East Cobb Cityhood town hall to include legislation sponsors

East Cobb Cityhood leaders — *State Reps. Sharon Cooper and Matt Dollar during an East Cobb Cityhood virtual town hall this spring.*

The two East Cobb lawmakers who’ve sponsored a cityhood bill for the 2022 legislature will be featured on a virtual information session Wednesday.

State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, both Republicans, will discuss the results of a feasibility study that’s required for the bill to be considered.

The information session starts at 5:30 and the public can sign up by clicking here. You can also include questions you want answered, as there will not be direct interaction with the participants.

Researchers at Georgia State University concluded in their report that a proposed City of East Cobb, with around 50,000 residents centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, is financially feasible.

But Dollar, Cooper and Cityhood representatives scheduled to appear on the information session will most likely be questioned above all about a surprising development in the Cityhood initiative.

That’s the inclusion of police and fire services (new cities must provide a minimum of three) which were evaluated in the GSU study.

East Cobb News contacted Dollar and the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood to provide more details before the Wednesday session about those changes.

Cindy Cooperman, a cityhood spokeswoman, said that “after reviewing service options and community feedback, public safety was added to the scope of the study in the October timeframe. This addition is very favorable from both a public quality of life and an economic standpoint for the residents of East Cobb.”

The bill Dollar and Cooper submitted in March, near the end of the 2021 legislative session, proposed planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation services.

Road maintenance was added in July, when the feasibility study was commissioned.

During three virtual town halls over the spring and summer, police and fire services were not discussed.

The initial East Cobb cityhood effort in 2018-19 included police and fire services, but the bill was eventually abandoned before the 2020 legislative session.

The revived effort was modeled on what’s called “city light” services, which typically don’t involve expensive public safety services and the imposition of new taxes.

The proposed cities of Lost Mountain and Vinings, whose financial studies also were released recently, focus on zoning and development and do not include public safety.

In the East Cobb study, parks and recreation services were pushed back to an appendix and road maintenance services were given a “snapshot” assessment to “assist a city council in the future to negotiate with the county,” Cooperman said.

The recent GSU study includes transferring the current Cobb County Fire Fund, with a 2.86 millage rate, and that would be the proposed city’s largest source of revenues.

The report also concludes that the city of East Cobb would have a $3 million annual budget surplus.

The city would purchase two existing Cobb fire stations, but there’s no funding for leasing facilities for city government.

Cooperman said that the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road “would work perfectly for the city hall.”

It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.

“Should East Cobb become a city it would have access to this facility for its office space and equipment needs,” Cooperman said, adding that “the elected council ultimately has responsibility for the final decision.”

The cityhood bill, if passed by the legislature, would establish a November 2022 referendum for voters in the proposed City of East Cobb to decide whether to incorporate.