COBB COUNTY - The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday revised its procedures to allow only three members to vote on county matters, and the vote must be unanimous for the issue to pass. Previously, four out of the five commissioners were required to attend a meeting, and it required at least a 3-1 vote to approve an agenda item.

The change was made because of board Chairman Sam Olens' expected resignation at the end of March to focus on his run for Georgia's attorney general, and Commissioner Tim Lee's resignation in April to run for the vacant chairman seat. When those two are gone, only Commissioners Woody Thompson, Bob Ott and Helen Goreham will be left serving on the board. For the short time when only Olens' seat is vacant, the board can pass an item with a 3-1 vote.

Olens has appointed Thompson to serve as interim chairman until the seat is filled, which is expected to occur in a special election in July.

The board also passed a contract with Georgia Devleopment Partners, LLC for construction of the first phase of the Noonday Creek Trail, a pedestrian and bicycle trail that will eventually connect the Town Center area and make the roads more pedestrian-and cyclist-friendly. The first of five phases will run along Old 41 Highway beginning at Stilesboro Road and end at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park boundary.

The $1.3 million trail will be 10 feet wide and approximately a mile long, according to Cobb County Department of Transportation Director Faye DiMassimo, and will have a painted dotted line through the middle of the sidewalk to allow for both pedestrians and cyclists. The county will fund $600,000 of the project through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue, while the National Park Service will fund $600,000 and the Cobb County Water System will fund about $150,000, DiMassimo said.

The trail will be 10 feet wide and cross over the Old 41 bridge, which is part of the new bridge's construction plans, DiMassimo said. The trail will connect the existing multi-use trail that runs along Kennesaw Avenue into the park. DiMassimo said construction is expected to take 120 days (with normal weather), and that if everything runs smoothly, some of the construction time will coincide with the bridge construction, which has resulted in a decrease of commuters in the area.

"Permitting good weather, construction will begin within the next 30 to 45 days," DiMassimo said. "This is the first phase of the Cobb County Master Trail Plan, and is also included in the Town Center Area Community Improvement District master plan. The whole idea is to link commercial office and work locations in that area within Town Center Mall and surrounding neighborhoods."

DiMassimo said the next phase, 2A, is expected to be advertised for construction some time in the next three months and will run along Cobb Parkway between Barrett Parkway and the crossing of Highway 41 and Noonday Creek. Hudgins said the Georgia Department of Transportation will be funding 80 percent of that project.