MABLETON — Mayor Michael Owens offered this reminder the day after Christmas: While 2023 was coming to a close, the city of Mableton is not yet a year old.
The question of cityhood was put before voters in a Nov. 2022 referendum, where 13,156 people—or 53%—voted in favor of the city’s formation, and 11,674—or 47%—voted against it.
It was June 1 when operations officially got underway for Cobb’s largest and newest city. Owens was not elected until a mid-April 2022 runoff, along with four of the six Mableton City Council members.
Even before June 1, Mableton faced ongoing challenges to its existence. In fact, a May 2023 lawsuit alleging the formation of the city was unconstitutional is awaiting a trial date in Cobb Superior Court.
Despite the lawsuit, Mableton’s leaders have forged ahead with their efforts to get the fledgling city off the ground.
‘Building blocks’
Mableton’s first six months have presented Owens and the rest of the city’s leadership with a two-sided challenge: setting up the city while running it at the same time.
Most of the work Owens, the City Council and the first members of the city’s staff have done since June 1 constitute the nuts and bolts of municipal government, or what Owens has termed Mableton’s “building blocks” phase.
Those actions include submitting the requisite information for tax filings and opening the city’s bank account. In its first 100 days, the city had more than $1 million in its coffers and had only spent around $130,000, according to Owens.
Sure, tasks to get the city functioning are crucial, and he and the council prioritized them from the start, Owens said, but learning on the job and educating city residents about Mableton’s offerings has been equally important.
Already, Owens has gotten the everyday, local government calls from constituents about concerns…
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