The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to extend paid leave hours for county employees who are out due to COVID-related reasons through the end of the year.
The measure revising the county’s emergency paid leave provision would use $750,000 of federal American Rescue Plan funding allotted to Cobb County, and employees could get up to 80 hours of paid leave.
But that’s only for county employees who have been vaccinated against the virus. The board’s vote was 4-1, opposed by Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, who said the policy is discriminatory and would hurt the county’s ability to hire and retain employees.
“Using COVID as a red herring and justification to take away personal choice—it begs the question: Why would an employee want to continue working for Cobb County?” Gambrill said in reading prepared remarks.
“It is no wonder our turnover rate is so high and we are unable to attract new employees when we fail to appreciate their service in exchange for political posturing.”
She got no support from her colleagues, including her fellow Republican JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb, who said that “I see this as a benefit, not a penalty.”
Democrat Monique Sheffield of South Cobb said the policy is “simply an effort to stop the spread” of COVID-19. She said the public “elected us to do the responsible thing, and this agenda item reflects that.”
Tony Hagler, head of the Cobb government human resources office, requested the change due to “the significant increase in COVID-19 cases associated with the more contagious Delta variant within Cobb County. In addition, this Emergency Paid Administrative Leave will help alleviate the stress on staff when faced with the decision of staying home to quarantine and/or caring for family member(s).”
The new policy would pay workers who are out due to COVID-19 symptoms or quarantine their full salary, and two-thirds of their pay if they’re tending to a relative who’s got the virus.
Cobb workers now get between 13-25 days of paid sick leave annually, based on their years of employment.
Cobb’s latest 14-day average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people has fallen under 800, but still remains extremely high, Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark told commissioners earlier in Tuesday’s meeting.
Commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid disputed a suggestion by Gambrill that the policy change is politically motivated, calling it an “apolitical agenda item.”
She also said employees do have a choice, and that COVID-related absences are draining county resources, noting that the county is spending heavily in overtime pay to cover for COVID-related absences.
“It is a choice,” Cupid said. “You may not like the choice, but not liking the choice doesn’t mean you don’t have one.”
Commissioner Jerica Richardson, who represents part of East Cobb, voted for the policy change but did not offer any comments beforehand.
Water bills to go up
Commissioners also voted 4-1 to approve a request by the Cobb County Water System to raise rates starting in January.
The agenda item states that rates for a typical residential customer will go up by $5.43 a month.
Birrell was the only vote against, saying she couldn’t support a rate increase as long as commissioners continue to transfer revenues from the water system to fund the county budget.
The last increase was in mid-2018; here’s a detailed list of the new charges.
Elections Office renovation funds approved
Gambrill and Birrell voted against spending $3.8 million from the county’s fund balance to complete renovations of the new Cobb Board of Elections and Registrations office on Roswell Street in Marietta.
They said that the project was eligible for American Rescue Plan funding, which was noted in the agenda item but scratched out.
But the three Democrats on the board voted to use reserve county funding. Cobb government received nearly $75 million in ARP money.
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- Cobb imposes mask mandate at county buildings
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- First look at 2020 Census: Cobb population grows by 11 percent
- Cobb commissioners delay vote on limiting public comment
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