Georgia lawmakers are moving forward with a bill to abolish DeKalb County's powerful CEO position and replace it with a politically weak chairperson of the county commission.
The Georgia House Governmental Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 378, which would allow voters to decide the issue in November. The bill could be considered by the full House of Representatives next week before returning to the Senate for final approval.
The legislation calls for government operations to be run by a professional county manager who answers to the commission. Currently, the CEO manages the executive branch of DeKalb.
Sen. Fran Millar, the sponsor of the bill, said DeKalb's government structure should be more consistent with other counties. DeKalb is the only county in Georgia with a CEO form of government.
“Ninety percent of people in DeKalb County know there’s been a problem with that (CEO) position,” said Millar, R-Atlanta. “This will place us on an equal footing with other counties with a professional county manager and an elected chair.”
The chairperson of the commission would be elected countywide but wouldn’t have a vote except to break ties. The chairperson, who would be paid $153,000, would be responsible for supervising the county manager, appointing committee members, calling special meetings and compelling commissioners to attend meetings.
Critics of Millar's bill said voters will reject the proposal because the community hasn't been included in the process of deciding what form of government they want. Separate pending legislation, Senate Bill 421, would create a charter review commission to evaluate DeKalb's government structure.
“My great concern is that if this bill moves forward, it will fail at a referendum,” said Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta. “We need to get the community involved more to have a yes vote.”
SB378 initially would have redrawn DeKalb Commission districts, but Millar removed that language in the bill so it would focus on eliminating the CEO role.
He said the Georgia General Assembly could make adjustments to DeKalb’s government structure in the two legislative sessions before the CEO job ceases to exist in 2019.
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