In her first State of the County address as the Cobb Commission Chairwoman, Lisa Cupid laid out what she called her five “I” goals before the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
While “Cobb’s future has always been bright,” Cupid, the first African-American to head the county government, said there are still parts of Cobb “that have not been included. We have what it takes to make sure our success reaches everyone.”
Cupid, who was a two-term commissioner from South Cobb before defeating incumbent Chairman Mike Boyce last November, said a desire to foster greater inclusion stretches across geographic, economic and cultural lines.
The other goals she discussed included “leading with integrity,” developing a framework for making “intelligent” decisions, innovation and “investing in Cobb.”
Above all, Cupid said, she wants to foster a climate to “think big for Cobb County, to think outside of the box.”
Of her leadership style, Cupid said it’s important to have “tough but honest conversations about the state of our county. We all want Cobb to move forward together.”
She conducted a board retreat in January and concluded that “it is when we have the tough conversations that we can begin to experience our breakthrough.”
She referenced issues such as transit, housing affordability and investing in a “robust capital maintenance plan” and “our county employees.”
Cupid, who leads a new Democratic majority on the commission, said she wanted to push for “fair and equitable elections,” responding to current Republican-sponsored legislation in Georgia to curtail voting availability.
Those measures include reducing early voting periods and to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, as well as increase voter ID requirements.
“It’s heartbreaking to see all the work to get people to the polls is being eroded,” Cupid said, saying such “rollbacks to the past” harken back to a time when people like her were not welcome in the corridors of government and business power.
Speaking on International Women’s Day, Cupid noted not only her status as the first woman to head county government, but in leading Cobb’s first all-female Board of Commissioners and a county government staff headed by a woman, County Manager Jackie McMorris.
“Together, we have been making herstory,” Cupid said.
You can watch her full remarks by clicking here; they begin around the 32-minute mark.
At 7 p.m. Monday Cupid also is providing similar remarks for the general public in a socially-distanced address at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
A limited number of people are attending in an invitation-only setting, but the address will be shown on Cobb County government’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
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