Cobb County Work Session October 28, 2025: Code Amendments & Stormwater Utility
Cobb County Work Session October 28, 2025: Code Amendments & Stormwater Utility
On October 28, 2025, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners convened for a work session to review and deliberate on a comprehensive slate of code amendments. The meeting focused on updating procurement thresholds, streamlining administrative processes for animal services, building regulations, and fire safety, while primarily dedicating significant time to discussing the creation of a new stormwater utility fee and the associated code changes. Presentations were delivered by county staff from the Attorney's Office, various departments, and the Water System.
Consent Calendar
- Routine Approvals: The meeting proceeded as a work session for deliberation on proposed amendments; no items were placed on the formal consent calendar for immediate unanimous adoption without discussion.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Commissioner Campro: Expressed significant concern regarding transparency and fiscal responsibility if the County Manager's spending authority were raised from $50,000 to $250,000. Citing a 2017 Veterans Memorial expenditure, the Commissioner highlighted the potential for the County Manager to authorize large sums without board knowledge or prior agenda items.
- Commissioner Sheffield: Questioned the subjectivity of the proposed disorderly conduct ordinance regarding unhoused people on private property, expressing concern that the enforcement mechanism relying on officer verification could lead to arbitrary citations based on appearances or lack of immediate owner contact.
- Commissioner Burrell: Advocated for a more objective enforcement mechanism, suggesting that property owners be required to erect visible "No Trespassing" or "No Camping" signage to clearly establish notice, rather than relying solely on verbal warnings or property owner complaints.
- Commissioner Garnsey: Expressed concern that the disorderly conduct ordinances could criminalize the existence of unhoused individuals, emphasizing the lack of sufficient affordable housing resources and the risk of merely displacing issues to neighboring jurisdictions with fewer restrictions.
- Commissioner Burl: Raised concerns that the new stormwater fee structure might disproportionately impact properties with high impervious surface but low water usage, while also questioning the legal authority of the board to redirect the water utility transfer if the fee structure is not adopted.
Discussion Items
- Chapter 2 (Procurement): Staff proposed increasing the sealed bid threshold from $50,000 to $250,000 to align with updated Georgia state law and reduce administrative burdens for small businesses. The discussion clarified that the County Manager's authority would automatically adjust to match the new formal sealed threshold, though Commissioner Campro requested ongoing transparency regarding expenditures under this higher threshold.
- Animal Services (Chapter 10): Proposed changes include updating the Humane Society board membership to reflect the absorption by the Atlanta Humane Society, reducing impoundment periods from 5 to 3 working days during state of emergency or overcrowding, and extending enforcement of House Bill 331 (roadside pet sales) to county ordinances to address public space transfers of pets.
- Building Regulations (Chapter 18): Staff sought to authorize the applicant to pay for third-party technical assistance (e.g., chemical experts) to speed up permit processing, with costs recovered from the applicant. Additionally, a requirement for pool contractors to hold a General Contractor license or equivalent certification was proposed to ensure safety and proper oversight of trade contractors.
- Fire Department (Chapter 54): Proposed amendments aimed to streamline the Life Safety Certificate of Occupancy process for simple business name or ownership changes, define "substantial renovation" based on valuation thresholds rather than just physical changes, and implement a tagging system for private fire hydrants and fire alarm panels for better maintenance tracking.
- Disorderly Conduct (Chapter 86): Deputy Chief Carl Crumley and Deputy County Attorney Ben Cohen presented new ordinances to address unhoused individuals camping on private or public property without written permission. The ordinances require written proof of owner consent for camping and prohibit littering on public property. The presentation clarified that enforcement would not be immediate for first-time visitors on private property without owner notification, and discussions ensued regarding the subjectivity of enforcement and the need for property owner responsibility (e.g., signage).
- Solid Waste (Chapter 102): Amendments included correcting department names added in previous code revisions, clarifying that residential recycling is an elective service for customers to opt into rather than a mandatory requirement, and confirming the removal of unconstitutional language regarding waste transport across county lines.
- Transportation (Chapter 106): Staff proposed updating the code to reflect the current administrative approval process for pavement cuts and utility work. A new section was proposed to codify the existing policy requiring Board of Commissioners approval for new access points (curb cuts) and private parcel access on limited access highways.
- Special Service District (Chapter 114): A minor correction was proposed to ensure tax collection in the Cumberland Special Service District follows state ad valorem procedures rather than being classified as a misdemeanor.
- Stormwater Utility (Chapters 50, 83, 110, 122): Judy Jones presented extensive code amendments to establish a new stormwater utility. Key proposals include:
- Creating a separate stormwater service fee based on impervious surface area.
- Stopping the county's acceptance of ownership for detention ponds in new subdivisions while maintaining current county-owned ponds.
- Prohibiting new public and private wastewater lift stations for residential subdivisions.
- Establishing a new Article in Chapter 122 for the stormwater utility, including an enterprise fund, rate setting authority, and a credit manual for fee reductions.
- Moving nuisance definitions for improperly maintained stormwater facilities from Chapter 50 to Chapter 83 for consistency.
Key Outcomes
- Procurement Threshold: The proposal to raise the sealed bid threshold to $250,000 was accepted pending the County Attorney's office providing a mechanism for transparency reports on County Manager expenditures under the new limit.
- Animal Services: The amendments regarding the Atlanta Humane Society membership, reduced impoundment periods during emergencies, and enforcement of roadside pet sales were noted for adoption.
- Fire Safety: The proposed changes to simplify certificate of occupancy renewals, define substantial renovation, and implement hydrant/alarm tagging systems were noted.
- Disorderly Conduct: The Board requested further clarification and history regarding complaints in affected areas (e.g., Bells Ferry corridor) and expressed concerns about the subjectivity of enforcement, deferring a final decision until the County Attorney and Police Department provide additional context on the proposed enforcement protocols and signage requirements.
- Recycling: It was clarified that recycling remains an elective service for customers; haulers must offer it, but customers must opt-in. The unconstitutional cross-county waste transport provision was deleted.
- Stormwater Utility: The Board acknowledged the necessity of the proposed code amendments and the new fee structure ($4.75/month residential) to fund stormwater repairs and services. The Board agreed to proceed with public hearings on November 12th and November 20th to consider the code amendments and set the final rate.
- Deferrals: The proposal for a new special service district (Chapter 114) was postponed. The specific implementation of the disorderly conduct ordinance and the exact enforcement protocols remain under further review with the County Attorney and Police Department.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to our Cobb County Board of Commissioners work session this October 28th, 2025. Today we have two presentations before us. The first one will be to provide our 2025 code amendments, and that will be brought by our county attorney Debbie Blair. So with that, Debbie, feel free to approach and help walk through the many updates and we do have many chapters are touched today. Um Debbie Blair with the county attorney's office, and I'll be presenting the uh code amendments. Actually, I'm really MCing only because we have subject matter experts that will be called forward. We're going to take the amendments in numeric order of the chapters, with the exception of the uh changes to chapters 50, 83, 110, and 122, which comprise the stormwater utility, and that will be presented by Judy Jones last. So if there are no questions on the process, I will ask Roger Ball to come forward and present the amendments to chapter two. Thank you. So I'll start with two dash one four one. Uh we're making uh uh ancillary minor changes uh to this uh section. Uh the first change we're changing our purchasing the uh procurement services, which reflects our official name that we uh made a couple years ago. We are adding a list of uh exceptions, and these exceptions, by the way, are already included in our procurement policy. So we're just bringing them over to the code, and that is uh come about as a recommendation from the uh county attorney's office. We're adding actually actual adding references to state law, and that is also uh a recommendation that is coming forth from the county attorney's office, and we uh we think that's a good recommendation. Um we'll go to section two hundred two. Uh these are ancillary changes as well, plus one change that is uh substantive in nature. Again, just like two-one four one, we'll change it per purchasing to procurement services. And this makes it easier for future modifications. This way, you know, as opposed to putting a dollar amount if we come to the board again with uh an increase dollar amount five years from now, we'll just change that uh in one area as opposed to having to change it throughout the document. So again, that's kind of a format thing that was uh recommended by uh the county attorney's office. And the last one, uh just like two one four two. I'm sorry, 2-141. It's the same thing. We're adding references uh to uh to relevant state law. And our actually our last one's that is our substantive revision. And this is the one that we're changing. Uh we want to change our seal bid threshold uh from 50,000 to 250,000, which is uh in line with the state of Georgia's public works construction law. Um that change was made this year through the Georgia State's legislative process and uh they revisited that threshold, moved it from uh I think it was a hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty. So we want to align ours with the 250 uh thousand threshold as well. And I would say um that we reached out to a number of comparator organizations to kind of look and see what their seal bid threshold uh uh thresholds were. Uh we looked at uh some leading edge uh organizations uh in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic area of the United States. We like to benchmark Fairfax County, Virginia on a number of different things. Uh they'll see a their seal bid threshold is 250,000. Uh the federal government uh just one October this year moved their sealed bid threshold to 250,000 dollars. While our comparative organizations here in the Greater Atlanta, about 90 percent of them at 100,000 already, they are pursuing through the through their legislative process to move it up to 250 as well to align with the uh Georgia State uh public works construction law. So I know it appears like a big jump from 50 to 250, but it's because we have not changed our seal bid threshold in 19 years. It's been 19 years since we've changed it. And uh $50,000 was an appropriate threshold 19 years ago based on the uh effects of uh inflation. Um hundred fifty thousand dollars is a new fifty thousand dollars based on the market uh that we're in. And um I just want to take about uh one minute to talk about key benefits of this uh change. Uh by moving the threshold from 50 to 250, it allows a greater number of number of purchases to be made using simpler, faster, and less burdensome procedures. Um, and this allows us to get goods and services to our user departments quickly and efficiently. Uh it also encourages encourages small business participation by reducing the complexity and administrative burden for routine purchases. Uh small businesses, they are working hard to keep their doors open. They're trying to grow their businesses, and so we want to create a procurement uh process that makes it easier for them to engage Cobb County without having without them having to develop burdensome complex requests for proposals, sealed bid responses based on goods and services that we consider routine. You know, $50,000, like I said, 19 years ago is a very appropriate number, but $250 is become the the uh the new benchmark. Um and the last benefit is certainly but not last but not least, it allows the board to apply greater focus on reviewing and and approving procurements with more strategic value and significance. So those are the uh changes that we are proposing through code amendment, and um at this time I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. And Stephanie, I've asked Stephanie Bryce to join me as well to assist.
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