The Cobb government/Cobb NAACP celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday next Monday will be held in a virtual setting due to the COVID-19 surge.
The county announced that the service will still begin at 10 a.m., as initially scheduled, but will be available for online viewing only on CobbTV, the county’s Facebook page and on YouTube.
The celebration includes the introducing the 2022 Living the Dream Award honorees, who are community members who demonstrate leadership and commitment to making Cobb more diverse and inclusive.
MLK Day is a day of service, and the Cobb organizers are encouraging volunteers to find opportunities via Americorps or Hands-on Atlanta.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
After Cobb commissioners got an e-mail deluge from high school swimmers and their parents over the weekend about capacity limits at aquatic centers, Chairwoman Lisa Cupid isn’t budging from restrictions designed to combat a COVID-19 surge.
Cupid issued a statement Monday saying that capacity limits at indoor county facilities include the county-run aquatic centers, and that they are necessary.
“As the mother of student-athletes, I understand the frustration from not being able to watch your children compete,” Cupid said in the statement.
“However, public health leaders have impressed upon me now is not the time to have large groups gathering together in confined spaces during this record COVID surge. Our local hospitals are nearing a breaking point, and our staff has been severely impacted due to rising cases in the county.”
Charles Barry, a junior swimmer at Walton High School, began an online petition drive over the weekend to protest the capacity limits, and his campaign is approaching nearly 2,000 signatures.
Cobb high school swimming meets regularly take place at two county-owned aquatic centers that are rented by the Cobb County School District for those events.
The restrictions were to limit total capacity to 100 people, but increases were allowed for meets over the weekend.
According to county spokesman Ross Cavitt, the largest, Mountain View, was limited to 160 people, and a maximum of 125 people were allowed at the Central Aquatic Center in Marietta.
Cupid declared a state of emergency on Dec. 22 to run through Jan. 21. That includes a mask mandate at indoor county facilities and social-distancing limits, but Cavitt said the aquatic center capacity restrictions “are not directly tied to the emergency declaration.”
In a message Sunday to East Cobb News, Barry said that “multiple people are in full support of removing the capacity limits and think that they are ridiculous and put swimmers at a disadvantage.”
He said the swim teams only found out on Thursday about the limits, which he said don’t affect practices but are “dramatically affecting meets.
“The meets are limited in capacity which causes people to sit outside in the freezing cold during meets, or separate the meets by boys and girls, or even have coaches cut the amount of swimmers,” Barry said.
He added that Walton’s combined boys and girls team includes around 100 swimmers. “It is absurd that they are limiting this because it is causing our meets to not run normally and not run how they should be.”
The Cobb County varsity and junior varsity swimming championships will be contested Jan. 20-21 at the Mountain View and Central aquatic centers.
Cupid said in her statement that the county parks director “has been in contact with Cobb school athletic directors who assured him they will be able to continue holding swim meets with the social distancing requirements in place.”
In the same statement, Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris said that “while it’s a difficult time for everyone . . . proper social distancing and reducing the number of people inside confined facilities at these events will enable us to keep the facilities’ doors open.”
A parent signing the petition complained her son, a senior swimmer, “was already cheated out a normal junior year season with all the mandates and no spectators in 2020-2021 and now he is being cheated out of having a complete normal senior season.
“He is a team captain and being a full team is what drives these kids’ spirit. Let these kids finish their season strong!”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
COVID-19 testing sites, including one at East Cobb UMC, have been overwhelmed since December.
Cobb County government said late Friday it plans to distribute more than 60,000 COVID-19 at-home testing kits paid for with federal CARES Act funding, and could spend more to purchase more tests.
A release sent out by county spokesman Ross Cavitt said that Cobb commissioners will be asked Tuesday to ratify a decision by the Cobb Emergency Management Agency to spend $816,480 in CARES Act funds for the tests, which cost $13.50 each (agenda item here).
He said that “the goal is to target segments of the community where people have had difficulty accessing testing” and that the aim is to have distribution events in each of the four Cobb commission districts, “along with help from nonprofits, churches, and other groups to get these COVID self-test kits to those in the county who need them the most.”
Commissioners will be meeting in a virtual setting next week, including their Tuesday morning business meeting. That meeting, which starts at 9 a.m., will begin with a COVID-19 update from Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who switched the meetings to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 spike, has declared a state of emergency in the county through Jan. 22.
Earlier this week, Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Leonard halted jury trials through Jan. 21 due to rising COVID-19 transmission.
Cavitt said that county leaders want to receive the kits and hold a distribution event on the Martin Luther King holiday on Jan. 16.
“County and Public Health officials are working with the Cobb County NAACP chapter to finalize details of the event,” Cavitt said.
In the release, Cupid was quoted as saying that “we have the resources to be able to help many of our residents who have told us getting tested for COVID has been a challenge. So it makes sense to use these federal relief funds to help distribute test kits to help contain the spread of COVID in Cobb.”
Cavitt said the Cobb Emergency Management Agency will store the kits “while a plan to distribute them across the county comes into focus.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
For a larger view of the proposed City of East Cobb boundaries, click here.
A second attempt to pass legislation for East Cobb Cityhood was unveiled in early 2021, just a few months after it appeared to be a dead issue.
A local legislator who wouldn’t sign on to a cityhood bill in 2019 said just that, but in March became a co-sponsor of legislation to be considered by the Georgia General Assemby in 2022.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper joined efforts with fellow East Cobb Republican lawmaker Matt Dollar to revive the idea of cityhood.
The proposed boundaries and services are different from the 2019 campaign, which was abandoned by cityhood leaders after substantial opposition surfaced.
Local elected officials also were lukewarm to the proposed City of East Cobb, which would have included more than 100,000 people.
(See our complete archive of past cityhood stories by clicking here.)
Some new faces to the cityhood committee prompted changes in the legislation by Dollar (who won’t be seeking re-election in 2022 after being drawn into the same district with Cooper).
The Johnson Ferry Road corridor runs along the middle of the proposed city boundaries , with a population of around 55,000.
Initially, the proposed services were planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.
The cityhood group held virtual town halls and met individually with some civic and business groups as a financial feasibility study was conducted.
That study, released in November, included police and fire services that had were in the 2019 campaign.
Cityhood leaders said there was strong support for public safety services based on feedback in polling, and the study concluded that the city would have an annual surplus of $3 million annually.
A proposed city hall would be located at the East Cobb Government Service Center, which would be purchased from Cobb County, and where the Precinct 4 police station and a Cobb Fire station are located.
Like three other cityhood bills in Cobb—Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton—the East Cobb effort remains centered around development, zoning and density issues in unincorporated Cobb.
The East Cobb bill will still need a state Senate sponsor when it comes up in the legislature in January.
If that bill passes, a referendum would take place in November 2022, giving voters in the proposed city the final say on whether there will be a new municipality.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Long lines of vehicles backed up traffic on Roswell Road and East Piedmont Road Wednesday for COVID-19 testing at East Cobb United Methodist Church. ECN photo
For the fourth time in recent months, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the county due to rising COVID-19 cases.
The new order takes effect immediately and will continue through Jan. 22, 2022.
The emergency declaration allows the county to implement an emergency operations plan, hold public meetings virtually and encourage residents to take precautions.
Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris also has reinstated a mask mandate inside county buildings (but not outdoor facilities like parks).
“This is unlike any other surge we’ve ever had before,” Cupid said in a video message after signing the declaration.
On Wednesday, Georgia Department of Public Health data showed a reported 636 new cases in Cobb, the single-highest figure since 966 cases were reported on Jan. 8 during a winter surge.
That’s according to “date of report” figures, many of which lag from previous days and weeks; the “date of onset” category operates on a two-week lag and as of Wednesday the preliminary estimate is 417 cases.
“The stress on our hospitals is increasing, and both public and private COVID testing facilities are overwhelmed,” Cupid said in a statement issued by the county.
“Even though this is just prior to Christmas, I wanted to act quickly to help slow the spread of this new variant in our community.”
Three previous month-long emergencies were declared by Cupid August, September and October, but the oncoming Omicron variant has pushed transmission rates, hospitalizations and other metrics over the last two weeks.
There is not a mandate in Cobb for masks regarding private-run businesses or other non-county entities.
The Cobb mandate also does not affect the Cobb County School District, which has a masks-optional policy and is on a holiday break until Jan. 6.
Cobb courts have been requiring masks under a separate judicial order from the Georgia Supreme Court.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health continues to offer free COVID-19 tests and vaccines. For information and to book appointments, please click here.
Cobb COVID-19 cases are on a surge for the third time in 2021. For more data from the Georgia Department of Health, click here.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An Amazon Prime delivery truck tried to make a delivery at Tokyo Valentino in July, days after it was ordered closed by a Cobb judge. Photo: ECN file
After months of legal wrangling, an adult retail store on Johnson Ferry Road closed without much of a murmur in September 2021.
A “For Lease” sign was raised over a window at the Tokyo Valentino store while the business’ owner continued fighting a Cobb County government effort to permanently revoke its operating license.
In July, a Cobb Superior Court judge issued an injunction for the store to temporarily close, after claims by the county that Tokyo Valentino falsely applied to open a clothing store, then featured an inventory mostly of sex toys after opening in June 2020 as Tokyo Valentino.
During a court hearing, county officials said Tokyo Valentino had not applied for 2020 business licenses, was staying open past its required closing time and was violating other provisions of a new adult business ordinance.
Cobb commissioners voted in late 2021 to revoke the store’s business license, but Tokyo Valentino appealed to the courts, as it has done in other battles with metro Atlanta jurisdictions.
But a federal lawsuit filed against the county was dismissed and sent back to Cobb. After the Superior Court injunction in July, Tokyo Valentino appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals, but that also has been remanded back to the local level.
Last fall, the Tokyo Valentino store was robbed by a burglar whom police allege stole more than $21,000 of lingerie, sex enhancement pills, CBD products, sex toys and gift cards.
The store was open for a little more than a year; a new tenant for that space is still being sought. Another Tokyo Valentino store, in the city of Marietta near the Big Chicken, remains open, but also is involved in court disputes.
As he was giving up on his East Cobb location, Tokyo Valentino owner Michael Morrison told the AJC that “I don’t see much of a future in this business,” noting how general changes in the retail industry also were affecting adult businesses.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles is upgrading its system for title and tag registration, and those services will be unavailable across the state, including in Cobb County, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3.
There will be no in-person services starting at 4 p.m. Dec. 30, and online and kiosk services stop at 7 p.m. the same day.
Services will resume at 8 a.m. on Jan. 4.
Motorists needing to renew their tags or register vehicles are encouraged to do so ahead of time. For more information visit CobbTax.org.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Juneteenth—a celebration of the emancipation of slaves first made at the end of the Civil War—was made a county holiday Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
That date will be marked on Monday, June 20, 2022, the day after Juneteenth, which became a federal holiday this year.
But the vote wasn’t unanimous, as Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb opposed the measure.
Saying while she has nothing against the commemoration, she said that “it’s also a cost to the taxpayers. . . . It’s almost being done as a way to retain county employees.”
The cost for giving county employees the day off will come to around $300,000.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said officially observing Juneteenth is “an opportunity to recognize the freedoms that we all have that were not contemplated in our original Constitution.”
Not to make Juneteenth a county holiday, she added, “would send a dispiriting message to people who had a nuanced road to freedom.”
The Cobb NAACP has been organizing Juneteenth celebrations at the Marietta Square for a number of years.
Gambrill said that this will be 12th official county holiday, and cited a report saying that the typical private sector holidays in the county are only a little more than seven.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved spending $105,000 in county reserves for additional overtime for the 2021 World Series games at Truist Park, and for a celebratory parade and event at the stadium for the Atlanta Braves. That vote was 5-0.
That funding is in addition to $350,000 commissioners approved before the games. After the vote, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb asked Cobb Finance Director William Volckmann about the economic impact estimates of the World Series.
He said a report is forthcoming in the first quarter of 2022 by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the Cobb Travel and Tourism agency.
Commissioners also recognized several retiring county department heads, including Cobb Police Chief Tim Cox.
He’s been a 30-year veteran of the department, including a stint as commander of Precinct 4 in East Cobb, and has been police chief since 2019.
The commissioners will meet next Tuesday for their final zoning hearing of the year; a second regular business meeting slated for next week has been cancelled.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Terrell Mill Estates resident Denise Canteli showed Cobb commissioners photos of flood damage in her yard during the September storms.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners has directed the county’s water department to craft proposals in the coming weeks for the possible creation of a stormwater fee.
By a 3-2 vote, commissioners set in motion a process to address stormwater management issues that have existed for years, but that most recently have angered citizens in East Cobb after heavy flooding in September.
The possible creation of a stormwater fee was first raised following a consultant’s report in 2005, but no action has been taken along those lines, Cobb Water System director Judy Jones told commissioners.
“These aren’t new initiatives,” she said. “They’re ongoing.”
A revised agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting requested consulting assistance to prepare code amendment proposals that would be voted on later by commissioners.
Since 1994, stormwater management has been handled by the Cobb water system, and is funded by water and sewer revenues.
The current fiscal year 2022 Cobb stormwater budget is $2.26 million and its current capital improvements budget is $4.5 million.
Of the 1,800 miles of drain pipes in county right-of-way areas, 70 miles need replacing. In addition, the agenda item notes, “there is a significant backlog of stormwater projects, including 93 pipe failures that have resulted in sinkholes. The Water System does not have sufficient staffing or funding to complete these projects in a timely manner.”
Jones told commissioners that her office had been crafting stormwater proposals for several months, before the September floods, and has been pulling away employees from her short-staffed department to do so.
Meanwhile, East Cobb residents who were impacted by the September floods are still dealing with the devastating aftermath.
East Cobb resident Hill Wright, who leads a citizens group pressing the county for action, said during a public comment period at Tuesday’s meeting that stormwater services are “playing second fiddle in the water department” and urged the creation of a separate stormwater department.
He’s been especially critical of what he says has been a poor response by the county, and suggested that Cobb use federal funds under the American Rescue Plan Act to develop “a long-term plan.”
Jones said the county could use ARPA funds for purposes as outlined in state water quality guidelines, but “they can’t just be used to repair a pipe.”
The expanded services she’s recommending are related only to maintaining existing stormwater facilities, and “do not include upsizing pipes or flood recovery assistance.”
That last issue was noted by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb, who also said that she couldn’t “support another utility fee” with Cobb water rates going up by 11 percent in January.
Also starting in 2022, residential customers in unincorporated Cobb who use less than 5,000 gallons a year will pay $1.99 a month more than those in Cobb cities who are charged for the same amount of water and sewer.
Birrell, who’s long been vocal about curtailing the amount of water system revenues transferred to the county’s general fund, voted against the measures, along with Keli Gambrill of North Cobb.
Among other objections, Gambrill said that municipal customers “don’t know what they’re getting for that fee” and was concerned about adding more stormwater duties to an overworked water system staff.
Jones recommended that if a stormwater fee is created (and included on a customer’s water bill), it could be charged according to the amount of impervious surfaces on a property, instead of water and sewer usage.
Birrell suggested that such a fee might be issued to a developer, and for that to be part of the county’s upcoming consideration of a Unified Development Code.
There’s not a timetable that was mentioned for bringing action items back before the commissioners.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb County Public Library has announced special hours for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
All library branches will be closed from Thursday, Dec. 23 through Sat. Dec. 25, and they will be closed from Friday, Dec. 31 through Saturday, Jan. 1.
Regular hours will resume on Monday, Jan. 3.
For specific hours and services at each Cobb library branch, click here.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Last week Cobb County officials broke ground for the replacement building for the Gritters Library in Northeast Cobb (renderings and a previous post here).
On Monday, they were back in the area to shovel some turf for another new facility, the forthcoming Cobb Police Precinct 6.
That’s located next to the Mountain View Aquatic Center on Gordy Parkway, and the county provided the first renderings (seen above) of what it will look like when finished.
At Monday’s event were Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, Police Chief Tim Cox, Director of Public Safety Randy Crider, County Manager Dr. Jackie McMorris, and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick.
In November commissioners approved spending the first part of $5 million in 2016 SPLOST funds for the new precinct, which will initially house police special units but will not have a patrol zone.
The area will continue to be covered by Cobb Police patrols out of Precinct 4, located off Lower Roswell Road, and that stretches to the east side of Canton Road.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked on Tuesday to approve $105,574 in additional funding to help pay for expenses related to the 2021 World Series.
Commissioners had approved $350,000 for traffic, security and overtime for public safety personnel for the three World Series games played at Truist Park in late October.
But according to an agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting, additional security was needed for a fan watch party at Truist Park for Game 6 on Oct. 31, as Braves clinched the World Series in Houston.
More overtime also was needed for the Braves’ festivities on Nov. 5 that included a parade along Cobb Parkway and a celebration and concert at the ball park featuring recording artists Big Boi and Ludacris.
The agenda item states that nearly $303,000 was spent for police overtime, $51,000 for Fire Department overtime, $47,503 for Cobb Sheriff’s Office overtime, $22,735 for E911 overtime and $21,911 for road maintenance overtime.
The requested funding would come from the county government’s fund balance, just as the original $305,000 approved right before the start of the World Series.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), and the full agenda can be found here.
The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A rendering of the new Gritters Library, to be built next to the current facility.
Cobb County government has pushed back two groundbreakings of new facilities in the Northeast Cobb area that were to have taken place this week, “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
And the groundbreaking for a newly created Precinct 6 of the Cobb Police Department has been rescheduled for Monday, Dec. 13, also at 2 p.m. (2640 Gordy Parkway), adjacent to the Mountain View Aquatic Center.
Cobb commissioners approved both projects recently with funding from the 2016 SPLOST.
The new Gritters branch will be located next to the current building that opened in 1973 at the entrance to Shaw Park. The cost is $6.8 million, with commissioners finalizing the project in August with a $1.9 million grant from the Georgia Public Library Service.
In November, commissioners approved the $5 million Precinct 6 facility, which initially will house several specialized units of Cobb Police and will not have a patrol zone.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
At county library branches, patrons also were subject to temperature screenings before they were allowed to enter indoor areas.
The library system sent out a notice Tuesday that while screenings are no longer required, you’re still encouraged to wear a mask indoors “for extended stays or when attending programs.”
The mandates were reimposed in August by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who renewed the 30-day order twice after that.
The only county buildings where masks are still required are at courthouses, which are operating under a separate order issued by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Library patrons can continue to order items to be picked up curbside. The hours at the East Cobb, Gritters, Mountain View Regional Sewell Mill branches are Monday-Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5-7 p.m.; Thursday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A homeowner in Terrell Mill Estates showed Cobb commissioners a photo of damage to her property from the Sept. 7 floods.
The office of Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson announced she is holding what she’s calling a “listening session” on Dec. 2 for residents affected by severe flooding in September.
The event starts next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Cobb Civic Center (548 S. Marietta Parkway). In October Richardson held a virtual session for residents to provide information about the impact of the Sept. 7 floods.
Some East Cobb residents affected by the storms have been highly critical of the county’s response to the situation, and formed a group pressing for storm relief.
In particular, some have said county stormwater management efforts are lacking, and wanted an in-person opportunity with elected officials.
Citizens calling themselves the Cobb September 7 Storm Damage Advocacy Group spoke out at a Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting in October, but that was during a public comment session that didn’t include a dialogue with elected officials.
The group has complained said some homeowners were told they were responsible for making repairs ranging from $25,000-$250,000 for what they said was flooding caused by poor stormwater infrastructure.
In one case, they said the county accepted responsibility for a failing 48-inch stormwater pipe that caused a sinkhole in a resident’s yard, but since the pipe is only partially on that property, the homeowner is on the hook for $25,000.
The county did establish a reporting tool for residents stemming from those storms—the citizens group says that happened at the behest of a citizen, “but there was no further coordinated communication to keep residents informed.”
For residents who cannot attend the listening session but wish to provide feedback, they’re invited to email Richardson’s assistant, Aliye Korucu: aliye.korucu@cobbcounty.org.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Thursday night passed a resolution expressing support for a national opioid settlement with several pharmaceutical companies that could result in $630 million coming to the state of Georgia.
Commissioners adopted the resolution (you can read it here) by a 4-1 vote that would authorize the county to settle litigation against McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.
Voting against the resolution was Commissioner Keli Gambrill, who said that while lawsuits are ongoing, they’re doing nothing to stop opioids from “getting on the streets.”
She also expressed concerns that the county would be accepting settlement funds for programs that, when they run out, would need to be provided by the county.
“This is a very serious issue in our community today,” Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said, “and we are in a position to help our own citizens.
“We can sit and do nothing and think that helps, or we can do something and see how that helps. I would ask us to lean on the latter.”
That settlement includes a memorandum of understanding that would create a dedicated bank account for settlement proceeds. Cobb’s litigation is part of a $26 billion global opioid settlement deal.
A release issued by Cobb County government Friday said the amount of money the county could get is yet to be determined. Local governments in Georgia would get 25 percent of the funding, and the state government would get 75 percent, according to the county release.
Cobb County Attorney William Rowling said most of the funds the county would receive would be used for programs dealing with future impacts of the opioid crisis.
The county release cited Georgia Department of Public Health figures showing a 207 percent increase in opioid-related overdoses between 2010 and 2020.
Cobb has had some of the highest opioids-related deaths in Georgia in recent years, and in January 2023 the county will be the venue for one of several opioids trials. The litigation was filed in 2018 against pharmacy chain defendants that include CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Rite Aid, Kroger and Publix.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The East Cobb Government Service Center is being suggested as the city hall for the proposed City of East Cobb, which would have police and fire services.
After initially proposing what’s called a “city light” set of services—planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation—leaders behind a movement to create a city of East Cobb said they added public safety based on plenty of public feedback.
After getting comments from citizens in recent months, they said that they “unilaterally wanted police and fire to be included,” said Craig Chapin, chairman of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.
He and other committee members conducted a virtual information session Wednesday after the release of a financial feasibility study was released last week.
(You can watch the full cityhood information session by clicking here; it lasts roughly an hour.)
That study, conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University, concluded that the proposed city of 50,000 was financially viable, even with public safety, and would have a $3 million annual surplus.
State Rep. Matt Dollar and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, both East Cobb Republicans, have filed a bill for the 2022 legislature that if passed would call for a Nov. 2022 referendum on whether to create a city.
While police and fire were not mentioned in earlier virtual town halls held by the East Cobb cityhood group, Chapin said the decision was made to include those services in the study to give a future East Cobb mayor and city council a financial outline.
He also said “we wanted to be as transparent as possible” before a referendum would be held.
The main source of revenue for the City of East Cobb would be the existing 2.86 mills in property taxes Cobb citizens pay for fire services, roughly $15 million.
No new property taxes would be imposed to fund city operations, which are estimated to cost $24.4 million a year.
The current proposal calls for planning and zoning and code enforcement services, along with public safety.
Chapin said cityhood leaders also heard from officials in Milton and Johns Creek, which eventually added public safety, and cited a recent survey by the Atlanta Regional Commission indicating crime as the top concern in the metro area for the first time.
That includes 27 percent of respondents in Cobb County placing crime at the top of their list.
The cityhood group is proposing to conduct city government services out of the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road, which it would purchase from Cobb County.
It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.
The city also would purchase Cobb Fire Station 15 on Oak Lane, off Johnson Ferry Road.
For now, parks and recreation are on the back burner. The GSU study includes some financial projections contained in appendix.
Chapin said that “there are not a lot of revenues and there is a lot of expense” in providing those services, which would include East Cobb Park, Fullers Park, Hyde Farm, Mt. Bethel Park and the Wright Environmental Education Center.
The study estimated annual expenses of $2.5 million, and Chapin said the issue is complicated by the expiration of a parks memorandum of understanding with the county in 2025.
Cityhood leaders also updated a continuing “strawman” poll they’ve been conducting since April, indicating that 43 percent of respondents are in favor of a city, with 44 percent undecided and 14 percent opposed.
Issues of planning and zoning are behind the revived cityhood effort. The 2018-19 campaign for cityhood centered on public safety, but Cindy Cooperman, a spokeswoman for the cityhood committee, said development issues are “becoming a hotter and hotter topic.”
During the information session they referred to recent zoning cases in the county and critical news articles and columns about them, as well as a proposal to create a Unified Development Code in Cobb.
“We’re giving people the ability to vote for local control,” Dollar said.
The proposed City of East Cobb map is centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, much smaller than the first cityhood map, which included a population of around 100,000.
When Dollar was asked about that, he explained that it was also based on public feedback, and to have a more condensed municipality.
The lines were created to include whole census tracts, and since the new map was first issued, he said the only addition was apartment complexes along Columns Drive.
(You can click here to view the map, which is also shown at the bottom.)
“I don’t anticipate any more changes,” Dollar said, adding that “adding any large chunks would change the outcome of the feasibility study.”
Neighborhoods wishing to become part of a city, should it be created, could do so through existing annexation processes.
Some questions for the cityhood leaders also pertained to schools.
Former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney said that a City of East Cobb would have no bearing on the Cobb County School District since new cities are barred by law from creating school districts.
A city also would have no impact on school attendance zones, since those are drawn administratively by district officials.
And a new city of East Cobb also would not affect homeowners 62 and older who claim an exemption from paying Cobb school property taxes.
Dollar said the cityhood bill (you can read it here) is likely to be taken up in January or February by the Georgia General Assembly.
For a larger view of the proposed City of East Cobb map, click here.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
State Reps. Sharon Cooper and Matt Dollar during an East Cobb Cityhood virtual town hall this spring.
The two East Cobb lawmakers who’ve sponsored a cityhood bill for the 2022 legislature will be featured on a virtual information session Wednesday.
State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, both Republicans, will discuss the results of a feasibility study that’s required for the bill to be considered.
The information session starts at 5:30 and the public can sign up by clicking here. You can also include questions you want answered, as there will not be direct interaction with the participants.
Researchers at Georgia State University concluded in their report that a proposed City of East Cobb, with around 50,000 residents centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, is financially feasible.
But Dollar, Cooper and Cityhood representatives scheduled to appear on the information session will most likely be questioned above all about a surprising development in the Cityhood initiative.
That’s the inclusion of police and fire services (new cities must provide a minimum of three) which were evaluated in the GSU study.
East Cobb News contacted Dollar and the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood to provide more details before the Wednesday session about those changes.
Cindy Cooperman, a cityhood spokeswoman, said that “after reviewing service options and community feedback, public safety was added to the scope of the study in the October timeframe. This addition is very favorable from both a public quality of life and an economic standpoint for the residents of East Cobb.”
The bill Dollar and Cooper submitted in March, near the end of the 2021 legislative session, proposed planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation services.
Road maintenance was added in July, when the feasibility study was commissioned.
During three virtual town halls over the spring and summer, police and fire services were not discussed.
The initial East Cobb cityhood effort in 2018-19 included police and fire services, but the bill was eventually abandoned before the 2020 legislative session.
The revived effort was modeled on what’s called “city light” services, which typically don’t involve expensive public safety services and the imposition of new taxes.
The proposed cities of Lost Mountain and Vinings, whose financial studies also were released recently, focus on zoning and development and do not include public safety.
In the East Cobb study, parks and recreation services were pushed back to an appendix and road maintenance services were given a “snapshot” assessment to “assist a city council in the future to negotiate with the county,” Cooperman said.
The recent GSU study includes transferring the current Cobb County Fire Fund, with a 2.86 millage rate, and that would be the proposed city’s largest source of revenues.
The report also concludes that the city of East Cobb would have a $3 million annual budget surplus.
The city would purchase two existing Cobb fire stations, but there’s no funding for leasing facilities for city government.
Cooperman said that the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road “would work perfectly for the city hall.”
It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.
“Should East Cobb become a city it would have access to this facility for its office space and equipment needs,” Cooperman said, adding that “the elected council ultimately has responsibility for the final decision.”
The cityhood bill, if passed by the legislature, would establish a November 2022 referendum for voters in the proposed City of East Cobb to decide whether to incorporate.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb COVID-19 case rates compiled by the Georgia Department of Public Health. For more details click here.
As of midnight Wednesday there will be no longer a mask mandate in most Cobb County government buildings.
The county announced Tuesday that a COVID-19 emergency declaration issued by Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Lisa Cupid would expire, along with a mask mandate.
The mandate included all indoor county facilities, including libraries.
However, a mask mandate will still be in place at county courthouse buildings, according to county spokesman Ross Cavitt.
He quoted Cupid in statement saying that “although the transmission levels of COVID-19 are still considered high, Public Health officials say they are declining along with the number of newly reported cases and the test positivity rate. One of my biggest concerns was the effect on our local hospitals, but WellStar reports low levels of COVID cases and they recently transitioned to “green” status, meaning that beds are vacant and visitors are again allowed in the hospital.”
During that time, attendance was limited at public meetings, including commissioners meetings.
As of Tuesday 14-day average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in Cobb County is 112. An average of 100 or higher is considered a high rate of transmission.
The test positivity rate in Cobb County is 4.33 percent, under the 5 percent threshold cited by public health officials as a concern.
Citizens using Cobb County buildings are still encouraged to wear masks, and the county statement said that “The Chairwoman indicated she would remain in contact with Public Health officials who remain concerned that colder weather and the holidays could reignite a surge.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
