The Cobb County Public Library System has themed its 2022 summer reading program “Oceans of Possibilities.”
Kickoff events take place at four venues on Saturday, June 4, from 4-6 p.m.
They include the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road), and the free, all-age event includes activities, crafts and more to promote social connections and reading.
The challenge officially takes place from June 1—July 31 and is designed to encourage patrons of all ages participate in shared learning experiences and community engagement, and to track their reading times to win prizes.
For more on all Summer reading programs, resources and activities in Cobb, visit www.cobbcat.org/summer.
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The nationwide fashion accessory retailer Kendra Scott is having a grand opening for its new pop-up store at The Avenue East Cobb on June 3.
Located at Suite 940 (next to the East Cobb mural), the store will be the sixth in Georgia for Kendra Scott. The company includes more than 100 stores across the country.
The store will include current fashion collections and the Kendra Scott color bar, providing an interactive experience to create customized jewelry.
During its opening week the Kendra Scott store will host local non-profits and donate a percentage of sales—details here.
Kendra Scott also will take part in the Ladies Night Out event at Avenue East Cobb on Thursday, May 19from 5-7 p.m. Guests can stop by the pop-up concierge station in Central Boulevard (located between Kale Me Crazy and Banana Republic) to shop the Kendra Scott trunk show and enjoy a 15 percent discount.
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 primary election and East Cobb cityhood referendum results, click here.
ORIGINAL POST:
On Tuesday voters will be going to the polls in the 2022 primary election on a ballot that also includes a cityhood referendum for part of East Cobb.
This post rounds up everything we’ve put together before you head to your precinct—if you haven’t already voted. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at all precincts.
If you have an absentee ballot, that must be dropped off at a designated drop box location by 7 p.m. Tuesday. It’s too late to put it in the mail, because all ballots have to be received by Cobb Elections by 7 p.m. in order to be counted.
For voters in East Cobb, there’s a full slate of competitive races at every level—local, state and federal, as well as the cityhood referendum.
Voters in the proposed city of East Cobb (you must live within the boundaries of this map) will vote either for or against incorporating a new municipality of around 60,000 people. Visit our Cityhood tab for more information about the referendum.
It’s one of three Cobb cityhood referendums to be decided on Tuesday, along with Lost Mountain and Vinings.
Voters in East Cobb will have contested primaries in several key races, including District 3 Cobb Commission (Republican), Georgia Senate 6 (Democrat and Republican), Georgia Senate 32 (Republican), Georgia House 43 (Democrat) and Georgia House 45 (Republican.)
A big Republican field also is on the ballot in the 6th Congressional District, and several sitting statewide office holders are being challenged. They include Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
The sample ballots above are countywide; to get a sample ballot customized for you, and to check which races you will be able to vote in, click here.
Cobb Elections said 23,990 Democratic ballots, 30,938 Republican ballots and 564 non-partisan ballots were cast in-person during three weeks of advanced voting.
More than 10,000 of those ballots were cast at the East Cobb Government Service Center and nearly 6,500 at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center.
A total of 5,153 absentee ballots have been accepted out of 6,293 returned, and 9,457 issues.
The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration has changed several polling stations Tuesday, including one in the East Cobb area.
The Bells Ferry 3 precinct, which has been located at Noonday Baptist Church, will be moved to Transfiguration Catholic Church (1815 Blackwell Road).
That change is for the primary only; you can check your registration status and precinct location by clicking here.
Voters must present a valid photo identification or a special voter ID card with them to the polls.
Primary runoffs are scheduled for June 21.
For more local information, including absentee voting, voter registration, maps and an elections calendar, visit the Cobb Elections website.
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Failed referendums in 2018 took place in Eagles Landing (Henry County) and Sharon Springs, which would have created only the second city in Forsyth County.
The latter referendum did get a majority of voters in support, with 54 percent voting yes. But the Sharon Springs charter stipulated that the referendum had to pass with 57 percent of the vote.
Dating back to 2015, in fact, only three cityhood referendums have passed, in Tucker and Stonecrest in DeKalb County and the City of South Fulton, where an initial referendum in 2007 was handily defeated.
The Skidaway referendum is the only cityhood vote to take place outside of metro Atlanta since 2005.
That was in March 2019, as the initial East Cobb cityhood legislation was being introduced, and as that first cityhood group was finally meeting the public.
Before town hall meetings began in East Cobb, Charlie Harper, a Cobb-based political consultant, wondered if the cityhood movement was losing its steam, and specifically its message of promising better government with local control instead of less government.
Those have been the conflicting messages of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood and the anti-Cityhood East Cobb Alliance, respectively, in what’s become an increasingly bitter campaign.
Harper also thought it was a good time to “re-evaluate the rush to cityhood in many cases. We need to set a higher bar before pitting neighbor against neighbor. There needs to be a clear and consistent reason why we should.”
The cityhood movement picked up in Cobb after Democrats gained control of the Cobb Board of Commissioners and Republican elected officials expressed concern over high-density development in more suburban areas.
The GOP-dominated legislature easily passed the three cityhood bills calling for Tuesday’s referendums, as well as another to take place in November in Mableton.
There has not been a new city in Cobb County for more than 100 years.
Milton City Hall opened in 2016, 10 years after a cityhood referendum passed. (ECN file)
While the East Cobb Cityhood group said it was not doing any formal polling, State Sen. John Albers, a North Fulton Republican who carried the East Cobb Cityhood bill in the Senate, said he thinks the vote could go either way.
He has been involved in some of those cityhood referendums in North Fulton, and said those new cities have largely been governed smoothly. (Like East Cobb, Johns Creek and Milton are affluent communities that are providing police and fire services.)
There were initial problems on the Milton City Council due to some personality conflicts that required the help of an industrial psychologist.
But of the last five cityhood votes that were approved, three passed with less than 60 percent of the vote. The exception was Tucker, with 74 percent of the vote.
The following is a summary of the 15 cityhood votes that have taken place since 2005. State Rep. Mitchell Kaye said he requested the information from the House Budget and Research Office.
He was sworn in earlier this week to fill out the rest of the term of Matt Dollar, the chief East Cobb Cityhood bill sponsor.
Kaye said he was initially undecided about cityhood but now is opposed, saying he doesn’t think a City of East Cobb could improve upon current county public safety services.
He said while he was initially pleased at the level of community engagement when the referendum campaign began, he’s troubled by more recent dialogue that has “taken on a more personal tone.
“I hope our community can come together however the vote turns out,” Kaye said.
County
Year
Vote
Sandy Springs
Fulton
2005
Yes, 93%
Johns Creek
Fulton
2006
Yes, 88%
Milton
Fulton
2006
Yes, 85%
South Fulton
Fulton
2007
No, 84%
Chattahoochee Hills
Fulton
2007
Yes, 83%
Dunwoody
DeKalb
2008
Yes, 81%
Peachtree Corners
Gwinnett
2012
Yes, 57%
Brookhaven
DeKalb
2012
Yes, 54%
Tucker
DeKalb
2015
Yes, 74%
LaVista Hills
DeKalb
2015
No, 50.5%
Stonecrest
DeKalb
2016
Yes, 56%
South Fulton
Fulton
2016
Yes, 59%
Sharon Springs
Forsyth
2018
No*
Eagles Landing
Henry
2018
No, 56%
Skidaway Island
Chatham
2019
No, 62%
(* 54 percent of Sharon Springs voters approved the cityhood referendum, but it failed because “yes” votes needed to cross a 57 percent threshold)
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A week-long schedule of commencement exercises for the Cobb County School District gets underway on Monday, with most schools once again holding their graduations at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center.
All six high schools in the East Cobb area will be having graduation ceremonies there, as most schools did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the last two years, graduation took place outdoors at McEachern High School.
But with the return to KSU, the Cobb school district also is reverting back to some of its previous features.
Those include live-streaming of all graduation ceremonies at this link. DVDs of graduation events also can be ordered and purchased at this link; the cost is $30 for the DVD and for shpping.
The Cobb Horizon School will the first graduation ceremony, with Kell High School the first traditional high school to graduate its Class of 2022:
Monday, May 23: Kell High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
Wednesday, May 25: Lassiter High School, 3:30 p.m., KSU
Wednesday, May 25: Wheeler High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
Thursday, May 26: Walton High School, 10 a.m., KSU
Thursday, May 26: Sprayberry High School, 7 p.m., KSU
Friday, May 27: Pope High School, 2:30 p.m., KSU
The Cobb County School District and KSU also have issued the following information about security and parking for graduation events.
There will be metal detector screenings for all persons entering the Convocation Center, and all bags must be clear totes or small clutch bags.
Graduates will report to the Siegel Recreation Center for line-ups, which will take place on the basketball courts.
That’s a change from previous commencements at KSU, but there no changes for parking locations.
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The following East Cobb food scores for the week of May 16 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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Three more elementary schools in East Cobb will have new principals for the 2022-23 school year.
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved the appointment of new principals for Eastvalley, Powers Ferry and Rocky Mount schools, among numerous personnel changes.
The new Eastvalley principal will be Dr. Whitney Spooner, who has been an assistant principal at Sope Creek Elementary School. She is replacing Kendall Foster, who has been named principal at Norton Park Elementary School.
Lindley Middle School principal Elayna Wilson has been named the new principal at Powers Ferry Elementary School, succeeding Patrice Jones.
Rocky Mount Elementary School principal Peggy Fleming is retiring, and the district has named Dr. Cheri Vaniman, an assistant principal at Nicholson Elementary School, to succeed her.
All three of those appointments will take effect July 1, when the Cobb County School District’s academic and fiscal year begins.
The retirement of longtime Brumby Elementary School Dr. Amanda Richie was made in April, but her successor has not been appointed.
The Cobb school board also made other personnel announcements, including the following at schools in East Cobb:
Stephen Joel Atchison, assistant principal, Murdock Elementary School, resignation;
Bradley Cohen, assistant principal at Bells Ferry Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Addison Elementary School;
Ashley Ford, assistant principal at Smyrna Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
Courtney Kelly, assistant principal, Big Shanty Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Nicholson Elementary School;
Elizabeth Marsili, assistant principal, Bells Ferry Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Kennesaw Elementary School;
Tresa Snow, Coordinator, South Cobb Early Learning Center, reassigned to assistant principal, Sope Creek Elementary School;
Carrie Lowery, Technology Training Integration Specialist, Chief Technology Division, appointed to assistant principal, Dodgen Middle School;
Dr. Kacie Phipps, assistant principal, Griffin Middle School, reassigned to assistant principal, East Cobb Middle School;
Bradley Adkins, teacher, Sprayberry High School, appointed to assistant principal, McEachern High School;
Jeffrey Burch, Athletic Director/Administrative Assistant, Centennial High School, Roswell, to become assistant principal, Kell High School.
The board also voted to approve additional one-year contracts to the members of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s cabinet. They’re the various department heads, and after a motion was made to accept them all together, board member Jaha Howard made a substituted motion.
He wanted the contract of John Floresta, chief strategy and accountability officer, to be considered separately.
That office is responsible for accountability, research and grants, communications and events and venue management.
Howard did not say why he was making his motion, and it failed.
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The Cobb Board of Education unanimously adopted a fiscal year 2023 budget on Thursday that will provide what Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said is the biggest salary increase in the history of the Cobb County School District.
The record $1.4 billion budget, which takes effect July 1, includes pay hikes between 8.5 and 13.10 percent for non-temporary employees.
The raises were included as the Cobb tax digest is expected to grow by more than 10 percent in 2022, and follows $2,000 bonuses for teachers that were approved by the Georgia legislature.
“This is something every team member does not take lightly,” Ragsdale told board members after the vote, expressing his appreciation on behalf of the district’s more than 18,000 employees.
The district will use $29.5 million in budget contingency to fund the budget, roughly half of which is funded by the state through the Quality Basic Education Act.
The board also passed, by a 7-0 vote, a measure for the district to hire an architect for classroom renovations at Wheeler High School.
The district will spend $309,111 for Gardner Spencer Smith Tench & Jarbeau of Atlanta to conduct architectural design to upgrade STEM and CTAE classrooms and make other modifications, including upgrading elevated walkways between buildings and converting tennis courts.
Board member Jaha Howard asked Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, if the scope of the work included changing the name of Wheeler—”a Confederate general.”
Board chairman David Chastain said “that’s not part of the agenda item.”
Howard is one of three Democrats on the board who has tried to press for consideration of the Wheeler name change, but they haven’t had the votes to get the matter placed on a board agenda.
A first-term member from Post 2 in Smyrna, Howard is not seeking re-election this year. He is among the Democratic candidates for Georgia School Superintendent who will be on the primary ballot next Tuesday.
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The Cobb Department of Transportation will ask county commissioners Tuesday to begin condemnation proceedings for rights-of-way and easements for the Lower Roswell Road transportation project.
Since commissioners last year approved the conceptual plan for the project—which will stretch from Davidson Road to Woodlawn Drive—Cobb DOT has continued with property acquisitions and other work to begin construction.
According to an agenda item, the county is requesting access to six parcels, five of them in a residential community.
Those homeowners are in the Gates on Woodlawn townhomes, at the northwest intersection of Lower Roswell and Woodlawn.
That’s close to the western end point of the nearly $9 million project (fact sheet; location map) that would expand traffic lanes, create special turn lanes in some areas and construct a raised median along one portion of the route.
The county says small portions of the parcels are needed for right-of-way and temporary construction easements.
While Cobb DOT continues to talk to the property owners, “in order to meet project deadlines, condemnation authority is requested,” the agenda item states.
A similar resolution has been proposed for a portion of property housing the Bank of America ATM at 4851 Lower Roswell Road, next to the McDonald’s.
The county also recently received right-of-way and easement access for a portion of the 1.2 acres of Mt. Bethel Park that’s owned by the Cobb County School District.
The land was the original site of Mt. Bethel Elementary School, and makes up part of the nearly four-acre park, the rest of which is owned by the Cobb Parks and Recreation Department.
The Lower Roswell transportation project has been delayed several years. In an interview with East Cobb News last year, Cobb DOT engineer Karyn Matthews said “we wanted to get the right concept for the community.”
The county has had to purchase all but three of the 32 parcels since commissioners approved the concept plan.
Other features of the traffic project include creating dual left-turn lanes from westbound Lower Roswell onto southbound Johnson Ferry Road, and creating a two-lane extension on Lower Roswell in either direction west of Woodlawn Drive, to Parkcrest Place.
That’s part of a major overhaul of a long-bottlenecked intersection that will have dedicated right-turn lanes onto Woodlawn from Lower Roswell.
Once construction begins, the project is expected to take two years to complete. Funding will come from the 2011 Cobb SPLOST.
The Board of Commissioners 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; 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.
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The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that a female inmate who had been on suicide watch at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center died of an apparent suicide.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Blake said in a release that Nicole Smith of Atlanta was pronounced dead at 7:54 a.m. Thursday, after being taken to a hospital.
It’s the third death of a Cobb jail detainee this month, and is the second involving possible mental health issues.
Blake said Smith had been on active suicide watch and had tried to take her own life during mandatory welfare checks conducted by Sheriff’s Office personnel around the clock every 15 minutes.
He said that staffers began life-saving procedures when Smith was discovered Thursday, but he didn’t elaborate.
Blake said Smith had been receiving professional mental health support as part of a suicide prevention program at the jail.
The Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation and has asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Blake said.
On May 12, Eva Kanja of Smyrna, who had been booked in late April for misdemeanor battery, died at the jail while undergoing a mental health evaluation.
On May 3, Joshua Capes of Kennesaw died at a hospital after being found unresponsive in his cell at the jail.
The causes of those death have not been revealed.
Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens began a detainee mental health program last fall. There were three jail inmate deaths in 2021, Owens’ first year in office, and he asked the GBI to conduct external probes of detainee deaths.
The first of those, in April 2021, was a man who died after attempting suicide.
“Unfortunately, our detention center—and thousands of detention centers across the country—have become de facto mental health hospitals,” Owens said in the release. “I will be convening local leaders, including those who just toured the facility, to help identify solutions and hopefully find treatment options outside of incarceration.”
The Cobb Sheriff’s Office had come under fire previously for a number of jail inmate deaths, prompting former Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes to call for an independent probe.
Among those were Kevil Wingo, who begged for medical help from jail staff and died in custody in September 2019.
The Wingo family filed a federal lawsuit against Wellstar Health system, six nurses and three sheriff’s deputies.
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Mitchell, Kaye, a Republican from East Cobb who previously served in the Georgia General Assembly, returned to the state capitol Tuesday to be sworn back into office.
He won a special election runoff earlier this month to fill out the remainder of the term vacated by District 46 Georgia House member Matt Dollar, who resigned in February.
Kaye sent along the photos. At top he is sworn in by Georgia Supreme Court Justice John J. Ellington as Kaye’s wife Amy holds their grandsons Caleb and Ari Kaye.
Kaye is serving through the end of the year. New District 45 boundaries will take effect in 2023 following redistricting.
He did not qualify to run in the May 24 primary. Current District 43 State Rep. Sharon Cooper is running in the new District 45, and is being opposed in the Republican primary by Carminthia Moore.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Dustin McCormick, whom Kaye defeated in the runoff, in the November general election.
When he served the East Cobb area from 1993-2002, Kaye was the first Jewish Republican elected to the Georgia legislature.
At bottom Kaye poses with (L-R) Ellington, Cooper, Rep. Devan Seabaugh and Rep. Don Parsons, who represent the Marietta and East Cobb areas.
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3336 Lost Mill Trace, 30062 (Olde Mill Forest, Walton): Nicholas Marine to Keri Farley and Dannette Martin Lenninger; $800,000
1044 Boyd Road, 30066 (Sprayberry): Edyee Mazariegos Mata to Nicole Harrington; $212,000
1938 New Kemp Road, 30066 (St. Charles Square, Sprayberry): Li Bing Bing, Liu Shuiyin and Li Jiang to OP Gold LLC; $528,000
2630 Shadow Woods Circle, 30062 (Shadow Woods, Pope): Paul Freebairn, executor, estate of Dorothy Freebairn, to Metro Capital Properties LLC, $380,000
May 3
3712 Fox Hills Drive, 30067 (Fox Hills, Wheeler): Arthur Lee Moore to Yuriy Moskovoy and Lauren Hudson; $640,000
1182 Ramblewood Drive, 30066 (Ramblewood, Sprayberry): Morgan Watkins to Ayn Constance Remillard and James Bradley Allen; $380,000
3012 Pathview Lane, 30062 (Wendwood, Pope): Kelly Elizabeth Hopkins, trustee, Kelly Elizabeth Hopkins Trust, to Zachary and Lauren Lonneman; $605,000
3751 Westchase Drive, 30066 (Canterbury Ridge, Sprayberry): Nexhmi Durmishi to Helio Mateus de Arantes Cesar and Aretha Di Cassia Da Costa Valente; $375,000
4434 Windsor Oaks Circle, 30066 (Windsor Oaks, Lassiter): Robert Dougherty to Molly and Richard Hughes; $710,000
4925 Highpoint Drive, 30066 (Tremont, Kell): Zillow Homes Property Trust to Eder Jacinto; $385,000
May 4
3438 Fox Hollow Drive, 30068 (Fox Hollow, Walton): Anoop Kapoor to Thanh Tung Hang and Thi Xuan Nguyen; $560,000
2261 Lessie Maude Drive, 30066 (Powell Station, Sprayberry): Johnny Rich to Janet Boyd; $385,000
2911 Connie Street, 30062 (Rolling Acres, Pope): Michael Broome to John Agel and Melissa Cook; $465,000
May 5
220 Creekside Court, 30067 (Fox Hills, Wheeler): Sterling and Christal Moses, executors, estate of Nick Moses, to Mesa Verde Assets, LLC; $415,000
May 6
2514 Canopy Court, 30062 (Tanglewood North, Lassiter): Debra Heitzman to Elena Sabkova; $1.1 million
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Cobb Police said a Smyrna man died Tuesday night after he was thrown from his motorcycle in a crash on Terrell Mill Road and the express lanes at Interstate 75.
Sgt. Wayne Delk said in a release that Harry A. Edwards, 42, was pronounced dead at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
Delk said the crash took place at 8:32 p.m. when Edwards, riding a dark gray 2003 Honda CBR motorcycle heading westbound on Terrell Mill Road, was approaching the north express lanes.
Police said a white 2020 Honda CR-V, driven by Robin J. Tawzer, 58, of Canton, was traveling east on Terrell Mill, in a left turn lane to get on the north express lanes.
As the Honda made the turn, police said the motorcycle crashed into the right side of the vehicle, and Edwards was ejected.
Police said he landed on the road, and was taken to the hospital.
Police said Tawzer was not injured and a passenger in the Honda, Randall R. Tawzer, 52, also of Canton, complained of injuries but refused treatment at the scene.
This crash remains under investigation police said anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department’s STEP unit at 770-499-3987.
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The Cobb Board of Education is scheduled to adopt a fiscal year 2023 budget of $1.4 billion at its monthly voting session Thursday night.
The budget proposal includes what Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said is a record salary increase for for full-time, non-temporary employees, ranging from between 8.5 percent and 13.1 percent.
A public hearing on the budget took place last month, and the board adopted a tentative budget.
Another public hearing is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by the voting session at 7 p.m.
The board will hold a work session starting at 2 p.m., followed by an executive session.
Roughly half of the Cobb school district’s budget comes from local property taxes, and the state provides most of the rest through the Quality Basic Education Act.
The budget documents have been posted on the district’s website at this link. The 2022-23 budget takes effect on July 1.
The board also will be asked to approve the hiring of an architect to make renovations at Wheeler High School.
The work will include conversion of traditional classrooms for STEM instruction, and upgrades at the Wheeler STEM magnet building.
The district is recommending the Atlanta firm of Gardner Spencer Smith Tench & Jarbeau at a cost of $309,116, which is 5 percent of the construction contract.
That item will be presented at the work session and scheduled for a vote in the evening.
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A Walton student who’s interested in an architecture career got in touch with us to find out more, then passed along the above architectural plans that he found on the school website.
The complex will be the new home for Raiders’ baseball and tennis teams. Access will be on Providence Road for tennis (at the left of the rendering, and Pine Road for baseball (at the bottom), with about 80 parking spaces.
The Cobb school board spent $5.65 million to acquire property for the complex, which was planned after several sports teams were relocated due the construction of the new Walton classroom building that opened in 2017.
The Walton softball and tennis teams have been playing home competitions at Terrell Mill Park since 2014.
The softball team has since moved back to the former site of the baseball team, which is playing home games this season at the East Cobb Baseball complex near Kell High School.
Construction of the Walton sports complex is expected to be completed by December.
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The Pope Greyhounds won’t have to venture too far from home in their bid to claim the Georgia High School Association Class 6A baseball championship this week.
The GHSA announced that the Class 6A and Class 7A series will be played at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.
In a best-of-three series starting Thursday, Pope (31-7) will face fellow Cobb high school Allatoona starting at 5 p.m.
It’s a doubleheader, in fact, to be followed by the second game, which starts 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
If a decisive third game is needed, it would be played on Friday starting at 12 p.m.
Tickets are $15 and will be available for purchase online by clicking here. Parking is free in the Red Deck for four hours.
In Class 7A, it’s an all-Cherokee series featuring Etowah vs. Woodstock, with a doubleheader on Friday and a third game Saturday if needed.
Pope defeated Allatoona for the 2018 title and is aiming for its fifth state championship. The previous four were earned under now-retired coach Jeff Rowland.
His former assistant, Chris Turco, is in his first year as the head coach, and he led the Pope softball team to four state championships, the latest in 2018.
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East Cobb Cityhood leaders protested a Cobb Fire Department sign at Station 21 on Lower Roswell Road. It’s one of two fire stations in the proposed City of East Cobb.
With a week remaining before the East Cobb Cityhood referendum is decided, those against the vote are ramping up questions about a financial feasibility study they has been manipulated.
In response, Cityhood proponents are accusing their detractors of last-minute desperation and spinning conspiracy theories.
The anti-Cityhood group East Cobb Alliance last week released a copy of an October 2021 draft financial study and e-mails between the Cityhood leaders and Georgia State University researchers that showed the proposed city of 60,000 would be operating at a $3.5 million annual deficit.
That was with a “city light” set of proposed services of planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.
When the final study was released in November, after public safety services were added—and by transferring a 2.86 Cobb Fire Fund millage rate that would provide the majority of revenues for the new city—the bottom line showed a surplus of more than $3 million.
Bob Lax of the East Cobb Alliance concluded that the final study is “completely contrived, underfunding public safety to use those dollars for the city’s general fund.” (He compiled an analysis of the feasibility study that you can read here. It contains links to some of those e-mail threads.)
The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood accused the Alliance of trying to “distract voters” by going to media outlets and “peddling this non-story.
“Public Safety was included in the 2018 and 2021 cityhood efforts because supporters overwhelmingly provided feedback to our committee and Rep. Dollar that Public Safety, specifically police coverage, was mandatory for the city to provide,” the Cityhood group said in response to a request for comment from East Cobb News, and repeating comments they’ve made during the referendum campaign.
East Cobb is one of four cityhood referendums in Cobb this year, but is the only proposed city that would offer police and fire.
When former State Rep. Matt Dollar re-introduced cityhood legislation in March 2021, the focus was on preserving East Cobb’s suburban character from the high-density development that’s taking place elsewhere in Cobb County.
Cityhood bills must include a financial feasibility study. Dollar said at the time that such a study was to assume no new property taxes beyond what citizens in the proposed city were paying for county services.
While new cities can levy up to one mill without seeking voter approval, starting up revenue-neutral has been a major selling point by the East Cobb cityhood group.
The proposed police, fire and E-911 services in East Cobb have been a major topic at town hall meetings held by Cobb County government officials in response to the cityhood referendums.
While the final feasibility study estimated fire expenses of $5.7 million a year, the county’s numbers conclude the costs to be $12.4 million.
Cityhood leaders have said those figures are misleading, and accused the county of campaigning against cityhood. They sent Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid two separate letters demanding they stop.
Most recently, the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department launched a website portal and promotional campaign to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Signs were posted in front of Station 21, which the cityhood group decried.
“The County’s flagrant disregard of Georgia law in its attempt to influence these elections is outrageous,” the cityhood letter sates, saying the county is violating state law with the fire department campaign “launched to coincide with the start of early voting on the Cityhood referendums.” The letter continued:
“The County’s audacious decision to put up a sign promoting Cobb County’s ‘World Class Fire Department’ sign in the same building as the Early Voting location in East Cobb, is in direct violation of O.C.G.A. §21-2-414. 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.”
That letter was dated May 4. The following day the county responded by saying similar signs were included in front of stations elsewhere, including Station 20, located just outside the proposed City of East Cobb on Sewell Mill Road.
The sign in front of Station 21 remained as the last week of early voting got underway Monday.
On Wednesday, the Alliance is holding a public meeting via Zoom to discuss public safety, with Cobb police, fire and E-911 officials as guests. It starts at 7 p.m. and can be accessed at this link.
The East Cobb Cityhood Committee noted Georgia law requiring new cities to provide at least three services. “We could have taken three low-cost services that would have been feasible with no tax increase,” the group told East Cobb News.
“The East Cobb Alliance cannot accept the simple truth that East Cobb pays more than two times their share in taxes for services we do not receive. It is the hard truth. Supporters of the City of East Cobb are tired of paying the most and comparatively receiving the least in services from Cobb County.”
The issue of crime—which drove an ultimately unsuccessful Buckhead cityhood effort in the Georgia legislature this year—also has been raised more recently by East Cobb cityhood leaders.
“The Buckhead crime problem is coming to East Cobb,” the cityhood group’s response continued. “There is an explosion of crime in Buckhead. Further, the Atlanta Regional Commission study shows crime was Georgia citizens’ number one concern and that amount of concern doubled from 16 percent to 32 percent in one year.”
Bob Lax of the anti-Cityhood group East Cobb Alliance at an April debate.
From draft to feasibility
In its response to East Cobb News, however, the Cityhood group did not explain what happened between its receipt of the draft financial study and the release of the final study.
Parks and recreation services were dropped in the end, and other significant spending categories were either eliminated or reduced.
The draft study showed revenues of $10.9 million and expenses of $13.9 million annually.
The final study came to a budget of $27 million with expenses of around $24 million.
A total of $14.3 million in annual revenues would come from the fire fund, which would be used to cover other services in the proposed city, including police, planning and zoning and code enforcement.
Lax said he had to fight to get Georgia State to provide the draft study after filing an open records request in late March.
He got the draft and e-mails between Georgia State and the cityhood committee last week, after threatening legal action.
On Oct. 4, the e-mails show, the lead GSU researcher notified the cityhood leaders that “due to the smaller number of services, some revenue available in the previous iteration of the study [the 2018 East Cobb financial feasibility study that included police and fire] will not be available in this iteration.”
That e-mail came from Peter Bluestone, a senior research associate, and he added that “I think it would be useful to discuss the implications of this prior to your review of the draft.”
Craig Chapin and Cindy Cooperman of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood
Cityhood president Craig Chapin replied on Oct. 8 that the group “wanted to walk through the addition of services we want to consider.”
A reply from Bluestone later that day noted that “revising the report to include police and fire and the property tax revenue [$14 million] would push the date out for the completion of the final report closer to the end of November.”
He said substituting library services, which had been suggested by the GSU research team, would keep the report timeline on schedule.
Oct. 8 also is the date the of the draft study, which states in red lettering on the cover: “Not for distribution or attribution.”
The bulk of the revenues in the draft study would come from franchise fees, insurance premiums, licenses and permits and a tax on alcoholic beverages. Only $785,000 annually would come from property taxes.
The estimated annual expenses in the draft study include $6.9 million for administration and $2.5 million for parks and recreation, which would include East Cobb Park, Fullers Park, Fullers Recreation Center, Mt. Bethel Park, Hyde Farm and the Wright Environmental Education Center.
In the final study, the parks and recreation costs were detailed in an appendix; another $588,981 in costs for planning and zoning per year was taken out.
Facility leasing expenses of $600,000 also were eliminated entirely, and nearly $1 million in administrative costs were cut.
In his analysis of the two studies, Lax said that “the feasibility study was manipulated to make the city feasible . . .Your public safety services WILL suffer, and your taxes WILL go up. One might even ask if this level of public manipulation could constitute fraud.”
The East Cobb Cityhood group, in its response to East Cobb News, maintained that the study is valid, and that the issue before voters is simple.
“To be clear and not confuse voters, the referendum question in front of voters is to incorporate the City of East Cobb supported by a credible and impartial feasibility study performed by Georgia State. This is the question on the ballot for voters on May 24.”
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A second East Cobb location of the First Watch breakfast/lunch restaurant concept will be opening in the fall.
That’s the latest word from the Bradenton, Fla., company, which has more than 400 restaurants in 28 states, including one at Sandy Plains MarketPlace.
The new eatery will be converted from a former Well Fargo Bank branch at 1080 Johnson Ferry Road, on an outparcel fronting the Shops at Woodlawn and that has been used as a COVID-19 testing location.
“Right now, they are working hard to get things finished in Marietta, Ga., with the projected opening date approaching in the fall,” said First Watch message sent to East Cobb News. “We always hope for the best and know our development team is knocking out that punch list to stay on schedule.”
First Watch, which also has a location on Cherokee Street in downtown Kennesaw, serves up a variety of breakfast and lunch items, specialty juices, coffees and teas.
The Johnson Ferry corridor is a competitive one for the breakfast/lunch concept, with Goldbergs Bagels in an adjacent building, as well as J. Christopher’s, Flying Biscuit and 101 Bagel Café.
A third metro Atlanta location of Sleep Galleria is set for a July opening at Merchant’s Walk, according to a company social media message.
Sleep Galleria, which opened in 2018, has existing stores in Acworth and Johns Creek.
The store will occupy a part of the former Stein Mart space, and a construction fence has been erected (see below).
The rest of the vacant space is listed as being the future home of Marshalls, but no formal announcement has been made.
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Artisan Custom Closets, located on Wylie Road in the East Cobb area, has been named the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Small Business of the Year.
Artisan president Lisa Carlquist accepted the trophy with Cobb Chamber officials Monday as part of the organization’s Small Business of the Year awards luncheon.
Here’s what the Chamber said in a release about Artisan Custom Closets:
“The Artisan Custom Closets team is dedicated to finding the best possible solution for its customers by providing perfectly functional and aesthetically appealing storage systems to clients according to their storage requirements, budget, and style preferences. The team provides clients with a one-on-one consultation and 3D imaging designs before manufacturing in Marietta and installing custom pieces within the home, guiding clients through each step from start to finish.
“Artisan Custom Closets pride themselves on being the only company in Georgia to have its designers certified by the Association of Closet & Storage Professionals. Additionally, the company uses environmentally friendly products that are made from 100% recovered or recycled wood fibers. With 20,000 customers in the Atlanta area, the team’s strong work ethics, professionalism, and quality of workmanship has expanded the business to new heights.”
“Our mission is simple, to make people’s lives more organized and save them time,” Carlquist said in her business’ application. “It has been quite the journey over the last 25 years in this industry watching people start out viewing custom closets as a luxury; now, most people see them as a necessity.”
The Chamber explained that once the field was narrowed down to five finalists, a site visit by an independent panel of judges takes place. “The visit is meant to be a fresh, in-person opportunity to present the ideals, practices, values and day-to-day operations discussed in their initial application.”
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