The list continues to grow as Cupid hires more consultants to do her job

In what has become a consistent practice in Cobb County, Chair woman Lisa Cupid has hired yet another set of consultants to do her job. 

Cupid and her fellow Democratic majority voted to hire three consultants as the county prepares to put a transit sales tax referendum before voters next year. 

This is on top of all the consultants she has hired since coming into the top role in cobb government, which calls into question the promises she made when she ran for the position. 

Candidates running against her in 2024 only need to call in her record of hiring consultants to do her job to show that anyone can be elected to the position that has now morphed into hiring consultants.

Three contracts, totaling around $530,000, were approved to develop a project list for the planned mobility special-purpose local-option sales tax, known as the “M-SPLOST.” 

The allocation of these funds for yet another consultant is alarming given the push back Cupid gave to the DA requesting funding for a domestic violence center, which shows what Cupid cares about and what she does not care about, said a SPOTLIGHT reader. 

Consultant WSP USA will receive $207,205, Kimley-Horn will receive $192,795 and CDM Smith $129,839.

Republican Commissioners Keli Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell voted no as they oppose a long-term tax to expand the county’s transit network. 

Instead, they favor a limited tax of up to five years to fund road improvements and trails in the county, as opposed to a broader tax of up to 30 years for transit and associated projects. 

To support their position, they pointed to a similar position of five of the six Cobb mayors who penned letters to the county in support of the five-year roads and trails option. Missing was Steve Tumlin. 

They pointed to support from the Cobb cities for the five year plan, not the 30 (year) plan Cupid has pushed. Gambrill said, “So we’re not moving forward with the support of all six cities.”

During the BOC meeting, Lance Lamberton of the Cobb Taxpayers Association, said he was concerned funding would be used to promote the referendum. 

Lamberton believes it to be an improper use of taxpayer dollars saying, “I am of the belief that much of the funds to be paid to these consultants will be used to not only draw up a list of projects, but also to develop a communications strategy to sell the tax to Cobb County voters. That purpose, I maintain, is an illegitimate use of taxpayers’ money. What it basically does is tax us for the purpose of convincing us that we should pass another tax.”