Investigators’ raid of the homes and offices of DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis and his former adviser Kevin Ross last week, in search of evidence of bribery, fraud and other political corruption, had even Ellis’ political rivals scratching their heads.
It didn't mesh with the Ellis the public knows: so by-the-book and formal that more than once he had been called Urkel, the nerdy character from a popular '90s TV sitcom.
But Ellis’ relationship with Ross is not the first to bring unwanted attention to him and the county. At least three other times in his first four-year term, he has pledged loyalty to aides even as their actions harmed his political capital and relationships with others.
It was supposed to be different when Ellis took the reins of Georgia’s third-largest county in 2008. He had run as the opposite of Vernon Jones, who had held DeKalb’s top elected post eight years. Ellis would be deliberative where Jones had been combative. He pledged to court consensus instead of controversy.
The two men’s differences were highlighted before Ellis was even sworn in. Jones cancelled a check for the consultant running Ellis’ transition team. But the county commission, where Ellis had served eight years, unanimously sided with Ellis and agreed to pay the $50,000 to Ellis’ former campaign manager — Ross.
Five years later, search warrants for the raids last week indicated that an investigation of water and sewer department contracts has widened to include campaign contributions to Ellis and other county contracts, including to companies represented by Ross.
Neither Ellis nor Ross has been charged with a crime. Both deny wrongdoing.
Remark riled officers
One of the people Ellis has hired who became a problem for him was his first spokeswoman.
“When you bring people in, as executive you are fully responsible for their actions,” said Jeff Wiggs, president of the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police. “If they speak out of turn and you don’t publicly spank them, it’s almost you saying you feel the same way.”
That was the feeling among many county police officers in July 2010, when Shelia Edwards made national news by calling a police shooting in New Jersey “murder.”
Edwards reported directly to Ellis and oversaw all county public relations and the county TV station.
That summer, though, she took on the job of representing the family of Credit Union of Atlanta CEO DeFarra “Dean” Gaymon, who was killed by police in New Jersey after he attacked an undercover detective.
Her characterization of the shooting as a murder swelled resentment among some DeKalb police officers, who noted Edwards was responsible for talking to the media on behalf of the department, on occasions including shootings by officers.
Edwards stepped down days after the controversy, but not before Ellis issued a statement calling her a “loyal and dedicated” worker. The county also paid her $45,000 in severance.
“If he had spoken up and made her give a formal apology, it would have gone a long way,” Wiggs said. “But of course, he didn’t. And it’s fair to say that was part of what hurt morale and led some professional officers to leave the department.”
Ellis has kept a low profile since the raids last week. But in an exclusive statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he defended his judgment on hiring, even in cases that created conflict.
He said he was making decisions on the best information he had at the time, like any other elected official.
“I stand by my decisions and by the people I have hired to serve the residents of DeKalb County,” Ellis said in a prepared statement. “Most have worked out fine and excelled in their jobs. The few who have not have been dealt with appropriately.”
Many missed workdays
Some county officials don’t think Ellis has dealt appropriately with William “Wiz” Miller, his choice for public safety director.
Ellis created the position shortly after he took office, noting his transition team recommended it to oversee the police and fire departments and other emergency workers.
County Commissioners began questioning the post in 2011, after the AJC reported that on 82 workdays in 2010, Miller did not come into his office.
The commission voted to abolish the $150,000 a year job, noting the need to fill a $28 million shortfall. Ellis refused to let Miller go, saying the board had no authority on personnel decisions. When commissioners tried again last year to push Miller out by eliminating the money for the position, Ellis countered by changing Miller’s title to director of the 911 center. Miller remains on the job today.
“We voted against a public safety director, and yet that’s still on the letterhead,” Commissioner Elaine Boyer said.
Boyer, citing the corruption probe, declined further comment. But earlier statements from her and other commissioners show the tug-of-war increased friction between Ellis and the commission during key budget struggles.
Commissioner Larry Johnson asked Ellis to fire Miller in a 2011 letter. Miller’s actions “harm the working relationship between the commission and all county staff,” Johnson wrote.
Lawsuit, resignation
Commissioners said they tried to save Ellis from that kind of public embarrassment in late 2011. In private talks, some members said they warned Ellis that he didn’t have the necessary four votes to install Gary Cornell as county planning director.
Ellis initially withdrew Cornell’s name. But early last year, he appointed the Harvard-educated planner as interim director. He even made a rare appearance at a county commission meeting to defend his decision, saying he didn’t need board approval to make it.
The scuffle appeared to be little more than another power struggle between the metro region’s only elected CEO and the county commission. Commissioners even refused to allow Cornell to present the planning department budget because they contended his role was illegal.
Then last summer, attorney Robert Buckler filed a lawsuit against DeKalb alleging the same thing - a move that could have affected development across the entire county.
Instead of focusing on claims that Cornell was holding up a land-disturbance permit on his controversial Druid Hills development, Buckler argued that Cornell had no power to make any of the decisions he had made since his appointment.
The suit asked state Superior Court for “a declaration that all of defendant Cornell’s actions since his illegal appointment are void since he was without legal authority to act in an official capacity.”
The county defended itself, and Cornell, until December. Buckler agreed to withdraw the lawsuit after the county commission voted in late November to allow work to begin on the Clifton Road site.
But the conflict wasn’t over. Cornell issued a stop-work order on the project in early January after two county commissioners and the Druid Hills Civic Association pressed for more review.
At issue, again, were Buckler’s plans to carve three properties into a seven-lot subdivision in the neighborhood laid out by Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park.
As the battle raged in county offices, Cornell abruptly resigned Jan. 4, a decision county spokesman Burke Brennan described as expected after so many months on the job.
The stop-work order was lifted Monday. Buckler declined comment except to say he expected to begin work at the site again.
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