David Birdwell

East Cobb cityhood leader: Finance review ‘confirms’ viability

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One of the leaders of a committee exploring cityhood in East Cobb said an independent review of a financial feasibility study released this week “confirms” that the resources exist to deliver what the group has long maintained a proposed city can do:

Lower taxes and expand services.

David Birdwell, East Cobb Cityhood leader
David Birdwell

David Birdwell of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb told East Cobb News that “there’s a lot more” he needs to absorb about the independent review, but “it confirms to me that a city is financially viable.”

What’s being called the Independent Finance Group issued its findings on Wednesday (summary, full report).

The IFG, made up of five members with finance and legal expertise, said while a Georgia State University study commissioned by the cityhood group (read it here) had some flaws, a tax base exists in East Cobb for most of what the cityhood forces have in mind.

“The advocates for cityhood have always encouraged the residents of East Cobb to dig into the facts and draw their own conclusions,” Birdwell said. “That’s what the Independent Finance Group did.”

“Cityhood would certainly give East Cobb more local control over issues such as zoning, but this study is one more strong argument that cityhood will also bring lower taxes and more police protection.”

The IFG did recommend, however, that a City of East Cobb not start with a police department—every city must provide at least three services—until it would work out a revenue-shifting agreement with Cobb County.

Instead, the financial review group suggested the city provide waste disposal services, a low-cost, revenue-neutral option. The other services proposed by the cityhood group are fire and community development, which includes planning and zoning.

Ultimately, the services a City of East Cobb would provide would be determined by an elected mayor and city council.

Legislation filed by State Rep. Matt Dollar of East Cobb that calls for a referendum and includes a proposed city charter (read it here) must pass next year, or it would go have to go through another two-year legislative period.

Cityhood leaders are eyeing a possible May 2020 referendum, and if that passes, elections in November of next year. A two-year transition period for a new city would also take place.

About not starting with police, Birdwell says while he doesn’t agree or disagree about the IFG’s conclusion, “I get that.” But “as I talk to a lot of people in East Cobb, public safety is very important.”

Birdwell said the IFG’s position is “an intriguing angle,” and appreciates the group’s highly detailed approach to its work.

“We’re inviting anyone in East Cobb to study [the finance review group’s report] and look at the facts,” Birdwell said. “There has been so much emotion over this.”

East Cobb News Cityhood page

Birdwell said the cityhood group is tentatively looking at an early October date for a town hall meeting, and another in mid-November.

A newly formed group opposing cityhood is the East Cobb Alliance. Bill Simon, one of the group’s organizers, told East Cobb News he’s just beginning to read through the IFG’s report, and has a few questions.

The report refers to the provision of solid waste services instead of police. “Do they mean for the Proposed City of East Cobb to contract with one provider of household garbage and waste services for all property owners? What if the citizens are happy with the competitive availability of multiple garbage companies now?”

As for a new fire department for a city, Simon asked what can the IFG “guarantee in terms of the ISO classification for a new PCEC Fire Department?”

The report refers new franchise-fee revenue of $6.1 million a year, but the GSU study’s figure is $7.3 million. “Please explain this discrepancy,” Simon said.

(Bill Green of the financial review group told East Cobb News previously that the $6.1 million figure represents new franchise fees only, and that the group does not recommend adding new franchise fees. Currently cable franchise fees totaling $1.2 million a year are collected in East Cobb.)

Simon said that “isn’t it true that nearly every other large city in Georgia is assessing and collecting franchise fees from their tax base? And, if cityhood is granted, then wouldn’t that mean East Cobb residents would be implicitly granting power to a city council and mayor that they become the sole deciders of whether to assess franchise fees any time they wanted in the future?”

 

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Taking on the tough sell of East Cobb Cityhood

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David Birdwell, East Cobb Cityhood

During Thursday night’s town hall meeting about East Cobb Cityhood, David Birdwell was patient, polite and completely earnest as he took the slings and arrows of a citizenry dubious about what he’s trying to sell.

As a new spokesman of a cityhood movement that stumbled out of the gate earlier this winter—one which refused to identify individuals, thus raising questions about its motives—Birdwell is stepping into the void at a critical time.

Joining the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc., in January, after the release of a feasibility study and after those forming the group had already hired a lobbyist in the Georgia legislature, Birdwell had to face an overflow audience at the Catholic Church of St. Ann by himself.

Rob Eble, a technology consultant who’s been designated the other half of the new public face of the cityhood effort, couldn’t attend after suffering a knee injury.

While that may serve as something of a metaphor for how some see the idea of part of East Cobb becoming a city, Birdwell is adamant that it’s an idea that “makes enough sense to explore.”

A semi-retired real estate entrepreneur, Birdwell has lived in East Cobb for the last 22 years—like many in the cityhood group, the Atlanta Country Club area to be specific—and said after reading the feasibility study he was intrigued enough to learn more.

After being contacted by those in the cityhood group—which still hadn’t gone public even as legislation and a city charter were being drawn up—Birdwell agreed to put himself front and center, something he found improbable.

“I can’t believe I did it,” Birdwell said after the meeting, as the church lights were being turned off and the doors to the parish hall were being locked.

“We don’t have a lot of answers now, but I feel convinced of the reasons why I’m doing this,” he said.

To the more than 500 East Cobb citizens who heard him out this week (or in some instances, heckled him), Birdwell also was firm about something else: “I am not a political person,” he said, prompting howls of disbelief.

They returned a short time later when he insisted that “nobody is doing this for any personal gain.”

The laughs—hearty guffaws—were deafening. Yet Birdwell carried on with his message that cityhood is about more local control, better services and a chance for East Cobbers to shape the future of their community.

Related coverage

I believe Birdwell’s sincerity about what he’s saying, and since East Cobb News began publishing about this issue in December, we’ve heard from many others who feel the same way.

It’s a familiar refrain coming from those who’ve been behind cityhood, yet who still remain in the background. But his job now is to convince tens of thousands of East Cobb residents who remain highly skeptical, if downright cynical, about what they’re being told.

What was reassuring is that there will be another town hall to continue the conversation, on April 29, at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church.

Quite frankly, he’s got a very tough sell to make.

That’s because many of those who question cityhood think the services they get from Cobb County for the taxes they pay are just fine. Some are absolutely convinced their taxes will go up, which Birdwell and the cityhood group say will not happen. Others see a number of people involved in the real estate industry who are behind this effort and get suspicious.

Birdwell may not be political, but from the get-go the cityhood effort smacked of rank politics. The map that was drawn up, and is now part of the legislation and charter submitted on Friday, to the letter matches the boundaries of the East Cobb portion of Commissioner Bob Ott’s District 2.

It doesn’t include a big chunk of what many consider East Cobb. Only the Walton, Wheeler and part of the Pope and Lassiter attendance zones are included in this map. I’ve heard from those living near Sprayberry, Kell and the rest of Pope and Lassiter: Um well, what about us?

Others have suggested, only slightly tongue-in-cheek: Are they gonna call this the City of Walton?

East Cobb cityhood legislation

Ott, who told me before the town hall this is by far the biggest such meeting he’s ever held, has been coy about his interest in cityhood. But several of his appointees served on an ad hoc citizens committee that made recommendations about the feasibility study.

Riley Lowery, Ott’s longtime political consultant, is now advising the cityhood group, which was formed in the fall, not long after Cobb commissioners narrowly voted for a tax increase. Ott voted against it, and has said often that some of his constituents are upset that the district provides 40 percent of the county’s tax revenue but doesn’t get the services in return.

Dee Gay, a member of the East Cobb cityhood steering committee, lived in Sandy Springs when it became the first of the new cities in metro Atlanta to spring from a cityhood movement.

“I like it,” she said of Birdwell’s presentation, noting that Sandy Springs cityhood was 20 years in the making. The East Cobb group wants a referendum in the 2020 primaries and actual mayor and city council elections in the 2020 general election.

The problem Birdwell faces is more than perception.

There’s a sense that unlike some other cityhood efforts in metro Atlanta, there isn’t a grassroots uprising to form a City of East Cobb. That those who were skeptical weren’t given many details for months only enhanced their concerns.

Hence, the reactions at Thursday’s town hall.

“There’s such a dearth of information right now, and people are making an emotional decision,” said Linda Carver, president of the East Cobb Civic Association.

Her organization, which represents around 10,000 households, is officially remaining neutral on cityhood.

If there was a groundswell for cityhood, she said, “I think we would have seen that a long time ago.”

This will be Birdwell’s toughest selling point, even though the cityhood group is now eager for volunteer input as town halls and other public meetings will be taking place.

“It’s important for this community to consider,” Birdwell said.

While that is true, he’s got to persuade those who live outside the Atlanta Country Club, or aren’t well-placed in the Walton High School community, or don’t belong to Ott’s kitchen cabinet.

Birdwell was dealt a poor hand, and now he’s got to play it.

 

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East Cobb cityhood leader: Idea ‘makes enough sense to explore’

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East Cobb cityhood group
David Birdwell said “preserving and enhancing what we’ve got in East Cobb” is behind the cityhood initiative. (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)

Before a standing-room-only crowd at the Catholic Church of St. Ann Thursday night, the new face of what had been a stealth East Cobb cityhood group faced plenty of skepticism and more than a few barbed questions as the effort to incorporate part of the community was presented to the public for the first time.

David Birdwell, a real estate entrepreneur who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area, spoke to more than 500 people crammed into a parish hall, admitting that there’s a lot he still has to learn.

But for many in the public who’ve been frustrated by a lack of information coming from the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting was a chance to demand answers that are still to be determined.

Some questioned the motives, others wondered about whether their taxes would go up and some worried about the impact on public schools.

On the tax issue, Birdwell was clear: He pledged there would be no increase in taxes, and noted that of the 10 most recent areas to become cities in metro Atlanta, nine have not raised taxes since they incorporated.

“I am not for a tax increase and I wouldn’t be standing here if I thought there would be one,” Birdwell said.

East Cobb cityhood
State Rep. Matt Dollar is sponsoring the East Cobb cityhood bill.

Some citizens groaned at that statement, and they broke out into wild applause when East Cobb resident Ki Porter wanted to know why there was “such a rush” to file local legislation calling for a referendum.

The cityhood group wants to have a referendum in 2020, and state law requires a two-year process. State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican, said at the town hall he would be filing the bill on Friday, on the second-to-last day of the Georgia General Assembly.

With citizens lining the wall of the parish hall, and some even sitting on the floor, Birdwell methodically repeated some of the cityhood group’s reasons for wanting to create a municipality.

Mostly, it’s about more local control of government. Ott serves a population of 185,000 as one of four Cobb district commissioners, and he’s repeatedly said some of his constituents have complained to him that they don’t think they’re getting their tax money’s worth in public services.

It’s a similar argument that’s being made by community leaders in Mableton, who have had a local cityhood bill introduced in the legislature.

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The East Cobb map would include only a portion of the community, Ott’s District 2 that’s east of I-75 and in unincorporated Cobb, excluding the Cumberland CID area.

That’s still 97,000 people, and would make up the eighth-largest city in Georgia if it becomes a municipality.

The cityhood group commissioned a financial feasibility study that focused on three areas of services that may be provided: Police, fire and community development (which also includes zoning), and concluded that the proposed City of East Cobb can be created without a tax increase, and even start with a multi-million-dollar budget surplus.

“East Cobb is about built-out,” Birdwell told the crowd. “We want to decide what comes here, not Cobb County.

“We’ve seen great things happen in other cities. It’s about preserving and enhancing what we’ve got in East Cobb.”

East Cobb cityhood legislation

Porter told East Cobb News after the meeting she’s been living in the area since 1980 and remained skeptical of the “no new taxes” pledge. She noted that a recent referendum failed on Skidaway Island because cityhood leaders there would not place a guarantee in the proposed city charter against a tax increase.

That’s what she wanted Birdwell to address, and another citizen told her “you hit the nail on the head.”

“I’m not for anything where there’s smoke and mirrors,” Porter said.

A few signs in the crowd alluded to that concern, with one saying “Our taxes are definitely going up.”

Each of the existing six Cobb municipalities have higher general fund millage rates than unincorporated Cobb.

Birdwell said that earlier on Thursday, he was encouraged after meeting with the assistant city manager in Milton, which has held the line on property taxes.

He also told the East Cobb audience the north Fulton city has improved services, including public safety, which has been the subject of new concerns in Cobb over staffing levels, salary and retention.

Birdwell said there will be several forthcoming town hall meetings with the public to continue the cityhood discussion, starting April 29 at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church.

The cityhood group is revising its website and is asking for volunteers as it continues to gauge public reaction.

“We don’t have a lot of answers right now,” Birdwell said, adding that after 22 years as a resident of East Cobb, he is certain about one thing: “This makes enough sense to explore.”

East Cobb cityhood

 

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East Cobb cityhood group speaking at town hall meeting this week

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City of East Cobb mapSeveral months after forming an organization to explore incorporating a portion of East Cobb, representatives of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb are formally taking their case to the public.

They are scheduled to speak Thursday at a town hall meeting of Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott at the Catholic Church of St. Ann.

At the same time, legislation calling for a local referendum on cityhood is expected to be filed in the final days of the Georgia General Assembly session.

Ron Eble and David Birdwell are among those who will be speaking at the town hall meeting. They’re part of the cityhood committee whose membership is being revealed only now.

Eble is a management consultant with Slalom Consulting, a business and technology firm. David Birdwell is a real estate entrepreneur who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area.

Ever since the cityhood group was formed last fall, only Joe Gavalis, a resident of the Atlanta Country Club, and Owen Brown, the founder of Retail Planning Corp., have been publicly identified with the group.

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The committee has commissioned a City of East Cobb feasibility study and has hired a public relations representative and a lobbyist in the legislature.

That study concluded that the city, with boundaries proposed by the committee, is financially feasible and that additional tax rates wouldn’t be needed. In fact, the study, conducted by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance, suggested that a City of East Cobb would start out with a surplus of a few million dollars.

The boundaries include only unincorporated east Cobb that is in Ott’s District 2, and cover a population of 97,000. The committee has not explained why it’s not including what is generally regarded as most or all of East Cobb in its proposed city map.

Among the reasons cited for pursuing cityhood are enhancing local control of services, especially public safety, roads and zoning. The group is calling for a city government that would have an elected mayor and council and an appointed city manager, with city hall possibly being located at an expanded East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road.

State Rep. Matt Dollar
State Rep. Matt Dollar

A citizens group in Mableton, which also is pursuing cityhood and has had legislation filed for a referendum in 2020, is citing similar reasons for its cityhood drive.

State Rep. Matt Dollar, a Republican who represents part of the proposed City of East Cobb, told East Cobb News last week that he will be sponsoring a bill shortly calling for a referendum in 2020; as of Friday, that bill has not been introduced.

Cityhood is a two-year process in Georgia. Local legislation must at least be introduced a year before any referendum can be scheduled.

Cityhood legislation also must be sponsored by at least one state senator whose district includes a proposed new city. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, the only lawmaker in the upper chamber who could do that, told East Cobb News last week that she doesn’t have a position on cityhood for now, “but the bill will get the conversation started.”

By contrast, those in Mableton leading the cityhood effort there have held a series of public meetings over the last couple years before having legislation filed. The group still must have a feasibility study conducted.

Who else is involved?

Rob Eble
Rob Eble

Joining Birdwell and Eble on the committee, along with Gavalis and Brown, are Dee Gay, Karen Hallacy, Sharon McGehee, Chip Patterson, Carolyn Roddy, Jerry Quan, Kevin Taitz and John Woods, according to the group’s revamped website, which is now subtitled “Good neighbors make for good government.”

Gavalis is an appointee of Ott’s, serving on the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission. He’s also served on the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force.

The group also is being advised by Riley Lowery, a political consultant who has long advised Ott, and who has been sparring with some citizens in recent days on social media about the cityhood effort and his role in it.

East Cobb News asked Phil Kent, the cityhood group’s P.R. representative, to provide basic biographical information about the rest of the committee. He replied that he doesn’t know “most of the East Cobbers” with the expanded group and “suggest you perform old-fashioned journalism research” by attending the town hall meeting.

When East Cobb News followed up that reply with a request to get the information before the town hall, and to explain how these individuals were selected and what their roles will be, Kent did not respond. Here’s a bit more about them:

  • Dee Gay: A commercial real estate broker who is active with the Cobb County Republican Women’s Club, and who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area;
  • Karen Hallacy: Longtime East Cobb civic activist, president of Georgia PTA and Ott’s appointee to the Development Authority of Cobb County;
  • Sharon McGehee: Associate director of advancement at Mt. Bethel Christian Academy;
  • Chip Patterson: Atlanta Country Club area resident and a partner in Three P Partners, an Atlanta real estate development firm, as well as a former head of the Walton Touchdown Club;
  • Jerry Quan: The former commander of the Cobb Police Precinct 4 station in East Cobb, now serving with the Cobb County School District police department. He’s a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year;
  • Carolyn Roddy: An administrative law attorney in Marietta;
  • Kevin Taitz: Technology consultant at Slalom Consulting;
  • John Woods: CEO of Southport Capital, based in the Cobb Galleria, and a chairman of the Walton Touchdown Club. Three sons played football at Walton, most recently Dominick Blaylock, an all-state wide receiver and University of Georgia signee. Woods also is the owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball team.

The town hall meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday in Nolan Hall at the Catholic Church of St. Ann, 4905 Roswell Road (at Bishop Lake Road).

 

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East Cobb cityhood legislation expected to be filed before end of 2019 session

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A group pushing for East Cobb cityhood is eyeing the end of the current Georgia legislative session to have local legislation filed that would call for a referendum, probably by 2020.

A notice of intent to file local legislation was published Friday in The Marietta Daily Journal, Cobb’s legal organ.East Cobb cityhood legislation

The legislature has only eight days remaining in its 2019 session. For a referendum to take place next year, it would at least have to be introduced this year.

As of the close of business Friday, no such bill had been filed.

The group, known as the Committee for Cityhood for East Cobb Inc., hired a lobbyist before the General Assembly session but has been quiet since then.

Commissioner Bob Ott told East Cobb News that they’ve been invited to speak at his next town hall meeting, on March 28 at the Catholic Church of St. Ann.

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The group has been reluctant to reveal much information about who’s behind the cityhood effort and has cited general “local control” and public safety concerns.

It did pay $36,000 for a financial feasibility study that made a favorable conclusion. The proposed city map would include only a portion of what’s considered East Cobb, all of it within Ott’s District 2. The population would be around 96,000.

(Here’s the cityhood group’s website.)

The MDJ reported Friday that David Birdwell, an East Cobb resident, is also involved in leading the group. Joe Gavalis, an appointee of Ott’s to the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission, is the president of the group, and real estate developer G. Owen Brown of Retail Planning Corp. is listed as having paid for most of the study.

No other individuals have been publicly named, and when the group asked an ad hoc citizens committee to look over a feasibility study, one of those citizens, Joe O’Connor, quit in protest, citing a lack of transparency.

Birdwell, like Gavalis, lives in the Atlanta Country Club area. According to the Cobb Chamber, he’s also in the real estate industry and has gone through the organization’s Leadership Cobb development program.

State Rep. Matt Dollar
State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-East Cobb)

Local incorporation legislation must be introduced by at least one Senator and one House member who represents at least a portion of the proposed city.

Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and Reps. Sharon Cooper and Matt Dollar are the three lawmakers who could do that. They have been contacted for comment by East Cobb News.

UPDATE: Kirkpatrick told East Cobb News that “I haven’t taken a position on this but the bill will get the conversation started.”

The notice of intent to file the bill indicates the sponsor is Dollar; cityhood bills are initially filed in the House.

A cityhood bill for Mableton was filed last week by State Reps. Erica Thomas, Erick Allen and David Wilkerson of South Cobb. The South Cobb Alliance citizens group has been seeking incorporation but has not yet had a feasibility study done.

Unlike the East Cobb group, the Mableton group has gone to the public with a number of town halls and other events in the community over the last couple of years.

The earliest a Mableton referendum could take place also would be next year. That proposed city would have a population of more than 87,000.

Some of the reasons cited for cityhood there are similar to East Cobb, in particular more localized control of services.

Cobb hasn’t had a new city in more than a century. Mableton was briefly a municipality, from 1912-1916.

 

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