Cobb DAR Fielding Lewis Chapter members and Commissioner JoAnn Birrell (right) at a Constitution Week recognition Tuesday.
The Fielding Lewis Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution will mark the 237th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution at an observance Tuesday at the Marietta Square.
The “Ringing the Bells” celebration begins at 3:30 p.m. Around the country, bells will ring for one minute at 4 p.m. on Sept. 17, marking the exact time the Constitution was officially signed in 1787.
During a recognition this week by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, chapter members announced their traditional practice during Constitution Week of delivering copies of the U.S. Constitution to fourth-graders in both the Cobb and Marietta public school districts.
According to the recognition, “the purpose of the Constitution Week celebration is to emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution, inform people that this important document is the foundation of our way of life and encourage study of the historical events that led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.”
The Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned Congress in 1955 for Constitution Week, and it was signed into law in 1956 by President Eisenhower.
Constitution Day in Cobb began in 2010 via the Cobb Republican Women’s Club.
The Fielding Lewis Chapter was founded in 1904 and named after a merchant and trader and was a leader in the revolutionary movement.
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A consortium of local business interests called the Cobb Business Alliance will begin a campaign in favor of the proposed Cobb transit tax next week.
The kickoff event takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 18, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Glover Park Brewery (65 Atlanta St.), near the Marietta Square.
The event will feature “elected officials, community leaders, transit advocates and voters sharing more about the MSPLOST referendum and how it will decrease congestion, invest in transit, and move Cobb County forward,” according to a release.
The proposed 30-year, one-percent sales tax, if passed by Cobb voters in November, would collect $11 billion and fund a significant expansion of existing bus and transit services and build various transfer facilities.
Among the projects that would be funded with the transit tax is the construction of a bus transfer station in the Roswell-Johnson Ferry Road area and the restoration of two bus routes through East Cobb that were eliminated during recession budget cuts.
The Cobb Business Alliance includes a number of local companies, including Kimley-Horn, the Atlanta consulting firm that’s being paid $287,000 by Cobb government to conduct a public outreach drive ahead of the referendum.
That effort includes a series of open houses that also take place next Wednesday at various library branches.
Other members of the Alliance include the Council for Quality Growth, Georgia Power, Croy Engineering, CKL Engineers and CWM Contracting Co.
Transit tax opponents will have a campaign kickoff in East Cobb on Saturday. The Cobb Taxpayer Association will hold a town hall meeting from 12-2 p.m. at Grace Resurrection Methodist Church (1200 Indian Hills Parkway).
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After three of her colleagues voted to declare her seat vacant on Tuesday, Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson said she would appeal the decision to Cobb Superior Court.
In an expected move, commissioners voted to declare District 2 vacant due to county residency rules, after adopting electoral maps in August that were passed by the Georgia legislature that drew Richardson out of her seat.
It was a re-do of a vote that ended in a 2-2 deadlock last week; Richardson recused herself from both votes.
The declaration means that the county is giving Richardson a 10-day notice of a vacancy (you can read it here). Richardson will continue to serve as a commissioner during the appeals process.
If she prevails, she will be allowed to keep her seat until her term expires on Dec. 31. If she loses, an interim commissioner who resides within the legally approved District 2 boundaries would be appointed to finish the term, or possibly longer, depending on a special election in 2025 to elect her successor.
On Tuesday, Richardson, the board’s vice chair this year, presided over the meeting with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid absent as she was with the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on its annual visit to Washington.
“I trust that we can find a way to consider the real legal questions that are at hand,” Richardson said near the end of the meeting, reading from prepared remarks (you can watch the video below at the 2:17:45 mark), calling the result of Tuesday’s vote “a forced vacancy.”
“Setting the precedent that any elected official could possibly be removed at any time is dangerous and now we are watching the process happen before our very eyes.”
Commissioners voted at their last meeting to adopt the state maps after the “home rule” maps the Democratic majority adopted in 2022 were ruled a violation of the Georgia Constitution by Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill.
The state maps placed most of East Cobb in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell. The “home rule” maps would have kept some of East Cobb, including Richardson’s home off Post Oak Tritt Road, in District 2, similar to lines in which she was elected in 2020.
The Democrats used a novel legal theory of declaring home rule powers in challenging the state maps, but the Georgia Constitution specifically authorizes the legislature to conduct county reapportionment.
The legislature did not consider maps drawn by former Cobb delegation chairman Erick Allen that would have kept Richardson in her seat; instead it passed maps sponsored by Cobb Republican lawmakers, breaking with a long-standing courtesy with local lawmakers.
Hill also vacated May primaries in District 2 and District 4 under which the “home rule” maps were used; those special elections will take place in early 2025.
Disrict 2 now encompasses along I-75 and includes most of the Smyrna/Cumberland area, pushing as east as the western side of Powers Ferry Road, close to where Richardson formerly resided.
Last month, Birrell voted against a declaration of a vacancy, saying she didn’t think what happened to Richardson was fair and wanted her to complete her term.
But she said she changed her mind because under the state map, Richardson no longer lives in her district. For the last two years, Birrell said she’s “entered a statement that I will uphold the Constitution and follow the law.”
(The brief discussion begins at the 1:52:20 mark of the video below.)
“I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to keep her in office but I have to follow the law.”
Democratic commissioner Monique Sheffield said “this is the next step in the process.”
During her remarks, Richardson reflected on her one term in office—she didn’t seek re-election amid the map dispute—to emphasize her commitment to constituents she said have been harmed along the way.
“Knowing the consequences of today—voter nullification, forced vacancies, missing representation and long-term precendence—I will work to make sure my community receives the answers they deserve and that you are not forgotten.”
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Following up last week’s story about the possible conversion of the Bay Breeze seafood restaurant on Canton Road into a liquor store:
The applicant has withdrawn his request to appeal two denials of a retail liquor permit.
During a Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Parks Huff, an attorney for restaurant owner Steve Constantinou, said his client wished to withdraw with prejudice.
That means that the case cannot come back up again. Huff did not explain why his client is withdrawing.
Commissioners were scheduled to hear the appeal on Tuesday, which followed months of attempts to get a liquor permit and after substantial community opposition.
The he Cobb Business License Division Manager and agency’s review board both turned down the application by BSC Packing LLC to operate a liquor store at the Bay Breeze site at 2418 Canton Road.
The 10,000–square-foot building is 177 feet from a residential property line. The county code allows denial of an alcoholic beverage license if a location is within 300 feet.
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The owner of the Bay Breeze seafood restaurant in Northeast Cobb wants to operate a liquor store at that location.
But after the Cobb Business License Division Manager and the agency’s review board denied that request earlier this year, the matter will be going to the Cobb Board of Commissioners next week.
An agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting indicates that there will be a public hearing after Bay Breeze appealed the denials, which were issued due to distance requirements to nearby homeowners.
More than a dozen citizens also sent e-mails to the Cobb Business License office opposing a liquor store.
Documents filed for Tuesday’s meeting indicate that the building at 2418 Canton Road is 177 feet from a residential property line. The county code allows denial of an alcoholic beverage license if a location is within 300 feet.
Some businesses, especially restaurants, often appeal those decisions to get waivers that are typically approved on a routine basis.
But retail liquor stores can be a different matter.
BSC Packing LLC and owner Steve Constantinou said in the appeal that it is seeking a license to operate a daily package store at the current Bay Breeze site, which is just under 10,000 square feet.
The building sits in front of the Chimney Cottage neighborhoood, where much of the opposition has come from.
In July, the license review board upheld the initial denial for an alcohol license. BSC Packing has retained attorney Parks Huff of the Sams Larkin Huff law firm to represent it at Tuesday’s hearing, which is conducted like a court proceeding.
But opposition to a liquor store has been brewing for months.
Agenda item documents include e-mails from last November to the business license agency from nearby residents, who said there are other liquor stores in the area and another such business would be detrimental to the community.
They include Carol Brown of Canton Road Neighbors, a civic association, who said that there are safety concerns because of more frequent vehicular traffic stemming from a liquor store.
She noted that the Bay Breeze property was zoned neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) in 2007 “and therefore may escape close scrutiny” for the final plans,
Another resident counted seven package stores and 11 gas stations selling alcohol in a two-mile radius. Bay Breeze is located on Canton Road just below a busy intersection with Piedmont Road.
A Chimney Cottage resident wrote to the license review board that a liquor store “would attract an undesirable element and detract from an otherwise wholesome family environment. With everything going on in today’s society, this is just not something I want to worry about.”
East Cobb News has left a message with Huff seeking comment.
In its notice of appeal, BSC Packing said the store would start with three employees who would be trained on proper alcohol sales policy and would be subject to termination for sales to minors.
The applicant also said that a video recording, storage and retrieval system would be established that is “commensurate with the size and layout of the store and parking lot after converting from a restaurant.”
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Cobb Commission District 3 boundaries and voting precincts (in light green), just posted to the Cobb Elections website. For a larger view click here.
More than two years after they were approved by the Georgia legislature, Cobb Board of Commissioner districts are finally being reflected on county government websites and in other official documentation.
That’s because commissioners on Tuesday voted to adopt the maps after losing an appeal over the “home rule” maps commission Democrats adopted in 2022 but that were ruled unconstitutional by a Cobb judge last month.
For voters in East Cobb, however, a lengthy saga of chaos and confusion is only partially over.
While almost all of East Cobb is in District 3—represented by Republican commissioner JoAnn Birrell—District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson, whose “home rule” district included some of East Cobb where she lives—is declaring herself a “de facto” commissioner.
Her colleagues declined on Tuesday to give notice of a vacancy in the new District 2, where she is not a legal resident. The legislative maps drew her out, prompting her and her two Democratic commissioners to attempt to use home rule authority to assert reapportionment powers the Georgia Constitution has delegated only to the legislature.
If that vacancy is declared, she would have the right to challenge her removal in court. But during the discussion, Birrell said she thought Richardson should serve out the rest of her term.
“We don’t have answers to a lot of questions” regarding her status on the Cobb commission, Jerica Richardson said, calling it “a deep, deep Constitutional crisis.”
The vote was tied at 2-2 (Richardson had to recuse herself), and commissioners didn’t indicate if they would take up the matter again.
Her term expires on Dec. 31. Richardson, who did not seek re-election amid the home rule controversy, said on a “community huddle” call with constituents Thursday that as far as she’s concerned, “the seat is vacant, but I don’t know that it is,” a reference to having no formal notice of a vacancy.
She said she’s not sure at the moment what powers, if any, she may still have, especially about sitting in official meetings and taking votes.
“I still want to know if there is some authority under which I’m operating,” Richardson said on the call, adding that it’s a “deep, deep Constitutional crisis.”
Cobb commissioners don’t have another official meeting until Sept. 10.
But the question of whether some of her appointees may not be able to continue to serve—also due to district residency requirements—is uncertain as well.
Among them is David Anderson, Richardson’s appointee to the Cobb Planning Commission, which meets next Tuesday.
He’s a resident of what is now being recognized by the county as District 3, living in the area around Murdock Elementary School.
Planning Commission members serve concurrent terms as the commissioners who appoint them, so Anderson’s term also expires at the end of the year.
East Cobb News has inquired with the county about whether Anderson and other Richardson appointees may be affected by the new maps but has not received a response.
As for East Cobb voters who had been in District 2 under the “home rule” maps: While they got to vote in that race in the May primaries, they won’t be eligible to cast votes in the special elections that were ordered for early next year by Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill.
She vacated the primary results in Districts 2 and 4 because the Cobb elections board also used the “home rule” maps.
The official District 2 runs along I-75 and includes most of the Smyrna/Cumberland area, pushing as east as the western side of Powers Ferry Road.
Here are the precincts in East Cobb that went from District 2 under the “home rule” maps to District 3 under the state maps commissioners adopted this week:
Chestnut Ridge 01
Dickerson 01
Dodgen 01
Eastside 01
Eastside 02
Fullers Park 01
Hightower 01
Murdock 01
Mt. Bethel 01
Mt. Bethel 03
Mt. Bethel 04
Powers Ferry 01
Roswell 01
Roswell 02
Sewell Mill 01
Sewell Mill 03
Sope Creek 01
Sope Creek 02
Sope Creek 03
Terrell Mill 01
Timber Ridge 01
Birrell and Keli Gambrill, the other Republican commissioner from District 1 in North and West Cobb, were re-elected in 2022 using the state maps.
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Cobb County government has begun its rollout of an “education” campaign for the proposed 30-year, $11 billion transit tax referendum.
What’s being called the Cobb Mobility SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax), or M-SPLOST, is the main ballot issue for local voters in the November general election, and this week the official information website for that referendum was launched.
It contains a project list, maps, financial figures, ballot language and more. Here’s what voters will see on their ballots:
“Shall a special 1 percent sales and use tax be imposed in the special district consisting of Cobb County for a period of time not to exceed thirty years and for the raising of funds for transit and transit supportive projects? These projects will be as defined in O.C.G.A. § 48-8-269.40, and will be inclusive of the approved project list within the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority Regional Transit Plan (ARTP).
“If imposition of the tax is approved by the voters, such vote shall constitute approval of the issuance of general obligation debt of Cobb County in the principal amount not to exceed $950,000,000 for the above purpose.”
Like the Cobb government and Cobb school SPLOSTs, the M-SPLOST would collect one percent of sales tax revenue on the dollar to fund the creation of more than 100 miles of new bus routes, along with transfer stations.
That includes restoring bus routes through East Cobb that were cut during the recession, as well as construction of a transfer station in the Roswell-Johnson Ferry area.
Those supporting the tax say Cobb needs more transit options with a growing population that’s expected to surpass one million by 2025. Opponents say the tax is too long and that ridership figures haven’t demonstrated enough demand for such a system.
The proposed high-capacity bus route through East Cobb, along Roswell Road, that’s on the M-SPLOST transit tax referendum.
Earlier this year, the MDJ reported that ridership across the overall Cobb bus system has plummeted from 3.7 million annual trips in 2014 to just under 1 million trips in 2022, and that the decline began well before COVID-19.
A total of $6 billion from the referendum would be used to build out and expand “high capacity” transit, including the East Cobb route.
But that route—designated as an Arterial Rapid Transit route, or ART—wouldn’t be built during the first decade of the transit tax, according to build-out projection maps on the M-SPLOST website.
Another East Cobb route is a “Rapid Route” that would connect the East Cobb transfer station with the Dunwoody MARTA Station, heading down Johnson Ferry Road.
Here’s a further breakdown of what transit-tax revenues would fund if the referendum passes:
73 Miles of Bus Rapid Transit
34 Miles of Arterial Rapid Transit
325 Miles of Expanded Local, Commuter, and Rapid Transit
6 New/Enhanced Transit Facilities
100% Countywide Microtransit Coverage
Increased Paratransit Service
$1 Billion investment in Transit Supportive Projects
Earlier this year, the MDJ reported that ridership across the overall Cobb bus system has plummeted from 3.7 million annual trips in 2014 to just under 1 million trips in 2022, and that the decline began well before COVID-19.
The county estimates that average daily ridership on the transit system could surpass 40,000 by 2025, near the end of the sales tax period. Currently, that figure is only around 3,000 riders a day.
The consulting firm Kimley-Horn put together the website and is responsible for flyers, brochures and other forms of communication, as part of a $287,000 contract with the county.
The M-SPLOST website and other materials are supposed to be neutral on the subject of the referendum—not advocating a position on the issue.
But transit tax referendum opponents are skeptical. Language in the “M-SPLOST Funding” section explains what would happen either way:
If the MSPLOST is approved by voters, the MSPLOST will ensure that the cost of Cobb County Transit is shared by all consumers who purchase goods within the county. This shift would distribute the funding responsibility across all residents, businesses, and non-residents (including commuters and tourists). Additionally, increased transit funding provided through dedicated financial streams like the proposed MSPLOST enhances Cobb County’s ability to secure matching funds, making us more competitive for grant awards.
If the MSPLOST is rejected by voters, Cobb County will, for the foreseeable future, continue to operate CobbLinc with local property taxes as the primary revenue source, supplemented by standard federal funds and customer fares.
Cobb transportation staff will hold public meetings regarding the referendum in the fall, but those details have not yet been announced.
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Cobb commissioners voted Tuesday to adopt commission electoral maps approved by the Georgia legislature more than two years ago, after using different maps that were recently ruled unconstitutional.
But commissioners couldn’t pass a resolution that would have begun a process to vacate the seat held by Jerica Richardson because her East Cobb residence is no longer in District 2.
On Tuesday night, a lengthy meeting created more heated rhetoric—along partisan and racial lines—and included a citizen launching a blistering tirade at another commissioner.
It also created more confusion about how long Richardson may be in office. County code requires that commissioners vacate their offices if they don’t live in their districts.
The board voted 3-2 to adopt the legislative maps, but with Richardson recusing herself, commissioners were knotted 2-2 on approving a motion to declare a vacancy.
Since October 22, Cobb has recognized electoral maps (left) that kept Richardson in District 2 (in pink) that were ruled unconstitutional last month. On Tuesday commissioners approved state maps that put most of East Cobb in District 3 (yellow).
If that resolution had passed, the county would have had 10 days to declare a vacancy in a process that allowed for Richardson to contest her removal in court.
On Wednesday, Cobb government issued a statement saying that Richardson is still a commissioner, but didn’t indicate for how long.
The statement said that the failure to pass a resolution declaring the District 2 seat vacant allows Richardson “to continue serving as the district’s representative.”
During Tuesday’s lengthy discussion, Republican Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes most of East Cobb in the state maps, said she didn’t want Richardson to have to leave immediately.
“I do struggle with this,” Birrell said, “but I don’t support this, giving notice kicking her out. I think she should finish her term.”
‘Two years of hell’
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell called the map dispute “two years of hell.”
Richardson is part of the three-Democrat majority that voted in Oct. 2022 to adopt maps drawn by former State Rep. Erick Allen, then the Cobb legislative delegation chairman, that would have kept Richardson in her seat.
They claimed “home rule” authority to adopt those maps after the legislature approved maps that placed Richardson, who moved to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road in 2021, into District 3.
But Birrell and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill were among those saying that the Georgia Constitution allows only the legislature to conduct county reapportionment.
They read statements into the record before casting votes in meetings starting in January 2023 objecting to the “home rule” maps.
Birrell didn’t like the Allen maps because her district would be majority Democratic. She said that “she looked at all scenarios to keep Jerica in District 2, but the numbers didn’t warrant that. . . .
“It has been two years of hell going through this.”
Sheffield had previously noted that legislators told them that “when we draw maps we don’t consider political parties. It’s for the citizens of Cobb County.”
Gambrill was an initial plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging those maps and later eventually dismissed by the Georgia Supreme Court due to a lack of standing.
Another legal complaint was filed by Republican Alicia Adams in April, after she was disqualified from running in District 2 under the home rule maps that were being followed by the Cobb Board of Elections.
On July 25, Cobb Superior C0urt Judge Kellie Hill ruled in favor of Adams, declaring the “home rule” maps unconstitutional.
Hill also ordered special elections for early 2025 in District 2 and District 4, since those maps were used for May primaries.
Richardson is a first-term Democrat who decided not to seek re-election earlier this year, opting instead for an unsuccessful Congressional bid, as the map dispute lingered.
Her term expires on Dec. 31. The same goes for District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb, who won a May Democratic primary based on the county-adopted maps.
They voted against the resolution to adopt the legislative maps on Tuesday.
Sheffield, who on Monday described the partisan squabbling on the board as “political Crips and Bloods,” wanted to pull the item for further discussion. She also was “all for” seeing Richardson complete her term.
But Birrell, who has been insisting her colleagues “follow the law,” said the matter has dragged on too far.
“This has to end tonight,” she said. “It has gone on too long.”
While what happened to Richardson “isn’t fair,” Birrell continued, “the bottom line is we don’t have the authority to draw a map.”
She, Gambrill and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid voted in favor of adopting the state maps.
Cupid continued to claim that “a great harm” was done to Cobb by the legislature in bypassing local delegation courtesies during reapportionment.
On the motion to declare a vacancy, Gambrill and Cupid voted in favor, while Birrell and Sheffield voted against.
‘You are a joke’
After Richardson returned to the dais, several public commenters had their say.
One of them, East Marietta resident Don Barth, tore into Cupid and Sheffield.
Barth is a Democrat who was disqualified in District 2 by the Cobb County Democratic Committee in the primaries for not living in that district according to the home rule maps.
A frequent public commenter, Barth greeted commissioners by saying, “you are a joke,” and ramped up the rhetoric from there, attacking Cupid, Sheffield and Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling in particular.
“You wonder why there’s no trust? You earn trust. You haven’t earned anything lady,” he said to Cupid. “You have been the worst thing for Cobb County.”
But Cupid cut off his comments after he yelled at Sheffield, with him shrieking that “I don’t work for you, you work for me!”
Sheffield said his comments, and their tone, made her feel “threatened.”
Barth replied that “you are a drama queen!”
After repeating that line twice, he was removed from the podium and escorted out of the room by law enforcement.
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Cobb commissioner Monique Sheffield—second from right—said that “we have become nothing more than political Bloods and Crips. . . . No offense to the Crips and Bloods.”
Instead of hammering out the beginning steps toward resolving a long, bitter dispute over electoral maps, Cobb commissioners on Monday launched into some of their harshest rhetoric yet on the matter.
During a work session to go over Tuesday’s meeting agenda, the partisan—and even racial—divides that have marked the saga boiled over more than they ever have.
The county opted last week to accept a Cobb Superior Court judge’s ruling that “home rule” maps adopted in late 2022 by the commission’s Democratic majority violated the Georgia Constitution.
As a result, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office proposed a resolution to adopt legislative-approved commission maps and give legal notice to vacate the District 2 seat—which had included some of East Cobb—due to residency issues.
That resolution is supposed to be on Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, but the work session Monday left that in doubt.
(You can watch the full discussion of the home rule issue in the video below.)
A notice to vacate, if approved, could mean that Democratic incumbent Jerica Richardson—who did not seek re-election—may have to leave office before her term expires at the end of December.
But Comissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb—one of two Republicans on the board—wanted her colleagues to repeal the “home rule” maps before doing anything else.
They were approved by the Democrats, claiming “home rule” exceptions under state law, after Richardson was drawn out of her East Cobb home. The Republican-led legislature did not consider maps approved by the county’s Democratic-majority legislative delegation that kept Richardson in District 2.
But in late July, Judge Kellie Hill said the Cobb’s action was unconstitutional because only the legislature can conduct county reapportionment. She also ordered special elections for next year to redo the results of primaries in District 2 and District 4 that were conducted with the “home rule” maps.
Birrell’s request to repeal those maps was opposed by Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who said that action was not on the agenda and hadn’t previously been discussed in work sessions.
“Until [the home rule maps are] repealed, we can’t move forward with any notice” regarding the vacancy, insisted Birrell, who reiterated a desire for outside counsel.
She and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill questioned the advice commissioners were getting from their in-house legal counsel.
Gambrill said she noticed that during an executive session on the issue, the county attorney’s staff kept separate sets of notes, with two in red (indicating the two Republican commissioners) and three others in blue (noting the Democrats).
“This is strictly political at this point,” Gambrill said. “Is our counsel going by the law or going by the majority?”
She and Cupid began raising their voices over one another, then Gambrill took aim at Richardson, who said she would recuse herself from a vote, saying “this item is being sent directly to me . . . I’m leaving my future up the four of you.”
Richardson said a vote to repeal the maps would be a home rule act that has been ruled unconstitutional and that “you can’t have it both ways.”
Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat from District 4 in South Cobb, blamed Republican lawmakers for bypassing local delegation courtesies during reapportionment in 2022.
“This is very political and it started at the statehouse when Commissioner Richardson was drawn out of her district,” Sheffield said.
“What’s happening in Cobb County is what’s happening nationally. People are dug in on their side, regardless of what is right.
“We have become nothing more than political Bloods and Crips,” she added, making a reference to criminal gang rivals. “No offense to the Crips and Bloods.”
That remark drew some chuckles, but the nearly 40-minute discussion was far from a laughing matter.
Sheffield took a bleaker turn, saying Richardson had received “nasty and disgusting” text messages that “takes me back to a time where people were not welcome in this country. People are still not welcome.
“When you have a young commissioner who decides to move in an area still within her district and she’s drawn out, but when she’s told she should move to an urban area, and that someone wants to ‘protect’ their community, that may not resonate to some of you but that resonates to me.”
When a spectator objected to that comment, Cupid said “you can get up and leave.”
Sheffield said that if Richardson were a Republican, “would we see all of this here? I don’t think we would.”
Richardson didn’t say anything in response to Sheffield’s comments.
The last two years, commissioners have heard “we want her out of her seat. We want blood, we want blood,” Sheffield continued, pounding her fists on the table.
At that point, Birrell interjected: “I didn’t say that.”
Sitting just a couple of feet away, Sheffield turned to her and said: “I didn’t say that you did. . . . This is an indictment on whoever feels that way.”
Later, Birrell said that her request to repeal the “home rule” maps isn’t about any of that.
“This is following the law and upholding the Constitution of the United States, the state of Georgia and Cobb County,” she said.
“The only way to settle this once and for all” is to publish public notices like were done with the “home rule” map approval process with two public meetings before voting to repeal them.
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Cobb County will no longer challenge commission electoral maps that have been at the heart of a nearly two-year-long legal dispute.
Jerica Richardson
But that doesn’t mean that the chaos and confusion that’s accompanied that saga is over.
Commissioners will be asked to consider on Tuesday an agenda item that “acknowledges a finding” that “home rule maps” approved by the commission’s three Democrats in 2022 be dropped in favor of legislative-approved maps that drew District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her seat.
That’s after a Cobb Superior Court judge declared the “home rule” maps a violation of the Georgia Constitution, since only the Georgia legislature can conduct county reapportionment.
Judge Kellie Hill then ordered special elections for the District 2 and District 4 commission primaries in which the home rule maps were used.
Those elections may not be decided until June of 2025. The earliest they would be finalized would be next April, according to schedules approved last week by the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration.
According to a state law cited in an agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting, should the commissioners adopt the legislative maps, Richardson would no longer be a legal resident of District 2, and that office must be vacated.
The agenda item calls for approving “notice to the sitting District 2 Commissioner that the office is deemed vacant” and states that the county must give 10 days’ notice “before proceeding to fill the vacancy.”
The agenda item (you can read it here) doesn’t indicate how that vacancy might be filled, or even if it will.
In response to a request for clarification from East Cobb News, Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said that providing a notice to vacate the District 2 office came from the Cobb County Attorney’s Office, citing State Code of Georgia provisions for filling vacancies in local elected offices.
When asked what such a process might entail for vacating the District 2 seat, Cavitt said that “there will be more discussion on this Monday.”
That’s when commissioners will meet in a work session to go over Tuesday’s agenda items.
Richardson is a first-term Democrat who moved from the Delk Road area to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road shortly after her election in 2020. That’s when District 2 included a sizable portion of East Cobb.
In 2022, however, the Georgia legislature ignored maps drawn by the Cobb delegation that would have kept Richardson in District 2. Instead, lawmakers approved maps that put most of East Cobb, including her home, in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.
District 2 includes most of the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area, as well as the I-75 corridor north to Marietta and the Town Center area.
Richardson, Chairwoman Lisa Cupid and District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield—the board’s Democratic majority—voted to approve the Cobb delegation maps, claiming home rule authority.
Richardson’s term was to expire at the end of this year, but as the dispute dragged on, she decided not to seek re-election, and instead ran unsuccessfully for Congress in May.
East Cobb News has left a message with Richardson seeking comment on the possibility of having to vacate her seat. If she is forced to do so, she could have that notice reviewed in Cobb Superior Court.
The county complained that Hill’s ruling to order special elections would be costly to county taxpayers and that the possibility existed of having a three-member board, instead of the full complement of five elected commissioners.
Hill said that nothing in her order calling for special elections implied that there would vacancies, indicating that Richardson and Sheffield could continue serving until the special elections are held.
Birrell and Republican Commissioner Keli Gambrill have said the same thing for several months.
In her July 25 decision, Hill ruled on an appeal by a Republican candidate, Alicia Adams, who had been disqualified for the District 2 primary under the home rule maps, which the Cobb elections board was following.
Adams lives within those boundaries under the legislative maps, but East Cobb resident Mindy Seger, a Democratic activist and ally of Richardson, challenged her qualification under the home rule maps.
The commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
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Property owners in Cobb County have two months to pay their 2024 property tax bills.
The Cobb Tax Commissioner’s Office has mailed them out, and they’re due by Oct. 15.
The county said in a release Wednesday that 271,400 tax bills representing $1,335,906,523 were mailed out to residential and commercial property owners in unincorporated Cobb.
Property owners in Cobb’s seven cities are billed by their respective municipal governments.
More than half the revenue to be collected by Cobb will go for Cobb County School District operations, followed by the Cobb government’s general fund and the Cobb fire fund.
Here’s more from the county on how to make your payment:
Payments may be made online, by phone, mail, or in person. Processing fees may apply:
Online at 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.
Visit our office in person at any of the following locations:
Whitlock Office 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.
Drop boxes are available 24/7 for checks or money orders. Make payment to Cobb County Tax Commissioner at:
Whitlock Office 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 questions or assistance, email tax@cobbtax.org or call 770-528-8600.
Please visit Understanding Your Tax Bill at cobbtax.org for a detailed explanation of our 2024 tax bills.
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Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said Tuesday “a great harm was done to Cobb County” with legislative-approved electoral maps.
The Cobb Board of Elections is moving ahead with special elections for commission races as a long-standing legal saga over redistricting continues elsewhere in county government.
The elections board on Monday approved two sets of special-election schedules for Cobb Commission races in Districts 2 and 4 for early 2025 after Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill vacated May primaries for those seats.
If there are December runoffs from the November general elections, those special commission elections would start on Jan. 20 and end on April 7.
If there are not runoffs, the two commission seats would be determined in voting from Feb. 12 through June 17.
The special-election dates coincide with previously scheduled municipal elections in Cobb County, but would come after the commission seats of current commissioners Jerica Richardson (District 2) and Monique Sheffield (District 4) expire on Dec. 31.
It’s not clear what might happen with two vacancies on the commission, which would go from a 3-2 Democratic majority to a 2-1 edge for Republicans.
On July 25, Hill ruled that May primaries using “home rule” maps approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners’ Democratic majority for the two district commission elections were unconstitutional, because they weren’t adopted by the Georgia legislature.
Cobb commission District 2 boundaries (in pink) and District 3 (in yellow), as adopted by the county on the left, and the legislature on the right.
Hill was ruling on a petition by Alicia Adams, a Republican who was disqualified in District 2 because she lives in the boundaries set by the legislature.
She filed her complaint against the Cobb elections board, which was honoring the “home rule” maps. The board Democrats in October 2022 claimed the county had home rule powers under the Georgia Constitution to conduct redistricting, after the legislature ignored maps drawn up by the Cobb legislative delegation.
But Hill affirmed a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that the county had no authority to redraw its own political maps, saying it was solely the responsibility of the legislature.
Late last week, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office filed an emergency motion to intervene in the Adams case, even though the county was not named as a defendant (you can read the motion here).
On Tuesday morning, Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid defended the county’s decision to seek intervention, saying “a great harm was done to our county” when the Georgia legislature ignored the Cobb delegation maps.
Home rule powers were claimed by the three Democrats—Cupid, Richardson and Sheffield—in a bid to keep Richardson in office.
The first-term Democrat was drawn out of her East Cobb home in the legislative maps, which placed most of East Cobb in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.
“There has been no effort to circumvent the Constitution,” Cupid said in remarks at the commission’s regular meeting. “However, there has been an effort to circumvent the votes of many voters who voted for each one of us who are sitting here today.
“There has been an effort to circumvent on trusting what the local delegation in putting forward a map for the Board of Commissioners. That has been a process over the 12 years that I have been here. There has been very little objection or question about why that was circumvented.”
Her remarks followed continuing statements by Birrell and Gambrill, the board’s two Republicans, who were opposed to the decision to try to intervene in the Adams case.
The home rule challenge, Birrell said, has gone on nearly two years “at taxpayers’ expense and should never have been done to begin with. We all took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, of the State of Georgia, and of Cobb County. Follow the law.”
Cobb GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs
Gambrill—an original plaintiff in a related Cobb home rule case that reached the Georgia Supreme Court but was not decided on the merits—called Cobb’s action “the path of anarchy.”
In its emergency motion, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office noted that in addition to the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in expenses that would be needed for special elections, Hill’s injunction “could potentially deprive half of Cobb County from having any representation on the BOC until June of 2025 at the earliest.”
Cobb Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs said during a public comment period earlier in Tuesday’s meeting that the county has only itself to blame for that.
“With the chaos you people have created, you’re going to make the taxpayers pay for that,” Grubbs said, “when it’s your responsibility and it’s your quest for power over Cobb County that has caused this situation.
“You refuse to acknowledge the fact that you violated your oath and Ms. Richardson should not be sitting on the dais. You have protected her at all costs in that seat so that you can have the majority.”
Richardson, who declined to seek a second term and instead launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress has not publicly commented on the matter.
Former Cobb school board member Jaha Howard won the Democratic primary in District 2 and Sheffield cruised in the Democratic primary in District 4.
Later in the meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to approve $2.4 million in additional spending for the 2024 elections due to costs associated with the presidential election, as well as one-time costs for technology and equipment, security at polling stations and seasonal personnel (poll workers).
Cobb elections director Tate Fall said that funding includes more than $624,000 that is being earmarked for the commission special elections.
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Top Massage is located in a small strip retail center on Roswell Road at Robinson Road West.
A month after revoking a business license for a health spa on Canton Road, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked Tuesday to decide whether “due cause exists” to approve similar action for two other such businesses in the East Cobb area.
According to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, a public hearings has been scheduled for the V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), which was delayed from last month.
There’s also a hearing scheduled to consider revoking the license for Top Massage (2200 Roswell Road, Suite 150).
The hearings will take place near the end of Tuesday’s regular commission business meeting.
Like the health spas, Top Massage is accused by the Cobb Community Development Agency’s Business License Division of not having properly licensed therapists on staff or premises.
An agenda item said business license officials and Cobb Police visited the business on April 10 and found two employees working there—one of them performing a message—who had health spa permits but not the required state massage therapist license.
There also wasn’t a state licensed therapist at the business at the time, which also violates the county code, according to the agenda item.
At V Massage, a compliance check in February noted that an employee had neither the health spa permit or state massage license, and there were no records of treatment at the business, nor were the owners or licensees there at the time.
The business was issued citations for those and other violations of the county code, and V Massage was granted a delay last month.
In July, commissioners voted to revoke the license of Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), for similar reasons, with “serious” violations going back to 2022.
Cobb officials said they were alerted by the Georgia Attorney General’s office that the business was advertising on adult websites.
Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.
The business owner denied the charges, even after its license renewal was denied in April. Asian Wellness also had no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours.
At the July hearing before commissioners, Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said that there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”
Asian Wellness, which was forced to close, can reapply for its license in 12 months.
Another health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal a Cobb License Review Board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year for similar issues.
Commissioners voted in June to impose a six-month moratorium on granting new licenses to health spas at the request of county officials, who have expressed concern that “illicit health spa establishments are evading code and law enforcement.”
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
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Cobb County is appealing a recent court ruling ordering new commission elections, continuing a dispute over electoral maps at that’s nearly two years old.
The county issued a statement Tuesday saying it’s filed motions in Cobb Superior Court to become a party to a complaint filed in March against the Cobb Board of Elections and reverse an order by Judge Kellie Hill last month that invalidated primary elections for commission districts 2 and 4.
In the statement the county said its action is an attempt to reverse the order “to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers.” The new action is asking that the May primary results stand.
The filings come several days after commissioners conducted an executive session that didn’t specify a reason.
Hill said that those elections were conducted using maps approved by the commission’s three Democrats and violated the Georgia Constitution.
The county maps were approved under a claim of home rule. But in her ruling, issued July 26, Hill backed up a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that only the Georgia legislature can conduct county reapportionment.
Kennesaw-area resident Alicia Adams had filed a complaint against the elections board—not the county—after being disqualified as a Republican candidate in District 2 under the home rule maps, which include some of East Cobb. She lives within the District 2 boundaries in the legislative maps.
“The Court, having ruled the Home Rule Map unconstitutional in the companion appeal finds the Plaintiff has a clear legal right to seek qualification for the Cobb County Commission, Post 2, using the Legislative Map, if qualified, to run for a special primary in that post,” Hill states in the ruling.
That decision invalidate the District 2 and 4 primaries until most likely after the November general elections. The terms of Democratic commissioners Jerica Richardson and Monique Sheffield, respectively, expire in December.
In its filings Monday, the county referenced the rights of voters in the two affected districts, saying new elections would be “disruptive and contrary to the public interest” to change the maps with the general election so close.
New elections could deprive voters in those areas of elected representation possibly in June of next year, and hit taxpayers with the cost of special elections, the county is now arguing.
“I am hopeful the judge in this matter can provide clarity in responding to our county attorney’s inquiries on behalf of our Board,” said Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, in the county’s statement on Tuesday.
She’s on the November ballot seeking a second term. Sheffield won her District 4 Democratic primary easily, and would have been unopposed in November.
In District 2, former Cobb school board member Jaha Howard won the Democratic primary, and East Cobb resident Pamela Reardon qualified under the home rule maps. Hill’s order would disqualify Reardon.
Richardson, who was drawn out of her East Cobb home in District 2 under the legislative maps—triggering the long-drawn-out-dispute—decided not to seek re-election and ran unsuccessfully for 6th District Congress.
East Cobb News has left a message with Richardson seeking comment.
The two Republican commissioners, Keli Gambrill of North Cobb and JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb, oppose the county’s new legal filings (their terms expire at the end of 2026).
Birrell was re-elected in 2022 under legislative maps that placed most of her district in East Cobb.
Both GOP representatives have filed statements at each board business meeting since January 2023 stating their objections to the home rule maps.
Cupid, Richardson and Sheffield voted in October 2022 to approve the home rule maps to conduct county business. The Cobb elections board decided earlier this year to follow those same maps for the primaries.
The county is no longer arguing for the validity of its maps, but the process for determining how two of its district commissioners will be chosen by voters.
“While the county agreed it would return to the state legislative map in a lawful and orderly manner, the motions were filed to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers,” the county’s statement Tuesday states.
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Members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners have been called to attend a special-called meeting and hold an executive session Thursday.
According to a notice filed by County Clerk Pam Mabry, commissioners will gather at 1:30 p.m. Thursday “to vote to go into executive session to discuss matters which may be properly discussed in Executive Session.”
There were no more specifics indicated in that notice, which was sent to East Cobb News by the Cobb communications office in response to more information.
Under Georgia law, elected bodies can hold executive sessions for three reasons: land, legal or property matters, and a specific reason must be stated before the executive session is held.
Cobb commissioners hold three official voting meetings per month: Regular sessions on the second and fourth Tuesday, and a zoning hearing on the third Thursday.
They also typically hold one or two work sessions a month, also in public.
The announcement of Thursday’s meetings comes days after a Cobb judge ruled the Cobb commission’s “home rule” redistricting maps violated the Georgia Constitution, and ordered new elections for commission races in District 2 and District 4.
The lawsuit was filed against the Cobb Board of Elections, which also used the “home rule” maps in the May primaries.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said in a response to that ruling on Friday that “I respect the judge’s ruling and we are assessing how to move forward.”
County spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News in response to a question if the county would appeal by saying that “there has been no discussion at this point about any further legal action.”
In her ruling last Thursday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill was hearing the appeal of Alicia Adams, a Republican who had been disqualified in District 2 after filing to run under maps approved in 2022 by the Georgia General Assembly.
Those maps drew current District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her East Cobb home. She and the commission’s two other Democrats voted in October 2022 to observe maps drawn by the Cobb legislative delegation, citing “home rule” privileges.
But Hill confirmed a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that the “home rule” maps violated the Georgia Constitution, which gives the legislature the authority to conduct reapportionment for county electoral maps.
The county wasn’t a party to Adams’ complaint, but it did appeal a separate lawsuit challenging the “home rule” maps after Harris’ ruling. The Georgia Supreme Court in May declined to take up that appeal, claiming the plaintiffs, a Cobb married couple, lacked standing.
East Cobb resident Mindy Seger, a Democratic activist and ally of current District 2 Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson, challenged Adams qualification under the “home rule” maps.
Since Hill’s ruling, Seger has not indicated whether she may appeal. East Cobb News has left a message seeking comment.
Richardson, who lost in a U.S. Congress primary in May, also has not spoken publicly about the matter since Hill’s ruling.
The special-called meeting Thursday takes place at 1:30 p.m. in the 3rd floor conference room of the Commissioners’ Conference Room, Cobb County Building, 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta.
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The outcome was as predictable as the calls to do otherwise.
After hearing homeowners begging for tax relief for several hours, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted along party lines Tuesday night to adopt a fiscal year 2025 budget and millage rate that includes substantial spending increases.
They held the general fund, fire fund and other millage rates from the present fiscal year 2024 budget.
But the new $1.3 billion budget means property owners will still be paying more in taxes due to rising assessments.
At two public hearings Tuesday night—one for the millage rates and the other for the budget proposal—citizens pleaded with commissioners to “roll back” the property tax rates.
The new budget includes a 9 percent increase in spending, and $41.3 million more in general fund increases along, mostly to pay for public safety salaries and benefits.
Overall spending across all funds is $63.7 million.
The three Democrats who make up the majority voted in favor, while the two Republicans voted against.
But there was little discussion before those votes were cast.
Some citizens said their assessments have gone up by much more, exceeding 30 percent in some cases, and causing an undue burden with inflation.
As in the two previous hearings, Tuesday’s hearing included pleas from citizens to find ways to cut spending.
“Stop DeKalbing us. Stop Fultonizing us,” said Alicia Adams, a Republican who’s challenging her removal as a commission candidate in a continuing legal dispute over electoral maps. “We’re Cobb County.
“Our money isn’t your money. Live by a budget. Our family does, so you need to too.”
Cobb resident Hugh Norris noted earlier during the hearing that the Austell City Council rejected a budget that included a 106 percent property tax increase, with only the mayor left to defend it.
“The constituents showed up, and apparently, the city of Austell, city council members remembered that they’re supposed to represent their constituents. . . . So far every single speaker has been against this, so we shall see where you all shake out.”
Because the millage rate didn’t roll back to fiscal year 2024 spending, the state considers that a tax increase, and the county had to advertise and hold three public hearings.
The general fund millage rate of 8.46 would have to be rolled back to 7.761 mills to meet 2024 spending, and the fire fund of 2.99 would have to be rolled back to 2.8 mills.
GOP commissioner Keli Gambrill referenced voter frustrations going back to 2018, when a previous board voted to increase the millage rate.
She said at the time, the county didn’t have much in funding reserves, “we are not in that position today.
“That is where the people are upset not many of them can have money in the bank earning the interest like the county is. This is where some of the frustration is. . . . We’re collecting more money than we should.”
Applause broke out when she said that, but Gambrill’s Democratic colleagues were unswayed.
Cobb chief financial officer Bill Volckmann presented a list of budget items passed last year that represent $16.5 million this year, and are long-term obligations.
Chairwoman Lisa Cupid read them aloud, and later extended her remarks to claim that the increases are needed to catch up with years of underfunding operations, and to pay for public safety overtime due to staffing shortages.
County department heads requested 380 new positions, but the FY 2025 budget includes only five.
Cupid said “I personally don’t care for” a higher tax bill, but that Cobb operates at a lower millage rate than most local governments in metro Atlanta.
“The significant wins” of Cobb government, Cupid added, are done largely on the backs of county employees.
“They try their best to serve you, with the limited dollars they have. . . Cobb County is known for providing stellar service, and we’d love to do it for free. But you and I both know it doesn’t operate like that.”
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East Cobb resident Jan Barton holds up a sign at a public hearing Wednesday for the proposed Cobb fiscal year 2025 budget.
Cobb commissioners are scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2025 budget for Cobb County government as well as the 2024 millage rate on Tuesday.
The budget proposal that was presented earlier this month calls for $1.27 billion in spending, $41.3 million increase in the general fund from the current fiscal year 2024 budget, and holding the line on the general fund millage rate at 8.46 mills.
That constitutes a tax increase under state law, since there is no proposed “rollback” millage rate to match current spending levels.
Commissioners have held two of three required public hearings on the budget, with the final hearing set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.
The property tax revenues in the proposed budget are a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.
A number of citizens have asked commissioners to reduce the millage rate due to rising property tax assessments.
On Wednesday during a special-called public hearing on the budget, they held up graphics showing how the costs of daily living have gone up for citizens.
“Lower the millage, otherwise it is a nine percent increase,” said East Cobb resident Jan Barton.
“The only thing down is weekly average earnings. Your decisions are putting people out of their homes.”
Maria Cooper, who said she’s on a fixed income, rattled off household costs that have gone up for her and asked for the millage rate to be rolled back. “I don’t want to be pushed out of Cobb County,” she said.
The overall proposed budget includes $63.7 million in new spending, with an additional $14.7 million for the fire fund, with a proposed millage rate to remain the same at 2.99 mills.
Only five new positions would be created in the FY 2025 budget, whittled down from 382 requests for new jobs from department heads.
Also in the proposed budget is a reduction in the amount of Cobb Water System revenues to the general fund, from six percent to five percent.
The Cobb finance department has created a presentation (click here ) breaking down how property taxes are divided, what general fund revenues pay for, and “how the county will spend this year’s budget growth.”
During the Wednesday hearings, resident Sue Marshall held up a copy of the budget brochure and said the county could have done a better job of informing the public of the meeting.
A Cobb resident since 1977, she said previous commissions held town halls and actively asked for public feedback.
“But you’re not doing that,” she said. “You want to raise taxes and keep up with the Joneses and be more like DeKalb and the city of Atlanta.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid responded to some of the commenters.
“It’s very difficult for all of us, for my family, to know how much we’re paying,” she said. “A lot of this is being driven by fair-market [home] values. We are not building houses to the rate of demand.”
Cupid said commissioners have a duty to be stewards in maintaining basic county operations. Two-thirds of the additional revenues for FY 2025 will be paying for public safety salaries and benefits.
“You said we should value public safety and we do,” she said. “If this budget does not pass we won’t be able to sustain the raises that we’ve recently provided for those who are sworn officers.”
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From the office of Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson:
I am pleased to invite you to Commissioner Richardson’s special Community Chat on the FY25 Budget, which is tomorrow, July 18 at 6:30pm.
The event will kick off with an in-person “Taxpayer Clinic” from 6:00 – 6:30 p.m. at Sewell Mill Library [2051 Lower Roswell Road] in the Community Room. Commissioner Richardson will offer to individually review your tax bill and answer any questions you may have about a line item. Please bring a copy of your 2024 property tax bill with you if you plan to attend the clinic.
Then, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Commissioner Richardson will host a virtual Community Chat to focus on the FY25 Budget. We strongly encourage you to attend this informative event to gain a deeper understanding of the budget and share your thoughts/ideas.
Please note that the Community Chat will be held virtually via Zoom. You must register in advance to receive the Zoom meeting link.
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After months of fiery public meetings and contentious public comments over a proposed stormwater fee, the Cobb Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday to table consideration of the measure indefinitely.
Commissioners voted unanimously (5-0) to hold off action to impose a fee based on impervious surface amounts after being unable to find consensus on such a proposal, which would have involved code amendment changes.
But during a brief discussion Tuesday, Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid conceded there’s plenty of division on the board about the issue.
“We were very close to bringing this in August but there are some minor details we’re still looking to get some consensus on,” she said before the vote, but didn’t specify what they might be.
“Taking care of our infrastructure is very important and that includes our water infrastructure.”
She had been leading the charge for a fee, saying the Cobb County Water System doesn’t have adequate funding and staffing to handle stormwater issues as it is.
The fee would have changed how stormwater services are charged to customers, who currently are billed based on water usage.
The other two Democrats on the commission have been generally supportive of making such a change, saying Cobb cannot handle stormwater management with $8.4 million currently allotted annually in the water system budget.
The board’s two Republicans have been opposed to the proposal, including JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb.
She held a town hall meeting on the stormwater fee proposal in March, and it drew a full house of citizens opposed to what they have decried as a “rain tax.”
But those three Democratic-held seats are up for re-election this year. Cupid and District 4 commissioner Monique Sheffield are seeking re-election (the latter is unopposed in November).
District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson of East Cobb is stepping down after one term after a redistricting dispute that’s still in the courts and her unsuccessful run for the U.S. Congress.
Also on the Nov. 5 general election ballot is a transit tax referendum that would impose a one-percent sales tax for 30 years that has drawn some public opposition.
The vote to place that referendum on the ballot also split 3-2 along the same partisan lines.
The stormwater fee proposal crafted by the Cobb Water System included a fee schedule that ranged from charging $2 to $12 a month for most residential customers, in addition to their existing water and sewer charges.
The motion to table the measure had been on the commissioners’ consent agenda, but was moved to the regular agenda.
Birrell asked how it might come up again.
“They could be brought to the board in the future if directed by the board,” Cobb Water System director Judy Jones said.
“But there is not a target date for bringing this up. Unfortunately we couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.”
Sheffield thanked Jones for her agency’s work putting together a comprehensive approach to addressing long-term stormwater needs.
Jones said that “we’ve put a lot of time in the office on this and our personal staff put a lot of time into this.”
Cupid told her colleagues that additional funding for stormwater could come up in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget that’s set to be adopted by the end of the month, because “there will be a need to fund stormwater and we’ll have to figure out how.”
But in reference to tabling the measure, Cupid said “this was a wise decision,” It is important that we have consensus of the board in order to move forward.”
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday revoked a health spa license for a business on Canton Road following complaints that it didn’t have properly licensed therapists and for other violations stemming back nearly two years.
During a special hearing at the end of a regular business meeting Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes the Canton Road area, said the allegations are very serious and have not been corrected since initial citations were issued in 2022.
“To me, they’re not minor violations,” she said. “They’re serious. We’re concerned about a hardship putting somebody out of business, but when you don’t follow our code and our laws we have no choice.”
The vote to uphold the recommendation of denial by the Cobb Business License Review Board was 4-0, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid leaving the hearing early.
The Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), which is owned by Lingxia Zhang, had its health spa license revoked and must close. although it can reapply in 12 months. Cobb is currently observing a six-month moratorium on issuing new health spa licenses, following requests from county officials to review those regulations.
The board voted 4-0 to continue a similar hearing to Aug. 13 for V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), at the request of the business’ attorney, citing family obligations.
A third health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal the license review board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year.
The hearing Tuesday for the Asian Wellness appeal lasted nearly three hours and was complicated by interpretations from English to Mandarin for the benefit of the owner.
Ellisia Webb, the Cobb Business License Division manager, said the issue of alleged violations there first came to the county’s attention when she was contacted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, which said it had reason to believe Asian Wellness Massage was advertising on various adult websites.
Asian Wellness was denied a renewal in April after a compliance check found that an employee on premises didn’t have a required health spa permit and another was not listed as an employee of the business.
Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.
In testimony Tuesday, Zhang denied the business was being used for illicit purposes, and said the bed, which was new, belonged to an employee.
V Massage was denied a renewal of its health spa license in April. During a February compliance check, two employees were on-site, and neither could produce a require health spa permit. There also were no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours, also violations of county code.
Meng Lim, an attorney for both health spas, pleaded for other correctional measures that did not involve the revocation of licenses.
“Do we use this opportunity to make sure that they don’t have a livelihood?” he asked commissioners in the hearing for Asian Wellness. “We all know that the board has a lot of discretion. . . .
“All businesses have minor infractions, and there are remedies for that.”
Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said “we are looking for people who can follow the rules. They are the last line of defense for bad things happening in our community.”
He said there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”
Hensley said two years after the initial 2022 citations issued to Asian Wellness, “we’re still having the same problems. . . . We’re here to protect the community, not that individual.”
Commissioner Monique Sheffield said in reference to the Asian Wellness ads on adult websites that “they’ve taken additional steps to market their illicit massage, and that’s concerning to me.”
She referenced a bed in the back of the business that “I find it to be a stretch that it was just taken out of the packaging and left there. That doesn’t make sense to me. A lot of things are just not adding up to me.
“I have a difficult time accepting some of the testimony as being truthful.”
Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling said V Massage will be able to stay open until commissioners hear its appeal.
“We cannot force her to close,” he said, in reference to the owner.
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Asian Wellness was denied a renewal in April after a compliance check found that an employee on premises didn’t have a required health spa permit and another was not listed as an employee of the business.