I’m a couple days late with this, as many other DeKalb blogs have already posted it, but due to its importance I’ll still follow through.

If you had wandered up to the Square last week, you may have thought you spotted protesters in front of the Old Courthouse. While you thought to yourself “what the heck are they protesting now?” you might have realized that they were actually supporters of the democratic candidates for DeKalb CEO, chanting the rallying cries of their candidate of choice, who were currently debating inside our esteemed Courthouse. Then, if you were like me, you would have quickly crossed to the other side of the road, for fear of them trying to engage you in some conversation about DeKalb County government. (I decided if approached I would just start yelling something about HOST taxes and scare them away)

So, why am I bringing all of this up post-debate?

Because Decatur resident Rusty Tanton has made the whole darn thing accessible online by posting each posed question individually on YouTube. So below you will find the opening statements video. The subsequent nine questions with the corresponding video will be located in the continuation.

Thanks for doing the footwork Rusty!

Question 1
“Police Chief Terrell Bolton has put forth a road map for success plan for the DeKalb County Police Department, which does have a $100 million price tag if implemented. Do you support the plan, and if so how do you intend to pay for it?”

Question 3
“In terms of water resource planning and conservation, what plans do you have as CEO?”

Question 5
“What as CEO will you do to improve overall service delivery so that the kind of frustration felt by the residents and citizens of Dunwoody does not lead other unincorporated municipalities in the county to secede from the county?”

Question 7
“Two independent audits in the county’s finance department have concluded millions of dollars were spent on technology consultants from 2004 to 2008, circumventing county law. Do you support the DeKalb County district attorney convening a special grand jury to look into this matter or not, and why?”

Question 9
“As CEO, how will you better inform citizens in the event of an emergencies or crises such as the recent water main break or the tornado which touched down along DeKalb Avenue and the alarms did not go off?”

Closing statements