County to spend $98M of federal stimulus funds, including $7M for south Cobb clinic

Feb. 10—The Cobb Board of Commissioners has, for nearly a year, been mulling how to spend tens of millions of dollars it received courtesy of the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Next week, the board is expected to vote on allocating the vast majority of that COVID-19 relief money — roughly $98 million — to an array of infrastructure projects, public safety initiatives, nonprofit partners, and more.

The county originally received $147 million from the bill passed by Congress in 2021. Approving the proposals would deplete all but $11.6 million of the funds.

One of the biggest line items will be $7 million for a new public health center in south Cobb, which would be around 30,000 square feet and offer services from Cobb and Douglas Public Health (CDPH).

"We really need improved access down in that south Cobb area, and we have for years. A lot of our residents down in that area have to travel significantly to get primary care and different services that they need," said Lisa Crossman, deputy director of CDPH, to the MDJ last month.

In an email Friday, Crossman said the department already has $2 million in special-purpose local-option sales tax funds set aside, along with $4.5 million in reserves for the estimated $16.5 million project. She added that "CDPH will work with additional partners and write capital grants to raise the remaining funding needed."

The county's proposed spending is divided among five categories, as follows:

Infrastructure: $19.34 million

Community Health: $23.89 million

Public Safety: $10.03 million

Economic Development: $21.51 million

Support Services: $23.29 million

The public safety line item doesn't include another $20.6 million of ARPA funds the county has already used to support police and fire. In November, the board used that money to increase salaries for most public safety employees by about 4%, along with added recruitment and retention incentives.

To arrive at the final project list, Cobb hired consulting firm Deloitte, which received a fee of $5 million and change for its services.

Here's a breakdown of how Cobb will spend the stimulus money in each category:

Infrastructure

The $7 million for the south Cobb health center is but one of several infrastructure initiatives to receive funding.

About $5.8 million would go toward upgrading HVAC systems at a number of county facilities, both for coronavirus mitigation and air quality improvement. Facilities will include the county government buildings in downtown Marietta, four senior centers, and the south Cobb recreation and aquatic centers.

Another $3 million will be used to pay for stormwater pipe repair and replacement. And $1.5 million will cover the replacement of seven wastewater pump stations and one drinking water station.

Community Health

One of the biggest healthcare expenses will respond to a top priority for public health officials: the proliferation of opioids throughout Cobb.

Nearly $2.7 million would be spent for various projects to combat addiction and distribute resources to respond to the opioid crisis. Those initiatives will include increasing the availability of naloxone (sold under the brand name Narcan), a medication which can halt an overdose. The program also seeks to increase the number of medical providers offering opioid treatment by 25 by the end of 2026.

Another priority will be increasing prenatal healthcare services.

"Particularly our Black mothers are about two times more likely to die from postnatal issues than are their white counterparts," Crossman told lawmakers in January. "So we really need to do something — that's ridiculous to me, that's ridiculous in Cobb County to have that happening."

To that end, almost $3.7 million will go to CDPH and Wellstar Health System. That funding will pay for additional nurses and screening of pregnant residents, transportation costs so patients can more easily access care, and helping residents secure Medicaid coverage.

In recent years, the state has extended postpartum medical care for low-income women enrolled in Medicaid up to 12 months.

Public Safety

Atop the $20 million already put into public safety salary increases, a combined $4.6 million is slated for a "co-responder" program that would deploy mental health professionals alongside police officers in crisis situations.

In a partnership between Cobb public safety and Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, a proposed unit would consist of police officers, sheriff's deputies, paramedics, and mental health clinicians. The goal is a program "that results in the reduction of harm, arrests, and emergency departments' resources," per the proposal.

Meanwhile, $1.5 million would go toward purchasing 30 new defibrillators for the fire department, and just shy of $2 million is earmarked for additional staff in the court system to help clear a backlog of cases that piled up during the pandemic.

Economic Development

On the economic front, the county has proposed to put over $21 million into programs that would boost workforce and businesses.

Nearly $3.8 million would go toward supporting CobbWorks, with another $3.1 million set aside for a program aiming to "provide job opportunities to 500 young adults from ages 15-24 over the span of two years," including internships, job training, mentorship. And the Tommy Nobis Center's Nobis Works would receive $1.8 million to help disabled residents develop their careers.

About $4 million, meanwhile, would start a "business boot camp" program to assist minority business owners impacted by the pandemic. Some $5 million would go to SelectCobb — the Cobb Chamber's economic development arm — to provide grants in the hopes of attracting day care and childhood education employees.

And $2.3 million would go to Cobb Travel & Tourism, to be distributed to four unspecified hospitality and tourism organizations and aid in pandemic recovery.

Support Services

The final category of support services is a slate of nearly three dozen nonprofits and churches for various housing, food assistance, and social services efforts.

LiveSafe Resources, for example, would receive $1.8 million to boost salaries for and retain in-house counselors. Habitat for Humanity would be awarded $4 million to construct 14 affordable homes in the county. And Meals on Wheels Atlanta would receive around $2.7 million to conduct repairs and improvements in the homes of local senior citizens, aiming to serve 180 low-income homes within four years.