Cobb-Braves dispute

Cobb commissioners approve Braves settlement that could net county $1.36M

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Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a financial settlement with the Atlanta Braves that could result in the county receiving $1.366 million in infrastructure fees for SunTrust Park.

Joann Birrell, Cobb commissioners approve Braves settlement
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the 2013 stadium deal between Cobb and the Braves “keeps coming back to haunt us.” (ECN file photo)

The 4-1 vote came after a lengthy discussion that included a brief recess to iron out concerns from two commissioners who tried to table the agreement.

The settlement was reached following a dispute that arose in May, when Cobb sent the Braves organization a notice of default on a $1.486 million bill for overdue stadium development (water and sewer) fees. The Braves fired back with a $4.683 million request, setting off heated legal correspondence and mediation.

Read the Proposed Settlement Terms Here

Technically, the matter is still in mediation, since the Braves have not taken final action on the settlement.

In the settlement, which was discussed by commissioners during an executive session on Monday, the Braves also agreed to pay $380,000 for a signage and maintenance contract for a pedestrian bridge over I-285.

Cobb would reimburse $500,000 in project management fees to the Braves, who agreed to drop any other claims, according to county attorney Deborah Dance.

She also said the $380,000 Braves sum is a credit against the $500,000 amount, reducing the county’s obligation to $120,000.

The county also would pay $326,816 under terms of a 2017 transportation agreement with the Braves. Those funds would be paid out in two installments, of $163,408 each, in October of this year as well as October 2019.

Last year, commissioners paid $11.4 million out of the county water fund as part of a $14 million agreement for transportation matters.

According to information presented by Dance, the county discovered in a review that the $500,000 in project management costs for Heery International Inc. had been paid by the Braves through a project bond fund. The terms were spelled out in a 2014 consulting contract between Heery, the county and the Braves in 2014 (document here).

Joann Birrell, commissioner of District 3 in Northeast Cobb, and District 1 commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb wanted to table approving the settlement for two weeks. They wanted to view the actual settlement document, and Birrell wanted to see proof that other payments had been made.

At one point, Birrell said the county’s 30-year memorandum of understanding with the Braves, adopted in 2013, “keeps coming back to haunt us.” Cupid’s motion to table was defeated 3-2, after which commissioners took a 10-minute recess.

After the break, Birrell, who voted for the Braves deal in 2013, was satisfied with what she was presented from county finance and legal officers.

Cupid, however, said she couldn’t support settlement, calling it a “déjà vu” regarding the original stadium deal. She was the only vote against the the 2013 agreement, and on Tuesday she said the current settlement reflected “the same level of haste, the same lack of organization.”

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, whose District 2 includes the SunTrust Park area, said of the settlement documents that “this is not something that was hard to go find” and that the staff was well-prepared.

Cupid agreed with the latter point, but said “this has everything to do with us as a board.”

She was the only vote against the settlement, which chairman Mike Boyce said was “a compromise.”

Boyce, who made the process of the Braves deal a key component of his campaign to oust then-chairman Tim Lee in 2016, said the nearly $1.4 million the county is getting is “because this board held its ground. We did the right thing as a board.”

Before the discussion Tuesday, Ben Williams, a spokesman for Cobb Citizens for Governmental Transparency, said the county shouldn’t have to pay any more money for stadium expenses.

That group was founded in 2014 after citizen concerns about the hastiness of the original Braves deal, which was approved only two weeks after it was made public.

 

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Settlement in Cobb-Braves dispute on Tuesday commissioners’ agenda

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A resolution in a recent dispute between the Atlanta Braves and Cobb County government over SunTrust Park infrastructure fees is expected to be announced at Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.

Bob Ott, Cobb-Braves dispute
Cobb commissioner Bob Ott

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt sent word late Monday afternoon that the two sides were working through mediation to settle a flap that began over the spring and was made public last week.

In May, the county sent the Braves a bill for what it said were $1.5 million in overdue stadium development fees for water and sewer services.

The Braves balked, and in response sent a heated letter to the county demanding $4.6 million for transportation costs, building permit fee refunds and legal expenses.

The story was first reported by 11 Alive, which obtained documents of legal correspondence that includes contentious language between lawyers representing both sides.

Cavitt said Monday that the Braves were tentatively agreeing to pay the $1.5 million initially sought by the county, plus another $380,000 for a signage and maintenance contract for a pedestrian bridge over I-285 that services the stadium.

In return, Cobb has agreed to refund a negotiated amount of money in project management costs, but those terms were not disclosed. The Braves, Cavitt added in a release, “will withdraw all other demands.”

Commissioners were meeting in an executive session on Monday.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who represents the SunTrust area, told East Cobb News before the settlement was announced that reports of the dispute were overblown and that in negotiation letters between attorneys, they’re “asking for the moon.”

The county is represented by Thompson Hine, an Ohio-based law firm with offices in Atlanta, while the Braves have retained the Marietta firm of Sams, Larkin, Huff and Balli, best known for handling high-profile zoning cases in Cobb.

Ott said the “relationship is strong” between the county and the Braves, who nearly five years ago struck up a 30-year deal to finance and service SunTrust Park as the new home of the Major League baseball team.

The details of the Cobb-Braves memorandum of understanding have been haggled out ever since. Last year, as the stadium was set to open for its first season of baseball, the Braves asked, and received, an additional $14 million from the county for transportation and improvement costs.

Cobb is paying off around $300 million in bonds for its share of stadium costs, at a cost of around $5.5 million a year through the budget process.

Ott said he has “conversations all the time” with the Braves that also covers police costs and hospitality issues in the area.

“We’re constantly working to minimize the exposure to the taxpayer,” he said, pointing to an initial annual bond cost projection of $8.6 million.

That $5.5 million annual sum, Ott said, is the only taxpayer component in the stadium revenue stream.

The Braves also have turned real estate developer, nearly having filled out The Battery, a mixed-use complex of shops, restaurants and a hotel adjacent to the stadium.

 

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