Good morning, everyone.

It's good to see you today, this Tuesday, May 12th of 2026.

I'm pleased today that we have Rabbi Daniel Dorch.

He will be providing our invocation today, and that will be followed with the pledge, and that will be brought by Sheriff Deputy Martell.

For those of you who are willing and able, I ask that you please stand for both our invocation and our pledge.

So on the Jewish calendar this week, this is a very fortuitous time.

We are in a period that is called the Omer.

This is when we count symbolically the period from our holiday known as Passover to the day called Shavuot, that is the Feast of Weeks, and we celebrate on the Feast of Weeks two days in Jewish history.

The first is the receiving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the day that we received law and justice, the underpinnings in many ways of Western civilization, as well as a day of great gratitude for the Jewish people.

It is the day when farmers historically would bring their first fruits to Jerusalem and to the temple.

And it is this intersection of law and justice and gratitude for law and justice.

That is the spirit of my invocation this morning, and gratitude to the commission for all of its holy work that it does this morning.

May we begin this meeting with a sense of gratitude.

Our God and God of our ancestors.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Thank you, Rabbi Dorch, and also Deputy Martell.

I believe before we call this meeting to order, we may have a guest with us today, is our new Cobb Elections Director here today.

And if so, yes, please.

So good to see you.

Thank you.

Good morning, and thank you for having me today.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, County Manager, members of the public.

Thank you for being here.

I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Cobb County Elections Director.

Thank you to the elections board, to the Board of Commissioners, Dr.

McMorris, and Dr.

Gibson for your confidence and trust in me.

I also want to sincerely thank our staff for their hard work and commitment to serving the community.

I look forward to working together and strengthening transparency, integrity, and excellence in elections.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lee.

It's wonderful to have you here, and we wish you all the best this election season.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

All right.

With that, our meeting is now formally called to order, and we do have a number of presentations before you today.

Our first one will begin with our Cobb District 3 Commissioner Joanne Burrell.

For those of you who are here in honor of Rabbi Dorge Day, please join her up front.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Okay.

Um, it is a great honor to be able to present this proclamation to Rabbi Dorsch today, and he has some folks from his congregation at time with him, the Goldsteins, Elise and Joseph, and I think is Philip on his way, maybe or yes.

Okay.

And of course, Lisa Ollens.

And I'm gonna read this proclamation to you.

Whereas, since joining congregation at Time on May 25th, 2016, with his formal installation in February 2017, Rabbi Daniel Dorsch has served as a devoted spiritual leader, guiding the first conservative synagogue in Cobb County with wisdom and compassion.

And whereas Rabbi Dan and Amy Dorch have been instrumental in fostering a dynamic egalitarian and welcoming environment, ensuring that the mission of that time to provide meaningful Jewish experiences continues to thrive for future generations.

And whereas through his leadership and programs, such as the clergy leadership incubator, and as a certified facilitator for marriage preparation, Rabbi Dorsch has strengthened the bonds of faith and family throughout Marietta and the broader Atlanta area.

And whereas the Dorch family's commitment to community outreach, including interfaith dialogue, and social engagement has bridged divides and built lasting friendships among neighbors of all backgrounds.

Is the past president of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association now, therefore, we the Cobb County Board of Commissioners proclaim May 12th Rabbi Dorch Day in Cobb County in honor of the 10th anniversary of his and Amy's service and celebrating a decade of spiritual growth, community service, and unwavering dedication to the members of the congregation at Time.

This is the 12th day of May 2026.

Do you want to say a few words?

It's very rare for a rabbi to be speechless and humbled, but I'm we're truly humbled by this uh honor, and we look forward to celebrating and to um continuing to serve the community for many more years.

It's a wonderful place to make our home and for our family to make our home, and that's what I have to say.

Thank you, and thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

Yes, we do want to recognize, I'm sorry, thank you so much, Commissioner Allen.

Up here was Councilman Goldstein of the city of Marietta, and we ought not take it for granted when we have other elected officials here.

So if you can just wave and let everyone see you, that would be wonderful.

Thank you.

We know you have many other things you could always be doing, and you chose to be here.

Next up, we'll have a proclamation recognizing economic development week in Cobb County.

For those of you who are here as a part of this presentation, please join me up front.

All right.

Good morning.

Great to see everyone.

This is our mighty economic development team, plus our fearless community development director up here with us today.

We're as economic development professionals work to strengthen local economies by supporting business growth, attracting investment, and advancing long-term sustainable economic opportunity.

And whereas these professionals serve in a variety of settings, including local and state governments, public and private partnerships, chambers of commerce, businesses, and they also work with educational institutions to promote job creation, capital investment, infrastructure development, and workforce advancement.

And whereas the economic vitality of Cobb County is supported by its strategic location within the metropolitan Atlanta region, its diverse economic base and its continued commitment to fostering innovation, competitiveness, and sustainable growth.

And whereas since 1926, the International Economic Development Council and its predecessors have provided leadership in advancing the economic development profession, marking 100 years of service dedicated to promoting prosperity, inclusivity, and resilience in communities.

Now, therefore, we, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim May 4th through the 8th, 2026 as economic development week in Cobb County.

We commend the contributions of economic development professionals, and we encourage continued collaboration among our stakeholders to advance economic opportunity and to support a prosperous future for all of Cobb residents.

This the 12th day of May 2026.

Thank you.

We do a myriad of things in economic development to include supporting our large companies, small businesses, as well as uh redevelopment efforts and film in Cobb County, and we just appreciate the support of all of our economic development partners at the chambers of commerce, at the state, our utility partners, and more.

Um, that we all work together to make sure Cobb is a place where we all want to continue to live and grow and raise our families here.

So thank you so much, Jess.

Yes, thank you, and thank you to the Board of Commissioners for your ongoing support of economic development efforts here in Cobb County.

Um, we're very excited about the economic development strategic plan, which is wrapping up, and y'all, this is it.

You look at all the great business around Cobb, all the things that are happening here, and these four ladies really do put in so much effort to making that happen and supporting our businesses.

So couldn't do it without them.

Y'all are doing great.

Thank you.

All ladies.

Thanks to our eyes, all ladies.

All righty.

Next up, I will ask those of you who are here with respect to Captain John Collins Day to please join Commissioner Gambrill up front.

Good morning.

It's with great pleasure that I get to issue this proclamation.

Whereas the freedom that the citizens of the United States of America enjoy today is a direct result of the bloodshed and hardships endured during the years of struggle by soldiers such as Captain John Collins for American independence.

And whereas John Collins served as a private sergeant, sergeant major, lieutenant, and captain during the Revolutionary War and fought in many engagements, such as King's Mountain, Cow Penns, Guildford Courthouse, Briar Creek, and the C's Siege of Yorktown, and whereas the sacrifices of such soldiers and their families allowed the founders to establish this great nation as a constitutional republic with liberties which make it unique among all other countries.

And whereas Collins mitigated to Cobb County, Georgia after the war and settled in Ackworth, where he and his wife, Phoebe Saylors, are noted as founders of the Ackworth's First Baptist Church in 1840.

Collins is interred in historic Mars Hill Cemetery located in Cobb County.

Now, therefore, we, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim May 16th, 2026 as Captain John Collins Day in Cobb County, and call on our community to join in recognizing and honoring this American Revolutionary War Soldier and Patriot this the twelfth day of May 2026.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

We appreciate all the support we get from the Cobb County Commission.

Captain Collins, as she said, was settled in Ackworth, and his fourth great grandson and fifth great grandson still own and live in his house there.

On Saturday at 2 p.m., we'll have a ceremony dedicating a 250 marker to Captain John Collins in the Morris Hill Church Cemetery, and we invite all of you to please attend.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

All right.

Next up, I will ask for those of you here for Historic Preservation Month to please join Commissioner Allen up front.

Today it is my honor to recognize the vital work being done to safeguard the stories and structures that define Cobb County.

We are joined by leaders who are instrumental in this effort.

We have Chairwoman Bev Jackson, also Rose Wing from our Historic Preservation Commission, and our own Cobb Historic Preservation Planner, Mandy Elliott.

Historic preservation isn't just about the past.

It's a tool for economic development, tourism, and neighborhood revitalization.

It maintains our county's unique character while enhancing livability for today's residents.

May is designated as Georgia Historic Preservation Month.

We joined the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Trust in celebrating the tangible aspects of our heritage.

By proclaiming May as historic preservation month in Cobb County, we encourage all residents to recognize the importance of our shared history.

Bev, Rose, Mandy, thank you for your tireless dedication to ensuring that Cobb County's history remains a living part of our future.

Thank you.

Oh boy, nothing like being put on the spot for singing the morning.

I just want to say it's been an honor to serve on this commission, and Mandy Elliott is the best staff planner anyone could ever ask for.

And we have done some fabulous work over the past few years, and it's just been an honor to be a part of preserving the heritage of this county.

My family goes back more than a hundred years in Cobb County, and our family home still stands.

So this is really an honor and a privilege for me.

And I thank you, Commissioner Allen and the Board of Commissioners so much.

Moving along, we have our next presentation.

We'll ask for those at Building Safety Month to please join Commissioner Sheffield up front.

You guys know the routine.

All right.

We're as, excuse me, we're as Cobb County recognizes that our community depends on a central role of our homes, our home buildings and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and when disasters strike.

And whereas our confidence in the resilience of these structures is accomplished by vigilant professionals, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year-round to ensure excellence.

And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Cold Council, a nonprofit that brings together expert local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials to create and implement the highest quality codes and standards.

These protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play.

Whereas Building Safety Month is sponsored by the International Cold Council to remind the public about the critical role of our community's largely unknown protectors, our code officials.

You assure us of safe, sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity.

Now, therefore, we the Cobb County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim the month of May as building safety month and express our appreciation for the officials whose high standards help protect lives and property throughout the community.

This the 12th day of May 2026.

And I'd like to pass the mic to Jessica.

She'd like to share additional information.

Thank you, Commissioner Sheffield.

And you know, it's great to have this.

This is where it starts.

And one of the things that we're very proud of, our own chief building official right here, Kevin Gobble just received his Master Code Professional certification through the International Code Council.

This is like the highest standard, the highest level of certification you can get through ICC.

And there are only about a thousand MCPs worldwide.

So it's a huge recognition.

He has this amazing plaque.

And I would be, I would be remiss if I didn't recognize his wife, Christine and Christine.

We know that this has been a lot of time for him at home studying and prepping for tests.

And I know with your family, you keep things in the road there, so thank you for that.

And we're very proud of Kevin, and one more thing, and then I'll I'll be done.

I also just want to recognize our deputy building official Jody Dotson.

Jody is going to be retiring from the county next month after 33 years of service.

So we're we're very thankful for his time here.

Yeah, sorry, Jodi.

Sorry.

He he did know he was retiring.

I didn't just tell him that.

But just so proud of this whole team and everything that they do, and really appreciative to the Board of Commissioners, the county manager, the county attorney's office, even always giving us great advice as far as how to handle things.

Um and the fire marshal's office, of course, a great partner in ensuring building safety.

So thank you, Commissioner Sheffield.

Here, Debbie, you hold this.

All right.

Now, may those who are here as a part of National Public Works Week in Cobb County, please join our county manager up front.

Thank you, Chim.

A lot happens in May for departments, right?

A lot to celebrate.

So thank you all for your grace this morning.

Good morning, good morning.

Good morning.

Hey.

So nobody's filling potholes this morning, huh?

Come on down, guys.

This is how I'm just talking.

Hey, Michael.

Hello.

Right.

Lots of octane this morning.

Keep coming, guys.

Keep coming.

Al, where are you at?

Al and Alicia.

Good morning, everyone.

So, whereas National Public Works Week recognizes the essential services and infrastructure that support Cobb County's quality of life, including transportation, water systems, solid waste water treatment, and public facilities.

And whereas this observance honors the engineers, managers, employees, and the private sector workers who provide these critical services and highlights the importance of community support for their efforts.

Sponsored by the American Public Works Association, the sixty-sixth annual National Public Works Week will be observed May 17th through the 23rd, 2026.

Now, therefore, we, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim May 17th through the 23rd as National Public Works Week here in Cobb County and recognize the valuable contribution public works professionals make to public health, safety, and the quality of life that we experience every day this the twelfth day of May 2026.

Please join me in thanking all of these departments.

So I'll turn it over to you.

Drew Ressler, I'm the DOT director for for Cobb County.

It is such an honor to stand alongside these professionals, not just within DOT, but these other departments.

Public Works Week is dedicated to these professionals that do the foundational work of providing those public facilities and making them available every day, whether that is keeping vehicles on the road, keeping the lights going red, yellow, green, and uh you know the roads and bridges, keeping the water and and sewer operational, keeping the parks ready for for people to it to enjoy, keeping the facilities uh lit and and safe.

Uh it is such such an honor to to celebrate that foundational work that often we take for granted uh when we're driving around when we turn on our faucet and and when we see those those public vehicles on the road.

Um so thank you to all of you.

Thank you uh to to to you, Dr.

McMorris, to to our board of commissioners for the support that you provide our employees every day.

I just want to echo everything Drew said.

Thank you, and I thank our staff for being here and all the staff that's not here.

Um we appreciate that a lot of them are working behind the scenes every day to provide these services to our customers and residents, and uh just want to acknowledge the hard work that they do.

I am Alicia Giddens, the director of uh Cobb County Water System.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Al Curtis, I'm the director of uh fleet management.

Um we everything you see on the road from police fire sheriff and all our departments vehicles we service and take pride in keeping those vehicles on the road.

I just like to applaud the people really that do the work.

We provide the vision, they are the boots on the ground to get the work done to keep the vehicles here.

All these people you see here.

And I just like to acknowledge that again, thank you for being here.

Thanks, Commissioner, thanks, county manager.

Uh, we do our best job to make sure all of our people that are drive these vehicles are safe, and we look for more sustainable operations as well to make sure that we're being cognizant of all the people that are around us, the air that they breathe and the type of fuel that we use to actually keep these vehicles on the road.

Thank you.

You good?

Parks department director says ditto to everything they said.

Okay.

Chairwoman, Commissioners, would you all mind standing so that you could be in the photo as well if you don't mind?

Thank you, and Joel.

Scrunching in like this to you.

I never come up in the whales kind of thank you.

All righty.

Now for our final presentation of the morning.

May those of you who are here with respect to International HR Day.

Please join our county manager up front.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Good day, John.

Couldn't do it without you guys.

Thank you.

Could not do it.

Wow.

Hey, good morning.

Good morning.

There's plenty more.

This isn't always somebody's holding down the board out of it.

We'll be brief.

We'll be brief.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you guys for being here.

Whereas May 20th is recognized as international HR Day in honor of the important role human resources professionals play in supporting employees and strengthening organizations.

And whereas this day recognizes Cobb County's human resources staff for attracting and retaining talent, promoting professional development, fostering a positive workplace culture, and guiding employees and the organization through change and workforce challenges.

Their dedication contributes to a strong, engaged and resilient workforce.

Now, therefore, we the Cobb County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaim May 20th, 2026 as international HR Day in Cobb County and honor human resources professional for their dedication, their service, and the difference they make for county employees every single day.

This the 12th day of May 2026.

Please join me in thanking all of our HR staff.

Thank you so much.

Yes, thank you, Dr.

McMorris.

Thank you, Commissioners.

I am proud to be part of such a dedicated HR team.

Every day these individuals come in to support the 5600 county employees that we have so that they can do their job and serve the community.

And it's an honor to do so and work alongside them all each day.

So thank you to all of us.

There are 32 of us.

I don't know that we're all here today, but thank you to you all, and thank you again, Dr.

McMorris.

And again, if the chair and the commissioners would stand or take a home.

Certainly.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next on this morning's agenda, the Board of Commissioners will receive our annual update on Truest Park and the battery.

I'll turn things over to our deputy county manager, Bill Volkman, who will tee up today's presentation.

Good morning, Chairwoman, Commissioners, County Manager.

This is our annual Truest Park and Braves update.

And as always, we have great news to share with you today.

The numbers continue to improve year over year, and we're excited to share those with you.

I'm gonna go over some of the financial impacts, and then I'm gonna turn it over to Mike Plant to go over some of the Braves information to share with you today.

But I always like to start with this slide, and this is kind of showing us where we originally projected in 2015 to where we are today.

So the column that you see in 2015 projections, you'll notice a red six million four hundred thousand dollar number at about three quarters of the way down.

That was the amount projected to use to pay debt service out of the general fund property taxes every year.

I say that again, every year for the life of the bonds.

The projection was to use six point four million dollars of general fund property taxes to service those bonds.

A few years ago, we were able to share with you that we had met that threshold to say we are no longer using general fund property taxes to service those bonds, and we continue to say that state that today.

So I do want to share with you those numbers in the green to the right of the six point four million dollar number.

We're trying to figure out how to best show those.

So I want to show those in green, and we have brackets around those.

That is actually money that is going back into the general fund.

So again, we're not using 6.4 million dollars.

We're actually putting money back into the general fund based on these revenue sources alone.

So in 2025, that was just under $1 million that went back into the general fund rather than using $6.4 million to service the debt.

And then in addition to that, that doesn't include the property taxes that the Braves pay into the general fund, which was $2.1 million in 2025.

So in reality, we put $3.1, almost $3.2 million back into the general fund just on these revenue sources alone.

So again, didn't use $6.4, actually put $3.2 back into the general fund.

So that is always good news to share.

Okay, so I want to talk about kind of our history of where we where we were in 2014 and where we are today.

So in 2014, the property known as the battery consisted of four parcels with a taxable value of about five million dollars.

That generated $67,000 in tax revenue to the county.

In 2025, that same area comprises of 60 parcels with a taxable value of over $644 million, which generates $8.74 million of tax revenue.

And that breakdown is as follows to the Cobb County General Fund that's just under $3 million in 2025.

Cobb County Board of Education, $4.8 million in 2025, and the Cumberland Community Improvement District just under a million dollars in 2025.

If that wasn't impressive enough alone, I wanted to go back and capture the 10-year history.

So since 2016, the Braves and this property for the battery have paid in over $56.2 million of property tax revenue to these entities.

That's $18.8 million to the county, $31.4 to the school district, and six million to the Cumberland Improvement District.

So considerable investment in that 10 period 10-year period of time.

In addition to the property taxes, we have other revenues that the county collects: the occupation tax, liquor by the drink tax, hotel motel tax, and that is just from the Omni and the ALOF in the battery proper, as well as the special local option sales tax.

Any questions before I move on?

Very good.

Okay.

So this is just a way to show that breakdown of those other revenue sources again, excluding property taxes.

We talked about the sales and use tax, our sposs taxes, liquor by the drink, occupation tax, and the hotel motel tax paid by the two hotels within the battery.

And then the breakdown of those revenues of how they translate to county, school board, and state.

So in 2025, based on those revenues alone, the county received just under $8 million.

The Board of Education received $4.5 million, and the state received $18.6 million for a total of $31.1 million.

Now that is one year.

So this is important to note that of these entities, only Cobb County invested had an investment or financial resources that went into this project.

The Board of Education and the state did not, and but they're receiving obviously a huge benefit because of this development.

All right.

So I want to show you this a little differently, and we're trying to figure out how to best highlight this.

So we try to tweak this a little bit each year, but we want to make sure we're highlighting this impact.

So when we combine those revenue sources and the property taxes that we touched on on the previous slide, Cobb County received 11.4 million dollars in 2025.

Cobb County Board of Education between the property taxes and the sales taxes received 8.8 million.

And as we said earlier, the Cumberland CID received just under a million dollars.

The state received 18.6.

The total of that, as you see at the bottom, is just under 40 million dollars in 2025 alone.

So I want to put these numbers these two slides together for you.

So I'm gonna go back and show you this one here.

So we talked about the five-year history of 138 million at the very bottom.

If you add property taxes to that, that increases to 176 million dollars in a five-year history.

If you add the Braves annual rental payment to that during that five-year period, that increases to 207 million dollars over a five-year period.

So again, significant financial impacts as we kind of walk through this.

But I think again, the highlight for today that I want everybody to leave with is the original projection said we would be putting county dollars into this project.

We no longer do that, it actually generates additional county dollars that we then use to provide services throughout our general fund.

Okay.

Any questions for me on the financial impact before I impact before I turn it over to Mike Plant?

Very good.

All right, Mike, all yours.

I got you.

You cover the clicker.

Good morning.

Always enjoyed doing this because Bill is giving you some good information and good numbers.

So it's easy to stand up and talk about it.

And uh winning solves a lot of things in our business.

So that's always uh, but we're in a much better place this year than we were last year when I was here.

Um couple just highlights of uh last year.

And I I probably should start at the bottom because you were all part of a huge uh global undertaking and bringing the all-star game here, and and obviously everything the the board and the county did to support it, and our team on behalf of everybody uh incredibly grateful because we don't do this on our own.

So uh we had about 250,000 visitors over that week long period, and a global television audience, and um the game ended obviously in dramatic fashion with how many I can't even call it extra innings was uh first time ever they used uh a home run hidoff to win it, and even though it was a Philadelphia Phillies guy that did it for us, we were we were okay.

The National League won the game.

So we uh we continue with our 30 keys, uh we call them 30 restaurants and retail shops, continue to generate a record sales year in and year out, 137 million million total, and um, and that obviously creates a lot of the sales tax that Bill uh talked about.

We bought Pennon Park last year, the the um the 36-acre uh piece of property across 75.

It was a strategic play for us because of uh we parked a couple thousand cars a game there, and uh we've continued to to advance and um innovate and put capital into the project rents are going up there, but that adds about another 1.4 million dollars that we're putting in to um the Cobb County and Cobb General Fund and the Board of Education.

We continue to activate events that draws nine million people there a year in addition to our game.

So you see the 388 events, and you know, one of the big things is always to clarify with accuracy.

We know ever where everyone comes from.

We have um zip codes when they purchase tickets and we have license plate readers, and now we know we know where they're coming from.

We have the analytics just like we do on the field, we have it off the field.

So 71% of the fans and the visitors come from outside Cobb, and I think that's an important number to continue to emphasize.

And 20% of those come from outside of the state of Georgia.

So that that tax impact is not just recirculating dollars inside Cobb County.

Next, yes, sir.

One of the things we're also very proud of is obviously our contributions to the community, and I think all of you were at Ryan Park.

That was one of the big uh big community events we did last year in conjunction with uh with Parson Rec with Michael and his team, and also with uh the support of Major League Baseball.

I I know uh the impact was huge, and obviously the the park is getting a lot of use.

It was a hot day, but it was a memorable day.

Um, but again, just those are the kind of type of things we like doing to give back to the community.

We supported uh 19 different nonprofits with about a quarter million dollars of uh funds last year.

We continue to support education in Cobb County, we continue to support various youth uh baseball initiatives.

Uh Chief Farrell and Director Register, what public safety does for us on site is just tremendous, and our partnership with them.

I can't say enough about the professionalism, the attitude, the the real commitment they have to create a safe environment for us.

So you know, we'll continue to do what we can to put to support public safety.

The safety village was a big initiative that we were proud to be part of this this year.

And then our veterans.

Um you do a lot, we do a lot, the warrior alliances on site, and they had uh over 5,000 interactions with helping support veterans with job placement and medical uh medical uh issues that they have to deal with.

So uh the War Warrior Alliance is a big part of what we do every single year.

And last, just some things to look forward to.

Uh Bill, thanks.

Just uh some things to look forward to for this year.

We've just opened uh one new restaurant jail exander, and we have another one coming in August at the bottom of the Truest Securities headquarters, Shake Shack National uh restaurant chain, um, and they have their headquarters in New York.

Uh fortunately for us, they've opened up a Southeastern regional office, they bring their board down here, franchisees.

They have no space to do that in New York, so again, creating impact uh on site at our hotels and our properties.

The Henry, if you drive by or you come to games, um we are stacking towers about every two weeks, and uh I anticipate the first tower at 23 stories will will top out about August.

Tower two is gonna start construction here pretty quick.

We did finish the bridge across from uh the Henry to our plaza, which helps to alleviate that pedestrian and uh vehicle conflict during games.

We park a lot of cars over there, so that's one of our goals is to do everything we can to alleviate that.

We're still working with the CID and uh in the state and the county on uh the bridge across Cobb Parkway.

Hopefully, that'll come to fruition soon.

We'll have some World Cup activities uh coming here in about a month.

And um the last thing is I think we solved for the challenge we had in watching Braves games all over Brays country by creating our own Braves Vision in-house, and uh we've had rave reviews on that already.

So that's uh that's kind of what we're doing this year, and and this continuing to win games.

So any questions.

Very good.

Thank you for that presentation.

I'll begin with Commissioner Gambrill.

Good afternoon and or morning, I guess it's still on the Braves Vision.

I had several constituents ask that since the county had essentially funded the stadium.

Why do they have to pray pay for the Braves vision to watch them on TV?

Um the Cobb County residents would like to see that as a benefit to them instead of having to pay boy.

I wish I had a good answer for you, Kelly.

You know, um, I think in the the world we're living in today of sports, it's um it's obviously there's a great deal of expense that goes into producing all of those games.

Um, and and also, I mean, the I can't get into the details of the carriage deals, but everyone has to be you have YouTube TV, Comcast TV charter.

Um, it's the the relationship we have to have with the cable operators and the distributors as well.

So um the days of the three major networks and having over-the-air free T or TV, unfortunately been long gone.

So we're paying um just like everyone else has to pay in order to provide those signals.

Okay.

Thank you.

Commissioner Burrell.

I'm sorry, did you have a question?

I'll come back to you, Commissioner Allen.

Um, first of all, thank you, Mike, for all the many contributions to our community from ballparks to schools and everything the Braves Foundation does.

Um, but there's one thing missing.

Well, not just one thing, but one thing that's near and dear to my heart, is uh the Braves have also provided two police canines, Champ and Brave.

We have to the Cobb County PD K9 unit.

So thank you for those.

You bet and um we we have Comcast, so it's include the Brace Vision channel is included in our package.

So we don't pay extra to get it, but it is included in our package.

So I guess it depends on who your provider is.

It is.

It's uh still a complicated world of television and streaming and OTA.

Yeah, it's not like I said, it's not where it was many years ago.

It was pretty easy turning TV on, and you saw a couple channels.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Allen.

Thank you for being here.

I don't have a question, just wanted to give condolences on the passing of Bobby Cox.

I know he was very important to the Braves family and important to our community, uh, and a lot of personal relationships with you and your team.

So uh our condolences on that, and also Ted Turner, former owner of the Braves.

So it's been a tough week for the Braves.

You guys are still winning, but just wanted to publicly give condolences on the loss.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Very thoughtful.

Both men legends in our organization and our community.

So we're gonna celebrate them before the game tonight.

Very nice.

Commissioner Sheffield.

I don't have any questions.

I just want to thank you for your partnership and all that you invest in Cobb County and particularly in District 4 for two consecutive years.

We receive uh support from the Brays Foundation for initiatives in District 4.

So thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

And thank you for the presentation today.

The development has certainly had significant impact in our county from a development perspective, from a professional athleticism perspective, but it really has just added a vibrancy to our county and having a national sports team here, and we continue to reap the benefit of that, not only from the numbers shared from the development, but from the surrounding development that continues.

And we certainly do hope we have a nexus with the big game that's coming up with um with FIFA, and we get a positive announcement soon.

But just know that whenever there's anything that's big in our community, we always anticipate that the Braves will be some aspect of that because what you've done in this county has truly been big.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Well, I again I want to say the partnership we have from the leadership and Jackie and Drew and Chief Farrell and everyone, Bill I mean it's a lot of credit for obviously the working with us on the numbers.

We don't make the numbers up, they are what they are, obviously, so we have the facts to back them up.

But um, this is one of the greatest poet private partnerships, and it's our pleasure to continue to just create incredible impact, and that'll go on for a long time.

And I think those numbers are gonna just certainly continue to grow.

So this has been uh fantastic for us, and hopefully uh I know you guys feel the same.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Appreciate you being here.

Thank you, Bill.

Appreciate your presentation.

With that, we do have one public hearing that's on our agenda today.

Bill, are you leading us through this public hearing?

Yes, staying right in front of the phone.

Worked out perfectly.

I've seen this.

I will turn things over to you.

Okay, thank you, Chairwoman and Commissioners.

Uh, we are asking the board of commissioners to conduct a public hearing prior to establishing a contract where the fees will likely exceed 200,000 for consulting firm to provide professional legislative consulting services at the state and federal level.

Thank you.

With our public hearings, this is an opportunity to give anyone from the public up to three minutes to make comments with respect to this matter and this matter only for the board of commissioners.

So if there's anyone here that would like to address this, I'll go ahead and open up the hearing at this time.

Okay, not seeing any.

I believe our public hearing is closed.

Bill, if you can just approach, I just want to make sure that our commissioners don't have any questions.

Commissioners, are you good?

And can you just tell us next steps after this public hearing?

Yes, we'll close the public hearing and then we'll begin the RFP process.

So we've already done all the proper advertisements, we'll be issuing the RFP, sending them out to uh possible candidates.

We'll be posting on our website, so it's again available to everybody to submit their bids.

We'll go through the official procurement process.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Oh, Bill, we do have a question now.

Yes, Commissioner Gamble.

It's not necessarily a question, but it's a statement from an observation this past year through our state legislative process.

There were several bills, and granted, we all can admit this was kind of a wild session.

Sure was.

But my but my question that I pose back to the board that I think we should truly consider before moving forward with potentially awarding a contract to another consultant is how is the board going to respond?

Because we had several state initiatives that came through that as a board, we never responded to, and we are actually now taking positions now that the session has ended, where we needed to take those positions during session.

So my question comes back to the board of while we're hiring these consultants to represent our interest.

If the board is not giving their position back to our consultants, how effectively are they really advocating on our behalf?

Yes, as individuals, we can all weigh in, but that is an individual position.

Um we could have potentially been stronger on some things and potentially have influenced outcomes.

If as a board we would have come together and made those positions known during the session and not after it.

So I encourage us to truly weigh the benefit of having a consultant.

Because if the board is not going to function as a board weighing in on legislative priorities, is it really a benefit to having the consultant?

Absolutely, and I appreciate that observation.

Very fortunate, been here through many iterations of us having a consultant.

One time there was really no communication with the board.

Over the past five years, this board has come together to put forward a legislative agenda.

It is our expectation that when we share that legislative agenda with our consultant, that they are advocating on behalf of the board on the positions that we have taken, not only in putting that legislative agenda on paper, but coming together before the public and voting on it together as a board, and having a meeting with our local delegation and walking through our priorities publicly with our consultant at our retreat this year in January.

We have communication with our consultant.

And there have been many communications with ACCG and our staff.

They have reached out to us at different points, and even our staff has emailed the board on multiple occasions to ask our position on specific pieces of legislation.

And so really the board is responsible for responding.

But the board is not just the board as this element that's in the sky.

The board is each one of us, which includes each commissioner that's up here.

If there are matters that you would like to respond to, we can do that collectively, but we've always said throughout this process that any commissioner has the ability to appeal to the delegation and to talk to our consultant to share their interests.

But when we do something collectively, when it's three out of five, it carries more weight.

Something that's also helpful is when we do have meetings with the consultant during the session, in which we can also provide feedback.

So I would say that there's many opportunities.

Yeah.

And asking where are we on this?

Beyond the board, we're very fortunate to have ACC, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, and they have regular policy updates every month, every week, in fact, during the session, in which they're sharing updates, and they are telling commissioners we need you down here at the Capitol, or we need you to reach out to your local delegation and share your perspective on these bills that not only should our consultant be tracking, but their tracking.

So there's multiple touch points that are available to this board to be able to provide their feedback.

But certainly I'm open to initiative taken during the session to reach out to the board if any commissioner feels as if there's any specific matter that we should be responding to.

Yes, Commissioner Burrell.

Thank you.

Um, I will acknowledge that we do have more input and communication than in the past with the rotation calls that we do with the um lobbyist or consultant.

Um but I think with reference to what Commissioner Gambrel was referring to.

Um I think more proactive to weigh in on the bills as they're being in committee or determined at the Capitol rather than the push to ask the governor to veto something that was passed that we don't want.

So I think being more proactive at the beginning and during this during the session rather than when we're too late to come to the game.

And Commissioner, I just want to share with you because we have met with a lot of you to talk about what we could do better, and that was something that we're gonna try to tailor is that in this next contract, similar to ACCG, we're gonna have a weekly touch point where you're gonna get the hot topics of what's going on in the Capitol, where we need some direction andor your opinion on where where would the county stands?

So that is going to be part of our requirement as we move forward.

So it'd be very similar to ACCG, but this one's gonna be tailored to Cobb County, not to the statewide.

So hopefully that will narrow the scope a little bit.

But as you know, we can have it on Monday and Tuesday, a bill drops and changes things.

So absolutely we we will be at least wanting to start with a regular weekly check-in with with y'all to have that, even if it's a brief, like uh a report or email or summary of that that caliber that we would ask for feedback.

Um, but we're gonna continue to ramp up the communication efforts because that was one of our challenges is things move very quickly, and having to make sure we get direction.

Staff can put in, hey, this is the impact to the county, but again, we will need that.

Where does you as a board stand to say the cob county's position is X, and then that that is our goal of how we try to move into this next phase.

So learn learning and progress.

Absolutely, and I just want to emphasize when you say we as possible persons who may be submitting a proposal that that we that that we includes the consultant we, not to be doing it absolutely this is our expectation of anybody that's representing the county is to apprise us on that frequency basis.

Not that we anticipate our illustrious deputy county manager having to do that.

I have no position unless the board gets tells me what the position is.

Okay, yes, absolutely, chairwoman.

And that that is the collective we, yes, the board and the consultant, and then having making sure we provide that staff input so y'all have the information to make an informed decision.

Thank you.

Commissioner Allen had a comment.

Yeah, I just I was gonna bring up similar to what you talked about the just from being in that building, things move extremely fast, and there are two things that I've observed in my first year on this dais as regards the legislative session.

Once a week is not always sufficient, sure.

Uh because of how fast things move, there needs to be some type of mechanism to have a called meeting.

Um, we also should be more willing to do these as work session conversations or others because we can't have those meetings in all five be in the room to have the discussion that we need to have.

Yeah, so there's some structural things outside of the contract that I think we should be looking at as well.

Secondly, I want to make sure that the public knows that this isn't just about the state legislature and what bills get passed.

This is also a mechanism we use to get millions of dollars in state and federal grants and to advocate for that.

So this 200,000 dollars has an ROI that is probably more exponential than anything else we spend on uh when we think about the multiple millions of dollars that come back to the county for projects.

That great point, sir.

Speaking, it just made me think it would be helpful to just have the entire board polled as we draft that RFP absolutely to ensure that the different perspectives that Commissioner Garnble, Alan, Burl, and Sheffield and myself may have, and our staff, our um county manager and team, that all of that's being considered so that expectations are very clear.

Yes, and chairwoman, that was part of our process to make sure we walk the halls and meet with you to address those concerns.

So we want to make sure we're capturing that and that we are you know make sure we're addressing any shortfalls or any making any tweaks that we can possibly make during this process.

And part of what we'd like to do will be you know, making sure we have those key stakeholders in that review process, the people that are actually you know living that day to day um from the county staff perspective, and then obviously making sure we incorporate the feedback that we receive from our board of commissioners.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, thank you, Bill.

This thank you concludes that agenda item.

We will now move to our first public comment, and I will turn things over to our county attorney.

Good morning.

As the board provides the podium for public comment, it's appropriate to review the related meeting rules.

Please state your name and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization, all comments should be made to the commission as a body and addressed through the chair.

Public comment is not a dialogue with the board, but an opportunity for speakers to provide their comments to the board.

Comments should not be slanderous.

The board encourages, regardless of the topic, for the audience to be respectful and courteous to all speakers.

Everyone attending this meeting should give others the right to both listen and be heard by treating each other with civility.

Statement made during public comment during the public comments portion, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the board or the administration of Cobb County government, and a timer is on the podium for you to track your three minutes.

And our first speaker is Ms.

Rosman.

Good morning, board Christine Rosman, Marietta.

Um I per my hat make Cobb great again.

And I've been here since um in Cobb County since 96.

I was away for three years in Minnesota and then came back.

And when I moved here, I had a huge one bedroom apartment.

Um like in the great area in Cobb County.

And hey, or I forget what street it was.

Anyway, um, but it was like $700.

And now you can't get anything for like anywhere close to that, especially like a family, a parent that has some kids trying to.

So things have gotten like kind of crazy with the cost, and people are getting costed out of um priced out of living in Cobb County.

And I just can go after each issue, each issue and fight each issue, but the foundation of this is that there is a spending problem, and there's a problem with trying to keep up with the Joneses, keep up with the ARC, keep up with the Democrat Party, keep up with like Hobnobbin with the Braves and stuff like that.

And and the average citizen, that's not their life.

Their life is not the kumbaya of what happens in this room.

The proclamations, the which is which is nice, but there are a lot of people that they're living their lives, and all they're seeing is that it's harder and harder constantly to keep up.

Um we have a big election coming up, as you know.

Um, I saw that from uh message from you, Chair from your, I guess your campaign fund or whatever um was to you know ask for people's vote for your husband, and so it's kind of like okay, is it legal?

Maybe, maybe not, maybe.

Um, ethical.

Well, how does that help other people that are running for office?

Like Carolyn Roddy, she doesn't have a spokesperson to help her campaign.

Um I'm just looking at what we've gone through, the monies, outrageous amounts of monies going to excuse me, consulting companies.

Um what Dr.

Me Mark did with the COVID, don't try doing that one again.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Carter Ray.

Hi, Carter Ray, District 3.

I want to reiterate the urgent need that we have for to fix the housing crisis that we have today in Cobb County.

Uh myself and the previous speaker have seen the same things that Cobb County has only become increasingly unaffordable for the average residents living here today.

I would hope to see the county focused on uh reducing the cost of new housing and reducing the cost of rents, and one of the main causes of that is the fact that we have not been permitting enough units within the county compared to before the 2008 financial crisis.

Cobb County is building about one-third the number of housing units, so it is no wonder that housing prices have become so unaffordable due to the simple laws of supply and demand.

I want to make this clear that this is a result of policy choices and not making policy choices rather than just the results of a free market.

Cobb County has some of the largest minimum lot sizes in the entire state of Georgia, excessively high at minimum square footage requirements that make it illegal to build starter homes in much of the county, and other burdensome burdensome requirements that make housing significantly more expensive for average residents.

Meanwhile, the ARC has clearly shown that if we ever want to solve this housing crisis, we need to be permitting thousands of more units per year, especially starter homes, condos, ADUs, and other types of more affordable housing, other than the average of 2200 square feet single family homes that we are seeing built today.

It has been academically proven in countless research papers that making reforms to housing to zoning policy can in fact reduce housing costs, and we have seen that happen across the country.

The county should in fact follow evidence-based procedures and strategies to actually address this issue, and I really hope that this issue becomes uh more urgent priority.

And I hope that this issue gets the attention that it deserves before housing becomes even more unaffordable for the hundreds of thousands of real lives that this issue affects.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Flora Tomay.

Tommy.

Good morning, everyone.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Flora Tommy, and I've been living in Cobb County again since 2009 when I had to come back because my niece and her husband had two children on the autism spectrum, and therefore trying to maintain a house, pay property taxes, and provide for these services meant that there's a problem with housing.

Because in order for me to come back to the county, they needed caregivers for both children to be able to also tutor and make sure they stayed in school.

I first lived in Cobb County in 1990.

And I wanted you to know that history because again, that was the issue.

My girlfriend and also co-worker, her husband and her had divorced.

She had two children.

She needed to provide to keep a house over her children's heads.

Now we have the issue of certain types of housing costs in Cobb County.

It's never been addressed.

Building affordable moderate types of homes.

The mansions might be okay for some, but when you have children, you have to have rooms for each one.

Then you've got to have play space, then you've got to have room for family caregivers to even be there with them.

If you don't make a certain amount of money, that's not possible.

There's a lack of the different types of housing here that has not been addressed.

I lived with my partner as well.

He had a four-bedroom, two bath house, upstairs, downstairs.

Now, when you age, you can't climb up and downstairs.

So where a senior citizen is going, because right now, the crisis I'm seeing in the county, you've got two different sectors.

You've got children, the families with children, because no one's building homes for the size they need.

Then you've got the elderly who they are homes with stairs.

Try navigating stairs when you're disabled, and I was classified as disabled in 1998.

Had seizures, I had childhood arthritis, and I've always worked for everything my whole life.

As a matter of fact, when I moved out of Club County, the traffic was too bad because I was working a federal project as an auditor for FDIC and U.S.

Treasury, dealing with closing savings and loans and banks and solving problems.

The first thing we have to address is your housing crisis.

As a young person, I came to Atlanta in 1983.

There were studio apartments, one bedroom apartments.

Your time has run.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

That's atypical.

So I'm gonna move on quickly.

I don't even have my stuff together.

I was expecting to go by so quickly.

Thank you for those that came and addressed us during public comment.

That now takes us to our consent agenda.

Commissioners, we do have one item to add to the consent agenda, which will require four-fifths vote.

But then I move that we approve the following non-agenda item to consent.

This is to authorize settlement of workers' compensation of a workers' compensation claim on behalf of Donna Kent.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

I'll call the question.

The motion carries 5-0.

Commissioners, we have had other changes to consent.

We've had the withdrawal of agenda item number 14, which was a contract for the procurement of aircraft system equipment.

Then we've had a revised attachment for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant.

I believe that just addresses the allocations for the grant.

And there has been a request to pull agenda item number 13.

You want to let's pull it because we don't do that in consent.

You want to just recognize that?

Yes.

So we'll pull agenda item number 13 and just to hear it.

It's for a positive reason, so we can recognize the positive nature of agenda item 13.

But with that, commissioners, I ask that we do move the consent agenda as it has been revised, with the exception of number 14, which has been withdrawn from this agenda and authorized execution of the necessary documents by the appropriate county personnel.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

We'll call the question.

The motion carries 5-0.

With agenda item number 13, we'll ask that we hear that item at this time so we can give proper acknowledgement to who supported that agenda item.

Thank you.

Sorry, I'm not going to get my glasses out so I can see this.

Okay.

Good morning, madam chair.

Commissioners.

County manager.

Item number 13 that's under review is to authorize the acceptance of donations, including access to a one-year subscription program and equipment from the Cobb for the Cobb County Police Department.

This is coming from the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation.

This donation is actually made possible because of the less time less crime credit in the state of Georgia, but it is truly made possible by the extraordinary efforts that are being put in by the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation to help raise money through that program for the police department and public safety in general.

In this particular donation, uh the police department would actually uh receive a subscription to Sharp Performance Coaching.

It's a wellness app for all of our police officers.

Uh we also will be receiving some equipment that we can place on the officers' shoulders that help to identify their location when they're in crowds or at night uh when they're not visible by eye sight.

And also additionally, it's going to purchase a five by eight enclosed trailer for it'll help our POW program.

And uh so our police athletically will be benefiting out of this.

So does the recommendation that the Board of Commissioners authorize the acceptance of the donations from the public safety foundation to give the department access to the short performance one year subscription valued at just around a hundred thousand dollars, six hundred of the Guardian Angel strobes valued at fifty-three thousand one hundred and eleven dollars, and a five by eight enclosed trailer with a graphic wrap valued at seven thousand dollars that you authorize the corresponding budget transactions and further authorize the chairwoman to execute the necessary documents.

All right, thank you.

Um moved as presented.

Second, is there any discussion?

Um the foundation members are here.

Absolutely, and we certainly have the foundation members that are present with us.

Uh some of their board members are here, and uh I'd like to thank Stephanie Pinacuda in particular.

She is worked extremely hard uh working this this less crime tax bill and uh to raise money for our department.

So thank you.

We appreciate your work on that and your donation.

All right, are there any other comments?

We'll call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you.

All right, that now takes us to the regular agenda, and we have our county managers tab, and we'll hear once again from our deputy county manager.

I feel like this is a record.

I'm not used to being up here three times in one meeting.

So thank you for allowing me coming back up.

Um, as you know, we're marching forward with our 28th SPLOSS as we prepare for the referendum in November.

So this is our next step in the process where we'll be looking at the IGAs, and then in June, we'll be coming back for the ballot language.

So, with that being said, we are asking the board of commissioners to approve the draft of the intergovernmental agreements between Cobb County and the municipalities within the county for the allocation of funds anticipated to be generated in the 2028 special purpose local option sales tax and other purposes, authorize the county attorney's office to make minor revisions to the IGAs before execution by the parties and further authorize the chairwoman to execute the necessary documents.

Thank you.

Before I make that motion, there has been a revision to the attachment.

Yes, so we are working on the booklet, and that is what we want to do.

And this is we will be making some smart small adjustments to that as the cities finalize our list, and we've also sent the IGAs to the cities for their approval and feedback.

And we've also sent the IGAs to the cities for their approval and feedback.

They're very very similar to the ones we use with our 2022 splah, so we don't anticipate anything significant as far as changes.

But if there were something significant, we would bring it back before the board to look at and approve.

But we just want to give us some flexibility.

Accord reached out today, for example, they have some small wording changes that they would like to make on theirs.

Marietta is going finalized with theirs at the end of June.

Okay.

But they don't anticipate any significant changes as well.

So we'll continue to update that, but I wanted to bring it before the board to say this is our draft.

And again, very similar to 2022.

Thank you.

Appreciate that bill.

And just to um bolster that if you look at ACWER, there's just a very small modification.

There was a line item for a park.

It says now park improvements versus just park.

And then for the city of Austell, they have the additional fire for a UTV and trailer.

Yes.

Those have been the only red line changes that I see.

And that's where we anticipate a lot of the small adjustments would be on the wording for the booklet itself that identifies and gives more detail in the projects as we move forward.

Thank you.

And then lastly, City of Smyrna, they just again add it more descriptive language to two of their items.

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

So with that, Commissioners, I move that we approve this agenda item as it has been presented.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

We'll call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you.

That now takes us to transportation, and we'll hear from our transportation director, Drew Ressler.

Good morning again, Chairwoman, Commissioners, County Manager.

The department has six items for your consideration this morning.

Our first item is to recommend the board of commissioners approve amendment number two to the Cobb Framework Agreement with the City of Powder Springs for Powder Springs, Marietta Street Traffic Signal System Preservation.

Project number B 2553 and B 2557.

Authorized reimbursement of funds withheld and the amount of 118,383.96 cents to the city of Powder Springs.

Authorize a corresponding budget transaction and further authorize the chairwoman to execute the necessary documents.

Commissioner Sheffield.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries 50.

Thank you.

Our next item is to recommend the board of commissioners approve amendment number one to the Cobb Framework Agreement with the Cumberland Community Improvement District for preliminary engineering of Cumberland Sweep segment D.

Cobb County Project Number B 2434.

Approve supplemental agreement number one to the consultant services agreement with Kimley Horn and Associates Incorporated.

And amount not to exceed 816,534 dollars and 29 cents for said project.

Authorize the corresponding budget transactions and further authorize the chairman to execute the necessary documents.

Commissioner Allen.

So move.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries 401 with Commissioner Garnble in opposition.

Thank you.

Our next item is to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve supplemental agreement number one to the consultant services agreement with Kimley Horn and Associates Incorporated and amount not to exceed 1,487,371 and 42 cents for preliminary engineering design of Cumberland Sweep Segment E.

Cap County Project Number B 2433.

Authorize a corresponding budget transaction and further authorize the chairman to execute the necessary documents.

Commissioner Allen.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries 401 again with Commissioner Garnble in opposition.

Thank you.

Our next item is to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve a contract with Chatfield Contracting Incorporated and amount not to exceed 292,816 and 46 cents for drainage system repairs on Hembry Court.

Project number B 2258 authorize the corresponding budget transactions and further authorize the chairman to execute the necessary documents.

Commissioner Burrell.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Call the question.

The motion carries 5 zero.

Thank you.

Our next item is to recommend the board of pensioners approve a contract with Glossen Enterprises LLC in an amount not to exceed 215,344.35 cents for Powers Ferry Road Pedestrian Improvements.

Project number AR 15 authorize the corresponding budget transaction and further authorize the chairman to execute the necessary documents.

Commissioner Allen.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries 5 zero.

Thank you.

And our final item this morning is to recommend the board of commissioners adopt a resolution authorizing the submission of a local maintenance and improvement grant program application for the FY26 supplement to the Georgia Department of Transportation for Local Roads Assistance Administration funding for resurfacing countywide thoroughfares.

Project number B2938 authorize the corresponding budget transactions and further authorize the chairman to execute the necessary documents.

So moved.

Second.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries 5-0.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

That now takes us to public services, and we'll hear from our park system director, Michael Brantley.

Good morning, Chairwoman, Commissioners, Madam County Manager.

Well, we do have two items for consideration this morning.

Our first item is for the Board of Commissioners to approve a purchase order with HD excavation and utilities LLC to provide construction services for the replacement of a failed storm pipe and addition of a storm structure at Thompson Park under the 2022 Parks Plus program.

The storm pipe is failed.

It calls an access road to be closed due to safety concerns.

This access ruse road access road is used most frequently for a voting site, as this is one of the two entrances or exits.

The replacement of this pipe and structure will provide us the opportunity to open this again to ease access when needed.

We asked the board of commissioners to approve purchase order with HD excavation and utilities and an amount not to exceed 62,296 and five cents to provide construction services for the replacement of this failed storm pipe and additional storm structure under the 2022 Parks BLOS program.

Authorize the corresponding budget transaction and further authorize the director of procurement services to execute any necessary documents.

Commissioner Sheffield.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

Thank you.

Our last item is for the Board of Commissioners to approve funding for a countywide semi-quincentenal festival at Jim R.

Miller Park.

This July 4th, March, the 250th birthday of the United States, and Cobb County will celebrate with a family-friendly event at Jim Miller Park with the ending of a drone show over the lake.

We asked the Board of Commissioners to fund in an amount not to exceed $75,000 for the semi-quincentennial celebration, authorize the corresponding budget transactions, and further authorize the chairwoman to execute the necessary documents.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Just thank you for the amount of creativity and thought put into this event.

That will call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That now takes us to our support services portion, and we'll hear from our IETS director, Kimberly Lemley.

Good morning, Chairwoman, Commissioners, and County Manager.

Excuse me.

Our item this morning is to request your approval of a master services agreement with tech systems for staff augmentation services and to approve a statement of work for a SPLOSS program contract manager for information technology services in an amount not to exceed $739,704 and 23 cents over five years under the Texas Department of Information Resources IT staff augmentation contract.

This item will be partially funded by the ITS operating budget 2016 SPLOSS Technology Improvements Program Projects X0010 and X0020 and SPLOS and 2022 SPLOSS Support Services Information Services Work Program Projects B0010 B0020 B0030 and B0040.

Sorry, it was a large funding statement.

In addition to your approval of the Master Services Agreement and Statement of Work, our we request that you authorize the corresponding budget transactions and further authorize the chairwoman or the procurement services director to execute the necessary documents and any subsequent amendments such as renewals, price changes, etc.

in substantially similar form as approved by the county attorney's office.

So moved as presented.

Thank you.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Well call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That now takes us to our second public comment.

There are no speakers.

No speakers, and then that will take us to the appointment tab.

And I'll refer to Commissioner Allen for the first one.

I would like to announce the reappointment of Patty Zachary to the Animal Services Board.

Thank you, Commissioner.

And then I'll defer to Commissioner Burrow for the next two.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes.

Um, I would like to make a motion to approve the reappointment of Wynn McCurdy to the recreation board.

All right, I'll second.

Is there any further discussion?

Call the question.

The motion carries five zero.

And then um I would like to announce the reappointment of Richard Durden to the neighborhood safety commission.

Thank you, Commissioner.

With that, that now takes us to the Commissioner's public address, and we'll hear from Commissioner Gambrel.

The Cobb Parks Fishing Rodeo for District 1 is this weekend.

Join us from 9 to 11 a.m.

on Saturday, May 16th at Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway in Powder Springs.

The fishing rodeo is open to children ages 3 to 16.

Prizes will be awarded for the biggest fish with first, second, and third place winners recognized.

Registration is $5.

You can click on the QR code to register for the fishing rodeo, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from Commissioner Allen.

So first want to uh hope every woman and mother had a good Mother's Day on Sunday, but now we're going to transition to the men.

So I want you to listen up because we have an event at the Schweitzer Library on May 24th from 1 to 4 for prostate cancer screening.

Early prevention is detection is very, very important.

This is a no-cost PSA blood test, so you only have to roll up your sleeve, nothing else.

And get the screening that you need to men, men, men trust me.

This is this is an easier test than you want.

So just roll up your sleeve, and that's it, and uh get the early detection that you need.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, just want to recognize the passing of Bobby Cox, uh, who truly was a very strong pillar of our community when you think of uh the braves and impact they've had, not just on Cobb County, but on the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia.

His leadership and stewardship of that team for many decades was very much appreciated and respected.

So our condolences to Bobby Cox and his family.

Thank you, Commissioner.

With that, we'll now hear from Commissioner Burrell.

Thank you, Commissioner Allen.

I echo those condolences.

Um, Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services celebrated the official opening of our newest fire station 12 with an open house last Saturday, and the public joined us, firefighters, and to get a look inside the new state of the art facility on Chestane Corner Road at Canton Road.

Um Dr.

McMorris, Fire Chief Cunningham, Director Register, and lots of firefighters and public joined us, and also, of course, Vinny, our fire dog.

He was the biggest hit of the party.

Um, our economic development um crew that you saw up here earlier hosted uh the in celebration of National Small Business Week, local entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners.

Um, an opportunity to connect with key resources last week, Tuesday last week at the Cobb County Civic Center, an early morning breakfast and networking event.

It was a huge success.

Um, and there's some pictures here of the different vendors and discussions.

KSU was there, small business development, Cobb Business Boot Camp, Urban League of Greater Atlanta, lots of um entrepreneurs looking for new business.

And uh this is National Police Week 2026 is observed May 11th through the 16th to honor all law enforcement officers across the U.S.

with a special special focus on remembering those who have died in the line of duty.

Um we locally had a candlelight village last week in honor of those that have lost their lives.

And this is the last week of advanced voting.

There's flyers in the back with the locations.

Um but we are they are open seven to seven Monday through Friday this week, and then you have to go to your precinct on election day, May 19th.

So please go out and vote.

All righty, thank you, Commissioner.

We'll hear from Commissioner Sheffield.

Thank you, Chair.

District 4's news and updates.

May is mental health awareness month a time to prioritize emotional well-being in our community.

Join a one-hour virtual mindful self-compassion essentials training on Friday, May 15th from 11 to noon.

Learn simple practical techniques to build resilience and support your overall well-being.

Registration is required.

Please scan the QR code to sign up.

Hosted by the Queen Mill neighbors.

Participants are encouraged to wear sturdy footwear and gloves.

Okay, thank you, Commissioner.

Another emphasis to make sure you get out and vote and you do it early.

Okay, welcome back to our Board of Commissioners, May 12th, 2026.

Just a point of note, we did have an alcohol license hearing, which was pulled from our agenda.

So I just wanted to make that public comment in case anyone tuned in today and expected to see it that we have pulled that and we will determine how we will proceed with that matter after this meeting.