City of East Cobb proposed by citizens group; study underway

East Cobb Black Friday traffic
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.

City of East Cobb
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.

[yop_poll id=1]

 

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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Cobb libraries Thanksgiving Week schedule includes Friday closure

East Cobb Library, Cobb budget crisis

The Cobb County Public Library System will be closed not only for Thanksgiving Day next Thursday but also Friday as well.

All Cobb government offices and services are closed on Thursday and Friday.

All library branches will be closing on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and will reopen at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Related story

 

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East Cobb resident Karen Hallacy re-appointed to Cobb Development Authority

Karen Hallacy of East Cobb was reappointed to serve on the Cobb Development Authority this week.Karen Hallacy

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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Cobb school bus camera program extended for five years

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.ATS school bus camera, Cobb school bus camera program

The commissioners’ action comes after the original agreement was extended by a year.

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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Cobb library hours expanding Nov. 5, featuring earlier Saturday hours

Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, Cobb library hours expanding

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.

For more information call 770-528-2320 or visit the Cobb library website.

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

Cobb opioids crisis
Cobb Sheriff’s Office Lt. Col. Robert Quigley displays narcotics and paraphernalia with Commissioner Bob Ott. (East Cobb News photos 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

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

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

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

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

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, CHIP reathorization
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

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

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

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

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

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.”

Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center
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

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

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.

Cobb growth issues
Cobb commissioners this spring adopted the long-delayed Johnson Ferry Urban Design Guidelines to guide future growth in the busy commercial corridor.

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.”

Cobb growth issues
A citizen living near a proposed townhome community near Olde Town Athletic Club demonstrated to county commissioners this spring the building heights that were part of the initial plan.

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.

 

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

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.

 

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Fired Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell comments at final meeting

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.Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell

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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