Cobb County Chamber of Commerce CEO pushes pet Chamber projects at expense of community

Cobb County, Georgia — In addition to finding pet Chamber projects, the Development Authority's sketchy minutes also suggest a very cozy relationship between the low-profile seven-member authority and the Chamber. Authority minutes and check registers show that at Beaver's behest the Authority has been picking up the tab for billboard space and movie theater and magazine ads on behalf of the Chamber that cost at least $100,000.

Also, the authority helped sponsor the Chamber's annual golf tournament, paid a new industry's $5,000 chamber dues in the elite Chairman's Club and footed the bill for its chairman to attend the Chamber's annual Washington, D.C., fly-in.

The same minutes also show that the Authority has subsidized the Chamber's money-losing magazine - Cobb In Focus -for the last four years to the tune of $240,000. Cobb In Focus competes with at least a dozen magazines privately published and circulating in Cobb (including Cobb Life published by the MDJ). One of those 12 - Cobb Living - was a Chamber member before it went out of business.

The Chamber is a private, non-profit membership organization that has promoted Cobb and its six cities for well over 60 years. The Cobb Development Authority, according to Cobb County's website, was established by the Commission in 1973 to promote trade, industry and job opportunities in Cobb. Although it is a public body subject to Georgia's Sunshine or Open Meetings and Open Records laws, authority minutes indicate that few if any members of the public ever attend and all votes for the last five years have been unanimous. 

THE AUTHORITY WAS CREATED as a conduit for tax-exempt, low-interest-rate bonds for businesses seeking to locate or expand in Cobb. Once the authority approves an "inducement resolution" for a new business and that business can find a bank or lender for their project, it can get a tax-exempt loan. The authority receives an origination fee for the bonds and uses part of the fees for bankrolling its own and apparently some Chamber expenses. 

THE LITTLE-KNOWN Development Authority received rare media notice last month when the developers of a proposed $72 million baseball complex suggested the authority and investors each kick in $450,000 for a study to help launch the proposed Powder Springs project.