Commissioner JoAnn Birrell’s office is getting out word today that water service will be out for a portion of the Sandy Plains Road area between Ebenezer Road and East Piedmont Road late Thursday night and into early Friday morning for water main repairs.
That’s the area where road construction work has been underway for some months.
From 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday, water service will be shut off on the east side of Sandy Plains (indicated by the blue line in the map) for crews to install a new valve on the existing water main in front of the McDonald’s (at the intersection of Sandy Plains and Post Oak Tritt Road).
Most of that area is commercial or institutional entities, most of which will be closed by then.
At the same time, according to the message sent out today, northbound lane closures on Sandy Plains will be in effect. The best alternates if you’re out and about during that time are Canton Road and Holly Springs Road.
The $4.4 million Sandy Plains construction project approved by commissioners in 2017 includes a raised median, new crosswalks and pedestrian signals and resurfacing.
Back in May the Sandy Plains-Ebenezer intersection was shut down for hours after a water main break that required emergency repairs. An East Cobb News reader said she saw a truck involved in the construction work striking a hydrant.
The project is expected to be completed by the fall.
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A rendering of the Akers Mill Road ramp to the I-75 managed lanes, via the Cumberland Community Improvement District.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing the final $5 million in funding to construct a ramp connecting Akers Mill Road to the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes.
The $5 million grant is from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects (INFRA) program, and is the final funding component of the nearly $44 million project.
That money has come from state, local and other federal funding sources as well as the nearby Cumberland Community Improvement District
The 29.7-mile express lanes opened late last summer along I-75 between an area just north of Akers Mill and Hickory Grove Road in north Cobb, and along I-575 in Cobb to Sixes Road in Cherokee County.
Georgia DOT estimates nearly 4.2 million trips along the toll lanes have been taken since they opened.
Drivers in the Akers Mill area who wish to use the managed lanes have had to travel several miles to reach access points, in particular at Terrell Mill Road.
The 24-foot reversible ramp will allow motorists to bypass congested local roads. Traffic estimates in the Cumberland area are around 100,000 trips a day.
The grant was hailed by county and Cumberland CID leaders, as well as U.S. senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, Congressman Barry Lowdermilk and Congresswoman Lucy McBath.
Construction on the Akers Mill Road ramp is expected to begin in 2021 and be completed by 2023.
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For the second year in a row, Cobb commissioners are divided on the county budget. By a 3-2 vote, they adopted a $475 million fiscal year 2020 general fund spending plan on Tuesday that holds the line on the millage rate but takes in $21 million more in revenue.
The budget includes a pay raise for county employees (and a bigger one for many public safety employees), eliminates non-profit spending and reduces transfer revenues from the county water department.
While East Cobb’s two commissioners voted against last year’s budget, they split their votes this time around. Bob Ott of District 2 once again voted against the new budget, referring to long-term problems over public safety staffing, pensions and transportation in prepared remarks.
“I am deeply concerned that nothing is being done to address these issues,” Ott said. “I cannot in good conscience vote for this budget.”
Last year, he was joined by District 3’s JoAnn Birrell, who said she couldn’t support the FY 2019 budget because the property tax hike of 1.7 mills didn’t come with any significant spending cuts.
This year, she said, there have been some cuts. “Overall, this is a good budget,” she said in her prepared comments before the vote. “It’s not a perfect budget.”
JoAnn Birrell.
Birrell said that public safety “is our number one priority and it’s high time we do something about it.”
She voted for budget adoption this year with commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb and chairman Mike Boyce of East Cobb, who said he was happy with what he called a compromise budget.
The extra revenue is due to growth in the Cobb tax digest, projected to be a record $39 billion for 2019.
County employees who get favorable performance reviews will be getting a four-percent pay increase. Likewise, police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies—who received a one-time bonus this summer to address what many have called a “crisis” in public safety staffing, morale and retention issues—will be getting a seven-percent raise.
Membership fees to use county senior centers—a hot topic in last year’s budget—have been eliminated. An additional $400,000 for the public library system will be used to meet what county spokesman Ross Cavitt said were “critical needs,” including its materials collections.
“This year was all about increased compensation for public safety, and this budget delivers it,” Boyce said moments before calling the question.
Also voting against the budget was Keli Gambrill, newly elected from North Cobb, who questioned the amount of contingency funds in the budget, among other concerns. In his comments, Ott urged county budget officials to indicate the original source of spending when bringing items up for contingency funding.
Mike Boyce
More emphatically, he said that 95 percent of Cobb DOT funding comes from SPLOST receipts, and worries about how “devastating” it would be for road maintenance and repair should a sales-tax referendum ever be defeated. The next likely SPLOST vote could take place in 2020.
“Opening the libraries an extra day does no good” if the roads patrons depend on to get there are in disrepair, Ott said.
He also noted that county pension obligations continue to mount. In 1997, 95 percent of those obligations were funded, but that figure is only 52 percent today.
While he supports better pay for public safety, Ott also is concerned this year’s seven-percent raise may make it difficult to implement a step-and-grade compensation system that could result next year.
“I want to see that this is going to be worked on starting tomorrow,” Ott said.
Although board members may appear to be on seemingly different tracks about the budget, Boyce praised his colleagues, including those who voted against the budget.
“This board is honest to a fault,” he said before the vote. “How much is that of value to you?”
The commissioners also set the millage rates for the various county budget funds:
General Fund, 8.46 mills;
Fire Fund, 2.86 mills;
Debt Service (Bond Fund), 0.13 mills;
Cumberland Special Services District II, 2.45 mills;
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With a new school year a little more than a week away, Walton High School is improvising its orientation sessions next Monday.
Instead of taking place on campus, those sessions will happen instead at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road); see schedule below.
Construction work is nearing completion on a $31.7 million gym and performing arts building (where the original classroom building once stood). While it’s expected to be done by first day of school, next Thursday, Aug. 1, the delays prompted the orientation change.
“Walton is planning a theater opening event in September,” a Cobb County School District spokesperson told East Cobb News. “Although they may still be completing some final details, they are planning to use the building on the first day of school.”
School officials didn’t give a reason for the delay. Last December a fire broke out in the new building but according to Cobb Fire, it was quickly contained and didn’t cause major damage.
The new facility is the second component of the Walton rebuild and will be completed two years after a $48 million classroom building was opened.
Here’s what Walton officials are sharing with the community about next week’s orientation, where students will get their schedules and pick up prepaid PTSA and Walton items.
All sessions will take place in the Magnolia Room at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.
Monday, July 29 9th grade:
8:30-9:15 am: Last names A-K
9:15-10:00 am: Last names L-Z
12th grade:
10:00 am-10:45 am: Last names A-K
10:45-11:30 am: Last names L-Z
11th grade:
11:30-12:15 pm: Last names A-K
12:15-1:00 pm: Last names L-Z
10th grade:
1:00-1:45 pm: Last names A-K
1:45-2:30 pm: Last names L-Z
If you’ve got a freshman, the walkthrough takes place on next Wednesday, July 31, from 2-3 p.m. at the school (1590 Bill Murdock Road). Here are the details about that:
“There will also be an opportunity for parents to become familiar with Walton and to learn what they can do to help their students in the transition.
“For students: Students will meet Walton Ambassadors in the Rotunda and be escorted to homeroom. Ambassadors will take the students on a school tour with their schedules so they can locate all their classrooms.
“For parents: While your child is meeting with the Ambassadors, the school principal and support staff will conduct a meeting in the dining hall to orient you to Walton.”
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After working to get a new member of the Cobb Board of Education elected last year, East Cobb resident Jerica Richardson has decided to run for public office in 2020.
Richardson, who lives in the Delk Road area, is a candidate for the District 2 Cobb Board of Commissioners seat held by 11-year incumbent Bob Ott.
She said she’s formally launching her campaign in August (her campaign website is here) and is running “because it is time that the community has a seat at the table.”
On her personal website, Richardson describes herself as a “hacktivist” who’s writing a book on the subject. In it, she urges those who are “tired of being ignored” to “pick up those dreams again and inch closer to being who you were meant to be.”
In an interview with East Cobb News, Richardson didn’t offer many specifics about what her priorities would be for now. She admits to being a “firebrand” who dates her interest in politics to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, which took place when she was 12.
“Running for office has always been something that’s been in the back of my mind,” she said. “The impact our elected representatives have can serve as an empowerment tool for the community.”
Richardson, who works in an enterprise transformation unit at Equifax, serves on the Facilities and Technologies Committee, a SPLOST advisory board, for the Cobb County School District. She was appointed by school board member Jaha Howard, whose campaign she worked on and who was elected last year to represent the Osborne and Campbell clusters.
Richardson, who’s running as a Democrat in what’s been long-held Republican territory, is the only declared candidate thus far in District 2. It includes most of East Cobb below Sandy Plains Road, as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area and portions of Smyrna.
(story continues below the map)
Map via Cobb Elections. For enlarged map click here.
Ott, a Republican and the dean of the five-member Cobb Board of Commissioners, has not yet indicated whether he’s running for a fourth term. He’s also downplayed speculation he’s interested in running for commission chairman, or possibly mayor of a proposed City of East Cobb should such a referendum be on next year’s ballot.
Current chairman Mike Boyce and South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid have announced their candidacies for chairman next year.
Richardson and her family moved to Atlanta from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Her brothers attended Walton High School. She graduated from the North Springs arts and sciences charter school in Fulton County and earned a biomedical engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
She said that community “disconnections” between citizens and their elected officials promoted her to consider running. Who are those individuals?
“People who live and work here and who want to see Cobb grow,” she said.
As for specific issues, Richardson said “I’m keeping my finger on that. I want to be very careful how I look at these issues.
“It’s not about me being any kind of savior,” she said. “It’s about bringing people together. I want to be a real representative.”
Richardson declined to comment on what she thinks of Ott’s record, saying that “my campaign is fresh, and he hasn’t made a decision.”
Among the challenges she sees are those the commissioners are dealing with now, including getting a long-term handle on budgeting, taxes and public safety.
She said she will have more detailed comments on policy issues when she unveils her campaign next month.
“There’s a lot there,” Richardson said. “How to articulate what direction we need to go is very important to me. Words matter.”
In mid-June Richardson filed a campaign declaration form with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. Since then, she said her campaign has raised around $10,000 (the current reporting period must be filed by the end of September).
Ott’s latest campaign disclosure form, dated July 1, indicates he raised $55,000 in the second quarter of 2019, and lists the office being “held or sought” as District 2.
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If you’re in the vicinity of the Windy Hill-Terrell-Mill-Powers Ferry area this week and see smoke, please note that the chances are it’s part of a live fire experiment being conducted by the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.
The live burns will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day through Friday at the Arlington Park at Wildwood Apartments, 1972 Kimberly Village Lane (noted by the blue star).
The apartments have been condemned for the construction of the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill connector.
Cobb fire and other nearby fire departments will be working with the Underwriters Firefighter Safety Research Institute on the experiments, with the county saying the results “will be used to improve firefighting tactics, fire ground safety, fire dynamics knowledge, and to improve firefighter standard operating procedures.”
The county followed up with this message this morning:
“It is not an invitation to watch the live burn. The event is not open to the public. It is a heads up to area residents and to prevent additional calls to our busy E-911 center.”
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Angela Kirby of Cheerscape—which offers instruction in the artistry and chereography of cheer—writes in to say that her studio will be opening in September at the Xdrenaline trampoline park and kids’ fun center (1611 Roswell Road).
What is Cheerscape? Kirby says “we focus on cheers, chants, basic positions while building on core strength, flexibility, coordination, balance and memory skills while incorporating movement and dance concepts.”
Just as important, she notes, what it’s NOT: “No stunts, no tumbles, and no competitive spirit.”
Cheerscape will offer classes based on age/grade range, with groups ranging from K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. A 12-week session includes an hour of practice weekly in cheer bow, spirit poms and megaphone.
For information e-mail: cheerscape@gmail.com or call 678-478-3002.
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After being released from a Washington hospital on Saturday, U.S. Sen. Johny Isakson will continue his recovery close to home.
That what the East Cobb Republican’s spokeswoman said Saturday afternoon. Isakson, who fractured four ribs in a fall in his D.C. apartment, will enter an inpatient rehabilitation program at Kennestone.
Isakson, 74, will receive “an intensive physical therapy program” to help regain stamina and mobility, according to his spokeswoman, Amanda Maddox.
“Part of the challenge that Isakson will face is the coupling of his injury with the symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease, which could lead to a longer recovery process,” according to her statement. “He is in good spirits and is determined to face this challenge head on so he can return to doing what he loves: representing Georgians in the Senate.”
Said Isakson:
“I’m on the mend and looking forward to fully healing my fractured ribs through intensive rehabilitation. I thank everyone who has lifted me up through prayer and well-wishes.”
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The leaders of several Cobb non-profits who’ve received county funding in the past are asking commissioners continue the practice, although there’s no money at all for them in the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget.
Irene Barton, Cobb Collaborative
At a budget hearing earlier this week, representatives of some of the 15 community organizations who’ve received a total of $850,000 in the current FY 2019 budget said the small figures they receive from Cobb government enable them to get matching funds that are vital to the work that they do.
“Non-profits are working together to address critical issues,” said Irene Barton, an East Cobb resident who is the executive director of the Cobb Collaborative.
It’s an umbrella organization that received $42,500 this year to help coordinate grant funding of around $3.1 million.
The critical needs include addressing those who are homeless and ex-offenders, those in family poverty situations and for health and wellness issues.
Those were the four criteria Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce proposed last year for organizations to receive county founding. But after commissioners approved the FY 2019 budget, Boyce acknowledged there wasn’t the political support (commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb have been opposed) to continue the funding.
The Center for Family Resources, which focuses on homelessness issues, is getting $141,000 this year, the largest amount of county spending, followed by the Davis Direction Association ($120,000), which fights drug and opioid addiction.
SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center receives $81,000, the Atlanta Community Food Bank $70,000, MUST Ministries $53,000 and the Tommy Nobis Center $45,000.
Barton said in her remarks to the commissioners that the non-profits have worked with government agencies, other non-profits and faith communities, but “no one group can fund this alone.
“Some may feel that that taxpayers’ dollars should not fund these agencies. If these services are not funded, who will provide them?”
As she did last week, State Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Marietta Democrat who represents part of East Cobb, also urged commissioners to provide non-profit funding.
“I really worry that your minds are already made up,” she said. “Once this money is gone, it’s hard to get a chunk of money like this back in the process.”
A Cobb resident at Tuesday’s budget hearing disagreed. Patricia Hay argued that “it’s not government’s job to take care of people. It’s just not.”
The Cobb commissioners will hold a final budget hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, prior to final adoption. The meeting takes place in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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The following East Cobb food scores from July 8-19 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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Rhoda Gunnigle, the franchisee for a forthcoming Frenchies Modern Nail Care location in East Cobb, writes in to say the opening date is Aug. 16.
The business will located at 3154 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 102, in the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center in a small strip facing Johnson Ferry.
In addition to offering manicures and pedicures, the Frenchies also is available for private parties.
East Cobb is one of three new or soon-to-open locations in Georgia for Frenchies, which started in 2014 in Colorado and operates 26 franchises. Gunnigle said the East Cobb store will be the flagship in metro Atlanta, with future locations planned for Woodstock, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody, Cumming, Roswell and Milton/Alpharetta.
She and her husband Grant are the East Cobb franchisees, and they’re parents to a special-needs son. One of her objectives with this business, she tells us, is “is to provide part-time employment for this population as well as our seasoned nail specialists.”
More information and e-mail sign-up for discounts and specials is available at the Frenchies East Cobb site, and they’ve also got a Facebook page with more frequent updates.
“I want to offer clean, natural and affordable nail care to Marietta, and also create healthy career opportunities for cosmetologists and nail specialists,” Gunnigle says. “Frenchies offers a modern, clean and social vibe, with services at prices that make regular visits accessible.”
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The Cobb Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to keep the property tax millage rate at 18.9 mills after a new board member had asked earlier in the day about possibly rolling back that number.
Chris Ragsdale, Cobb school superintendent
The 7-0 vote at the board’s regulation meeting Thursday night came with little discussion. But at a work session earlier Thursday, Jaha Howard, who represents the Osborne and Campbell clusters, suggested the possibility of reducing the rate.
Howard asked Brad Johnson, the Cobb County School District’s chief financial officer, about dollar figures for one mill ($26 million) and a tenth of a mill ($2.6 million).
“With the county doing better, I think it would be good at least to explore what it would like to have a very small adjustment—over time,” Howard said.
But superintendent Chris Ragsdale quickly interjected that it was important to keep the same 18.9 bills the Cobb County School District has levied since 2007.
Even though the district is collecting $23 million more in revenues for its fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.7 billion, he said the additional funding is vital to hold in reserve and use judiciously.
“Yes, we are getting more tax revenue with the same millage rate,” Ragsdale said, adding that factors like inflation, additional utility costs and similar expenses have to be taken into consideration.
He said the idea of rolling back the millage rate “feels good, sounds good for about 10 seconds, and then you quickly realize how painful that would be that next year, if [the district financial situation] turns, and we would need to say we need to raise the millage rate.”
The district had to advertise a tax increase because of the additional revenue, although the millage rate is staying the same. The rollback rate would have been slightly more than 18 mills.
Ragsdale said unspent revenues are rolled into the district’s fund balance to be used for on a “rainy day” basis.
He applauded Cobb school boards for sticking with the 18.9 mills, even during the recession with 10 percent drops in the tax digest, which Ragsdale said was “simply amazing. It would have been a blink of an eye if it had been raised to 20 mills [the legal millage rate maximum Cobb schools can levy].”
The real pain of that situation, he said, was cutting more than 800 teaching positions (with more than 600 of them eventually re-filled).
“That was a total nightmare,” Ragsdale said. “I understand where you’re coming from, but there are so many things in the budget . . . but I would always caution against the idea of a reduction of the millage rate.”
The school board voted on Thursday night to spend $4.5 million for the construction of a new secondary data facility. It’s to serve as a backup to the district’s main data facility, and is expected to be completed by next March.
Here’s what the secondary data center is all about, according to CCSD:
“The secondary data center will house critical hardware and software components that provide the district fault tolerance and daily business continuity. It will also serve as a ‘back-up’ to guard against the possibility of a catastrophic event at our primary data center.”
An East Cobb-related item to note from Thursday’s meeting: Tommy Perry, an assistant at Dickerson Middle School, is leaving to become the principal at South Cobb High School, effective Friday.
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An East Cobb man who is charged with the robbery and attempted robbery of three pharmacies, including two in East Cobb in early April, has been indicted on those charges.
According to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, Matthew Colozzi, 40, of a Sandstone Place address, was indicted by a Cobb Superior Court grand jury on June 27 of seven counts relating to the robbery spree:
robbery by intimidation
criminal attempt to commit a felony
aggravated assault
possession of a knife during the commission of a robbery
possession of a controlled substance
obstruction of police officers
He remains without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he was taken into custody on April 14, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
That’s the date of the last of three robberies Cobb Police say Colozzi committed or tried to commit in a one-week span, as he demanded oxycontin and other prescription drugs.
According to the indictment, Colozzi entered the CVS on Cobb Parkway in the City of Kennesaw on April 7, brandished a knife at a store employee and demanded OxyContin, although he left without any drugs.
Four days later, on April 11, he is accused of going to a CVS in the 3900 block of Shallowford Road, near Lassiter Road, handing a note to an employee and saying he had a gun or knife and demanding oxycodone and Alprazolam. Police said Colozzi left with those substances and some Xanax.
Colozzi was arrested on April 14 at the Walgreens at 2580 Sandy Plains Road after he made a similar demand to an employee there. When police arrived at the scene, Colozzi tried to get away, but was tased, and officers found him in possession of narcotics.
Also indicted last week is Mazda Massieh Davoudi, 19, of a Trickum Road address, on two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of hit and run and criminal trespass.
According to the indictment, Davoudi was driving a Honda Accord on Feb. 18 on Bentwood Drive, near Old Canton Road, when he intentionally hit and injured Ryan Smith, a pedestrian, and did not stop after the collision.
Davoudi was arrested on April 9 and has been held without bond since then at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
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A worker at an East Cobb assisted living facility is facing up to 20 years in prison after being convicted this week for elder abuse in the death of a 91-year-old resident there in 2017.
But Landon Terrel, 35, of Powder Springs, was found not guilty of murder and two counts of elder abuse in the death of Adam Bennett at the Sunrise at East Cobb facility, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s office.
A mistrial was declared in the murder case after a Cobb Superior Court jury failed on Wednesday to reach a unanimous verdict, after three days of deliberations.
“Too often we think of justice as a result, instead of a process,” Cobb senior assistant district attorney Jason Marbutt said in a statement. “This was a tough case, with tough facts. We respect the verdict delivered by the jury.”
Terrel had been an overnight caregiver at Sunrise on that date. Around 7:30 a.m., Bennett was found with facial bruising, fractured ribs and a punctured lung. He was rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, but never regained consciousness and died three days later.
The Cobb Medical Examiner’s office ruled the death was caused by blunt force trauma due to an assault.
According to a release from the Cobb DA’s office, Bennett had apparently told another caregiver that Terrel had punched him. That claim was introduced during the trial last week. Terrel denied that, telling police he caught Bennett earlier that evening after he fell out of bed, and said that the elderly man’s chest struck the bed.
Terrel said he checked on Bennett the remainder of the night and admitted to having “poor judgment” by ignoring Bennett’s complaints about being in pain.
Terrel’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 19 before Cobb Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram.
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A spokeswoman for Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson said Wednesday night the East Cobb Republican was taken to a hospital Tuesday after fracturing several ribs during a fall at his apartment in Washington.
Amanda Maddox said Isakson was admitted to George Washington University Hospital after fracturing four ribs. She said “he is in pain, but resting and doing well. Senator Isakson looks forward to fully recovering and getting back to work for Georgians.”
Isakson, who is 74, is in his third term in the Senate. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2015 and occasionally walks with the assistance of a cane.
He was re-elected in 2016, and the following year underwent two back surgeries for a stress fracture and to address spinal deterioration due to arthritis.
Congress is back in session after the July 4 holiday.
Isakson has kept a heavy schedule since his diagnosis, and is the only senator to lead two committees: Veterans Affairs and the Select Committee on Ethics. He also serves on the foreign relations and health, education, labor and pensions committees.
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Following up last week’s story about the delayed finish to the Post Oak Tritt-Hembree roundabout project: You’d best avoid that intersection on Thursday.
That’s because traffic is being rerouted for most of the day so contractors can lay down asphalt in the intersection.
Around noon today, Cobb commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott issued a map below that isn’t terribly legible, but they also say in an accompanying note that the work will take place Thursday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and that police officers will be redirecting traffic.
As we posted last week, weather and utility delays pushed back completion from this month to next March. Here’s more from the note that went out today:
“This project remains a priority for Cobb DOT, who will continue to make every effort to ensure that the project is safe throughout the remainder. Thank you for your patience!”
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The Cobb Board of Education is scheduled to adopt a millage rate for the new fiscal year 2020 budget on Thursday.
The board will take action at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.
At noon Thursday is the second of three public hearings the board is required to hold about the millage rate. It’s scheduled to take place at the same place, to be followed by a work session at 1 p.m.
The third and final public hearing precedes the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.
The new $1.7 billion Cobb schools budget year began on July 1, holding the line on a rate of 18.9 mills that has been levied for many years.
That is not formalized before the Cobb Tax Assessor establishes the county tax digest in late June. This year, it’s projected to be $39 billion, surpassing last year’s record of $36.2 billion.
That means that the Cobb County School District will be collecting more in tax revenues than in 2018. When an elected body doesn’t roll back the millage rate accordingly, that’s considered a tax increase, and it must advertise and hold three public hearings.
This year the tax revenue increase for Cobb schools is 4.88 percent. A recent history of the schools millage rate levy can be found here.
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Milton City Hall, which opened in 2017 near a mixed-use development in Crabapple, was built with funding from a $10 million bond issue. (ECN photos)
We’re still waiting to hear back about the work of the East Cobb cityhood financial committee (we were told in late June it would be “a few weeks.”)
In the meantime, we pulled the latest budget and financial information we could find for similar municipalities in Cobb, and in particular, some of the newer cities in North Fulton.
The seven cities we looked at all provide more than what’s being proposed now in the East Cobb cityhood legislation—a state-mandated minimum of three services, in this case police, fire and community development.
While it’s possible a proposed City of East Cobb, should it come to pass, could add services as some others have, for now its “independent” financial committee is limiting its work to those three called for in the bill.
The audit group is scouring through a Georgia State University study released in December that declared the proposed City of East Cobb “financially feasible” with annual revenues of around $49.5 million and a nearly $4 million surplus to start.
The goal of the finance committee, cityhood leader Rob Eble said last month, is to come up with a workable budget. So those numbers are likely to change, perhaps a good bit, especially if the proposed city boundary lines are altered.
Eble told us last month the cityhood group wants to have a town hall meeting in August or once the financial work is complete.
Modeling after Milton
One of the cities the East Cobb group has referenced in its public statements as a model is Milton, the northernmost municipality in Fulton County, and which voted to incorporate in 2006.
It offered police, fire and community development to start, and has added public works and parks and recreation.
Milton’s population of just under 40,000 is less than half of what’s being proposed for East Cobb now, but it’s affluent with similar demographics, per capita income and median home values, as well as public school rankings.
Milton’s current fiscal year 2019 budget of $29.2 million is calculated on a millage rate of 4.39, which has held steady since the city began.
That’s one of the talking points made by East Cobb cityhood leaders, who’ve said in town hall meetings this spring that property taxes wouldn’t be higher than what’s currently levied in unincorporated Cobb.
While some East Cobb cityhood skeptics are dubious about the claim to hold the line at 2.96 mills, Milton’s been able to make major capital improvements due to bond issues. After leasing office space for more than a decade, a city hall building opened in 2017, funded with a $10 million bond issue approved by Milton voters.
The Green at Crabapple Market opened in 2018, across from Milton City Hall.
The two-story building includes event space and is located near a three-story mixed-use development, featuring shops, restaurants and high-end townhomes, in the historic Crabapple district.
For now, possible City of East Cobb plans would be to purchase and utilize the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road. The facility houses Cobb Police Precinct 4 headquarters and Cobb Fire Station 20, as well as a Cobb Tax Commissioner satellite office.
But there’s nothing in the proposed charter referencing where a city hall and municipal court may be located.
Linked below are the latest budget documents for six other cities in Cobb and North Fulton. Sandy Springs and Johns Creek also came into being in 2006; the others are decades-old cities that have offered a variety of services for many years.
That’s especially the case in Marietta, whose overall budget of $331 million includes its operations of the Marietta Board of Lights and Water (expected 2020 revenues of $168 million). That overall figure, plus the general fund budget and millage rate, are both included in the table below.
Community leaders in Mableton have had a bill filed in the legislature, similar to East Cobb’s. That municipality would have a population near 90,000, with proposed services including community development, but not police and fire.
The South Cobb Alliance group pushing Mableton cityhood is still raising money to fund a required financial feasibility study.
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The newly opened Credit Union of Georgia branch on Johnson Ferry Road won’t be displaying an electronic message board.
The financial institution located at 1020 Johnson Ferry Road at the intersection of Little Willeo Road) had requested permission from the Cobb Board of Commissioners for a stipulation amendment to build a six-foot high LED sign.
But by a 4-0 vote, commissioners turned down the request. Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb said the electronic message board is incompatible with the neighborhood, including the newly opened Solana East Cobb senior residential facility on the opposite side of the intersection.
The reason Cobb zoning staff recommended denial, Ott said, is because “there’s a whole lot of history at this intersection.”
The Credit Union of Georgia standalone building formerly housed several bank branches, most recently BB & T. It’s also across from Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.
One of the original stipulations for the property, dating back to 1984, says any sign “shall not be backlighted and . . . no neon-type signs shall be used.”
“This would be introducing the neighborhood to a whole new element,” Ott said before making a motion to deny the request.
The only existing electronic sign in that part of the Johnson Ferry corridor is a static sign listing movies playing at the Merchants Walk Cinema.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce recused himself from voting, saying he had a “financial relationship” with the applicant.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners voted to continue until September a request by Geneva Roswell, LLC to divvy up the former L.A. Fitness location at 4905 Alabama Road—just up the road from Sandy Plains Village—into multiple retail parcels (view the case file here).
The case has drawn nearby opposition, and Kevin Moore, the applicant’s attorney, was going to withdraw the application without prejudice.
One of the objections to the application was a stipulation to allow for a truck dock for a potential retail occupant, and to construct a ground-based monument sign.
The county zoning staff had issues with the sign request, saying violated sewer easement setback restrictions.
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A few weeks ago we saw the renovations underway for a new Clean Juice organic smoothie and juice location at Woodlawn Square Shopping Center (1205 Johnson Ferry Road), in the former space of Edward Johns Jewelers)
The store is announcing this week that its grand opening will take place on Saturday from 10-6. Free smoothies and Açaí Bowls are among the day-long promotions they’ll be giving away. More updates on its Facebook page.
Clean Juice is a Charlotte, N.C.-based company with nearly 60 franchises in 18 states, including stores in Alpharetta, Sandy Springs and Westside Atlanta.
The East Cobb opening hours will be Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 8-8 and Sunday 9-6.
Get your Sushi Burrito fix
Tomorrow’s News Today reports that Roll On In, an Ohio-based franchise eatery specializing in sushi burritos and bowls, will be opening soon (likely by the end of the summer, according to the store’s Facebook page) at Woodlawn Commons Shopping Center (1100 Johnson Ferry Road), next to La Vida Massage.
The store is one of three planned for the Asian Fusion chain’s foray into Atlanta, with others slated for Alpharetta and Roswell.
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