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Cobb County says Mableton’s late magistrate-court request altered police agreement; sheriff deputizes officers as temporary stopgap
Summary
Cobb County officials said Mableton’s unexpected request to handle misdemeanors in a magistrate court represented a material change to a negotiated intergovernmental agreement that expired May 31. The county arranged a temporary deputization with the sheriff to keep police services in Mableton while urging the city to honor the mediated terms.
Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said Cobb County’s intergovernmental agreement with the City of Mableton expired May 31 and that county negotiators expected a new agreement to take effect June 1 based on a mediation framework reached May 22. "As you may know by now, our agreement with the city of Mableton expired on May 31st," Cupid said.
Cupid told reporters the county learned while executing the agreement that Mableton sought to establish a magistrate court to handle misdemeanors beyond prior code-enforcement discussions, a step the county views as a material change to how misdemeanors are processed. "Extending it beyond that such that that are typically routed through state court is a material change for how Cobb County governs today," she said.
Cupid disputed what she described as a Mableton suggestion that the county had been "underhanded in retaining fees," calling that claim "not well-founded" and saying the magistrate-court construct would depart from how the county and its cities process misdemeanors through state court. She said both the county board and Mableton’s city council had voted to support the mediation framework on May 22 but that Mableton did not disclose the magistrate-court plan during the year of negotiations.
Because of the change, Cupid said the county arranged a short-term agreement with the sheriff to deputize officers so police services would continue in Mableton. "Right now, because of the situation that we're in ... we do have an agreement with the sheriff, which has allowed us to deputize police officers to continue to provide services in the city," she said, adding that the arrangement is temporary and not something Mableton should rely on while it stands up its own department.
An agency official representing the Cobb County Sheriff's Office said county leaders learned about the change late Friday, attempted discussions through the weekend and reached an impasse before June 1. The official said the deputized officers are operating in Precinct 2, that operations and investigations continue, and praised Chief Ferrell and command staff for working over the weekend to maintain services. "If you are a citizen of the city of Mableton, understand that the Cobb County Police Department and the Cobb County Sheriff's Department put you at the top of our list of priorities, making sure that you're safe," the official said.
Cupid said the county expects Mableton to fulfill the terms it agreed to in mediation and that any deviation will require further county agreement. She also said funding for any new services or hires should be secured by the city before the county assumes responsibility. The county provided no dollar amounts or an end date for the deputization arrangement during the press event.
No formal vote or adoption of a new IGA was announced at the event; officials described the deputization as a stopgap while negotiations continue and urged Mableton to adhere to the mediated framework.
