Cobb commissioner may avoid contempt order

Cobb County Commissioner Annette Kesting is facing prosecution for skipping out on a court hearing and a $700 fine for code violations on rental property she owns in Powder Springs.

A contempt order was issued for the embattled southwest Cobb commissioner, but partial payment of the fine Thursday might have garnered her a reprieve, a Powder Springs official said.

Kesting, reached on her cellphone Thursday evening, would not comment. “It is a legal issue and you must contact my attorney. I’m not able to speak on this,” she said. Repeated attempts late Thursday to reach her attorney, Sims W. Gordon Jr., were unsuccessful.

Powder Springs Mayor Pat Vaughn said the contempt order was signed last month by Municipal Court Judge Stephen Yacklin after Kesting failed to appear for an Aug. 14 hearing on the city code violations.

“This has been an ongoing problem,” Vaughn said of Kesting’s violation.

Kesting was supposed to turn herself in to the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 30 and stay until the $700 fine was paid, Vaughn said.

But someone paid $200 late Thursday afternoon, and Kesting came in to pay another $150, promising to pay the remaining $350 balance Friday, Vaughn said.

The commissioner’s property problems have made the news before. Earlier this year, the county reported she was delinquent on some 2007 real estate taxes. In 2007, Powder Springs building inspectors cited her for 23 code violations on duplexes she owned near the city’s historic district.

Kesting is near the end of her first term as commissioner. She lost a re-election bid to former Commissioner Woody Thompson in the Democratic primary runoff.

This is the second time this week Kesting has been in the news. A South Carolina woman who calls herself a “voodoo priestess” filed a complaint in Cobb County accusing Kesting of paying for services she requested with bad checks.

George Ann Mills said Kesting and her husband visited her in September to inquire about bringing harm to Thompson, her political rival.

Kesting has denied those charges. The GBI is investigating.

“I think her constituents have been disappointed,” Vaughn said.

Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens had this reaction to the latest news about his colleague: “I am anxiously awaiting Jan. 1.”

Kesting’s term ends on Dec. 31.

— Staff writer Derrick Mahone contributed to this article.