MM: DeKalb is “Rotten”, More on Atlanta United Facility, and Cold Office Buildings
Decatur Metro | August 6, 2015 | 9:10 am
- Report Calls DeKalb County Government ‘Rotten To The Core’ [WABE]
- Inspiration behind Atlanta United’s new complex in DeKalb [AJC]
- Flowery Branch residents to DeKalb: Don’t get your hopes up [11Alive]
- Kirkwood bakery asks for help reopening following renovations [Decaturish]
- World’s smallest Walmart at Tech Square closes it’s doors [CL]
- Chilly at work? Office Formula Was Devised for Men [NYT]
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April 20, 2015 MM: Oakhurst Streetscape Improvements Update, Trinity Triangle Targets Jan Opening and Nice Downtowns (1)
OK, so DeKalb County government is corrupt (shocking, I know). But where do we go from here? It seems we are in a dilemma that, no matter what happens, will be expensive:
1. Prosecute those accused of malfeasance – long, drawn out, costly trials.
2. Fire those named in the final report – guaranteed law suits brought by the “aggrieved.”
3. Decide the first two options are untenable, and leave them in their jobs – continued corruption and profligate spending.
4. Ease them out with severance or early retirement packages.
Anyone have a more optimistic take on it?
Well, here’s Lee May’s take. This instills zero confidence.
“I wholeheartedly disagree with the opinion that DeKalb County is rotten to the core. The overwhelming majority of DeKalb County employees are honest, decent, hard-working, and committed to public service.
We were aware of the underlying issues mentioned in Mr. Bowers’ letter. That is why we hired him to conduct a comprehensive review of county government operations to identify corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of interest, or abuse; with a report in 120 days.
The 120 days has come and gone, and it appears the only thing we have to show for it is a 2-page letter full of salacious – but vague – innuendo.”
My definition of “vague” may be different than Mr. Lee’s. P-card purchases for a trip to the Bahamas, theft by a person still on the payroll, a bribery scheme, and a long list of smaller stealing like dry cleaning for a judge’s robe, liquor purchases, a guitar player and peanut butter filled snacks sound rather specific to me.
The investigators had 120 days to produce a report, however if a significant number of county department heads are not providing requested information and are in violation of state FOIA laws, then I suggest the county hasn’t lived up to its side of the bargain. It also constrained the investigation by not granting subpoena authority. I’m sure there must be legal reasons why, but if given this three weeks is not unreasonable to finish and follow up on these “vague and salacious” accusations. Mr. May may have egg on his face when the details come out later this month, and it sounds like there are plenty of details.
What I really don’t like is that Mr. May, who hired the investigators, is now denigrating them and distancing himself from the pending report. “Vague and salacious.” What did he expect? There is enough smoke to hire people to go poking through all departments, including Mr. May’s. If Mr. Bowers had come back with a couple of minor violations, say two bags of potato chips purchased on a p-card, would that have assuaged Mr. May’s concerns about DeKalb’s potential corruption?
Don’t ask questions you don’t want answered. Now that the answers are coming out, own up to them and start fixing the problems rather than sweeping them under the rug again. One DeKalb CEO is sitting in jail. Looks like he needs some company.
+1. And note that May says we already knew of the underlying issues we hired Bowers to investigate! Well, if you already knew, what in the world are you doing to address them? And if you know about the issues, in what sense are Bowers’ conclusions mere “innuendo?”
Probably most Dekalb County employees are honest and hard-working like May says, the letter does say most employees were helpful to investigators, but it seems many of the ones with authority and power–the core–are rotten. That must make it exceedingly frustrating for the honest employees as well as the taxpayers. And a culture of dishonesty can corrupt those who would otherwise be honest–look what happened in APS
Dekalb needs new leadership and when the investigation is complete anyone named in the report should be fired and all others in management/ leadership positions should have to reapply for their jobs and each department independently audited to endure this does not reoccur.
Frankly, I think the investigation should be given more power and scope, not less.
And how did DeKalb Interim CEO Lee May respond the the summary of findings?
“I wholeheartedly disagree with the opinion that DeKalb County is rotten to the core. The overwhelming majority of DeKalb County employees are honest, decent, hard-working, and committed to public service.
[…]
The 120 days has come and gone, and it appears the only thing we have to show for it is a 2-page letter full of salacious – but vague – innuendo.”
In related news, the Dekalb Commisioners voted to strip $500,000 of funding from that corruption probe two weeks ago, and then they turned around and shoveled millions of dollars to Arthur Blank.
Blargh.
What I can’t figure out is why Arthur Blank, having other viable options, would take the one guaranteed to attach him to the corruption going on in DeKalb County. Why taint a new team out of the gate? As for Lee May’s embarrassingly poor negotiating skills, I could’ve perhaps looked past the lopsidedness in this deal to focus on its potential positives had he only trusted allowing it to go through the process the way it’s supposed to. Between all of it being done illegally backroom instead of at least in executive session with all commissioners involved, not allowing for public input, followed by his inexplicable reaction to Mike Bower’s dead on assessment that things are way wrong in DeKalb government, Lee May has made it abundantly clear he’s a major part of the problem and needs to be gone come election time.
It’s also really discouraging that new District 5 Commissioner Mereda Johnson was in on the backroom dealing. We’re not going to get any better as a County with the same ol’ same ol’.
“What I can’t figure out is why Arthur Blank, having other viable options, would take the one guaranteed to attach him to the corruption going on in DeKalb County.”
You don’t get as rich as he is without getting your hands dirty from time to time. And besides, I don’t see how he will be linked to the corruption. He expressed interest in the site and the DeKalb County made the best offer. Whether the commissioners are corrupt or just really, really, really bad business people is of no concern to him.
At some level other than bank account, Arthur Blank has to get tired of being labeled an asshole. Here, he could still step up and add additional value for DeKalb residents (or even volunteer to revisit the negotiated deal). I want to be able to wholeheartedly embrace Arthur Blank for bringing soccer to DeKalb. My first thought (before reading the actual deal) was that this is a perfect fit: the Fugees are nearby, there’s international community all around the immediate vicinity where this brings a welcome part of home, soccer’s a locally popular rec league and grade school level sport, and it’ll champion development along the Memorial Dr corridor– lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you hang something with negativity, it tends to not reach its potential.
My take on this is that an MOU is not legally binding, therefore the county commission could “legally” skirt any rules about public disclosure, public comment, and ample notice. It represents a set of articulated “intentions.” Ultimately they still have to approve agreements, and in a normal meeting session. Of course, they may choose to have it drag on to after midnight like some city commission meetings …
I an neither a lawyer nor an expert on government process
When you’re as wealthy as Daddy WarBlanks is, you really don’t care whether people label you as an a-hole. That’s one of the traits F. Scott Fitzgerald was talking about when he said (and I paraphrase), “The very rich are different from you and me.”
I can’t argue with that. When people ask me what I would do if I was super rich, I say I would act just like Larry David.
[oops, responding to 7.62 x 39]
Publish the report*. Publish the names. Follow up with each individual found in violation of state law to outline an action plan to address the issue (see “voluntary settlement agreement” described in the cases below). Publish the results. If anyone personally profited, why should they not be made to pay back the money they essentially stole? You don’t have to fire them on the spot or try to stick them in jail; you can deduct the amount from their paycheck over a period of time and you can put them under stricter supervision going forward, demote them, etc. The point is that there can be fair consequences that are proportional to the behavior if there’s the will FROM THE LEADERSHIP to do the right thing. And of course that remains to be seen.
When federally funded researchers are found guilty of misconduct, the result of the investigation is posted publicly, and so are the repercussions. The same could be done here. See these case summaries. https://ori.hhs.gov/case_summary
No need to act like DeKalb invented corruption yesterday and this is some newfangled problem never seen before; it’s not like public servants have never misbehaved or like there are no ways of handling messes like this.
* and if there’s a shortage in funds to pay the investigators, try Kickstarter. I bet the money would become available.
Great response. Thank you, Cat.
Hopefully, that will from the leadership exists. Doubtful, given Lee May’s response quoted above by DEM and TOK.
Just curious, but why would you want employees who have stolen from you (assuming you are a taxpayer) to remain employed by the county, even if they agreed to a repayment plan? They have clearly proven themselves to not be trustworthy enough to be entrusted with public funds. I might agree that repayment may be more appropriate than incarceration for the “smaller” thefts, but termination should be automatic. And, even if the county decides to go that route, they should be charged, have the offenses on their criminal records, etc., even if they never see the inside of a cell. Without these offenses on their public record, they will be able to easily repeat their offenses elsewhere.
Totally agree with the basic idea here. But there probably are some cases where it’s murky whether some conduct is legally theft, or merely violation of county guidelines about the proper use of P-cards.So some cases might merit reimbursement and getting fired rather than prosecution.
Agreed.
The call by May to have this report done had nothing to do with actually finding malfeasance, but was done to make him look like a leaders while the Ellis trial was going on. Dirty up Ellis by making it seem the entire County was dirty and thus so was Ellis. The funny thing is the man who was the “star witness” against Ellis was himself far more dirty than Ellis. Like, several felony-level dirty and they cut him a deal to in essence pull Ellis into improper vendor contact.
I can guarantee Ellis, always viewed as an outsider, won’t be implicated in any of the wrong-doing. BUT I bet you a lot of the “old timers” and Jones holdovers are shaking in their boots. AND I would be willing to bet quite a few coins that the commission & their staffers are a tad “rotten.” Hence the withdrawal of funds to complete the investigation. Again, it wasn’t about investigating wrong-doing as much as it was trying to appear as the “right guy” to replace Ellis.
The ball is now in the court of the DA. Will James back up his blowhard tough on crime bravado which turned an ethics violation into not one, but 2 trials against the sitting County CEO OR will he turn his back on theft at various levels of County gov’t? Inquiring minds want to know. I’ll hang up and listen.
I can see an independent prosecutor being appointed by the good Governor Nathan Deal w/in 8-12 months. IJS.
+1000. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
NAILED IT.
Governor Deal, please don’t wait a day longer to act. Along with taking charge of seeing to it that all corruption here is investigated asap, please get an emergency review of Burrell Ellis’ appeal so that justice can finally be done. We need him back to doing the job DeKalb citizens elected him to do.
Mr. May, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
+1
No doubt there is corruption in DeKalb, but if there is so much eyvidence now why does he need another $500k tocomplete his study? Odd timing of the release of report the day after Commissioners refuse to fund