Cobb County government sent out a message Friday afternoon that the county animal shelter is temporarily closed to the public after a confirmed case of strep zoo involving a dog being housed there.
Cobb spokesman Ross Cavitt said in a release that shelter staff suspected the case after the dog “suddenly became ill” and a portion of the shelter was quarantined as a result.
A test result confirmed the case, and Cavill said the quarantine has been expanded to the entire shelter, which currently houses 285 animals.
“The quarantine will remain in place until shelter staff can treat the entire animal population with antibiotics and conduct further testing,” he said.
Strep zoo is a highly contagious bacterial infection that affects the respiratory systems of animals.
Cavitt said shelter staff will contact individuals who have recently adopted animals at the shelter or who have made appointments.
“Treatment of the population will start when the shipment of antibiotics arrives,” Cavitt said. “A thorough cleaning will take place before the facility reopens. So far, no other animals have displayed symptoms.”
The Cobb Animal Shelter has been closed a few other times in recent years due to dog strep zoo cases, including February 2021 and October 2020.
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Back in April 2020, the earliest graduating classes from Wheeler High School were supposed to have a collective reunion picnic.
That would have been the 50th anniversary of Wheeler’s first senior class in 1967, and invitations were expanded to go through the Class of 1972.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to that gathering, and reunion organizer Nancy Collier got back in touch this week to say that the event has finally been rescheduled.
It’s now taking place on Saturday, Oct. 8, at the same location of the originally scheduled event (Riverside Day Use Area of Lake Allatoona on Lake Allatoona Dam Road) and the same cost ($25 person, $40 couple).
“It’s on, come hell or high water,” as noted in the attached flyer, which also helpfully points out takes place on the same day as the UGA-Auburn football game.
Two years ago they wanted to have it in the spring to avoid such a conflict, but it’s been a long wait.
The festivities began at 11 a.m. and include food catered by Williamson Bros. BBQ, live music and more.
Check the flyer for more details or visit http://wheeler69.com/. There are instructions in both places on how to pay in advance. If you show up unannounced, “you will go to the back of the food line.”
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Less than a week before a new fiscal year county budget is to be adopted, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid took her message about taxes, spending and other issues to an East Cobb audience that was largely skeptical of many of her priorities.
A town hall Wednesday at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center dubbed “All In Cobb” was the last of four such meetings she’s held in each of the Cobb commission districts.
With East Cobb-area commissioners Jerica Richardson and JoAnn Birrell in attendance, Cupid said during the nearly two-hour event that the concerns she heard have been similar around the county over the last month.
Some East Cobb residents didn’t like seeing a slide presented by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid about diversity issues.
Her proposed fiscal year budget of $1.4 billion holds the general fund property tax rate at 8.46 mills, but due to rising assessments many Cobb homeowners will be paying substantially higher taxes.
Cupid defended a proposal to add nearly 150 new county positions and raised the minimum wage for county employees to $17 an hour due to chronic staff shortages in many departments, including road maintenance, stormwater management and public safety.
She said while they don’t come close to addressing all those needs, with this budget “we’re going to try to fix” what she said have been long-standing concerns.
“What you’re getting from your government are beautiful buildings like this one,” she said. “I think Cobb County can do better” to provide services for a county of nearly 800,000.
“I keep hearing not to spend” on certain priorities, she said, “but you still want stellar services. It’s not working right now.”
Throughout the evening, she tried to tie affordable housing to budget and spending issues, because “people who work here should be able to afford to live here.”
She noted that the average price of newly built homes in Cobb averages around $300,000. A county employee making her proposed minimum wage of $17 an hour would earn only $33,000 in gross pay, not nearly enough to afford even that.
But a woman in the audience who owns rental housing said that some of her tenants have been forced to leave because they couldn’t afford to pay higher rents. She said she reluctantly raised them because of skyrocketing assessments.
East Cobb resident Craig Harfoot said a record Cobb tax digest is a “false digest” due to higher assessments.
“That’s too much taxes,” she said, pointing out that such renters “are the people who need” affordable housing options.
“It’s a challenge and I recognize it,” Cupid said.
Another resident said when she travels to West Cobb, she sees new sidewalks and pocket parks and “I feel like East Cobb has become the golden goose.”
Cupid said it’s a comment she hears wherever she goes in the county.
East Cobb resident Craig Harfoot said the Georgia legislature needs to look at how property taxes are reassessed.
“You’re pricing all the poor people out of their homes,” he said.
But Cupid rebuffed calls in the audience to “roll back” the millage rate in light of the proposed budget being nearly $100 million more than the current fiscal year.
“We’re trying to address things that we haven’t addressed for years,” she said. “I’m keeping the millage rate but we’re not funding” for the level of service she hears citizens demanding.
Making repeated references to Rumpelstiltskin—about turning straw into gold—Cupid said that “rolling it back won’t help that.
“There is this misperception about how robustly resourced the county is.”
Others were cool to government-driven ideas for resolving affordable housing issues.
East Cobb resident Leroy Emkin blasted the proposed creation of a diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Cobb County government.
When a resident challenged her about letting the market dictate housing costs, Cupid—who holds engineering and law degrees—said “there’s a place for government and there’s a place for the market. They co-exist.”
Some shouted “noooooo!” at those remarks.
Some audience members were rankled about a slide Cupid presented about diversity, saying it’s not just about race, but also geography and income levels, among other factors.
A woman said “I don’t treat anybody differently” to some cheering.
East Cobb resident Leroy Emkin, a frequent commenter at commissioners’ public address, was critical of a proposal in the budget for the creation of a diversity, equity and inclusion officer position.
“What the hell do we need a director for that kind of office?” he said to considerable applause.
County manager Jackie McMorris corrected his assertion that it would cost $400,000, saying that the $150,000 to be earmarked for that post—suggested by Cupid’s predecessor, the late Mike Boyce—comes from federal COVID-19 stimulus funds and is just one job, with no staff.
McMorris acknowledged “a philosophical difference in what we value,” including the acceptance of American Rescue Plan Act funds altogether.
Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris said the proposed FY ’23 spending package “is just not a bloated budget.”
After the town hall, Birrell said she was hoping for more discussion on the budget.
“There are some things I like and some things I don’t like,” said Birrell, who is up for re-election in November in a newly redrawn district that includes most of East Cobb.
She didn’t offer any particulars, but Birrell and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill have expressed concerns about future budget impacts should the $17 an hour minimum wage be adopted.
“Some things are critical, that we need,” Birrell said. “But I am concerned about this budget being sustainable,” especially when many citizens are reeling from higher tax assessments and inflation.
Commissioners will hold a final public hearing on the proposed budget and millage rate next Tuesday night before voting on adoption then.
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Cobb Fire investigators say three 14-year-old boys have been charged with third-degree arson in connection with a fire that was set to the gazebo of the Chimney Lakes subdivision in East Cobb.
Chief investigator Brian Beaty said in a release Thursday that delinquency complaints were filed with the Juvenile Court of Cobb County on Wednesday.
He said that Cobb Fire and Emergency crews responded to an outdoor fire on July 7 around 5:38 p.m. at a residential address on Johnson Ferry Road near Chimney Lake Drive.
According to fire investigators, Cobb Fire staffers found the lakeside gazebo “involved by fire” and that preliminary findings indicated that the three males deliberately set the structure on fire.
Beaty said that anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Cobb Fire and Emergency Services at 770-499-3869.
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The following Cobb food scores for the week of July 18 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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The addresses include ZIP Codes and the subdivision names and high school districts are in parenthesis:
June 27
4900 Green Pointe Way, 30067 (Powers Pointe, Walton): Saravanan Venkatesan to Pawar and Bhagyashri Shrikant; $658,000
4185 Mulberry Drive, 30067 (Wyngrove, Walton): Cheryl Price to Gerald Misel and Anita Best; $1.5 million
5055 Gardenia Circle, 30068 (The Gardens at Parkaire, Walton): Tony Perotti Italy (USA) Inc. to Sheila Middendorf; $410,000
3609 Sawmill Terrace, 30062 (Hickory Bluff, Pope): Great Place Real Estate LLC to Opendoor Property Trust; $404,300
3335 Ranch Road, 30066 (North Forty, Sprayberry): Jason Michael Barfield to Khamphiou, Soy and Cameron Rassavong; $430,000
2909 Pathview Lane, 30062 (Wendwood, Pope): Nikki Miller to Kevin and Luz Lacourt; $558,000
2681 Meadow Ridge Court, 30066 (Pine Meadow, Sprayberry): James Harris to Schuman LLC; $297,500
4322 Vienna Way, 30062 (Alpine Forest, Pope): Jeffrey Smith to Andrew and Suzanne Boos; $550,000
1774 Hasty Road, 30068 (Hasty Acres, Sprayberry): Debra Foster and Linda Dobbins, executors of the estate of Nancy Baker to Adam and Elizabeth Hill; $370,000
1056 Azalea Circle, 30062 (Eastwood Forrest, Sprayberry): Albert Hammond to Narrow Gate Homes LLC; $295,000
774 Mary Ann Drive, 30068 (Valley Brook Wheeler): Karim Farhat to Opendoor Property Trust; $572,600
4240 Summit Drive, 30068 (Indian Hills, Walton): Harry and Cristin Zegers to Wynn Sowersby; $550,000
510 Indian Hills Parkway, 30068 (Indian Hills, Walton): David Gamble to Jennifer Vehorn; $700,000
4270 Cove Way, 30068 (Kings Cove, Walton): Opendoor Property Trust to RS Rental III A LLC; $380,000
3569 Oak Knoll Drive, 30068 (Heritage Woods, Wheeler): Opendoor Property Trust to to RS Rental III A LLC; $315,000
31 Lott Avenue, 30067 (Cloverdale Heights, Wheeler): SSDNJ Investments Corp. to Glaucio Magno Campos de Souza and Agma Rodriques Silva; $380,000
533 Robin Lane, 30067 (Red Oak Park, Wheeler): Opendoor Property Trust to Boulton Properties LLC; $305,904
June 28
1589 Tennessee Walker Drive, (Plantation North, Pope): Open House Atlanta Realty and Investments to Komatsuya Co. Ltd.; $600,000
4125 Inola Trail, (Indian Creek, Lassiter): Open House Atlanta Realty and Investments to Norihide Shirasaki; $533,000
4191 Longview Cove, (Chatsworth, Lassiter): Timothy and Margaret Kearns to Timothy Cullinane; $732,000
4220 Burns Heritage Trail, (Loch Highland, Lassiter): Craig and Stephanie Smith to Charles LaFage; $650,000
3957 Fairington Drive, Open House Atlanta Realty and Investments to Misho Co. Ltd.; $400,000
2733 Bentwood Drive,30062 (Bentwood, Pope): C&N Transformed Properties Inc. to Qingyu Luo and Katherine Lin; $539,900
1927 Hazelwood Circle, 30067 (Hamby Acres, Wheeler): Scott Loska to Kaitlynn Mockett and Christian Perez; $375,000
702 Cheswick Overlook, 30067 (Belmont, Wheeler): Thomas Tobin to Alan and Andrea Lam; $863,000
July 1
2640 Forest Glen Drive, 30066 (Forest Chase, Lassiter): Amy Cole to Claire Brady and Leonard Rose, trustees, Michael Christopher Brady and Lynn Marie Brady Revocable Trust; $333,000
2948 Summitop Road, 30066 (Lassiter): Marian Crowell to Din Muktar, Roberto Escanio and Kai Cenat; $2.4 million
3320 Devaughn Drive, 30066 (Village North Crossing, Lassiter): Paul John Fontaine, executor, estate of Helga Fontaine to Sidika Seker Celik; $426,000
3558 Chestatee Drive, 30062 (Shallowford Heights, Lassiter): David Wold to Nicolas Betker; $465,000
3401 Camelot Drive, 30062 (Camelot, Pope): Nicholas Collins to Robin James; $489,000
1980 Kramer Way, 30062(Holly Springs Crossing, Pope): Laura Lacagnina to April Snekszer and Amari Roberts; $409,100
1775 Millview Drive, 30062 (Barnes Mill Lake, Wheeler): Ina Zharnitskaya to Roxanne Hill; $343,000
861 Chestnut Lake Drive, 30068 (Hampton Woods, Walton): Matthew and Meghan Cronin to Abbas Arslan; $922,000
2369 Ashton Woods Court, 30068 (Ashton Woods, Wheeler): Stuart Winston Wells Jr., executor, estate of Stuart Winston Wells Sr., to Alex and Elizabeth Freemon; $485,000
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The Cobb County School District has pulled a redesigned logo for East Side Elementary School in East Cobb following complaints from parents and others in the community that it looks like the eagle crest from Nazi Germany.
In a note sent out on a non-official school-related Facebook page late Monday, the district said that “the school is aware of concerns about these logos, and therefore, we have paused to consider that feedback. We will be immediately reviewing the logos to determine needed changes.”
Also on Monday night, East Side principal Marcia Clark sent a similar message to parents. Both messages concluded by saying that “stakeholder input has been, and continues to be, important to our school, and we appreciate those who took the time to share their thoughts.”
East Side, which is marking its 70th anniversary this year, is one of several schools in the Cobb district with the Eagles nickname.
East Side is also located at Roswell Road and Indian Hills Parkway, across the latter from Congregation Etz Chaim, the first synagogue in East Cobb.
The new logo was sent out to parents via the district’s Cobb Teaching and Learning Portal.
In rolling out the new logos, a message to the East Side community said that “the new logo and badges were chosen to represent the Eagle soaring into excellence and to honor the history of our great school!”
On her Twitter account Monday night, East Side parent Stacy Efrat said that “our Jewish family has always felt loved and welcome” at the school and that “let’s assume this was an honest mistake and a coincidence.”
After getting Clark’s e-mail, however, Efrat said that “we don’t need to ‘pause to consider’ or ‘review’ the logos. They are symbolic of Nazi images and should be deleted immediately, full stop. The district should apologize to all East Side families for the harm that this has caused.”
Similar comments were made late Monday and Tuesday on other social media channels.
In response to a message from East Cobb News, a district spokeswoman said late Tuesday afternoon that “we understand and strongly agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable. Although this design was based on the U.S. Army colonel’s eagle wings, stakeholder input has been and continues to be important to our schools.”
She didn’t say who designed the logo or explain the process for coming up with a new one, except to state that “the District supports all re-branding requests and decisions by local schools, to ensure our schools are legally compliant.”
The “Reichsadler” or “Imperial Eagle” logo dates back in Germany before the Third Reich. But the Anti-Defamation League considers it a hate symbol, since it has continued to be adopted by neo-Nazi and related groups.
The German government continues to use what it refers to as a “Bundesadler” or “Federal Eagle” logo that’s designed differently from the Nazi-era coat of arms.
It’s been nearly a year since Pope and Lassiter high schools in East Cobb were vandalized with swastika graffiti in bathrooms that prompted a community outcry. Then-Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn was invited to attend a Yom Kippur service at East Cobb’s Temple Kol Emeth.
The “Reichsadler” Nazi Eagle logo that the Anti-Defamation League considers a symbol of hate.
Last October Scamihorn introduced a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and racism that passed by a party-line vote after some members and citizens complained that the matter was added to the agenda late, and saying that the district still needed to do more to address acts of hate in the school system.
In February, photos surfaced of students at East Cobb Middle School wearing swastika armbands and giving the Nazi salute on campus.
The Cobb school district last year dropped the use of teaching materials from the Southeast Regional office of ADL, “No Place for Hate,” that critics continue to insist needs to be reintroduced.
On the East Side ES website, there’s no mention of the now-retracted logo. It did note that July 28, the Friday before the start of the new school year on Aug. 1, is “Eagle Day,” when parents and students can meet teachers and learn about and sign up for other school activities.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to hold a proposed rezoning for a new convenience store, gas station and car wash on Shallowford Road at Trickum Road for a month after community opposition surfaced.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said in making her motion that the extra time was needed for the applicant to meet with residents over runoff, environmental and traffic concerns.
Southern Gas Partners, LLC is applying to change the current neighborhood shopping and general commercial zoning of two parcels totaling 3.1 acres at the southwest intersection of Shallowford and Trickum to neighborhood retail commercial.
That would allow for conversion of what had been a gas station to a fueling facility and convenience store similar to a Quick Trip or Race Trac and a car wash, according to the applicant.
The plans call for a 2,258 square foot convenience store/gas station that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Trickum Road parcel.
Another 2,287 square feet would be used for a car wash to be built on 2.3 undeveloped acres fronting Shallowford Road that would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
The Cobb Planning Commission voted to recommend approval earlier this month, but Birrell said nearby residents may not have been properly informed of the case, and there has not been a community meeting.
Her Planning Commission appointee, Deborah Dance, also was absent from the vote.
The Southern Gas Partners application had been on the county commissioners’ consent agenda Tuesday when a resident adjacent to the property turned out to show opposition.
Mel Skelton, who lives at the back end of the abandoned gas station property on Sims Court, said he was speaking on behalf of himself and neighbors in the Heatherwood subdivision.
He said he’s endured decades of runoff from a malfunctioning retention pond, a polluted creek and noise from the various businesses that have been there, none of them, including an auto repair shop, he said, that have “passed muster.”
He said the retention pond is practically in his back yard, and that his property, which is separated from the gas station property by a creek, is in a Class a flood zone.
It’s taken a couple of decades since the gas station was first built and the property cleared for wildlife to return, he said.
While Southern Gas Partners said it would be keeping existing wooded buffers, he’s concerned about round-the-clock lights and noise, especially because “when people get their car washed, they like to listen to their music.”
“I’m not against development, as long as it’s done right,” Skelton said of what’s become a community eyesore in an area that he said has many other similar businesses.
There are two other gas stations at the same intersection that also have convenience stores.
“How many car washes do we need, especially behind a residential area?” Skelton said.
Jim Courson, representing Southern Gas Partners, said his client is hamstrung by changes in the county zoning code over the years that have rendered those properties non-conforming.
“It is truly a hardship based for the owner simply because the classifications changed,” Courson said, “and it was through no fault of his own that he is sitting there with two pieces of property he really can’t do anything with unless you grant the rezoning.”
Cobb tax records show Southern Gas Partners purchased the current gas station property in 2017 for $401,800 and the undeveloped land last year for $390,000.
“It would change from an old outdated gas station to a current updated convenience store,” Courson said. “The owner is handicapped by not being able to do anything with the property as it sits there today.”
Carl Carver of the Cobb Stormwater Management agency said the applicant would have to provide for runoff management for the car wash area.
He also said both properties would have to be treated as “hotspots” requiring treatment to improve water quality prior to runoff discharge.
The site plan calls for right-in, right-out access only in eastbound lanes of Shallowford Road, but allows a left turn onto westbound Shallowford.
Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said that since the left turn intersection meets the county’s minimum of being at least 250 feet from an intersection, that meets “our standard for full-movement access.”
Birrell said she was worried, given DOT’s current grade of “F” on Shallowford, and that Trickum has a “C.”
“I think it’s a safety issue,” she said. “I’m on Shallowford and Trickum a lot and Lassiter [High School] is right down the street. It’s very congested there for them to be turning left out.”
Diaz responded said it’s an area “where I would recommend using caution during high peak periods, but off-peak periods, probably not.”
She said DOT could take restrictive measures in the future if it “showed to be a safety issue.”
In other cases in the East Cobb area, commissioners approved on the consent agenda a special-land use plan permit extension for Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to continue use of temporary space on its North Campus on Post Oak Tritt Road for a high school campus.
Since moving there in 2013, Mt. Bethel Christian has used existing facilities it purchased from the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta for grades 9-12 and for some worship events for Mt. Bethel Church.
The new permit allows the school, which had received previous extensions, to continue through the end of August 2024.
Pulled from Tuesday’s agenda was a rezoning request by Green Community Development to build 16-home environmentally-friendly homes on rocky terrain on Kinridge Court near Sprayberry High School.
The planning commission voted to recommend denial after community opposition surfaced, but the Cobb zoning staff is continuing the case until August.
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“We just fell in love with the business and the community,” said Sprayberry Bottle Shop marketing manager Brij Patel, left, of his family’s 20-year ownership.
In just a half-hour span on a mid-day afternoon, Brij Patel darts around the Sprayberry Bottle Shop filling a variety of roles, almost seamlessly:
Speaking with vendors as marketing manager, checking out customers intermittently and surveying the merchandise in the store his family has grown into a community favorite.
Now 36, Patel has spent the majority of his life at the small box standalone building at 2692 Sandy Plains Road at Kinjac Drive.
He was a teenager when his parents sent him and his older sister to America from his native Kenya to stay with a family friend while they obtained work visas to follow them.
Like many an immigrants’ path, the Patels saw a familiar opportunity as a gateway into a upwardly mobile life in America:
Buy and build up a small business as a way for their children to have an easier time.
For Patel, however, the Sprayberry Bottle Shop is more than just a place that enabled his family’s aspirations to be realized. After 20 years in business, it’s become a way of life for him, too.
“We just fell in love with the business and the community,” Patel said. “Everyone [who comes to the store] almost knows everyone else now. This is pretty much all we have.”
Two decades later, the store is poised for new opportunities to thrive. It sits at what had been planned as the entrance for the redevelopment of the blighted Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.
The shop’s parking lot, in fact, was split by the road leading to the now-razed retail center.
As the zoning case worked its way through Cobb planning circles, Patel retained an attorney, but negotiations broke off with the developer, Atlantic Residential, to create an entrance solution that worked for all parties.
Patel said all he wanted was for the back part of his lot closed off to cut-through traffic.
But grocery chain Lidl, which was to have been the anchor of the new mixed-use development, pulled out, concerned that traffic access would be difficult.
Fencing at the back of the Sprayberry Bottle Shop surrounds the former Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.
The tentative entrance to the new development will be right-in and right-out for northbound traffic on Sandy Plains, but Patel said he hasn’t seen any further details.
While he’s glad the cut-through traffic is gone, the construction site also has cut off access from Post Oak Tritt Road and East Piedmont Road.
Patel said those are routes used by a good number of his customers.
“It’s been a bit of a business loss,” he admitted. “It’s gotten slower.”
But he’s optimistic that the redeveloped area behind his store “is going to be awesome for everyone.”
The redevelopment comes after more than two years of business challenges for the Sprayberry Bottle Shop.
While the shop never closed as the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, the stress and strain of labor and supply chain issues eventually took a toll.
Patel’s clever and upbeat updates on the store’s Facebook page (which has nearly 10,000 followers) on occasion included notices of the store closing for a couple of days, just to give everyone some time off.
Josh Stump, a manager at Sprayberry Bottle Shop, confers with a customer.
Social media pushes and word-of-mouth referrals from customers are “100 percent” how the store does its marketing.
Surrounded by five warehouse liquor stores within a small radius, Patel said special events are another way to give the shop some visibility.
Those events include auctioning off a rare bottle of Bourbon for $1,600 for a cancer charity. Patel estimates the store has helped raise $20,000-$30,000 over the years in community give-backs.
As the store marked its 20th anniversary on July 1, Patel penned a heartfelt message, detailing not only his family’s journey, but expressing gratitude.
“To see how much love our community has shown us over the years, leaves me speechless to this day,” he wrote. “I will keep pushing harder, and give back whenever I can and I will become the best game player on our team.
“I wouldn’t change a thing about anything today as I wouldn’t have 20 years ago. To growth, to positive energy, to great friendships in this beautiful world.”
Brij Patel said his family found “a little gem tucked away in Marietta” and “put everything we had into it over the past 20 years.”
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A grand jury report clearing the Cobb County School District of any criminal wrongdoing relating to procurement practices wasn’t mentioned by the Cobb Board of Education this week.
Neither board members nor Superintendent Chris Ragsdale brought up the topic at their monthly work and voting sessions Thursday.
But some public commenters did, urging compliance with grand jury recommendations to increase school board oversight into how the district awards contracts for goods and services.
The grand jury met in late June to hear the results of an investigation by the Cobb District Attorney’s Office after questions were raised about Cobb school district purchases of COVID-related equipment.
The procurement documents presented to the grand jury were from 2015-2021 and for contracts awarded to companies owned by a late Cobb business owner, David Allen.
The grand jury, in its May/June report released earlier this week, said a review of procurement documents “show a clear pattern of rewarding some contracts outside of” district policy, but those were mostly with resellers and not sole source providers.
The report doesn’t specify which contracts fell into that category; the grand jury concluded that since the Cobb school district is exempt from state procurement law outside of construction contracts, “no criminal violations have been found.”
The panel recommended that the district conduct a peer review of contracts exceeding $20,000 and have the school board approve contracts higher than $50,000 before they are awarded.
The grand jury also suggested that the Georgia legislature consider “changing state procurement law to include county boards of education” and that a grand jury conduct an annual review of the Cobb school district, as grand juries do for other public agencies.
The grand jury also concluded that “there is substantial evidence that the Cobb County School Board has not been operating as a well-functioning school board” that has affected procurement policies and procedures and has resulted in “insufficient transparency among board members, employees, and the stakeholders within the district.”
Stacy Efrat, an East Cobb resident who’s a leader of a school financial watchdog group called Watching the Funds Cobb, read from the report during her public comment period.
“The board and district leadership are trying to fool the public,” Efrat said. “Don’t take my word for it. Read the report. This was not an exoneration. This was a call for change based on the limited jurisdiction that the grand jury has over school district policies.”
Catherine Pozniak, a Democrat who is running against Republican board chairman David Chastain in November for the Post 4 seat in Northeast Cobb, urged the board to make all contracts subject to board approval.
She said the report concluded that “no one’s locking the bank vault at night. [Cobb schools] response is ‘Well, no one’s stolen from us yet.’ ”
“This report is a canary in the coal mine, and this board would be absolutely irresponsible if it did not take immediate action.”
On Friday, East Cobb News contacted Chastain for comment, but he has not responded.
East Cobb News also contacted the district, which issued a statement about the grand jury report that was also provided to other media outlets:
“We appreciate the grand jury explicitly rejecting false allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the District and its staff. We also echo their recognition of the transparency with which the District’s procurement staff operates.”
The district further stated that “some of the grand jury’s misunderstandings appear to come from a retracted report from one of the District’s accreditors.”
Cognia’s initial findings included concerns about how purchasing and resource allocation policies were being followed in the district.
But in addressing the school board in March when he announced the reversal, Cognia CEO Mark Elgar said that “people may disagree” with how the money is spent “but that’s not evidence that the policies weren’t followed.”
In its statement this week, the district said that “it is unusual that the grand jury would directly quote and rely upon an accreditation report that has been publicly rescinded by the issuing organization, because the report was directly contradicted by evidence presented by the District.”
It also thanked the grand jury for noting the availability of procurement information available on the district’s website.
“The District takes seriously its obligation to be a good steward of public funds and is confident that all District purchases follow state and federal law, Board policies, as well as all applicable procurement processes, standards, and best practices,” the district statement said.
The statement further noted that the Cobb school district is one of four in the country to receive the Accreditation for Quality Public Procurement Departments, a distinction it has held since 2003.
The district also employs four of 896 individuals worldwide who are certified procurement specialists by the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, Inc.
Allen, who died last year, also was the owner of AlertPoint, which had been the Cobb school district’s emergency system vendor for the past five years. A former AlertPoint employee has been indicted for bid-rigging in his position as a procurement officer in a Florida school district.
Ragsdale announced last month that the Cobb school district is changing its crisis system vendor for the coming school year.
In February 2021 all high schools in Cobb were put on a brief Code Red lockdown. After initially saying it was due to a false alarm, the district said the incident was a deliberate cyber attack on the AlertPoint system and called in the Cobb Police Department to help investigate.
The Cobb school district’s statement did not make any mention of other grand jury recommendations relating to the school board.
Those include a review of the board’s Code of Ethics “to develop, implement, and monitor a plan of accountability that holds each board member individually and collectively responsible for improving public perception of board leadership, district leadership, and ensures adherence of all board members in effectively and efficiently executing their established roles and responsibilities.”
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For one day only, on Monday, July 18 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., visit Cobb Animal Services to meet your new furrever friend. Adoptions for featured pets are FREE. No appointment is necessary, so just stop by the Animal Services lot, take a look at the featured cats & dogs in our trailer and bring one (or more) home as your forever friend.
Thank you to our sponsors who have donated refreshments and treats for the staff, volunteers and forever families who adopt at the event.
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 Cobb food scores for the week of July 11 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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 Cobb government spokesman said a repaving project along East Piedmont Road is scheduled to resume next week.
A reader checked in this week to ask about the East Piedmont Road repaving project, which we noted when it began in June that full completion was expected to take until August.
The reader said the top level of the road has been stripped off for some time along the stretch to be repaved—between Allgood Road and at the intersections of Pinkney Drive and Mainsail Road just below Sandy Plains Road—and wondered when work would resume.
“Aside from skipping a portion of the road that needed repaving a few years back, the local politicians are all blaming each other as to why it is taking three weeks to pave less than a mile of road between Allgood and Sandy Plains,” the reader said. “The road has been torn up since mid June and it is now mid July. Work is simply not occurring.”
We drove along that same route Friday morning heading to a previously scheduled appointment, and there are construction signs and cones all along the median and sides of East Piedmont. It is indeed a rough ride.
Later, we checked with Cobb County government, which passed along this information late Friday afternoon:
“The Contractor is scheduled to be back on East Piedmont Road early next week after the completion of Sandy Plains Road. Weather permitting Sandy Plains will be completed tomorrow night—crews are scheduled to work tonight and tomorrow night. The next activity on East Piedmont Road will be deep patching to repair soft areas. This will take a few weeks to complete, and then the final surface course will be placed. Completion by the end of August is still a valid date as long as the contractor remains on the project.”
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The Cobb Board of Education voted Thursday night to retain the same property tax rate for the Cobb County School District—18.9 mills—that has been in place since 2007.
But it came after some debate that included attempts by two board members to reduce, or consider lowering, that figure.
A motion by board member Jaha Howard to cut the tax rate to 18.8 mills failed 2-3-1.
Voting present was vice chairman David Banks, who earlier had asked Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to provide a review of Cobb school budget options at the current level, and at 18.0 mills and 17.5 mills.
“I have some reservations” about the current millage rate, Banks said, in light of rising property tax assessments in Cobb County, and other economic factors, including inflation, as well as flattening school enrollment.
The original motion to adopt the 18.9 mills rate passed 4-1-1, with Howard voting against and Banks abstaining.
Although he didn’t mention it in his remarks, Banks has long advocated a LEST, or Local Education Sales Tax, to help provide general fund revenues.
Ragsdale emphatically responded that “it will not be my recommendation to lower” the millage rate.
The Cobb tax digest rose by 11.5 percent this year, Cobb schools chief financial officer Brad Johnson told board members at a work session Thursday afternoon.
(That’s less than Cobb County’s overall tax digest growth of 12.3 percent; the Cobb school district does not tax inside the city of Marietta, which has its own school system.)
The digest increase netted the Cobb district an additional $70 million in tax revenues.
Since the board did not “roll back” the millage rate to last year’s revenues, the district is required by state law to advertise a tax increase and hold three public hearings before officially setting the millage rate.
The last of those hearings was Thursday night. A resident spoke in favor of cutting the millage rate, saying her school tax bill was more than $1,000 higher than last year.
But Jeff Hubbard of the Cobb County Association of Educators asked the board to keep the millage rate as is to benefit teachers.
It includes what Ragsdale has said is the largest pay increase in Cobb school district history, ranging from between 8.5 and 13.10 percent for non-temporary employees.
Given that most of the budget is made up of teacher salaries, board member Randy Scamihorn said he could not support reducing the tax rate.
In addition to a required balanced budget already being approved, he said, “I will not vote against our teachers.”
Howard said the slight reduction he proposed “will not affect our teachers or educators at all” but it is important to send “a strong sign to the public, a sign of faith to our community.”
He said he was confident that the district could absorb the lower tax revenue, and board member Tre’ Hutchins agreed, “even if it’s minor.”
Banks asked Ragsdale to provide the budget estimates he requested by October.
But Ragsdale said a clearer picture wouldn’t be possible until March, when the Georgia legislature, which funds nearly half of the district’s budget, is in session.
Georgia law caps public school district millage rates at 20 mills. Ragsdale said some other school districts in metro Atlanta have higher rates than that that were grandfathered in before present limits.
Cobb is one of the few districts in metro Atlanta with a broad senior tax exemption for homeowners 62 and older.
District officials have estimated that the exemption comes to more than $100 million a year. But the board’s four-man Republican majority, including Banks—who receives the exemption—has refused to revisit the exemption, which could be removed only through a state constitutional amendment.
Ragsdale said Cobb is able to do what it does with the budget thanks to a fiscally-conservative finance department that “is all about being a good steward of taxpayer funds.”
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The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved a new policy that calls for the Cobb County School District to hire armed, non-police professionals to help provide security.
Right before the board’s vote on Thursday night, however, several citizens in the board room chanted “delay the vote!”
Board chairman David Chastain called for a recess.
After the board reconvened few minutes later, the protestors continued.
Board member Jaha Howard, attending the meeting remotely, made a motion over the chanting to postpone the vote to August, and some in the crowd applauded.
His motion was seconded by Tre’ Hutchins, but it failed by a 2-4 vote (board member Charisse Davis was absent from the meeting).
The original motion, to approve the policy, was approved 4-2, with Chastain, David Banks, Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler voting in favor.
“Shame on you!” shouted some of the protestors, and as it was the last item on the agenda, Chastain adjourned the meeting.
Several of the protestors spoke earlier during a public comment period, opposed to more guns in schools and questioning the identities and qualifications of those who would be hired.
Some wore shirts that said “End Gun Violence” and “Moms Demand Action,” the name of a gun-control organization.
Parent Charles Cole said the policy is “rash, dangerous and vastly open-ended.
“Let’s get some more guns in schools and add some specifics later is not the way we should operate. . . . I understand the intent, but I do not understand or support the execution.”
The policy does not include numerous details due to security concerns, but the new personnel—who could be recruited from the ranks of retired military, law enforcement, and other agents—will assist existing resource officers on campuses, buses and various school functions and extracurricular activities.
While they will be trained as officers in the CCSD Police Department, the armed guards will be paid on a different scale and do not have to be certified by the Georgia POST (Police Officer Training Standards) Council, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said.
He announced last month the addition of such personnel, along with a new security alert system and Code Red drills at every school in the 2022-23 school year that begins Aug. 1.
During a school board work session Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale said the district, like public safety agencies in general, is struggling to hire police officers. POST certifies all law enforcement in Georgia, including school districts that have their own police departments.
“If the board gave me a blank check” to hire a resource officer for every school, “I could not do that,” he said.
The Cobb school district has 67 police officers to cover 114 school campuses. The new armed guards would be “badged” employees of the school district, and select personnel on those campuses would be notified of those who are carrying arms in the schools on a “need to know” basis.
The new guards also will undergo background checks and psychological evaluations and will have annual firearms training.
“We are not going to arm personnel who are not fully vetted,” Ragsdale said.
“This policy will allow us to embark upon that path to make sure we are doing everything possible” to beef up security, he added, in the wake of the deadly elementary school shootings in Uvalde, Texas in May.
Ragsdale also said he is adamant that teachers will not be armed, and the new policy bars teachers and other personnel with classroom supervisory roles from bearing weapons.
The initial policy proposal would have allowed teachers to be armed if they met certain qualifications and in extraordinary exceptions, but Ragsdale withdrew that provision.
When asked by Banks if every elementary school in the district currently has a resource officer, Ragsdale said that “we cover every school but we don’t have an officer at every school.”
Hutchins asked if the new guards would be under Ragsdale’s purview. He said they would report chiefly to Ron Storey, the district’s public safety director, “but I won’t say they won’t only report to Storey.”
Howard said he had concerns about the policy, saying that he’s seen “no data or evidence that more armed professionals will make our students and staffers safer.
“It sounds like we are creating a group of gun-carrying professionals who are not police officers.”
Other commenters who spoke against the policy included Alisha Thomas Searcy, a former Cobb legislator and the Democratic Party nominee for Georgia School Superintendent, and Cobb SCLC president Ben Williams.
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!
The Georgia Symphony Orchestra Chorus enthusiastically invites singers to participate in two open rehearsals and to preview the coming season.
Musical highlights for 2022-2023 include selections by Hogan, Whitacre and Coleridge-Taylor. Carl Orff’s masterpiece Carmina Burana will conclude the season. The GSO Chorus is under the direction of Bryan Black, and rehearses on Tuesday evenings beginning August 16.
Open rehearsals will be held on Aug. 16 and 23 at 7: 30 p.m. at the Marietta Performing Arts Center, 1171 Whitlock Ave., Marietta.
The Georgia Symphony Orchestra also announced this week that it has been approved for a $10,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its annual Sensory Friendly concerts.
Those will take place on April 15, 2023 and will feature these 50-minute programs, as the orchestra relaxes house rules and encourages the audience to respond to the music however they choose; such as around the concert hall, dancing, or vocalizing along with the music.
A pre-program instrument “Petting Zoo”and a Quiet Zone also are provided.
“It is a tribute to the GSO’s board, staff and musicians to have received this grant from the NEA,” GSO Executive Director Susan Stensland said. “We are excited to contribute to the arts and culture of our region in such a unique and positive way for members of an often-underserved community.”
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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!
Members of the Georgia U.S. House delegation and Georgia U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff have filed bills in Congress to change the name of the Veterans Administration regional office in Atlanta after the late Sen. Johnny Isakson.
“Senator Isaksonspent decades of his life in service to Georgia and our great nation,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of the 6th Congressional District in a statement issued by her office.
“Senator Isakson’s career left an unforgettable mark on the U.S. Senate and the country as a whole. We shared a passion to make Georgia the best place to live and raise a family, and a dedication to upholding our nation’s commitment to the men and women who served in our armed forces. I am proud to join with my colleagues to support this billthat salutes hislegacy of service to Georgia veterans.”
Isakson, a realtor from East Cobb, died in December 2021 from Parkinson’s disease, after a 45-year political career in the Georgia legislature and Congress.
In the U.S. Senate, Isakson, a Republican, was chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee.
“He worked across the aisle to ensure that we honored the sacrifice of those who have served in America’s armed forces,” said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, like McBath a Democrat from the 3rd District. “He retired from Congress as Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Naming the Veterans Affairs Atlanta regional office after him is a fitting tribute to this proud son of Georgia. I am proud to lead this bill with Congressman Allen to honor Senator Isakson’s legacy with the support of Georgia’s entire U.S. House delegation.”
Georgia Congressional members also wrote a letter to veterans committees in both houses saying that Isakson “championed important reforms to improve the quality and accessibility of services for our nation’s military veterans. We believe that Senator Isakson’s service to the veterans of Georgia warrants this tremendous recognition, and that naming this facility is a fitting tribute to his legacy.”
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The front of Mt. Bethel Church in July 2021, before its battle with the United Methodist Church went to court.
The words “Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church” once engraved on a marquee on its main campus on Lower Roswell Road were scrubbed several weeks ago.
That was in June, when the large East Cobb congregation entered into a settlement with the United Methodist Church to resolve more than a year of public disputes and legal wranglings.
A little more than a month later, the split has become official. Mt. Bethel Church is no longer part of the second-largest Protestant denomination and is an independent church.
Less than a month after entering a formal settlement with the North Georgia Conference of United Methodist Church, Mt. Bethel has fulfilled its obligations in a consent decree.
The Conference Board of Trustees issued a statement Wednesday saying that both parties “recently signed documents that bring resolution to the matter” and that they “appreciate all who have worked patiently and prayerfully to reach this point of resolution.”
No further details were announced, but the consent decree, filed in Cobb Superior Court, required Mt. Bethel to pay the Conference $13.1 million in 120 days. The church conducted a fundraising drive and received a loan to meet that obligation.
Other terms of the decree also no do not permit Mt. Bethel to use certain portions of its properties as offices or headquarters for another religious denomination for several years.
The church also cannot sell any of its Lower Roswell Road properties for seven and a half years without giving the UMC and the North Georgia Conference the right of first refusal to purchase them.
Mt. Bethel has been a founding member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a consortium of conservative Methodist congregations that eventually founded the Global Methodist Church, a new denomination that went into effect in May.
The UMC has planned a separation process for conservative churches to leave over theological issues, particularly regarding human sexuality.
The UMC currently bans gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex marriages but is likely to change those policies.
However, the denomination hasn’t been able to meet collectively since COVID-19 and its next general conference has been delayed to 2024.
Mt. Bethel officials said when the consent decree was signed in June that they are remaining independent.
Robert Ingram, the lead attorney for Mt. Bethel, previously told East Cobb News that his clients wanted the settlement to include a disaffiliation vote that would have been less costly than what was in the consent decree.
But he said the Conference, “despite our pleas, never did that.”
The dispute began in March 2021 when the Bishop of North Georgia reassigned Rev. Dr. Jody Ray, Mt. Bethel’s senior pastor, to a Conference position on racial reconciliation.
Mt. Bethel leaders balked, saying they weren’t properly consulted and declared their intent to disaffiliate, while Ray turned in his UMC ministerial credentials.
He was retained by Mt. Bethel as a pastor and CEO and has continued in those roles ever since.
Those and other actions by Mt. Bethel prompted charges by the Conference that the congregation—with nearly 10,000 members is the largest in its domain—was violating the UMC’s Book of Discipline governing documents.
Mt. Bethel also refused to accept the Conference’s newly appointed senior pastor, Rev. Dr. Steven Usry, who has since been meeting with disaffected members.
The Conference attempted to seize church property and assets, declared Mt. Bethel not to be a church in good standing, and entered into mediation before filing a lawsuit last September.
Mt. Bethel filed a counterclaim and after several months of litigation, asked Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark to lead settlement talks.
A church picnic has been scheduled at Mt. Bethel for Aug. 14 after its late service.
A group of Mt. Bethel members who opposed the church’s fight with the North Georgia Conference continue to worship and have fellowship and support events at a variety of venues.
Last month, North Georgia Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson met with them at Mt. Zion UMC in East Cobb.
The Friends of Mt. Bethel group has been worshipping once a month at Roswell UMC and has been having “shepherding” events at the East Cobb Library and prayer meetings at Mt. Zion.
Fellowship potlucks are scheduled for this Sunday and Aug. 14 at the clubhouse at the Sibley Forest subdvision.
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NASA Ambassador Chris Thompson will present the Exploring the Early Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope program at Sewell Mill Library, 4880 Lower Roswell Road, on Monday, July 18 at 6 pm.
The free program will feature the story of the advanced space observatory JWST along with the latest images and discoveries from the farthest reaches of space. Register at http://ow.ly/zy7L50JTahv.
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