Cityhood advocates cry foul as county celebrates fire department, calling E. Cobb banner 'illegal piece of campaign material'

May 8—Last week, Cobb County shared on social media a short video touting its "World Class Fire Department." The county's weekly newsletter announced a new website, worldclass.cobbfire.org, "with FAQ's and easy to find information" about the department.

Three days later, advocates of the proposed city of East Cobb demanded the website be taken offline.

The seemingly innocuous campaign is, they allege, an illegal attempt to influence the referendum on the proposed city of East Cobb, a charge the county has denied.

East Cobb is unique among the four cityhood proposals in the county in that it proposes to create its own police and fire services, in part by taking over existing county facilities. The effect incorporation might have on police and fire services has become one of the key points of contention between pro- and anti-cityhood forces over the past several months.

Early voting in the May 24 election began last Monday, and the campaign promoting the county's "World Class Fire Department" was "launched to coincide with the start of early voting on the Cityhood referendums," committee President Craig Chapin wrote in a May 5 letter to Lisa Cupid, chairwoman of the county's governing board.

In addition to the website and video, Chapin took issue with a banner at the East Cobb Government Service Center's fire station promoting that "World Class Fire Department." The center is the lone early voting location within the boundaries of the proposed city; it is also the lone early voting location featuring such a banner, Chapin alleged.

"Because the Cityhood referendum is on the ballot in that very building, the sign is an illegal piece of campaign material that must be removed at once," he wrote. "It is no coincidence that the only fire station with such a sign as of May 4, 2022 is the one where early voting is occurring."

In an email Saturday, a county spokesperson denied the campaign has anything to do with East Cobb cityhood.

"The fire department has been working on a campaign for quite some time designed to recognize Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services' 50th anniversary as a department and to serve as a recruiting tool to attract more potential firefighters to apply to enter our recruit school," the spokesperson said. "This campaign was to include a new website, videos, social media posts, appearances at events, and banners at all of the county's fire stations."

The website went live last month, according to the spokesperson.

"The first in a series of videos was released shortly thereafter, a few social media posts started going out, and the two members of the Public Information Office started putting the banners up ... targeting (fire stations) in high-traffic areas first," the spokesperson said. "As of last week, banners were up at stations 30, 17, 21, 6, 13, 18, 28, 8, 26, 20, 22, 7, 2, 19, and 3."

Neither Cupid nor Cindy Cooperman, a member of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee, returned calls seeking comment Saturday.

Though Cobb County government officials have warned incorporation could increase fire and police response times for people living within the proposed city's boundaries, Cooperman has previously derided such estimates as "rudimentary." In all likelihood, the new city could work out arrangements with surrounding jurisdictions to match the current level of service, she said at a debate last month.

At that same debate, anti-cityhood speaker Bob Lax countered that in only one city created in the last two decades — South Fulton — has the fire department reached the ISO 1 rating, the premier level of service for fire response.

Government officials are barred from using their positions to influence the outcome of any particular referendum. While county officials have insisted they're neutral on the issue of cityhood, an earlier letter from the East Cobb Cityhood Committee accused the county's "public awareness campaign" of "implicit and explicit bias."

The "World Class Fire Department" campaign is just the latest example of such bias, Chapin argued in the most recent letter. Chapin also noted the committee is "notifying the Attorney General of the County's illegal behavior asking them to open an investigation regarding the County's anti-cityhood behavior."

The spokesperson for the county said the county attorney's office could not be reached "for any sort of reaction to legal claims" Saturday.

"We were a bit surprised to receive the referenced letter this week," the spokesperson said, "but it is in line with the tone and tenor of other correspondence we have received from the group."