East Cobb residents sound off on cityhood bill at hearing

A bill that would call for a referendum on creating a City of East Cobb could get a committee vote as early as Thursday after the legislation got its first full hearing Wednesday.

UPDATED: The House Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Thursday to approve the bill, which goes to the full House.

East Cobb residents spoke both in favor and against the cityhood bill before lawmakers on Wednesday (you can watch the hearing by clicking here).

A special panel of the Georgia House Governmental Affairs Committee heard arguments that echoed public debate when East Cobb cityhood first came up in 2019.

The bill is listed on the agenda of the full committee, which meets at 8 a.m. Thursday. You can watch that meeting by clicking here.

Unlike the first campaign for cityhood—which was abandoned by the bill’s supporters after vocal opposition surfaced at town halls—the current effort was conducted last year in virtual format and small gatherings.

At the hearing at the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, proponents of cityhood, including chief sponsor Rep. Matt Dollar, stressed the importance of local government control in Cobb County, whose four district commissioners now serve around 200,000 citizens each.

Opponents made familiar complaints that cityhood would be adding another layer of government and questioned who was behind the campaign, despite newcomers who represented the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.

“East Cobb, it is a place,” said Dollar, who sponsored the original bill in 2019 and now has the support of Rep. Sharon Cooper, another East Cobb Republican.

“It’s very relative. East Cobb means something different to everyone who’s out there.”

He said cityhood supporters have gathered plenty of feedback from the first campaign to incorporate into their drive to create a city of 55,000 people with public safety, planning and zoning and code enforcement services.

Dollar, who is not seeking re-election this year, said initially he was opposed to the cityhood bill.

“I think it’s a positive thing for a place I’ve called home my entire life,” said Dollar, who added that he’s recently bought a new home in East Cobb.

“It’s our forever home. I’m not leaving.”

What’s changed since 2019?

The political dynamics in Cobb County, for starters.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners now has a Democratic majority after Republicans began dominating in the 1980s.

Pamela Reardon, a realtor who said she opposed the initial cityhood effort, is now on board because of zoning and development issues in Cobb, suggesting that current county elected officials are plotting a high-density future for the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

“What scares me to death is the direction these commissioners are taking the county,” she said. “They make no bones that their goal is to urbanize our suburbs.”

But other East Cobb residents were just as adamant that they didn’t see a need for a new city.

“What’s in it for me other than more taxes?” said Robert Hanson, a retiree. “Who’s really behind this?”

He suggested Cobb County have a singular government, folding in the six existing cities and “eliminating politicians and bureaucracy.”

Resident Norman Black said “I don’t know of anyone whose opinion was solicited before this bill. It came from out of the blue.”

Mindy Seger, a leader of the East Cobb Alliance, which formed in 2019 to oppose cityhood, reiterated to the subcommittee that creating a city would be creating a new layer of government, and that while there are some new faces on the cityhood committee, “it’s the same song and dance.”

She questioned the late summer 2021 addition of police and fire services to a financial feasibility study, which was released in November and showed an annual revenue surplus of $3 million.

But Seger said the study didn’t include cost estimates for police and fire personnel, equipment and related expenses.

And she questioned the current bill’s governance structure of a weak mayor system—in which city council members would elect one of their own to serve two-year mayoral terms.

That’s a format similar to the Cobb Board of Education, which has been roiled in controversy over the last three years.

“It’s not the best model of governance right now,” she said in response to a question by Rep. Barry Fleming, a Republican from Harlem (near Augusta).

She was countered by State Rep. Ed Setzler, who spoke to the subcommittee in favor of East Cobb Cityhood.

He’s a Republican from West Cobb and is the sponsor of a bill to create a City of Lost Mountain, primarily for zoning and development reasons.

Setzler said that “it’s not more government, it’s representative government.”

He said his constituents in the cities of Acworth and Kennesaw get “40 times the representation” from their city council members as those in his district living in unincorporated Cobb County from a single commissioner.

With a city of East Cobb, he said, citizens would get “20 times the representation that you have now.

“The cityhood movement needs to be seen in the context of quality of life and representative government.”

State Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Democrat from Marietta who represents part of Northeast Cobb that’s not in the proposed city, asked Setzler about East Cobb’s demographics—which she said were around 75 percent white—in comparison to the rest of the county.

He said he’s supported cityhood across the board, including South Fulton, with a high minority population, and countered that her premise “is wrong to ask. Does this group look the same as a broader group of people?”

She replied that “you haven’t really answered my question but thank you” and said she was curious about “why cityhood is being pursued here.”

Another Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Mesha Mainor of Atlanta, said she was familiar with East Cobb after having lived in Sandy Springs.

“East Cobb is its own place,” she said.

Cityhood committee members who spoke Wednesday said that’s why they’re getting involved now, after not doing so or being unaware of the issue three years ago.

“A lot of times it seems our representatives are out of touch,” said Cindy Cooperman, the group’s communications leader. “I’m not getting the engagement or representation I’m looking for.”

Another newcomer to the cityhood campaign, Sarah Haas, said she’s taking part now to help preserve “the character of East Cobb,” particularly regarding development and redevelopment.

“How do we have local control and a local voice?” said Craig Chapin, the group’s president. “This isn’t secession from Cobb County.

“Folks who live in the community should be making the decisions that are the most relevant to our community.”

Related content:

• East Cobb Cityhood bill to get first legislative hearing
• Cityhood, reapportionment top 2022 Cobb legislative agenda
• East Cobb News Cityhood page

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