Cobb commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid fired back in response to citizen comments that she’s preventing them from expressing their First Amendment rights at public meetings.
After a public comment session at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, Cupid cited long-standing policy giving the county chair the prerogative to impose standards of civility.
“I will continue to preserve order and decorum,” Cupid said in reading prepared remarks from a laptop computer at her side.
Her comments followed two public speakers who’ve been highly critical of her in recent weeks, and after she had ordered a citizen in attendance to be removed from the board’s meeting room for heckling.
One of the previous speakers, Christine Rozman of East Cobb, returned to read the text of a letter she wrote to Cupid last week.
In September, Rozman spoke out against an agenda item for the county to hire a contractor to develop a Unified Development Code, a comprehensive planning process that some critics fear may limit or eliminate single-family zoning.
Rozman referenced the government of China and United Nations 21/2030 Agenda (a sustainable development document) in denouncing the UDC, which is in place in DeKalb County as well as the cities of Atlanta and Roswell.
Cupid later told the MDJ without referencing anyone by name that she was “somewhat offended by some of the comments” that she said were “disparaging innuendo with respect to race, national geography and origin” and that she said didn’t reflect the board.
On Tuesday, Rozman repeated concerns about UDC, then cited New York Times v. Sullivan, a landmark free speech ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1964, that said that public debate on issues “may include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”
She said public speakers are also subject to First Amendment guarantees of free speech, “whether or not the presentation and style of said comments appeal to the preferred presentation style of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners.”
Rozman’s letter concludes with a comment she included from an unnamed attorney who told her the following:
“The message from Ms. Cupid is that anyone who speaks out against the BOC is motivated solely by racism and whatever national geography and origin means. In other words, she uses ‘innuendo,’ which is both without merit and absent fact, as a basis to disregard what was said and ultimately prevent future speech.”
Rozman didn’t read that portion of the letter at Tuesday’s meeting because her time limit had ended; she previously sent East Cobb News a copy of the letter, dated. Oct. 6.
Rozman also asked at the end of her letter that Cupid issue a formal apology to her, but none was forthcoming.
Shortly before Rozman spoke, Cupid cut off another public speaker, Hill Wright of East Cobb, who tried to continue speaking on another topic after his five-minute limit had expired.
Cupid reminded those in attendance not to speak “out of turn,” then asked County Attorney William Rowling to read aloud a statement governing public comments.
That’s a new practice at commission meetings (the Cobb Board of Education also recently began issuing such a disclaimer before public comment sessions), and comes on the heels of a suspended attempt to alter its public comment format.
Cobb commissioners were to have considered a public comment policy change in August, but the agenda item was pulled by Cupid after wide criticism, ranging from the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the Cobb Republican Party.
That agenda item has not been brought back up.
In her comments Tuesday, Cupid read from a board policy that public speakers are prohibited from making “impertinent, derogatory, offensive or slanderous remarks” while addressing the commission.
(Her comments come with about an hour left in the video above; the speakers in question are shown shortly before that.)
“I’m sorry if some people don’t like that policy, but that is our policy,” Cupid said. She continued, stating that persons can be barred “if their conduct is deemed out of order.”
She recited the process from there, including a citizen’s right to appeal being banned from speaking, then spoke off the cuff.
“People keep saying they want this county to run like a business . . . that is what we’re doing,” Cupid said. “This county has a budget of $1 billion. We ask for your support to help run this county like a business.
“We have a highly educated, professional county. You know what you would have tolerated in your meetings, in your classrooms, in your board rooms. So I don’t know why when people step in this room, they have amnesia.”
She said that while she welcomes public comment, “we will not allow mayhem to be the spirit of this meeting.”
The fireworks started well before that, after Cobb and Douglas Public Health Director Dr. Janet Memark briefed commissioners on recent COVID-19 trends. After she was done, a citizen in attendance shouted “I have a question,” and Cupid said he was out of order.
“That’s not how we conduct our meetings,” she said.
When he persisted, she ordered law enforcement to remove him from the room.
At that point, after the first item on the agenda, Cupid called for a five-minute recess before the meeting resumed.
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Lisa Cupid sold us out (Us = Cobb County tax payers). Remember when Cobb County had a 550 million dollar surplus and the commissioners themselves agreed with what Cobb county tax payers wanted, more public parks and trails? Lisa then ignored what tax payers wanted and gave the Braves a blank check with no restrictions. Nothing is going to stop her from selling us out to out-of-state developers. She might of had good intent when she first started but that good intent is long gone.
My mr how nasty the partisans are. I don’t usually comment but the article has incorrect information in it about my speaking. I don’t see anyone commenting out actually helping others through this crisis.
Totally agree. He builds a lot of favorability with his tips and helpful information while also spreading falsehoods mostly about politics where he has strong views. He can be nasty to those who don’t agree with him. I believe he’s now using several different account names for his political posts.
I was there to plead for help for hundreds of residents that have been devastated and facing ruin from the storm damage. I had been up working in the issue most of the night and had three hours sleep. I always do a few run throughs to make sure I’m within the time limit. But I was tired and was slower. I saw I was running out of time so I switched to my one sentence closing remark. In the past the chair has always used allowed the speaker to briefly finish their thought and as long as they stopped after the sentence. Instead of focusing on the people that need her help she continued to rule with an iron fist and display indifference to the people she serves.
Written comments are allowed and need to be put into the record. Abusive outbursts that disrupt a meeting shouldn’t be allowed from anyone.
Be brief.
Show respect for other’s time.
Stay on topic.
Lisa has my support on maintaining order, even when I disagree on the specific topic.
Fully support Lisa… From personal experience, Hill Wright is a complete jack wagon if he doesn’t get his way.
Totally agree. He builds a lot of favorability with his tips and helpful information while also spreading falsehoods mostly about politics where he has strong views. He can be nasty to those who don’t agree with him. I believe he’s now using several different account names for his political posts.
She’s in so far over her head she doesn’t know what to do and everyone gets to pay the price.