East Cobb Government

Cobb adopts state electoral maps; Richardson in limbo

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Cobb adopts state electoral maps; Richardson in limbo

Cobb commissioners voted Tuesday to adopt commission electoral maps approved by the Georgia legislature more than two years ago, after using different maps that were recently ruled unconstitutional.

But commissioners couldn’t pass a resolution that would have begun a process to vacate the seat held by Jerica Richardson because her East Cobb residence is no longer in District 2.

On Tuesday night, a lengthy meeting created more heated rhetoric—along partisan and racial lines—and included a citizen launching a blistering tirade at another commissioner.

It also created more confusion about how long Richardson may be in office. County code requires that commissioners vacate their offices if they don’t live in their districts.

The board voted 3-2 to adopt the legislative maps, but with Richardson recusing herself, commissioners were knotted 2-2 on approving a motion to declare a vacancy.

Cobb commissioners redistricting resolution
Since October 22, Cobb has recognized electoral maps (left) that kept Richardson in District 2 (in pink) that were ruled unconstitutional last month. On Tuesday commissioners approved state maps that put most of East Cobb in District 3 (yellow).

If that resolution had passed, the county would have had 10 days to declare a vacancy in a process that allowed for Richardson to contest her removal in court.

On Wednesday, Cobb government issued a statement saying that Richardson is still a commissioner, but didn’t indicate for how long.

The statement said that the failure to pass a resolution declaring the District 2 seat vacant allows Richardson “to continue serving as the district’s representative.”

During Tuesday’s lengthy discussion, Republican Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes most of East Cobb in the state maps, said she didn’t want Richardson to have to leave immediately.

“I do struggle with this,” Birrell said, “but I don’t support this, giving notice kicking her out. I think she should finish her term.”

‘Two years of hell’

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell called the map dispute “two years of hell.”

Richardson is part of the three-Democrat majority that voted in Oct. 2022 to adopt maps drawn by former State Rep. Erick Allen, then the Cobb legislative delegation chairman, that would have kept Richardson in her seat.

They claimed “home rule” authority to adopt those maps after the legislature approved maps that placed Richardson, who moved to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road in 2021, into District 3.

But Birrell and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill were among those saying that the Georgia Constitution allows only the legislature to conduct county reapportionment.

They read statements into the record before casting votes in meetings starting in January 2023 objecting to the “home rule” maps.

Birrell didn’t like the Allen maps because her district would be majority Democratic. She said that “she looked at all scenarios to keep Jerica in District 2, but the numbers didn’t warrant that. . . .

“It has been two years of hell going through this.”

Sheffield had previously noted that legislators told them that “when we draw maps we don’t consider political parties. It’s for the citizens of Cobb County.”

Gambrill was an initial plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging those maps and later eventually dismissed by the Georgia Supreme Court due to a lack of standing.

Another legal complaint was filed by Republican Alicia Adams in April, after she was disqualified from running in District 2 under the home rule maps that were being followed by the Cobb Board of Elections.

On July 25, Cobb Superior C0urt Judge Kellie Hill ruled in favor of Adams, declaring the “home rule” maps unconstitutional.

Hill also ordered special elections for early 2025 in District 2 and District 4, since those maps were used for May primaries.

Richardson is a first-term Democrat who decided not to seek re-election earlier this year, opting instead for an unsuccessful Congressional bid, as the map dispute lingered.

Her term expires on Dec. 31. The same goes for District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb, who won a May Democratic primary based on the county-adopted maps.

They voted against the resolution to adopt the legislative maps on Tuesday.

Sheffield, who on Monday described the partisan squabbling on the board as “political Crips and Bloods,” wanted to pull the item for further discussion. She also was “all for” seeing Richardson complete her term.

But Birrell, who has been insisting her colleagues “follow the law,” said the matter has dragged on too far.

“This has to end tonight,” she said. “It has gone on too long.”

While what happened to Richardson “isn’t fair,” Birrell continued, “the bottom line is we don’t have the authority to draw a map.”

She, Gambrill and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid voted in favor of adopting the state maps.

Cupid continued to claim that “a great harm” was done to Cobb by the legislature in bypassing local delegation courtesies during reapportionment.

On the motion to declare a vacancy, Gambrill and Cupid voted in favor, while Birrell and Sheffield voted against.

‘You are a joke’

After Richardson returned to the dais, several public commenters had their say.

One of them, East Marietta resident Don Barth, tore into Cupid and Sheffield.

Barth is a Democrat who was disqualified in District 2 by the Cobb County Democratic Committee in the primaries for not living in that district according to the home rule maps.

A frequent public commenter, Barth greeted commissioners by saying, “you are a joke,” and ramped up the rhetoric from there, attacking Cupid, Sheffield and Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling in particular.

“You wonder why there’s no trust? You earn trust. You haven’t earned anything lady,” he said to Cupid. “You have been the worst thing for Cobb County.”

But Cupid cut off his comments after he yelled at Sheffield, with him shrieking that “I don’t work for you, you work for me!”

Sheffield said his comments, and their tone, made her feel “threatened.”

Barth replied that “you are a drama queen!”

After repeating that line twice, he was removed from the podium and escorted out of the room by law enforcement.

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Cobb commissioners feud over resolving electoral map dispute

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Cobb commissioners feud over resolving electoral map dispute
Cobb commissioner Monique Sheffield—second from right—said that “we have become nothing more than political Bloods and Crips. . . . No offense to the Crips and Bloods.”

Instead of hammering out the beginning steps toward resolving a long, bitter dispute over electoral maps, Cobb commissioners on Monday launched into some of their harshest rhetoric yet on the matter.

During a work session to go over Tuesday’s meeting agenda, the partisan—and even racial—divides that have marked the saga boiled over more than they ever have.

The county opted last week to accept a Cobb Superior Court judge’s ruling that “home rule” maps adopted in late 2022 by the commission’s Democratic majority violated the Georgia Constitution.

As a result, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office proposed a resolution to adopt legislative-approved commission maps and give legal notice to vacate the District 2 seat—which had included some of East Cobb—due to residency issues.

That resolution is supposed to be on Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, but the work session Monday left that in doubt.

(You can watch the full discussion of the home rule issue in the video below.)

A notice to vacate, if approved, could mean that Democratic incumbent Jerica Richardson—who did not seek re-election—may have to leave office before her term expires at the end of December.

But Comissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb—one of two Republicans on the board—wanted her colleagues to repeal the “home rule” maps before doing anything else.

They were approved by the Democrats, claiming “home rule” exceptions under state law, after Richardson was drawn out of her East Cobb home. The Republican-led legislature did not consider maps approved by the county’s Democratic-majority legislative delegation that kept Richardson in District 2.

But in late July, Judge Kellie Hill said the Cobb’s action was unconstitutional because only the legislature can conduct county reapportionment. She also ordered special elections for next year to redo the results of primaries in District 2 and District 4 that were conducted with the “home rule” maps.

Birrell’s request to repeal those maps was opposed by Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who said that action was not on the agenda and hadn’t previously been discussed in work sessions.

“Until [the home rule maps are] repealed, we can’t move forward with any notice” regarding the vacancy, insisted Birrell, who reiterated a desire for outside counsel.

She and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill questioned the advice commissioners were getting from their in-house legal counsel.

Gambrill said she noticed that during an executive session on the issue, the county attorney’s staff kept separate sets of notes, with two in red (indicating the two Republican commissioners) and three others in blue (noting the Democrats).

“This is strictly political at this point,” Gambrill said. “Is our counsel going by the law or going by the majority?”

She and Cupid began raising their voices over one another, then Gambrill took aim at Richardson, who said she would recuse herself from a vote, saying “this item is being sent directly to me . . . I’m leaving my future up the four of you.”

Richardson said a vote to repeal the maps would be a home rule act that has been ruled unconstitutional and that “you can’t have it both ways.”

Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat from District 4 in South Cobb, blamed Republican lawmakers for bypassing local delegation courtesies during reapportionment in 2022.

“This is very political and it started at the statehouse when Commissioner Richardson was drawn out of her district,” Sheffield said.

“What’s happening in Cobb County is what’s happening nationally. People are dug in on their side, regardless of what is right.

“We have become nothing more than political Bloods and Crips,” she added, making a reference to criminal gang rivals. “No offense to the Crips and Bloods.”

That remark drew some chuckles, but the nearly 40-minute discussion was far from a laughing matter.

Sheffield took a bleaker turn, saying Richardson had received “nasty and disgusting” text messages that “takes me back to a time where people were not welcome in this country. People are still not welcome.

“When you have a young commissioner who decides to move in an area still within her district and she’s drawn out, but when she’s told she should move to an urban area, and that someone wants to ‘protect’ their community, that may not resonate to some of you but that resonates to me.”

When a spectator objected to that comment, Cupid said “you can get up and leave.”

Sheffield said that if Richardson were a Republican, “would we see all of this here? I don’t think we would.”

Richardson didn’t say anything in response to Sheffield’s comments.

The last two years, commissioners have heard “we want her out of her seat. We want blood, we want blood,” Sheffield continued, pounding her fists on the table.

At that point, Birrell interjected: “I didn’t say that.”

Sitting just a couple of feet away, Sheffield turned to her and said: “I didn’t say that you did. . . . This is an indictment on whoever feels that way.”

Later, Birrell said that her request to repeal the “home rule” maps isn’t about any of that.

“This is following the law and upholding the Constitution of the United States, the state of Georgia and Cobb County,” she said.

“The only way to settle this once and for all” is to publish public notices like were done with the “home rule” map approval process with two public meetings before voting to repeal them.

“We need to repeal it once and for all.”

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Cobb may consider vacating District 2 commission seat

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Cobb County will no longer challenge commission electoral maps that have been at the heart of a nearly two-year-long legal dispute.

Richardson advocacy group to hold redistricting event
Jerica Richardson

But that doesn’t mean that the chaos and confusion that’s accompanied that saga is over.

Commissioners will be asked to consider on Tuesday an agenda item that “acknowledges a finding” that “home rule maps” approved by the commission’s three Democrats in 2022 be dropped in favor of legislative-approved maps that drew District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her seat.

That’s after a Cobb Superior Court judge declared the “home rule” maps a violation of the Georgia Constitution, since only the Georgia legislature can conduct county reapportionment.

Judge Kellie Hill then ordered special elections for the District 2 and District 4 commission primaries in which the home rule maps were used.

Those elections may not be decided until June of 2025. The earliest they would be finalized would be next April, according to schedules approved last week by the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration.

According to a state law cited in an agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting, should the commissioners adopt the legislative maps, Richardson would no longer be a legal resident of District 2, and that office must be vacated.

The agenda item calls for approving “notice to the sitting District 2 Commissioner that the office is deemed vacant” and states that the county must give 10 days’ notice “before proceeding to fill the vacancy.”

The agenda item (you can read it here) doesn’t indicate how that vacancy might be filled, or even if it will.

In response to a request for clarification from East Cobb News, Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said that providing a notice to vacate the District 2 office came from the Cobb County Attorney’s Office, citing State Code of Georgia provisions for filling vacancies in local elected offices.

When asked what such a process might entail for vacating the District 2 seat, Cavitt said that “there will be more discussion on this Monday.”

That’s when commissioners will meet in a work session to go over Tuesday’s agenda items.

Richardson is a first-term Democrat who moved from the Delk Road area to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road shortly after her election in 2020. That’s when District 2 included a sizable portion of East Cobb.

In 2022, however, the Georgia legislature ignored maps drawn by the Cobb delegation that would have kept Richardson in District 2. Instead, lawmakers approved maps that put most of East Cobb, including her home, in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.

District 2 includes most of the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area, as well as the I-75 corridor north to Marietta and the Town Center area.

Richardson, Chairwoman Lisa Cupid and District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield—the board’s Democratic majority—voted to approve the Cobb delegation maps, claiming home rule authority.

Richardson’s term was to expire at the end of this year, but as the dispute dragged on, she decided not to seek re-election, and instead ran unsuccessfully for Congress in May.

East Cobb News has left a message with Richardson seeking comment on the possibility of having to vacate her seat. If she is forced to do so, she could have that notice reviewed in Cobb Superior Court.

The county complained that Hill’s ruling to order special elections would be costly to county taxpayers and that the possibility existed of having a three-member board, instead of the full complement of five elected commissioners.

Hill said that nothing in her order calling for special elections implied that there would vacancies, indicating that Richardson and Sheffield could continue serving until the special elections are held.

Birrell and Republican Commissioner Keli Gambrill have said the same thing for several months.

In her July 25 decision, Hill ruled on an appeal by a Republican candidate, Alicia Adams, who had been disqualified for the District 2 primary under the home rule maps, which the Cobb elections board was following.

Adams lives within those boundaries under the legislative maps, but East Cobb resident Mindy Seger, a Democratic activist and ally of Richardson, challenged her qualification under the home rule maps.

The commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The full agenda can be found by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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2024 Cobb property tax bills mailed; payments due by Oct. 15

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Cobb equity report

Property owners in Cobb County have two months to pay their 2024 property tax bills.

The Cobb Tax Commissioner’s Office has mailed them out, and they’re due by Oct. 15.

The county said in a release Wednesday that  271,400 tax bills representing $1,335,906,523 were mailed out to residential and commercial property owners in unincorporated Cobb.

Property owners in Cobb’s seven cities are billed by their respective municipal governments.

More than half the revenue to be collected by Cobb will go for Cobb County School District operations, followed by the Cobb government’s general fund and the Cobb fire fund.

Here’s more from the county on how to make your payment:

Payments may be made online, by phone, mail, or in person. Processing fees may apply: 

  • Online at cobbtax.org via e-Check, debit, or credit card.
  • Phone automated system at 1-866-PAY-COBB (1-866-729-2622).
  • Mail to Cobb County Tax Commissioner, PO Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061.

Visit our office in person at any of the following locations: 

  • Whitlock Office at 736 Whitlock Avenue, Marietta;
  • East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and
  • South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell.

Drop boxes are available 24/7 for checks or money orders. Make payment to Cobb County Tax Commissioner at: 

  •  Whitlock Office at 736 Whitlock Avenue, Marietta; 
  •  North Cobb Office at 2932 Canton Road, Marietta; 
  •  East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and 
  •  South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell. 

For questions or assistance, email tax@cobbtax.org or call 770-528-8600. 

Please visit Understanding Your Tax Bill at cobbtax.org for a detailed explanation of our 2024 tax bills. 

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Cobb special elections scheduled as map dispute lingers

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Cobb commission special elections scheduled as dispute lingers
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said Tuesday “a great harm was done to Cobb County” with legislative-approved electoral maps.

The Cobb Board of Elections is moving ahead with special elections for commission races as a long-standing legal saga over redistricting continues elsewhere in county government.

The elections board on Monday approved two sets of special-election schedules for Cobb Commission races in Districts 2 and 4 for early 2025 after Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill vacated May primaries for those seats.

If there are December runoffs from the November general elections, those special commission elections would start on Jan. 20 and end on April 7.

If there are not runoffs, the two commission seats would be determined in voting from Feb. 12 through June 17.

The special-election dates coincide with previously scheduled municipal elections in Cobb County, but would come after the commission seats of current commissioners Jerica Richardson (District 2) and Monique Sheffield (District 4) expire on Dec. 31.

It’s not clear what might happen with two vacancies on the commission, which would go from a 3-2 Democratic majority to a 2-1 edge for Republicans.

On July 25, Hill ruled that May primaries using “home rule” maps approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners’ Democratic majority for the two district commission elections were unconstitutional, because they weren’t adopted by the Georgia legislature.

Cobb commissioners redistricting resolution
Cobb commission District 2 boundaries (in pink) and District 3 (in yellow), as adopted by the county on the left, and the legislature on the right.

Hill was ruling on a petition by Alicia Adams, a Republican who was disqualified in District 2 because she lives in the boundaries set by the legislature.

She filed her complaint against the Cobb elections board, which was honoring the “home rule” maps. The board Democrats in October 2022 claimed the county had home rule powers under the Georgia Constitution to conduct redistricting, after the legislature ignored maps drawn up by the Cobb legislative delegation.

But Hill affirmed a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that the county had no authority to redraw its own political maps, saying it was solely the responsibility of the legislature.

Late last week, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office filed an emergency motion to intervene in the Adams case, even though the county was not named as a defendant (you can read the motion here).

On Tuesday morning, Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid defended the county’s decision to seek intervention, saying “a great harm was done to our county” when the Georgia legislature ignored the Cobb delegation maps.

Home rule powers were claimed by the three Democrats—Cupid, Richardson and Sheffield—in a bid to keep Richardson in office.

The first-term Democrat was drawn out of her East Cobb home in the legislative maps, which placed most of East Cobb in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.

“There has been no effort to circumvent the Constitution,” Cupid said in remarks at the commission’s regular meeting. “However, there has been an effort to circumvent the votes of many voters who voted for each one of us who are sitting here today.

“There has been an effort to circumvent on trusting what the local delegation in putting forward a map for the Board of Commissioners. That has been a process over the 12 years that I have been here. There has been very little objection or question about why that was circumvented.”

Her remarks followed continuing statements by Birrell and Gambrill, the board’s two Republicans, who were opposed to the decision to try to intervene in the Adams case.

The home rule challenge, Birrell said, has gone on nearly two years “at taxpayers’ expense and should never have been done to begin with. We all took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, of the State of Georgia, and of Cobb County. Follow the law.”

Cobb GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs

Gambrill—an original plaintiff in a related Cobb home rule case that reached the Georgia Supreme Court but was not decided on the merits—called Cobb’s action “the path of anarchy.”

In its emergency motion, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office noted that in addition to the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in expenses that would be needed for special elections, Hill’s injunction “could potentially deprive half of Cobb County from having any representation on the BOC until June of 2025 at the earliest.”

Cobb Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs said during a public comment period earlier in Tuesday’s meeting that the county has only itself to blame for that.

“With the chaos you people have created, you’re going to make the taxpayers pay for that,” Grubbs said, “when it’s your responsibility and it’s your quest for power over Cobb County that has caused this situation.

“You refuse to acknowledge the fact that you violated your oath and Ms. Richardson should not be sitting on the dais. You have protected her at all costs in that seat so that you can have the majority.”

Richardson, who declined to seek a second term and instead launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress has not publicly commented on the matter.

Former Cobb school board member Jaha Howard won the Democratic primary in District 2 and Sheffield cruised in the Democratic primary in District 4.

Later in the meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to approve $2.4 million in additional spending for the 2024 elections due to costs associated with the presidential election, as well as one-time costs for technology and equipment, security at polling stations and seasonal personnel (poll workers).

Cobb elections director Tate Fall said that funding includes more than $624,000 that is being earmarked for the commission special elections.

Gambrill voted against the measure.

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2 more East Cobb massage businesses face license hearings

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2 more East Cobb massage businesses face license hearings
Top Massage is located in a small strip retail center on Roswell Road at Robinson Road West.

A month after revoking a business license for a health spa on Canton Road, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked Tuesday to decide whether “due cause exists” to approve similar action for two other such businesses in the East Cobb area.

According to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, a public hearings has been scheduled for the V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), which was delayed from last month.

There’s also a hearing scheduled to consider revoking the license for Top Massage (2200 Roswell Road, Suite 150).

The hearings will take place near the end of Tuesday’s regular commission business meeting.

Like the health spas, Top Massage is accused by the Cobb Community Development Agency’s Business License Division of not having properly licensed therapists on staff or premises.

An agenda item said business license officials and Cobb Police visited the business on April 10 and found two employees working there—one of them performing a message—who had health spa permits but not the required state massage therapist license.

There also wasn’t a state licensed therapist at the business at the time, which also violates the county code, according to the agenda item.

At V Massage, a compliance check in February noted that an employee had neither the health spa permit or state massage license, and there were no records of treatment at the business, nor were the owners or licensees there at the time.

The business was issued citations for those and other violations of the county code, and V Massage was granted a delay last month.

In July, commissioners voted to revoke the license of Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), for similar reasons, with “serious” violations going back to 2022.

Cobb officials said they were alerted by the Georgia Attorney General’s office that the business was advertising on adult websites.

Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.

The business owner denied the charges, even after its license renewal was denied in April. Asian Wellness also had no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours.

At the July hearing before commissioners, Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said that there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”

Asian Wellness, which was forced to close, can reapply for its license in 12 months.

Another health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal a Cobb License Review Board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year for similar issues.

Commissioners voted in June to impose a six-month moratorium on granting new licenses to health spas at the request of county officials, who have expressed concern that “illicit health spa establishments are evading code and law enforcement.”

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The full agenda for can be found by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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Cobb to appeal court order for new commission elections

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Cobb County is appealing a recent court ruling ordering new commission elections, continuing a dispute over electoral maps at that’s nearly two years old.

The county issued a statement Tuesday saying it’s filed motions in Cobb Superior Court to become a party to a complaint filed in March against the Cobb Board of Elections and reverse an order by Judge Kellie Hill last month that invalidated primary elections for commission districts 2 and 4.

In the statement the county said its action is an attempt to reverse the order “to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers.” The new action is asking that the May primary results stand.

The filings come several days after commissioners conducted an executive session that didn’t specify a reason.

Hill said that those elections were conducted using maps approved by the commission’s three Democrats and violated the Georgia Constitution.

The county maps were approved under a claim of home rule. But in her ruling, issued July 26, Hill backed up a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that only the Georgia legislature can conduct county reapportionment.

Kennesaw-area resident Alicia Adams had filed a complaint against the elections board—not the county—after being disqualified as a Republican candidate in District 2 under the home rule maps, which include some of East Cobb. She lives within the District 2 boundaries in the legislative maps.

“The Court, having ruled the Home Rule Map unconstitutional in the companion appeal finds the Plaintiff has a clear legal right to seek qualification for the Cobb County Commission, Post 2, using the Legislative Map, if qualified, to run for a special primary in that post,” Hill states in the ruling.

That decision invalidate the District 2 and 4 primaries until most likely after the November general elections. The terms of Democratic commissioners Jerica Richardson and Monique Sheffield, respectively, expire in December.

In its filings Monday, the county referenced the rights of voters in the two affected districts, saying new elections would be “disruptive and contrary to the public interest” to change the maps with the general election so close.

New elections could deprive voters in those areas of elected representation possibly in June of next year, and hit taxpayers with the cost of special elections, the county is now arguing.

“I am hopeful the judge in this matter can provide clarity in responding to our county attorney’s inquiries on behalf of our Board,” said Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, in the county’s statement on Tuesday.

She’s on the November ballot seeking a second term. Sheffield won her District 4 Democratic primary easily, and would have been unopposed in November.

In District 2, former Cobb school board member Jaha Howard won the Democratic primary, and East Cobb resident Pamela Reardon qualified under the home rule maps. Hill’s order would disqualify Reardon.

Richardson, who was drawn out of her East Cobb home in District 2 under the legislative maps—triggering the long-drawn-out-dispute—decided not to seek re-election and ran unsuccessfully for 6th District Congress.

East Cobb News has left a message with Richardson seeking comment.

The two Republican commissioners, Keli Gambrill of North Cobb and JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb, oppose the county’s new legal filings (their terms expire at the end of 2026).

Birrell was re-elected in 2022 under legislative maps that placed most of her district in East Cobb.

Both GOP representatives have filed statements at each board business meeting since January 2023 stating their objections to the home rule maps.

Cupid, Richardson and Sheffield voted in October 2022 to approve the home rule maps to conduct county business. The Cobb elections board decided earlier this year to follow those same maps for the primaries.

The county is no longer arguing for the validity of its maps, but the process for determining how two of its district commissioners will be chosen by voters.

“While the county agreed it would return to the state legislative map in a lawful and orderly manner, the motions were filed to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers,” the county’s statement Tuesday states.

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Cobb commissioners to hold special-called meetings Thursday

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Cobb County Government logo

Members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners have been called to attend a special-called meeting and hold an executive session Thursday.

According to a notice filed by County Clerk Pam Mabry, commissioners will gather at 1:30 p.m. Thursday “to vote to go into executive session to discuss matters which may be properly discussed in Executive Session.”

There were no more specifics indicated in that notice, which was sent to East Cobb News by the Cobb communications office in response to more information.

Under Georgia law, elected bodies can hold executive sessions for three reasons: land, legal or property matters, and a specific reason must be stated before the executive session is held.

Cobb commissioners hold three official voting meetings per month: Regular sessions on the second and fourth Tuesday, and a zoning hearing on the third Thursday.

They also typically hold one or two work sessions a month, also in public.

The announcement of Thursday’s meetings comes days after a Cobb judge ruled the Cobb commission’s “home rule” redistricting maps violated the Georgia Constitution, and ordered new elections for commission races in District 2 and District 4.

The lawsuit was filed against the Cobb Board of Elections, which also used the “home rule” maps in the May primaries.

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said in a response to that ruling on Friday that “I respect the judge’s ruling and we are assessing how to move forward.”

County spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News in response to a question if the county would appeal by saying that “there has been no discussion at this point about any further legal action.”

In her ruling last Thursday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill was hearing the appeal of Alicia Adams, a Republican who had been disqualified in District 2 after filing to run under maps approved in 2022 by the Georgia General Assembly.

Those maps drew current District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her East Cobb home. She and the commission’s two other Democrats voted in October 2022 to observe maps drawn by the Cobb legislative delegation, citing “home rule” privileges.

But Hill confirmed a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that the “home rule” maps violated the Georgia Constitution, which gives the legislature the authority to conduct reapportionment for county electoral maps.

The county wasn’t a party to Adams’ complaint, but it did appeal a separate lawsuit challenging the “home rule” maps after Harris’ ruling. The Georgia Supreme Court in May declined to take up that appeal, claiming the plaintiffs, a Cobb married couple, lacked standing.

East Cobb resident Mindy Seger, a Democratic activist and ally of current District 2 Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson, challenged Adams qualification under the “home rule” maps.

Since Hill’s ruling, Seger has not indicated whether she may appeal. East Cobb News has left a message seeking comment.

Richardson, who lost in a U.S. Congress primary in May, also has not spoken publicly about the matter since Hill’s ruling.

The special-called meeting Thursday takes place at 1:30 p.m. in the 3rd floor conference room of the Commissioners’ Conference Room, Cobb County Building, 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta.

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Cobb FY 2025 budget, millage rate adopted amid tax relief pleas

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Cobb FY 2025 budget adopted

The outcome was as predictable as the calls to do otherwise.

After hearing homeowners begging for tax relief for several hours, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted along party lines Tuesday night to adopt a fiscal year 2025 budget and millage rate that includes substantial spending increases.

They held the general fund, fire fund and other millage rates from the present fiscal year 2024 budget.

But the new $1.3 billion budget means property owners will still be paying more in taxes due to rising assessments.

At two public hearings Tuesday night—one for the millage rates and the other for the budget proposal—citizens pleaded with commissioners to “roll back” the property tax rates.

The new budget includes a 9 percent increase in spending, and $41.3 million more in general fund increases along, mostly to pay for public safety salaries and benefits.

Overall spending across all funds is $63.7 million.

(More budget information can be found by clicking here.)

The three Democrats who make up the majority voted in favor, while the two Republicans voted against.

But there was little discussion before those votes were cast.

Some citizens said their assessments have gone up by much more, exceeding 30 percent in some cases, and causing an undue burden with inflation.

As in the two previous hearings, Tuesday’s hearing included pleas from citizens to find ways to cut spending.

“Stop DeKalbing us. Stop Fultonizing us,” said Alicia Adams, a Republican who’s challenging her removal as a commission candidate in a continuing legal dispute over electoral maps. “We’re Cobb County.

“Our money isn’t your money. Live by a budget. Our family does, so you need to too.”

Cobb resident Hugh Norris noted earlier during the hearing that the Austell City Council rejected a budget that included a 106 percent property tax increase, with only the mayor left to defend it.

“The constituents showed up, and apparently, the city of Austell, city council members remembered that they’re supposed to represent their constituents. . . . So far every single speaker has been against this, so we shall see where you all shake out.”

Because the millage rate didn’t roll back to fiscal year 2024 spending, the state considers that a tax increase, and the county had to advertise and hold three public hearings.

The general fund millage rate of 8.46 would have to be rolled back to 7.761 mills to meet 2024 spending, and the fire fund of 2.99 would have to be rolled back to 2.8 mills.

GOP commissioner Keli Gambrill referenced voter frustrations going back to 2018, when a previous board voted to increase the millage rate.

She said at the time, the county didn’t have much in funding reserves, “we are not in that position today.

“That is where the people are upset not many of them can have money in the bank earning the interest like the county is. This is where some of the frustration is. . . . We’re collecting more money than we should.”

Applause broke out when she said that, but Gambrill’s Democratic colleagues were unswayed.

Cobb chief financial officer Bill Volckmann presented a list of budget items passed last year that represent $16.5 million this year, and are long-term obligations.

Chairwoman Lisa Cupid read them aloud, and later extended her remarks to claim that the increases are needed to catch up with years of underfunding operations, and to pay for public safety overtime due to staffing shortages.

County department heads requested 380 new positions, but the FY 2025 budget includes only five.

Cupid said “I personally don’t care for” a higher tax bill, but that Cobb operates at a lower millage rate than most local governments in metro Atlanta.

“The significant wins” of Cobb government, Cupid added, are done largely on the backs of county employees.

“They try their best to serve you, with the limited dollars they have. . . Cobb County is known for providing stellar service, and we’d love to do it for free. But you and I both know it doesn’t operate like that.”

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Cobb FY 2025 budget and millage rates set for adoption

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Cobb FY 2025 budget and millage rates set for adoption
East Cobb resident Jan Barton holds up a sign at a public hearing Wednesday for the proposed Cobb fiscal year 2025 budget.

Cobb commissioners are scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2025 budget for Cobb County government as well as the 2024 millage rate on Tuesday.

The budget proposal that was presented earlier this month calls for $1.27 billion in spending, $41.3 million increase in the general fund from the current fiscal year 2024 budget, and holding the line on the general fund millage rate at 8.46 mills.

That constitutes a tax increase under state law, since there is no proposed “rollback” millage rate to match current spending levels.

Commissioners have held two of three required public hearings on the budget, with the final hearing set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.

The property tax revenues in the proposed budget are a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.

A number of citizens have asked commissioners to reduce the millage rate due to rising property tax assessments.

On Wednesday during a special-called public hearing on the budget, they held up graphics showing how the costs of daily living have gone up for citizens.

“Lower the millage, otherwise it is a nine percent increase,” said East Cobb resident Jan Barton.

“The only thing down is weekly average earnings. Your decisions are putting people out of their homes.”

Maria Cooper, who said she’s on a fixed income, rattled off household costs that have gone up for her and asked for the millage rate to be rolled back. “I don’t want to be pushed out of Cobb County,” she said.

The overall proposed budget includes $63.7 million in new spending, with an additional $14.7 million for the fire fund, with a proposed millage rate to remain the same at 2.99 mills.

Only five new positions would be created in the FY 2025 budget, whittled down from 382 requests for new jobs from department heads.

Also in the proposed budget is a reduction in the amount of Cobb Water System revenues to the general fund, from six percent to five percent.

The Cobb finance department has created a presentation (click here ) breaking down how property taxes are divided, what general fund revenues pay for, and “how the county will spend this year’s budget growth.”

During the Wednesday hearings, resident Sue Marshall held up a copy of the budget brochure and said the county could have done a better job of informing the public of the meeting.

A Cobb resident since 1977, she said previous commissions held town halls and actively asked for public feedback.

“But you’re not doing that,” she said. “You want to raise taxes and keep up with the Joneses and be more like DeKalb and the city of Atlanta.”

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid responded to some of the commenters.

“It’s very difficult for all of us, for my family, to know how much we’re paying,” she said. “A lot of this is being driven by fair-market [home] values. We are not building houses to the rate of demand.”

Cupid said commissioners have a duty to be stewards in maintaining basic county operations. Two-thirds of the additional revenues for FY 2025 will be paying for public safety salaries and benefits.

“You said we should value public safety and we do,” she said. “If this budget does not pass we won’t be able to sustain the raises that we’ve recently provided for those who are sworn officers.”

More budget information can be found by clicking here.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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Richardson to hold ‘taxpayer clinic’ and budget session

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From the office of Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson:Lower Roswell Road project delayed again

I am pleased to invite you to Commissioner Richardson’s special Community Chat on the FY25 Budget, which is tomorrow, July 18 at 6:30pm.

The event will kick off with an in-person “Taxpayer Clinic” from 6:00 – 6:30 p.m. at Sewell Mill Library [2051 Lower Roswell Road] in the Community Room. Commissioner Richardson will offer to individually review your tax bill and answer any questions you may have about a line item. Please bring a copy of your 2024 property tax bill with you if you plan to attend the clinic.

Then, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Commissioner Richardson will host a virtual Community Chat to focus on the FY25 Budget. We strongly encourage you to attend this informative event to gain a deeper understanding of the budget and share your thoughts/ideas.

Please note that the Community Chat will be held virtually via Zoom. You must register in advance to receive the Zoom meeting link.

Click here to register: https://form.typeform.com/to/ExccWdv5

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Cobb indefinitely tables action on proposed stormwater fee

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Cobb indefinitely tables action on proposed stormwater fee

After months of fiery public meetings and contentious public comments over a proposed stormwater fee, the Cobb Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday to table consideration of the measure indefinitely.

Commissioners voted unanimously (5-0) to hold off action to impose a fee based on impervious surface amounts after being unable to find consensus on such a proposal, which would have involved code amendment changes.

The board voted in March to delay taking up the matter again until August, and had publicly advertised public hearings for Aug. 11 and 27, with possible action on the latter date.

But during a brief discussion Tuesday, Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid conceded there’s plenty of division on the board about the issue.

“We were very close to bringing this in August but there are some minor details we’re still looking to get some consensus on,” she said before the vote, but didn’t specify what they might be.

“Taking care of our infrastructure is very important and that includes our water infrastructure.”

She had been leading the charge for a fee, saying the Cobb County Water System doesn’t have adequate funding and staffing to handle stormwater issues as it is.

The fee would have changed how stormwater services are charged to customers, who currently are billed based on water usage.

The other two Democrats on the commission have been generally supportive of making such a change, saying Cobb cannot handle stormwater management with $8.4 million currently allotted annually in the water system budget.

The board’s two Republicans have been opposed to the proposal, including JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb.

She held a town hall meeting on the stormwater fee proposal in March, and it drew a full house of citizens opposed to what they have decried as a “rain tax.”

But those three Democratic-held seats are up for re-election this year. Cupid and District 4 commissioner Monique Sheffield are seeking re-election (the latter is unopposed in November).

District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson of East Cobb is stepping down after one term after a redistricting dispute that’s still in the courts and her unsuccessful run for the U.S. Congress.

Also on the Nov. 5 general election ballot is a transit tax referendum that would impose a one-percent sales tax for 30 years that has drawn some public opposition.

The vote to place that referendum on the ballot also split 3-2 along the same partisan lines.

The stormwater fee proposal crafted by the Cobb Water System included a fee schedule that ranged from charging $2 to $12 a month for most residential customers, in addition to their existing water and sewer charges.

The motion to table the measure had been on the commissioners’ consent agenda, but was moved to the regular agenda.

Birrell asked how it might come up again.

“They could be brought to the board in the future if directed by the board,” Cobb Water System director Judy Jones said.

“But there is not a target date for bringing this up. Unfortunately we couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.”

Sheffield thanked Jones for her agency’s work putting together a comprehensive approach to addressing long-term stormwater needs.

Jones said that “we’ve put a lot of time in the office on this and our personal staff put a lot of time into this.”

Cupid told her colleagues that additional funding for stormwater could come up in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget that’s set to be adopted by the end of the month, because “there will be a need to fund stormwater and we’ll have to figure out how.”

But in reference to tabling the measure, Cupid said “this was a wise decision,” It is important that we have consensus of the board in order to move forward.”

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Cobb revokes health spa license for Canton Road business

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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday revoked a health spa license for a business on Canton Road following complaints that it didn’t have properly licensed therapists and for other violations stemming back nearly two years.Cobb revokes health spa licenses for Canton Road businesses

During a special hearing at the end of a regular business meeting Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes the Canton Road area, said the allegations are very serious and have not been corrected since initial citations were issued in 2022.

“To me, they’re not minor violations,” she said. “They’re serious. We’re concerned about a hardship putting somebody out of business, but when you don’t follow our code and our laws we have no choice.”

The vote to uphold the recommendation of denial by the Cobb Business License Review Board was 4-0, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid leaving the hearing early.

The Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), which is owned by Lingxia Zhang, had its health spa license revoked and must close. although it can reapply in 12 months. Cobb is currently observing a six-month moratorium on issuing new health spa licenses, following requests from county officials to review those regulations.

The board voted 4-0 to continue a similar hearing to Aug. 13 for V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), at the request of the business’ attorney, citing family obligations.

A third health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal the license review board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year.

The hearing Tuesday for the Asian Wellness appeal lasted nearly three hours and was complicated by interpretations from English to Mandarin for the benefit of the owner.

Ellisia Webb, the Cobb Business License Division manager, said the issue of alleged violations there first came to the county’s attention when she was contacted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, which said it had reason to believe Asian Wellness Massage was advertising on various adult websites.

Cobb revokes health spa licenses for Canton Road businessesAsian Wellness was denied a renewal in April after a compliance check found that an employee on premises didn’t have a required health spa permit and another was not listed as an employee of the business.

Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.

In testimony Tuesday, Zhang denied the business was being used for illicit purposes, and said the bed, which was new, belonged to an employee.

V Massage was denied a renewal of its health spa license in April. During a February compliance check, two employees were on-site, and neither could produce a require health spa permit. There also were no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours, also violations of county code.

Meng Lim, an attorney for both health spas, pleaded for other correctional measures that did not involve the revocation of licenses.

“Do we use this opportunity to make sure that they don’t have a livelihood?” he asked commissioners in the hearing for Asian Wellness. “We all know that the board has a lot of discretion. . . .

“All businesses have minor infractions, and there are remedies for that.”

Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said “we are looking for people who can follow the rules. They are the last line of defense for bad things happening in our community.”

He said there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”

Hensley said two years after the initial 2022 citations issued to Asian Wellness, “we’re still having the same problems. . . . We’re here to protect the community, not that individual.”

Commissioner Monique Sheffield said in reference to the Asian Wellness ads on adult websites that “they’ve taken additional steps to market their illicit massage, and that’s concerning to me.”

She referenced a bed in the back of the business that “I find it to be a stretch that it was just taken out of the packaging and left there. That doesn’t make sense to me. A lot of things are just not adding up to me.

“I have a difficult time accepting some of the testimony as being truthful.”

Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling said V Massage will be able to stay open until commissioners hear its appeal.

“We cannot force her to close,” he said, in reference to the owner.

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Cobb asked to deny renewing 3 East Cobb health spa licenses

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Cobb to consider six-month moratorium on new health spas

Following up a post from a couple of weeks back, on a measure to issue a moratorium on new health spa licenses in Cobb County:

On Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting are three appeal hearings for health spas in East Cobb. The Cobb Community Development Agency is asking the board to determine if “due cause” exists to deny renewing all three licenses.

That includes the Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, which was the subject of a recent investigation by that agency as well as Cobb Police, following a complaint that “stating the possibility of sexual activities being offered.”

Commissioners approved a six-month moratorium on June 25. In asking for the pause, Cobb Community Services Director Jessica Guinn said that “this is a serious concern for the protection of the health, safety and welfare of the public. Community Development and Public Safety have determined that the illicit health spa establishments are evading code and law enforcement; therefore, a temporary moratorium will provide a necessary opportunity to review the Cobb County Code to enhance regulations and strengthen protections to the public by suspending any health spa applications and further reviewing this regulatory process.”

Peace Spa had its health spa license suspended for two weeks following a Cobb License Review Board hearing in which the agency said the business didn’t have a state-licensed therapist or designated manager on the premises during business hours, which is required by law.

According to agenda items for Tuesday’s meeting, denial letters have been issued recently to two other spas, Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110) and V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), for similar violations.

According to agenda filings, Asian Wellness Massage was denied a renewal in April after a compliance check found that an employee on premises didn’t have a required health spa permit and the other was not listed as an employee of the business.

Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.

V Massage was denied a renewal of its health spa license in April, according to an agenda item. During a February compliance check, two employees were on-site, and neither could produce a require health spa permit. There also were no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours, also violations of county code.

All three owners are appealing those denials, and commissioners are scheduled to conduct those hearings near the end of Tuesday’s meeting.

They also will conduct their first public hearings on the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget and millage rate.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The full agenda can be found by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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Cobb Water System probing Lake Allatoona wastewater spills

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The Cobb County Water System announced Tuesday that it is investigating three separate instances of treated wastewater being released into Lake Allatoona in the last month that didn’t meet state environmental standards.Cobb Water System to ask for rate increase

A release issued through the Cobb government communications office said that there have been three readings of “out of specification test results” from wastewater released from the water system’s Northwest Water Reclamation Facility since late May.

A total of 7 million gallons of “out of spec” wastewater was spilled into the lake. When that happens, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division requires a public notice.

Cobb said last weekend that routine tests conducted last Thursday, Sunday and Monday revealed “out of spec” readings, and that immediate action was taken.

“The released wastewater, which was disinfected, poses no threat to our drinking water supplies. No cleanup or remediation is required,” the Cobb release said.

On Tuesday, Cobb County said the water system is continuing to determine the cause of the readings. which could come from “a contaminate introduced into the wastewater system that interferes with microorganisms used in the treatment process.

“Test results are pending, and crews are working to adjust the plant’s operations to prevent a repeat.”

Cobb is permitted to release 12 million gallons of treated wastewater daily into Lake Allatoona, the primary source of drinking water for Cobb County.

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Proposed Cobb FY 2025 $1.27B budget raises property taxes

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Proposed Cobb FY 2025 $1.27B budget holds line on tax rates

The proposed Cobb County government budget of $1.27 billion for fiscal year 2025 won’t be raising any property tax rates.

But it won’t be scaling them back, so due to rising property assessments, that constitutes a tax increase according to state law.

Following a budget presentation Tuesday afternoon at a the Cobb Board of Commissioners work session, the county announced the proposed increase, and laid out the schedule for budget and millage rate hearings in July.

The budget includes a $41.3 million increase in the general fund, mostly due to recurring expenses pertaining to raises in the step-and-grade salary structures for public safety personnel.

That represents two-thirds of that additional general fund revenue, which stems from an estimated net Cobb tax digest growth of around 6 percent.

That’s down from 2023, when the tax digest grew by more than 12 percent.

The current adopted FY 2024 general budget is $898 million, and is proposed to rise to $961 million, holding the line at 8.46 mills.

(You can read the details of the budget presentation by clicking here.)

The property tax revenues in the proposed budget are a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.

The overall proposed budget includes $63.7 million in new spending, with an additional $14.7 million for the fire fund, with a proposed millage rate to remain the same at 2.99 mills.

Only five new positions would be created in the FY 2025 budget, whittled down from 382 requests for new jobs from department heads.

Also in the proposed budget is a reduction in the amount of Cobb Water System revenues to the general fund, from six percent to five percent.

Commissioners didn’t discuss the budget proposal at the work session, except to ask a few questions.

Last year, citizens pleaded with commissioners to roll back the millage rage to offset higher property assessments, citing inflation and other rising daily living expenses.

But the 3-2 vote to adopt the budget without tax rate cuts was along partisan lines, with the Democratic majority saying the additional revenues are needed to address chronic county government staffing shortages.

At a commission meeting Tuesday night, some citizens protested the FY 2025 proposed budget for similar reasons as a year ago.

“Citizens in the county are running out of money,” Marietta resident Tracy Stevenson said. “I hear it from a lot of people all the time. Nobody’s happy about it.”

He referenced a proposed stormwater fee and a transit tax referendum in November as potential additional burdens on taxpayers.

“There is no end to it—the bloodlust for the taxpaying dollar is phenomenal.”

Formal public hearings on the proposed FY 2025 budget will take place July 9 at 9 a.m., July 16 at 6:30 p.m. and July 23 at 7 p.m.

Adoption of the budget and the proposed millage rates is scheduled for July 23 at 7 p.m.

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Cobb to consider moratorium on issuing health spa licenses

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Cobb to consider six-month moratorium on new health spas

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked next week to adopt a six-month moratorium on issuing licenses for health spas in order to make possible changes to county ordinances.

An agenda item for a business meeting Tuesday night referenced “a growing problem with illegal and illicit activities at health spas including various code violations, prostitution and human trafficking.”

The agenda item (you can read it here) didn’t specify any incidents, but the proposed measure comes shortly after the county fined the owner of an East Cobb health spa for several violations and a review board approved a suspension of its health spa license.

While the state oversees the licensing of massage therapists in Georgia, local governments regulate the businesses.

According to county documents, Cobb business license compliance officials, as well as an investigator from the Cobb Police Department, inspected Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road in April after receiving a complaint from a different agency “stating the possibility of sexual activities being offered.”

A summary of a Cobb License Review Board show cause hearing in May (you can read it here) said that the business, which has a license to run a health spa with massage services, didn’t have a state-licensed therapist or designated manager on the premises during business hours, which is required by law.

The only staff person who was there when inspectors arrived was a woman who was not included on an official list of Peace Spa employees, according to the show cause summary.

The owner, Xiangnan Zhang, is a state-licensed therapist, but had gone home temporarily. The summary said she was cited for three violations, including not filing an employee list with the county, not recording treatments provided and allowing unlicensed persons to provide massage therapy services.

(You can read the county code regulations on health spas by clicking here.)

The summary said Zhang pleaded guilty to the charges in Cobb Magistrate Court and paid the fines, and that the Cobb License Review Board voted to impose a two-week suspension of Peace Spa’s health spa license.

But the report, which said Zhang took over the business from a previous owner in January, did not detail any illicit activities. It said that Zhang apologized for the violations and said she would be hiring a licensed massage therapist to help with the business.

At their June 11 meeting, commissioners were to have considered a withdrawal of a request to review the suspension.

But that matter was pulled from the consent agenda with Commissioner Jerica Richardson saying it was to come back for a hearing.

Cobb’s proposed 180-day moratorium would follow similar action by the City of Roswell, which last year twice paused issuing new health spa licenses.

Undercover police discovered what they alleged was a network of prostitution and human trafficking activities at several health spas, and the city council voted to close seven of them during the moratorium.

An AJC news report indicated the health spas in Roswell were “operating without valid licenses and had either been previously closed or changed ownership as a way to continue operating illegally.”

In the agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting, Cobb Community Services Director Jessica Guinn said that “this is a serious concern for the protection of the health, safety and welfare of the public. Community Development and Public Safety have determined that the illicit health spa establishments are evading code and law enforcement; therefore, a temporary moratorium will provide a necessary opportunity to review the Cobb County Code to enhance regulations and strengthen protections to the public by suspending any health spa applications and further reviewing this regulatory process.”

You can read the proposed resolution for the moratorium by clicking here.

The agenda item is on the commission’s consent agenda; the meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The full agenda can be found by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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Cobb government offices, libraries closed for Juneteenth Wednesday

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Submitted information:Cobb government offices libraries closed for Juneteenth

Juneteenth marks the ending of slavery throughout the nation at the end of the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, with the news. More than 250,000 African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in what became known as Juneteenth or Freedom Day.

Cobb County Government offices will be closed Wednesday, June 19, in honor of the holiday.

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Cobb approves $7M Lower Roswell Road construction contract

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Cobb approves $7M Lower Roswell Road construction contract
Outgoing Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson said “we’ve found as many compromises as possible” for the long-planned Lower Roswell Road traffic project.

Despite community pleas in opposition and a local district commissioner saying it’s not needed, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted along party lines Tuesday to start on the long-planned Lower Roswell Road traffic project.

The 3-2 vote for a $7 million contract also was matched by similar votes to begin condemnation proceedings with two property owners and to begin preliminary utility relocation work.

Nearly $11 million has been budgeted in 2011 Cobb SPLOST funds for the project, which would add turn lanes, install a multi-use trail and make other changes along Lower Roswell between Woodlawn Drive and Davidson Road.

It’s been delayed for more than a decade, including in February, when a first vote was tabled by commissioners following community opposition.

The project would take two years to complete, and business owners told commissioners in February the median remains “a bad idea.”

Cobb commissioners approved a conceptual plan in 2022. Further public feedback prompted DOT later in 2022 to redesign the project, including removal of a planned bike path and expanding a multi-use trail.

DOT officials said the project is necessary primarily to reduce crashes in the area.

The board’s three Democrats, including Jerica Richardson of District 2 in East Cobb, voted in favor on all three matters, while the two Republicans voted against.

One of them, JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb, said there’s a reason one of her former colleagues—now-retired District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott—never brought the Lower Roswell Road project to a vote.

She said feedback she’s received against the project is “overwhelming,” estimating that to be 10-1 from messages, open houses and at meetings.

“I can’t support this,” Birrell said, “especially putting businesses out. It’s taken 14 years to come back.”

There have been numerous delays and redesigns, and objections from business owners to a median on Lower Roswell between Johnson Ferry and Davidson.

Keli Gambrill, a Republican from District 1 in North Cobb, said she doubted there’s enough funding left from a SPLOST 13 years ago to complete the Lower Roswell Road project.

She held up the proposed Cobb Mobility SPLOST project list, noting that the estimated costs totaled on that list exceed the estimated $11.2 billion that would be collected if the referendum passes in November.

Among the bus routes that would be added would be one along Johnson Ferry Road between Merchants Walk and the Dunwoody MARTA Station.

“This whole project flies in the face of promises made‚yes by a previous board to the business owners in that area,”   Gambrill said. “I don’t think the county is being honest with the citizens  . . . not knowing what the M-SPLOST is also planning to do with this area.”

Richardson said the two issues are not related, and that “we’ve found as many compromises as possible” to accommodate business owners.

A citizen opposed to the project, Leroy Emkin, said there have been 27 crashes along that area of Lower Roswell in the last decade, according to DOT figures, suggesting that roughly six crashes a year shouldn’t justify a median.

But Cobb DOT Director Drew Raessler has repeated previous statements that there were 40 crashes from 2009 and 2016 that could have been prevented with a median.

Pamela Reardon, an East Cobb resident running to succeed Richardson, blasted the vote afterward, saying that the 30 businesses that will be affected “have not had a voice, even though this board says they have.

“This is a useless project. It’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of money.”

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Cobb voters to decide on 30-year transit sales tax in November

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Cobb voters to decide on 30-year transit sales tax in November
“Let’s give the voters the opportunity to decide,” Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.

Cobb commissioners voted along party lines Tuesday to place a long-term transit sales tax referendum on the November general election ballot.

It will be up to voters to decide if they want to tax themselves for 30 years and collect nearly $11 billion to build out a comprehensive bus-centered system, including restoration of previous routes in East Cobb that were eliminated more than a decade ago.

The commission’s three Democrats voted in favor of putting the Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax on the ballot, while the two Republicans voted against.

If approved, the one-percent tax would increase the amount of sales taxes paid in Cobb from six to seven percent. Cobb DOT would build out a countywide bus transit system, including high-capacity routes and transfer stations, adding 108 miles.

Here’s how the referendum will be worded on the November ballot:

The Atlanta Regional Commission estimates that Cobb’s population in 2025 will approach one million.

Those in favor of the tax say that relieving congestion and providing transportation for those without vehicles is necessary for economic and quality of life, especially seniors and those who are financially challenged.

Among the priorities is re-establishing a bus route through the heart of East Cobb, from Marietta and along Roswell Road to the Johnson Ferry Road area, where a transit center would be built.

Bus routes to Roswell and the MARTA Dunwoody Station would link with the East Cobb transit center in the Merchants Walk area, according to the project list (you can read it here).

Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, in calling the opportunity to expand public transportation in Cobb “transformational,” implored her colleagues to let citizens decide their future.

“What it comes down to is do we perceive that the future is worth it?” Cupid said. “That the opportunity is worth it?  Yes, the details do matter, but the opportunity and the vision also matter.”

But Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb repeated her objection to the duration of the tax, compared to other Cobb SPLOST collections ranging from four to six years.

“I can’t support binding not just future boards for 30 years but citizens, kids and grandchildren,” she said. “They’ll be paying that.”

Cobb DOT Director Drew Raessler explained that the 30-year length of the cost is due to the substantial operational costs that will be involved, and that the longer collection period would qualify for federal matching funds.

In order to provide “sustainable funding,” he said, a transit program needs “to have that consistent resource,” Raessler said.

If the tax is approved, Cobb would take out revenue bonds totalling $11 billion to get the program started. Once the collections roll in, the major routes would be built out and the bonds be repaid. With federal funds, Cobb could spend nearly $15 billion overall for the transit expansion.

Raessler estimated that most of that work would be finished within the first decade. Cobb would be able to fund all transit operations with the sales tax, instead of paying for the Cobb Community Transit system costs as it does now, through the county’s general fund.

Earlier this year, the MDJ reported that ridership across the overall Cobb bus system has plummeted from 3.7 million annual trips in 2014 to just under 1 million trips in 2022, and that the decline began well before COVID-19.

The county estimates that average daily ridership on the transit system could surpass 40,000 by 2025, near the end of the sales tax period. Currently, that figure is only around 3,000 riders a day.

Citizens spoke in public comment periods on both sides of the issue, but most of the supporters addressed the board before the vote, and opponents against (commissioners hold two separate public comment periods, and speakers speak in order of when they sign up).

Jim Kerr of East Cobb, who has lived in a home near Wheeler High School for 52 years, said “it’s time to think long-term about transportation in Cobb County.”

He said that while he will benefit little from a decision to approve a sales tax for transit, “I know that Cobb is becoming older and more diverse and that’s not going to change . . . Not in my backyard fails to recognize that we are all in this together. ”

Kennesaw resident Alicia Adams said a 30-year tax poses too much uncertainty, especially for people struggling to pay their bills now.

Alicia Adams of Kennesaw, who is legally challenging her disqualification for the District 2 commission race, said wasn’t speaking for or against the tax, but sympathized with citizens who are struggling with those making ends meet.

“Right now, there are a lot of families that can barely make their rent and pay for groceries,” she said. “And you’re asking them to pay additional money.

“Do I care about those who can’t get around? The seniors? Yes, I care,” she said. “But we’ve got to do it in a way that’s not invasive.

“Are we willing to put our children, our future at stake for 30 years of uncertainty?”

Cobb DOT officials will soon roll out public information and “education” sessions before the referendum. It also must provide a ridership survey ahead of the vote, as directed by the ATL, the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority.

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