During tonight's meeting, CEO Ellis indicated all police civilian personnel, or as he put it, "if you don't wear a badge and a gun" will be losing their take home car. He is also studying the cars that are being driven outside the county, including ICP. Which ones are necessary and which ones are not.
The public is having to make sacrifices during these economic times, and the county should help them to the best of it's ability. After all, Ellis is responsible that each and every taxpayers contribution is spent wisely. Mr. CEO is also tasked with, as the saying goes; getting the most bang out of the buck. And the current take home car policy is not getting the most bang for the buck.
Do any aides in the form of precinct admin officers, motor maintenance officers, Deputy Chief Aides, Assistant Chiefs Aides, The Chiefs Aides, and his drivers, Public Information Officers, Ben Gaither, the Commander of the Preacher Posse, Crime Analysis really need a take home car?
We hope the CEO strips all unnecessary take home cars from anyone, be it carrying a badge and a gun or not.
The public is aware of the wastefulness. Visit The Champion Newspaper and read what the public is saying,
We truly believe Mr. Ellis will to his very best to support the police in its most critical needs, but he will not support or tolerate all the wasteful spending that has been the norm for Vernon Jones and his lackey, Terrell Bolton.
Some say we are jealous of not having a take home car, or we should put in for a position that would give us a car. No, we are fiscally minded, and would rather see money spent in order to save the lives of officers and citizens, not for someones comfort.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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19 comments:
Ooh! Ooh!! I have a question!! I have a question!! Pick me!! Pick me!!
Ok, so Ellis said all civilian police personnel, or in other words, people who don't wear a badge AND a gun, will be losing their take home cars. Does this mean Margarita is going to have to drink and drive in her personal vehicle? Last time I checked, she was a civilian!! Maybe this is why Bolton is tossing around the idea of taking away everyone's take home cars! If his girl can't have one, nobody can!
I think you said it all, let the truth come forward. This web site has been the best support for us all.
Ya know you guys are real easy to fool. Sure lets pick an easy target like take home cars. Here's some very basic math for you;
300 cars
X 12k miles a year (average)
----
3600000 miles / 15mpg =240000 gallons of gas
240000 X 1.25 a gallon (remember this gas is not retail) and you come up with a whopping $312500.
Sounds like alot of money doesn't it? Well that amount is if you actually park the cars and never drive them. I'm guessing you're saving maybe half that because the cars will still be driven. In some cases such as ICP they will actually be driven more as in 24/7 instead of 8/5 like they are now.
This is simply a tactic being used by politicians to move your attention. Here's where the real money is, why are they not formally investigating the 20 MILLION overspent on contracts and going after the companies? Why isn't someone investigating the possible 90-100 MILLION that is not being processed properly in Recorders Court. Why is the CEO asking for another position costing 280 THOUSAND for a Director that most agencies have deemed outdated and redundant? Much like the current Wall Street fiasco the decision makers screw up and now the little people have to pay to fix it. Well fix your own mess first. A good start would be to reduce your own staff, heaven forbid take a pay cut, give up YOUR take home car, and then maybe I'd be much more amicable to the whole situation. Look I've given up my merit raise for this year, probably next year too, I've given up my sick check and I'm sure next year too. The cost of insurance and pension has increased. Many positions are being frozen or just done away with. Look, I'm grateful to have a job and don't want to sound harsh but dammit I/we might actually have to take a bullet for this god-forsaken place and I don't really feel the need for an additional act of sodomy in the process.
But hey the people behind this blog would rather be much more short sighted and continue to scream about ICP cars, Keisha, and some others with take home cars. If ya got a car, hope you get to keep it, if ya don't then I'll be happy to bitch with ya about this place while we answer calls together.
Good question. What happened to the missing 90 -120 million dollars missing from Recorders Court? Nobody has been held accountable.
Take home car only if you live in the county. Why have cars all over the surrounding counties.
great point, dedicateddkpd! I am glad your not following for the shell game like others have. I am just wondering where all this intensity was for the last several years when this was happening under burgess, moody, graham, and marinelli. I am clear the administrator for the blog hates Bolton but if your going to be unbaised tell the complete story from when it started not just because the person who currently runs the department happens to be someone you don't like.
As a citizen it seems Ellis is doing a lot to get our county on track. Some question the Public Safety director position, but think of another year or two without one. At the rate of turnover DKPD has experienced under Bolton so far, the DKPD would be an all rookie force. If you think we have slow response times now...
With problems all around, our county isn't in the best shape, but it isn't in the worst either. We've got some house cleaning to do and I think Ellis is the man with the broom. Sweep, sweep, sweep!
Precinct admins don't have take home cars. At least the one I am familiar with doesn't.
THANKS dedicateddkpd!!!! Finally, someone on the blog not blinded by Ellis. It's amazing how some of you think Ellis is so wonderful. Well, no merit increase, no sick leave incentive and higher insurance. Ellis, take care of the people that take care of you DKPD and by the way think for yourself and keep Sheriff Brown out your ear! It's apparent he wants the position and you're trying to get it for him. Do you think we are that naive?
Was Vernon that bad? Ellis is attacking Chief, that's without question; however, when is he going to have time to take care of the COUNTY if he's focused on DKPD day to day activity. It's obvious he's trying to justify the out dated "Director" position. Take away take home cars, spend almost $300k for a director, and negate our loyalty in this economic time for a "political act". Come on Ellis you are not for the county you are for "self". Chief may not be great but is better than most.
I suspect that they want a Director of Public Safety because they don't trust the chief and they can't fire him. Only personal with call out responsibility should have take home cars in addition to the Major Crimes Unit for reasons probably known only to those who have worked that unit for a considerable length of time. I guess it's just a " you had to be there" thing.
No one is saying Ellis is the second coming of the Messiah. But he is a breath of fresh air compared to what we have had to deal with over the last eight years. Is Ellis perfect? No. But none of us are, so give it a rest. You're not going to agree with everything he does and neither am I. So what? I'm sure lots of people have an imaginary friend in their head who is absolutely perfect for the job of CEO. Unfortunately, your imaginary friend isn't eligible to run in real elections.
Cut Ellis some slack. He's inherited a hell of a mess from Vernon. I'm not liking the fact that we're not getting sick checks or merit increases, but at least we still have jobs. Is it Ellis' fault that Vernon appointed and promoted people who were incompetent, corrupt, or both just so long as they could further his own personal agendas? Look at the $40,000,000 missing from Recorder's Court! Thanks, Judge Walker! Nice job there! I can't believe you still have a job! Look at the tax assessor's office! How much money is the county missing out on because of highly suspect appraisals?? What is Ellis supposed to do when tons of money the county should have is missing? Do you think he can rub a magic genie lamp and make it all reappear so we can have our sick checks and merit increases?? I'm mad about it too, but make sure your anger is directed at the right people. Don't get mad at the people who have the unfortunate task of cleaning up the mess left behind by the previous administration.
Vernon was that bad.
TeBo is beyong incompetent.
And Keisha Margarita, who does more personal business than work while on the clock, needs to go, NOW!
Does this crap really matter? Really? For you young bucks who just got this as their first job and you old timers who worked here since you ran away from the farm in 1920, its like this EVERYWHERE! Go to any company, business, city -county-state- federal level of government and you will find the higher you move up the more you get and the lower you are on the food chain the more expendable you are. Fire has always been around you guys didn't just discover it. Suck it up, its just a job, things get better at times, and at times they are worse. I think its called something like um.... LIFE!
Cut Ellis some slack, why? Was he not a County Commissioner? It seemed he and Vernon were pretty good friends until Ellis started running for CEO. It was only a couple of commissioners that attempted to stand up to Vernon and Ellis was not one of them. Oh sure now it's all about, how I inherited this mess, well buddy you helped make it. I'm also holding the DeKalb Citizens responsible because they elected him not once but twice, so like they say maybe you really do get what you deserve!
And for those of us that's been here a few years. Vernon ran on the I'm all for Public Safety too and most of us were all excited. We were tired after the Levetan years of never getting raises, remember the billboards, "Support your DeKalb Officers because the County Commissioners don't". Then Vernon basically screws us all under this "pay for performance" eval crap and it's been down hill ever since.
So excuse me if I seem a little
pessimistic. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, three, four times, shame on me! Not going to let it happen. Hey if I'm wrong good, but c'mon do you really trust ANY politician these days?
The FEDS need to be called in to investigat the recorders court missing millions.
County Commissioners have little power by themselves. Without the support of other commissioners, there is little they can do.
And I know what board you've been watching, but Ellis and Vernon were far from being friends for a long time. Stick to the facts, it makes your points seem much more valid.
Why cut Ellis some slack? Because he's only been here a few weeks. Wait and see what he does. Until he does something disagreeable as CEO, why not cut him some slack?
Well to me he has already done things disagreeable.
First he is trying to get a Director of Public Safety. Again this is an outdated concept which has been aboished by most governments. It is just another polictically appointed position.
Secondly, he has said he should be able to fire/hire his police chief. I"m sorry but is that really a good idea. What if someday we actually get a decent chief? What if the police chief and CEO have some type of disagreement over lawful police tactics? The chief needs some type of protection to maintain department integrity. The reason the department is lacking leadership today is because of these appointed positions. Everyone is scared to say what is right or else they'll be demoted or fired. Under the current policy the chief is merit protected. If he violates law or policy you have grounds to terminate him. Sounds good to me.
I'm not going out of my way to bash the man. Vernon said alot of good stuff too in the beginning. I'm taking the wait and see approach this time and so far I haven't seen anything good.
I'll cut Ellis slack as soon as he does something not politically expedient. He will not be any better than Vernon (I hope I am wrong). He is a politician after all.
I am tired of politicians taking money from my pocket because they are incompetent. I have to balance the budget in my home and spend wisely, so why isn't the government expected to do the same?? It is absurd and criminal that the politicians can take from me because they are incompetent idiots. They should be expected to be fiscally responsible or face the consequences. Unfortunately they won't because both DeKalb employees and citizens are stupid. Sorry if the truth hurts. If this offends anyone, then maybe you are part of the problem.
Also, I'm starting to think that the person running this blog is either a civilian with connections or a relative rookie. Some of the info presented as fact is 180 degrees opposite the truth. I was toatally behind this blog at the beginning, but due to some recent posts, I have become skeptical.
I will be really interested to see if this gets posted, but that's Just Me.
You guys really need to take off your tin foil hats when you're sleeping. Everyone is not out to get you and every politician isn't crooked and corrupt. You may disagree with them, but that doesn't make them crooked or corrupt. On the one hand, you're telling saying the board should be fiscally responsible, then complaining about them cutting our raises. You want them to be fiscally responsible, just not at your expense. And you're still griping about the wrong people. Vernon and his cronies are the ones who have left is all with a severe budget shortfall. Take a pill, calm down, and see what's going to happen. Ellis has been in office all of 3 weeks now and you want to blame him for everything Vernon did, the budget shortfalls, the corruption, and the cronyism. "He's a politician, so he must be self serving and crooked" makes you guys sound paranoid and crazy.
Since Ellis has no police experience, the Public Safety Director position will act as a buffer between the Chief and the CEO. Think of the Public Safety Director as an experienced adviser to keep the Police Chief in check. Perhaps one day we'll get a chief that won't need someone holding his leash, but that day is not today.
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