Before the doors close for good at 5 p.m., the Cobb County Public Library System will hold a special celebration from 12-4 p.m at the library (990 Shaw Park Drive).
There will be family-friendly fun, games and a balloon drop. Kids can build a gingerbread library; registration is full but you can add your name to the waitlist by clicking here.
Gritters opened in 1973, and replaced a small library that was located behind a fire station on Brackett Road. The new branch will more than double the current space, to nearly 15,000 square feet, and include workforce development activities as well as the Northeast Cobb Community Center, which also is located at Shaw Park.
During the Gritters closure, patrons will be served by the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road).
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 following East Cobb residential real estate sales between May 22-26, 2023, were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
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!
Mike Hendley, left, with MUST Ministries CEO Ike Reighard
East Cobb resident Mike Hendley, a financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual, has been named the company’s 2023 Community Service Most Exceptional Award winner and has received a $25,000 grant on behalf of MUST Ministries.
Hendley has been involved with the Marietta-based non-profit that helps those who are homeless find housing, jobs and other assistance for more than 25 years, as a volunteer and as the former chairman of the MUST board development committee.
The grant funding will go toward services at the MUST Hope House, which opened in 2021 as the new shelter and main facility for its operations.
“My passion for helping my community was ingrained in me at a young age, as my parents led by example and demonstrated the importance of helping those less fortunate,” Hendley said in a Northwestern Mutual release.
“One of the most impactful parts of volunteering with this organization is sitting at the table with MUST clients as they share their life stories and experiences. The vulnerability that is shown through these conversations continues to have a lasting impact on my life and fuel my passion for working with this organization for years to come.”
“Northwestern Mutual is a company built on helping people, and it is inspiring to see the impact that these financial advisors are making on their communities through selfless contributions,” Steve Radke, president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, said in the release. “I’m honored to work alongside these dedicated advisors who embody our company’s values and commitment to the communities we serve.”
Northwestern Mutual is distributing $270,000 to nonprofits nationwide this year in its community service awards program, and has donated nearly $7 million since the program’s inception in 1995.
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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 Credit Union of Georgia is hosting an in-branch and online School Supply Drive benefiting schools in the community.
School supplies can be dropped off at any Credit Union branch location (including 1020 Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb) or you can visit their Amazon Wish List at amzn.to/42fi3Fq to purchase items. The items purchased from the Amazon Wish List will be shipped directly to Credit Union of Georgia and then delivered to local schools.
School Supply needs include the following:
Pens
Notebooks
Pencils
Binders
Glue Sticks
Index Cards
Pencil Sharpeners
Crayons
Rulers
Two Pocket Folders
Scissors
Erasers
Paper
Backpacks
“We love to support our schools and students,” said Brian Albrecht, President/CEO of Credit Union of Georgia. “We want to make sure that they have everything they need to succeed!”
Send Us Your News!
Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
Pass along your details to: [email protected], and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
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!
A local real estate development firm has applied for rezoning the 1.13 acre site at 4608 Lower Roswell Road for that purpose, and a zoning hearing has been scheduled for July 5 before the Cobb Planning Commission.
MRE Properties & Investments, LLC is seeking low-rise office (LRO) zoning, which would permit professional office uses. The current building, which housed various Mt. Bethel Church activities and non-profits, including Aloha to Aging, is a single story on land zoned in the RA-4 residential category.
A preliminary site plan filed with the application (agenda item here) indicates that the structure would remain relatively the same, except for some upgrades inside and to the exterior.
The office hours would be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. MRE has hired noted zoning attorney Kevin Moore.
The land on which the community center sits is one of four parcels Mt. Bethel Church put on the real estate market following its controversial departure from the United Methodist Church last year.
Mt. Bethel paid the UMC’s North Georgia Conference $13.1 million as part of the legal settlement.
In March, Mt. Bethel sold nearly an acre with a day care center that’s adjacent to the community center $1.55 million, according to Cobb property tax records. No forthcoming use for that facility has been announced by the purchaser, a local asset holding company.
The building was a day care center before Mt. Bethel Church purchased it in 1990. Mt. Bethel closed the day care center in December.
Mt. Bethel is also selling a vacant home across Lower Roswell Road and a wooded lot next to the U.S. Post Office.
The community center site was once the home of the Poss family, which owned a farm and was prominent in the area before East Cobb became suburbanized.
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Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid will deliver the 2023 State of the County Address to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
The event begins at 11:15 a.m. Monday at the Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre in The Battery Atlanta.
She will “discuss the county’s biggest successes and milestones from 2022, as well as her goals for 2023 to continue moving the county forward,” the Chamber said in a release.
The address before the business group had been the signature “state of the county” event for her predecessors.
But when she took office in 2021, Cupid created a separate event that has included other county and elected officials and representatives from the Atlanta Regional Commission and community organizations.
The theme of those addresses has been “All In,” and at the Jennie Anderson Theatre last month she responded to her critics, including some citizens who have spoken during public comment sessions at Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings.
In addition to Cupid’s address, the Cobb Chamber’s Cobb Executive Women program will present the 2023 Woman of Distinction award.
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The first phase of one of several major traffic improvements in the East Cobb area under the 2022 Cobb SPLOST goes before Cobb commissioners Tuesday.
A $495,292 engineering design contract to improve the Johnson Ferry Road-Shallowford Road intersection is on the agenda for a regular meeting of the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning (agenda item here).
Cobb DOT is recommending that the work go to Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. of Atlanta, and the agenda item states the work includes the following details:
“The project will evaluate the need for intersection improvements to address operations and vehicular safety. The improvements may include, but are not limited to, addition of travel and turn lanes, and pedestrian improvements. The scope of services for the design-build delivery will include a traffic study, concept development, environmental document, preliminary design, and design services throughout construction of the project.”
Improvements at that busy intersection have been anticipated for several years, especially with the coming redevelopment of the southwest quadrant with East Cobb Church, retail shops and a single-family subdivision.
It’s one of several road projects in the 2022 Cobb SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax) that will be funded mostly with federal revenues.
Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said in response to information requested by East Cobb News that the total budget of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford project is $7.75 million, with $5 million in federal funding. Commissioners would have to approve funding for the local match in a separate vote, after the design work is finished.
Two other major projects in the East Cobb area also will have substantial federal funding. Improvements at the Roswell Road-Johnson Ferry Road intersection are projected to cost $15 million, with $10 million from the feds and and $5 million from the Cobb SPLOST.
Likewise, the widening of Roswell Road—one of the most expensive projects in the 2022 SPLOST at $60 million—will get $48 million from the federal government and $12 million locally.
The 2022 SPLOST was approved by Cobb voters in 2020, and is expected to collect $810 million from Jan. 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2027.
Of that total, $361 million has been earmarked for road and traffic projects, including $227 million for repavings, along with bridge repairs, traffic management and sidewalk upgrades.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners will be asked to spend $8.132 million to purchase two vacant office buildings in an industrial park. The buildings are on 10 acres on West Oak Circle and West Oak Parkway and include 85,000 square feet. They would house official documents that are required for the Cobb County Records Services Division to retain and archive.
The agenda item states that various records are held in a number of facilities around the county and are at capacity: “This purchase of the two office buildings will allow the County to consolidate storage of records. In addition, the purchase will allow for storage of records in a climate-controlled environment, necessary for preservation of vital records.”
Once purchased, the buildings would need to be renovated at a cost of $1.362 million, pushing the total cost to $9.5 million. The Cobb Support Services Agency is recommending the funding come from the county’s reserve.
Another item would update the county’s policies on compensation, education incentive pay, nepotism, anti- harassment and discrimination, parental leave, performance appraisal and discipline. (details here).
The Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta). You can read through the full agenda by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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!
An addition to Cobb Juneteenth events this year will be a walking tour of the Marietta City Cemetery.
The Marietta History Center announced this week that director Amy Reed will be leading the walking tour that will highlight African-Americans buried or enslaved “who became leaders in our black community fighting for equality and civil rights.”
The walking tour is Monday, June 19 at 6 p.m. The cemetery is located at 420 West Atlanta Street. Admission is $15 a person or free for Marietta History Center and tours are limited to 25 people for each tour.
The walking tour is a rain or shine event and will conducted over gravel and uneven pathways, so participants are advised to plan accordingly. The tour begins at the white house located at the center of the Cemetery
For information and to reserve a ticket call 770-794-5710 or visit MariettaHistory.org.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners established Juneteenth as a county holiday starting in 2022, and a number of Cobb cities and other organizations have scheduled a variety of celebrations.
A pre-Juneteenth festival takes place this Sunday, June 11, at Jim Miller Park (2245 Callaway Road) from 11-6.
There will be an Evening Under the Stars concert next Friday, June 16, from 7-11 (free tickets here), followed by a festival on Saturday from 10-7 and a Father’s Day salute from 2-6.
According to the county, the goal of the forum “is to foster discussion and explore potential policy initiatives that can bring about real change and promote racial justice and equity.”
The event is free and aimed at 18-and-up; you’re asked to RSVP here.
Information about other Juneteenth events in Cobb County can be found by clicking here.
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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!
Six more students from Wheeler High School and Walton High School in East Cob have been named recipients of National Merit Scholarships.
These scholarships are provided by the college or university of the student’s choice, and range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. Probable career fields are also listed.
Madison Bohm, Wheeler: Rochester Institute of Technology; Mechanical Engineering
Peter Fink, Walton: University of Georgia; Computer Science
Misha S. Gupta, Wheeler: Emory University; Finance
Ethan T. Liu, Walton: University of Georgia; Kinesiology
Ashley Kay Rice, Walton: Emory University; Bioinformatics
Hanif A. Zaman, Wheeler: University of Georgia; Cell Biology
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 Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a rezoning request for a car wash near Bells Ferry Elementary School that would allow room to preserve an 1840s-era home on the property (see previous post here).
The board voted 4-0 to send the request for neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) and low-rise office (LRO) rezoning to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which will hold a zoning hearing June 20. Planning Commission member Michael Hughes was absent Tuesday.
Parks Huff, an attorney for the Medford Family Limited Partnership, the property owners, said the car wash would be located on the NRC portion of the two-acre site at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway.
The LRO designation could be used to accommodate the house if it were to stay on the land.
The case has been delayed as the applicant and historic preservation interests continued discussions that have been ongoing for years.
In her motion to recommend approval Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance was skeptical of the twin zoning categories, and wanted some clarity on what would happen to the LRO land if the home were removed.
He suggested that it could be used for common greenspace, such as a pocket park.
Tommy’s Express by Northgate is proposing a 15,000-square-foot car wash at an intersection that’s surrounded by commercial development, including a Barnes and Noble and Publix.
Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit, has been talking with the landowner for four years about finding a way to preserve the McAfee House, which was a homestead that served as a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War.
Trevor Beemon, Cobb Landmarks’ executive director, told the Planning Commission Tuesday that his organization wants to relocate the house, saying it’s not ideal to serve as a cultural center, although there is some community support for keeping it there.
He said Cobb Landmarks, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Cobb Preservation Commission could be conveyed a deed for preservation purposes.
He said he’s meeting this week with the Georgia Trust, which could put a preservation easement on the land surrounding the home, then make repairs and find “suitable purpose” and possibly a new location.
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The Cobb Police Department said Tuesday that one of its own died in the line of duty on Monday.
Sgt. Wayne Delk said in a release Tuesday that Chase, a member of the department’s K9 unit, was left in an officer’s vehicle Monday afternoon during a police active shooter training session at Allatoona High School.
Delk said that the dog was left there in a kennel while officers conducted a training session in the school, and that police personnel checked on the animal every 15 minutes or so.
He said air conditioning was being provided to the animal in the car of his handler, Officer Neill.
But when an officer checked on Chase around 2 p.m., Delk said, the dog was unresponsive.
That’s because the air conditioning system in the car wasn’t working, according to police.
“Life-saving measures were started by Officer Neill, other Cobb Officers, and Cobb County Fire personnel” who were on the scene for the active shooter training, Delk said.
The dog was taken to a nearby emergency veterinary hospital but the animal died due to “heat-related injuries,” the Cobb Police release said.
“Preliminary information indicates that other safety systems did not properly activate and the temperature quickly rose in the vehicle,” Delk said.
“This is a horrible incident and our investigators are continuing to gather information regarding the vehicle system failures that led to this tragedy.”
UPDATED, June 7: The Cobb Police Department published this post this morning to explain why it keeps dogs inside patrol vehicles, and how an alert system is triggered:
“If the air conditioning system fails and the temperature reaches a point where it’s too hot, the safeguard automatically turns on the lights and the sirens, the windows automatically go down, and a fan turns on. The handler is notified and returns to their vehicle to address the problem.
“The patrol vehicle is always left running with the air conditioning on, but should something go wrong, the vehicle is equipped with a safeguard to protect the canine. Unfortunately, this vehicle had multiple failures, the alert system did not activate, and the handler was not alerted about an issue until they returned to the vehicle to check on the canine.”
Delk said that Chase was later taken to the Cobb County Animal Shelter and would be transported to the University of Georgia for a necropsy.
Chase was a four-year-old Belgian malinois born in Hungary and was named after Chase Maddox, a Locust Grove police officer killed in the line of duty in 2018.
The dog had been on duty with Cobb Police since April 2020, and his duties included narcotics detection, criminal apprehension, tracking, building searches and evidence recovery.
Cobb Police said in a separate social media posting that Chase “seized thousands of dollars worth of illegal narcotics, with numerous arrests and apprehensions.”
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General manager Hope Smith demonstrates a compression therapy machine in a cryo room. East Cobb News photos
The third Georgia location of Activate IV and Cryotherapy, a wellness and recovery spa, opened recently at the Providence Square Shopping Center in East Cobb.
It’s a membership-based business for patients who want to treat a variety of ailments with a combination of non-medical treatments, including hydration, compression, vitamin infusion and cryotherapy, which uses a combination of heat and cold elements to reduce body flab.
There’s a medical doctor who oversees the operations, and there’s either a trained paramedic or a registered nurse on duty at all times.
A ribbon-cutting took place last week, and general manager Hope Smith said a soft opening has been underway for a couple of weeks.
She said patients don’t need a doctor’s referral and most insurance does not cover the services provided.
Activate IV’s IV Hydration Therapy includes a variety of intravenous drips to introduce electrolytes, minerals and amino acids directly into the body, as well as oxygen.
Other drips treat the flu, migraines, athletic ailments, menstrual issues and even hangovers.
In addition to a cryo room, Activate IV has a cryo booth with a temperature of -124 Fahrenheit. Patients can stay inside for up to four minutes.
“It helps reduce inflammation, gives you energy, helps you sleep better and address weight gain and pain,” Smith said. “I’ve lost five pounds in a week.”
A red light room offers red light therapy, and Smith said patients use it for athletic injury recovery and as a sleeping aid, among other benefits, including reduced swelling and inflammation and increased collagen production.
Those sessions last 10 minutes, and there’s a separate membership for that.
Lori Rambo, who was a paramedic in the city of Atlanta and worked at Grady Memorial Hospital, is one of the certified staff members at the East Cobb location.
She said patients must fill out a form indicating that they haven’t had a seizure or major heart issues in the last six months.
Activate IV and Cryotherapy is open at 4101 Roswell Road, Suite 310, from Monday-Thursday 10-7, Friday-Saturday from 10-4 and Sunday from 12-4. Phone: 678-398-9499.
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!
Have a splashing good time at Cobb PARKS’ two outdoor pools. Sewell Park Pool and Seven Springs Water Park make for great summer days for the entire family.
Sewell Park Pool, 2051 Lower Roswell Road in Marietta, will be open seven days a week from 1 – 6 p.m. through July 31, except holidays when it is open from 1 – 5 p.m. From Aug.1 – Sept. 4, when most schools start, the pool will be open from 1 – 6 p.m. on weekends only. Holiday hours are in effect for Juneteenth, Independence Day and Labor Day. Fees are $3.50 for youth, $4.50 for adults and $3 for seniors (age 55 and older). More information on Sewell Pool can be found on our website here.
Seven Springs Water Park will offer two separate sessions, noon – 3 p.m. and 4 – 7 p.m., seven days a week through Aug. 1, then weekends through Labor Day. Fees are $6 for adults, $4 for children and $3 for seniors (age 55 and older). Passes are available. Please see our website for more details.
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The Cobb County Public Library System has compiled an extensive booklist for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month, which is observed in June.
The titles range from children’s picture and non-fiction books to teen and young adult fiction and adult titles.
The Cobb library system provided similar resource lists for Black History Month and Women’s History Month earlier this year.
In her weekly e-mail newsletter, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid referenced the Pride Month booklist, saying “this month-long observation recognizes all members of the LGBTQ+ community, their historical roots, and allies that fight for their fundamental human rights and equality. It honors their bravery and influence. We take time to consider LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and those who continue to face violence, discrimination, and other injustices.”
Pride Month has been observed in June to honor the start of the modern gay rights movement, stemming from the Stonewall protests that took place in New York in June 1969.
More information about the Cobb Library Pride Month booklist can be found by clicking here.
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A home in Northeast Cobb that served as a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War could soon give way to a car wash.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday is expected to give a first hearing for a proposed car wash at the intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway after the application had been delayed.
The McAfee House has been vacant for years, and historic preservation interests have been negotiating with the landowners to have the building relocated.
Two-acre site is surrounded by commercial property, including a shopping center with a Publix and a Barnes and Noble, and is across the street from Bells Ferry Elementary School.
Tommy’s Express by Northgate is seeking the neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category (case filings here) for the two-acre site, which currently is zoned general commercial.
The car wash, which would include 5,315 square feet of space and 29 parking spaces, would be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
The Cobb Zoning Office is recommending approval with some conditions, and suggested that “if the house cannot be moved and/or preserved on site, staff recommends that documentation of the structure, all outbuildings, and its setting, including current archival-quality photographs be completed by a cultural resource consultant. These materials should be submitted to the historic preservation planner.”
The McAfee House was the homestead of farmers Eliza and Robert McAfee, and it dates back to the 1840s. It was used as a Union Army general’s headquarters after the seizure of the Big Shanty during the Civil War. It also served as a field hospital after an 1864 engagement near what was called McAfee’s Crossroads.
Cobb Landmarks had been working to preserve another 1840s home on Post Oak Tritt Road where another rezoning case was being considered.
But the applicant, Kenneth B. Clary, withdrew that application last month after a proposal for a subdivision drew opposition for stormwater and historic preservation reasons.
The Power-Jackson Cabin was also built in the 1840s and has been abandoned for several decades. Cobb Landmarks posted earlier this week that it recently visited the site to assess the possibility of having an archaeological survey conducted:
“Cobb Landmarks is also exploring different options for the long-term preservation of the cabin, including the possibility of relocating it to a nearby park for public display. . . We were encouraged by what we saw and are hopeful the cabin can still be saved.”
Cobb Landmarks has been interested in having the structure relocated to the Hyde Farm facility on Lower Roswell Road.
Another Northeast Cobb rezoning case of interest to be heard Tuesday has been placed on the consent agenda, meaning there is no known opposition.
It’s a proposal by Toys & Gift Delivery, Inc. for a bakery at 2601 Sandy Plains Road, from office-industrial to NRC.
The vacant building at 6,552 square feet and the bakery would be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, according to the zoning filing.
The Cobb Planning Commission hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), you can view the full agenda and individual case files by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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!
Bill Byrne, who served as Cobb Commission Chairman from 1993—2002, has been named to the board of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County,” Cobb Taxpayers Association Chairman Lance Lamberton said.
The citizens group made the announcement Friday, and Byrne will serve as one of six board members, including chairman Lance Lamberton and vice chairman Jim Astuto, an East Cobb resident.
“We are flattered that someone of Bill Byrne’s stature has agreed to serve on our board,” Lamberton said in a statement. “In his 10 years as BOC Chairman, he served with distinction and presided over a period of historic business and residential growth in the County. That record of accomplishment, combined with his strong commitment towards the taxpayer’s best interests, will bode well for CTA in the next year and a half.”
The Cobb Taxpayers Association was founded in 2005 and scrutinizes Cobb County government finances, spending and tax issues. In the past it has been opposed to extending the Cobb Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that funds construction and maintenance projects for county government and public schools.
“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County, which is facing the threat of one of the largest tax increases in its history,” Lamberton said, referring to a proposed transit tax which could be on the November 2024 ballot.
Cobb commissioners in March voted to approve spending more $500,000 to hire three separate consulting firms to help the Cobb Department of Transportation prepare for the referendum.
Lamberton spoke at that meeting against the tax, saying that “if mass transit is so dad gum important to you, then move to a place where it makes sense. That place is not Cobb County.”
Earlier this year, Lamberton filed an ethics complaint against a member of the Cobb Transit Advisory Board, but that was dismissed by the Cobb Board of Ethics last month.
Lisa Cupid, the current Cobb Commission Chairwoman, is floating a 30-year transit tax, but the current board’s two Republicans are opposed to anything longer than five years.
Commissioners would determine the length of a sales tax referendum, and more public feedback is being sought.
In the Cobb Taxpayers Association release, Byrne said that “I believe the County has lost its way over the past two decades, and has adopted a tax and spend policy which would have been unthinkable while I was BOC Chairman. But through it all, CTA has fought tooth and nail against the tax and spending interests, and has some impressive wins in its column despite being outspent by its opponents by as much as 100 to one.”
Byrne ran for his old job in 2012, but was defeated by then-incumbent Tim Lee in a Republican runoff.
Speaking to the East Cobb Civic Association this week, Cupid said that a transit tax—which would fund road as well as mass transit projects—has “never been put out to vote” in Cobb’s history.
“We have a lot of people that are not able to access workforce opportunities” due to a lack of mass transit opportunities in Cobb, she said, adding that “a lot of businesses are bypassing Cobb” as a result.
The only CobbLinc bus line in the East Cobb area runs along Powers Ferry Road. A previous line that traversed Roswell Road linking Marietta with Sandy Springs was discontinued in 2011 as part of budget cuts due to the recession.
“I would ask that you consider that there are others among you who can utilize this service,” Cupid said.
She said at the same meeting that she “can’t say” for now if she’ll propose rolling back the county’s general fund millage rate this year despite skyrocketing property assessments.
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The program includes a partnership with the Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools and is particularly aimed at keeping children reading during the summer vacation months.
Readers earn “BINGO” credits that are good for badges and prizes, as well as eligibility for the grand prize.
Participants track their reading with a Beanstalk account, and a traditional paper log is also available.
More information about the challenge can be found by clicking here; you can create a Beanstalk tracking account at this link and a traditional paper log at this link.
A formal presentation is expected in June, and on Wednesday Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid addressed that topic and others in a mini-state of the county update to the East Cobb Civic Association.
She said her own assessment has gone up by 25 percent on the home she bought in Smyrna two years ago.
Cupid also pointed out the need to continue a new step-and-grade salary and promotional system for public safety personnel, among other priorities in the current $1.2 million FY 2023 budget.
“All of that has to be funded,” Cupid told the ECCA audience of about 40 people at the Fullers Park Recreation Center. “We are fortunate that we have the coffers to do this.”
Cobb commissioners voted last year in a partisan split to maintain the general fund millage rate—which provides most of the revenues for county government—at 8.46 mills, while slightly raising the fire millage rate.
Cupid and the board’s other two Democrats, including Jerica Richardson of East Cobb, voted for that budget, while the two Republican members, including JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb, were opposed.
Some citizens spoke then for a millage rate cut, in light of inflation and amid broader economic concerns.
After the meeting Wednesday, Cupid was asked by East Cobb News if she might be considering a millage rate reduction for the 2024 budget.
She said that “she can’t say” for the moment, not just because the budget proposal is still being put together, but also because of the need to continue making strides to improve salaries for county employees and other priorities.
Last year, Birrell and GOP commissioner Keli Gambrill said the millage rate should be cut back due to rising revenues from a tax digest that grew by more than 12 percent.
This year’s digest is expected to be 13 percent, and could be larger when it is finalized next month.
The Cobb Board of Education last month passed an FY 2024 budget of $1.4 billion that includes generous salary increases but also cuts the millage rate for the first time in 15 years.
Cupid said her concern is if the board does cut back, the funding issues she’s mentioned for several years “will roll over and over” into coming years.
She admitted that concerns from citizens about rising assessments “is the most I’ve ever heard” in her near-decade on the board.
“Those concerns are being heard,” she told East Cobb News. “I can certainly understand the concerns they have.”
Cobb commissioners last reduced the general fund millage rate in 2016, when then-chairman Tim Lee was in a runoff with Mike Boyce, who defeated him then to become chairman.
But the county faced a $32 million budget shortfall two years later, and Boyce pushed through a millage rate increase that his fellow Republican commissioners opposed.
Boyce, whom Cupid defeated in 2020, said the hike was necessary to maintain Cobb’s status as a “five-star county.”
She isn’t using language like that, but reiterated her long-standing complaints—stemming from the time she was the only Democrat on the board—about “kicking the can down the road” when it comes to spending priorities.
“I could do it and look good,” Cupid said, referencing a tax cut proposal, “but somebody’s going to have to pay the price.”
She said Cobb has made some headway on addressing those long-term needs, including restoring some key capital maintenance funding, but “we still have a ways to go.”
Before Wednesday’s meeting, ECCA officials handed out an information sheet about how citizens can appeal their assessments.
Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White said roughly 1-2 percent of Cobb property owners file an appeal. The deadline for submitting an appeal is June 26, and more information can be found by clicking here.
Cupid also encouraged property owners to learn about homestead exemptions and other exemptions they may qualify for that could reduce the assessed value of their homes.
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Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid will deliver the 
