by Caleb Groves

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the final phase of construction of the sixth Police Precinct in Cobb on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

The BOC approved the final phase of construction of Police Station Precinct 6, in Northeast Cobb. In total, the contract is for $2 million with Batson-Cook Company.

“I think it’s the last of my 2016 SPLOST projects and I just want to say thank you director for bringing this home as soon as you got here a few weeks ago,” Birrell said. “You hit the ground running with this.”

The new precinct will allow for quicker response times on calls. However, the Cobb County Police Department continues to struggle with staffing shortages that are challenging the nation, Cobb County Director of Public Safety Michael Register said.

Despite the vacancies, Register said that these positions will be filled with competent individuals and withCobb’s growing population the demand for an additional precinct is becoming more important.

“It’s going to almost immediately impact the citizens and give value,” Register said.

Alongside the demand for quicker response times, part of the push for this project is to finish it as the cost of resources continues to rise, Register said.

Currently, The construction of the precinct is 50 to 60% of the way done, Register said.

Once the precinct is constructed and operating, the Cobb Police Department will move staff from precincts one and four to staff prescient 6, Birrell said. She hopes that construction will be done within the next six months.

However, once up and running there will be staffing actions that will need to take place to get the precinct up and running, Register said.

The BOC voted 4-0 in approval for the construction of the precinct. Chairwoman Lisa Cupid was absent and did not vote at Tuesday’s meeting.

The BOC approved the appointment of Steven Mints to the Civil Service Board to replace Cheryl Stephenson.

Commissioner Keli Gambrill opposed the appointment because the commissioners did not consider all candidates and instead decided based on the people they knew.

“I can not support this agenda item and it’s not because of the appointee,” Gambrill said. “It’s because of the process and the lack of clear understanding of the process this board goes through to select an appointee.”

Commissioner Jerica Richardson agreed that the selection of appointees lacks clarity, and said she believes there needs to be a better process in the future.

The BOC voted 3-1 in favor of appointing Mints to the Civil Service Board.