When Tim Lee makes his state of the county address next week, the Cobb Commission chairman likely will tout a number of accomplishments in 2015, including a renewed investment in public safety and a variety of road and infrastructure improvements.
But 2015 was also filled with political rancor and various setbacks, including a police controversy with racial undertones; the delay of bridge construction over I-285 to SunTrust Park, meaning the span will not open in time for the Braves' inaugural season; and the loss of the county's transportation director just 18 months before the first pitch in the new stadium.
Even passing the county budget was rife with controversy, with the four district commissioners complaining about the lack of input they had in the process.
The political acrimony hit a high note during a December commission meeting, when Lee accused Commissioner Lisa Cupid of using a police department controversy to "create a media spectacle" for political gain.
Cupid responded that Lee is a big part of the problem in Cobb County.
“If anybody has the ability to bring people together, it is you Chairman Lee. Instead, I have seen you – not just on this incident, but on too many – you are the source of contention for many issues on this board,” Cupid shot back.
The exchange left long-time government observers complaining about a lack of leadership from the commissioner’s office.
“How does ripping on Lisa Cupid in public do anything other than increase racial tensions?” wrote Dick Yarbrough, a retired BellSouth vice president from Marietta who authors a syndicated column that runs in the Marietta Daily Journal.
“And speaking of creating media spectacles, Tim Lee just created a doozy.”
It wasn’t his first of the year.
Lee waffled on whether the public would have a say in the controversial $500 million bus rapid transit project — first saying the public would have to approve the project, then presenting a long-range transportation plan to the commission that did not require a public vote on rapid transit.
That led to a sharp text exchange between the two:
“Are you so insecure that you had to wait until I’m out of the country to move behind our backs? You’re over the edge. It’s pathetic,” Ott texted Lee in June. “People are a lot smarter than you think they are.”
Lee said in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that there was much more good than bad in 2015, and “nothing that can take away all of the progress we made.”
“Cobb County is ending 2015 in the best position it has been in a very long time,” Lee said in the email. “Private investment in our community is at the highest level it has been in decades and trending up. The halo effect of the SunTrust Park partnership is evident in our tax digest and taxpayers are the winners. We have lowered taxes and increased our investment in public safety.”
Commissioners lowered property taxes in this year's budget but approved a budget that called for a $20 million transfer of water company revenues into the general fund — or about $8 million more than planned. Critics call the water transfers a hidden tax because they often lead to rate increases.
Lee’s office announced last week that the transfer actually would be the originally planned 6 percent, or $12 million, because of new-found surplus revenue. That caught some district commissioners by surprise because they were told the budget was tight when it passed in September.
Ott called it “election-year politics” because Lee is up for re-election in 2016, and the water transfers are unpopular with the public.
“It does seem a bit strange that there hasn’t been any money for Commissioner Cupid’s requests, but now there is” $8 million to reduce the transfer, Ott said. “Her concerns seem to have been … totally ignored.”
Cupid, who had requested more code enforcement officers and higher raises for county employees in this year’s budget, could not be reached for comment.
The county's increased investment in the police department happened only after the resignation of former Public Safety Director Jack Forsythe, and an AJC probe that found commissioners had for years neglected investments in the department that caused the massive loss of officers and low morale.
And Lee has been saying for months that the county's return on the SunTrust Park investment is projected to be 60 percent. But the AJC found that projection only accounts for the county-wide property tax portion of the county's investment, or less than one-third of the public money going into stadium construction. It also does not count tens of millions of additional public money going into infrastructure projects associated with the stadium.
Still Tad Leithead, chairman of the Cumberland Community Improvement District, said his scorecard has Cobb’s political leadership way ahead on big issues. Leithead said the county has done a great job at making smart infrastructure investments that have allowed the county to grow and prosper.
“Cobb is one of the very few counties out of 3,000 in America that have a AAA bond rating (by all three rating agencies), property taxes back to pre-recession levels, and we’ve seen more new economic development in the county in the last year or two … than we’ve seen in the last 10,” Leithead said.
“So I think … you’ve got to give the leadership in the county very high marks for the condition of Cobb County as we go into the new year.”
Not everyone in the community agrees. Ben Williams, president of the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said there’s more to leadership than growth and economic development. Williams said Lee has displayed a “lack of integrity and hypocrisy” on many issues, including his handling of the Braves stadium deal and the ongoing police controversy over whether a citizen review committee should consider complaints against the department.
“One is left to wonder: Is the real issue with our chairman one of being able to team with people who are competent, people who are willing to raise questions and are not necessarily built to be go-along, get-along?” Williams said. “In other words, does he have the capacity to effectively lead our county …. or is he simply one who carries water for others to which he is beholden?”
Ott said one of the most important things that can happen in the coming year is a halt to the in-fighting on the commission.
“My wish for ‘16 is that the personal attacks are put away,” Ott said. “I’m not saying we have to always agree, but there is no room for the personal attacks that seem to have gotten in the way of some things.”
Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University, said it will be important for the commission to work together in 2016. And the run up to SunTrust Park opening in April 2017 will mean that work will be done in a spotlight.
“There’s a lot of expectations for leadership in 2016,” Swint said.
About the Author
