Evermore CID picks new executive director

By Shane Blatt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The board for the Evermore Community Improvement District tapped a new executive director Wednesday, hoping the move will close the book on the CID’s reputation for infighting.

Board members believe the selection of Jim Brooks will help propel the CID forward on road projects and economic development and help shed any residual rancor over six months of internal division earlier this year.

“This is just the last chapter of some of the changes,” said Dwight Harrison, the board’s vice chairman. “We’ll be united and go forward as a group and get things done.”

Brooks, the interim director for the past four months, will manage the day-to-day operations of the south Gwinnett self-taxing association of property owners along U.S. 78. The Evermore CID stretches from the DeKalb County line to the city of Snellville.

“I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to serve, and I think the CID has a lot of business to be done, both in economic development and many of the projects that are in course,” Brooks said after the board’s 5-1 vote at Snellville City Hall.

“I think the biggest difference that anyone would notice is that instead of introducing myself as interim director, I’ll be introducing myself as Jim Brooks, executive director,” he said.

Brooks, 61, who will earn $125,000 a year, will report to the eight-member board.

His background includes stints as interim city manager for Snellville; police chief and assistant chief administrative officer for Macon; and executive assistant to the mayor of Shreveport, La.

Brooks’ selection — from a pool of 15 applicants — comes four months after the CID fired its last director, Brett Harrell. The board had been mired in infighting and 4-4 votes earlier this year amid a recall effort to oust two board members aligned with Harrell.