After filling out the unexpired term of her predecessor, Cobb Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams has been reappointed to a full four-year term.
Williams was reappointed earlier this week by Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell to represent District 3, which covers the Northeast Cobb and Town Center/KSU areas.
Earlier this year, Williams became the chairwoman of the five-member board, which hears zoning cases and makes recommendations to county commissioners, after then-chairman Mike Terry retired.
Williams, whose term starts on Jan. 1, has served on the planning board before, appointed by former Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee. She was chosen early last year to replace Christine Trombetti, an East Cobb realtor who had served for 14 years.
Compensation for chairing the planning board is $275 a month.
Birrell, who was re-elected last month, also reappointed Williams to serve on the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals, also for four years starting Jan. 1.
District 2 commissioner Bob Ott also made several reappointments this week.
Two prominent East Cobb citizens will continue serving on the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission. Longtime East Cobb Civic Association activist Trish Steiner will serve through September 2020. The term of Joe Gavalis, who is spearheading an East Cobb cityhood initiative, will end in December 2021.
Ott also reappointed Jill Flamm, another veteran East Cobb Civic Association leader, to the Cobb Recreation Board, through March 2023.
Jon Jordan, an East Cobb resident, will continue serving on the Cobb Library Board of Trustees through 2021. An author of military history books and an attorney, Jordan was appointed by Ott last year to fill an unexpired term.
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The map proposed by the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc. would include most of Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott’s District 2.
We’ve just gotten a City of East Cobb feasibility study commissioned by a local group that is claiming a number of “positives” for incorporation, including no additional tax levies above the current Cobb millage rate.
The study, which was conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University, was paid for by a group called Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc.
The research analysis concluded that the City of East Cobb could expect annual revenues of around $48 million and expenses of around $46 million.
The cityhood group is led by Joe Gavalis, a resident of the Atlanta Country Club area, who said the study is just the first step toward having a public dialogue about the possibility of East Cobb becoming a city.
He said “the study’s findings are extremely favorable to East Cobb cityhood.”
The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb is claiming the benefits of cityhood would include more local control, enhanced police and fire services, better road maintenance and expansion of the East Cobb Government Service Center.
A two-year process would be required to formally pursue cityhood, including passage of state legislation calling for a referendum that would give citizens the final say about forming a new city.
According to the study’s executive summary, State Rep. Sharon Cooper, an East Cobb Republican, contacted GSU. Cityhood efforts also require a state representative and a state senator from the possible new city to sponsor referendum legislation.
“This study is not a budget, it is a feasibility study. It develops revenue and expense estimates based on property tax files, a boundary map and estimated business license revenue,” Gavalis said in a statement.
Georgia law also requires that new cities provide at least three public services. GSU was asked to examine the provision of public safety, fire management, parks and recreation and community development in East Cobb. The researchers noted that the latter category is a broad one, and for this study included zoning and code enforcement.
The GSU study estimates that nearly half of the proposed revenues, $23 million, would come from property taxes. The biggest expense would be public safety, around $19 million, with around $12 million of that for police.
The GSU researchers projected a 142-officer police force, as well as the acquisition of five current Cobb fire stations within the proposed East Cobb municipal boundaries (stations 3, 15, 19, 20 and 21, see fire department maps).
The study compared populations, demographics, home values and other data for the East Cobb cityhood proposal with Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Johns Creek, Roswell and Smyrna (see chart below).
The proposed map, which comprises around 40 square miles, doesn’t include all of what’s generally regarded as East Cobb. It includes only unincorporated Cobb east of I-75 that is in Cobb Commission District 2 (in map at top) and outside of the Cumberland Community Improvement District. Click here for a detailed view of that map.
It includes none of the East Cobb area that is in District 3, which generally lies between Sandy Plains Road and Canton Road.
The population in the proposed city map area amounts to 96,858, which would make the city of East Cobb the second-largest in metro Atlanta. Roswell’s estimated population is around 94,000 and Johns Creek, which incorporated in 2006, is around 84,000.
A city of East Cobb would have an elected mayor and six-member city council and an appointed city manager. Neighborhoods in unincorporated areas could petition to join the city if it is chartered.
Startup plans would estimate the hiring of 35 non-public safety city employees. No public works department is being proposed for East Cobb, but such a city would be eligible for Cobb SPLOST and state funding for road maintenance and improvements.
Previous suggestions for East Cobb cityhood haven’t gotten past the talking stage. Most recently former Cobb Commission Chairman Bill Byrne proposed it during his 2012 campaign to regain his seat, but the idea never took off.
That was right before voters in Brookhaven and Tucker began to organize their own successful cityhood efforts. There hasn’t been a new city in Cobb County, which has six municipalities, since the late 1800s.
The Committee for the City of East Cobb, which has not revealed its parties beyond Gavalis and one other person, paid $36,000 for the GSU study.
Gavalis has been a member of the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission, a citizen advisory board, and was reappointed Tuesday by District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott.
According to documents filed with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office corporations division, the committee registered as a non-profit organization in September and stated that it does not intend to have members.
The only other name listed on the filing forms is the group’s incorporator, G. Owen Brown, who is the president and founder of the Retail Planning Corporation based on Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb.
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After Cobb seniors were asked to pay a membership fee and pay higher fees for services at county senior centers this year, a senior citizens group is asking that they be eliminated or at least reconsidered.
At a recent Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting, June Van Brackle, president of the Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County, cited a figure that fewer than 3,000 seniors are using the centers this year, compared to around 6,500 before the fees were imposed.
Earlier, commissioners set an annual membership fee of $60 a person to take part in activities at the senior centers.
While some were upset by the membership fees and higher cost for activities fees and room rentals, he said “we’re all in this together.”
One group that regularly met at the East Cobb Senior Center has stopped having regular events there. The Foxtrotters Ballroom Dance Club, held a farewell dance in June after 21 years. They’re having a reunion dance there on Jan. 18.
Here’s more from Van Brackle’s remarks:
The Senior Citizens Council of Cobb is urging the Board of Commissioners to eliminate these mandatory fees. Cobb County is renowned for the services it offers to its residents. The reduction in participation at the five centers can only be a major detriment to the overall quality of life for Cobb seniors.
The Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County is an all-volunteer organization that has been in existence for 45 years and advocates for better public policies for Cobb seniors. The Council has always been against additional burden on our oldest citizens and if you are interested, we ask that you contact your commissioner and express your feelings regarding these fees.
Commissioners will be holding their semiannual retreat Monday at the Cobb Civic Center, and Boyce told Van Brackle to attend.
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This just issued from Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt:
The City of Atlanta had an issue with their water system that resulted in a Boil Water Alert. Many in Cobb County are reporting receiving a phone message about the alert.
Cobb County’s Water System is operating normally and does not have a boil order alert at this time.
Most of the city of Atlanta was experiencing a water outage or low water pressure after a pump failure at a water plant on Monday morning.
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Cobb County Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson will permanently close the motor vehicle office located at 700 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, at 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 30.
It has served Cobb for more than 20 years, but the complexity of retrofitting today’s security, technology and business functions would have been extremely costly, according to Jackson. Monday, Dec. 3, will be a move and set up day for all team members.
The newly-renovated North Office will open at 8 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 4, to handle all commercial (dealer, fleet and HD trucks) and individual motor vehicle transactions. This office is located at 2932 Canton Road, Suite 300, Marietta.
The renovated space on Canton Road will feature additional workstations and expanded services to better accommodate residents.
With this closure, the correct Tax Commissioner’s Office mailing addresses are:
Motor Vehicle (General) P.O. Box 100128, Marietta, GA 30061
Motor Vehicle (Commercial and Fleet) 2932 Canton Road, Suite 300, Marietta, GA 30066
Property Tax (Payments) P.O. Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061
Tax Commissioner (General) P.O. Box 649, Marietta, GA 30061-0649
Please direct all correspondence to the appropriate P.O. box to avoid any service delay. For more information about the Cobb County Tax Commissioner’s Office, visit www.cobbtax.org.
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Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved using $8 million in fiscal year 2019 general fund reserves for the construction of a new forensic laboratory for the Cobb Medical Examiner’s Office.
The 40-year-old facility needs to be replaced, and cost estimates range around $11 million. The remaining $3 million will come from SPLOST revenues.
In 2014 a critical audit of the medical examiner’s office suggested sweeping changes that prompted the resignation of the chief medical examiner.
Since then, the office has been run by Christopher Gulledge (in photo), and in recent years has been ramping up efforts to grapple with the county’s growing opioid crisis.
The audit was brought about by complaints by citizen Tom Cheek about the way his son’s autopsy was handled, and revealed wider organizational problems.
Cheek unsuccessfully ran for the District 3 Cobb commission seat this year, losing to incumbent JoAnn Birrell in the Republican primary.
Commissioners also voted on Tuesday to spend more than $158,000 to purchase flood storage volume at Wigley Lake in Northeast Cobb.
The funding, which will come from the Cobb Water System Agency, will create an additional 933,926.4 cubic feet of space for stormwater runoff, or around four vertical feet of space in the lake.
The lake is located near the intersection of Kincaid Road and Addison Road.
The county had an agreement with the Wigley Family Trust in 2003 to spend nearly $300,000 for additional stormwater volume at the lake, but the agreement was never executed. The Wigley family recently came back to the county about reactivating the agreement.
The water system says that the additional space being purchased now will address flood mitigation issues in the Noonday Creek Watershed.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved spending $474,805.16 for engineering design services for the second phase of the Bob Callan Trunk Trail, a 10-foot wide trail from Interstate North Parkway to Terrell Mill Road that will span around a third of a mile. The funding comes from the 2015 SPLOST and the design work was awarded to Heath and Linebeck Engineers, Inc.
This portion of the Bob Callan Trail is the central component of the project, which connects the Cumberland area with Marietta. The trail also is being developed near the forthcoming Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector.
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Johnson Ferry Road at Roswell Road in the heart of East Cobb.
This isn’t a new topic, and it’s one that hasn’t gone very far beyond the talking stage in the past: Should there be such a thing as a City of East Cobb?
A group of mostly unidentified people is behind a new push to create what would be the second-largest municipality in metro Atlanta.
The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc., is led by Joe Gavalis, a resident of the Atlanta Country Club area. His group has commissioned a feasibility study being conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University. He has not returned calls seeking comment.
However, the suggested City of East Cobb his group is advocating would not include all of East Cobb.
According to a map Gavalis furnished to the MDJ, the proposed map would fall almost entirely within Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott’s District 2.
East Cobb has long been a place name, but never a city.
The area generally regarded as East Cobb includes most of the ZIP codes 30062, 30066, 30067 and 30068, as well as the Cobb portion of 30075, and has an estimated population of 200,000.
The proposed City of East Cobb borders generally fall south of Sandy Plains Road, until it gets closer to the Fulton County line. The southern boundaries would fall roughly along the Powers Ferry Road corridor north of Terrell Mill Road.
The western edges of the city would run along Roswell Road Sewell Road and Holly Springs Road to Post Oak Tritt Road.
Everything east and north of that would become a city in what has long embodied classic suburban Sunbelt sprawl.
Cityhood measures require state legislation to call for a referendum that voters in the proposed municipality would decide. Under Georgia law, cities must provide a minimum of three services.
The cityhood effort in East Cobb comes after the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved a property tax hike for the first time since the recession. There has been some grumbling that East Cobb provides 40 percent of county tax revenue but some citizens don’t feel they’re getting their money’s worth in services.
After voting against the tax increase, Ott claimed that all District 2 residents were getting from the tax hike in the fiscal year 2019 budget was “1 DOT work crew.”
According to the East Cobb cityhood group’s contract with Georgia State, it is spending $36,000 for the study, which will develop revenue and expense estimates based on property tax files, a boundary map and estimated business license revenue.
The contract indicates that the feasibility of municipal services to be studied include police, fire management, parks and recreation, community development (libraries) and roads.
Gavalis is the lone signatory from the committee for the contract, which also lists G. Owen Brown, of Retail Planning Corp., a commercial real estate company based on Johnson Ferry Road, as a representative for the cityhood group.
The study is expected to be completed by mid-December. According to the contract, the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State is using a similar methodology as a feasibility study it conducted for Tucker, which became incorporated in 2015.
According to the East Cobb cityhood contract, a team of three CSLF researchers will:
” . . . estimate the total annual cost of government operations, including general administrative services and the discretionary services, based on the experience of several comparison cities in Georgia. The set of comparison cities in Georgia will include between four to six cities with similar demographic and economic conditions to the proposed area.
“In addition, the cost estimates will include the cost associated with purchasing any assets in the proposed incorporation area that are currently owned by Cobb County and any one-time costs associated with the initiation of municipal operations.”
The last time the City of East Cobb issue was raised also came after county commissioners voted to increase taxes, and during the heat of a political campaign. During the 2012 Republican runoff for Cobb Commission Chairman, challenger Bill Byrne proposed the idea but it didn’t gain much traction.
Byrne, a former chairman, was seeking to regain his seat against then-incumbent Tim Lee, who eventually edged him in the runoff.
Byrne would have had an elected mayor and five city council members for the City of East Cobb, which would have had its own police, fire, water and sewer services, purchased from the county for $1 a year. He also wanted the county, in his plan, to spend $1 million to build an East Cobb City Hall.
Byrne had attacked Lee for raising the property tax millage rate in 2011, during the aftermath of the recession.
At the time, Byrne’s idea didn’t resonate in East Cobb as it has elsewhere in metro Atlanta. This was right after citizens of Brookhaven voted to incorporate, and followed other successful cityhood drives in Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Milton.
But that sentiment hasn’t seriously spread in Cobb, which has six cities that have been incorporated for more than a century, and in some cases before the Civil War.
In 2009 there was a group called Citizens for the City of East Cobb that launched a website but never identified itself or pressed for action beyond that.
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Some of the most recent cityhood efforts elsewhere in metro Atlanta have failed. Earlier this month, a push to create the city of Eagle’s Landing out of Stockbridge fell short in a referendum.
Earlier this year, voters in a portion of Forsyth County turned down a similar measure that would have created the City of Sharon Springs, with a population of 50,000.
Others that have become cities have ended up providing fewer services than what is being studied for East Cobb.
Tucker, which has population of 35,000, provides zoning and planning, code enforcement and community development, and last year added overseeing the Tucker Recreation Center.
Tucker doesn’t charge a millage rate—city residents still pay the full DeKalb millage rate for county-provided services—but generates revenue from business permits, alcohol and excise taxes and utility franchise fees.
Other cityhood drives are continuing, including the Towne Lake community of Cherokee County, with a goal of having a referendum there in 2020.
The only services being suggested for Towne Lake are zoning and planning, code enforcement and sanitation, which would be optional. Those organizing cityhood there say they’re doing it to preserve property values.
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Karen Hallacy of East Cobb was reappointed to serve on the Cobb Development Authority this week.
She was reappointed by a 4-0 vote on Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. Her new term will run through March 13, 2022.
The development authority is a seven-member board that oversees some economic development activities, including financial incentives for expanding or relocating businesses, and to market Cobb County to businesses and industries.
It considers tax abatements requested by companies seeking to redevelop or reoccupy properties on the county’s redevelopment list.
Among them is the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development that commissioners approved earlier this year. The developer, which is including a Kroger superstore as an anchor, has been seeking a tax break that was granted by the development authority.
Hallacy was opposed, concerned about setting a precedent for retailers getting abatements.
That tax break is being contested by East Cobb resident Larry Savage, whose successfully appealed in Cobb Superior Court. The developer and development authority have appealed that denial to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Hallacy has been active in many community activities in East Cobb, the county and the state and is the president-elect of the Georgia PTA.
She is the development authority appointee of District 2 commissioner Bob Ott.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement to continue a joint school bus camera program with county courts and public schools for another five years.
The automated enforcement system issues citations to motorists who ignore school bus “stop arm” signs. The cameras, equipped on about 100 of nearly 1,000 buses in the Cobb County School District, take photos of the license plates of violating vehicles.
The agreement (agenda item here, formal agreement doc here) includes the Cobb County State Court Clerk, the camera manufacturer American Traffic Solutions and the Cobb Board of Education, which also must approve the agreement.
Cobb State Court judges had not been enforcing the violations for a time earlier this year, questioning their legality. Enforcement resumed in February, but the county said the burden of handling stop arm violations required additional staffing.
In September, commissioners approved the creation of three positions in Cobb State Court and two more in the Cobb Solicitors office to start with the fiscal year 2019 that began in October.
County officials estimate more than 8,000 such cases are generated annually. Each violation comes with a fine of $300.
The fine money, which exceeded $2 million in 2017, is split evenly between the county, Cobb schools and ATS, which provides the cameras at no charge.
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The Cobb County Public Library System has announced that expanded operating hours will start Monday, Nov. 5, for most branches.
That’s due to the recently approved county budget, which also added Sunday hours at regional branches, including Mountain View.
The biggest change is in Saturday hours. Many branches open late in the morning or in the early afternoon.
All Cobb branches, with one exception, will open at 10 a.m. starting Nov. 10. Those branches currently close at 6; the new closing time will be at 5 p.m. (The Windy Hill branch will remain closed on Saturday.)
Currently, the East Cobb and Mountain View branches open at 11 a.m. Saturday, while Gritters and the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (pictured above) open at 1 p.m.
In addition, opening times on Thursday and Friday will be at 10 a.m. at larger branches, including Mountain View, East Cobb and Sewell Mill, that currently open at 11 a.m. The closing time for those branches on those days will stay at 6 p.m.
Gritters is classified as a mid-size branch and also will have new Thursday and Friday hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hours will remain unchanged at branches open on Sunday, from 1-5 p.m.
A quick note if you’re visiting any Cobb library branch, for Friday only: They’re all opening an hour later than usual, at noon, for staff in-service training.
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“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. 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.
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).
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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!
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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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.
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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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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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.
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.”
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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.
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.
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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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.
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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