Mold Remediation in South Fulton, GA

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — After announcing plans to open a new emergency department in south Fulton County in April, Grady Health confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that the state had officially approved the plan.

According to a Grady spokesperson, the freestanding emergency department will be built in Union City just south of Interstate 20 and will be open 24/7.

“We are pleased that our certificate of need to build a freestanding emergency department in south Fulton County has been approved. This freestanding emergency department, built in partnership with Fulton County, will be located in Union City and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Grady said in a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News.

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The hospital system said the new emergency department should open in fall 2026 and will be “fully staffed by board-certified physicians, nurses, and other clinicians, allowing us to serve a community that has seen an increased demand for access to health care.”

Channel 2′s Candace McCowan reported in April that the new emergency department was meant, at least in part, to fill a gap left open after the closure of the Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center in November 2022.

“We knew and have known that there was a healthcare desert in South Fulton County,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said at the time.

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In previous comments, Grady President and CEO John Haupert said the department will “have 16 bays emergency treatment bays, it will be for adults and pediatrics.”

The location is a 40-acre site along South Fulton Parkway and Campbellton Fairburn Road, next to the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center.

“It could be lifesaving. If someone is having chest pain, their loved one brings them there they can be more quickly assessed than if someone had to drive them all the way up to Grady or all the way to Piedmont Hospital South of Fulton County,” said Haupert.

While the department will provide emergency care, Grady officials said it is not going to be a trauma center, and traumatic injury patients will still need to go to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

“There is a huge demand for emergency pediatric services within that service area. Right now if you have a sick child and need to go to an emergency room you have to come up to Hughes Spalding or go all the way up to CHOA,” Haupert said. “We will have stabilization there for mental health as well.”

The overall project is expected to cost $38 million, and Pitts told Channel 2 Action News in April he expected Grady to request $19 million from the county to bring the new emergency department to fruition.

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November 1st, 2024

Metro Atlanta residents who live in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb or Gwinnett counties can drop off their absentee ballots over the weekend and on Monday, Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, at their local election offices.

The last day of early in-person voting is Friday, Nov. 1, but residents in these counties can continue dropping off their absentee ballots at these times and locations before Election Day. On Election Day, offices will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for hand returning absentee ballots.

Clayton County will not have locations open this weekend for hand-returning absentee ballots, but Clayton residents can return their absentee ballots by hand on Monday, Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Jonesboro Historical Courthouse, South Clayton Recreation Center and Carl Rhodenizer Recreation Center.

2024 Georgia Elections

It’s a critical election year, and Georgia is at the center of it. Stay in the know with WABE’s 2024 Georgia Elections page, where you can find WABE’s latest election news and podcast episodes, important dates, voting locations, candidate info, results and more.

Fulton County

Fulton County will open four election offices for people to hand-return their absentee ballots on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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These four locations are the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center at 5600 Campbellton Fairburn Road, Union City; Fulton County Government Center at 130 Peachtree Street, SW. Suite 2186; North Fulton Service Center at 7741 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs; and South Fulton Service Center at 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, South Fulton.

Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County’s elections headquarters at 455 Grayson Hwy, Suite 200, will be open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to Zach Manifold, the elections supervisor at the Gwinnett County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections, the county is working with the local post to expedite the delivery of mail-in absentee ballots.

DeKalb County

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections will open its office at 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cobb County

Cobb County is extending absentee ballot drop-off hours at its main elections headquarters at 995 Roswell St., Marietta. The headquarters will be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Cobb Elections announced the extension after the number of absentee ballot requests by the deadline unexpectedly increased.

“We want to maintain voter trust by being transparent about the situation,” said Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas in a Thursday press release. “We are taking every possible step to get these ballots to the voters who requested them. Unfortunately, we were unprepared for the surge in requests and lacked the necessary equipment to process the ballots quickly.”

The county’s elections workers have sent express return envelopes with last-minute absentee ballots so that voters can mail them back on time.

“After our vendor’s final run on Friday, we needed to utilize our in-house equipment for the final shipment of ballots, but the equipment was not working properly,” said Elections Director Tate Fall.

“By the time we got the equipment online, the deadline for mailing the ballots had passed, prompting us to work with the US Postal Service and UPS to take extraordinary measures. Our team has been working around the clock to get the ballots out.”

Voters have until 7 p.m. on Friday, November 1, to participate in early voting.

The last day of early voting in Fulton County is a day away. Residents have until 7 p.m. Friday, November 1, to vote early in the 2024 General Election. Since the start of the Advance Voting period, more than 325,000 residents have casted their ballot early.

Fulton County provided a total of 44 polling locations for voters interested in participating in early voting. Of that total, 37 are available to voters for the duration of the Advance Voting period:

Operating hours for each advance voting sites are as follows:

- Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

For more information, visit our website www.fultoncountyga.gov or download the free Fulton Votes mobile app for Android or Apple devices.

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Taxpayers in a metro city are livid that the mayor wants to nearly double his salary. People in the City of South Fulton wonder why the Mayor Khalid wants to get paid so much when he works part-time.

Some people told Channel 2 reporter Tom Jones $85,000 is a lot of money. “Not for it at all,” Rosalyn Green said.

Ed Lee felt the same way.

“Right now, I do not support it based on what I’ve seen so far.”

Mayor Khalid has proposed an ordinance that would increase his salary from $47,676 a year to $85,000 a year. A 78-percent increase.

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Some taxpayers wondered are employees getting raises too. “If you are looking out for yourself. You have to look out for everybody,” one woman explained.

Others kept pointing out it is a part-time position.

“He accepted the job, a part-time job, at that salary. It is what it is. The salary should remain the same,” Green said.

Jones tried repeatedly to reach the mayor by phone, text, and email. Even reached out to his Chief of Staff. He never heard back from anyone.

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“Residents are livid,” District 3 Councilwoman Helen Zenobia Willis told Jones. She put out a survey on the pay increase proposal because she thought taxpayers did not know about it. 94% opposed the idea.

Willis says $85,000 is a full-time salary.

“If the state charter says we are part-time, then we cannot go pay ourselves a full-time salary. That would be fiscally irresponsible.”

Ed Lee says $85,000 is a lot of money.

“Seems like a lot of money for a part-time position. Especially in a city where we’re really trying to focus on the budget.”

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Mayor Khalid is also proposing taxpayers reimburse elected leaders for their tuition. Willis thinks that ordinance would only benefit the mayor.

The council will vote at Welcome All Park on the proposals November 12 at 7 p.m.

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$85K a year for South Fulton's part-time mayor?

Residents of South Fulton are criticizing a proposal put out by the mayor to double his own salary. Some showed up to Tuesday night's City Council meeting to voice their opposition.

A request for a raise that would double the salary of South Fulton’s mayor raised some concerns for residents.

"Being a mayor of 100 square miles and 110,000 people is a full-time job," said Mayor Kobi, City of South Fulton.

On Tuesday, city leaders began discussions about the proposal by Mayor Khalid Kamau, who now goes by the name Mayor Kobi, to increase the pay for his role from $47,000 to $85,000.

"$86,000 to me in a part-time capacity seems to be a bit much," resident Alvin Reynolds told FOX 5.

"We do not agree with an $86,000 raise for the mayor," another resident said during public comment.

That amount was $25,000 over the recommended salary from a pay study in January.

The mayor told FOX 5 he believes the increase was justified by a raise members of council approved for themselves that was 44 percent higher than what was recommended in the pay study.

"To be clear, I believe council deserves every penny," he said.

District 3 City Councilwoman Hellen Willis says despite working well beyond part-time hours, she maintained their roles are currently classified in the state charter as part-time elected officials.

"To get paid full-time pay and we’re classified by the state as part-time is going to be problematic…it’s not fiscally responsible," she told FOX 5.

The proposed increase wouldn’t go into effect until January of 2026, after the mayor’s current term ends. He said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for office again.

"I’m actually trying to raise the next mayor’s salary, whoever that is," Mayor Kobi stated.

While some agreed it was time to talk about salary increases for officials in the city still in its infancy, resident Alvin Reynolds said he believes their focus should be on initiatives that benefit taxpayers.

"We just want to make sure we’re using our money efficiently and most of that money is going toward taking care of our city and our residents," he added.

Several council members said they felt the move was premature and that they should first petition state lawmakers to reclassify their roles as full-time positions.

No action was taken on the proposal. Members of council will take it to a vote on Nov. 12.