District 4 race draws five
candidates for empty seat
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
Like Vernon Jones in the CEO’s office, the commission seat for district 4 has been occupied by one man for the past eight years – Burrell Ellis.
But now Ellis is moving on, running as a candidate for CEO to replace the term-limited Jones, leaving the seat in central DeKalb open.
The district covers the eastern edge of Scottdale and Avondale Estates, east through Pine Lake, Clarkston to Stone Mountain and beyond to the Gwinnett County line.
Ellis takes with him five years’ experience as presiding officer, and was a leader in seeking more accountability from the administration in its spending and how it conducted business.
Although some observers were critical of Ellis, saying he voted in bloc with three White commissioners, often it was they who were voting with him, not the other way around.
Now five candidates from all walks of life and disciplines are running to fill Ellis’ shoes. Although all five are from the Stone Mountain area, each candidate brings a unique perspective to the district and how they would conduct business if elected.
Barnes-Sutton |
THE CANDIDATES
Sharon Barnes-Sutton, 48, teaches business to high school students in DeKalb County.
Barnes-Sutton could not be reached for this report, but she said in an earlier survey that she is running to improve public safety and security, protect the environment, improve traffic congestion, spark economic development and improve the relationship between commissioners and the school board.
Viola Davis, 45, wants to make it clear to voters that she hasn’t attended 90 percent of commission meetings for the past six years because she’s loafing or a wayward malcontent.
Davis |
The critical care nurse works 14-hour shifts at night so she can attend the meetings and monitor the government by day.
And keeping track of the money is exactly what she’s been doing.
As founder and director of the “Unhappy Taxpayer & Voter,” which she shares with her mother, Ruby, Davis is one of the few citizens in DeKalb who has actually shown up and held CEO Vernon Jones and commissioners accountable for overspending, closing landfills properly and caring for the poor.
“My father taught me never to make excuses,” said Davis, who also spent some time in the U.S. Army. “If you have to make sacrifices, you do. I’m just on a mission to give the power back to the people.”
Davis said since she’s been following local government so long, she doesn’t need to take a community survey to understand the most important issues, which she said are economic development and public safety.
Memorial Drive, she said, is a failure because local officials tried to rebuild it using tax allocation districts [TADs] instead of community improvement districts [CIDs].
“CIDs seek state and federal grants to match local dollars,” she said. “It’s the same way we financed the Perimeter growth, the economic engine of the county. CID is how I would approach Memorial Drive, not debt-based TADs, which are backed by bonds.
On public safety, Davis said she would start by letting officers take their squad cars home, and then survey all police and fire personnel to see “what they want.”
“I can’t pick a year in the past five where people who put their lives on the line were happy with the decisions that were made by local government in regard to their pay and benefits,” she said. “Seems like in the police department you receive a promotion based on who you know, not on your performance.”
Davis can be found at violadavis.com
Sharp |
Lawrence Sharp, 49, who owns a Real Estate company, grew up on a farm in Summerville, Ga., a small town in Chatooga County northwest of Atlanta.
It’s one of the reasons, he said, that he gets along with all kinds of people and understands what community is all about. It will be the key in bringing balance to the commission, he said.
“I want to help people,” said Sharp. “I have both Black and White support. I don’t want a White or Black commission, In want a DeKalb County commission.”
If elected, Sharp said he would push to improve public safety by hiring more police and firefighters, and giving them better equipment to do their jobs.
“Look, they’re overworked,” he said. “It’s important that they arrive quickly when called, but also refreshed. They need to be more rested.”
Sharp said he would vote to raise public safety personnel pay, and fund it using public-private partnerships and cutting government waste.
He would also work to uphold code enforcement laws, hold quarterly district meetings to make local government more accountable and accessible, and foster a better relationship with schools.
“We need to build more parks and launch after-school programs for kids,” said Sharp. “We also need to build more senior centers – Lou Walker [in south DeKalb] has 3,000 people on their waiting list. It doesn’t have to be in my district, but our seniors are active and they need more places to go.”
Sharp can be found at lawrencesharp.com
Sims |
Calvin E. Sims Sr., 56, fixed MARTA buses for 31 years, but now – after earning a bachelor’s in economic development and a master’s in public administration – he wants to repair county government.
Or at the least he wants to bring mixed-use development to the Candler Road-Memorial Drive corridor, where he would like to help launch an economic renaissance.
To make it all happen, he’d connect South DeKalb Mall to Memorial Drive and Stone Mountain Park with a light rail system, such a trolleys.
“I want to attract job centers, retail shops, restaurants and upscale condominium complexes,” said Sims, who retired from the mass transit industry in 2005. “It’s time we build a dynamic economic engine in central and south DeKalb.”
But before any economic development can take place, said Sims, crime must be reduced. He rattled off FBI statistics that show violent crime, especially in south DeKalb, is on the rise.
He suggested attacking the problem using data mining – which uses a database that predicts with some degree of accuracy where crime will occur, and helps prevent it by deploying resources accordingly, he said.
New York City reduced crime 55 percent in the 1980s using this method,” said Sims. “Hey, it cleared up Times Square.”
Sims can be found online at simsfordekalb.com.
Thomas |
Will Thomas, 45, was a bit taken aback when he received his tax bill last year and found a letter from the CEO and commissioners blaming the school system for a majority of their taxes.
A customer operations coordinator for a wireless communication company, Thomas said the letter was sending the wrong message.
“You can’t have one part of government saying it’s the other’s fault,” said Thomas, who thought the letter showed poor taste and looked more like a turf battle than efficient government at work for the people.
After all, he said, both the county government and schools function thanks to the generosity of the taxpayer.
“There are so many inefficiencies in county government across the board, said Thomas, referring to millions of dollars spent on technology consultants that circumvented county policy. “This needs to be bigger than egos.”
If elected, Thomas said he would better utilize resources by forging new relationships with the school system. “When schools build something new, why can’t the county government work with them and build a multi-use facility,” he said. “It could be a school by day and a recreation center by night.”
A former aide specializing in education to U.S. Rep. Denise Majette during her time as a congresswoman, Thomas also pointed to development along Memorial Drive, police and a better relationship with the cities in the district as he top priorities.
“Unless we have a solid education system and solid public safety department, then there won’t be any economic development,” he said. “There are better ways to do this – better cooperation to better deliver services.”
Thomas can be found at will4dekalb.com
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