Several residents and business owners gave DeKalb County Commissioners an earful Tuesday morning, for interim CEO Lee May’s decision to suspend but not fire the county purchasing director.

Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton and Nina Hall, the former secretary of suspended CEO Burrell Ellis, will still earn salaries during their suspensions that began Monday. May said he removed them because allegations they were part of the contract corruption that Ellis was indicted for last year.

“He gets a paid vacation courtesy of the very people he has taken from,” construction firm owner Hopie Strickland III said of Walton. “I say he has no business being employed.”

May said this week he expects to keep the pair on suspension until Ellis’ trial is over and more information is available. Ellis is slated to head to trial in September.

For more information, please visit www.myajc.com.

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Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (right) tours the Vine City neighborhood with his senior advisor Courtney English (left). (Matt Reynolds/AJC 2024)

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