THE CLOCK IS TICKING on the Cobb Board of Commissioners and new Chair Tim Lee, who must decide in just more than a month whether to call a roads SPLOST special referendum for next March. Should they fail to meet the Sept. 28 deadline, the county would lose six months of 2011 tax collections worth tens of millions of dollars - even if the commission were later to decide to schedule such a referendum.

Current SPLOST collections are to end Dec. 31, 2011. To continue without a gap in collections Georgia law requires a vote on March 15, 2011 to continue the tax in 2012. If commissioners do not call a vote for March 2011 and instead call one for Nov. 8, 2011, the tax would not be collected for the first six months of '12.

Currently the 1 percent tax is generating about $131 million per year for the county, so the failure to call by Sept. 28 for a vote in March would cost the county about $65 million in future SPLOST revenues.

The Sept. 28 deadline for commissioners for a March vote is necessary for pre-vote hearings and development of a wish list of projects voters would be asked to approve.

The commissioners reportedly haven't focused on the Sept. 28 deadline, pleading they have been too busy trying to balance the budget for the new fiscal year that starts Sept. 30.

Some SPLOST proponents have been concerned that commissioners, especially Lee, perhaps weren't focused on a renewal. They say that's because the Atlanta Regional Commission might be just as happy if Cobb doesn't pursue a local SPLOST. There will a vote by 12 counties and the city of Atlanta in November 2012 on a regional SPLOST that would levy another 1 percent tax in the metro area starting in 2013. (Or as some have put it, "a SPLOST on top of a SPLOST.") Most everyone agrees that approval of two SPLOSTs back-to-back is going to be a tough sell to voters.

Lee will be the ex officio Cobb rep on the committee that will compile the priority list of projects for the regional SPLOST, and he has been the center of speculation by those who think that he might be susceptible to pressure from the ARC, which is headed by former Cousins Properties exec Tad Leithead of Cobb.

Although several of Lee's skeptics say he wants to make a name for himself regionally, Lee is reportedly in favor of Cobb going ahead with its own SPLOST with a March vote.

Some observers say that when the dust settles the ARC will want most of regional SPLOST dollars to go toward a regional mass transit system that connects with MARTA rail. Former Kennesaw Mayor Leonard Church said during his recent unsuccessful campaign against Northwestern District Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham he thought the ARC would be pushing a "big bang" transportation project that was in effect a metro-wide rail plan with MARTA at the center. Everything else would be secondary, he said.

Cobb has taken in and shared with its six cities more than $1.6 billion in tax revenues since the first county SPLOST back in 1985, with the bulk of those dollars going toward road improvements. As one city official worried about Cobb missing a deadline or deferring to the regional SPLOST said, "Cobb and its cities are as addicted to SPLOST dollars as the American people are to hamburgers and French fries."

As the saying goes, "True dat."

Be sure to catch Sunday's MDJ for Katy Ruth Camp's in-depth report on the SPLOST, which will highlight major projects funded via SPLOST, the history of the SPLOST and the views of the Commission and Cobb's mayors.

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CAMPBELL HIGH SCHOOL supporters may have noticed a familiar face on Friday morning’s “Live! With Regis and Kelly” show, as Principal Grant Rivera appeared as an impromptu guest to support his fiancé, Jenn Hobby, a personality on the popular radio morning show The Bert Show on Q100 (99.7 FM) in Atlanta.

Hobby was one of four female radio personalities from across the country chosen to co-host the show with Regis Philbin while Kelly Ripa is on vacation.

Philbin asked Rivera about his experience as a principal early in the show, and Rivera joked that his students are smarter than he is, adding, “We have to help them stay focused learning that there’s life after high school. It’s a great school.”

Hobby said she met Rivera when he was principal at South Cobb High School and came into The Bert Show’s studio in January of 2009 to speak about the South Cobb band’s then-upcoming performance at President Obama’s inauguration.

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THE COBB SCHOOL BOARD meets in special session Monday to discuss the search for a new superintendent. Hoping to keep the process off the public’s radar, Chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle told the MDJ this week the meeting would not be televised on the system’s taxpayer-subsidized cable TV channel. Doing so would be too expensive, she claimed.

But never fear: The MDJ plans to attend and record the meeting, then post the video on its MDJonline.com website.

LCE announced plans for Monday’s meeting at the conclusion of the board’s “team-building” session this past Saturday at the offices of its attorney, Brock Clay. Evidently, unlike those in charge of most successful school systems, LCE doesn’t consider the public part of the Cobb schools’ “team.”

Although the only extra cost involved for televising the board meeting is that for a few kilowatts of electricity, the episode illustrates how committed LCE is to elevate the evasiveness of the search for super to a new level. Remember, incumbent Superintendent Fred Sanderson said in June he would retire when his contract expires June 30, 2011. Yet two months later, other than a few handouts from Brock, the board has said little or nothing of substance about the search.

Typical of this board, it has never said what it desires in a new super and has kept the public guessing as to whether it will hire the next super or leave that task to the new board that takes office in January. Remember, the new board will have at least two and possibly three new faces and all have made Sanderson and his rubber stamps on the board — LCE, Holli Cash and David Banks — the centerpiece of their campaigns.

Eroding this board’s already low credibility ratings even further is the fact that it has never asked Brock Clay or even its new lawyer, Clem Doyle, whether it can hire a new super for the period after June 30. State law says one board cannot bind its successor board on such matters. This board is sworn to uphold the law — but apparently doesn’t have any curiosity about what the law says.

Just as puzzling is that Brock Clay passed out copies of the law relative to hiring supers, but did not offer an interpretation of the law.

Adding to the self-inflicted and typical board confusion is the report that Sanderson now wants to hang it up early — by Dec. 31, according to one credible source — and not finish out his contract.

The prevailing opinion of those familiar with the law in question (which has never been litigated) is this: At one time, board terms all tended to start and end at one time. Now, however, they typically are staggered. And so, to be safe and conservative, the law should be interpreted to mean that no board can bind a successor board more than six months past the expiration of any term, which in this case, would be June 30.

Don’t expect her to do so, but wouldn’t it be helpful to the school system if the chair would show some leadership and in open session — 1: ask Sanderson point blank if he plans to finish out his contract and, 2: ask Doyle if Georgia law permits this board to hire a new a new super to serve past June 30?

Certainly, if Sanderson intends to finish up his contract, there will be plenty of time for the new board to land a super by Sanderson’s announced departure date June 30. After Nov. 3 the remaining two board elections will be over and all new board members will be known even though they will not be sworn in until January. That will give a new board eight months — more than enough time — to have a super on board when Sanderson departs.

The bobbing and weaving and secrecy surrounding the search for a new super only fuels speculation, rightfully or wrongly, that this already discredited board wants to saddle a new, reform-minded board with a status-quo super. That would be the ultimate thumb in the eye to Cobb voters from this board.

Meanwhile, some board watchers suspect the board was gung-ho to elevate deputy Super Dr. Steve Constantino, a protégé of Sanderson, into his job when Sanderson departs. Similarly, the board watchers think talk of Sanderson’s possible December departure was meant to make it easier for Constantino to step in. Moreover, the board is thought to have been eager to get Constantino in place before the new board could be sworn in.

But as AT reported last week (but which the board has never publicly confirmed), Constantino has now withdrawn his name from consideration to replace Sanderson — which may have taken some of the board’s urgency to find a new super.

The bottom line? LCE thinks former Superintendent Joe Redden, who gave her a cushy job in the central office after she retired as a principal, hung the moon. And she thinks Sanderson is right up there with him. So until her vote on the board is diluted by new board members, her influence on the board is the worst nightmare for parents and teachers who want a change of direction for our schools.