Ott on Powell Rejection: "It’s an embarrassment''

A day after being caught off guard by the rejection of one of his appointments to the Cobb County Citizens Oversight Committee, District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott was still scratching his head as to why his colleagues had not better communicated with him.

At Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, former Commissioner Thea Powell’s appointment was rejected by a 3-2 vote with Chairman Tim Lee and Commissioners Helen Goreham and JoAnn Birrell voting against and Commissioner Woody Thompson joining Ott in voting for.

Ott said at Wednesday’s Vinings Homeowners Association that commissioners’ appointments to county committees are generally approved unanimously, as was Ott’s other appointment on Tuesday, former Congressman Bob Barr.

“Regardless of your position on what happened at the vote, I just want you to know that I think it’s kind of a poor shot by my fellow commissioners,’’ Ott told those gathered at The Vinings Club. “They’re entitled to their opinion. I don’t have a problem with that, but to not be told is an embarrassment to Commissioner Powell and it’s an embarrassment to me.’’

At Wednesday’s Citizens Oversight Committee meeting, Powell, who has been serving on the board unofficially since March 25, was in attendance. But she was not in her seat, which was left vacant, and instead was seen taking notes alongside media members.

It is not clear if the committee would receive a new, eleventh member, but Ott said that a recommendation for a different appointee would not come from him.

“I have the option I can put her name up there again in two weeks,’’ Ott said. “I will tell you this, if I don’t put her in, I will not appoint anyone else because as far as I’m concerned on a board like that, especially when it’s a volunteer board, each commissioner should have their right to appoint whoever they want. If ultimately she’s not up there, I will not put someone else.’’

Clearly, a little more than 24 hours after the vote by the board, Ott remained miffed with the voting results.

“It’s not so much about me, but it’s more about the position of the district commissioner,’’ he explained. “I don’t think that the other district commissioners should be able to tell one district commissioner what to do if it’s not something that affects the whole county. That oversight committee, the most that it will do will be to make a recommendation to the board. They have no authority to do anything else.

“So individual district commissioners appointed to that board have no impact on the rest of the county. So it’s just my belief that the other chairman and commissioners need to be told that… We have disagreements, so we should sit down and talk about it, but don’t blindside someone.’’

The chairman’s seat is set to be elected next year, and it has been rumored that Powell will seek the position. Ott said that he had received no indication from either Goreham or Birrell prior to Tuesday that they would vote against Powell, who served as commissioner in the late ‘80s.

Powell served as interim commissioner last year when Lee vacated his seat to become a candidate for chairman. On Wednesday, Ron Sifen, a former Vinings Homeowners Association president, surmised the board felt threatened by Powell.

“A lot of people are aware that she did an incredibly good job when she was interim commissioner last year,’’ Sifen said.  “She identified some unnecessary spending and some abuses and maybe some people weren’t so happy about how great a job she did, but citizens of Cobb County should be… She is probably the single best qualified person in all of Cobb County to actually do the job of the oversight committee that Bob is trying to appoint her to.’’