New Year's Eve Gunplay

That time of year again.

Drunken revelry, shots fired, foot chases and general all around craziness.

Please be careful out there. There are going to be plenty of goofs out there running around with pistols.

Just to kick things off, click here for AJC article

"Burrell Ellis Has Moved Quickly To Address Issues"

Ty Tagami interviewed Burrell Ellis and states: "Burrell Ellis Has Moved Quickly To Address Issues".

One very important questioned Mr. Tagami failed to ask the C.E.O. is; "Why haven't you named Bill O'Brien or anyone else as permanent police chief?

Click here for Ty Tagami's article

Huh?.....We Are No Accountants, But This Makes No Sense.... And We Wonder How And Why The County Loses Money And Has Money Unaccounted For...

From: Gottlieb, Joel N.
Sent: Mon 12/28/2009 10:54 AM
To: Z_Dekalb-Employees
Subject: January 1st Payday

DeKalb County Employees:

The first bi-weekly payday in 2010 is Friday, January 1st. Since that day is a holiday, checks and direct deposit notices will be distributed on Thursday, December 31st, however, due to year end accounting requirements, the checks and direct deposits will be dated January 1st. Direct deposits will be processed as usual, and funds will be available no later than January 4th. SunTrust has requested that its branches honor their customers' direct deposits on January 2nd and forward when the employee presents their "advice" for the deposit.

Please post this notice for employees without email. Thank you.

Office of the Finance Director

DeKalb County, GA

1300 Commerce Drive, 6th Floor

Decatur, GA 30030

What the hell does "and forward when the employee presents their "advise" for the deposit" mean?

Latest Word On Judge Arthur Kaplan

Judge Kaplan and I worked together for almost 30 years. His influence and impact on my life as well as my family is immeasurable.

I visited him at hospice yesterday 12/27/09 and it breaks my heart to see this dynamic individual so weak and barely responsive. I took him an angel as a reminder to him and his family that the angels are watching over them all during this difficult time.

Keep them all in your prayers.

Julie Donald,
Legal Assistant to Judge Arthur Kaplan

14 Suspected DeKalb Gang Members Indicted

We are the first to bust District Attorney Gwen Fleming's balls about her ineptness, but we have to give her office credit for this.

The question is; Are these thugs off the streets? We doubt it. They are probably out on bond running the streets.

Click here for the AJC story.

DeKalb Community Council Denies Late Night Club Application At Fridays Plaza - DeKalb BOC Has Final Say

If Vernon was still in office, this would be a shoe in for the owners of the club. Just slide Mr. C.E.O. a few bills to his bag man and they would be in like flint.

Let's see how the current administration deals with "quality of life" issues.

Click here for more

Dunwoody Police Postion Announcement

Click here for more

APD's Kreher Promoted

Kasim Reed hasn't even been sworn in as Atlanta's next mayor, but one of his key supporters has already been promoted. Scott Kreher, the police sergeant who was on desk duty four months ago for talking about wanting to beat the mayor with a baseball bat, is now a lieutenant. Kreher runs the Atlanta police union, which endorsed Reed two weeks before he won a Dec. 1 runoff election.

http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com

Recorders Court: Chief Judge Joy Walker To Be Replaced

Current Chief Recorders Court Judge Joy Walker will be replaced in January 2010 by Judge Nelly Fagalde Withers, a current associate judge in Recorders Court.

Now, if the county can just recuperate some of the millions of dollars Judge Walker cost the citizens of DeKalb County.

There is no decision by the commissioners to formally replace Joyce Head as clerk of the court. Burrell Ellis nominated Kathy Crumbley, who is a current deputy clerk to replace her.

More Details Of Burrell Ellis' Budget Proposal

CrossRoadsNews did a better job of detailing Ellis' 2010 budget proposal than the AJC.

Click here for details

December 2009 Penison Board Meeting 12-10-09

We held our Pension Board meeting on 12-10-2009.

We asked that the Pension Board's two requests from the November pension meeting be implemented. 1. The Board made a request to have the pension code changed so that an employee that becomes disabled but was not injured on the job must be vested in the pension plan before they can receive a disability pension. Also, to change the code to reflect that an employee who is evaluated by a physician and can still work for the county in some capacity be given the opportunity to continue to work. 2. The Board requested a change in the pension code for reimbursement for educational training expenses for Board members.

Request for one employee applying for disability pension was tabled.

The addition of a do-it-yourself Pension Estimator to the county web site was discussed and will be implemented soon.

The Pension Board discussed the possibility of an early retirement incentive being offered to employees. This would help the commissioners balance the 2010 budget. An early retirement window would also reduce the chance that the county would need to lay off personnel. The Pension Board recommended two options. The options will be considered by the Board of Commissioners at the December 15th meeting. Please attend meeting if interested. I will post any new info when available.

Please post the attachment for employees that don’t have email.

James Butler
Pension Board Member

Please note a correction to my statement regarding the BOC considering the early retirement options tomorrow, December, 15th. The correct statement is the BOC will consider the options at their two meetings in January.

Also information on the two options will be available after the BOC makes a decision.

James Butler
Pension Board Member

"We Have No Choice But To Have a Reduction In Our Work Force." - Burrell Ellis

"The proposal would allow staff to retire without penalty before the minimum age of 50 if they have worked at least 25 years for the county".

Get ready, here it comes!

Click here for AJC article.

Gwen Needs More Time

That's ok. We'll still be watching. We're not going anywhere soon.

Click here for "YouTube burglars' court date postponed; five more suspects named".

2010 Budget To Be "Leaner and Meaner" According To Burrell Ellis

Our resent reduction in pay was only the beginning. Commissioners seem to be predicting doom and gloom for the future.

Click here for AJC article

Does Gwen Fleming Think We Are Not Watching?

Jerry Baxter who was convicted in Fulton County for burglary and sentenced to 15 years, begins his trial in DeKalb County for burglary tomorrow December 14, 2009.

Will District Attorney Gwen Fleming take the easy route and offer him a plea with probation, or will she fall in line with Fulton County and actually carry out justice?

We'll be watching.

Click here for AJC article

An Open Letter From Chris Rainwater

First, let me apologize to anyone in that meeting who took offense to anything said. My goal is to support each of you 100%, and that meeting DID NOT allow me an opportunity to demonstrate it. Folks in your organization who know me, people like Chief O'Brien, Sgt. R.C. Hughes, Sgt. deGraff, and Lt. Kunz could let you know more about me, my sense of humor, and my utmost respect for all of you.

As it said in the blog, I may be a "nut job," (I won't deny that), but I want you all to know more about me. I'm not a VJ hire - never even met the guy. I am simply the program manager for the safety & loss prevention policy and program for the entire county. My job is to work with all of you (and all other employees in the County) to do everything that I can to slow down the bleeding of money caused by accidents and injuries. We've lost over $100 million to accidents and injuries since 2000, and that affects your jobs, equipment,etc.

The meeting was a disaster. I was invited over by DKPD to speak about those awful incident report forms. I didn't create the form, and I'm not a fan of the form. In fact, I am now REVISING the form to be much easier to use. I would appreciate any feedback from all of you on how to make the form meet your needs better.

In the meeting, there was a lot of hostility and resentment over these forms, instructions that seemed to contradict one another, forms being returned, etc. I had no idea that all this was happening in PD - I thought I was there to answer a few simple questions. WRONG! Officers were angry from the beginning, and I took quite a lashing for a long time. One officer wrote down "hostile crowd" to warn me, but by then I already knew.

My MISTAKE was that I thought all the frustration and anger over the forms was actually being directed AT me - I know it wasn't. Four or five officers would be making accusations or asking pointed questions at the same time and, I admit it, I lost my temper. Not for long - one short outburst - but I lost it nonetheless.

I apologize for that. You ever get into something and realize too late that this situation is much bigger than you planned for? That was the situation.

Several officers stuck around after the meeting, and we had a much more calm and good discussion. I apologized to them and they, in turn, apologized to me. There were too many angry people in one small room to get a good outcome.

Again, I and the entire team in Risk Management are here to assist all of you. If you have specific questions about issues raised in the blog, please e-mail me. I'll be glad to answer the questions. Some of the stuff mentioned in the blog just isn't quite accurate.

Best wishes to all of you and to your families for the safest and best of Christmases and a 2010 that finds you well and your life full of the things and people that truly make you happy.

Best wishes.

Chris Rainwater, Ph.D.
DeKalb County Loss Control Manager

a.k.a.
"The nut job"
"The a**hole"
"The moron"
LOL

A note from DeKalb Officers: It is our understanding only a couple of people intentionally got under Mr. Rainwater's skin, and they are an embarrassment to our department. For the ones who where not actually in the meeting, we believe Mr. Rainwater should get a pass.

Comments are closed.

Officer: Facebook Postings Didn't Warrant Firing

Can you believe it? Our blog has nearly one million page hits and we didn't even get an honorable mention.

Click here for AJC article

A Police Reserve Unit, Could It Help With The Discussed Early Retirement Plan?

The powers at be are discussing offering an early retirement plan. Word is, there are 700 employees county wide eligible for early out, with the goal of having 400 people take advantage of early retirement.

One way to get eligible police officers out the door, is to implement a reserve unit. Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and New York are just a few major police departments that have a reserve unit consisting of retired police officers. There is even a nationally known "Reserve Police Officers Association".

The county needs to be serious about ways to save money. This would be a win win opportunity for the police department, the police officers wanting to retire and the citizens of DeKalb.

Will the commissioners and Director Miller take advantage of this, or will they do it "The DeKalb Way" and let some snot nose assistant county attorney in the legal department let this opportunity slip away?

Youtube Posting Leads To 15 Year Burglary Sentence In Atlanta. Same Suspect Awaits Trial in DeKalb Where Probation Surely Awaits

Click here for AJC article

When It Comes To Cheating On Comp Time And Actual Hours Worked, TeBo Should Have Consulted Commissioner Larry Johnson

We hope Richard Belcher doesn't stop here. There is a stench coming from Fulton County.

Neal Boortz: Hey, Sonny, How About The Fast Lane?

Does speed kill?

Click here for the AJC article by Neal Boortz.

Fired Police Chief Terrell Bolton Ask DeKalb Citizens To Pay To Transcribe Appeal

It appears TeBo has finally run out of money. He is now asking the taxpayers of DeKalb County to help fund the lawsuit he filed against the county.

The nerve of this guy. The only tax money he should get is for a court appointed criminal defense attorney should he ever stand trial for all the money he stole from our citizens. Of course that will never happen.

Click here to read Atlanta Unfiltered article.

Let The Games Begin

The stage is set next week for dueling proposals to install a new head of DeKalb County’s embattled Recorders Court.

The court, which handles traffic tickets and county ordinance violations, has been accused of losing millions of dollars in uncollected fines under the management of the current chief judge, R. Joy Walker.

DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis has named Judge Nelly Withers to succeed her after her term ends this year. Ellis also named deputy clerk Kathy Crumbley to replace Joyce Head as clerk. But commissioners say Ellis has no statutory authority to make the judicial appointment.
Commissioner Jeff Rader contends that only the commission has that authority. Still, this week, he introduced a resolution to appoint the same people Ellis named. Another commissioner, Sharon Barnes Sutton, wants to step back and establish a formal selection process that could involve a panel of community representatives.

All the options will be on the table at the commission meeting Tuesday, but Barnes Sutton said there will likely be no decision until the board meets afterward on Dec. 15.

AJC