PHOTO ABOVE: Chairwoman Cupid at her second swearing-in ceremony (Larry Felton Johnson/Cobb County Courier)

By Mark Woolsey

While acknowledging challenges, Cobb County Commission Chair Lisa Cupid delivered an upbeat report in her 2025 “State of the County” address Wednesday evening.

Cupid said (the year) “brought its share of challenges but it also served as a powerful testament to the resilience and determination that defines us as a county” in her address to city and county officials, government employees, members of the business community and others at the Riverside Epicenter.

“From enhancing public service to bolstering economic growth, improving equity and expanding critical resources,  Cobb continued an unwavering commitment to forward motion,” said Cupid.

While lavishing praise on many different constituencies, she also used the address to spotlight what she regards as unmet needs, including efforts to keep the best and brightest from departing, what she labeled “brain drain.”

 Cupid ran down a laundry list of accomplishments, ranging from the county keeping its stellar credit rating to its information services division being ranked in the top five nationally to the crime rate dropping 23% in 2024.

She lauded new facilities coming online, including the Gritters Library branch and the creation of a headquarters for Cobb Police Precinct 6, a longtime goal of Commissioner JoAnn Birrell.

“We also renewed our ten-year delivery agreement with our six cities. It only took us two years to get there, but we did it,” and she thanked various parties involved in what she called a complex process.

The new city of Mableton’s (city number seven) movement toward qualified government status also received a thumbs-up.

“And we look forward to you attaining that at the end of the month,” Cupid said.

She praised what she said was a commitment to equity and belonging, which she indicated she fostered by meeting with various communities.

Cupid touched briefly on the controversy over which commission district lines map should be used- a “home rule” map designed by a divided commission or a state legislative-imposed one.

“We also upheld the integrity of our board by recognizing the district line dispute we had challenged over the last few years, and we fought diligently for the integrity of our county,” is how she put it. Cupid said there’s been “a long-standing tradition to adopt the maps of our local delegation, and that did not happen.”

She called the legislature’s adoption of the map politically motivated and noted that it drew former District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her district.

Drawing attention from Cupid were several priorities including achieving affordable housing, serving the poor, battling homelessness and improving transportation.

“We also cleared a path for a transit referendum (The 30-year M SPLOST proposal aimed at improving traffic flow and transit) and though it did not pass, what has not passed is the need to still provide access to opportunity for many of our citizens, as I’m struck by how many people continue to depend on their own two feet to get to places that we take for granted.”

To retain the best workers, she called for annual cost-of-living adjustments for county employees, “so that we are not distorting our budget by doing this (assessing wages) every five years.”

County officials and observers have said that salaries are not keeping pace, leading to hundreds of vacancies as county employees leave for greener financial pastures or never come here in the first place.

She also took notice of the county’s eight institutions of higher learning and struck a similar theme.

“I’m grateful we have all this young energy in our colleges. I want them to choose Cobb County for their home. I want them to choose to live here and work her and I believe we have to look at our policies to see how we’re facilitating this, or this is a brain drain,” she said.

Addressing economic growth, she said that “although it’s not seen a lot of light of day,” she’s working on an initiative in her office on a global innovation and community investment program. She said she’s spoken of that push to business and international leaders who have expressed an interest in Cobb.Cupid said she looked ahead with “deep confidence” to the county’s future.

Watch the State of the County address below