Fresh Loaf

The Spanish-born philosopher Santayana is best known for coining the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s a maxim unlikely to go out of style because there’s always an example to give it currency. Which brings us to DeKalb.

At tomorrow morning’s county board meeting, Commissioner Lee May will introduce a resolution calling for DeKalb to initiate legal action to block the formation of a city of Dunwoody.

Now, to anyone who’s been paying attention over the last three years, this action will spur a sense of deja vu. The Fulton County Commission did the exact same thing in May 2005, a little more than a month before a scheduled referendum for the city of Sandy Springs. It took less than 10 days for the U.S Department of Justice to summarily reject the county’s argument as so much sour-grapes whining.

In DeKalb’s case, there’s only a week left before the July 15 referendum. Not only does May seem ignorant of recent legal precedent regarding local incorporation votes, but he also appears to lack a calendar. Here’s the official description of his measure:

The Governing Authority supports a legal challenge to the Incorporation of the City of Dunwoody by the County Attorney given Senate Bill 82 inclusion of the Perimeter Community Improvement District (CID). Senate Bill 82 (Incorporating the City of Dunwoody) would not be in the best interest of the citizens of the County, including those of the area of Dunwoody. Furthermore, the legislation would exclude from the referendum many citizens of unincorporated DeKalb County.

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Three of DeKalb’s seven commissioners have requested a criminal investigation into squirrelly purchasing practices that allowed two high-tech companies to be paid nearly a half-million dollars for county work without the required commission approval.

Late last year, it was discovered that the county’s Information Services Department had overspent its budget by a cool $1.4 million – partly a result of skirting purchasing rules. A grand jury subsequently found that employees had been pressured to do things they knew to be wrong, such as splitting contracts so as to avoid triggering competitive bidding requirements.

So far, though, no one has been able to explain who orchestrated the impropriety. Is the purchasing scandal another instance of questionable micro-management by CEO Vernon Jones? The letter to DeKalb Chief Superior Court Judge Anne Workman and DA Gwen Keyes-Fleming asking for a formal investigation doesn’t mention Mr. CEO by name. Says the letter:

We submit that a criminal investigation is necessary to clear the air and to reestablish public confidence in the county government’s capacity to faithfully administer public resources.

But the three co-signers are white, Northside Commissioners Elaine Boyer, Kathie Gannon and Jeff Rader – none of whom are political allies of Jones. Coincidence?

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Toilet Wars© may very well be the most drawn-out battle that has ever been fought in DeKalb County. The County Commission this morning yet again deferred the controversial retrofit legislation until the end of January. According to Chip Ivie, a Realtor who was in attendance this morning and has worked alongside members of his industry to oppose many aspects of the ordinance, there are still details and aspects of the measure that need to be hammered out and clarified by the commissioners.

For example, the ordinance still states that a home could be transferred or sold among family members or spouses and be exempt from the ordinance, a move the Realtors deemed unfair.

The commissioners did insert a clause that exempts homes that are scheduled to be demolished or completely renovated.

According to Kristie Swink, DeKalb’s public information officer, the vote is scheduled for Jan. 22, but may be subject to change. We’ll keep you posted.

To view the previous ordinance the commission decided to defer, click here. To sign up to receive a complimentary low-flow kit from the county’s watershed management office, click here.

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(Photo courtesy Stock Exchange)

Yes, just a couple of days ago I said it would be two weeks, but now I’m hearing from sources and the commission that the controversial retrofit legislation that is proposed in DeKalb County will be voted on this Tuesday. This was confirmed by Commissioner Jeff Rader’s office today.

Chip Ivey of the DeKalb Association of Realtors® — perhaps the ordinance’s biggest opponent — said in a phone interview today that a representative from his organization will be delivering their own version of the ordinance to the county sometime this afternoon. He said the real estate industry group tried to schedule a time to sit down with Francis Kung’u, director of the DeKalb Department of Watershed Management, but has been unsuccessful so far.

CL will be there on Tuesday morning. No word if there are any cheerleaders slated to appear. Maybe awkward dancing plumbers, instead?

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To add a dash of high school cheer to my esteemed colleague’s post yesterday about the DeKalb County Commission’s vote to approve a TAD at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads, I wanted to add a little on-the-ground detail. Yes, DeKalb Commission meetings are usually filled with heart-stopping moments, thanks be to the CEO and his showmanship. But even he was upstaged yesterday.

First, I ask you to harken back to the early days of the debate over whether DeKalb residents wanted a $1 billion Sembler Co. minitropolis built at the busy intersection mentioned above. There were allegations of misconduct, but one that stood out — perhaps for the obvious reasons — involved Commissioner Elaine Boyer and a $20,000 donation made by Sembler to Lakeside High’s Vikings Booster Club. Boyer’s daughters attend Lakeside and are members of the cheerleading squad that the Vikings Booster Club “boosts.”

And yesterday, before the commission meeting got underway, I — along with the rest of those in attendance in Maloof Auditorium — was granted a rah-rah performance by the Lakeside cheerleaders. Filled with chants, cheers and yells. CEO Jones got to meet them in the hallway before the meeting. The girls “loved his [purple] tie.”

That is all.

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The DeKalb County Commission today approved the creation of a tax allocation district around the intersection of Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads. It wasn’t even a squeaker, but a solid 5-2 majority, with the “nay” votes coming from Commissioners Burrell Ellis and Elaine Boyer, the board’s reliable naysayer.

To many, the action comes across as an endorsement of the Sembler Co.’s $2 billion proposal to redevelop the southwest quadrant of the intersection. But Commissioner Jeff Rader had earlier told CL that the adoption of a TAD as a funding mechanism for local infrastructure improvements doesn’t mean Sembler is in like Flynn.
The real question now is what the TAD-phobic DeKalb School Board will do. If it doesn’t approve the TAD, it would mean far less money to fix the snarled traffic situation in that area.

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First, an apology for my post last week encouraging readers to attend a DeKalb County Commission meeting that I misinterpreted as a vote but was actually a public hearing. If I ever do that again, rest assured that I’ll be at the meeting and awaiting beat-downs from angry residents whom I may have misled. Again, I apologize.

The DeKalb County Commission today deferred the controversial proposed ordinance requiring homes in the county with pre-1993 plumbing to be retrofit prior to sale, much to the delight of the rows of Realtors who attended the meeting solely to rally against the issue. Upon the commission’s decision to hold off voting for two weeks, the army of real estate professionals — I mean, Realtors — exited Maloof Auditorium en masse.

The ordinance has been met by staunch opposition by the real estate industry, which says it places homeowners and professionals in the industry at risk of fines if properties they’ve bought or sold haven’t been retrofit. They also argue that the ordinance is shortsighted, rushed and unclear. For example, they say even homes that are meant to be torn down to make way for new ones would have to be retrofit.

CEO Vernon Jones said the county is exploring the option of setting up a $500,000 rebate program to help residents purchase the low-flow fixtures needed to comply with the ordinance. The industry argues that an incentive-based program would be more beneficial and effective.

Commissioner Jeff Rader, a strong supporter of the retrofit ordinance, said that if implemented, the measure could save 3.5 millions gallons of water each day.

If passed, look for it to go into effect June 1.

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By an interesting coincidence, Fulton and DeKalb counties could both see their forms of government tweaked somewhat in the upcoming General Assembly – but in radically different directions.

In Fulton’s case, the push is to expand the authority of the commission chairman, who has no more real power than a district commissioner. And there’s talk of shrinking the governing board from seven commissioners, including the chairman, to a leaner five members to reflect that most of the county is now contained within cities.

In DeKalb, it’s just the reverse. The elected CEO has so much power that the board of commissioners can sometimes seem irrelevant. And so there are competing bills from both parties to shift some of the CEO’s power back to the commission. There’s also an initiative to expand the commission from seven members to nine to provide more attentive representation to the largely unincorporated county.

But the two efforts do have one thing in common: They could live or die on the personalities and political baggage of the affected office-holders.

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A proposed ordinance requiring homes in DeKalb County to be retrofitted with water-saving plumbing fixtures before they are resold is in jeopardy of being quashed unless it gains more public support. That’s the take of DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader, who earlier this morning sent out an impassioned e-mail to various environmentalists and members of the community seeking to direct attention to the measure. The commission decided last week to postpone a vote on the ordinance until the next meeting on Dec. 5.

Retrofitting pre-1993 plumbing in metro homes has been a frequent suggestion offered by city and regional officials to Atlanta residents as a way to conserve water. Antiquated plumbing fixtures waste more water than their modern, more efficient counterparts. According to Rader, low-flow toilets and shower heads could reduce demand by an estimated 3.5 million gallons of water per day in the county. The cost — $450 is listed as a high-end estimate — would be recouped in the form of lower water bills in three years, he said.

“This is essential because we’re in a drought crisis and this is the single most cost-effective thing we can do to conserve water,” Rader said in a phone interview. “We’re not asking people to tear up their lawns or anything like that. This is a win-win situation for everybody. It’s a very effective thing we can do to reduce structural water consumption.”

According to a press release from the Atlanta Board of Realtors, the lobbying group inundated commissioners with phone calls opposing the DeKalb ordinance. It’s another battle in a familiar war — previous attempts at similar legislation have been met with opposition by the same industry. Realtors say ordinances such as the one proposed in DeKalb would negatively impact the market and place home buyers and sellers at risk of being fined. ABR’s offices were closed for the day when CL tried to reach them for comment.

In his e-mail, Rader urged the recipients to contact the other DeKalb commissioners and to attend the commission’s upcoming meeting, where they will vote on the ordinance. The commission will meet in the Maloof Auditorium Wed., Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m. to vote on the ordinance.

Click here to read the Retrofit on Resale legislation being proposed by DeKalb County.

To send your views to the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, click here to visit their website and access their e-mail addresses.

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