest with you, I think that a lot of our county, not necessarily the city people that are part of district one, but a lot of our residents on the islands are having trouble with the amount on insurance rates and everything else that has gone up. And honestly, the lack of affordability with fire fees, because of mismanagement of the fire system or the fire agencies, which we've contracted out for quite some time. So there is all of that mismanagement. And then the fire system going bankrupt, going belly up, has caused homeowners’ insurance rates to skyrocket or not even be available in some cases.
I think that there's been extreme mismanagement, to be honest. And I think you've got to have new blood in there to look at this stuff and to manage it correctly. I’ll be someone who understands what homeowners’ problems are.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Reports in February 2024 showed more abandoned calls by the 911 center in 2023 than years prior, and subsequent reports showed slower response times from emergency services than in years prior. Noha was at one time responsible for dispatch center operations, although he has not worked there in several years. Noha was also asked about this issue in his interview with Connect Savannah.
Do you think it’s a mistake to involve third-party services like the fire department was contracted out to a third party? Should the county be operating those things on its own?
I think that third party contractors and private contractors are a good thing in a lot of cases. I think that it just has to be managed correctly. It has to be managed well. I think that there were a lot of mistakes with the fire department management. I don't know, obviously, what all of the mistakes were. But there were mistakes. I can tell you from a property owner on Burnside Island, for the majority of that time, with no incidents at our property, that our fire fee kept climbing along with the property tax revenue.
So, it was never really based on the square footage system at the time. And the county is moving to that now, since the county has control over it. But it was just, to me, it seemed like it would be mismanagement at the private contractor level. Again, I don't know all the details. I was not a part of the firefighting service. I believe that Wayne (Noha) was the chief for at least a chunk of the coverage time. I don't know how that was structured or who was making the decisions, but it was a long-term process that led to it’s going under. It just got worse and worse.
What about your interest in politics? What makes you first start thinking about running for office of any kind? And what made you want to take on a campaign for this role?
I've never had an aspiration to be in politics. This has never been something that I've looked to do, or something I’ve been carefully looking to get at. I definitely don't consider myself a politician. I consider myself a small business owner who has done a lot with nonprofits in Savannah. And I've done a lot of community development and everything that I do – real estate wise or restoration wise – generally centers around the community and what I can do to better this community.
The way I see it is, this is a duty, you know? It’s a time for me to give back to my community and to help it grow in a responsible way while also helping fix some of the underlying problems. Because, I mean, that's been my career for the past 25 years, finding solutions and bringing people together. The home buying and selling process, and commercial real estate, and all of that is nothing but finding solutions and fixing problems. To do that, you have to bring people together.
How closely have you been monitoring the Chatham County government over the last year? Over the last few years? What do you think they are doing right and what are they doing wrong?
I have not been able to attend in person a lot of the meetings where they are making these decisions. I have been involved in trying to help with the SPLOST elections and stuff like that. I would say that I've been more involved at the city and county zoning levels. That’s at a city council level, because most properties that I have are in the City of Savannah as opposed to Chatham County. But, I definitely have kept my finger on the pulse of all of it, because you have to, just with the amount of business it impacts in some way.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hill has been endorsed by the likes of Stone, current City of Savannah District 4 Alderman Nick Palumbo, City of Savannah Alderwoman At-Large Carol Bell, Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher and others, according to his campaign website. Noha has been endorsed by District seven commissioner Dean Kicklighter and several area business owners, according to his campaign Facebook page.
District one is a diverse district and a large district. Have you talked to Helen Stone, who has endorsed you, about how she managed the district’s different needs?
Yes, Helen and I talk on a regular basis. You know, we do have different focuses. She has some very tough things that she has championed. With children and mental health, especially. And she's been very successful with those things. It’s admirable what she has accomplished in those fields she set out to change. I'm a business owner who believes in infrastructure and small, efficient government. So, we do have our differences in terms of how we see the government’s role. But Helen does coach me, as well as other people in the community, on the finer points of this thing. Like I said, I’m not a politician by trade. I take issues from a lot of community leaders and I've kind of melded them together and really heard what is impacting people in different ways.
I talk to people. I talk to constituents and people on Burnside Island as well as Isle of Hope and Dutch Island. Then you’ve got Whitemarsh (Island) and parts of midtown Savannah. Now, the city services, a lot of those issues are going to my good friend Nick Palumbo (City of Savannah District 4 Alderman). I look forward to working with (Palumbo) because he handles the complicated issues very, very well. And he and I communicate all the time and we see eye to eye on a lot of things. So, I mean, yes, totally different needs and a totally different community depending on which part of the district you are talking about.
Chatham County voters must be registered by April 22 to be eligible to vote in the May 21 primary. Visit Hill’s website by clicking here.
