REFORMING DEKALB
The DeKalb Operations Task Force was empaneled to make recommendations to put the county in stronger financial standing and to help local government do a better job policing itself. Among the recommendations:
Establish Charter Review Commission: Would continue to meet to study DeKalb County government and recommend changes.
Rethink Ethics Board. Task Force wants the citizens not commissioners to appoint ethics board members.
Hire Internal Auditor: Wants to hire an auditor with the power to subpoena records and the independence to hold commissioners and top-ranking employees accountable.
Revamp Purchasing: Task force recommends suspending the use of purchasing cards after recent abuses came to light.
Address Pension Liability: As more cities form in DeKalb, fewer citizens are responsible for paying for DeKalb County pension benefits. Task force seeks a solution to the county's growing liability.
DeKalb County should hire a strong, internal watchdog with enough authority to hold elected officials and high-ranking employees accountable for operating ethically and efficiently, a panel tasked with recommending government reforms concluded Friday.
The DeKalb Government Operations Task Force was formed this year by interim CEO Lee May to study how DeKalb operates and to suggest improvements. The 17-member panel of elected officials and DeKalb citizens has worked for six months. Part of its mission is to help the county win back the confidence of citizens.
But Commissioner Sharon Barnes-Sutton, a member of the panel, worries that the proposal, among more than 10 broad suggestions, would grant an auditor broad, unchecked investigative powers similar to the county’s prosecutor.
Barnes-Sutton especially objected to giving an internal auditor subpoena power.
“People are trying to create something else out of this position that is not designed for,” Barnes-Sutton said. “An internal auditor is not a watchdog. … We have prosecutors to do what (proponents of an auditor) want them to do.”
Sutton’s stance drew strong reaction from other members of task force.
“At this moment in time, independence (of an auditor) is what’s called for,” said state Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody.
Public pressure for reforms has grown since the indictment of suspended CEO Burrell Ellis on extortion and bribery charges and a special purpose grand jury report alleging widespread corruption in the county’s contracting. Citizens have questioned DeKalb’s ability — and will — to police itself.
That’s why Millar thinks a strong internal auditor is perhaps the most important of the panel’s proposals. Previous DeKalb Commission efforts to establish an internal auditor have failed.
“There is no confidence in how we work right now,” Millar said. “Until we get confidence we don’t have to go on to these other recommendations.”
Another task force recommendation — re-imagining the county’s ethics board — drew considerable discussion from panelists. The task force agreed to give appointment authority to citizens, diminishing the influence of commissioners. But the board also is recommending the ethics board be stripped of perhaps its most important power, the ability to remove lawmakers found guilty of malfeasance.
“The ability to overturn an election is a serious matter,” said task force chairman Vaughn Irons.
Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, agreed that the ethic panel’s ability to remove elected officials duplicates gubernatorial authority.
“The governor can convene a panel to make a recommendation (on removing an elected official),” Jacobs said.
Friday’s meeting was the task force’s last. A final draft of reforms are being compiled to submit to May and to state lawmakers, who must approve some of the suggestions before they can take effect.
Previously, the task force abandoned the idea of changing the county’s CEO form of government, citing a lack of support among state legislators. Friday, the task force recommended establishing a new panel, a Charter Review Commission, that would review the county’s charter over 18 months and could recommend structural changes to government that could include getting rid of the CEO form of government.
“If we have to fix the problems we have to delve in … not tweak a few things,” said Barnes-Sutton. “We don’t need to waste money doing it piecemeal.”
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