Mableton becomes Georgia’s newest city | What happens next?

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Voters in Cobb County have decided to make Mableton its own city. The unincorporated area of about 40,000 will now grow into a city of about 78,000 including all of Mableton and unincorporated parts of Austell and Smyrna.

So what does this mean as far as services for city residents? Cobb County will continue to provide fire and police, but the City of Mableton will have the option for local control over things like planning and zoning, code enforcement, sanitation and parks.

As for Mableton city government, State Representative Erica Thomas, who sponsored the cityhood bill, said Mableton will have 6 council members and its own mayor.

“With this being a city, it would mean 13,000 people to one city council member so you would be able to be close to your government and get a lot of things done when this one city council member has only 13,000 people,” said Rep. Thomas.

Rep. Thomas said the election could be in a few months.

“The County Board of Elections will be the one to call the election and we believe that it will be in the beginning of next year.”

In the meantime, Thomas said the nonprofit South Cobb Alliance, which consists of South Cobb residents, is helping move things along ahead of the city’s election.

“I am a part of that group as well,” said Rep. Thomas. “They are the ones that are helping out kind of steer this so we can go ahead and get these things done, get the ball rolling for the city of Mableton.”

County Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said in a post after the election results were in, “congratulations to the proponents of the City of Mableton and to all Cobb candidates that won their elections. The County stands ready to work with all of our leaders and stakeholders to ensure the best service for all of our citizens.”

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