For the second time, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid will deliver a State of the County address next week.
She’s the featured speaker at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Marquee Monday breakfast on June 13.
The event takes place from 8-10 a.m. at the Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre at The Battery Atlanta (800 Battery Ave.) and will include the Cobb Chamber’s presentation of its Executive Woman of the Year Award (info and registration here).
Until this year, the address from the head of county government had been delivered exclusively to the Chamber audience.
But earlier this year, Cupid added a separate event to invite the larger public. After being unable to get commissioners to provide funding, her “All In” address in April was sponsored by Wellstar Health System and other private donors.
She spoke al length about diversity and demographics and how Cobb can “retain our strength as an affluent suburban county” without leaving other types of communities behind.
That address was before three Cityhood referendums, including one in East Cobb, were rejected by voters last month.
The county government held town halls and launched a Cityhood information page that was criticized in particular by the East Cobb Cityhood group.
Last week, in her weekly e-mail newsletter, Cupid referenced the Cityhood votes by saying that “this should be the start of new dialogue. The town halls, forums, and conversations gave us a great opportunity to hear from residents. Now is the time to consider how we can strengthen county services, create communities with a better ‘sense of place,’ and capture the heightened level of engagement these votes encouraged.
“Residents made it clear they want a role in land use, zoning, and parks programs. Hopefully, this sparks increased community engagement with commissioners and staff when it comes to amendments to our Comprehensive Plan and participation in zoning meetings. In the weeks and months ahead you can also get involved in the county’s transition to a Unified Development Code among other matters like waste collection.”
Now in her second year in office, Cupid sounded some alarm bells with Chamber leaders and local elected officials in 2021 when Cobb commissioners approved a controversial residential rezoning near the Dobbins Air Base reserve accident potential zone.
That resulted in a land swap with the county to resolve the matter, commissioners later approved a code amendment to take away their discretionary power on rezonings around Dobbins.
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