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DeKalb CEO imposes hiring freeze, budget cuts

A hiring freeze is now in effect for all vacant county positions except police recruits, according to an April 19 memo from DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis to county department heads. Ellis stated that the move was necessary because “the county currently ...

Board of Commissioners’ committees get airtime on a dime, for now

When the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners could not get additional airtime earlier this year on DCTV, the county’s television network, one commissioner took matters into her own hands. And BOCTV, an online site with streaming and on-demand vide...

News Update, April 19

DCSD celebrates music scholarship signing day The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) will recognize 150 senior high school band and orchestra students for their musical and academic accomplishments at the second annual Senior Music Scholarship Sign...

Looming Brookhaven could cost DeKalb 300 jobs

The possible incorporation of Brookhaven could cost more than 300 DeKalb County employees their jobs. DeKalb County, already trying to determine the effect annexations in Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Decatur and Doraville may have on its bottom line, ...

Lithonia boosts police department with reserve officers

The Lithonia Police Department has grown from five officers to 13 and it did not cost the city a penny. The city has signed on eight reserve officers to assist the police department’s five fulltime officers. “We will be more visible,” said acti...

News update, April 13

Dunwoody Police looking for forgery suspect The Dunwoody Police Department has secured a warrant for 46-year-old Carlos Sanchez Esquivel of Marietta, charging him with first-degree forgery. Police allege that the suspect scammed Yovany Balt...

County: ‘One DeKalb Works’ working to train workers

DeKalb County officials say they are getting ready to put DeKalb residents in some of the 4,000 jobs expected to be created by its watershed improvement project over the next several years. The county will use its First Source ordinance to ensure tha...

Unknowns surround county’s ‘job stimulus plan’

A sign at Wade Walker Park advertises DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis’ One DeKalb Works initiative, which has been described as a job stimulus plan incorporating the county’s billion-dollar watershed improvement project. Some county commissioners say One DeKalb Works has nothing to do with the construction of a new YMCA facility at Wade Walker Park. Photo by Andrew Cauthen
Representatives of the colleges that are supposed to be working on DeKalb County’s billion-dollar job stimulus plan don’t know much about it. In late March, a DeKalb official told a Board of Commissioners committee that the county is working with...

Watershed employees arrested for stealing time

Four county watershed department employees are out of jobs and are under investigation for a fraudulent timekeeping scheme. According to Ted Rhinehart, the county’s deputy chief operating officer over infrastructure departments, a county timekeeper...

News update, April 11

Hearing for accused killer set for April 12  A teenager who is accused of killing two people at a Stone Mountain apartment complex will have a pretrial hearing on Thursday, April 12. DeAndre White, 18 at the time of the killings, will appe...

News update, April 10

Case of student charged in shooting goes before grand jury The case of Cameron Maddox, a 19-year-old Oglethorpe University student charged with having targeted, shot and wounded an Atlanta Police officer last month, was presented to a grand jury...

News update, April 9

Stolen East Point Police officer's gun found in Dunwoody apartment Dunwoody Police responding to a domestic altercation April 7 found a stolen police officer’s gun. Police were called to Two Block Apartments, located at 4000 Dunwoody Park...

Shrinking DeKalb : Legislation could have adverse effect on county

DeKalb County could take a hit—financially and territorially—from the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The possible incorporation of Brookhaven and annexations by Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Decatur and Doraville—added to the failu...

News Update, April 5

DeKalb County engineering supervisor pleads guilty to extortion Fidelis Ogbu, 59, of DeKalb County pleaded guilty to extortion April 4 for operating what officials called a “pay-to-play” scheme. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Ogbu, an en...

Commissioners question watershed jobs stimulus program

As DeKalb officials gear up for the county’s $1.3 billion watershed capital improvement project, some commissioners want to know what safeguards are in place to guarantee that many of the estimated 4,000 jobs go to DeKalb residents. “I see the vi...

Voters to decide charter school funding in November

Voters will cast ballots Nov. 4 on a constitutional amendment to decide whether the state should fund charter schools that have been denied charters by local school boards. In 2008, the Georgia Charter Schools Act was passed, which created the Georgi...

City of Brookhaven a step closer

The city of Brookhaven is a step closer to reality after a state senate vote March 26. State senators voted 36-14 to allow voters a chance to decide whether they want the new city. The bill calls for a July 31 referendum on Brookhaven’s cityhood. S...

Obama executive optimistic about GM plant

A meeting with an executive in President Barack Obama’s administration left leaders in DeKalb County optimistic about the development potential of the closed General Motors plant in Doraville. “There are very credible players here who have not on...

News Update, March 15

9 DeKalb schools on GDOE’s list of low-performing schools The Georgia Department of Education released its list of low-performing schools on March 14, and it includes nine DeKalb County School District school. A total of 78 schools were listed as ...

DeKalb’s CEO vetoes auditors’ transfer to commissioners’ control

A plan to move county auditors from the finance department to under the control of the Board of Commissioners has been rejected by DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis. In a letter to commissioners at the end of the business day on March 9, Ellis vetoed t...

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