East Cobb Government Archives

Proposed Cobb code changes target sexually oriented businesses

August 26, 2020 10:12 AMAugust 24, 2020 2:28 PM by Wendy Parker

Tokyo Valentino East Cobb

UPDATE: Nobody showed up to speak in favor of or against the new ordinance on Tuesday. There will be another public hearing Sept. 8, the same day Cobb commissioners are expected to vote on the matter.

An initial public hearing is scheduled Tuesday for proposed Cobb code amendments that would make sweeping changes in regulating sexually oriented businesses.

At a Monday work session, the Cobb Board of Commissioners was briefed by Cobb County Attorney’s Office about the proposals, which would expand the definition of sexually oriented businesses and restrict where they can operate.

They would be required to get special sexually oriented business licenses, and all employees would have to have permits. Anyone operating such a business would have to meet buffer and other regulatory measures to abate what are termed “adverse secondary negative effects.”

(You can read through the proposed code amendments here. Reader discretion is advised, since there are some explicit descriptions of sexual acts, body parts and devices.)

The proposed code amendments come two months after Tokyo Valentino, an Atlanta-based adult retail store, opened on Johnson Ferry Road in a vacant mattress store in East Cobb.

That store opened after it received a business license to operate as a retail clothing store under the general commercial zoning category. East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said the county could not stop an adult store from opening there, even if it advertised itself as something else, due to existing ordinances.

The land where the former Mattress Firm store stood has been zoned general commercial since the 1970s

The new store in East Cobb drew community opposition before it opened as Tokyo Valentino and after Morrison initially said that’s not what would be going in that space

Among the court cases attorney Scott Bergthold referenced during the presentation were several current legal disputes involving adult stores in Brookhaven and Sandy Springs operated by Tokyo Valentino owner Michael Morrison.

In June the city of Marietta closed and revoked the business license of a Tokyo Valentino store on Cobb Parkway for violating an ordinance regulating the amount of sexual peraphernalia allowed in a general commercial category.

The proposed Cobb amendments would completely overhaul a section of the county code pertaining to licenses for adult businesses, which Bergthold said hasn’t been updated in decades.

He said courts have ruled that “can’t ban them but can stringently regulate” where they’re allowed to operate and what they can do.

Under the proposed code amendments, the new category of “sexually oriented businesses”—which would include adult retail stores like Tokyo Valentino as well as adult entertainment establishments—would be allowed only in two industrial zoning categories.

Any “lawfully existing” adult businesses operating in other zoning categories would have until the end of 2021 to relocate to an appropriately zoned property, and could apply for “hardship” to extend that period.

Tokyo Valentino aerial map — *An aerial map of the Tokyo Valentino store at 1290 Johnson Ferry Road and surroundings.*

That provision would presumably affect the Tokyo Valentino store on Johnson Ferry Road, the only one currently operating in unincorporated Cobb County.

An adult bookstore would be defined as one that derives at least 25 percent of its revenues from the sale and rental of sexually explicit items and has at least 25 percent of its floor space devoted to displaying those materials.

Sexually oriented businesses also would not be allowed to operate within 750 feet of residentially zoned land, within 1,500 feet of a school, religious facility, government-owned or run building, 1,000 feet of another sexually oriented business and 500 feet of another business licensed to sell alcohol, either on premises or a package store.

The Tokyo Valentino store is located close to some of those kinds of buildings and areas.

The adverse affects Burkholder referenced include declining property values, crime and public safety risks, lewdness, decency and the possible transmission of disease, drug use and trafficking and aesthetic impacts like traffic, litter, noise and blight.

Violations carry a maximum fine of $1,000 per violation, and proposed provisions outline steps the county could take to address repeat violators deemed to be a “nuisance,” including revocation of a business license.

Cobb County Attorney William Rowling said the proposed code changes have been publicly advertised three times since July 31.

Cobb commissioners will conduct a public hearing at their regular meeting that starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Action on the code amendments is scheduled after another public hearing in September.

Tuesday’s full meeting agenda can be found here.

You can watch online here or here or via Cobb TV, the county’s public access outlet, on Channel 23 on Comcast cable

Cobb continues ‘nice mask ask’ campaign in lieu of a mandate

August 24, 2020 11:14 AM by Wendy Parker

*Although Kroger is one of many businesses requiring East Cobb customers to wear masks, there isn’t a county government mandate to do so.*

When Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said last week he was asking county staff to review Gov. Brian Kemp’s latest order allowing local governments to pass mask mandates, he said he would be reluctant to impose one.

Not just because he thought it would be hard for public safety to enforce, he said, but also because he didn’t think he could get his colleagues to go along with it.

Boyce said a mask mandate would require public hearings and commissioners’ approval of a new ordinance.

Both of East Cobb’s commissioners said last week they don’t support that either.

JoAnn Birrell said in a response to a query from East Cobb News that “I concur with the governor’s order and the Chairman.”

Kemp’s order allows local governments to issue broad mandates if a county averaged more than 100 COVID-19 per 100,000 people over a 14-day period.

Cobb’s average as of Sunday for the previous two weeks was 313 cases per 100,000, as that number continues to trend down.

No Cobb mask mandate

That’s a metric that public health officials have said designates “high community spread” and it’s a key indicator Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale has said will guide a return to classroom instruction. He’s targeted getting that number under 200.

The Cobb GIS office has created a new map letting users gauge community spread data in the county and around the state. When you click on a county, it shows the cases per 100,000 over the previous 14 days, and has color coding to indicate the severity of the spread in a particular county.

Even if a local government issued a community mandate, Kemp’s order still requires the consent of property owners.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb also said of a broader mask requirement that “I don’t think it’s enforceable. It’s better to work with businesses and get them to do it.”

That sentiment is part of what Boyce has called a “nice ask mask” campaign that includes the use of billboards, as seen below, and social media messages, including photoshopped images above that include a mask on the Big Chicken.

Kemp’s order does allow local governments to impose mandates on public property, and Boyce said Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris can issue a mask order for county buildings.

Birrell said whatever McMorris may come up with, “I support her decisions.”

Shortly after Kemp’s order, the city of Smyrna imposed a mask mandate. Sandy Springs and Roswell orders require masks only in city buildings.

Most Cobb commissioners have been urging public mask use in their public statements and e-mail newsletters, and they often wear them during their public meetings.

Like Boyce, Ott said he has noticed high levels of voluntary mask compliance when he’s out and about.

“We just can’t be thinking up laws that are unenforceable,” Ott said.

No Cobb mask mandate

Sewell Mill Library to reopen Monday after COVID-19 closure

August 21, 2020 5:32 PM by Wendy Parker

After being closed since Aug. 7 after an employee was exposed to COVID-19, the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center will reopen on Monday beyond curbside service.

The Cobb County Public Library System made the announcement on Friday, and here are the details:

Sewell Mill will be open Mondays, 10 am to 8 pm; and Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 am to 6 pm. Curbside service pickup hours will return to Sewell Mill on Mondays from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 7 pm; and Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 am to 2 pm.

Cobb Library patrons are asked to schedule curbside appointments at the libraries offering the service at least one hour in advance on the same day of the planned appointment. A form for scheduling the curbside appointments and more details are available at www.cobbcat.org/libraryexpress.

For information on Cobb libraries, including open locations and libraries offering curbside service, visit www.cobbcat.org or call 770-528-2320.

60 percent of all Cobb COVID cases were reported in July

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Cobb homeowners can apply for mortgage payment assistance

August 19, 2020 12:58 PMAugust 19, 2020 8:45 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information from Cobb County government:

“Homeowners who own a home in Cobb County and have been adversely affected by COVID-19, may apply for mortgage payment assistance up to $4,800 and/or homeownership counseling. They must have occupied the home prior to March 1, 2020 and currently occupy the home, and they must currently be delinquent on their mortgage payments.

The Cobb Home Saver program is designed to mitigate home losses and provide optional homeownership counseling. Both independent and government studies have shown that when engaged at the onset of a crisis, homeownership education and counseling reduce the odds of foreclosure by 42%.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners approved $4.8 million in emergency funding for the program. The funding comes from the $132 million allocated to the county in the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.For more information, including how to apply, click here: https://cobbhomesaver.org/

For those who are for-profit businesses, don’t forget that Round 2 of the Small Business Relief Grant is still open until August 21st at 5 p.m! See link for eligibility and application requirements: https://selectcobb.com/grants/

Boyce: Cobb to review new order allowing local mask mandates

August 17, 2020 7:45 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Monday that county officials are reviewing a new executive order by Gov. Brian Kemp allowing local governments to issue mask mandates. Mike Boyce, Cobb Commission Chairman

In a release issued late Monday afternoon by county spokesman Ross Cavitt, Boyce said that if the county were to impose a mask mandate, it would require three public hearings on proposed code amendments, which would have to be approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

As Georgia’s COVID-19 case load has soared this summer, dozens of Georgia mayors and county governments issued mandates in defiance of a previous order by Kemp not to supersede his orders, which do not include a statewide mask mandate.

Among them was Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Kemp sued the city before withdrawing that lawsuit and issuing a revised order over the weekend.

Boyce has been reluctant to require Cobb citizens to wear masks in public, and reiterated that position Monday. He said in a statement via Cavitt that “issuing a mandate would place the burden on the county’s police department to enforce it. I’m reluctant to place that burden on a department that is already understaffed and facing other challenges caused by the pandemic.”

Cavitt’s statement said Boyce noted that none of those jurisdictions with mask mandates have issued citations. Boyce, Cavitt said, “plans on letting commissioners weigh in on whether they want to move forward on a countywide mandate.”

Under the new order, Cobb could include a mandate for anyone entering county government facilities. Kemp’s order also extends local mask mandates to private property if a county meets a threshold of COVID-19 cases.

That’s an average of 100 positive cases per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks, and nearly all of Georgia’s 159 counties meet that threshold. Cobb has averaged 351 cases per 100,000 people over the last 14 days.

It’s a figure that Cobb school officials also have cited for starting the school year online-only, as virtual instruction began Monday.

Kemp’s order would require local governments to get the permission of private property owners before a mask mandate could be imposed. Fines for violators of any local order would be punishable by up to $50 after a warning.

At the end of July, Cobb had reported 11,206 positive COVID-19 cases, with 60 percent of them in July alone. County officials stepped up a “nice mask ask” for the public, also stressing hand-washing and physical distancing, to help slow the spread of the virus.

Through the first half of August, Cobb has reported 3,687 more cases. The number of deaths in the county has grown from 297 at the end of July to 339 as of Sunday, second only to 472 deaths in Fulton County.

DeKalb commissioners in July approved in a 6-1 vote a mask mandate that would require citizens on a second citation to attend a COVID-19 prevention class. Anyone who refused would be fined $250.

Citizens also could go before a judge and claim a conscientious objector’s exception for health, religious or ethical reasons.

Other states in the South have recently imposed statewide mask mandates, including Alabama.

Today’s Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 daily report can be found here.

Cobb property tax bills mailed out; payments due Oct. 15

August 17, 2020 1:33 PMAugust 17, 2020 9:20 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Property Tax bills

Probably not the news you want at the start of the week, but the Cobb Tax Commissioner’s Office has sent out a reminder that your 2020 property tax bill has been mailed, and it’s due on Oct. 15.

Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson says 265,052 tax bills in unincorporated Cobb County have been mailed. The $938,326,283 collection total was calculated with 249,678 Real Property bills for $869,994,540 and 15,374 Personal Property bills for $68,331,743.

The biggest part of your bill as indicated above is school taxes—unless you’re taking the senior exemption—at nearly 58 percent, followed by the general fund. Cobb’s six cities levy and collect property taxes from homeowners and businesses in those municipalities.

Bills can be paid online via e-check, debit or credit card at the Cobb Tax Commissioners website, by phone at 1-866-PAY-COBB. If you choose to send via, regular mail, the address is Cobb County Tax Commissioner, PO Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061.

Bills also can be dropped off at designated drop boxes around the county, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).

More information can be found here.

New Kemp order allows local governments to mandate masks

August 15, 2020 9:05 PMAugust 15, 2020 8:27 PM by Wendy Parker

Georgia public health emergency extended — *Gov. Brian Kemp has pushed for voluntary mask compliance, but has been reluctant to issue a statewide mandate.*

After unsuccessfully suing the City of Atlanta over its mask mandate, Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday signed a new executive order that permits local governments to issue mask mandates.

It falls short of a statewide mandate that a White House COVID-19 Task Force has recommended, although Kemp has embarked on a statewide tour encouraging Georgians to wear masks in public.

His order on Saturday (you can read it here), which expires on Aug. 31, extends one first issued in March, and that until now had forbidden local governments from superseding statewide provisions.

The order continues to issue a shelter-in-place for medically fragile people, limits large gatherings and mandates continuing safety guidelines for restaurants, salons and other businesses.

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 3,372 new cases and 96 deaths, for an overall total of 235,168 and 4,669. Cobb’s case total rose by 186 on Saturday to 14,826. The death toll rose by four, to 338, the second-highest number in Georgia behind 472 in Fulton County.

After dropping his lawsuit against Atlanta and ending mediation with the city earlier this week, Kemp indicated he would address the mask mandate issue in a new order.

A local government can now issue a mask mandate for anyone using public property in that jurisdiction, such as a courthouse, library, tag office or other facility.

However, that mandate can be expanded to the larger community if a county has averaged more than 100 COVID-19 confirmed cases per 100,000 people for the previous 14 days.

That includes most counties in Georgia, including Cobb. Georgia DPH figures on Saturday indicated that Cobb has been averaging 394.4 cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks.

According to Kemp’s new order, those mandates can be imposed on private property only if an owner agrees. Violations of any local mandates are punishable by a maximum fine of $50 after a warning. Kemp said in a statement:

“This order protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property. While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”

Mask Up Cobb

Several dozen local governments in Georgia have defied Kemp’s previous order with mask mandates.

Cobb County is among the jurdisdications that has not issued a mandate. After Atlanta’s mandate was issued by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in July, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said he would not do so, citing Kemp’s order.

He said at the time that “while such a mandate looks great on paper, it puts an unsustainable burden on public safety personnel. They would be the ones responsible for enforcing this behavior on more than 760,000 people in the County. This expectation is unreasonable.”

While visitors and staff to county facilities must wear face coverings, Boyce said he was making a “nice ask” for citizens to wear masks elsewhere. Since then, county government has embarked on a “Mask Up Cobb” campaign with social media messages and billboards.

Many local businesses in East Cobb have had mask mandates since they reopened, especially personal care salons and small retail stores. Large retailers and supermarkets also have required customers to wear face coverings for the last few weeks.

The AJC reported this week that the White House COVID-19 Task Force warned that Georgia is in a “red zone” for expanding spread of the virus and urged a statewide mask mandate, saying current mitigation efforts have not been working.

You can read the report by clicking here.

New Cobb fire chief appointed; is 26-year department veteran

August 12, 2020 1:26 PM by Wendy Parker

When former Cobb Fire Chief was appointed interim Cobb Public Safety Director last August, one of his deputies, William Johnson, was named interim fire chief. Cobb Fire Chief William Johnson

On Tuesday the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to formally appoint Johnson to the position, which oversees fire and emergency services.

Johnson has been in Cobb for more than 26 years, according to his official biography, and started out at the rank of firefighter/paramedic.

He’s worked his way up as an engineer, lieutenant, captain and battalion chief, and in 2016, was appointed deputy chief of preparedness.

Johnson hold a bachelor’s degree from Columbia Southern University in fire science. He is a University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government EXCEL graduate.

Johnson also is part of the 2019 class of Leadership Cobb.

He’s lived in Cobb County all his live, graduating from McEachern High School, and still lives in West Cobb with his wife and two children.

Johnson is a founding committee member of the United Leadership Program and a lifetime Silver Member of the NAACP.

Cobb commissioners won’t take up absentee ballot funding request

August 11, 2020 3:38 PMAugust 11, 2020 11:48 AM by Wendy Parker

After being accused of deciding in secret not to consider a funding request to mail absentee ballot applications to all county registered voters for the November general election, Cobb commissioners did discuss the matter in public at their meeting on Tuesday. Cobb absentee ballot funding request

Then the Republican majority voted against putting the matter on the meeting agenda.

The vote was strictly partisan—4-1—and came after the head of the Cobb Democratic Party blasted what she said was a behind-the-scenes process.

(In order for an item not on a meeting agenda to be added, it must obtain a “super majority” vote of four commissioners.)

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration had voted unanimously last month to ask commissioners for $222,000 in CARES Act funding to mail absentee ballot applications to all 518,000 registered county voters.

But in discussing whether to put the request on the commissioners’ agenda for consideration, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said he declined to do so because he didn’t have the support of the majority of his colleagues.

Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the board and who is facing Boyce in the chairman’s race in November, said she wasn’t asked about the funding request during the agenda prep process.

She said there was “a lot of concern” that an item that received unanimous approval from the elections board didn’t make it onto the agenda, even for discussion.

She made a motion to discuss placing the item on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting, and Boyce seconded that motion.

That the elections board request didn’t make it to the agenda, Cupid said, “is a troubling path to take. I do not understand why we’re taking it now.”

In his first public comments on the matter in his role as chairman, Boyce said “there is nothing secret” about the process, and that there was no vote taken.

“My job is to take the pulse of the board,” he added, saying that this is the first time since he took office “where there was generally no support for something.”

Boyce said the elections board never approached him about a funding request, and had opportunities to do so during the recently-completed Cobb fiscal year 2021 budget process.

In remarks at the start of the meeting, Cobb Democratic chairwoman Jackie Bettadapur cited issues with voting during the June 9 primaries, especially in Democratic strongholds in South Cobb, due to staffing shortages, problems with new voting machines and long lines due to social-distancing measures.

Absentee voting, she said. “is the safest way to vote in a pandemic,” and called issues around the primary a “debacle.”

A vast majority of those voting in the primary in Cobb voted via absentee ballot, causing days of delays in certifying those elections. Many more absentee ballots have been returned for runoff elections that conclude Tuesday with in-person voting.

She also reminded Boyce of critical remarks he made about Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger in the wake of some of those problems.

Republicans, Bettadapur said, “don’t want people to vote.”

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb said he opposed the funding request because he’s heard from citizens who were confused upon getting primary absentee ballot applications from both the county and the state.

Cupid said in response to Boyce that CARES Act funding was appropriate for absentee balloting because of issues prompted by COVID-19, and thought it was unfair for the elections board request to be singled out when other entities had their requests considered.

(The elections board appointees include one from the commission chairman, two from the county’s legislative delegation and one each from the county Democratic and Republican parties.)

Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb said that nowhere in the potential agenda item she saw was CARES Act funding ever mentioned, and wondered why absentee ballot applications weren’t asked for Tuesday’s runoff election.

“This runoff election is just as important as November,” she said.

Boyce insisted that “there were other ways to approach this,” and said that there are more requests for what’s left of Cobb’s allotment of CARES Act funding (an original $132 million) than there was money left to distribute.

While voting is important, he said, so are food, rent, public health, schools and other needs that have arisen due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Near the end of the meeting, Cupid thanked Bettadapur for speaking out.

UPDATE: Sewell Mill Library curbside service resumes Thursday

August 11, 2020 8:36 AM by Wendy Parker

Sewell Mill Library opens

The Sewell Mill Library has been closed since the weekend due to an employee testing positive for COVID-19.

While the interior of the building remains closed and is undergoing a “deep cleaning,” the Cobb Public Library System announced that curbside service for checked-out materials will resume on a limited basis starting Thursday.

That service will be available weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. until further notice, and here’s what the library staff is asking you to do if you need to use the curbside service, there and at any of the selected branches that have reopened:

Cobb Library patrons are asked to schedule curbside appointments at the libraries offering the service at least one hour in advance on the same day of the planned appointment. A form for scheduling the curbside appointments and more details are available at www.cobbcat.org/libraryexpress.

60 percent of all Cobb COVID cases were reported in July

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Sewell Mill Library closed for cleaning after COVID exposure

August 8, 2020 1:48 PM by Wendy Parker

Sewell Mill Library opens

This just in from Cobb County Government:

Cobb’s Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center has closed for deep cleaning after a COVID exposure.

Stay tuned for more information on when we can reopen.

The Sewell Mill Library this month has been holding classes from The Art Place, which is undergoing maintenance

Since Sewell Mill and several other branches opened with limited services in July, they have not been open on the weekends. Before the COVID outbreak, Sewell Mill had been open on Saturdays.

Shortly before the libraries and other government facilities were closed in March, the West Cobb Library was closed due to a COVID exposure at that branch, and a cleaning took place.

The other branches that have been open Monday-Friday since July are East Cobb and the Mountain View Regional Library.

Some browsing has been allowed, and patrons have been able to check out materials, get and renew library cards, use computers (on a limited basis) and get reference help. They have been encouraged to use curbside pickup when checking out materials.

Space to sit and read has not been available, nor have conference rooms, and the Sewell Mill branch’s creative studios also remain closed.

All library staff and patrons are also required to wear masks or face coverings.

60 percent of all Cobb COVID cases were reported in July

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Marietta CrossFit owner receives small business relief grant

July 31, 2020 5:50 PM by Wendy Parker

Marietta CrossFit small business grant

Several of the first recipients of small business relief grants issued by SelectCobb via the federal CARES Act were recognized last week by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

They include Leah Cozzo, a co-owner of Marietta CrossFit on Canton Road, whose business received $20,000, seen above with Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell and below with all commissioners and Cobb Chamber of Commerce and SelectCobb leaders.

Birrell said in her weekly newsletter that “the owner was so appreciative of the grant and that it allows her business to remain open and her employees to work The grant helps her stay in business.”

The first batch of grants has totaled $7.5 million (out of $50 million approved by commissioners), and to 409 businesses in the county.

Here’s more from SelectCobb, the economic development unit of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, about the program and the initial grantees:

The grants, designed to help businesses mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19, ranged from $20,000 to $40,000. The funding was made possible through a portion of the County’s disbursement of The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, an economic stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Congress in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The local grants are designed to help area businesses pay for rent, utilities, personnel payments and personal protective equipment.

Approximately 56 percent of grant recipients are minority-owned businesses, while 53 percent are women-owned, and 8 percent are veterans.

“These grants are essential in providing some measure of hope and relief to the business community,” said Mike Boyce, chairman of the Cobb County Commission. “We thank the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and members of the selection committee led by Steve Ewing for their hard work in evaluating the applications. They all truly reflect what is best about the Cobb community.”

The county-Chamber partnership is being extended for another round of grants, and the deadline to apply is Aug. 21 at 5 p.m.

More information, criteria and eligibility requirements can be bound at https://selectcobb.com/grants/. Applications are open until August 21 at 5 p.m.

Crossfit Marietta small business grant

Cobb FY 2021 budget adopted; more CARES Act funding approved

July 29, 2020 1:38 PMJuly 29, 2020 8:36 AM by Wendy Parker

Proposed Cobb FY 21 budget

The Cobb Board of Commissioners adopted a fiscal year 2021 budget on Tuesday night that includes a property tax increase and no merit increase for county employees.

Commissioners voted without discussion to adopt the $473 million general funding spending plan, which holds the line on the property tax rate at 8.66 mills. But because of additional revenues coming from growth in the Cobb tax digest and no “rollback” millage action, state law considers that a tax increase.

At Tuesday’s final slate of public hearings on the millage rate and budget proposal, no citizens signed up to speak.

The budget is effective Oct. 1.

Commissioners also approved funding from the federal CARES Act to assist the Marietta City Schools ($2.9 million) with online learning preparations and to purchase personal protective equipment for students and teachers.

Earlier this month the Cobb County School District received $8.1 million from the county in CARES Act money to purchase digital learning content.

Commissioners also voted to aid Cobb’s six cities with a total of $10.3 million CARES Act funding as follows:

Acworth: $1,855,308
Austell: $375,873
Kennesaw: $1,788,904
Marietta: $3,183,194
Powder Springs: $805,038
Smyrna: $2,968,559

The largest amount of the $132 million in CARES Act funding for Cobb County was $50 million in small business relief grants that were expanded last week. On Tuesday, commissioners voted to amend that plan again, designating $2 million of that amount for similar relief grants for Cobb non-profits.

Like the small businesses, the non-profits would apply and be eligible for funding for payroll and operations, with amounts based on tiers depending on the number of employees.

The non-profit grants also will be administered by SelectCobb, the economic development arm of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

Commissioners also approved the purchase of the Mansour Conference Center in Marietta, which will become the new home of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration.

The $7.5 million acquisition will allow the previous owner, The Center for Family Resources, to lease office space from the county.

Cobb County eyes $7.5M purchase of Mansour Conference Center

July 24, 2020 3:54 PM by Wendy Parker

Mansour Conference Center

Earlier this week The Center for Family Resources, a Cobb-based non-profit, announced it would be selling the Mansour Conference Center it owns on Roswell Street, near the Big Chicken.

CFR said it couldn’t announce the buyer, but an agenda item for Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting indicates it’s Cobb County government.

If commissioners approve a $7.5 million purchase, the building will become the new home of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, which is located on Whitlock Avenue in Marietta.

The agenda item (you can read it here) said commissioners met in executive session in late May to discuss and agree to the purchase.

CFR would continue to occupy 1,500 square feet of the 60,000-square foot building, which also has been the home of other non-profits since 2005, including Disabled American Veterans, Sheltering Arms and and United Way of Greater Atlanta.

The agenda item indicates that the funding for the purchase would come from the Cobb government’s general fund balance, and that license fees to be paid by CFR (at $12,500 a month) will be returned to the general fund.

What once was Sears store became the Mansour Center in 2005, with a gift from the family of John and Myrna Mansour, who were long-time CFR supporters.

In those 15 years, the Mansour Center was the host of more than 300 events and community forums.

It will be closing its doors next Friday, July 31.

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!

SelectCobb to reopen applications for small business relief grants

July 24, 2020 2:42 PMJuly 24, 2020 12:11 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted this week to extend its partnership with SelectCobb, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s economic development arm (story here) to aid small businesses recovering from COVID-19 lockdowns.

Eligible businesses will be able to apply, starting July 27, to receive between $20,000 and $40,000 help pay for personnel, rent, utilities and PPE costs.

Here’s what’s different in the second round of the grant selection process:

Businesses that have received financial assistance from the Payroll Protection Program or Small Business Administration are now eligible for a grant.
Businesses can include both W-2 and 1099 employees toward their total number of employees.

The following requirements include the following:

Business must be an existing for-profit corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship;
Business headquarters or primary location must be within Cobb County;
Business must have 100 or fewer full-time, W-2 employees and/or individual 1099 contractors that function like employees, i.e., employees or contractors working at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month;
Business must have been in continuous operation for a minimum of 1 year prior to March 13, 2020;
Business must have a current business license issued by Cobb County Government, City of Acworth, City of Austell, City of Kennesaw, City of Marietta, City of Powder Springs, or City of Smyrna;
Business must be current on all local taxes;
Business may be home-based or located in an owned or leased commercial space;
Business must certify if they have received PPP/SBA funds and the amount in which they received as of time of application submittal; and
Business cannot be a publicly traded company.
Ineligible Businesses Include: Gambling Institutions, Multi-Level Marketing Organizations, Real Estate Investment Firms (REITS), Adult Entertainment

The deadline to apply is Aug. 21 at 5 p.m., and you can apply and get more information by clicking here.

Cobb commissioners to hold budget hearing; consider CARES funding

July 20, 2020 6:31 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb proposed FY 2021 budget

After the Cobb Board of Commissioners holds public hearings Tuesday night on the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget, they’ll consider several proposals for county CARES Act funding for small business grants and for homeowners.

The budget public hearing starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and you can watch on the county government’s Facebook Live page or on Channel 23, Cobb TV, on Comcast.

The full agenda for the public hearings and other items can be found here.

The two public hearings will allow for public comment on the proposed budget and proposed millage rate.

Because the county is expecting additional revenues due to a rise in the Cobb tax digest and a “rollback” millage rate is not being proposed, that’s considered a tax increase and the public hearings must be held.

The proposed general fund budget of $473 million doesn’t include a merit raise for county employees and would use reserve funds and reduce capital expenses to reach a balance. The property tax millage would not go up.

After the hearings are concluded, commissioners will be considering items related to the federal CARES Act, money appropriated by Congress to local governments to address the economic fallout from COVID-19.

Cobb received $132 million in CARES Act funding, and has spent nearly $70 million of that total.

The biggest chunk so far is $50 million for small business emergency grants to be administered through Select Cobb, the economic development arm of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

On Tuesday commissioners will consider two proposals by commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb to amend a memorandum of understanding for the business grants. Initially, recipients could not already have received funding through the federal Paycheck Protection Act.

But agenda item information indicates that of the 2,078 applicants for the county CARES funding, 72 percent of them have received some federal funding, either through PPP or Small Business Administration CARES Act funds.

Ott’s proposal would allow SelectCobb to award Cobb CARES grants to businesses who’ve received other federal money, and revise certain funding tiers. A list of businesses recommended for the additional funding starts on page 12 of the agenda.

Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb also is proposing to use $5.7 million in county CARES funding for one-time grants of up to $4,800 for homeowners who’ve gone back to work but need assistance making mortgage payments. For homeowners still out of work, she’s proposing a combination of financial and counseling assistance.

The grants would be administered by HomeFree-USA, a non-profit that helps people build and sustain home ownership.

Cobb schools to get CARES Act funding in 3-2 commission vote

July 14, 2020 5:15 PMJuly 14, 2020 11:40 AM by Wendy Parker

Lisa Cupid, Cobb Board of Commissioners — *Commissioner Lisa Cupid*

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve an $8.1 million request from the Cobb County School District for resources to bolster online learning, but not after another testy discussion for the second day in a row.

By a 3-2 vote, commissioners signed off on funds from the federal CARES Act so the district can purchase content to add to its Cobb Teaching and Learning online portal that could accommodate the full 113,000-student enrollment for remote instruction if necessary.

The county received $132 million from the federal government to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, and commissioners have spent $50 million for small business grants, as well as funding for non-profits for emergency food supplies and to help tenants work with landlords to pay back rent and avoid eviction.

Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the majority of the funding the district was seeking would be spent on content from a variety of sources. In March Cobb schools switched entirely to remote learning, but Ragsdale has said the district needs a “more robust” portfolio of digital materials should classes go 100 percent online.

The Cobb school district has pushed back the start of classes to Aug. 17 to prepare for in-person and online options that parents are choosing this week.

Three other metro Atlanta school districts have said they are holding fall semester classes online only.

Ragsdale told commissioners another superintendent asked him if Cobb would be going to online-only, and he said that “it’s a rumor, but no decision has been made.”

After Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and Commissioner Lisa Cupid clashed at a Monday work session to hear the district’s proposal, Cupid blistered Ragsdale when she asked whether he had run the request by the Cobb school board.

Ragsdale said that the CTLS project has been in development for several years, and that he had discussed the CARES Act request at school board’s June meeting.

At that point, she interrupted him, saying she’s heard from multiple school board members who’ve said they’ve never been presented with the funding request.

Cupid also said teachers have been e-mailing her about the matter.

“I cannot support anything that my peers on the BOE have not authorized,” said Cupid, of South Cobb, who is facing Boyce in the November election for chairman.

She told Ragsdale that due to the way he presented the funding request, “my intelligence is being undermined.”

Cupid didn’t identify the board members, but she continued expressing concerns from Monday about students lacking access to technology, and implored him to “not let these students fall further behind.”

Several citizens spoke during the commissioners’ public comment session Tuesday in opposition to the district requesting CARES Act funds only for technology. Some identified themselves as Cobb school teachers and a former Cobb school counselor, and said that students in need still need laptops, and teacher and staff need personal protective equipment.

They said they were coming to commissioners because the school board has not heard public comments since going to virtual meetings in March.

The speakers included incoming school board member Tre Hutchins, who also wants the district to regularly provide students with masks, which aren’t in the reopening plans. Staff will be provided masks, although neither they nor students are required to wear them.

Cupid and Keli Gambrill voted against the school district’s funding request; commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb supported it, as did Boyce.

Boyce said before the vote that Ragsdale’s request federal guidelines for CARES Act distribution.

While he said that “I acknowledge all the issues” commissioners heard, “the real issue” is that the district is facing a $62 million budget deficit.

While CARES Act funding can’t replace all of that, Boyce said the “request reflects the sentiment” of the superintendent and the school board.

Commissioners are delaying a CARES Act request from Marietta City Schools until July 28.

Proposed Cobb FY 2021 budget of $473M includes no pay raises

July 14, 2020 9:38 AMJuly 13, 2020 3:52 PM by Wendy Parker

Proposed Cobb FY 21 budget — *For a larger view, **click here**. Source: Cobb Finance Office*

The proposed fiscal year 2021 Cobb government general fund budget revealed Monday is $1.8 million less than the current budget and does not include pay raises for county employees.

During a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session, assistant county finance director Buddy Tesar outlined the proposals that include no new positions, continuing a restricted hiring process and that call for steep reductions in capital expenses.

The $473 million budget proposal holds the line on the current general fund property tax rate of 8.66 mills and assumes a flat tax digest after increases of more than three percent in each of the last two years.

The overall Cobb government budget—which includes separate funds for fire and emergency services, debt service, capital expenses, the hotel-motel tax and other categories—is proposed to be $732.897 million, slightly less than the current $732.998 million.

(You can read a summary of the budget proposal here.)

The first public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at the commissioners’ regular meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The meeting takes place in the second-floor board room of the Cobb government office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta. You also can watch here or here or on the county’s public access outlet, Channel 23 on Comcast.

*For a larger view, **click here**. Source: Cobb Financial Office*

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has been saying since the COVID-19 outbreak that he would not be proposing merit raises but he wants to continue the county’s STEP salary and grade program for public safety employees initiated last year.

The general fund is funded with property tax revenues, and revenue from them in the the FY 2021 general fund budget is projected to be $306 million, up from the current $302 million.

That reflects a small bump in the tax digest, although the millage rate will not be going up. Under state law, that counts as a tax increase, and commissioners are required to hold three public hearings.

Other hearings will take place on July 21 and on July 28, when commissioners are scheduled to adopt the budget.

Personnel costs in the proposed budget would rise from $296.4 million to $316.6 million.

Contingency spending also would go down sharply, from $18 million currently to only $3 million in fiscal year 2021.

Around $12.7 million of that contingency was spent on a four-percent merit increase for county employees, and an additional seven-percent for public safety employees, as commissioners addressed staffing and retention concerns for police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.

In addition, the economic fallout from COVID-19 closures has produced a steep drop in hotel-motel tax revenues that help the county pay off bond debt for Truist Park.

The proposed hotel-motel tax revenues are $9.9 million, down from the current $17.5 million.

The total proposed for bond stadium debt service is the same as the fiscal year 2020 total of $22.4 million, and would include transfers from other capital service funds. No transfer funding from the hotel-motel tax is included in the budget proposal.

An additional $732,000 in property tax revenues also would be shifted into the stadium debt service fund.

Other revenue losses factored into the budget proposal include cuts of $1.7 million in fines and forfeiture, due to a curtailed court calendar since the virus, as well as a $910,000 loss in licensing and permitting revenue.

The additional personnel costs include increases in pension and health-care costs.

*For a larger view, **click here**. Source: Cobb Finance Office*

Commissioners spar over Cobb schools CARES Act request

July 13, 2020 11:31 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school superintendent honored — *Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale says the district needs to complete a “more robust” online learning portal.*

A presentation by the Cobb County School District for emergency funding resulted in a bit of a clash between county commissioners Monday.

The Cobb and Marietta superintendents are seeking CARES Act funding from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is overseeing distribution of $132 million for responses to COVID-19.

Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale is seeking $8.1 million for the CCSD to complete development of its Cobb Teaching and Learning System, an online resource that became more heavily utilized than usual when district schools closed to in-person learning in March.

Ragsdale told commissioners that the final phase of the portal, called CTLS Learn, has been in progress but needs to become “a more robust” resource should schools have to close again.

He said the district has redirected existing funding for that effort, “but we’re going to run out of funding” to have CTLS Learn ready by the time classes begin on Aug. 17.

“We have to be prepared with 113,000 students and 8,000 teachers to be online with CTLS without missing a beat,” Ragsdale said.

The district is offering both classroom and remote learning options for students, whose parents have all this week to choose that environment.

The CARES Act funding, Ragsdale said, would enable the district to purchase and develop enough online curriculum materials to accommodate full-fledged distance learning.

CTLS currently has around 700,000 resources, he said, and the additional elements would be purchased from vendors, obtained from open sources and developed in-house.

Ragsdale also said that unlike the end of the last school year, when students’ grades as of March 13 were allowed to stand, there will be academic accountability.

Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who represents South Cobb, said she was disappointed the district’s proposal didn’t include technology assets—computers and internet access—for students in need.

Ragsdale said that wasn’t part of his proposal, and based on unused Chrome Books that were given out this summer to students in need, he was confident the district could provide them.

She also asked if the district would be providing masks to students, since they’re not going to be required, and Ragsdale said that each student would be given one mask. Masks also will be available for teachers and staff, who are “expected” to wear them.

At that point, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce cut off Cupid, saying her questions were off-topic, telling her “I’m running this meeting.”

She protested, saying all aspects of the district’s preparations for the start of school were germane.

(Boyce and Cupid will be squaring off in the November general election in the chairman’s race).

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb told Ragsdale that “all this could have been avoided” if the district had requested funding to pay employees and for personal protective equipment (PPE).

“If you had done that, there would have been no questions from the board,” Ott said. “I’d rather see a request for PPE than for a learning system.”

Ragsdale said he was asking the county for online learning funding since that’s “a finite amount of money, “whereas PPE funding “is a flexible amount.”

The Cobb school district received $16 million in CARES Act funding from the Georgia Department of Education, and Ragsdale told commissioners that’s being used to pay for employees providing student meals during the summer, and to help offset an anticipated $62 million budget deficit.

When asked by Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb if the CTLS Learn could be completed by Aug. 17, Ragsdale said it could.

Marietta City Schools are asking for $2.9 million in CARES Act funding from the county, to be used for social distancing and safety measures that include classroom partitions and required masks, and for staffing to provide daily temperature checks for students.

Superintendent Grant Rivera also wants to purchase Chrome Books for every student in the district, which has around 9,000 students.

Commissioners will take action on both funding requests at their voting meeting Tuesday morning.

Boyce: No Cobb mask mandate, asks for voluntary compliance

July 10, 2020 3:51 PMJuly 10, 2020 1:40 PM by Wendy Parker

After several jurisdictions in Georgia—including the City of Atlanta—issued face mask mandates this week, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Friday he won’t be doing that. Mike Boyce, Cobb Commission Chairman

In his weekly newsletter, Boyce said while “there are those who support imposing a county mandate on face coverings,” Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order on June 30 states that cities and counties cannot take public health actions “that are more or less restrictive” than the state.

Boyce also said that while other elected officials are imposing mask requirements in response to rising COVID-19 cases in Georgia, “I cannot support this kind of governance. Moreover, while such a mandate looks great on paper, it puts an unsustainable burden on public safety personnel. They would be the ones responsible for enforcing this behavior on more than 760,000 people in the County. This expectation is unreasonable.”

Boyce said he’s making a “nice ask to wear a mask” by encouraging citizens to wear a face covering whenever possible “as a matter of personal and public health.”

Last week, Gov. Kemp went on a statewide tour encouraging mask use, but said he wouldn’t be making it mandatory, even though he warned rising COVID cases could affect the college football season. Kemp also said on Thursday that local mandates are not enforceable.

Other cities that have issued mask mandates include Athens-Clarke County, Savannah and Brookhaven.

Georgia’s COVID-19 cases have spiked in recent weeks, to more than 106,000 in all. On Thursday, 2,837 more confirmed cases were reported, and for the past week the test positivity rate in Georgia is nearly 13 percent.

UPDATED:

On Friday the Georgia Department of Public Health reported a one-day record of 4,484 new reported COVID-19 cases and 35 additional deaths statewide.

Cobb, which issued a public health alert last week, has seen its cases go up from around 5,000 then to 6,369 as of Thursday.

By Friday, Cobb’s case totals had grown by 339 to 6,708. The single-day high for Cobb is 556 new cases on Monday, July 6, likely reflecting a reporting lag due to the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Georgia has 2,965 deaths, although the seven-day average for fatalities is the lowest it’s been since March. A total of 250 deaths have been in Cobb County, two more than Thursday, and second in Georgia to 321 deaths in Fulton County.

ORIGINAL REPORT CONTINUES:

Boyce said voluntary mask-wearing to help slow the spread of virus “is a learned behavior that is better achieved by cooperative engagement rather than legislative fiat. I believe our efforts will ultimately achieve the desired outcome of normalizing the wearing of face coverings. This health precaution is one that is reinforced by a sense of personal accountability and respect for the health of others.”

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