Sunday, January 3, 2010

200 Plus Days Later And We Still Have TeBo's Magic Buses And They Are Always Being Repaired

CEO Job Performance Evaluation – TeBo’s Buses

A+ for recommending to get rid of all 5 of the Magic Buses.

F- for failing to follow through and actually get rid of them.

Lip service is not going to cut it – the CEO needs to be a man of action.

Back in May, CEO Burrell Ellis released his first 100 days in office report. One of Ellis’ self proclaimed accomplishments was conducting a review for the need and purpose of the county’s mobile recreational vehicles and recommended the sale of all five vehicles and the subsequent purchase of two practical and efficient vehicles for use.

200 plus days later and we still have TeBo’s magic buses and they are always being repaired.

"Our First 100 Days"

16 comments:

Trouser Trout said...

Look I dont know what all the fuss is about, everyday I go to work I look at the bus and it makes think that im on vacation.
Puts me in a better mood for the fine outstanding citizens of Dekalb.

Anonymous said...

Bill O’Brien has been the acting chief now for several months. I am not aware of a single big decision or big change he has made. If he wanted to be the full time chief it seems to me that he should be more aggressive and make big decisions that set the tone for the future. Everyone says the same thing when discussing Bill O’Brien around the department. They say, “He sure is a nice guy.” It is hard to disagree with that statement but it is going to take a lot more than that to be the chief of this department for the next few years. There is much that needs to be fixed in this department (including selling the ICP buses) and I don’t know what we are waiting on.

I like CEO Ellis and I like O’Brien. But if I had to think of one phrase that sums up the current state of affairs in the police department, I would say STAUS QUO.

Anonymous said...

You don't need to reinvent the wheel to be a good leader. I'd rather have steady,strong, and honest leadership than someone who is constantly rocking the boat with a new idea, or because they want to take out some revenge on someone who is friends with the wrong politician.

Why is everyone looking for O'Brien to make huge changes to the department? What huge changes are you looking for? Selling the buses? I wouldn't call that a huge change.

The only big change I can think of that the department needed was getting rid of Bolton.

CLARK GRISWOLD said...

IT IS A BIT NIPPLY OUTSIDE ISNT IT....WHAT AM I TRYING TO SAY....NIPPLE?

Anonymous said...

Come on guys, does anyone actually think O'Brien is running this police department. He doesnt make any decisions because he is not allowed to. Mr CEO neeeds to make his Police Chief decision so this department can move ahead.

Anonymous said...

So we got rid of Bolton and that is it huh? Lord knows that was needed, but is that it? We are back to being the top notch police department we were several years ago now. No philosophy, no direction and no plan of action. We are doing the same thing we were doing 12 months ago. I don’t get it.

O’Brien is not running the police department? Is the CEO running it? I don’t know of any significant decisions Director Miller has made regarding the department. He mostly seems to be involved in DEMA. To tell you the truth it doesn’t look like anyone is really running the department. It is just kind of coasting along on its own, waiting for something to happen.

Anonymous said...

Frickin' hell. Mr. Ellis don't you DARE allow spending another dime of my hard-earned tax money on these stupid buses. Unless you can prove their worth. How long have we had them, and what benefit have they provided the community. Simple question. Cut our losses. Frickin' hell.

Anonymous said...

The magic buses could have been auctioned off last fall along with the rest of the surplus stuff the county gets rid of. I suspect this was not an option because the money would go into the counties general fund rather than police services budget. Also as the RV's were bought with Federal grant money and there are probably some strings attached, like the old 911 call center at the Burgess Bldg paid for with state grant money that must be maintained due to the grant funding.
What has the Ellis administration accomplished in 200 days? He canned Chief Bolton, he is canning Judge Walker and trying to come to grips with the Recorders Court fiasco. Ellis got a spiffy new office, seems only fair, the BOC got their new offices last year.
I am sure Ellis has done a lot more, but nothing comes to mind.

Ben Dover said...

Loflyer: The buses were bought with sized narcotics funds, not any type of federal or state grant money.

Money that our narcotics officers rest life and limb to seize.

T.J. Hooker said...

LoFlyer: The old 911 center was not paid for by any grant money, nor maintained by it. It is there as a back up for the current center in case of evacuation, etc. Get your facts straight...you were 2 for 2 on that one.

Anonymous said...

This thread doesn't really cover this, but I'm shocked that this board hasn't covered the $15,000.00 a year pay raise that the Dekalb School Superintent just got. The story is on the CBS 46 web site. Its nice to know that while the rank and file employees in the county are not getting any raises and actually getting their pay reduced, that the folks at the top are being well taken care of.

Anonymous said...

Same as the County's CEO Staff didnt have to take a furlough day when we all did.

Anonymous said...

Aargh mates, I am wrong on the RV's, but everything I have heard about the old 911 center is that is must be maintained due to the grant restrictions. This has come up several times, and the reply every time is that it must be maintained due to grants. My bad on the RV's.

T.J. Hooker said...

LoFlyer: Sorry...bad info on the 911 Center, no grants involved with the old center. I am involved with that so I deal with it directly.

Anonymous said...

The RVs were bought with siezed money. That's why they can't just be sold...it's my understanding that it's slightly more complicated than that.

Also, regarding the Lewis' increase, the School Board is totally separate from County Commission. BOE is also the largest portion of property taxes.

Anonymous said...

Any property purchased with seized drug assets can be sold at any time. The funds received from the sale of the property must be deposited into the seized assets accounts.

The restrictions on selling seized drug assets only relates to seized vehicles which were placed into service.