East Cobb Government

For Lease sign goes up at East Cobb Tokyo Valentino store

by

Tokyo Valentino for lease sign

A couple months after being temporarily shut down by a Cobb County judge, the Tokyo Valentino adult retail store on Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb appears to be closed for good.

A For Lease sign has been posted in a front window, and East Cobb News has left a message with Tokyo Valentino’s attorney seeking further information and comment.

On July 19, Cobb Superior Court judge LaTain Kell ordered the store closed after a hearing in a legal dispute between Tokyo Valentino owner Michael Morrison and the county.

Cobb commissioners voted late last year to revoke the store’s business license, saying it misrepresented what kind of business would be going there when it received a business license in March 2020.

The county charged that Tokyo Valentino falsely applied to open a clothing store—calling itself the 1290 Clothing Co.—then featured an inventory mostly of sex toys after opening in June 2020 as Tokyo Valentino.

It was the fifth Tokyo Valentino location opened by Morrison, who has been embroiled with other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta over his various adult businesses.

After his store opened in East Cobb, Cobb commissioners overhauled the county code governing adult businesses.

Tokyo Valentino filed a federal lawsuit against the county, but that was dismissed in May.

Kell’s order was to enjoin Tokyo Valentino from doing business while the legal wrangling continued, and was not a permanent closure.

In August, Tokyo Valentino attorney Cary Wiggins made an emergency appeal for Kell to stay that injunction, but the judge declined.

Cobb officials said during the hearing before Kell that Tokyo Valentino had not applied for a general business license for 2021 or for an adult oriented business license, something that’s now required under the revised ordinance.

The new ordinance also permits adult businesses only in office-industrial zoning categories. The Tokyo Valentino store, which was formerly a mattress store, has been in a standalone building zoned for general commercial use and didn’t need to get county approval before opening.

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News that Tokyo Valentino’s appeal of the county’s attempt to permanently revoke its business license “is still underway.”

Cobb Police said that last fall, the Tokyo Valentino store was robbed by a burglar whom they allege stole more than $21,000 of lingerie, sex enhancement pills, CBD products, sex toys and gift cards.

A suspect was arrested in June and is facing numerous burglary and related charges for what police said was an extensive crime spree in Cobb from last September to March of this year.

Related stories

 

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!

Cityhood news: Buckhead financial feasibility study released

by
Buckhead city map
For a larger version of the proposed Buckhead city map, click here.

While a financial feasibility study for a proposed City of East Cobb is expected to be finished in November, a similar study conducted for a group pushing for cityhood in Buckhead was released on Tuesday. 

That study, conducted by Valdosta State University, shows a budget surplus of $113 million, even with police and fire services.

The overall budget would be $203 million, according to the study, which is summarized here and can be read in full here.

Those behind the Buckhead breakaway have cited rising crime and pressure on public safety services in the City of Atlanta, and the proposed city would have more patrol officers than what are currently staffed in the Buckhead area.

The proposed City of Buckhead would have a population of just over 100,000 and cover what’s now Atlanta to roughly the I-75/I-85 split. 

The other proposed services are public works, parks and recreation and community development. 

From the Buckhead.com site is an analysis of the study, and there are a few things about the Buckhead effort worth noting.

First, none of the legislators who have co-sponsored the bill are from the proposed city area, which is required under state law. They’re North Fulton and Gwinnett Republicans, and thus far no Atlanta lawmakers have signed on. 

Secondly, the study was done at a small-town South Georgia university that normally limits is work to that part of the state, certainly not a big city.

The Buckhead cityhood group approached the University of Georgia, which declined to do the study. Georgia State University is conducting the East Cobb feasibility study, as it did for the previous East Cobb cityhood effort in 2018.

The website for the pro-cityhood Buckhead City Committee can be found here; a group against cityhood is the Committee for a United Atlanta. 

Like the four cityhood efforts in Cobb County, Buckhead legislation filed this year would call for a November 2022 referendum, if that bill is passed by the Georgia legislature next year.

In addition to the renewed East Cobb effort, some Mableton citizens have revived their cityhood ambitions under the South Cobb Alliance. Their impetus has been community redevelopment.

New organizations have been formed to create a City of Vinings and a City of Lost Mountain in West Cobb, which, like the new East Cobb effort, are focused on zoning and development issues.

Feasibility studies for those three proposed Cobb cities also are still underway.

Related Stories

 

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!

 

Cobb extends paid leave for vaccinated county employees

by
Cobb extends paid leave vaccinated employees
“We are giving people a choice,” Cobb commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to extend paid leave hours for county employees who are out due to COVID-related reasons through the end of the year.

The measure revising the county’s emergency paid leave provision would use $750,000 of federal American Rescue Plan funding allotted to Cobb County, and employees could get up to 80 hours of paid leave.

But that’s only for county employees who have been vaccinated against the virus. The board’s vote was 4-1, opposed by Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, who said the policy is discriminatory and would hurt the county’s ability to hire and retain employees.

“Using COVID as a red herring and justification to take away personal choice—it begs the question: Why would an employee want to continue working for Cobb County?” Gambrill said in reading prepared remarks.

“It is no wonder our turnover rate is so high and we are unable to attract new employees when we fail to appreciate their service in exchange for political posturing.”

She got no support from her colleagues, including her fellow Republican JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb, who said that “I see this as a benefit, not a penalty.”

Democrat Monique Sheffield of South Cobb said the policy is “simply an effort to stop the spread” of COVID-19. She said the public “elected us to do the responsible thing, and this agenda item reflects that.”

Tony Hagler, head of the Cobb government human resources office, requested the change due to “the significant increase in COVID-19 cases associated with the more contagious Delta variant within Cobb County. In addition, this Emergency Paid Administrative Leave will help alleviate the stress on staff when faced with the decision of staying home to quarantine and/or caring for family member(s).”

The new policy would pay workers who are out due to COVID-19 symptoms or quarantine their full salary, and two-thirds of their pay if they’re tending to a relative who’s got the virus.

Cobb workers now get between 13-25 days of paid sick leave annually, based on their years of employment. 

Cobb’s latest 14-day average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people has fallen under 800, but still remains extremely high, Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark told commissioners earlier in Tuesday’s meeting.

Commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid disputed a suggestion by Gambrill that the policy change is politically motivated, calling it an “apolitical agenda item.”

She also said employees do have a choice, and that COVID-related absences are draining county resources, noting that the county is spending heavily in overtime pay to cover for COVID-related absences.

“It is a choice,” Cupid said. “You may not like the choice, but not liking the choice doesn’t mean you don’t have one.”

Commissioner Jerica Richardson, who represents part of East Cobb, voted for the policy change but did not offer any comments beforehand.

Water bills to go up

Commissioners also voted 4-1 to approve a request by the Cobb County Water System to raise rates starting in January. 

The agenda item states that rates for a typical residential customer will go up by $5.43 a month.

Birrell was the only vote against, saying she couldn’t support a rate increase as long as commissioners continue to transfer revenues from the water system to fund the county budget.

The last increase was in mid-2018; here’s a detailed list of the new charges.

Elections Office renovation funds approved

Gambrill and Birrell voted against spending $3.8 million from the county’s fund balance to complete renovations of the new Cobb Board of Elections and Registrations office on Roswell Street in Marietta.

They said that the project was eligible for American Rescue Plan funding, which was noted in the agenda item but scratched out. 

But the three Democrats on the board voted to use reserve county funding. Cobb government received nearly $75 million in ARP money.

Related stories

 

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!

Cobb Chamber to hold Transportation and Mobility Summit

by

Submitted information:Cobb Chamber of Commerce

The Cobb Chamber will host the 2021 Transportation & Mobility Summit on Tuesday, October 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The luncheon will cover local, state and federal transportation initiatives impacting Cobb County and the surrounding region.

Through in-depth sessions, transportation experts and regional leaders will guide conversation addressing the transportation needs of our community, connectivity within the metro region, trends in technology, and proposed projects that have regional impact and address traffic congestion in Cobb County.

A number of speakers will be present at the luncheon summit, including:

  • Jannine Miller, State Planning Director, Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
  • Cain Williamson, Chief Planning Officer, Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (The ATL)
  • Lisa Cupid, Chairwoman, Cobb County Board of Commissioners
  • Kim Menefee, Executive Director, Cumberland CID
  • Tracy Rathbone Styf, Executive Director, Town Center CID
  • Caroline Whaley, Executive Director, Gateway Marietta CID

Registration is now open at www.cobbchamber.org/events. Tickets are $60 for Cobb Chamber members and $100 for non-members. The Transportation & Mobility Summit is presented by Presenting Sponsor, Mold Boss; Lunch Sponsor, Comcast; Gold Sponsors, Cobb EMC, Croy Engineering, Cumberland Community Improvement District, Cushman & Wakefield, C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. Inc., Development Authority of Cobb County, Georgia Power, HNTB, Town Center Community Improvement District, and W&A Engineering; and Silver Sponsors, ARCADIS, Council for Quality Growth, Deloitte, Gateway Marietta Community Improvement District, Genuine Parts Company, KCI Technologies Inc., McCarthy Building Companies, and Lumin8 Transportation Technologies.

For more information about the Transportation & Mobility Summit, contact Stephanie Cox at scox@cobbchamber.org or 770-859-2337.

Related content

 

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!

East Cobb Cityhood town hall: ‘Government is a difficult business’

by

Peachtree Corners city manager Brian Johnson runs the daily operations of one of Georgia’s newest cities.Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners city manager

The municipality in Gwinnett County of 43,000 came into existence in 2012, and he arrived five years ago.

He’s also a veteran of local government and has been involved in other cityhood movements in Georgia.

During a virtual town hall meeting of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee last week, he repeatedly touted the local control benefits of incorporation, noting that Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb—a portion of a sprawling, growing county.

Like Cobb, Gwinnett has a five-member county commission, with four district commissioners representing roughly 250,000 people.

That’s more than Cobb, where commissioners’ district include a little less than 200,000 people, a major driving point for the East Cobb Cityhood effort.

“No one individual can represent that many people,” he said at the East Cobb group’s third virtual town hall in recent months.

He noted that even when Peachtree Corners citizens don’t agree with decisions made by their city government, “they feel more comfortable that it was made at the local level.”

The Peachtree Corners City Council is non-partisan with seven elected members. East Cobb Cityhood legislation calls for six non-partisan council members, with one of them chosen by colleagues every two years to serve as mayor.

“Potholes could care less what party you’re affiliated with,” Johnson said. “Local government, city government, is the purest form of service delivery that exists because of that very reason.”

Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb in other respects, with an affluent, educated population. The city also provides similar services to what the East Cobb group is proposing—code enforcement planning and zoning.

And like the current East Cobb legislation that’s pending before the 2022 Georgia legislature, Peachtree Corners does not have public safety services. Gwinnett County police and fire continue to serve that municipality.

But Johnson also spelled out the challenges that new cities face. Peachtree Corners opted to provide trash pick-up with one vendor, which he said has led to complaints by some citizens who wanted a choice.

And he also said there are some people who opposed cityhood and other citizens who at times speak out when there are problems, often vocally.

“We’re not perfect, and we hear that every day,” Johnson said. “Government is a difficult business, and we’re invariably going to miss the mark.”

Before Johnson spoke, East Cobb Cityhood Committee member Sarah Haas stressed in a slide that a city of East Cobb would “not be another layer of government” but would be in charge of services transferred from the county.

In addition to code enforcement and planning and zoning, the proposed services are parks and recreation and road maintenance.

You can watch the entire video by clicking here.

Related Stories

 

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!

Where to get help in Cobb as CDC evictions moratorium ends

by

Submitted information from Cobb County Government:Cobb County Government logo

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has ended the moratorium on evictions currently in place. Cobb’s Chief Magistrate says evictions proceedings will resume, but still not at full capacity due to COVID health restrictions. Click here to read his full FAQ on the situation.

Nonprofits partnering with Cobb County to get federal rental and utility assistance to those impacted by the pandemic have distributed 60 percent of the allocation. Help is still available and if you face eviction or are behind in utility payments seek help! To learn how to get help visit www.cobbcounty.org/ERA.

During a recent briefing, the Sheriff’s Office explained the evictions process and its role in it. For details watch the video at https://youtu.be/bpSvqm5b-XY.

Related stories

 

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!

New Gritters Library project moves ahead with $1.9M state grant

by

Gritters Library reopening

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday accepted a $1.9 million grant from the Georgia Public Library Service to help fund the reconstruction of Gritters Library.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell made the motion “with pleasure and with gratitude” toward the Cobb legislative delegation, which helped secure the funding.

GPLS, part of the Georgia Board of Regents, provides state bond funds to local library systems for renovations of public libraries.

The Gritters branch opened at its current location in Shaw Park in 1973 and will be completely rebuilt, with construction expected to begin in December.

The $6.8 million project is part of the 2016 Cobb SPLOST and was originally earmarked for $2.9 million. Initially plans called for a renovation, but the new branch will be built near the existing structure.

An estimated completion time for the new building has not been announced.

Gritters is the last of the library projects remaining in the 2016 SPLOST. That collection period funded the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that replaced the East Marietta Library.

Related stories

 

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!

East Cobb Cityhood group to hold virtual town hall Wednesday

by

Submitted information:East Cobb Cityhood virtual town hall

The East Cobb Cityhood Committee is hosting our third virtual town hall to provide information to the residents of East Cobb. People who live within the boundary of the proposed new city are invited to attend.

This will be a live session with Brian Johnson, City Manager of Peachtree Corners, hosted by the East Cobb Cityhood Committee. Brian L. Johnson became the City Manager of Peachtree Corners, Georgia on November 21, 2016. As City Manager, he is the Chief Executive Officer of the City and is responsible to the Mayor and City Council for the management of all city departments and of all city affairs.

Please, register in advance to reserve a spot in the virtual town hall. You can submit questions about cityhood during the registration process. There will also be an opportunity to submit questions during the live session.

Date: August 25, 2021

Time: 6:30pm ET

Location: REGISTER HERE

If you are not available at this date and time, you will be able to view the recording of this webinar. It will be posted shortly after the live session on the website.

Those previous town halls featured Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood and State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, East Cobb Republicans who are co-sponsors of the cityhood bill to be taken up in the 2022 session of the Georgia legislature.

That bill, if approved, would call for a November 2022 referendum to establish a City of East Cobb of 55K along mainly the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

In late June the East Cobb Cityhood group said it wanted to add transportation to the proposed services, along with zoning and planning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

A financial feasibility study is expected to be completed by Nov. 1.

Related Stories

 

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!

State grant for Gritters Library project on Cobb commission agenda

by

Gritters Library reopening

A capital outlay grant from the Georgia Public Library Service for nearly $2 million to help fund the reconstruction of the Gritters Library branch in Northeast Cobb will be considered Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The agency is a part of the Georgia Board of Regents and provides state bond funding for the construction and renovation of public libraries. According to an agenda item, a state grant of $1.9 million has been awarded for the $6.8 million Gritters replacement project.

That’s a project included in the Cobb 2016 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). Initially, plans called for $2.9 million in renovations to upgrade technology and to enhance programs and serves and add community meeting rooms at Gritters, which opened at its current location in Shaw Park in 1973.

Tuesday’s agenda item notes that construction on the Gritters project “must begin within 180 days following the grant award, and at least 5 percent of the total cost of the grant must be spent within six months.”

There’s not a timetable for construction that’s indicated on the agenda item; more on the Gritters grant from GPLS can be found here.

Gritters is the last of the library projects remaining in the 2016 SPLOST. That collection period funded the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that replaced the East Marietta Library, the consolidation of Acworth and Kennesaw branches to form the new North Cobb Regional Library and major renovations to the Switzer, South Cobb Regional and Sibley branches.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s commission meeting can be found here.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta, and 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.

Related stories

 

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!

Cupid issues 30-day COVID-19 emergency declaration for Cobb

by

Lisa Cupid, Cobb adopts fiscal year 2022 budget

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has signed a 30-day emergency declaration in the county due to a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases, citing a “critically low” shortage of hospital beds.

In a release issued by Cobb spokesman Ross Cavitt, Cupid also cited high test positivity rates and low vaccination rates.

She urged those who have not been vaccinated to do so, and encouraged businesses and other non-government entities in Cobb to mandate indoor mask use “for the protection of employees and customers.”

As of Thursday, Cobb has a 14-day average of 670 cases per 100,000 people. The “high community spread” threshold is 100 cases, and that figure has risen sharply in the last month.

But while Cobb is imposing a mask mandate for county buildings starting Friday, Cupid cannot broaden that mandate.

That’s because Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp earlier Thursday issued an order preventing local governments from imposing mask mandates and other restrictions on private businesses.

Kemp said on social media that his order “will make sure businesses across our state can’t be punished by local governments for trying to make a living, pay their employees, and save their livelihoods. Georgia is open for business!”

Cobb did not have a mask mandate beyond county buildings last year under former chairman Mike Boyce. Some cities in Georgia, including Atlanta and Savannah, have imposed mandates on non-government entities.

“Public health officials are urging us to do whatever we can to encourage people to get the COVID vaccine and wear masks while near other people,” Cupid said in Cavitt’s release.

“This declaration will open the doors to provide assistance to others in the county who need it and highlight the critical stress this surge has put on our local healthcare facilities.”

Her declaration also activates the county’s Emergency Operations Plan for resources to be funneled to hospitals, state agencies or others with a critical need for equipment and supplies.

You can read the full Cobb emergency declaration by clicking here.

On Thursday, executives from hospitals in Georgia, including Wellstar, discussed how the COVID-19 surge is affecting their operations. You can watch it below.

Related content

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!

Cobb imposes mask mandate at county government buildings

by

Jackie McMorris, Cobb County Manager
Jackie McMorris, Cobb County Manager

Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris said that beginning Friday, a mask mandate will be in effect in all government buildings, due to rising COVID-19 case figures.

They include libraries, but outdoor facilities—including county parks and the Mable House Amphitheater—will be exempt from the order.

McMorris said the decision also stems from an increase in COVID-19 cases within the county workforce, but she didn’t specify how many people are affected.

“As the result of what is going on across the nation, the region, and of course here in Cobb, we’ve had to make some tough decisions on what we are going to do here in Cobb County Government,” Dr. McMorris said Tuesday in a statement issued by the county.

The mandate covers county employees, visitors, contractors and vendors, and public meetings also will be socially-distanced, as they were previously. Cobb courthouses have maintained a mask mandate since the pandemic began in March 2020.

There’s not a timetable for ending the mandate, and McMorris said masks will be available for people coming to county facilities who don’t have them.

Cobb had a similar mask mandate for several months last year and early this year, but dropped it when cases began falling during the spring.

However, the rapidly spreading Delta variant of COVID-19 has resulted in the highest transmission rates in Cobb since then.

As of Tuesday, the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 people had soared to more than 600, well above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases per 100,000.

“We’re in the second month of this and it just does not seem to be going away,” said Dr. Janet Memark, Director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health in the Cobb statement. “Right now we’re seeing younger people being hospitalized, and we continue to see hospitals that are dangerously low on critical care beds and medical-surgical beds.”

She didn’t offer any figures or further elaborate.

Some cities in Georgia, among them Atlanta, have imposed mask mandates beyond government facilities, including private businesses and other entities that are open to the public.

Cobb has not done that. Former Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said last year that while he strongly urged citizens to wear masks in public, he didn’t want to stretch law enforcement to that purpose, and also indicated he wasn’t likely to get his colleagues to agree.

Current chairwoman Lisa Cupid has been wearing masks at public meetings, and indicated in a county-produced video last week that she was considering taking some action.

She didn’t specify what that might be.

More from McMorris and Memark about the mask mandate can be seen in the video below.

Related content

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!

Cobb property tax bills mailed; payment deadline is Oct. 15

by

Submitted information:

Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson announced that 2021 property tax bills have been issued. Payments are due by October 15. Payments must be received or USPS postmarked by the October 15 due date to be considered on time.

A total of 266,073 tax bills representing $994,740,860 was calculated consisting of 250,551 Real Property for $926,061,079 and 15,522 Personal Property for $68,679,781.

The six cities of Cobb bill and collect their own property taxes. The chart below details this year’s property taxes for Cobb County’s billing and collection authorities:

picture of pie graph of tax bills

Payments may be made online, by phone, mail, or in-person. Processing fees may apply:

  • Online at www.cobbtax.org via e-Check, debit or credit card.
  • Phone automated system at 1-866-PAY-COBB (1-866-729-2622).
  • Mail to Cobb County Tax Commissioner, PO Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061.
  • In-person at any of the following locations: o Property Tax Division at 736 Whitlock Avenue, Marietta;
    • East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and
    • South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell.
  • 24/7 drop boxes for checks/money orders made payable to Cobb County Tax Commissioner at:
    • Property Tax Division at 736 Whitlock Avenue, Marietta;
    • North Cobb Office at 2932 Canton Road, Marietta;
    • East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and
    • South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell. 

For property owners with escrow accounts, tax information is sent to the mortgage companies; however, the property owner is responsible to ensure taxes are paid by the due date.

For questions or assistance, email tax@cobbtax.org or call 770-528-8600.

Please visit Understanding Your Tax Bill at www.cobbtax.org for a detailed explanation of our 2021 tax bills.

Related stories

 

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!

First look at 2020 Census: Cobb population grows by 11 percent

by

Cobb 2020 Census

The U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday released 2020 data for the purposes of redistricting, and the overall picture (summary report here) is that the nation is getting more ethnically diverse and living more in metropolitan areas as its population grows.

As of April 2021 there were more than 331 million people living in the United States, compared to 308 million people in April 2010.

In Cobb County, that population growth comes to more than 11 percent from the 2010 Census. As of April 2021, Cobb’s population was 766,149, compared to 688,078 in April 2010.

The Census Bureau has provided some initial “QuickFact” localized data at this link, and we’ll summarize some of those findings below.

Nearly 13 of Cobb’s citizens are age 65 and older, similar to the previous Census, and 22 percent are age 18 and under.

When it comes to race and ethnicity, Cobb’s “white alone” population—that portion of the population that does not include other ethnic groups—is at 51.1 percent.

The black or African American population now stands at 28.8 percent and the Latino or Hispanic population is at 13.3 percent.

More than 64 percent of Cobb residents live in owner-occupied housing, and the median value of those units is at $257K. The median gross rent in the county is $1,202.

There are more than 280,000 households in Cobb, and more than 91 percent have a broadband Internet subscription.

But 14.4 percent of Cobb residents under the age of 65 do not have health insurance, which is higher than the national average of 9.5 percent.

Cobb commuters also spend more “mean” travel time than the national average when it comes to getting and from their jobs: 31.6 minutes, compared to 26.9.

The 2020 Cobb Census data also show that the median household income is $77,932, and the per capita income is at $40,031 (both in 2019 dollars). More than 8 percent of Cobb residents live under the poverty line, less than the national average of 10.5 percent.

Total employment in Cobb is 360,023, and there are 80,947 businesses in the county.

As we noted last fall, the Census response rate in the county had exceeded 70 percent, and those numbers were even higher in East Cobb Census tracts.

We’ll be reporting more on East Cobb Census numbers as we get to the ZIP Code level of detail that’s not available for the moment.

The Atlanta Regional Commission has estimated that by 2050, Cobb’s population is expected to surpass 1 million.

East Cobb’s roughly estimated population was around 200,000 in late 2019, according to the Georgia Demographics website:

  • ZIP Code 30062: 65,801;
  • ZIP Code 30066: 55,937;
  • ZIP Code 30067: 46,536
  • ZIP Code 30068: 32,453.

That doesn’t include the Roswell ZIP Code 30075 which contains the extreme northeast portion of Cobb County, or about 8,100 residents of the 53,779 population of the ZIP Code.

The Census Bureau will be providing more data by the end of September at this link.

 

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!

Cobb commissioners delay vote on limiting public comment

by

Citizens from across Cobb County used nearly all of their allotted 60 minutes of public comment Tuesday to blast a proposal that would limit their ability to directly speak to county commissioners at their meetings.

Cobb commissioners public comments
“There should be more access, not less access,” East Cobb resident Hill Wright said.

A proposal to cut total public comment time to 30 minutes and to limit individual speakers to three minutes was pulled to allow for more consideration, board chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.

The proposed changes drew the opposition of the head of the Cobb Republican Party as well as the local SCLC chapter, and individual citizens, some of them from East Cobb.

The changes would have revised a 30-year-old policy of allowing up to 12 speakers to speak for as long as five minutes each.

In an agenda item, the county said the existing policy was formulated before such forms of communication as e-mails and social media.

But some citizens said those electronic communications often don’t get a response, and they were critical of the proposed changes that would push all public comments to the end of meetings, after commissioners had taken votes.

“This is the one time that we citizens can look all five of you in the eye and tell you what we think, give you feedback and advocate [against] what we feel are bad policies,” East Cobb resident Hill Wright said.

“Yes, there’s e-mail, there’s other communications, but it’s not like standing up here and letting you know. It’s not the same as a room of people showing up to let you know. This is really how our government should work.”

Another East Cobb resident, Christine Rozman, called the proposed changes “a real assault on our freedom of speech.

“Every encroachment on our freedom is starting to add up. People are waking up,” she added, alluding to protests in Europe, Australia and elsewhere over COVID-19 restrictions.

“We don’t trust you now and maybe that’s what you don’t want us talking about.”

To change the public comment policy, four of the five commissioners would have to approve it. But commissioner JoAnn Birrell of Nottheast Cobb was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

In her weekly newsletter, District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson said the following:

“I wanted to let everyone know your voice was heard regarding the proposed policy change for public comment. The agenda item was pulled off the list and will go back into review. As I shared in my meeting preview, the intent of the change was for streamlined meetings and identifying consistency with other counties. It was initiated several months ago with that goal in mind. The changes proposed, however, do not get us to that place. Let us know your thoughts as public comment is a great avenue for those to be heard, but we did find a disconnect in individuals speaking and then leaving without any resolution to their issues as we cannot respond to public comment. Many areas are under review in the policy, and I am sure many of you have thoughts on those as well. So, please keep sharing as we all work to come up with policy that best represents and addresses the needs of the community.”

The public comment proposal will likely be taken up at the commissioners’ next voting meeting on Aug. 24.

Related stories

 

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!

Cobb commissioners to consider limiting public comment time

by

Cobb commissioners public comments

There’s an item on Tuesday’s agenda of the Cobb Board of Commissioners that’s already promising to generate some public comment.

The item is asking the board to consider changes that would reduce the time for public comments in half.

Currently the board policy is to have up to 12 public speakers who are given a maximum of five minutes, for a limit of 60 minutes.

Up to six speakers are given time at the start of meetings, with the rest commenting near the end.

But the proposed revisions would cut back the allotted slots to 10 speakers who would be given no more than three minutes to offer comments, for a maximum of 30 minutes.

In addition, all of the public comment period would come at the end of meetings.

The agenda item is here; and further details are here.

Those changes have sparked some heated reaction from citizens who got in touch with East Cobb News over the weekend.

One of them is Christine Rozman of East Cobb, who has been an occasional public speaker, and who said in an e-mail that “this is not sitting well with ALL citizens.”

She most recently addressed commissioners last month about the county budget, imploring them to “rein in” spending (comments are around the 40-minute mark).

Another resident, Michael Ashton, noted that by pushing the public comments to the end of meetings, “there would be no public comments on any of the current agenda items until after the items had either been approved or denied.”

East Cobb resident Jan Barton, who has been a frequent public commenter over the years, especially on county finances, taxes and spending, said that “it is outrageous that they plan to limit our free speech.”

The agenda item said that the current public comment period has been in effect since 1991, “before the advent of many means of communication we take for granted today including, email, newsletters, and social media. This agenda item will update the county’s Rules of Procedure involving public comment to include revising the time per speaker to three minutes to match the allotted time per speaker in public hearings, consolidating all public speakers into one agenda position, limit the overall time allowed, and eliminate certain prohibitions for those allowed to speak before the Board.”

The proposal stressed that “there is no limitation on the number of times an individual may speak throughout the year nor a limitation on the number of times a person may address any given subject matter,” policies that also date back to the 1990s.

The proposed changes come shortly after the Cobb Board of Education changed its public comment procedures, including a requirement that speakers sign up online and in advance.

Unlike other votes needing a simple three-vote majority, revising this policy will require approval of four of the five commissioners.

The agenda item will come up near the end of the meeting, before the second public comment period.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s commission meeting can be found here, and it includes an appointment by District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson of East Cobb resident David Anderson to the Cobb Planning Commission; previous post here.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta, and 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.

Related stories

 

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!

Richardson to appoint new member of Cobb Planning Commission

by

Richardson Cobb Planning Commission appointment

Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson is set to announce a new appointment to the Cobb Planning Commission next week, days after her holdover representative steered through a vote on a major rezoning case in East Cobb.

According to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, Richardson will appoint East Cobb resident David Anderson to succeed Tony Waybright.

Waybright had been appointed in March 2020 by former District 2 commissioner Bob Ott, whose time in office ended last December. Planning commissioners, who serve as an advisory board on planning and zoning cases, serve terms running concurrently with the commissioners who appoint them.

According to an agenda item, Anderson would serve through the end of 2024, when Richardson’s term expires.

Anderson is a real estate executive and entrepreneur with a background in commercial real estate investment and development, urban planning and data analytics.  

He has been a project manager with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and according to a biographical profile sent by Richardson’s office, “his goals as Planning Commissioner include enhancing the transparency of, engagement with, and usefulness of planning guidelines and data for all stakeholders.”David Anderson, Cobb Planning Commission

Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. East Cobb News has contacted Richardson seeking more details. 

Anderson would be the fourth person on the five-member Planning Commission to be appointed this year.

They include Deborah Dance, a former Cobb County Attorney who was appointed by Northeast Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell after longtime board member Judy Williams died of COVID-19 in January.

Dance assumed her position just as the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case went before the Planning Commission. After a third hearing, the board passed her motion in June not to make a recommendation, although county commissioners approved that mixed-use proposal.

Waybright, a civic and school activist in the Smyrna/Vinings area, stayed on when Richardson began her term in January, and as the rezoning application of North Point Ministries at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads continued.

They held a virtual town hall meeting in February in which Waybright offered some conceptual changes to the North Point Ministries application for a mixed-use proposal for East Cobb Church, high-density residential, retail space and a community park and multi-use trail.

After full Planning Commission hearings in May, June and July ended with votes to delay, the Planning Commission voted on Tuesday to recommend approval. Cobb commissioners will take action on Aug. 17.

The North Point Ministries rezoning is the first major East Cobb case for Richardson, whose district stretches from the “JOSH” corridor through the Smyrna/Vinings/Cumberland area.

Nearly 60 people turned out in support of the rezoning at Tuesday’s Planning Commission hearing and nearly 30 came in opposition.

In his motion to recommend approval, Waybright made numerous changes, including capping the number of units and density.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners will consider a proposal to make changes to the public comment portion of their meetings. The agenda item is here; and further details are here.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta, and 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.

Related stories

 

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!

Cobb temporary COVID-19 call center closing after four months

by

Submitted information:

Cobb County’s temporary call center to help residents make vaccination appointments and deal with rental assistance questions will end its four-month run on Friday.  The center, funded with a Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocation, took more than 1400 calls and was expanded to help link people to the county’s Emergency Rental Assistance program.

“We proposed the call center at a time when people were desperate to make an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine and supplies of the vaccine were low,” Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.  “When the volume of calls dropped, we transitioned the call center to help with rental assistance.  Even though it is closing, we have the infrastructure in place to reopen it if the situation with the latest COVID surge starts overwhelming our resources once again.”

After an initial surge of calls, the call volume dropped precipitously after cases of COVID declined and the supply of the vaccine increased.  The contract with the vendor also includes software that could form the basis of a future 311 information center should the county decide to move in that direction.

Residents seeking a COVID test, vaccination, or information should visit www.cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com.

Residents who might need rental assistance should visit www.cobbcounty.org/ERA.

Related content

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!

 

Cobb commissioners approve fiscal year 2022 budget

by

Lisa Cupid, Cobb adopts fiscal year 2022 budget
“Nothing in the budget I see is frivolous,” Cobb commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.

By a unanimous 4-0 vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a fiscal year 2022 operating budget of $496.6 million that includes pay raises for county employees and continues implementing a tiered salary increase plan for public safety personnel.

The board kept the general-fund millage rate at 8.46 mills, but technically the spending package constitutes a property tax increase under state law.

That’s because the adopted budget is an increase of nearly 5 percent from the adopted fiscal year 2021 budget of $473.8 million.

The county tax digest is expected to grow about 5.5 percent in 2021, and commissioners did not rollback the millage rate to offset that additional revenue.

Because of state law, the county had to advertise the budget proposal as a tax increase and conduct public hearings, and some citizens spoke out against that.

The budget includes a 3-percent merit increase for county employees, replenishes capital maintenance budgets and creates an officer for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Other additional spending will go for increased costs for county court operations and the county elections offices.

Budget documents and information can be found here.

In making remarks before the vote, the four present commissioners all said that the budget before them provides only basic services, contains no luxuries.

“I don’t want to see my taxes increased either,” chairwoman Lisa Cupid said. “But nothing in the budget I see is frivolous.”

She said county cannot continue “to fall behind on the basic things.”

County employees have not frequently seen raises in recent years, and the turnover and attrition due to them leaving results in “reduced quality of services” for citizens, she said.

Cupid said as for capital maintenance, “there are many years we did not do that” and that now the county is restoring that funding “to where it should have been” some years before.

Last year, with uncertainty over the financial impact of COVID-19 closures, commissioners approved $2.1 million in capital maintenance. This year, that figure will be $10.2 million, a boost of 377 percent.

She also defended the creation of a cabinet-level diversity officer, which was stipulated in the FY 2021 budget but wasn’t funded.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the Northeast Cobb area, said she was in support of the budget because of the increasing commitment to implementing a step-and-grade salary program for public safety employees.

She also said the 3-percent raise for other county employees is “well-deserved.”

The budget does not include a decrease in the percentage of water system revenues to the general-fund budget, as commissioners had pledged two years ago.

Until then, the county took 10 percent of water system revenues to help fund the operating budget. Commissioners embarked on a plan to reduce that by one percent a year, or about $2.4 million annually.

That figure is now at 8 percent, and while Birrell said she’s disappointed that figure will be holding this year, the extra money is needed for step-and-grade and other purposes.

“I support the budget,” Birrell said.

Commissioner Jerica Richardson, who represents part of East Cobb, echoed some of Birrell’s sentiments, and before casting her first budget vote said “this budget is not a fix” for continuing service issues for county government.

“It’s a bare minimum, frankly,” she said.

Cupid who was a South Cobb commissioner for eight years before being elected chairwoman in November, said that “this is not a perfect budget,” but she applauded her colleagues for being willing to address issues she said have been ignored in the past.

She is leading a Democratic-majority government that includes Richardson, who succeeded Republican former commissioner Bob Ott in January.

Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, who with Birrell forms the Republican minority on the board, was absent from the meeting.

The FY 2022 budget goes into effect on Oct. 1.

Related stories

 

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!

Cobb FY 2022 budget adoption, millage rate slated for Tuesday

by

Cobb FY 22 budget

Reminder about the final hearings for the fiscal year 2022 Cobb County government budget and millage rate, and adoption of both, on Tuesday.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. (the full agenda is here), with the budget and millage rate items near the start of the agenda. 

A property tax increase for the general fund (now at 8.46 mills) is not included in the proposed $496.6 million spending package, which is an increase of nearly 5 percent from the adopted fiscal year 2021 budget of $473.8 million.

But the county is required under state law to advertise that there will be a tax increase. That’s because Cobb will be collecting more tax revenue in 2022 due to a 5.5 percent growth in the tax digest, and because there’s not a corresponding rollback in the millage rate in the proposed budget.

The budget proposal includes the continuation of STEP increases for Cobb public safety personnel (police, fire, 911, Sheriff’s Office) and a 3 percent merit raise for other employees.

Four new full-time positions are being recommended, including a diversity, equity and inclusion officer who will report to the County Manager and three others in elections.

More budget documents and information can be found here.

The meeting takes place in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

They will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV to find your favorite streaming outlet.

The FY 22 budget takes effect Oct. 1.

Related stories

 

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!