Cobb says goodbye to commissioner

Cobb County Commissioner Thea Powell finished her commission tenure Thursday night in the board’s last meeting of the year.

Powell was chosen in April to serve out the remaining term of current chairman Tim Lee, who stepped down to run for the leadership position. Newly elected commissioner JoAnn Birrell takes over the seat in January.

During her eight-month tenure, Powell has questioned county spending decisions, including a plan for the county to enter a contract with retiring county elections director that would have paid $800 a day. The contract was eventually killed. Powell, along with other commissioners, also questioned the initial project list of the proposed special sales tax levy extension. The SPLOST list was eventually trimmed, the extension was shortened from six years to four years and commissioners agreed to put the proposal before voters in a March referendum.