Mableton forum, at times heated, lets residents hear from advocates on both sides

Oct. 13—This week's Mableton cityhood forum at times got heated, with opponents crying foul at certain statements by Cobb school board member Leroy Tre' Hutchins, who represents the group in favor of a city of Mableton.

The online forum, hosted by two civic groups, the Mableton Improvement Coalition and Austell Community Task Force, offered the first opportunity for voters to hear from both sides of the Mableton cityhood debate in a single event, though it was the anti-cityhood group, Preserve South Cobb, that proved more directly involved in the forum than MabletonYES!, the group advocating for cityhood.

MabletonYES! says 'no' to participation

MabletonYES! declined an invitation to speak in favor of cityhood during the event, said Joel Cope, a forum moderator and Mableton Improvement Coalition board member.

However, Hutchins still spoke throughout the forum.

Hutchins told the MDJ his group's purpose "is to investigate and educate the community in regard to the feasibility of the proposed city of Mableton."

For those reasons, he said, his role in the forum was to answer questions about the feasibility study for a city of Mableton conducted by the University of Georgia's Vinson Institute in 2018.

William Wilson, MabletonYES! chairman, told the MDJ his group "didn't believe the format was conducive to providing the public accurate information."

MabletonYES!, he added, had pushed for an event focused on educating the public about cityhood.

"We continued to negotiate until MIC informed us they were choosing to go with an alternate format to use various community members," Wilson said. "We were thrilled that our neighbors were allowed to speak from their hearts about the positives of cityhood."

Some of the speakers in favor of cityhood during the forum, who are not directly involved with MabletonYES!, included south Cobb resident Michael Murphy, former top aide to the late Cobb County Chairman Mike Boyce, and James Talton, a longtime resident of the area who is a builder, developer and retired pastor.

Hutchins' role questioned

Despite his neutral role in the forum, there were moments throughout when Hutchins answered audience questions that members of the anti-cityhood group Preserve South Cobb took issue with.

In response to a question about code enforcement first answered by Hutchins and then by Christie Lynn, a member of Preserve South Cobb, Hutchins attempted to explain why more code enforcement officers would be needed in the Mableton area than the three the county plans to provide.

"What's going on here?" Deidre White, another Preserve South Cobb member in the forum, said as Hutchins spoke.

Donte Philpot, the Austell Community Task Force representative moderating the forum, ended discussion on the issue.

One of the south Cobb residents who spoke in favor of Mableton cityhood was Cassandra Brown, an IT sales professional. Brown said that after 20 years of living in Mableton with her family, she does not see how progress in areas such as park development can be made without incorporating.

"I'm just convinced that Mableton cannot reach its full potential by continuing under our present system that we have with our broad base county commission-style of government," Brown said, though she clarified her statement was not targeting the work of Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid or Commissioner Monique Sheffield, who represents south Cobb.

When Brown asked Hutchins toward the forum's close if he could answer a question, addressed to pro-cityhood speakers, about whether new cities had been created elsewhere that did not affect taxes, he said 10 of the last 12 cities incorporated in Georgia were tax-neutral, while two were full-service cities forced to raise taxes.

Lynn pushed back, saying in her rebuttal Hutchins could not promise taxes would remain the same or be rolled back in a county with taxes known to be "notoriously low," especially in relation to neighboring Fulton County.

"Based on the feasibility study it would be cost-neutral, with a surplus of $3 million dollars," Hutchins said.

Lynn took issue with Hutchins responding to her rebuttal, noting he had already spoken on the question.

"MabletonYES! was welcomed and declined the invitation," Lynn said.

The Mableton proposal

A city of Mableton would offer four services — zoning, code enforcement, sanitation, and parks and recreation — to around 78,000 people in the southernmost part of the county, between Austell and Smyrna. A feasibility study commissioned by the South Cobb Alliance, the pro-cityhood nonprofit now known as MabletonYES!, found the city would collect $14.6 million per year and spend $11.4 million, leaving it with a $3.2 million budget surplus, without raising taxes on residents.

Cobb County government, meanwhile, estimates incorporating the city would cost the county about $10.8 million annually in lost revenue.

Earlier this year, the Georgia General Assembly approved House Bill 839 with broad bipartisan support to put Mableton cityhood on the ballot. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill in May, clearing the way for a November 8 referendum on Mableton cityhood. During the primary, three cityhood pushes in Cobb failed, efforts that would have incorporated the cities of East Cobb, Lost Mountain and Vinings.

Mableton cityhood proponents have said the city would bring better services to residents without increasing taxes, while anti-cityhood group Preserve South Cobb members insist the county is already hard at work to improve services, and that the claim taxes would not increase is a false promise.

Residents who would be included in the boundaries of Mableton will vote on the ballot measure on Tuesday, Nov. 8.