Cobb County and Cities End Mediation

MARIETTA — After two long days of talking through lawyers, Cobb County and six of its cities ended their mediation process over Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) agreements.

Local leaders emerged from their private mediation rooms at the Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel & Conference Center shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday.

"Cobb County and its six cities concluded a two-day mediation session working to form Service Delivery Strategy as mandated by the state," the county said in a statement Thursday night. "The negotiations occurred in good faith, and substantial progress was made over the two days."

Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin told the MDJ that any tentative deal will need to be put in writing and receive official approval from all six city councils and the Cobb Board of Commissioners before being sent to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for review.

"The process finishes up in each one of our council rooms … We'll (the Marietta City Council) talk about it in executive session Tuesday," Tumlin said.

Tumlin said without unanimous approval from the cities any tentative agreement would be off.

“One group could mess it up … It has to be unanimous … If it hits a hitch in the next two weeks, we’re in trouble,” he said.

Most leaders were tight-lipped while they walked out of the Hilton Thursday night, visibly tired after a 12-hour day of mediation.

“We negotiated in good faith,” Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton said.

Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell simply said “No comment,” as she headed for the door.

Tumlin, too, repeated the party line about progress when asked if he was pleased with any possible tentative agreement.

“It's still in the confidential stage, but it is on the road,” he said. “... To this stage, the process has gone well. But we can’t spike the ball yet.”

SDS (or 489) agreements outline what services the county and each of its cities provide to citizens and, in the past, have set a dollar amount that the county owes the cities to reimburse them for those services.

These deals must be made every 10 years and approved by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. If no deal is made, the county and the cities within it could face state sanctions.

Those sanctions would threaten funding for things like public safety, housing, parks and recreation, as well as permits for a host of things including road improvements, water and sewer systems and community development projects.

Cobb must have a new SDS agreement approved by Oct. 31 to avoid any possible sanctions. According to the DCA’s website, it takes the state between two and three months to review submitted SDS agreements, putting Cobb’s real deadline at the end of August.