Cobb County officials will be asking commissioners Tuesday to set what they’re calling a “Guaranteed Maximum Price” to complete the building of the new Cobb Police Precinct 6 in Northeast Cobb.
According to an agenda item, the new station to be located next to the Mountain View Aquatic Center was earmarked with $5 million in funding from the 2016 Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax.
But the estimated price tag for the facility has grown to more than $5.5 million, according to the agenda item, which is recommending a build-out in stages.
“Due to currently elevated construction costs, budgeted funding is insufficient to complete build-out of the entire facility as designed,” states the agenda item.
The initial phase would include the construction of the exterior, front office spaces and a community room area, and provide space for on-site equipment access.
“When additional funding is identified, continuation of the project will be revisited at that time,” according to the budget item.
County officials are requesting $536,973 from county reserve funding to complete the project.
The new precinct initially will not have a patrol zone and instead will house police specialty units. Groundbreaking was held last November, after commissioners approved a two-phase contract with the Batson-Cook Company.
The first phase costs are $723,980 for design and other work. In the agenda item for Tuesday, the proposed Maximum Guaranteed Price for construction is $4,736,378, bringing the overall costs to $5,460,358.
Most of the East Cobb area is currently covered by Cobb Police Precinct 4, located on Lower Roswell Road.
That precinct runs from the Powers Ferry Road area to the east side of Canton Road.
Commissioners also will be asked on Tuesday to formally accept $73,824,239, the second of two lump sums from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Those funds are designated for state, local and other governments as part of the continuing response to COVID-19 and can be used for infrastructure upgrades, rental and small business assistance and support for essential workers.
There also will be a public hearing at the start of the meeting for the initial draft of Cobb County’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan 5-Year Update.
The meeting starts 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 here; there are two public comment sessions at the start and near the end of the meeting.
The meeting also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb government fiscal year 2023 budget proposal will be presented to members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners next week.
Cobb government said in a notice Tuesday that county finance officials will make the presentation at a work session on Tuesday, June 28 at 1:30 p.m., following adoption of the 2022 Cobb tax digest by the Cobb Board of Tax Assessors.
Three public hearings on the budget and millage rate have been scheduled for July, with adoption scheduled for July 26:
Tuesday, July 12 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 26 at 7 p.m.
The current fiscal year 2022 general fund budget of $496.6 billion was adopted a year ago by holding the property tax rate at 8.46 mills and included a pay raise and progress on implementing a step-and-grade salary plan for public safety personnel.
The overall budget from all funding sources topped $1 billion, the first time it’s crossed that threshold in Cobb.
It would be the first double-digit increase in Cobb in more than a decade, with a projected record of $48.4 billion. Property tax assessments were sent out earlier this month, with some rising more than 20 percent from last year.
Cobb tax assessor Stephen White said that home values increased by an average of $66,000 from last year.
But Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has not indicated whether she will be proposing a reduction in the millage rate.
In recent months county officials said they are seriously struggling to fill numerous staff positions. Last week commissioners approved a request to spend federal COVID-related American Rescue Plan Act funds for outsourced salaries and staff retention bonuses in “critical” positions in transportation, water, and parks and recreation.
Those requests—which come to a budget of $1.2 billion, an increase of nearly $180 million from last year—are unlikely to all be filled.
Only five new full-time positions were filled in the current budget, and commissioners said it was a no-frills package. Employees got a 3-percent pay raise and some capital management funding was replenished.
Cupid said at the time that the county cannot continue “to fall behind on the basic things.”
But staff vacancies have continued to grow, and service provision has fallen off. Among the tasks to be performed by outsourced Cobb DOT staffing, for example, include mowing right-of-ways and conducting other basic road maintenance work.
Cobb government has been producing content in recent weeks about those issues, claiming a reported 1,000 vacancies across all government agencies.
Cupid is holding town halls in each of the four commission districts starting next week through mid-July.
The budget presentation work session on Tuesday will take place in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The work session and budget and millage rate hearings also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
For the first time, Cobb County government is observing Juneteenth, and all offices, including courts and library branches, will be closed on Monday.
June 19 is the designated day for Juneteenth, marking the in 1865 when Union troops freed the last American slaves held in Confederate states.
Cobb commissioners voted last year to begin the holiday starting in 2022. The day off for Cobb employees will cost around $300,000; Cobb currently has 12 official paid holidays every year.
Celebratory events take place all weekend (see the flyer for more information), highlighted by the Cobb NAACP’s cultural festival that takes place all day Saturday at Glover Park on the Marietta Square.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has scheduled town hall meetings in June and July in each of the four commission districts entitled “All-In-Cobb: Cobb forward together.”
The title has been how she’s referenced state of the county addresses she’s given, and in her weekly newsletter Cupid said she’s planning “o share some highlights of what is going on in our county and to hear from citizens about how we can move forward together.”
The timing of the town halls comes after three Cityhood referendums, including one in East Cobb, failed in May, and before Cupid presents her fiscal year 2023 budget.
The two town hall meetings in East Cobb will be June 30 at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) in District 3 and July 20 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road) in District 2.
In remarks this week to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, she reiterated themes of her initial speech, including diversity issues, a proposed 30-year transit tax that’s been pushed back for consideration in 2024 and proposed pay raises for county employees.
Cupid referenced the Cityhood votes in a recent newsletter by saying that “this should be the start of new dialogue. The town halls, forums, and conversations gave us a great opportunity to hear from residents. Now is the time to consider how we can strengthen county services, create communities with a better ‘sense of place,’ and capture the heightened level of engagement these votes encouraged.
“Residents made it clear they want a role in land use, zoning, and parks programs. Hopefully, this sparks increased community engagement with commissioners and staff when it comes to amendments to our Comprehensive Plan and participation in zoning meetings. In the weeks and months ahead you can also get involved in the county’s transition to a Unified Development Code among other matters like waste collection.”
All the town hall meetings will be from 6:30-8 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
New turn lanes would be created at Lower Roswell Road and Woodlawn Drive.
As the long-delayed Lower Roswell Road transportation project gets closer to getting underway, some East Cobb residents are speaking out against it.
Land acquisitions are continuing for the $9 million Cobb DOT project, which would stretch from Davidson Road and Woodlawn Drive, and include the construction of a median and turn lanes.
The project (fact sheet; location map) also would provide a connection for bicycle lanes in the community and provide sidewalks.
But it’s been more than a decade since first being proposed, and is being funded with money from Cobb government’s 2011 Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
The county held open houses in 2012 and 2013 and accepted virtual comments in early 2022 before commissioners approved the project’s conceptual plan last year.
“You should declare it infeasible,” East Cobb resident Craig Harfoot told members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday during a public comment session. “You haven’t done anything [with the money].”
Engineering work began in 2012 and right-of-way proceedings began in 2019. Cobb DOT is hoping to start construction early next year, and anticipates taking two years to completion.
But some residents said Tuesday that the project should be scuttled because they claim it’s unwanted and a waste of money.
“It’s so unpopular that two former commissioners chose not to do it in 15 years,” said Jan Barton, referencing Joe Lee Thompson and Bob Ott.
Her remarks included other complaints about county spending—including outside consultants and a proposed new position for a diversity and equity officer—as well as recent zoning decisions in East Cobb.
Others who live in the vicinity echoed her comments.
“It hasn’t gotten off the ground because nobody really wants this,” said Larry Savage, a former candidate for Cobb Commission Chairman. “Nobody’s defending this.”
Savage said the Lower Roswell Road project really isn’t about safety and operational improvements but accommodating a bike and trail plan policy.
For a larger view of the Lower Roswell Road traffic project concept map, click here.
He said that since commissioners approved the Complete Streets Concept in 2009, it’s been lucrative for project developers to incorporate multi-use trails in what are billed as transportation improvements.
“Bike trails are a recreational amenity, a good amenity,” Savage said. “But this project is not a safety and operational improvements project.”
Some of the delays were prompted by concerns from business owners along Lower Roswell between Johnson Ferry Road and Davidson Road.
That stretch of the project calls for the construction of a median, with some businesses fearing access would be cut off.
Referring to the Tijuana Joe’s restaurant on the southeast corner of Johnson Ferry and Lower Roswell, Savage it could lose its business.
Harfoot referenced the Papa John’s restaurant and the new Bagel 101 Café on the northeast corner, saying “they won’t have any parking.”
Rob Miller, owner of the Bagel 101 Café, told East Cobb News he hasn’t heard of any complaints thus far, but “I hear the project will make parking in our center even less then it already is and it’s tough to get in and out on the weekends.”
Commissioners didn’t respond to the public commenters, who said there was a community meeting recently with commissioners Jerica Richardson and JoAnn Birrell.
Cobb DOT has said that traffic volume and safety precipitated the project and proposed the median because the crash history in that area is above average (42 on Lower Roswell between Johnson Ferry and Davidson from 2016-18).
The agency estimated daily average traffic volumes along Lower Roswell to be nearly 37,000 on either side of Johnson Ferry in 2015, and projects that number to grow to 37,000 in 2025 and more than 45,000 by 2035.
“For Cobb DOT, this is a long one,” Cobb DOT engineer Karyn Matthews told East Cobb News last summer, referncing the delays, “but we wanted to get the right concept for the community.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb DOT crews doing maintenance on Johnson Ferry Road at Olde Towne Parkway last winter. (ECN file photo)
The Cobb Department of Transportation will ask county commissioners Tuesday for funding for outside firms to help perform routine road maintenance projects because of what it says are “critical level” staffing shortages.
According to an agenda item for Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, Cobb DOT director Drew Rensler and other county department leaders will request funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
The agenda item (you can read it here) says 41 of the 94 maintenance positions in Cobb DOT are vacant, and the maintenance division has been operating with at least 40 percent vacancies for the past year.
“At this time, the Division has extended regular mowing frequencies by two weeks, and work order completion dates by one month due to shortages in current staffing levels,” the agenda item states.
“The utilization of contracted services will allow the Division to respond more efficiently in providing required maintenance operations countywide, and will prevent the back log of work orders.”
Another agenda item (you can read that here) from Rensler, Cobb Water Authority director Judy Jones and Cobb Parks and Recreation Director Michael Brantley further details staff shortages.
They include 27 percent vacancies in “critical” positions maintaining 90 Cobb parks facilities, 30 percent vacancies in the county’s fleet department, 32 percent vacancies in “critical” positions in property management and 31 percent in the water system.
“The volume of vacancies has strained the respective agencies’ abilities to maintain and operate critical infrastructure which is vital for the residents and visitors of Cobb County,” the said in their request.
The funding requests include $636,000 in outsourced salary expenses in all, with $288,000 for water, $132,000 for DOT, $123,000 for Parks, $58,500 for property management and $34,500 for fleet management.
The department heads also will be asking for “a one-time payment of $1,500 for each frontline field staff member responsible for the maintenance and operation of critical public infrastructure throughout the County.”
The bonuses would apply to employees hired before April 1, and they must stay with the county for 12 months after receiving it.
While the agenda items were posted with the full agenda (you can read that here), the Cobb DOT and other department infrastructure items were sent to news media outlets Thursday night by Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt.
He noted that Cobb has begun taking applications for $147 million in ARPA funds and received the second installment of $73,824,239 on Thursday.
Government agencies are among those eligible for the funding, as commissioners previously approved criteria that included county infrastructure.
Tuesday’s meeting also will include an update on the county’s agreement with the Atlanta Braves over Truist Park and The Battery and a recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
Commissioners also will be asked to issue a proclamation on behalf of state senators Kay Kirkpatrick and Doc Rhett to Judy Boyce, the widow of former Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, in recognition of his public service.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb County Government is accepting applications for organizations and individuals seeking grant funding under the American Rescue Plan Act.
Cobb has been earmarked with $147 million in COVID-19 stimulus funding passed by Congress in the $1.9 trillion legislation in 2021.
Cobb commissioners approved investment guidance to allocate funding in the community health, support services, economic development, county infrastructure and public safety areas.
Those eligible for the grants must meet the following criteria:
Projects must serve Cobb County and its residents
Projects submitted must align with at least one of the five priority areas and at least one subtopic associated with the chosen priority area.
Project submissions from organizations outside of the Cobb County government must align with one or more Economic Development, Support Services, and Community Health subtopics, or Broadband & Digital Equity. Submissions from organizations outside of the Cobb County government will not be considered for Public Safety subtopics or County Facilities or Stormwater.
Projects must support communities impacted or disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, please see question 3.3.
Projects must consider equity in their project plans.
More information and access to an application link can be found here; the deadline for applying is 5 p.m. on Sept. 9.
Applications will be screened in several areas, including equity, financial continuity, impact, project budget, risk mitigation and impact.
Final funding decisions will be made by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Cobb officials will hold two information webinars about the application process on webinars on June 16 at 4:30 p.m. and June 27 at 6 p.m.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
For the second time, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid will deliver a State of the County address next week.
She’s the featured speaker at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Marquee Monday breakfast on June 13.
The event takes place from 8-10 a.m. at the Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre at The Battery Atlanta (800 Battery Ave.) and will include the Cobb Chamber’s presentation of its Executive Woman of the Year Award (info and registration here).
Until this year, the address from the head of county government had been delivered exclusively to the Chamber audience.
But earlier this year, Cupid added a separate event to invite the larger public. After being unable to get commissioners to provide funding, her “All In” address in April was sponsored by Wellstar Health System and other private donors.
She spoke al length about diversity and demographics and how Cobb can “retain our strength as an affluent suburban county” without leaving other types of communities behind.
That address was before three Cityhood referendums, including one in East Cobb, were rejected by voters last month.
The county government held town halls and launched a Cityhood information page that was criticized in particular by the East Cobb Cityhood group.
Last week, in her weekly e-mail newsletter, Cupid referenced the Cityhood votes by saying that “this should be the start of new dialogue. The town halls, forums, and conversations gave us a great opportunity to hear from residents. Now is the time to consider how we can strengthen county services, create communities with a better ‘sense of place,’ and capture the heightened level of engagement these votes encouraged.
“Residents made it clear they want a role in land use, zoning, and parks programs. Hopefully, this sparks increased community engagement with commissioners and staff when it comes to amendments to our Comprehensive Plan and participation in zoning meetings. In the weeks and months ahead you can also get involved in the county’s transition to a Unified Development Code among other matters like waste collection.”
Now in her second year in office, Cupid sounded some alarm bells with Chamber leaders and local elected officials in 2021 when Cobb commissioners approved a controversial residential rezoning near the Dobbins Air Base reserve accident potential zone.
That resulted in a land swap with the county to resolve the matter, commissioners later approved a code amendment to take away their discretionary power on rezonings around Dobbins.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
When he was hired as a Cobb Police officer in 1990, Stuart VanHoozer said he never thought he would move up the ranks to chief.
It wasn’t something a young man without a military or higher education background ever thought about, living in a basement in Mableton as he took on his first assignment as an officer on a beat, making $5.25 an hour.
“From there I fell in love with this job,” VanHoozer said Tuesday as he was introduced as the new Cobb Police Chief.
After a varied 32-year career in which he served as a patrol officer, heading up narcotics and internal affairs units, a commander at three precincts and most recently, as a deputy chief and interim co-chief, VanHoozer’s appointment was approved in a 5-0 vote of the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
He succeeds Tim Cox, who retired at the end of 2021.
“I came from pretty much nothing,” VanHoozer said in a press conference after the meeting. “All you have to do is be willing to do something great for your community.”
VanHoozer was one of four candidates formally interviewed from an initial applicant pool of 50, and his name was on a final list of three submitted to Cobb commissioners.
County Manager Jackie McMorris recommended him as the sole finalist.
VanHoozer said he was “humbled, but burdened” by his new role, and pledged that “nobody will work harder.”
VanHoozer and his fellow deputy chief Scott Hamilton have been juggling co-interim chief duties since January.
Since 2018, VanHoozer has been a deputy chief, in charge of implementing technology such as facial recognition and license-plate readers.
But intangible qualities were referenced by county leaders who spoke at the introduction.
“One of the things that captivated us was just his general empathy for everyone,” said Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who referenced her relationship with him when she represented District 4 in South Cobb.
“He cares about those he serves with and the badge that he wears.”
During heartfelt remarks after his introduction, VanHoozer talked about regular visits he would make to a child care center in South Cobb during his time as the Precinct 2 commander.
The child care center, located across the street from a shopping center known for criminal activity, especially drug-dealing, had been struck by stray bullets.
VanHoozer said he would hug some of the students and look at the bullet holes.
“All I could think about [when] I was commander of that precinct was that nothing can happen to those children while I am here,” he said.
VanHoozer touted his officers, who do what they do “without a whole lot of recognition in most areas,” noting activities behind the scenes, such as buying bicycles for kids and presenting Christmas gifts to children in need.
He also commended community leaders, including some from Austell who recognized police and law enforcement officers earlier in Tuesday’s meeting.
“We need help,” VanHoozer said, referring to open positions for officers. “We want people who are willing to bring their brains and minds together to make Cobb County safer, and to make Cobb County better.”
You can watch the full introductory press conference below.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Fire Station 20 has operated on Sewell Mill Road since 1984.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved spending $975,000 to purchase around 3.5 acres of land on Sewell Mill Road at East Piedmont Road for the relocation of Fire Station 20.
The measure was passed on the commission’s consent agenda.
According to an agenda item, the Cobb Fire Department eventually wants to replace the current station at 1298 Hilton Drive—on Sewell Mill Road between East Piedmont and Old Canton Road—that was built in 1984.
That’s eight-tenths of a mile to the west of the property for the potential new site that has owned by the McCleskey Family-East Cobb YMCA.
“To meet response needs and Fire Department’s strategic goals, this station will need to be relocated,” the agenda item states. “While the station construction will not begin immediately, this parcel of land at Sewell Mill Road and East Piedmont intersection is an ideal location for the future station.”
The item also states that the funding for the property acquisition will come from the Cobb Fire Fund, and construction of the new station would commence “in a future budget cycle.”
Last year commissioners rejected a rezoning request for those parcels to become a residential senior living development.
Fire Station 20 has been mentioned in the current East Cobb Cityhood referendum campaign.
Although located in what would remain unincorporated Cobb, Station 20’s current service area includes neighborhoods that are included in the proposed City of East Cobb.
The proposed city would have two fire stations—currently Cobb 15 and 21.
Cobb Fire officials have said at county-sponsored cityhood town halls that slower response times are likely in the City of East Cobb, but a financial feasibility study didn’t provide enough details.
Last week, Cobb government launched a “World Class” web page to tout the Cobb Fire Department on its 50th anniversary.
The East Cobb cityhood group protested, sending out a letter last week alleging the county is actively campaigning against cityhood and demanding those activities stop.
The letter included a reference to an “audacious” sign posted in front of Fire Station 21, which is part of the East Cobb Government Service Center.
That’s where early voting is taking place through May 20.
“Because the Cityhood referendum is on the ballot in that very building, the sign is an illegal piece of campaign material that must be removed at once,” stated the letter to Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid. “It is no coincidence that the only fire station with such a sign as of May 4, 2022 is the one where early voting is occurring.”
When East Cobb News drove by Station 20 on Friday to take the above photo for this story, the same sign had been placed there.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson’s office said Monday that her scheduled town hall meeting Tuesday night at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center is being postponed.
Aliye Korucu, Richardson’s administrative assistant, didn’t give a reason beyond saying it was an “unforeseen circumstance.”
According to her website Richardson was planning to go over her 2022 policy agenda, following what she calls her “Priorities Tour” of community meetings.
She said that “we will send out the new date, time, and location as soon as we have everything set.”
Richardson has been holding quarterly town hall meetings across District 2, which includes some of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings Smyrna area.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Stuart VanHoozer, a 32-year veteran of the Cobb Police Department who is currently one of two interim police chiefs, is being recommended as the new Cobb Police Chief.
His appointment is scheduled for a vote Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is having a regular meeting starting at 9 a.m.
VanHoozer would succeed Tim Cox, who retired at the end of last year.
VanHoozer and Scott Hamilton, another Cobb Police veteran, have been serving as interim co-chiefs since then.
In his time with Cobb Police, VanHoozer has served as a patrol officer, a field training officer, a narcotics officer, an internal affairs officer, a commander of three precincts and as an executive officer to the Director of the Cobb Department of Public Safety.
Since 2018, VanHoozer has served as a deputy chief.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and public services from Kennesaw State University.
A message from Cobb government Monday morning said that there will be a press conference regarding the police chief appointment after the meeting.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda (you can read it here) will be an update on Truist Park and The Battery.
Cobb commissioners also will be asked to consider spending $975,000 to purchase around 3.5 acres of land on Sewell Mill Road at East Piedmont Road for the relocation of Fire Station 20.
The Cobb Fire Department wants to replace the current station at 1298 Hilton Drive—on Sewell Mill Road between East Piedmont and Old Canton Road—that was built in 1984.
The property for the potential new site is owned by the McCleskey Family-East Cobb YMCA.
Last year commissioners rejected a rezoning request for those parcels to become a residential senior living development.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s 2022 State of Cobb County address last week was entitled “All In,” with messages of an expansive community laced throughout the presentation.
Public and civic leaders delivered those messages, and during a nearly two-hour-long event at Jim Miller Park on Thursday, greetings and entertainment included the Atlanta Braves Heavy Hitters drum corps.
After being sponsored for many years by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Cupid opted for a county-funded event. She couldn’t get her colleagues on the Cobb Board of Commissioners to approve the spending, however, and other entities, including Wellstar Health System, provided sponsorship.
Speakers came from the Atlanta Regional Commission and Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
During her remarks (which begin around the 58-minute mark below) Cupid, noted the increasing demographic diversity of the county.
She also said political changes in Cobb—with the Cobb Board of Commissioners going from Republican to Democratic control in the 2020 elections—being most notable.
Cupid is the first Democrat to head county government since the 1980s, and leads a 3-2 Democratic majority that’s made up of black females.
But Cobb Republicans in the Georgia legislature steered through reapportionment maps aimed at limiting Democratic representation on the Cobb commission, school board, legislature and Congress.
In addition, four cityhood referendums will be taking place in Cobb, including one in East Cobb in May.
“It has become very clear to me that the increased sensitivity to this board making similar decisions as boards in the past, and historic redistricting and cityhood efforts are signs of these shifts.
“They have been overwhelming at times, but I would not be standing before you if I did not see a silver lining in the challenges facing our county.”
She discussed the county’s desired response to inclusiveness, transportation, COVID-19 and public health, the county budget, public safety, affordable housing, innovations through technology, the proposed Unified Development Code.
“Our diversity is just not racially or geographically,” she said. “It’s economically. We are one of the state of Georgia’s most affluent counties, yet 70,000 of our residents live in poverty.”
She also asked how Cobb can “retain our strength as an affluent suburban county” without leaving other types of communities behind.
Cupid alluded to a total of nearly 700 new county employees that have been requested by government department heads to meet service demands for a county of more than 700,000 people.
“This is hard work that the board is going through,” she said, “but it is necessary work to get where we want to be.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Residential property values in Cobb are expected to rise by 13.15 percent in 2022.
Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White is predicting that the county’s tax digest will grow by more than 10 percent this year, the first double-digit yearly increase in more than two decades.
In a release issued by Cobb government, White said that the projected rise of 10.49 percent is based on an additional $5 billion increase in the value of residential, commercial and personal property as of March 31.
That includes a predicted growth of 13.15 percent in residential values, an increase of 6.56 precent in commercial values and 0.83 percent more in personal property values.
The tax digest is the overall value of property—real and personal property, motor vehicles and public utilities—adjusted after such things and homestead exemptions and the senior school tax exemption.
For 2022, the tax digest is projected to be a record $48.4 billion. The 2021 tax digest is $36.1 billion.
In a statement accompanying the county release, White said that due to the strong real estate market in Cobb “it is apparent we need to make changes to values that are reflective of what properties are worth. Many neighborhoods have properties selling for more than our value. The majority of our residential properties will see an adjustment in their Fair Market Value on their assessment notice because our value for last year is no longer reflective of what properties are worth.”
The final 2022 tag digest numbers will be revealed in July. Residential assessment notices go out to Cobb homeowners in May and commercial assessments are issued in June.
White’s prediction comes as Cobb commissioners are bracing for a summer budget season.
In recent weeks, they’ve been hearing budget requests from department heads that total around $1.2 billion, an increase of nearly $180 million more than the current fiscal year 2022 budget.
Much of that comes from combined requests to add nearly 700 county employees to address staff shortages in a number of departments.
Only four new full-time positions were filled in the current budget and none were approved for FY 2020.
Commissioners are expected to adopt a fiscal year 2023 budget by the end of July.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid will deliver the annual State of the County address on Thursday.
The event typically has been sponsored by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce but this year she opted for it to be conducted independently by county government.
The address comes as Cobb commissioners and county government officials are preparing for budget season—Cobb’s fiscal year starts on Oct. 1—and with four cityhood campaigns on elections ballots this year.
County department heads have been submitting their budget requests in recent weeks, and their requests total around $1.2 billion, an increase of nearly $180 million more than the current fiscal year 2022 budget.
Much of that comes from combined requests to add nearly 700 county employees to address staff shortages in a number of departments.
Only four new full-time positions were filled in the current budget and none were approved for FY 2020.
Cobb officials also have been addressing the three cityhood referendums coming up on May 24, including East Cobb, Vinings and Lost Mountain, and a likely referendum in November in Mableton.
At a town hall meeting last week at the Sewell Mill Library, they repeated estimates that if all four cityhood referendums pass—affecting more than 200,000 people, more than a quarter of Cobb’s population—the county would lose an estimated $41 million a year.
In April, Cobb commissioners will get a preview of the 2022 county tax digest, which typically is formalized in July as they are completing budget adoption.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb communications director Ross Cavitt (at lectern) reads questions for department heads at the Sewell Mill Library.
The latest in a series of what Cobb government officials are calling objective “information sessions” about four cityhood referendums came to East Cobb this week.
One of those referendums will take place May 24 for a proposed City of East Cobb, which was the focus of a town hall Thursday at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
(You can watch a replay of the nearly hour-long town hall at the bottom of this post.)
Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Jerica Richardson, whose districts include East Cobb, also attended, but they spoke only briefly, saying they can’t publicly take a position.
“I encourage you to ask the hard questions,” Richardson said, “because this is about your future. We want to make sure that you’re equipped with the information that you need so you can make the best decision for you and your family.”
She said she didn’t know at the time that she was supposed to have been impartial, although county officials typically have been mum on other referendums, including Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) extensions.
Cobb finance officers estimate the county could lose more than $41 million in annual revenue if all four cities—East Cobb, Lost Mountain, Mableton and Vinings, totalling more than 200,000 people—are created, with only a few hundred thousand dollars in savings.
Of that, around $23 million of that would come out of East Cobb, which unlike the other proposed cities wants to provide police, fire and E911 services.
That was the subject of many of the audience questions read by Cobb communications director Ross Cavitt.
Cobb public safety department heads repeated many of the same points they made at a March 10 town hall, saying the East Cobb financial feasibility study has incomplete information.
They said that transferring equipment and facilities and mutual aid agreements would have to be negotiated, and response times and fire insurance rates would likely rise for those living in a city of East Cobb.
Interim Cobb Police Chief Scott Hamilton said that response times vary, depending on what kind of call is dispatched, but that a “city would probably have fewer officers for major calls.”
Interim Cobb Police Chief Scott Hamilton, left, and Cobb Deputy Fire Chief Michael Schutz
Michael Schutz, the deputy Cobb Fire Chief, noted a recent house fire in Indian Hills that prompted a response from nearly 30 personnel and several engines and trucks.
In rattling off the staff and equipment at the two proposed East Cobb fire stations (currently Cobb 15 and 21), he said the numbers don’t come close to that total.
The East Cobb city hall would be located at the East Cobb Government Service Center, and a question was asked about how much it would cost to transfer that facility.
Cavitt read a statement prepared by the Cobb County Attorney that state law specifies only two hard figures about transferring county properties to a new city—$5,000 for a fire station (minus engines and other equipment) and $100 an acre for public park land.
After the town hall, Sarah Haas, a member of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, took issue not only with some of the county finance and staffing estimates, but also with the scope of the county’s information campaign (including an online resource page).
“It’s hard for me to believe that this information is purely educational,” she said. “I get the sense that they’re trying to instill fear, uncertainty and doubt, more than to provide information.”
Haas said the “financials don’t pass the smell test,” including county estimates that fire expenses in East Cobb would come to $12 million (the cityhood group’s financial study estimates an annual fire department budget of $5.7 million).
She said that previous cityhood efforts have always come with issues to be hammered out during a two-year transition period, including finances. A feasibility study provides only an outline for what a future city might provide.
“I’d love to have a crystal ball and say that this is what we should create as a budget,” said Haas, who led the cityhood group’s recent town hall meeting.
“There are always going to be unanswered questions about cityhood. We’re doing our best job to educate people about the benefits of a city.”
He’s concerned about high-density development issues that have prompted all four cityhood campaigns in Cobb County.
A member of the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission, Smith said he’s perplexed about the addition of public safety services in East Cobb, which also would provide planning and zoning and code enforcement services.
But he said recent zoning decisions on the Cobb Board of Commissioners—including the East Cobb Church mixed-use development and a controversial rezoning around Dobbins Air Base that resulted in an unusual land swap—have led to him support cityhood.
“It’s about having local control of zoning,” Smith said, adding that Cobb’s building codes are also a problem.
Smith said given recent developments, it’s crucially important to have a more locally focused governing body writing those codes to retain East Cobb’s suburban character and control how redevelopment—commercial and residential—is handled.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb government said Tuesday that the next town hall will be coming to East Cobb next week, on Thursday, March 24, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road).
The town hall starts at 6:30 p.m. and will focus on the proposed City of East Cobb. It will be livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel.
Members of the public also can ask questions in advance by e-mailing: cityhoodquestions@cobbcounty.org.
Last week’s town hall focused heavily on police, fire and 911 services for the proposed City of East Cobb.
Of the four cityhood movements in Cobb, only East Cobb is proposing public safety services. County officials have said since the East Cobb bill passed through the Georgia legislature that major questions remain about how those services will be provided and how the county will provide backup.
The East Cobb referendum is May 24, along with referendums in Vinings and Lost Mountain. Those proposed cities are focusing on preservation and development concerns.
At a town hall on March 7, leaders of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood said they’re “low density fans,” in response to charges by opponents that the initiative is being backed by developer interests.
A Lost Mountain town hall is scheduled for April 7 at Lost Mountain Park (4845 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs), and Vinings town hall will take place on April 21 at a venue to be announced.
A bill on Mableton cityhood passed the Georgia House last week and needs to be approved in the Senate for a referendum in November.
Plans also are forthcoming for two East Cobb cityhood events: April 19 by the East Cobb Business Association; and May 4 by the Rotary Club of East Cobb at Pope High School.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Hours after qualifying ended for the May 24 primary elections, Cobb District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson said Friday that she will be “forced” to vacate her office in January.
But in a video message on her Facebook page, the first-term Democrat vowed to fight a reapportionment map that drew her out of her East Cobb residence.
As of Jan. 1, 2023, when the new map takes effect, “I will not live in the qualifying district,” she said, referring to District 2. “I will not be permitted to vote on important county matters starting on that date.”
She said the “bigger issue” is how the new map “invalidates the will of the people and has created a conundrum on the county commission.”
Nearly 100,000 Cobb citizens, Richardson said, will not have a representative for several months” until a special election would be called.
“That is why I have made the decision to not step down as commissioner for District 2,” she said, reading from prepared remarks (you can watch the video here).
Richardson moved into a home off Post Oak Tritt Road last summer, but in February the Republican-dominated Georgia legislature redrew Cobb commission district lines to place most of East Cobb in District 3.
Richardson did not qualify for that race, and has until the end of the year to move into the new District 2, which includes the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings and Marietta areas and some of the I-75 corridor in North Cobb.
The new Cobb commission map includes most of East Cobb in District 3 (in yellow), with District 2 in pink.
Richardson didn’t explain why she didn’t qualify in District 3 or say why she isn’t moving to District 2.
“I will not abdicate my position just to seek a future win for my own personal gain. . . . The real problem is the injustice and disservice this map has created for the people,” Richardson said in the video.
“I will not sit back, I will not step down and I will not just say nothing,” she said in a statement that could set off a political and possibly a legal challenge.
She didn’t mention any possible legal action, although she said she’s received legal advice while contemplating her situation.
Richardson, 32, is an enterprise transformation specialist at Equifax whose family moved to the Atlanta area from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
She succeeded three-term Republican commissioner Bob Ott in 2020, edging GOP candidate Fitz Johnson to cement the first all-female county commission in Cobb history.
Her term expires in 2024, and she’s part of a 3-2 Democratic majority on the commission, which had been controlled by Republicans since the 1980s.
“The new mapping lines fundamentally shift our county, both economically and historically,” Richardson said in the video, “and not for the better.”
She said this redistricting process has “ignored the will of the people.”
Richardson said her office has received a “flood” of messages from citizens upset with the maps, which she said were drawn without much community consultation, and that sidestepped normal courtesies to the local delegations.
Cobb Republican lawmakers submitted redistricting maps for the commission and the Cobb Board of Education over the objections of the county delegation’s Democratic leadership.
State Rep. John Carson, a Northeast Cobb Republican who sponsored the commission redistricting bill, countered that his lines would likely maintain a Democratic majority.
In January, Cobb commissioners voted along party lines to recommend a map drawn by State Rep. Erick Allen, a Smyrna Democrat and the Cobb delegation chairman, that would largely maintain the current lines.
Birrell voted against Allen’s map, saying it removed some of her East Cobb precincts. Now she’ll have most of them, running to the Powers Ferry Road corridor.
The other GOP member of the commission, Keli Gambrill of District 1 in North Cobb, was the only candidate to qualify for that office.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
“The last thing we want to do is remove services for residents of unincorporated Cobb,” Cobb Fire Chief Bill Johnson said.
Public safety services for the proposed City of East Cobb generated much of the discussion at a town hall meeting held Wednesday night by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
It’s the first of several town halls county officials will be holding in the coming weeks as voters in East Cobb, Lost Mountain and Vinings will decide cityhood referendums on May 24. A Mableton cityhood bill is still being considered in the Georgia legislature.
County leaders said they cannot take official positions on cityhood, but said their sessions are meant to be informational.
Questions were submitted by citizens in advance and read on index cards by Cobb public information officer Ross Cavitt.
(You can watch a replay of Wednesday’s town hall, which lasted around an hour, by clicking here. Dates and locations for future town halls are to be determined.)
At a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session in February, county finance head Bill Volckmann said the impact to the county budget would be $41.4 million annually if all four cities are created. (The county has created a cityhood page that is being updated.)
Of that, they estimate $23 million would come out of East Cobb alone (East Cobb cityhood leaders have taken issue with those financials, saying they’re misleading).
That’s because only East Cobb is proposing to have its own police and fire departments and an E911 service.
The leaders of those agencies for Cobb County government said at the town hall they’re still learning about the details of those services in East Cobb.
But they all said it’s likely that response time for those services will rise for citizens in a new City of East Cobb.
East Cobb would have two fire stations—current Cobb Station No. 21 on Lower Roswell Road and current Cobb Station No. 15 on Oak Lane.
Cobb Fire Chief Bill Johnson said those two stations would have to expand their current footprints by 13 percent to serve a City of East Cobb with nearly 60,000 residents and covering 25 square miles.
The problem, he said, is that citizens on the western edge of the city are currently served by Station No. 20 on Sewell Mill Road, No. 3 on Terrell Mill Road, No. 19 on Powers Ferry Road and No. 3 next to the Mountain View Regional Library, all of which would remain in unincorporated Cobb.
“They absolutely will see an increase in their response time,” Johnson said.
Should a City of East Cobb be formed, mutual aid agreements would be negotiated with Cobb Police and Cobb Fire, which have similar agreements with the existing six cities in the county, to provide backup.
Cobb Fire officials said citizens in the red shaded areas in the proposed East Cobb city and currently serviced by fire stations in unincorporated Cobb would have higher response times.
An East Cobb Police Department would be stationed at current Cobb Precinct 4 headquarters, with an estimated 71 officers, according to a financial feasibility study prepared for the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.
Interim Cobb Police Chief Scott Hamilton echoed Johnson, and said that “if anybody needs help, we’ll come. At the end of the day, we’re a family and we all take care of each other. But response times are going to get longer.”
Cobb public safety leaders said they haven’t had any contact with East Cobb Cityhood proponents, but some meetings are slated to begin next week.
Cobb E911 director Melissa Altiero said she’s unclear if East Cobb would be handling its own emergency calls or have them answered by Cobb.
She said Cobb answers calls inside the City of Marietta, which has its own police and fire services, “and it’s a seamless response.”
Transferring calls from one call center to another, she said, takes an average of 40 seconds.
Altiero also said she would be concerned about misrouted calls further delaying response time in a City of East Cobb, and said there’s nothing in the East Cobb financial study about what kind of radio system it would have.
That study proposes transferring the 2.86 mills in the Cobb Fire Fund to provide the main revenue source for a city with an estimated $27.7 million annual budget (and that also provide planning and zoning, code enforcement and possibly parks and recreation services).
Johnson said that would amount to $14 million in lost revenue for the Cobb Fire Department, out of annual budget of $110 million.
What that would mean for the county fire department is uncertain, financially or in affecting its service levels.
“The last thing we want to do is remove services to unincorporated Cobb,” Johnson said. “The citizens have come to expect a high level of service and we want to continue to provide that service.”
Before those remarks, Cavitt read a citizen question to Cupid about whether the county would increase taxes to offset the loss of revenue due to new cities being formed, but she deflected it.
“It depends,” Cupid said. “But I am not aware of a new city that has been formed that has not raised taxes.
“If somebody can show me a new city that has not raised taxes, then no, your taxes won’t be raised. Will they be raised immediately, if this moves forward on the May ballot? The answer is no.
“In the short run, no would be a qualified answer. But in the long run, I have yet to be pointed to a new city that has not been formed where they have not had some increases in taxes.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
