Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Burrell Loses Big, Do We?

Burrell Ellis lost big today. Maybe now he will realize people are tired of being taxed to death. But deep down, we know he'll continue the blame game, wanting the sympathy of being a victim.

His screams of "the sky is falling" without tax increases finally fell on deaf ears. Even his staged performance of all of the ON DUTY public safety personal couldn't save him or Wiz Miller. Staged you ask? Sure it was. Why only now did all these people decide to appear at a budget meeting? Where has Assistant Chief Yarbrough, Major Conroy, Assistant Chief Woodard, Major Higdon, Captain Moore, Lt. Williams, Captain Jones and Captain Cohorst to name a few, been? You think you can come in at the bottom of the 9th with two outs and win the game? Do you know how silly and pathetic you looked today? Too little too late.

How this will effect us, the police, is yet to be seen. Things are no different today then they were yesterday and they'll be no different tomorrow.

One thing the chief needs to do now, especially now that Wiz is out of the way, is address the rumor of the evaporation of our vacation and sick leave. He needs to address this head on. Like most rumors around here, they usually turn out to be true.

This saga is ever developing.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank God! My garbage will still be picked up 3 days a week. Just hope I don't have a heart attack dragging it to the road.

Anonymous said...

Rest assured this was all preordained by The CEO. None of the fore-mentioned have ever had an independent thought, much less acted on it for the good of DKPD officers. It was REALLY pathetic using the new recruits as pawns in this political game, thus Dekalb in its pitiful current state. They would step on their own mothers if they could advance from it.

Footing the Bill said...

Oh wise and ignorant Blog Master, I must have been at a different meeting than you. Oh but wait your a coward, because you had your chance today to speak up and have your voice heard in defense of the employees, but you didn't.
What I heard was men and women trying to save the jobs of Fire Rescue, EMS, Parks & Rec, Police Recruits. To no avail however, its apparent Little Larry and May have an ax to grind with the CEO. As a Dekalb County Tax Payer (which I'm sure you are not) my vote is that you do not have a voice, however I'm sure when PD begins the lay offs you will print more BS as always. As a Dekalb Resident I support the employees who put their lives on the line everyday, with one exception "I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire". Once again you have missed the point which leads me to believe you are either a retired/or current unhappy employee who suffers from some sort of mental illness. I pray you are one of the first to see the executioner ax. So piss off you coward!

Anonymous said...

I guess we shall see what happens now... No tax increase MAY mean more problems in the long run. A modest tax increase is sometimes a necessary thing. I will not be surprised to see some big problems by the middle of the fiscal year. I suspect the decision to continue furloughs was made today. The only question now is how many and when. Good luck guys and gals.

Anonymous said...

I think Footing the Bill needs to understand what was written. I understood what direction that the statement was going.

Anonymous said...

God bless the blog master who ever he is. If not for this blog our fight would be nil. This blog allows us to voice our opinion. WE were never able to do this before.

Anonymous said...

One thing is for certain now, there will be NO time to worry about tickets in between 911 calls. Count stats all you want, it is irrelevant as are YOU.

Anonymous said...

Hate to say "I told you so" but if you were vested and stayed until now just to lose it all with a layoff then you probably have other issues that need to be addressed.

JUST TIRED... said...

Im sure 212E will still be giving his everlasting motivational speech to "be more productive" that everyone hates....maybe its time to get these warnings going again....

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't PD have more money at their disposal since the county never replaced the crashed copter? How much money did the county pocket from that loss?

Anonymous said...

"Why only now did all these people decide to appear at a budget meeting? Where has Assistant Chief Yarbrough, Major Conroy, Assistant Chief Woodard, Major Higdon, Captain Moore, Lt. Williams, Captain Jones and Captain Cohorst to name a few, been? You think you can come in at the bottom of the 9th with two outs and win the game? Do you know how silly and pathetic you looked today? Too little too late".

This has to be one of the stupidiest comments I've seen posted on this blog. You call out people for showing up at the meeting they are actually going to vote at???? Is this some kind of joke or just an attempt to raise the ire of some people?

Every citizen I saw today stood up in defense of public safety. A few even called for a forensic audit of the county due to the past debacle of contract payments. It became obvious that the BOC cared little of what was being said, their actions are proof that the outcome was already set. I still find it hilarious that they say they can cut 33 million from the budget without excessive cuts in service or layoffs. Really?????

Anonymous said...

To poster "Footing the Bill: if you don't like reading the blog then why don't you follow your own advice and piss off!!The blog has always been and will continue to be a place where news within our public safety dept. as well as the shenanigans going own within the BOC is put put here for anyone who so desires to read and respond. Some of the comments you may like, others you may not. This falls under freedom of speech..there is a clear choice here as to whether or not one cares to read the blog. Obviously you fall in the "or not" category. No one cares to read your garbage so take it some place else! Leave the blog to those of us who really appreciate having a opportunity to "vent" as well as a place to keep informed on the goings-on within our departments and our FOP. You keep up the good work, Blog Master, you have much, much support out here in the real world.

Anonymous said...

To Just Tired: go for it. You all showed them the last time just how valuable you officers are in the scheme of things...so do whatever it takes...I truly believe that not a one of you would intentionally jeapordize the lives of your fellow officers or the lives of just plain citizens like me. As an ex-EMS DeKalb public safety employee, I share your frustrations. Keep up the good work. We do appreciate you all!

Anonymous said...

Of course the CEO staged the room with all of the personnel being present. However the BOC did the same with having all their business owners and citizens in favor of no tax increase show up. This type of staging is all more proof that every person on the BOC, including the CEO, only care about their own personal agenda.
The bottom line is that this decision will drasticaly hurt all Dekalb residents. First of all the Police will now be forced to go on a 5-2 schedule, eliminate crime fighting units, No new cars again with 85% of the fleet unsafe and approaching 150,00 miles, drop new academys, furlough, elimination of ICP Officers, no promotions, and all of these will ultimately cause crime to sky rocket. We have lost over 100 Officers in one year to retirement and Officers leaving for other agencies. I wonder how many will leave this year? The 26 Officers who just graduated the academy will not make a dent in this gap. Thank you BOC for eliminating our backup Officers and forcing us to go to violent calls alone, hopefully no one gets hurt. Good luck local citizens with crime in your neighborhood.
The BOC refuses to see this picture because they have no idea what Officers go through on a daily basis, from deadly Police involved shootings to serious accidents. This is a bad day in Dekalb.
Thank you citizens who support us but dont expect a cheerful, timely response to your call for help its not our fault. You should be lucky if the Officer who responds even knows what to do for you with all the Officers who have not even began to be trained right. Your Officers are being trained by two year rookies.
Oh by the way, even if we do catch the person who broke into your house, he will not be prosecuted because the Court systems budget was also cut. And for those citizens who's family members were a victim of a serious crime leaving your loved one paralized or dead the suspect will now be released because the jail cant afford to house them anymore.
I havent even began to expose all the negatives and this is just for the Police Department. Good luck with getting life saving emergency treatment from a private EMS service personnel getting paid $8 an hour, or having your house fire put out, or getting your 2ft pot hole repaired, or having your trash picked up, man I could go on for ever.
The BOC has really screwed this one up. Taxes need to be raised and allocated in the right areas as expressed by Dekalb citizens, stop the in fighting and personal agendas, none of you are going to be re-elected anyway.

Anonymous said...

Have you notice how "THE TEAMSTERS" have jumpped in and are defending their people in Ohio? Check it out.We need collective bargining in Georgia. We are tired of our employers treating us like slaves with us having absolutly no recource, no voice at all. I have never before been a real big advocate of unions but if there was ever a place on earth that had been at the mercy of bureaucrats it is Dekalb County. I realize that the county is in dire straits due to the economy and mis management but when things get better we need competent reoresentation.

Anonymous said...

This is the result of the not-so-wise DeKalb voters electing commissioners, at least some of whom cannot even manage their own finances, to run a half-billion dollar operation called DeKalb County. Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

Just raise taxes a few bucks and solve the problem, people! Things will turn around in a few years.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 8.26: The CEO seems to be the one that wants to help you? Seems like he is trying to do the right thing, only to be blocked by the majority of the commission.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone notice that the solutions provided by the BOC and CEO for the DeKalb budget deficit are the laziest, simplest, least thoughtful and most naive of any of the possible solutions for the issue.
Yet DeKalb government rulers and staffs are the highest paid in the region. There are many ways to solve problems. However in DeKalb's case, the problems are complex, the county has overextended itself with quality of life bond issues paid for on the backs of DeKalb employee raises and bennies. The County has hired fifty percent more useless managers and the CEO's office has mushroomed in scope and size over the last decade. We have departments that are redundant, ineffective or outdated that should be eliminated.
This is stuff that even the optically challenged can see.
The 50 grand GSU study that pointed out these obvious issues is buried and ignored. (the GSU students got a great lesson in local government politics) At every instance, the BOC and CEO, instead of digging into the problem of a bloated, overextended government has taken the easy way out at every instance, instead of working hard and coming up with creative solutions that solves DeKalb's budget problems for the least pain to the citizens such as reorganization and consolidation of county functions, the Commissioners and CEO take the stupidest, most simple solution they can find. The only kernel of creativity is their ability to find new and more creative ways to screw the employees such as the unpaid holidays.
When I worked for DeKalb government, if I had continually offered these types of lazy, simple and stupid solutions to my peers and superiors, I would of been fired long ago. It is time for DeKalb's rulers to bite the bullet and start doing the hard work of providing well thought out solutions to DeKalb's budget problems. DeKalb citizens are paying top-dollar for their rulers services, surely its not to much for them to expect a top-dollar solution?

Anonymous said...

We are off to see the wizard the wonderful wiz that was. We can have low morale and chaos minus this $300,000 office. To anyone who gets laid off I feel for you and your family, shoot it may be me. Too bad with all of those cuts they still missed some of the most flagrant waste. Didn't hear how many employees the CEO's office stands to lose. I guess at least they will receive big severance packages. What is the security staff going to be reduced to? To the BOC I thank you for the gardening classes. My wife and I enjoyed them greatly until we got robbed walking to our car.

Anonymous said...

In the past I have seen people on this blog, and the blog master, repeatedly call out the command staff for not sticking up for us. Sometimes it was deserved but now that they actually came out and spoke up they get insulted for doing it. The fact that the blog master says it was “Too little too late” show me that he/she really has no idea what is going on. The CEO presented his budget in DEC. It wasn’t a great budget for Public Safety, but it was sufficient and would not require anymore reductions in service. The BOC released their budget last Thursday 02/17. That means no one really got a look at it until the next day, which was Friday. The BOC was then, of course, gone over the weekend, and Monday because it was a holiday. The first and only time anyone could speak to the BOC about the budget was on Tuesday, which is the same day they had scheduled the vote on it. How exactly were they supposed to speak up sooner? The BOC timed the release and vote on this budget specifically to limit public scrutiny and debate. But once again instead of standing together and focusing our energies on the elected officials that are responsible for the mess this county is in we spend all our time and effort attacking our own. I know I’m not the first to say this on this blog but I will say it again, until we stop fight amongst ourselves and stand together we will continue to get screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

"This county is not on fire." 2 working house fires, a 2 alarm apartment fire, all within a matter of hours today. Have they forgotten that DeKalb Fire and Police are some of the busiest in the nation? Now they want to make the load upon these people even greater. I have never seen a police department be involved in so many shootings, and to only think those officers will be minus even more people the next time a shootout may happen....which seems to be every week. Good luck brothers. Hopefully those engine and ladder companies wont be in the burning home with your child or significant other for too long....alone. Hope they dont need any help dragging you out when your unconscious in your burning home. Hopefully when the private ambulance shows up and your heart is out of rhythm or you are having a baby they know what to do.....I bet they wont. Keep the proffesionals around..... you might live to see tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

So as far as all the "big wigs" who came out in the bottom of the 9th w/ 2 outs, PD wasn't the only one that had those. DCFR had them too. There were plenty of people that you NEVER see at a open forum on pay and benefits for fire rescue employees, or at meetings on how to make things better. But God help us all when you talk about taking away an ambulance or doing away with a position that is ONLY related to that. It is not the fault of many that certain individuals do not become well rounded and worth keeping. If you limit yourself as to what you can do, don't be surprised when you are the first to go! (HAM program) as far as PD is concerned, it is my personal opinion that they should do nothing more than protect life and property. There is no reason that you/we should make this county ANY money when they are taking it from us left and right. 5% here, double our pension input there, etc, etc. God bless those on the thin lines. The BOC is stretching them thinner and hopefully we won't have to lose another officer or FF at their hands.

Gold Badge said...

I'm surprised we haven't heard from the brass or Chief O on this. I know I'd like to hear his take and where we go from here.

It might be time for another "round table ".

Anonymous said...

Commissier May said it at the end. There will be adjustments before the new millage reateis adopted.
Everyone took an 8.9 fire and safety took 4.54 hit.
Police still end with a higher budget than they spent last year.
Chief O 'Brien will come to the BOC with revisions and needs prior to the June adjustment.
REmember that the BOC can not fire WIZ but it was clear in it's intention that he was useless and should go.
He has done nothing that he was hired to do. In the real world, you don't perform your gone.
The BOC did cut the money with the INTENT that Wiz be fired, but only Burrell can make that choice. Lets see if he values his staff over the value of officers on the street

Anonymous said...

How about we give Chief O'Brien time to put together a plan as he is just now seeing the Commissioners vote. My prayers are with he and his Command Staff. Times are tough and they have some really hard decisions to make over the next few months. I do not envy their position and pray for those truly affected during this down turn in the economy. I love being a Police Supervisor and hope we can all work through this as a team. I like many others appreciate those individuals who were willing to stand up at the B.O.C. meeting and speak up for us.

Anonymous said...

Give someone a chance! Are you kidding me, the blog master only knows how to complain. Never a thought for improvement or anything for the better of the men and women of DKPD. I'm praying for lay offs, that will really give him/her something to complain about.

Anonymous said...

I have an idea. Since we all know they are going to furlough us for several days this year, lets plan our own furlough days and schedule them so we can do something we all could not normally do since we never have had that amount of time off. Certainly not getting paid will suck, but if it were me, I would take that vacation, but do it on MY terms. Also, dont bother to tell the brass when your taking the days off either!
This isnt the "Blue Flu" its the "Unscheduled Furlough" premptive strike!
Just a thought....

Anonymous said...

Instead of grounding 90, which is a much needed crime fighting resource, we should just eliminate all take home cars except for those who are on call (swat, cid, ia, etc) UNTIL things get better. How much money would this save the county in fuel cost? I know the take home car is a great perk, but this isnt the time for perks. If you are not the primary on call detective then you shouldnt have a take home car. Again, whats more important right now? Hvaving a helicopter at our disposal, or having tac guys and others have take home cars?

Anonymous said...

We get a lot of POAP's from the commissioners at our precinct. They should go straight in the trash! Why should we allow the commissioners to treat us like crap, then use us to look good in the eyes of their friends?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:26

Yeah, just the on-call SWAT officer will respond to SWAT call outs until things get better. Just the one guy. Or maybe two.

Anonymous said...

The sergeants at my precinct had a request in the roll call folder from a commissioner who emailed the command staff about request from one of his constituents ....... yeah, we'll jump right on that.

They're gonna need to detail the protection detail to that one.... ....we've got pending calls and couldn't give a rat's ass about what the commissioner's constituents think of him. We're gonna continue to do our jobs/sworn duty, but we're certainly not gonna abandon the rest of the precinct to curry favor for someone facing an election.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:52 I disagree. Don't put those POAPs in the trash, use them to guide you to the areas you can go write 10-67s. Be all over he commissioners neighborhood, write every hummy violation, when you are asked to make one a warning, alert the media!

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:53

Im referring to the entire swat team, since the entire team is on-call 24/7.