East Cobb Government Archives

Cobb opioids crisis: Most common overdose victim is white male in his 50s

October 18, 2018 6:13 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb opioids crisis has been the subject of nationwide media attention as the county grapples with having the highest rate of overdose deaths in the state.

“There are a lot of people in District 2, especially in East Cobb, who don’t believe it,” said Commissioner Bob Ott, who devoted most of his town hall meeting on Monday to the subject.

Ott, who recently took part in a special White House conference on opioids, offered up some sobering numbers and speakers who attested to how Cobb is trying to address a situation that not only has spiraled rapidly, but suffers from common misconceptions.

One of them is identying a typical overdose victim. While some think it may be a young person, Dr. Christopher Gulledge, the Cobb County Medical Examiner, told told mostly middle-age and senior citizens at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that the opioids plague is striking people from all walks of life and all age groups across the county.

Still, of the 163 drug overdose deaths in Cobb last year, he said 67 percent were men, and 89 percent were white (see page 30 of the 2017 CCME’s annual report).

Some in the audience gasped when Gulledge noted that 47 overdose victims, or a little more than a quarter, were white males ages 50-59. Furthermore, 26 were in the 40-49 age group, and 32 more between 30-39. Another 18 deaths were in the 18-29 range.

Dr. Christian Gulledge, Cobb County Medical Examiner — *Dr. Christopher Gulledge, the Cobb County Medical Examiner, said the rise in opioid overdose deaths in the county represents “exponential growth.”*

“It ain’t the teenagers,” said Gulledge, who was hired by Cobb in 2015 after working for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “It’s the parents.”

Topping the list were 62 deaths due to overdoses from fentanyl and other “designer” opioids. There were 37 deaths each from heroin and cocaine overdoses, 34 from methamphetamine, 33 from Alprazolam (trade name Xanax) and 30 from Oxycodone.

The opioid-related deaths in Cobb last year came to 128, and Gulledge said that 43 percent of those 163 deaths involved the use of heroin, fentanyl or both.

The opioid numbers have risen rapidly since the crisis began stoking concern in Georgia in 2015, and Gulledge said Cobb could be on pace to surpass last year’s total.

Gulledge said one reason for the spike in opioids deaths is that addicts of more familiar drugs may not be aware how much more potent they can become when blended with the likes of fentanyl.

“Long-term users have known their high,” he explained. “But they may no longer know their dose. They may or may not know if they’re lethal.”

Earlier this year, the GBI announced that Cobb led all counties in the state for the second year in a row in terms of the numbers of opioids cases it has investigated. A total of 79 cases were reported out of the county through May and 11 different types of fentanyl were tested at the state crime lab.

Cobb Sheriff's Office Drugs Board

The opioids crisis originally grew out of the addictive use of commonly-prescribed painkillers. It has morphed far beyond that, spawning an illicit industry in which very potent and cheaply produced substances are cut into heroin, cocaine and other narcotics.

The high for addicts is higher, and so is the profit margin for manufacturers, Gulledge noted.

Cobb has been expanding the Medical Examiner’s Office with new positions and received a federal grant of nearly $900,000 to hire a judicial program manager and an investigator in the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.

The county this summer also joined a lawsuit seeking to recover damages from pharmaceutical manufacturers, similar to what was done by many states years ago against tobacco companies.

Ott said whatever money the county may receive would be used for recovery and treatment expenses.

There also will be a national medical drug disposal day next Saturday, Oct. 27, sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Cobb residents can drop off unused prescriptions at the following locations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

Cobb Police Precinct 1 (2380 Cobb Parkway North);
Smyrna Police Department (2646 Atlanta Road);
Kennesaw Police Department (2782 Cobb Parkway North).

For more information, including locations for treatment, visit the Opioid Awareness in Cobb County resource page.

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Cobb DOT District 2 work crew busy mowing, cleaning up roads

October 16, 2018 2:05 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb DOT District 2 road crew — *Bill Shelton, Cobb DOT road maintenance director, and members of the newly hired District 2 work crew. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)*

One of the additions to the county budget with this year’s tax increase was the hiring of dedicated road employees in each of the four commissioners districts. The Cobb DOT District 2 work crew has been fully staffed and already at work performing mowing and clean-up duties.

They were introduced by commissioner Bob Ott Monday at his town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center. They are: Skip Vaccaro, equipment operator; John Allen, crew worker; Andrew Eison, crew leader; Shamond Williams, crew worker; and Todriquez Huey, equipment operator.

They’ve already completed some big tasks, including collecting 32 bags of litter on Atlanta Road last week (Cobb DOT photo below).

When Ott showed that photo to the audience, there was a burst of applause. He and other commissioners commented during the summer budget hearings that citizens were complaining frequently about unmowed medians and rights-of-way.

Since the recession, the county has hired a contractor to do that work. But that was done only for six months, from the spring to the fall. The $1.4 million the county is spending for work crews in the FY 2019 budget is a bit more than the $1.1 million annually it paid the contractor, but now the work will be performed year-round.

Bill Shelton, the Cobb DOT road maintenance director, told the audience that Ott “has been a champion” of making a change to hire in-house crews, who started working two weeks ago with the new budget year kicking in.

“We can do it a lot better, and these guys are already proving it to you,” Shelton said, referring to the District 2 crew.

Said Ott: “I am very confident the decision to hire crews will result in saving tax dollars and most of all improve the aesthetics of all county right of ways.”

Cobb DOT District 2 work crew

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Ott town hall meeting meeting is Monday at Sewell Mill Library

October 14, 2018 11:20 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott will hold a town hall meeting Monday from 7-9 p.m. at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road). Bob Ott, East Cobb Restaurant Row, Ott town hall meeting

He represents District 2, which includes much of East Cobb and some of the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.

It’s the first town hall for Ott since commissioners voted in July to raise property taxes to fund the fiscal year 2019 budget of $454 million.

Ott voted against that budget, saying not enough budget cuts were proposed.

A couple of weeks later, he sent out extended comments to constituents about the budget, saying District 2 would benefit only by getting a new crew to maintain roads.

First elected in 2008, Ott is a Republican in his third term, and is the longest-serving member of the five-person board of commissioners.

More government coverage

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Cobb emergency crews prepare for impact of Hurricane Michael

October 10, 2018 2:12 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb emergency crews, Hurricane Michael

Just a little while ago Cobb government public information officer Ross Cavitt sent out the following message and video here of crews working in the Vinings area, related to county preparations for what we might get via Hurricane Michael:

Cobb County’s Emergency Management Agency participated in National Weather Service and GEMA briefings this afternoon. We expect some gusty winds and up to two inches of rain in this area. Much of this will happen after dark tonight.

Cobb County Department of Transportation crews spent much of the day clearing clogged storm drains and preparing their tree clearing equipment in anticipation of work tonight.

Cobb County Emergency Management Director Cassie Mazloom says the tornado threat in the Cobb area is low but still worth monitoring. The biggest concern remains downed trees and power outages, especially since we’ve been in a fairly dry period.

Cobb is included in a hazardous weather outlook area issued this morning by the National Weather Service in Atlanta.

Just before the eye of the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane earlier this afternoon, wind gusts of nearly 150 mph were measured at Tydall AFB near Panama City Beach, Fla., according to news reports there.

Yesterday Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in 93 counties in central and south Georgia, which are expected to get a heavy brunt from Michael.

Today he expanded that area to 108 counties, many of which are now under a hurricane warning, according to the National Weather Service, with the threat of devastating amounts of heavy rain and hurricane-force winds, possibly in excess of 70 mph.

The storm is projected to sweep up part of the Middle Atlantic coast before crossing into the Atlantic Ocean.

In the video, the interview is with Gary Pongetti, Cobb DOT Drainage Division Maintenance Supervisor.

Earlier this morning, the Cobb County School District sent out this message:

We continue to remain in contact with the National Weather Service and are monitoring the track of Hurricane Michael. Our Operations and Transportation teams are ready to get every student to school and back home safely for the rest of the week!

Cobb schools will be on a previously scheduled early release Thursday for a local school professional learning day.

High temperatures in Cobb are expected to cool, starting on Thursday, and not get out of the 70s for the rest of the week. Low temperatures are expected to drop into the 50s, with mostly sunny weather on the weekend after the chance of rain and showers on Thursday.

The National Hurricane Center said today that the only stronger storm on record to reach so far north on the Gulf Coast was Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 storm in 1969 that slammed into the Mississippi coast, killing more than 200 people and reaching winds of more than 170 mph.

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Mountain View Regional Library Sunday hours set to begin

October 4, 2018 3:40 PM by Wendy Parker

Mountain View Regional Library

As part of the recent Cobb County budget, Sunday hours for selected library branches are expanding. Those hours begin this Sunday, including at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road).

The hours are from 1-5 each Sunday. Since the recession, only the main Switzer branch in downtown Marietta has been open on Sunday, and only during the school year.

The expanded Sunday hours also are at the South Cobb Regional Library and at the Kemp branch in West Cobb until Nov. 11. That’s when the West Cobb Regional Library is slated to open after being closed earlier this week for renovations.

The other library branches in East Cobb—East Cobb, Sewell Mill and Gritters—are still closed on Sundays.

Before the budget process began, county library officials listed proposed cuts that would have reduced the system’s operating budget by nearly $3 million, or a quarter of its fiscal year 2018 $12 million allocation.

Included in the proposed budget-cutting was the closure of the East Cobb Library and other branches, which galvanized citizens to start a drive called Save Cobb Libraries.

That group, led by East Cobb resident Rachel Slomovitz, was vocal at budget hearings throughout the summer.

In July, commissioners voted to raise the property tax millage rate by 1.7 mills for a $454 million fiscal year budget, with East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell in opposition to the size of the hike.

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Sen. Isakson notes new legislation, bills signed into law

October 4, 2018 10:53 AM by Wendy Parker

Press release:

There’s been a lot in the news recently, but last week, Senator Isakson introduced new legislation and even had some of his previously introduced bills pass the Senate or U.S. House and head to the president’s desk! Here’s what you may have missed:

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson

The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018 – Last Tuesday, Sept. 25, the Senate unanimously passed Senator Isakson’s bipartisan legislation to reform the U.S. Peace Corps. The bill now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law. More information about the bill here.

The Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2018 – Also last Tuesday, Sept. 25, the Senate passed Senator Isakson’s bipartisan legislation to increase veterans’ disability benefits from the VA. This bill would increase the rates of VA disability compensation, dependency compensation for surviving children and spouses, as well as the clothing allowance for veterans, based on rising costs of living. The bill heads to the president’s desk this week to be signed into law. More information about the bill here.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2018 – Last Friday, Sept. 28, President Trump signed into law Senator Isakson’s bipartisan legislation to ensure veterans continue to have access to critical programs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The legislation continues many important programs, including veterans homelessness prevention, adaptive sports programs for disabled veterans, and workforce training for injured service members. More information about the bill here.

The Scarlett’s Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act – Last Thursday, Sept. 27, Senator Isakson introduced critical bipartisan and bicameral legislation to combat Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood and strengthen existing efforts to understand these tragedies and improve prevention efforts. The bill would supply grants to help states, municipalities and nonprofits improve data collection and death scene investigations related to unexpected infant and child deaths, promote safe sleep practices, and ensure death reviews for every infant and child fatality. More information about the bill here.

The Global Food Security Reauthorization Act – Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Senator Isakson’s bipartisan legislation to extend the life-saving food security programs managed under the Feed the Future Initiative for another five years. This legislation previously passed the Senate in June and is headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law. More information about the bill here.

The Preserving America’s Battlefields Act – Last week, Senator Isakson introduced the Preserving America’s Battlefields Act to ensure our nation’s living memorials honoring those who fought for our freedoms are protected for current and future generations. This bipartisan legislation would provide for the restoration of battlefield sites across the country, including the one in Chickamauga, Ga., helping transform them into historic tourism destinations. More information about the bill here.

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Cobb non-profit funding delayed as groups explain service needs

September 17, 2018 6:08 AM by Wendy Parker

Lingering issues over Cobb non-profit funding have been put on hold by county commissioners, who want more time to go over proposals to spend $850,000 for grants to 15 local community service providers.

Cobb non-profit funding delayed — *Rev. Ike Reighard*

At last week’s commissioners meeting, they agreed to delay action, possibly to Sept. 25 when they meet again to conduct regular business.

The funding has been set aside in the fiscal year 2019 budget commissioners adopted in July, and would be distributed over the next two years.

Most of the organizations are part of the Cobb Collaborative, an umbrella organization that coordinates non-profit county grant funding.

Last year, commissioners changed the criteria for awarding grants to non-profits. The agencies must provide services related to homelessness, family stability and poverty, ex-offender re-entry and workforce development, and health and wellness.

According to Cobb deputy county manager Jackie McMorris, the Cobb Collaborative received 27 applications for grant funding, totaling $1.8 million, before making the recommendations contained in the chart below.

Several leaders of those non-profits on the recommended list spoke at Tuesday’s meeting about how they spend that money, and how it’s still needed.

Jeri Barr of the Center for Family Resources, which focuses on homelessness issues, said losing that funding “could be a death-knell for a number of non-profits.”

CFR would receive $141,339 under the current grant recommendation, the largest for any of the non-profit agencies on the list. Of that amount, $127,205 would be used directly for homeless-related programs, especially housing assistance.

“We help hundreds of families stay in their homes” with financial assistance that includes rent payments, she said, adding that that kind of stability keeps kids in schools.

Because of its Cobb grant funding, CFR also gets a federal match from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Barr said.

MUST Ministries, which is best known for operating a homeless shelter in Cobb, also provides housing and employment services for its clients.

The non-profit reported 2017 revenues of $10.6 million, and would receive $53,002 in Cobb grant funding under the proposal.

Rev. Ike Reighard, senior pastor at the Piedmont Church in East Cobb and the MUST president and CEO, told commissioners that of that $52,002, two-thirds of it, or around $35,000, goes for shelter services.

The remainder would be used for providing employment services for clients in the South Cobb area.

“You’ve been great partners to us over the years,” Reighard said.

Commissioners expressed some differences not only on how to spend the money, but whether to do it at all.

South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid was upset that other agencies weren’t included on the list that serve her community.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb said she’s concerned about spending taxpayer money involuntarily for such services and favors a voluntary process to fund non-profits.

Ott also has expressed similar sentiments, but his motion to table non-profit action was because he wasn’t at a work session on Monday in which the recommendations were outlined.

“It’s the first time I’m seeing this list,” he said.

Commission chairman Mike Boyce said without the services these agencies provide, the county would likely have to spend more money on incarceration and public health.

“What is the value of this county? Is this for the greater good of the county? My answer is, yes.”

The commissioners voted to table the matter right before approving a fee dispute settlement with the Atlanta Braves.

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Cobb commissioners approve Braves settlement that could net county $1.36M

September 11, 2018 2:38 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a financial settlement with the Atlanta Braves that could result in the county receiving $1.366 million in infrastructure fees for SunTrust Park.

Joann Birrell, Cobb commissioners approve Braves settlement — *Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the 2013 stadium deal between Cobb and the Braves “keeps coming back to haunt us.” (ECN file photo)*

The 4-1 vote came after a lengthy discussion that included a brief recess to iron out concerns from two commissioners who tried to table the agreement.

The settlement was reached following a dispute that arose in May, when Cobb sent the Braves organization a notice of default on a $1.486 million bill for overdue stadium development (water and sewer) fees. The Braves fired back with a $4.683 million request, setting off heated legal correspondence and mediation.

Read the Proposed Settlement Terms Here

Technically, the matter is still in mediation, since the Braves have not taken final action on the settlement.

In the settlement, which was discussed by commissioners during an executive session on Monday, the Braves also agreed to pay $380,000 for a signage and maintenance contract for a pedestrian bridge over I-285.

Cobb would reimburse $500,000 in project management fees to the Braves, who agreed to drop any other claims, according to county attorney Deborah Dance.

She also said the $380,000 Braves sum is a credit against the $500,000 amount, reducing the county’s obligation to $120,000.

The county also would pay $326,816 under terms of a 2017 transportation agreement with the Braves. Those funds would be paid out in two installments, of $163,408 each, in October of this year as well as October 2019.

Last year, commissioners paid $11.4 million out of the county water fund as part of a $14 million agreement for transportation matters.

According to information presented by Dance, the county discovered in a review that the $500,000 in project management costs for Heery International Inc. had been paid by the Braves through a project bond fund. The terms were spelled out in a 2014 consulting contract between Heery, the county and the Braves in 2014 (document here).

Joann Birrell, commissioner of District 3 in Northeast Cobb, and District 1 commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb wanted to table approving the settlement for two weeks. They wanted to view the actual settlement document, and Birrell wanted to see proof that other payments had been made.

At one point, Birrell said the county’s 30-year memorandum of understanding with the Braves, adopted in 2013, “keeps coming back to haunt us.” Cupid’s motion to table was defeated 3-2, after which commissioners took a 10-minute recess.

After the break, Birrell, who voted for the Braves deal in 2013, was satisfied with what she was presented from county finance and legal officers.

Cupid, however, said she couldn’t support settlement, calling it a “déjà vu” regarding the original stadium deal. She was the only vote against the the 2013 agreement, and on Tuesday she said the current settlement reflected “the same level of haste, the same lack of organization.”

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, whose District 2 includes the SunTrust Park area, said of the settlement documents that “this is not something that was hard to go find” and that the staff was well-prepared.

Cupid agreed with the latter point, but said “this has everything to do with us as a board.”

She was the only vote against the settlement, which chairman Mike Boyce said was “a compromise.”

Boyce, who made the process of the Braves deal a key component of his campaign to oust then-chairman Tim Lee in 2016, said the nearly $1.4 million the county is getting is “because this board held its ground. We did the right thing as a board.”

Before the discussion Tuesday, Ben Williams, a spokesman for Cobb Citizens for Governmental Transparency, said the county shouldn’t have to pay any more money for stadium expenses.

That group was founded in 2014 after citizen concerns about the hastiness of the original Braves deal, which was approved only two weeks after it was made public.

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Settlement in Cobb-Braves dispute on Tuesday commissioners’ agenda

September 10, 2018 7:13 PMSeptember 10, 2018 6:42 PM by Wendy Parker

A resolution in a recent dispute between the Atlanta Braves and Cobb County government over SunTrust Park infrastructure fees is expected to be announced at Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.

Bob Ott, Cobb-Braves dispute — *Cobb commissioner Bob Ott*

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt sent word late Monday afternoon that the two sides were working through mediation to settle a flap that began over the spring and was made public last week.

In May, the county sent the Braves a bill for what it said were $1.5 million in overdue stadium development fees for water and sewer services.

The Braves balked, and in response sent a heated letter to the county demanding $4.6 million for transportation costs, building permit fee refunds and legal expenses.

The story was first reported by 11 Alive, which obtained documents of legal correspondence that includes contentious language between lawyers representing both sides.

Cavitt said Monday that the Braves were tentatively agreeing to pay the $1.5 million initially sought by the county, plus another $380,000 for a signage and maintenance contract for a pedestrian bridge over I-285 that services the stadium.

In return, Cobb has agreed to refund a negotiated amount of money in project management costs, but those terms were not disclosed. The Braves, Cavitt added in a release, “will withdraw all other demands.”

Commissioners were meeting in an executive session on Monday.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who represents the SunTrust area, told East Cobb News before the settlement was announced that reports of the dispute were overblown and that in negotiation letters between attorneys, they’re “asking for the moon.”

The county is represented by Thompson Hine, an Ohio-based law firm with offices in Atlanta, while the Braves have retained the Marietta firm of Sams, Larkin, Huff and Balli, best known for handling high-profile zoning cases in Cobb.

Ott said the “relationship is strong” between the county and the Braves, who nearly five years ago struck up a 30-year deal to finance and service SunTrust Park as the new home of the Major League baseball team.

The details of the Cobb-Braves memorandum of understanding have been haggled out ever since. Last year, as the stadium was set to open for its first season of baseball, the Braves asked, and received, an additional $14 million from the county for transportation and improvement costs.

Cobb is paying off around $300 million in bonds for its share of stadium costs, at a cost of around $5.5 million a year through the budget process.

Ott said he has “conversations all the time” with the Braves that also covers police costs and hospitality issues in the area.

“We’re constantly working to minimize the exposure to the taxpayer,” he said, pointing to an initial annual bond cost projection of $8.6 million.

That $5.5 million annual sum, Ott said, is the only taxpayer component in the stadium revenue stream.

The Braves also have turned real estate developer, nearly having filled out The Battery, a mixed-use complex of shops, restaurants and a hotel adjacent to the stadium.

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Cobb parks master plan delayed again; NE Cobb sidewalk projects approved

August 29, 2018 2:14 PM by Wendy Parker

Ebenezer Road park, Cobb parks master plan

For the second time this summer, action on adopting a Cobb parks master plan through 2028 has been put on hold by county commissioners.

The proposal was for master planning services for land purchased recently with 2008 parks bond money. The master plan, according to Cobb Parks director Jimmy Gisi, is a “road map that will take us through the next 10 years.”

After a discussion at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, they weren’t ready to take the first step down that path. The proposal first came up in July at a work session but wasn’t discussed.

On Tuesday, commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb said the proposal was “putting the cart before the horse” since no money has been earmarked to build and operate new parks.

The land purchased with the $27.4 million in parks bond funding this year include 18.3 acres on Ebenezer Road (above), slated to become a passive park, and nearly 30 acres of Tritt property on Roswell Road next to East Cobb Park, which will remain greenspace.

While appreciative of the details that went into the recommendations, Ott said that “while we’re getting all this land,” spending around $90,000 for the planning design work “gets too far ahead of where we are.”

The master plan proposal includes projected spending on parks of around $300 million over the next decade. Lose & Associates, a consulting firm that prepared the master plan proposal, also made the the following recommendations:

increased staffing and funding;
the creation of an administrative services division;
the creation of a park maintenance plan;
the adoption of a comprehensive revenue policy;
enhanced branding and marketing to help generate revenues;
establishing a rental system for pavilion use;
increasing user fees;
expanded programming for fee generation;
assessing a per-participant maintenance fee;
increase staffing of Cobb Police Park Ranger staff.

Ott said he wanted to see more specifics about funding, pointing out that the report didn’t indicate how much money would be generated by more user fees.

“It’s a little bit shallow on how you’re going to pay for it,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable with the financing part.”

Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce asked for the proposal to be delayed at least until the first commissioners meeting in September.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners approved using SPLOST money to build a playground at the Mabry Park under construction and for baseball-related maintenance at Sewell Park (previewed here).

Also approved was spending SPLOST funds on sidewalk projects, including $655,865 for a sidewalk on the west side of McPherson Road between Post Oak Tritt Rad and Shallowford Road, and the east side of McPherson near Mountain Creek Drive. The project covers a stretch of 0.50 miles and includes replacing existing curbs and gutters.

Another SPLOST-approved project on Shallowford Road, costing $35,800, will add sidewalks near Nicholson Elementary School and McCleskey Middle School, covering 0.25 miles.

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Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center owner ordered to clean up portion of decaying property

August 28, 2018 11:57 AMAugust 27, 2018 5:19 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center

Cobb County government has sent word late this afternoon that a remediation order has been issued for the owners of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center that’s long been the subject of community efforts to get cleaned up.

That means that NAI Brannen Goddard, an Atlanta-based real estate agency that owns the 16-acre site at 2692 Sandy Plains Road, has to make some immediate improvements to the property (detailed below), which includes some existing businesses.

Mostly, it’s empty commercial space, including a former bowlling alley, as well as a cemetery, that’s been deteriorating for nearly a couple decades.

Citizens have complained of criminal and even gang activity, especially around the bowling alley area. Cobb commissioners in 2017 adopted a blight ordinance. That would impose additional taxes on property identified as blighted and deemed uninhabitable and unsafe if remediation actions to improve it weren’t conducted.

That’s where this case, the first test of that ordinance that’s reached the court stage, stands now.

Under the remediation order issued in Cobb Magistrate Court, NAI Brannen Goddard must do the following to and around the bowling alley building:

install and maintain adequate lighting on all sides of the building within 15 days of the order;

install and maintain a camera security system within 15 days;

post “No loitering allowed” and “You are being video recorded” signs in conspicuous and prominent locations within 15 days of the court order;

provide an engineer’s report detailing the proper repairs required to correct the safety & structural issues created by the canopy’s removal within 30 days of the court order;

complete the repairs in the engineer’s report;

have a representative or project manager visit the site at least once per week to inspect for illegal activity & property damage and correct issues within 48 hours;

remove litter within 48 hours;

promptly respond to development inspections or code enforcement issues;

install fencing around the perimeter of the building to prevent passage onto the property.

Per the Cobb government information, the building doesn’t have to be demolished (as some in the community have wanted). But “non-compliance with the order will result in additional tax remaining on the property until the remediation is complete.”

*Citizens living near the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center turned out en masse to a community meeting in March to demand the property be cleaned up.*

The order is only for the bowling alley area, not for the rest of the Sprayberry Crossing property.

If additional taxes are levied, they would be seven times the county general fund millage rate value of their properties. According to a Cobb Community Development Agency estimate announced at a community meeting in March, that total would come to around $17,000. That figure prompted many citizens at the meeting to groan with dismay.

The order comes as commissioners were scheduled to designate several blighted properties for incentivized redevelopment on Tuesday, including the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center (No. 15 on the map). It’s been on previous lists.

Some nearby residents, working through the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, also have been preparing possible civil action against NAI Brannen Goddard. A series of meetings, starting Thursday, has been scheduled for citizens interested in filing a claim against the property owner.

The Cobb government statement included this response from commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area:

“I’m pleased with the court’s decision in designating this property as blighted although I would have preferred the building be demolished. However, I’m glad to know the court heard the county’s and the citizen’s concerns. The county is doing everything within its ability under the code to address the concerns related to this property and will continue to monitor conditions.”

Here’s what Joe Glancy, organizer of the Sprayberry Action group, posted after hearing the news:

“It’s not enough.

“But a word of warning to Mitchell Brannen, Sam Hale, Bo Brown and the other owners of that blighted shopping center – summer with all its wonderful distractions is coming to a close, and you will have our full attention in the coming months.”

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Sewell Park baseball renovations, Mabry Park playground on Cobb commissioners agenda Tuesday

August 27, 2018 11:31 AM by Wendy Parker

Sewell Park baseball renovations

Renovations to a concession stand building and some dugouts at Sewell Park are being proposed at Tuesday night’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.

The Cobb Parks and Recreation Department says the upgrades have been earmarked in the 2011 SPLOST at a combined cost of $45,191, based on low bids received.

Needed enovations to the main concession stand building include restroom and storage space upgrades, as well as a new paint job and replacing windows. It overlooks Field 3, the main tournament field for the East Marietta National Little League.

Another agenda item would replace the dugout roofs at fields 5A and 5B, which are used for younger age-level games. Those dugouts currently have fabric tarp roofs that require maintenance and replacement. The proposed new roofs are metal.

Also on Tuesday, another item would appropriate $324,989.80 in existing 2016 SPLOST funds for the installation of a playground at Mabry Park, which has been under construction on Wesley Chapel Road since earlier this year.

It’s considered the centerpiece of the park, and the Mabry Park Master Plan calls for a farm theme for the playground to conform to the surroundings that were once park of the Mabry family farm.

Commissioners also will be asked to spend $89,520 in 2016 SPLOST funds for master planning services for land purchased recently with 2008 parks bond money, including 18.3 acres on Ebenezer Road.

On the consent agenda is an item for the commissioners to approve a new Cobb parks master plan for 2018-2028, an action that was delayed from earlier this summer.

One other item that’s sports-and-rec related: At the start of the meeting commissioners will recognize the Sandy Plains Prowlers 12-under baseball team, which recently had a standout tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., that we wrote about earlier.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.

The agenda is long and hefty, since a previous business meeting scheduled for this month was cancelled. You can read all that’s on tap here, and we’ll be reporting on some of those actions.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Series on Cobb County growth issues misses the mark

January 1, 2022 1:00 PMAugust 14, 2018 6:06 AM by Wendy Parker

Ebenezer Road park preview, Cobb growth issues — *Cobb commissioners spent $1.7 million this year to buy Ebenezer Road property for a future passive park. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)*

Last week a national organization that examines municipal and local governance concerns published a series of posts about Cobb County growth issues, especially in the years since the recession.

The organization is called Strong Towns, which I have not heard of before. It describes itself as a non-profit media organization that’s based in Brainerd, Minn., a small town with a population of 13,000 or so, not close to a metropolitan area.

On Tuesdays I like to focus on local government, since that’s when many Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings take place. Today’s meeting has been cancelled, and I thought I’d delve a little into this interesting, but flawed examination.

The five-part Strong Towns report, which has gotten some chatter on Cobb citizens social media groups, refers to Cobb as “a suburban region that epitomizes the folly of going into debt to build more and more infrastructure with no ability to pay for it.”

Cobb growth issues — *Condominiums along Powers Ferry Road are part of a high-density community spreading out from SunTrust Park.*

While that’s certainly how many locals around here feel about what’s happening in the county, I think the premise is faulty, and I’m skeptical of some of the claims made in this report.

Strong Towns misses one of the biggest points of all: Cobb remains a very attractive magnet for jobs because of its diversified economy and a well-educated workforce, the partial byproduct of another major attraction here, excellent public schools.

Cobb isn’t as “addicted to growth,” as the initial post is titled, as much as new residents and employers are continuously drawn by quality services and low taxes. A heavy pipeline of development bottled up during the lean years of the recession is taking shape.

These realities were not examined by Strong Towns, but I will link to all the posts in this series so you can read for yourself:

In an evergreen post elsewhere on its site, Strong Towns claims that many cities and counties in America are falling for a “Growth Ponzi Scheme,” which it further asserts as “the dominant model of suburban growth since the mid-20th century.”

The final post about Cobb started off with a reference to Bernie Madoff, who’s serving prison time for defrauding investors.

Really? To try to make a link between criminal behavior and the development and financial issues of a bustling suburban county, albeit one with major budget problems, borders on being irresponsible, as well as willfully misunderstanding.

I will always detest the Atlanta Braves stadium deal because the process was a total sham. But that doesn’t explain the county’s budget, tax and spending issues, which go back many years.

The county wasn’t chasing growth as much as it wasn’t sufficiently funding the growth that was already here or on the way, or was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the growth.

(Here’s a good example: When our family moved to East Cobb in the early 1970s, our home was still on septic tank, with the Sope Creek sewer line still under construction.)

There is an anti-suburban sentiment behind this report, and this is the biggest problem with it:

“Much of Cobb County . . . feels like nowhere. It has no center of gravity. It has no thriving urban core to serve as a tax-revenue cash cow.”

Ironically, the area around SunTrust may prove to be just such a place. Cobb does have many misplaced priorities, symbolized by the Braves deal, and which I wrote not long ago stripped away the illusion of supposedly fiscally conservative government.

Instead of really trying to understand the unique challenges facing a Sunbelt community that has gone from mostly rural to suburban and now urban in many spots, and in about a half-century or so, Strong Towns wants Cobb to be more like Brainerd, I guess (a place where I’ve never been).

From what I’ve read about this organization, it wants every place to be like small-town America, with bucolic downtown cores, pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants and adaptable to a “traditional development pattern.”

While that sentiment does have some conservative support, and it’s appealing to me as I continue on in middle age, it has never really come about in Cobb, for better or for worse.

It’s a nice ideal, but it doesn’t offer any practical solutions. Strong Towns produced a lot of words about Cobb County but with little real local knowledge on the ground about its subject.

That matters.

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!

Ott on District 2 benefits of Cobb tax increase: ‘1 DOT work crew’

August 11, 2018 12:43 PMAugust 11, 2018 12:02 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb property tax increase, Cobb DOT maintenance crews — *Additional Cobb DOT crews will be hired to mow and maintain overgrown medians like this one at East Piedmont Road and Sewell Mill Road. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)*

Before and after a Cobb tax increase was approved by county commissioners last month, those in favor of the millage hike have touted expanded additional police officer positions and law enforcement body cameras, restored library hours and more funding to maintain county medians and rights of way.

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who voted against the budget in a 3-2 vote (along with JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb) hasn’t said much publicly about the 1.7-mills increase, other than extended remarks he gave right before the vote.

On Friday, he published those comments (excerpted below) “because many people have asked me why I voted no.”

In his weekly newsletter, he also said he’s been asked how his District 2, which includes East Cobb, will benefit from the increase. South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who supported the tax increase, talked about the police, library and DOT funding in her newsletter to constituents, and said the 1.7-mills increase was “indeed a compromise.”

Cobb property tax increase, commissioner Bob Ott — *Commissioner Bob Ott has said the county’s FY 2018 budget reminds him of SPLOST 2016, “full of wants and not identifying the true needs.”*

Ott, who maintained during months of grueling budget deliberations that he wanted to see more proposed spending cuts before he would support any increase, mentioned only one benefit for District 2:

“1 DOT work crew”

Included in the $454 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2019 is $1.4 million for Cobb DOT mowing crews, which had been reduced to one countywide during the recession. Each of the four commission districts will have a dedicated crew, and the operations will be moved in-house for year-round work.

The county has been outsourcing mowing crews for $1.1 million a year, but they worked only for six months, from spring to fall.

Commissioners have said that constituents have complained about overgrown medians and rights-of-way as much as almost anything.

Related coverage

A few highlights from Ott’s budget adoption-night comments include his opposition to how the need tax hike was presented and his frustration that previous proposals to fund new police cars and find budget savings were ignored, as well as his concerns over looming pension obligations. Ott supports moving from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution plan:

I am disappointed in how the need for a tax increase has been presented. Putting forward to the residents the closure of the busiest parks, the busiest libraries, extension services, 4-H and Master Gardeners. This tugged on the heartstring of all residents, young and old, and the mission became ‘save us’ and the focus was off what the budget is actually made up of.

I too have had many emails and calls; not a day goes by where I get into work and there are another batch of emails. I am not here to tell you the ratio of those for and those against but here is my take away – when I write back to them or call them back I explain my position, I tell them that the services that are being threatened to be taken away were never proposals that came before the board. If they took the time to think about this – why would the board continue to buy more park space if the intent was to close parks, why are new libraries being built only to close them?

I proposed in the 2016 SPLOST that 9 million additional dollars be added to buy the police even more new vehicles than originally proposed. This was removed to pay for other’s wants of things not the NEEDS of the county. I even agreed to less money for District 2 sidewalks to pay for these cars and I was turned down.

When we had the [budget] retreat in October Commissioner Weatherford and I came up, on our own, [with] a way to save 50 million out of the budget. Some of my proposals were to consolidate the libraries that are under-used, outsource some departments in the County and to work on transportation to run fewer buses, maximize their capacity and look at the utilization of UBER and LYFT vouchers to take people to the main lines of the fixed routes.

None of our proposals or plans are included in this budget.

To all county staff, I value you and I do think that you work hard at your jobs. I am not the bad person when I talk about your pension. I will never agree to take what you have earned and put into your pension, but this pension plan has to change, it is simply not sustainable in its current form. I proposed a change 4 years ago. The pension is at its worst funding level it has ever been. Many companies have changed – large multi-billion companies that were hit hard in the recession changed – but not Cobb.

I proposed in this budget discussion to stop funding this type of pension – this does not mean that the employees lose what they put into their plan. It will be there when you retire. But the county needs to move into a 401K plan where the county can put in a percentage and the employees can put in money that they feel is appropriate to reach their goal in retirement. The money will then be yours and in your name.

You can read his full statment at this link, which includes further thoughts on employee salary increases, county vehicle replacement costs, additional police positions, libraries, parks and recreation, animal services and more.

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!

Fired Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell comments at final meeting

August 7, 2018 9:21 PMAugust 7, 2018 10:00 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell, who said she was being replaced by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, offered some remarks Tuesday morning before her last meeting.

An East Cobb resident who also served twice on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said she received a letter from Boyce on July 26 notifying her of her termination, effective at the end of August.

She said Boyce had never expressed to her any disagreements about her votes on zoning issues, and said no reason was given for her firing. Powell noted that the letter came not long after she spoke out as a citizen against his proposed property tax increase.

In her comments, Powell made references to freedom of speech, saying that “no government should have the arrogance to believe that it alone knows what is in the best interest of its citizens.”

She thanked her colleagues on the five-member Planning Commission, who are appointed by county commissioners, and urged them “to continue to listen to all who come before” them.

She also thanked the county zoning staff and citizens and said “you have and will continue to make a difference.”

At the last public hearing before the budget was adopted, on Aug. 17, Powell referred to budget presentation information supporting a tax increase “a dog’s breakfast.”

She said that in spite of a 1.7-mills increase in the general fund that Boyce had sought in a record tax digest year, the county was spending more money than it had, and feared there may a repeat of the same situation next year.

(Commissioners voted 3-2 to raise the millage rate in adopting a $454 million budget).

Powell has a long history of public and civic service in Cobb County, starting with the East Cobb Civic Association. She served as a commissioner from Northeast Cobb’s District 3 from 1988-91 and also on an interim basis in the same post in 2010 when Tim Lee resigned to run for chairman.

Powell served on the Cobb Development Authority after being appointed by East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott. In 2011, he tried having her appointed to the Cobb Citizens’ Oversight Committee.

At the time, there was speculation that she might run against Lee in 2012 (she did not), and her nomination was thwarted by the commissioners. Ott later hired her as his full-time staff assistant.

Powell also was appointed by Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain to serve on the school district’s Facilities and Technology advisory board. In 2016, she was a campaign adviser to Boyce in 2016, when he upended Lee.

After he took office, Boyce appointed her to the planning commission. Powell said Tuesday she looks forward to “having the opportunity to use my freedom of speech unencumbered.”

Some of Powell’s supporters have created an online petition.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Why just saying ‘no’ to a Cobb tax increase wasn’t enough

January 1, 2022 1:01 PMJuly 29, 2018 3:28 PM by Wendy Parker

Whenever the subject of a Cobb tax increase comes up, those who say “no” the loudest and most often quite often have prevailed.

Especially after I returned to the county in 1990, the “nos” have frequently had the ear of elected officials.

They have done almost anything to heed those citizens who urge them to: Cut wasteful spending. Impose a hiring freeze. Take care of needs instead of wants. Live within your means, just like we do.

These have been the bedrock principles of low-tax conservatism for as long as I can remember growing up in Cobb County.

Cobb became a magnet for new residents and businesses in large part because of low taxes. That’s still a big attraction, but so are good government services and schools. As a result, Cobb’s explosive growth, especially in the last 30 years, has generated another constituency.

These citizens, coming from all across the county, and representing many demographic and socioeconomic classes and interest levels, effectively countered the “no” forces during the budget deliberations that concluded this week with a general fund property tax rate increase of 1.7 mills.

Cobb tax increase, $454 million budget approved for FY 2019 in close vote

July 25, 2018 11:57 PMJuly 25, 2018 11:05 PM by Wendy Parker

Mike Boyce, Cobb tax increase — *Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce took his call for a property increase to citizens for several months, including town hall meetings this summer. (East Cobb News file photo)*

After more than three hours of public speakers and comments from commissioners, a Cobb tax increase was approved Wednesday night.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a property tax hike of 1.7 mills and a fiscal year budget of $454 million for the general fund.

Chairman Mike Boyce, who said he was staking his political future on the outcome, got everything he wanted.

In addition to getting the vote of South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the five-member board, he also got the vote of Republican Bob Weatherford, who as it turned out may have sacrificed his political future in the process.

Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell, who represent East Cobb in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, voted against the budget and the millage rate increase.

While Ott said he wouldn’t support an increase without spending cuts that weren’t presented, Birrell said she would have been in favor of a hike of 1.2 or 1.3 mills but nothing more.

Weatherford, defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night in a Republican runoff in North Cobb’s District 1 by an anti-tax increase opponent, proved to be the swing vote.

He said after reflecting on his big loss (59-41 percent to Keli Gambrill) that he naturally wondered what had gone wrong.

“It’s what I did right that people didn’t like,” said Weatherford, who will have served only one term. “I made the hard choices and did what I said I would do.”

He said that he’s been threatened and even challenged to a fistfight for his calls for a lesser tax increase than what passed.

“The only thing I’m running for now is the hills, but I do not want to leave the county worse than than when I got here,” he said.

“So I completely support this.”

With that, loud applause broke out in the commissioners’ meeting chambers.

Cobb Republican Party passes resolution opposing tax increase

July 25, 2018 8:40 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb budget, Cobb Republican Party — *Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, says a tax hike is necessary to move the county forward. (East Cobb News file photo)*

While runoff election results were coming in on Tuesday, word was getting out that the Cobb Republican Party urged commissioners not to raise property taxes when they vote on the fiscal year 2019 county budget tonight.

Earlier Tuesday, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution encouraging the commissioners and all elected officials to “exercise fiscal restraint” and called a proposed tax hike “an undue burden on the community.”

(Here’s a PDF version of the full resolution.)

The resolution will be presented by Cobb GOP chairman Jason Shepherd tonight as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its final public hearings on the budget and millage rate at 7 p.m., before adopting both.

The resolution states, in part that:

“Cobb County Government should only provide services not readily available in the private sector and which are not core services of local civil government, especially when facing a budget shortfall;”

Also:

” . . . there have been several examples identified of waste in Cobb County Government spending, and no operational audit of the county government has been performed, nor have any reductions in spending been proposed at the townhall meetings hosted by the Chairman, but many increases in spending have been proposed . . . and a tax increase would be an undue burden on the community.”

The resolution comes at the end of a final push for and against Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills tax increase.

He’s taken his proposed $453 million general fund budget around the county at town hall meetings, and citizens on both sides of a tax hike have been vocal.

The Cobb GOP is making a strong statement on a five-member board with four Republican members, including Boyce, who’s from East Cobb. He’s said the tax hike would help move the county forward beyond solving a projected fiscal year 2019 deficit of $30 million.

Cobb budget proposal up for final public hearing, adoption on Wednesday

July 24, 2018 4:05 PM by Wendy Parker

*East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (L) and JoAnn Birrell at a budget retreat in June. (East Cobb News file photo)*

While voters are going to the polls in today’s election runoffs, county elected officials are preparing to vote on a Cobb budget proposal on Wednesday that’s been months in the making, and hashing out.

Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citizens will have their final say in required public hearings for the fiscal year 2019 budget and 2018 property tax millage rate held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The commissioners will vote on both at the same meeting. It takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.

Commissioners heard plenty from citizens on both sides of a proposed tax increase of 1.7 mills last week, and the vote will probably be a very close one.

The budget and millage rate votes are being delayed a day due to the Tuesday runoffs.

Casteel Road closure for bridge replacement continues into August

July 23, 2018 8:27 AMJuly 23, 2018 6:06 AM by Wendy Parker

Casteel Road bridge construction

A Casteel Road closure that’s been in place since the start of summer school vacation will be lasting into the start of a new school year.

Ongoing construction work to replace the aging Piney Grove Creek bridge means that Casteel Road will now be closed until Aug. 15.

Initially DOT had estimated a completion around July 31, since Cobb schools return on Aug. 1.

The $1.2 million project includes a wider passage on Casteel Road over the bridge, with shoulders, sidewalks and barriers on both sides, and a reconfiguration of its intersection with Bill Murdock Road and Oak Lane.

Through traffic on all three roads near the bridge site is being met with signs like the above, on Bill Murdock at Blakeford Club Drive.

A detour route prepared by Cobb DOT and mapped below continues to be in effect until the bridge work is done and the roads are reopened.

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!

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