Selected sworn public safety employees in Cobb County will be getting a one-time bonus, but they’ll have to wait a couple of months to get it.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve the $1,475 bonuses, which have been promised as a “first step” by county officials to address concerns in recent months about salaries and retention.
The bonuses won’t take effect until Aug. 2, due to a 60-day pension public notification required by state law.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners also appointed Tim Cox, currently interim chief, to be the new Cobb Police Chief. He succeeds Mike Register, who was recently named the Cobb Public Safety Director, and his appointment is effective immediately.
The bonuses will go to police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who received satisfactory or better job performance reviews in 2018.
“This is the very first step a multi-step approach” to recruiting, keeping and better-compensating sworn public safety personnel, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said.
For several months some public safety employees and their representatives and private citizens have been lobbying commissioners, saying current staffing and salary levels are at a “crisis.”
Before the vote, some of those strong critics thanked the commissioners and urged them to work for long-term goals, including a step-and-grade compensation system.
Among them was East Cobb resident Lance LoRusso, a former county police officer who now represents police with the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police.
He said the bonuses are “a gesture of faith and not a commitment. . . . They’re looking for a commitment from you.” LoRusso asked commissioners to “fix it for years to come . . . now is the time to act,” with the ultimate goal to make Cobb “the best and most sought-after county to work in.”
Boyce has proposed pay raises for public safety employees totaling seven percent for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget.
“We will do something that we can be proud of,” he said after the vote.
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In the item after the bonuses, the commissioners confirmed Cox as the new police chief. The vote wasn’t unanimous; South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid said she wasn’t opposed to Cox but an appointment process that “didn’t provide the public [the chance] to vet what is a significant role.”
Cox, who’s a county native, has been with Cobb Police for his entire 30-year career, and had been contemplating retirement.
His assignments have including serving as Precinct 4 commander on Lower Roswell Road, noted by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott.
“I can think of no better person,” Ott said. “He is a stabilizing force. He is the go-to person no matter the position.”
That’s what Register cited in his recommendation of Cox, saying he provides “an air of stability” for a police department facing numerous challenges, including the salary and retention issues.
Cox has been deputy chief under Register, who’s implemented a number of community policing initiatives. Cox has said he will be willing to stay on three more years.
“This is the only police department I’ve ever wanted to work for,” he said after the vote. “But this is not about me. It’s about the department.
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The bonus is considered a merit-based payment, and will go to employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s departments who scored satisfactory or higher job performance ratings last year.
