Marietta utility board reports $2 million-plus GEFA grant; city approves GDOT resurfacing contract additions

The Marietta Board of Lights and Water reported a more-than-$2 million grant from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to expand outage-detection and isolation capabilities, and the City Council voted to move a Georgia Department of Transportation resurfacing contract for U.S. 41 forward for approval.

Michelle Richardson, who presented the BLW report to the council, said the GEFA award “came with a very nice sized grant, 2,000,000 plus,” and that the technology will improve the authority’s ability to detect and limit the impact of outages. Richardson described a recent weekend outage near Marietta Middle School that was narrowed from about 200 customers to roughly 65 because of faster detection.

Why it matters: the GEFA-funded improvements are intended to reduce customer impacts from outages and are tied to capital and operating budgets that begin affecting payments in 2027 and 2028. Separately, the GDOT resurfacing work on U.S. 41 (Cobb Parkway) will require the city to adjust three manhole covers and perform valve work along a contractor-specified segment; the city estimated the municipal cost at approximately $5,400 pending the contractor award.

The BLW financial update showed mixed results for the early fiscal year. A presenter identified in the packet as Ms. Brown said supplemental revenues are down and total power costs were running above the BLW budget. Brown told the council that “fiscal year to date, the total power costs are at $1,260,000 over the BLW budget,” and that milder summer weather had reduced water and electricity consumption, lowering some revenue streams while shifting market-priced energy costs.

Cobb-Marietta water statistics presented at the meeting showed average daily water sales near 81 million gallons against a budgeted 90 million gallons and reported monthly water sales revenue of about $9.1 million. The packet noted year-to-date net income exceeded budget by roughly $2.7 million and that year-to-date capital spending totaled about $40.5 million, with remaining annual CIP commitments near $51.6 million and cash reserves for CIP at about $66.7 million.

General manager (unnamed in the transcript) summarized workforce planning in a strategic review, saying the utility has about 200 employees and that 45 employees become retirement-eligible within one to five years; 21 of those are management-level positions. The manager said vacancies have declined to about 17 and that the utility is looking to automate and add self-service options to ease workloads in customer service.

Formal actions and next steps: council members voted to forward the BLW report and related BLW-approved items to the Wednesday council agenda (motion carried 7-0). The council also suspended the rules and added a GDOT contract item to the agenda (motion to suspend and add carried 7-0) and later approved a motion to include manhole and valve replacements for the U.S. 41 resurfacing contract—limited to the segment from Terrell Mill Road to the Fulton County line, and, for clarity, not approving work beyond Windy Hill—on the city agenda (motion seconded and placed on consent; the BLW had already approved its portion).

The BLW presenters repeatedly emphasized the preliminary nature of some cost estimates; the city will know final manhole/valve adjustment costs after GDOT awards the resurfacing contract. The GEFA contract will not require payments until fiscal years 2027–28, per the BLW presentation.

Council and staff indicated they will return with finalized contract language to ensure the city and the BLW signatures and authorizations match the contract wording before a final adoption vote.

Ending: Councilors placed both the BLW report and the GDOT contract item on the upcoming council agenda. Staff said they will supply updated cost figures and cleaned contract language before final approval.