Taking care of taxpayers speaks for itself

My first day in office as the new CEO was the beginning of my last day in office. I knew then that my time was limited, but I felt honored and blessed to have that window of opportunity to leave DeKalb County better off than I found it. The CEO’s office is merely an over-decorated piece of furniture. The vision, agenda and the progress of DeKalb County’s future lies within the person who sits in that seat.

My record speaks for itself — $800 million worth of infrastructure improvements that include: new libraries, parks, 3,000 acres of new park land, a senior center, courthouses, public safety facilities, police and fire headquarters, community performing arts center, sidewalks, road improvements, water and sewer facilities. All of this was done with eight consecutive balanced budgets, triple-A bond credit ratings from two separate rating agencies, no layoffs, no furloughs, no reduction in services and no corruption.

CEO-elect Burrell Ellis is a good man and will do a fine job. I am committed to helping him in every way possible with his transition. However, I cannot walk away from my oath of office and neglect my responsibilities to manage, operate and account for every DeKalb County tax dollar spent.

By Ellis’ own admission, every single employee was interviewed by his transition team before he and I had our discussion. I think what generated this and other articles were grievances from employees and citizen members were made to me instead of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I will continue to bring to Ellis’ attention — now and in the future — any complaints by employees and citizen members who feel threatened and intimidated by what some call tribunal courts of some of his transition team members. I will continue to do my job; Kevin Ross and anyone else submitting an invoice for payment must show proof of work being done that is to be paid with taxpayers’ dollars.

We live in a democracy. I am not critical of the transition team and it does not matter whether you are a bank president or college president, my opinion was and simply is that DeKalb County taxpayers should not be asked to pay $155,000 to a transition team — $49,999.98 of which is going to Ellis’ campaign manager. Is it a coincidence that his fee was just below the $50,000 threshold that requires competitive bidding?

I know of no other candidate for public office whose transition team was paid for by taxpayers’ dollars. I was born and raised on a farm. To use farm analogy, I saw a fox trying to get in the chicken coop. The Board of Commissioners opened the door and let him in.

As for Jim Martin, I know the AJC endorsed Martin over me and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Although Martin is a nice man, it is a fact that he did not want to vote for a Caucasian woman or an African-American man for president in the primary. Instead, he voted for someone who was not even running for president — John Edwards, a white male. If it were left up to Martin there would be no President–elect Barack Obama.

Join me in counting down my time as we head to 12/31/08, 11:59.59. Congratulations, CEO-elect Ellis. I know you will do DeKalb County citizens proud.

• Vernon Jones is chief executive officer of DeKalb County.