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Health & Fitness

Can We Fix DeKalb County Government?

Let’s start by saying that one of the solutions to our problem is not getting more tax money into the County. Probably the situation would be improved if there was less money to play with! But just forget about money for now.

There have been several discussions about forming a Commission to Figure Out How to Get Something Done Effectively Without The Money Being Diverted to Friends. Typically, the County’s method of doing that is to select some people they feel safe with, to produce a report that says that the County needs more money. (Oh sorry, I was supposed to forget about that.)

 

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I’d like to list some things that I think would help in this discussion.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list.  My purpose is just to start identifying some real issues.  Feel free to add your own ideas.

1.         Start with better representative government. Get rid of “Super Districts”, and make districts more area-representative. Seven Commissioners would be about 100,000 people each. And it would be possible to shape them (non-gerrymandered) in ways that would give everyone a real voice. And if the districts were really going to be designed representatively, I wouldn’t even mind having even smaller districts.

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2.         Term Limits. Let’s just recognize that the same people keep getting elected, and solidifying their personal power base. We can’t end that entirely, but this might reduce the problem.

3.         A real external audit. We need a normal independent audit.  But also an occasional exhaustive audit that goes into deeper detail. Possibly a rotating departmental extensive audit of Water and Sewer one year, the Commission itself next year, then the Parks Department, the Sheriff’s Department, and continuing through the entire government.

4.         Along with that, we need better financial reporting. We need a complete analysis of the liabilities of the County, and the effects of actions taken by the Commissioners. If the Commissioners decide to take some action quietly, we need for everyone to know how much it really costs.

5.         Ethics with teeth. Let’s quit playing games with ethics. How about a Board named by business interests, educational interests, religious groups, and cities within the county. (Not by County officials). It may be hard to precisely describe ethical behavior; but it’s fairly easy for most of us to recognize unethical behavior when we see it.  And it ought to be possible for citizens to demand open hearings about unethical activity they see. The unethical behavior is not going to stop unless the public sees what’s happening and has the ability to complain with teeth.

6.         Organize for accomplishment. This is clearly true of lots of governments. In any successful business, someone is in charge of major departments, divisions and projects.  If that person can’t make it operate well, they get replaced.  That never seems to happen here.

7.         Figure out how to significantly reduce the staffing in the County. I’ve seen a lot of dysfunctional business environments. A lot of processes didn’t work simply because there were too many people involved. If something has to go through ten sets of hands before it’s done, some of those hands need to go.

8.         Pension reform. I’ve heard a dozen comments from elected officials about how new cities hurt the County because the County’s pensions are not properly funded. That’s not Brookhaven’s fault! That’s a decision by the Board of Commissioners to not fund the pensions. The Board ought to be required to fix their problems – not blame their actions on someone else. And if there’s a real problem paying for these pensions, then maybe they should give some thought to fixing the problem – not complaining.

9.         More cities can provide an effective control on the actions of the County. Clearly cities have a role to play in the process of fixing the County. As the County continues to be municipalized, the cities themselves will provide a stronger voice offsetting the total power of the County Commission. It’s a lot easier for a group of cities to get together to demand action than it is for a group of citizens to put up tens of thousands of dollars to sue them.

 

I know I’m just scratching the surface here. Feel free to add your own ideas.

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