Invoices from the construction of the Braves' new SunTrust Park in Cobb County "have started flowing in," despite the fact that the county's government "doesn’t have the money to start paying the bills yet," according to Dan Klepal of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. The Braves currently "are covering all of the costs at the site" because, until February, the Georgia Supreme Court "won’t hear an appeal of the county’s plan" to issue up to $397M in bonds to help fund construction. About $3M worth of invoices currently "have been approved by the county through the end of September." Those invoices are for $2.7M to construction manager American Builders "for site work," $250,000 to American Builders "for schematic design," and $36,630 to two employees of project manager Heery International. Cobb County Finance Dir Jim Pehrson said that up to $20M a month "will be spent at the stadium site when the project hits full stride" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 11/28). Meanwhile, Cobb County officials said that they "are working on a plan to address public safety and traffic concerns around SunTrust Park." In Georgia, Ricky Leroux noted Cobb County Dir of Public Safety Sam Heaton last week told the board that county public safety agencies "have been working with the Braves security team since March, discussing safety concerns and learning how security operates at Turner Field, including going to Turner Field while games were taking place and observing the Braves security first hand." Heaton said that these public safety officials "have also spoken to Atlanta police officers to find out how they set up prior to games" (MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL, 11/30).
