Cobb officials, Mableton cityhood supporters field questions at forum

Aug. 18—AUSTELL — More than 100 people posed questions to county officials and supporters of the city of Mableton at a Wednesday night forum about the south Cobb cityhood proposal.

"The meeting scheduled for this evening is primarily to share information," Commissioner Monique Sheffield said during the program at the Cobb Police Training Center's auditorium. "The meeting this evening is not to speak in support or in opposition of cityhood."

Voters within the proposed boundaries will cast their ballots on whether to incorporate the city of Mableton in a referendum during the November 8 general election.

A bill in the Georgia General Assembly to allow voters to decide on whether to incorporate received broad bipartisan support before being signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May. However, passage of the measure came too late to put it on the ballot for May 24, when voters in parts of Cobb resoundingly rejected cityhood proposals for Lost Mountain, East Cobb and Vinings.

Proponents of incorporation in Mableton say they want a local government more responsive to residents' needs, and unlike the three cityhood efforts that failed in May, the Mableton push is aimed at attracting development and increasing density.

Plus, as state Rep. Erick Allen, D-Smyrna, said earlier this year, Mableton is in a majority non-white area of Cobb, one that swings reliably Democratic, whereas the other three cityhood efforts took place in whiter, more conservative areas of the county.

Should voters approve the new city estimated at 77,505 residents, it would encompass the southernmost part of Cobb between Austell and Smyrna.

Mableton feasibility study

Sheffield insisted she and other county officials were at the forum to answer audience members' questions in a neutral manner.

Leaders of the movement to make Mableton a city were also included in the meeting to answer questions from audience members, with a representative each from the Austell Community Task Force and Mableton Improvement Coalition, both neutral parties, moderating.

Bill Volckmann, Cobb's chief financial officer, noted the information he and others from the county shared came from the feasibility study for the proposed city conducted by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

One early question asked if the proposed city is expected to start with enough revenue to be financially feasible.

"What (UGA) found is that the city of Mableton should be financially feasible, in fact, have a surplus of about $3.2 million annually," said Galt Porter, one of the founders of the Committee for the City of Mableton. "Without raising property taxes at all."

There were questions throughout the night about whether the feasibility study is accurate, considering it was conducted in 2018.

Cobb school board member Leroy Tre' Hutchins, another of the founding members of the committee, said during his group's presentation the feasibility study "is just to be used as a guide," acknowledging property digests and business costs have increased since the study was conducted.

Franchise fees also came up throughout the night. Cable providers and utility companies like Georgia Power pay fees to cities so they may offer their services to residents. Volckmann noted the proposal for Mableton adds three different franchise fees to its revenue stream, fees the county is barred by state law from collecting: electricity, telephone service and natural gas.

The county takes in about $900,000 from its cable franchise fee, and Volckmann said the new fees proposed by Mableton are estimated to add over $3 million to the city's revenue, in addition to the roughly $900,000 the county would lose.

Porter told attendees they are probably already paying franchise fees to their cable, power and phone companies, which then pay those fees to cities.

"And you get no benefit," he said, pointing to the fact that Mableton is not yet a city and thus does not get revenue from those franchise fees. Porter said those fees would instead be paid by customers to the companies, which would then pay those fees to Mableton if it became a city.

There were early questions about whether attendees could access the feasibility study. County representatives said the study is available on the county website, while proponents of the city said it could also be found on mabletonyes.com and the South Cobb Alliance website.

One attendee asked how the boundaries of the city were chosen. Porter said an initial plan to include just three zip codes was complicated by state law, which dictates boundaries must be chosen based on census tracts and a piece of unincorporated county land cannot sit between the border of Mableton and a neighboring city.

For that reason, a small number of residents from zip codes not initially anticipated to be absorbed by the city are now included in its boundaries.

Another question concerned whether police and fire services would be provided by the new city. Hutchins said public safety services were not included in the proposal, praising Cobb's police and fire departments as some of the best in the state and explaining they would remain the public safety service providers in Mableton.

The county speaks

Volckmann, in addition to Cobb's directors of parks and recreation and transportation, shared some of the changes to county funding and services, should voters approve the city of Mableton in November. The department heads also answered audience questions related to their respective departments.

"The city of Mableton is proposing a planning and zoning (commission), code enforcement, sanitation, parks and rec, and a limited municipal court," Volckmann said.

The feasibility study said that funding for those services, Volckmann explained, would come from an array of taxes for motor vehicles, alcoholic drinks, hotels and motels and business licensing or occupations, building permits, municipal court fines, franchise fees and parks and rec fees. The revenue hit the county would take from loss of those various sources would total roughly $14.6 million, according to the feasibility study.

Parks director Michael Brantley told the audience the city of Mableton would absorb roughly 530 acres of land owned by the county. Brantley added Mableton would absorb both established county parks and undeveloped property owned by Cobb.

Brantley said about 15 Cobb parks employees would lose maintenance responsibilities in the area of Mableton if it becomes a city. After the first three efforts at cityhood in Cobb earlier this year, park staff, Brantley said, asked what would happen to them should the cities incorporate.

"We made a decision...that we should not be able to affect those employees" if cities incorporate, Brantley said. "So those employees will stay under the direction of Cobb County Parks. As you can imagine, we're down a few people right now, so we can move them to other areas of the county where they're needed."

Cobb's transportation director, Drew Raessler, briefly discussed the impact Mableton cityhood would have on maintenance of roads.

"Transportation is not a service that is proposed by the city of Mableton, so I would put this in the category of potential impact," Raessler said.

Raessler said Georgia state law stipulates a newly incorporated city takes ownership of the roads within its boundaries "unless there is negotiation and coordination with the county."

Raessler, whose presentation was the shortest of the three Cobb officials, explained road maintenance and other transportation-related decisions would be left to the elected Mableton City Council.

Cobb Chairwoman Lisa Cupid was in attendance at the meeting and spoke about the county's role in the cityhood debate.

"This is a continuance of the county's effort to provide some objective information," Cupid said.

Cupid encouraged residents to visit the county's website for more information about Mableton cityhood, including maps to determine whether their properties are within the proposed boundaries for the city.

"I've had some people ask me, would I be as engaged with this effort as I have been in the last cityhood movements," Cupid said.

Cupid offered to make herself available to groups of 10 or more residents for presentations of the information the county has related to the Mableton proposal.

She also acknowledged the county has been responsive to concerns brought up by previous cityhood movements. Cupid said this year's budget and code amendment package start to address some of those issues, such as hiring new employees for services like parks, transportation and code enforcement that were focal points in previous cityhood efforts.

However, Cupid added, just because a new city is proposed does not mean the county is absolved of its responsibility to better address constituent concerns.

After the forum, Sheffield said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the number of people who attended, adding she thought the forum was smooth and controlled throughout the evening.

"That was done purposely, because again...the overall goal was to discuss the financial impacts, if any, from the county," Sheffield said.

People would have opportunities to share opinions for or against cityhood at other events, Sheffield said, reiterating the forum was for people to get the numbers without bias.

Sheffield, who lives in the area that would become the city of Mableton should the voters decide to incorporate in November, declined to say whether she would support cityhood.

Eric and Jeniffer Jerral, residents of unincorporated Mableton, said after the meeting they were "leaning a little more towards cityhood."

"Only because we feel as though, some people did mention working with the county. I don't know how effective that's been thus far, and that's really the driving force for us," Eric Jerral said. "If there were going to be some changes, more effort put toward the city as far as for code enforcement and things like that from the county, we could easily swing back the other way."

He thought the meeting, while informative, did not provide much specific information, though it did give him a better idea of services the city would provide.

"There are other topics that we are concerned about, so we will probably go to the other town hall meetings to see," Jennifer Jerral said.

Richard Hembree, a lifelong resident of Cobb who lives on "the far eastern edge" of the proposed city, said he thinks the county is doing a great job in terms of services.

"And I'm not sure how incorporation into a city would be an improvement," said Hembree, who plans to vote against cityhood. "But, that's why I'm here to find out: what could possibly be an improvement."

Hembree praised Sheffield for her management of the forum.

"My brother-in-law was involved in the city of Vinings, and he said, 'I'll tell you how the meeting will go tonight. It'll last about an hour and be OK, and then it'll degrade very quickly into the two camps and arguments and things,' and our commissioner did an amazing job managing the meeting tonight," Hembree said.

Could his stance on cityhood change?

"Possibly. Most likely no."