Joe Gavalis, a retired federal law enforcement investigator who spearheaded the East Cobb Cityhood movement from 2018-22 and volunteered on a number of county and state boards, has died.
In a column in The Marietta Daily Journal on Thursday, retired Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn announced the news and wrote a tribute to Gavalis, who was “leaving behind a distinguished legacy of dedicated servant leadership, patriotism and laudable good citizenship.”
Gavalis, who was 77, lived in the Chattahoochee Plantation area, was a member of the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission and the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force.
He also created the North Georgia Task Force on Elder Abuse to expand senior advocacy around the state.
The Georgia Council on Aging, which named Gavalis its Distinguished Older Georgian in 2021, said in a message on its website that “through his decades of stellar services and support of older adults, Mr. Gavalis worked tirelessly to establish and promote programs, taskforces, and conduct training of law enforcement officers and civilians in the areas of Elder Abuse, Exploitation, Fraud, and neglect.”
Gavalis began an effort to create a city of East Cobb in late 2018.
Working with G. Owen Brown, of Retail Planning Corp., which owns Paper Mill Village and other retail and commercial real estate, Gavalis started the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc.
But Gavalis was reluctant to speak publicly about the initiative, even during what eventually became an unsuccessful cityhood referendum in 2022. Initially, he didn’t want to divulge who was involved in the effort.
In his rare public comments, he said he was moved to pursue cityhood because “concerned citizens” had been asking about “the need for community zoning and variance issues to be determined by East Cobb citizens, and a growing dissatisfaction with the lack of police coverage.
“Indeed, there is a perception that county funds are not being spent prudently, and that public safety services and road improvements are not top priorities. If this concerns you in East Cobb, there is a solution. The answer is self-determination through cityhood!”
He also rarely spoke to the media, and brought on others to conduct public and town hall events.
In late 2019, after being pressed to divulge those behind the cityhood effort, the committee identified most of those names.
The group also hired high-profile lobbyists to advocate for East Cobb cityhood in the Georgia legislature, but not all donors were revealed.
At the same time, Joe O’Connor, a member of an ad hoc review board appointed to review the proposed city’s financial feasibility study, resigned when he said Gavalis wouldn’t tell him who was all involved in the group.
At the end of 2019, the cityhood group said it would not be pursuing a referendum in the 2020 legislature.
But a new East Cobb cityhood group, the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood, formed in early 2021, again with Gavalis and Jones leading the way.
While Jones appeared in a pro-cityhood video, Gavalis remained in the background.
However, fierce opposition arose in the East Cobb Alliance, which engaged in debates and spoke against a referendum as a bill progressed in the legislature.
A May 2022 referendum passed the General Assembly, along with cityhood referendums in Lost Mountain and Vinings.
All three were defeated by voters, including 73 percent of the vote in East Cobb. In November 2024, a referendum creating a City of Mableton was approved.
Gavalis continued his work on elder issues. In early 2022, he spoke frequently to seniors about protecting themselves from scammers, and from being victims of other crimes.
“Joe Gavalis had a larger-than-life attitude, an empathetic heart, and lived a life of service to Georgians, and the United States. Joe was dedicated to caring for and loving people, and for this we thank you,” the Georgia Council on Aging said.
In an AJC story in May 2024, Gavalis and Flynn were profiled, detailing the dozens of training sessions they held to assist law enforcement with combatting elder abuse.
In his MDJ column Thursday, Flynn wrote that “Georgia is a better place because of the love and dedication of Joe Gavialis. His legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of the thousands of lives he touched. He made them all better people, better guardians of the elderly and better Americans.”
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