Ross Cavitt

Cavitt to emcee ‘Dancing With the Stars of Marietta’ on Saturday

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Thanks to Trish Nicholas of the Georgia Metro Dance Theater for passing along the following information about the “Dancing With the Stars of Marietta” event Saturday night at the Earl Smith Strand Theater on the Square.

Ticket prices are between $20 and $55 and can be ordered by visiting the theater website:

Ross Cavitt

The celebrity emcee for the company’s biggest fundraiser of the year, GMDT’S Dancing With The Stars of Marietta is Ross Cavitt, esteemed TV news reporter and Cobb County Communications Director will host the annual event that gets Marietta dancing.

The fourth annual fundraiser event to benefit GMDT will be held on January 27th, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Earl & Rachel Smith Strand Theatre on the Historic Marietta Square. Online voting for dance teams is open at gmdtdwts.com.

Cavitt, an East Cobb resident, will host the annual GMDT’S Dancing With The Stars of Marietta, entertaining and engaging the audience as emcee. Currently Cobb County’s Communications Director, Ross retired from his illustrious TV career of more than three decades as a news reporter.  He spent most of that time at WSB in Atlanta where he was Cobb County’s Bureau Chief, a Breaking News reporter, and – for a time – an on-air meteorologist.

Ross won multiple awards during his time at WSB, including several regional EMMY awards for spot news and live reporting, Associated Press and Georgia Broadcasters Association awards, and a regional Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the 2015 Adairsville tornado.

“I am excited to host GMDT’s Dancing With The Stars of Marietta this year,” commented Ross. “It is such a highly-anticipated and important event for GMDT, the dancers, and the community, because it garners needed financial support for the arts, our young dancers, and the dance company dedicated to the next generation of artists and leaders. As a result of the largest fundraiser of the year, the whole community benefits from a season of inspiring and entertaining GMDT performances, right here in Marietta.”

Twelve “celebrities” from Marietta have been paired up with choreographers to perform high-energy dance numbers on-stage in this exciting competition. On the night of the event, our celebrity dancers will show off their best dance moves and compete for the People’s Choice and the Judge’s Choice mirror ball trophies. To raise funds for GMDT, the public can help their favorite celebrity team win the People’s Choice mirror ball trophy by voting early at gmdtdwts.com (as well as by voting on mobile devices during the actual event). The People’s Choice award goes to the team that receives the most enthusiastic voter response. After viewing the performances, the judges will select the performance that merits the coveted Judge’s Choice award.

 

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Cobb 2018 budget adoption, 2040 comprehensive plan on Friday agenda

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A postponed meeting from last week that was to include the Cobb 2018 budget adoption and the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan will take place Friday.

Bob Ott, Cobb 2018 budget adoption
District 2 commissioner Bob Ott.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will meet starting at 10 a.m. in the 2nd floor room of the Cobb BOC building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

The meeting was rescheduled because county government was shut down due to Tropical Storm Irma. Before commissioners vote on the fiscal year 2018 budget, a final public hearing on the budget will take place.

Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce has proposed an $890 million budget (PDF here), with $405 million for the general fund, and without a millage rate increase. After losing a battle in July to boost the millage rate to fully fund the 2008 Cobb parks bond referendum, Boyce is proposing to use $21.5 million in contingency funding to balance the budget.

East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott has gone on the record stating he does not support a millage rate increase and called for a budget review to find cost savings (East Cobb News post here).

East Cobb Library
The East Cobb Library opened at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center in 2010.

He’s also been feuding with his fellow East Cobb commissioner, JoAnn Birrell, who has proposed closing the East Cobb Library to help balance the budget. At an August town hall meeting at that same library branch—the second-busiest in the Cobb public library system—Ott said he would propose closing an “underperforming” branch elsewhere in his district but has not publicly elaborated since then (East Cobb News post here).

East Cobb residents spoke out loudly at a previous public hearing before Birrell defended her proposal to close the East Cobb Library. More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition to keep it open.

Addoption of the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan is on Friday’s agenda, which reflects “Cobb’s vision, policies and goals based on the existing plan and community involvement,” according to documents explaining the plan update process.

Hearings, revisions and other work going into the 2040 plan have been ongoing since 2015. The final draft was completed on Sept. 5, with final revisions explained here.

Several East Cobb citizen activists have been critical of the proposed Cobb 2040 report, concerned about the influx of high-density development in the East Cobb area.

The county is required by the state to adopt a plan and submit it for review by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Also on Friday’s agenda are the following East Cobb-related items:

  • A change order to approve $194,700 in funding to resurface Dickerson Road, located off Lower Roswell Road, where a new subdivision, Crossvine, is being built by Lynwood Development;
  • An appeal by the owner of a proposed bar in northeast Cobb whose application for a liquor license was denied. Naseeb Rana of Kasbah Corp. wants to open an establishment in the Sandy Plains Village shopping center called Paprik’a which would have outdoor seating close to residential homes. Citizens from the Chatsworth and other subdivisions have strongly protested the application, saying the noise and late hours are incompatible with the community. They also said other establishments in the area serving alcohol are all-indoors and that Rana has not been responsive to community concerns;
  • East Cobb resident Ross Cavitt is expected to be appointed Cobb communications director, after more than 20 years as a reporter at WSB-TV (East Cobb News post here.)

WSB-TV journalist Ross Cavitt recommended for Cobb County communications director

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Ross Cavitt
WSB-TV photo

This just in from Cobb County Government: County Manager Rob Hosack is recommeding the hiring of WSB-TV newsman Ross Cavitt as the new county director of communications.

Cavitt, an East Cobb resident, covers Cobb and northwest Atlanta communities for WSB. “Ross will be a great asset to the county,” Hosack said in a statement. “He is an award-winning journalist and will bring a great amount of knowledge and expertise.”

Here’s more about Cavitt in the county release, which indicates that the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to approve his hiring on Sept. 12. If confirmed, he will start on Sept. 18 and replace Sheri Kell, who left earlier this year:

Ross Cavitt has more than 30 years in television news, 23 of those at WSB in Atlanta. He has covered some of the biggest stories in north Georgia and has won numerous awards including regional Emmys for “Spot News” and “Live Reporting.” His 2013 coverage of the Adairsville tornado garnered a regional Edward R. Murrow Award. For much of the last decade, Cavitt has been the WSB Bureau Chief in Cobb County where he covered notable stories including the murder cases involving Ross Harris and Lynn Turner.

Here’s more on Cavitt from his official WSB biography.