$3.9M For Elections Office, Real-Time Crime Map, Water: Cobb BOC

COBB COUNTY, GA — A new elections office, water rate increases, a real-time crime center for the police department and the donation of an electric vehicle for the fire department were all discussed at last week's Cobb County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Residents will see an estimated 11 percent increase in their water bills starting Jan. 1.

In a 4-1 vote, Cobb commissioners approved the first water rate increase in three years last week, raising water rates by 11 percent. Commissioner JoAnn Birrell voted against the measure.

Water System Director Judy Jones said the average customer would see an estimated monthly rate increase of roughly $5.43, rising from $49.42 to $54.85 on average. Water rates vary depending on how much water each household uses.

Despite the increase, Jones said Cobb residents will still have the lowest water rate compared to other localities in the metro Atlanta area, but residents of Cobb cities will continue to have an even lower rate since cities handle stormwater duties.

2. A new multimillion-dollar elections office is underway.

In a 3-2 vote, commissioners also approved $3.9 million in funding for a new elections office, which is already underway at the former Mansour Center on Roswell Street. The county's goal is to have the facility — which the county purchased last summer for $7.5 million — ready for November 2022 elections.

Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill voted against the measure. The two Republican commissioners said they had a problem with paying for the elections office with fund balance money, which is leftover money the county keeps in a sort of savings account.

Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler said many of the upgrades to the conference center focus on elections and ballot security, the Marietta Daily Journal reported. Other changes include building security, parking lot modifications for improved traffic flow and network access.

3. The Cobb County Police Department is getting a real-time crime center and video wall.

Among the approved consent agenda items was the purchase of a real-time crime center (RTCC) and a video wall for the crime center for the Cobb County Police Department.

The RTCC will create a public-private collaborative that will improve community policing efforts, reduce crime, enhance the safety of Cobb County and help protect first responders, CCPD Chief Tim Cox and Agency Director Randy Crider said in city documents. It will provide a map-based interface combining video streams from select public cameras and certain private cameras whose owners opt to participate.

"The RTCC also allows for a variety of field sensor integrations and/or additions like License Plate Recognition (LPR), gunshot sensors, and emerging technological platforms. It will also provide a more versatile public camera registry and tip submission portal within one common operating platform," Cox and Crider wrote. "The RTCC enhances safety through public-private partnerships and quickens and improves data driven decision making by integrating various disparate technologies into one system."

The video wall is estimated to cost roughly $266,000, while the real-time crime center is estimated to cost $300,000 for logistics, installation and configuration, then an additional $299,000 annual cost for four more years.

4. The Cobb County Fire Department is getting an electric vehicle donated to it.

The city of Acworth had an electric vehicle in surplus — a 2002 Polaris Global Electric Motorcar — which was no longer of use to the Acworth Police Department, city documents show. The fully-electric and battery-operated vehicle is completely free to the department, excluding future costs.

Maintenance and repairs costs will be absorbed by the fire budget and requested in future budgets going forward, according to city documents. The car is estimated to be worth between $8,000 and $10,000.