Just recently, the Marietta Housing Authority put out a request for proposals, or bids, for a bond underwriter and a bond lawyer. Bids are to be opened later this month with final selections to be voted on at the November meeting. According to Ray Buday, executive director, Mortin got the MHA work in a 2005 bid. Buday, who was in private practice until joining the MHA several years ago, was the authority's bond lawyer but cannot act as such now. The MHA has had little bond work in recent years, Buday says.
Also, the Cobb Water Authority, which Commission Chair Sam Olens chairs, is seriously looking to bid out its bond work now held by Mortin and Taylor. He has support on the board from Marietta's rep, Councilman Van Pearlberg. But he's getting pushback from Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon. Mortin has been Smyrna's bond underwriter for time immemorial and his wife, Melinda Jolly Mortin, is a graduate of Campbell High School in Smyrna and her class is celebrating its 50th reunion this week.
Olens is still smoldering over Mortin's and Taylor's deal to use PILOT bonds to subsidize a now-defunct redevelopment project on Cobb Parkway in Kennesaw. Those bonds will divert several million in taxes from the county and school systems to the city and developer and were approved by the city on the sly. It was such an egregious deal the state Legislature stepped in after the fact to prohibit future PILOTs without the approval of local governments whose revenue streams are to be raided.
Around Town has also learned that Marietta will likely bid out its bond services when the new council is sworn in January. Mortin and Taylor have had a lock on Marietta's business for years, causing one city hall observer to say he thought Mortin was Marietta's bond underwriter "in perpetuity."
WITH MARIETTA ELECTIONS just over three weeks away, a usually accurate prognosticator of city races tells AT that the Ward 3 race between incumbent Holly Walquist and her challenger, former Councilman Johnny Sinclair, is a "dead heat" that could go "either way."
The handicapper also said that Ward 5 Council incumbent the Rev. Anthony Colman has a slight, 4 percent to 5 percent edge over his challenger, former Councilman James Dodd - especially if yard signs could vote. It's Coleman's race to lose, he said.
What about the parks bond?
"Dead on arrival," the prognosticator said. "It's way too vague and there's no definite plan." He also suggested the city sell or swap the troubled Wildwood and Burruss parks, which are hurting the bond, he said.
ALTHOUGH ECONOMIC ADVICE comes in all shades and flavors, Mayor Bill Dunaway, Councilman Philip Goldstein, Councilman Jim King, Mortin and City Hall have been pushing for more than a month to fast-track the new Marietta Conference Center bonds by arguing that higher interest rates are just around the corner. And while the Marietta council was voting 5-2 to get on with the bonds at a rare 8 a.m. Friday meeting, the financial press was reporting that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said with "no ifs, ands or buts" that he and the Federal Reserve aren't interested in reversing course to raise interest rates.
In a Thursday speech, Bernanke predicted that interest rates would stay at a record low for "an extended period."
Among those who voted Friday to go along with the mayor and approve the new bonds was Councilwoman Walquist.
That prompted challenger Sinclair to quip, "I am surprised and disappointed that any council member would choose Dunaway's advice on interest rates instead of Bernanke's."
SUPPORTERS OF THE NOV. 3 MARIETTA PARKS BOND are scurrying to mount a last-minute push to support the $25 million proposal.
“A loose collection” of 14 or 15 city residents met Thursday at the law offices of Brock Clay and named Kim Gresh of S.A. White Oil Co. as co-chair. Arthur Vaughn, a BLW board member and former city council candidate, will also be part of its leadership, as might an as-yet-undetermined third person, said retired CPA Steve Imler, the group’s treasurer.
Among the others on hand were retired Lockheed head Micky Blackwell, attorney Chuck Clay, Mayor Bill Dunaway, Dawn McEachern, daughter of the mayor, Larry Zenoni and Beverly McAfee of McAfee Properties.
Reports to AT indicate that Gresh agreed to serve as co-chair but not sole chair and that Clay said he would be active, but declined the co-chairmanship.
Even several of those who are dubious about the bond’s prospects readily admit that lining up Gresh is a real coup for the group. She has a well-earned reputation for getting things done and has served on innumerable local boards and charities. And according to some observers, although former Cobb Commission Chairman Earl Smith of northwest Cobb and current Chairman Sam Olens of east Cobb did most of the heavy lifting in terms of lining up financing for the renovation of the old Strand Theatre, Gresh did more to make the project a reality than any “Old Mariettan,” or “OM.”
Imler, who has donated $5,000 toward the group’s $12,000 goal, said the money would be used for yard signs, advertising, mailings and phone calls.
“We’re going into full campaign mode,” Imler said.
If interested, you can make your contribution to “Progress Marietta Inc.” and mail to: Steve Imler, 599 Church St., Marietta, 30060. Or to offer suggestions or other assistance, e-mail steve599email-parks@yahoo.com.
The group plans to meet again on Tuesday or Thursday, Imler said.
“We want to win. We’re for this,” he said.
But noted a local politico, “I’m afraid this might be too little, too late. After all, Early Voting started Friday.”
CITIZENS GROUP IMPACT will sponsor a pair of candidate forums for the upcoming Marietta city council and school board elections.
The first is Oct. 20 for mayoral and contested council races. A second forum Oct. 22 will feature candidates for contested school board seats. Both events will take place from 7-9 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room at 100 Cherokee St., on the second floor of Cobb County Building A.
The format will include a moderator and each answer will have a time limit. In addition, each candidate will be allowed to make opening and closing statements. Written questions will be taken from the audience, and the event will be televised on Cobb TV 23. For more info, contact Laura Van Mever at (404) 395-6742 or Mary Helen Bernknopf at (678) 520-5248.
GOSPEL GROUP The Spiritual Airs, well known in the Smyrna area for 50 years, will host a fundraiser for Marietta Ward 5 School Board candidate Douglas Martin on Oct. 16. Doors will open at 6:30 at the Marietta Chapel A.M.E. Church and the event starts at 7. For info call Martin at (770) 846-7189.
ACWORTH MAYOR TOMMY ALLEGOOD and Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews will be guest speakers at the North Cobb Civitan Club meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at noon. Meetings are held at the Pinetree Country Club. For more information call Louise Crapps (770) 971-1833. … Opponents of the Cobb school board’s controversial vote to build a cell tower at Eastvalley Elementary School will hold a forum at 2 p.m. today at Eastside Baptist Church. The public is invited.
EVENTS: Kennesaw Mountain Shrine Club Jokers will have a Bicycle and Motorcycle Ride on Oct. 18 to benefit the Shrine Hospital for Children. The ride starts at the shrine club at 1380 White Circle. Bicycles start at 7 a.m. and go to 8:30 a.m. on a 30, 60 or 100-mile course. Motorcycles start at 10 a.m. and go to Chatsworth over Fort Mountain to Ellijay and back to the club for a spaghetti dinner. Call W.M. Hughes at (770) 973-1482. … Stuart B. Barton, president of American Seniors Association will speak at the Madison Forum’s noon luncheon Monday at the Rib Ranch Restaurant on Canton Road in Marietta.
FORMER CAPTAIN of the 1980 UGA Bulldogs national champions Frank Ros was awarded the 2009 Bill Hartman Award between the hedges before the UGA v. LSU game. He is assistant VP of Latin Affairs for the Coca-Cola Co. and lives in Kennesaw with wife, Jan Floyd Ros, and sons, Frank VI and Bryce. Jan is of the Mableton Floyd family, for whom Floyd Road is named. The award is named for the late Bill Hartman, Georgia’s long-time kicking coach and has been presented since 1992 to former varsity athletes with degrees from UGA who have demonstrated excellence in their profession for 20 or more years after graduation.
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