SAVANNAH ― The horse-drawn tour carriage rounded Oglethorpe Square late on a sweltering June morning as City Manager Jay Melder crafted a memo about the National Weather Service’s first heat advisory of the year.

Alderman Nick Palumbo, sitting next to Melder in a meeting room with windows overlooking the picturesque square, nudged his neighbor and silently pointed in frustration at the animal-powered wagon. Why did the city government open cooling centers for people and suspend city services when the heat index is projected to hit 108 but not protect the horses until the index reaches 110?

“It just doesn’t make any sense, and that’s what I was trying to get across,” Palumbo said later in recounting the exchange.

The interaction is what Palumbo considered a tipping point in a long-sim

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