Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Elitist Burrell Ellis And His Minions Continue To Rob The Treasures of DeKalb Citizens, While We Suffer!

On the heals of being told the police department must cut 4.7 million dollars from its budget, we learn the elitist Burrell Ellis is handing out pay raises to his staff in lump sums upwards of 50,000 dollars a year.

Burrell Ellis has given over 1.5 million dollars in pay raises to his staff. Burke Brennan, county spokesman, alone has received 49,000 dollars per year raise.

How does the make you feel? Burrell has already ordered promotional pay raises be cut in half (10% to 5%), he has cut the upcoming June academy, and he is laying off all our paramedics.

Supposedly, we have over 800 Master Patrol Officers. Only a fraction of those are topped out in pay, even after 20 years of service.

"Dick" Stogner says Burke Brennan and others who received pay raises over 1.5 million dollars are "entitled" to the pay raises.

Exactly what are we entitled too? Ask yourself that when you look at your starting income of 36,852 dollars. Ask yourself that while subtracting your yearly pay from Brennan's pay raise. Ask yourself that question while you're walking up to that car window at 2 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon, looking for a ticket to write to keep your boss off your butt........and to pay for Burrell Ellis' minions pay raises.

Burrell Ellis, along with the commissioners, take us all for suckers. They did this to us in 2010 and we responded. Now they're coming back for a second helping.



And here at the pay raises.

75 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOWWWWWW This is Straight Bullshyt....We as a Department...Police and Fire MUST COME TOGETHER....We are out in these Streets Risking OUR LIVES EVERYDAY....FOR WHAT?!?!?!?!?....WE Too have FAMILIES...DONT WE....
WE ALSO HAVE MORTGAGE AND RENT WE HAVE TO PAY ...BUT HELL NO PAY
Increases...WHAT R WE DOIN....REALLY???????????

Anonymous said...

I guess we're due for another ticket slowdown!

Anonymous said...

How can the average homeowner trust the BOC and/or CEO? We want our police and fire men/women to receive the pay they deserve; however, we continue to see news stories about pay increases to top administrators. We cannot trust the BOC or the CEO! It’s one scandal after another in this county.

Anonymous said...

I'm totally speechless, Chief O'Brien, any comment?

Butterfly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Harry Callahan said...

This kind of crap is why the County should be renamed Titanic. Most reasonable Officer's don't mind making sacrifices if it is really necessary. We don't want the ship to go down. But we can't bail the water out as fast the CEO and BOC are drilling new holes in the boat. Who believes the County is really broke when you do this kind of silly crap. Keep doing your jobs folks. In the end they are going to need us more than we need them.

Harry Callahan

Butterfly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

So the County is giving the employees what thay are entilted too. What about the Sgt, Lt, that just was promoted I guess they was not entilted their full 10% , only a 5%. WoW! Man this really is a circus.

Anonymous said...

Isn't there some mechanism by which the CEO can be impeached? Or maybe recalled for reasons of insanity.

it seems that he is just trying to show th BOC that he has more power than they do. A power struggle between children.

Matt said...

CITIZEN fo DeKalb thank you again until You all stand up and hold your elected offical's feet to the fire all you are gonna here is cut cut cut oh and pay my people extra

Anonymous said...

Hey folks the reason why a certain person is still around is that "Criminals always return to the scene of their greatest crime". You don't think he used the I will work for free gimmick so that he is VJ's earlier warning system in case the feds come around. Also he can kick dirt over any loose ends or tracks they left behind just like the cowboy criminals Butch and Sundance guess which one is Butch? Anyways he is the master of helping CEOs with smoke and mirror campaingns able to help distor facts and has a masters degree of screwing over the public safety department.

Anonymous said...

Here's a good one for you. How'bout the $628.00 monthly raise to the "scale operator" one would assume is at the landfill. ..Of course, this was way back on 9/20/2010. Guess raises last year didn't make any difference where the budget shortfall is concerned. But wait..don't go just yet. what about the $489.00/month raise to the "..tractor/trailer" operator in Sanitation dept. Is this at the same landfill? Landfill equipment operators (3) received $289.00/month raises for 2 & $222.50 for the 3rd. Sorry Public Safety officers..guess your jobs just aren't quite as necessary to warrant raises for each of you. Never say in DeKalb that things just can't get any more outrageous and unfair than they already are because with every sunrise, here it comes again! Read the inform. for yourselves: "Current Employees with Pay Increases or Adjustments" (Sept. 1, 2010-Feb. 9, 2011)This inform. is available to anyone -you just have to know that it exists. It is not marked "confidential".

Anonymous said...

I know I’m going to catch some heat for what I’m about to say but I think it’s time to take the gloves off. The ticket slowdown has not and will not accomplish anything. The citizens to not care if we write tickets or not, they will care however when they get stopped, get a ticket, have to go to recorders court, and have to pay the ticket. Now I’m not saying all this to get money out of the hard working tax payers of the county. I am saying this so that we get the attention of the citizens. The citizens will not speak for us until what is going on in the county affects the citizen. I know that you have all seen Recorders Court lines run down the street, now picture this after everyone is on a totally zero tolerance approach. Now as a citizen of the county I would be raising holy hell to the BOC.

Anonymous said...

Do the math fellows, STOGNER came back so he can retire from the County. Remember he retires at his 3 highest paid years. Hmmm now hes set at 86.2 for the rest of his life after completing his pension requirement. Working for free , yeah rt.

Anonymous said...

I honestly believe that its time for a recall of this spineless, lying, egotistical, selfish piece of mankind. This needs to get started soon. This bastard will make the county go broke and line his pockets at the same time.

He has no interest in the employees of this county, except his personal friends and buddies. I wouldn't be surprised if Vernon Jones also is his personal friend.

At any rate this kind of shit has to stop. How about a Federal investigation on him? B.E. and his bunch needs to go far, far away immediately and take his cronies with him.

Anonymous said...

It's back on now. Tickets will no longer flow from our watch period. The idea about writing tickets to everyone you can for any reason at all pumps money into the county so those fools can give raises like this and waste on contracts like the one to the former 11 Alive reporter that's supposed to be doing something for the county. This time the tickets strike needs to stick until we really get their attention. I mean relly get it. But as you know, this is our second time to bat. We need help. I'm calling on our brother and sister employees in Sanitation to step up now. You were there with us at the BOC meetings. You guys need to come up with a strategy to get the Board Of Clowns attention now. You know what I'm talking about. Let that garbage pile high!

When word of these raises starts getting around, you can about bet on the fact that people who are already sick and tired will leave in droves now. This may very well be the tipping point to send a lot of people to other jobs with other agencies.

Anonymous said...

If you think Stogner is working for nothing, you must be on drugs. This is something that needs to be investigated, in other words it should be a "Tough Question". Make him answer the question about his salary. Lets see how he answers that.

Anonymous said...

This has been going on since Ellis was elected. They havent even touched on the fact that his Department Heads are routinely given bonus checks. During the furlough days they were given bonuses to offset the decrease. What was Public Safety given?, not a thing, but wait, I forgot this is how things are done in government, Dekalb Government. Ellis Government.

Anonymous said...

If this ain't the icing on the cake, I don't know what will be. stogner and the CEO are un friggin believeable. Now I know who the a** hole behind the A**hole was when BIG Vern was here.If the citizens of Dekalb don't take offense at this there is no hope."Intitled"..yea, thats whats wrong here, an intitlement society in Decatur. Good reporting on this.

Matt said...

I'm with the post for zero tolerance. That's the only way you can get to elected official. Make the citizens angry enough to have them go to BOC meetings and masses and tell the BOC and CEO look whatever you are doing to piss our officers off stop or you wont have a job come next election. Remember ole jeff said we have to work if we want raises so let's get to it. Turn the heat up on these people

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:49, you commented on lt's and sgt getting the 10% pay raises. Well, by that statement sounds like you will be a great stupidvisor, only care about what you get. What about the all the other officers, MPO's and below getting a merit raise.
Stognar said that the ones receiving these huge pay raises are getting wat they deserve, what an idiot. That shows that everyone else who makes the county run dont deserve a time or matter.

Anonymous said...

Please report the news fairly. The former person that was in the Chief Communications Officer Position was making $135,000 (Which you all, 46, reported). Now this guy comes in and does the job for nearly $20,000 less (as savings to the county) and it is a problem. Would you do your job for $20,000 less than the job pays? If you are going to ask the tough questions be honest in your reporting and don't intentionally mislead people. There is a difference between a raise and a promotion to a new position.

Would you take an officer position for $18,000 per year? I personally believe officers and teachers should be among the highest paid professions, however, that is not the case. We all go into a job knowing what it is posted to pay, and can either accept that position or not. This guy accepted the position at a lower rate than the previous person and still gets flack. If you were offered and opportunity to make more wouldn't you at least think about the position?

I'm not an officer, nor do I work for the county. I just look at situations from multiple views. If there was a story about how much officers make on part-time jobs while wearing county issued uniforms and tax-payer funded equipment would that be an issue? (Just a question)

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:23,

Nobody forced him to take the job fro $20,000 less, if you are actuate. He knew what it paid when he signed up.

He'll get no sympathy from me. How much is his car allowance each month?

Anonymous said...

Part time jobs... yes, I work part time jobs and get paid for working them. They are extra jobs worked in EXCESS of the 40+ hours I give the county for what they pay me.

I hope you are not insinuating that I should expect less because I can and do work a part time.

Heck, the county gets another cop on the street while someone else pays for it and all liability for injury or lawsuits is on the officer......on top of someone else paying for that cop on the street, the county benefits from the expectation that the officer is responsible for responding to handle incidents at that location or in the vacinity and that officer's presence /visibility.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:55, The pension tops out at 82 percent, no if or but's about it. As much as I detest Stognar (along with Ellis and the BOC), he is not going to get any more retirement money unless they raise his salary, which according to the media he is not even getting.
Burke Brennon went from "acting" communication watch dog, er, communication director to permanent with the associated raise to the top of his range.
To place this in perspective, 6 months before I retired, my section hired a very qualified network engineer who was doing outstanding work on his projects at way below his market wages, similar to Burkes situation. Unlike Burke he received a good job offer from a local college and being an upfront employee, he announced his job offer to the management, Director Black of IT, and that he was willing to stay with the county if they would move him to the top of his range.
Management reported this was not an issue, they were tight with Ellis and could make things happen.
Bottom line was nothing happened, His pay was never increased, and he left for his new job shortly.
This is pure 100 percent elitist BS. They take care of their friends and staff, and screw the rest of employees at every opportunity.
While 6 out of 7 DeKalb Commissioners admit they are progressive Democrats, and support the Wisconsin union demonstrations, when it comes to the average DeKalb employee salary and benefits, they choose to screw the employees at every chance.
Burke, I don't hold this raise against you, you know how to keep your mouth shut in the face of adversity, unlike your juvenile predecessor.
My friend was more than justified at being topped out in his range. Unfortunately Director Black of IT could not deliver his promise of a raise readily available to the CEO and BOC staffs.

Raises are for the political staff, Trix are for kids!

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:23,
You are missing the point, We are getting furloughed and pay decreases because of a budget problem. If there is a budget problem then No One should be getting pay raises. This fool also already was making three times what a Dekalb Officer makes. Stay off this blog you make no sense.

Anonymous said...

To Anon March 2, 2011 9:23 AM.

Which would you rather have? This guy making $50,000 more (when he already made $70,000), or another police officer (or 2) on the street? Or Firefighters?

Which one makes you safer? Which one is going to risk their life for your family?

This is mismanagement at the highest level. The problem is that none of them even see it. Which means its just going to continue to happen.

As a citizen of the county, Im outraged.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Stogner,

Are those who get promoted not entitled to the 10% raise given before you did away with the 5% given at the end of the probationary period of time?....

Are the employees not entitled to a cost if living or a merit increase? ..... while you're dealing out money, how about taking care of us too.

$40k raise?.... damn, the 5% we get is NOWHERE near $40k.

Inlight of these raises, how does Stogner justify lowering promotional raises to the initial 5%.

Anonymous said...

Good job guys, continue to NOT write citations, or patrol. There is no reason to get into a cituation where you are chasing someone without help from 90 or K9. Oh you havent heard, our helicopter is grounded and the County is forcing K9 handlers to purchase dog food out of their own pockets. How many bags of food could $40,000.00 buy? Maybe we should ask anon 9:23 that or maybe he can donate money for dog food.

Anonymous said...

It is not about sympathy...it is about not throwing people under the bus for doing a job that pays more than others.

If you were given a promotion should you be criticized for taking it? The things that the CEO and Commissioners are doing are not all right, but to criticize a man and others for doing his/her job and getting paid for it; like we all do is just low. (Crabs in a bucket)

Anonymous said...

Its already being noticed that the ticket strike is back on. All we have to do is get the North Precinct morning watch rookies on board. Word is they are targetting hispanics and sitting on signs near hispanic establishments. Calmn down boys and girls you will have many years ahead of you to issue citations. Besides you dont want to be labled as profiling races this early in your career. Go find some Felony Arrests.

Anonymous said...

Since all the commissioners always request special patrol when something happens in their subdivisions, lets run safety checks several times a week in front of their subdivisions. We can do this in the name of 'reducing crime.' Let's see what happens when their neighbors are issued 'no seat belt' tickets, and are inconvenienced by these safety checks. Hell, we can even use Chief Yarbrough's crime fighting operations plan template, and refer the citizens as the 'enemy!'

Anonymous said...

Why not have an aggressive enforcement and ticket writing campaign in the the neighborhoods of the CEO and the BOC members, especially the CEO. That should get their attention. I was on my way home driving through the CEO's neighborhood and just happened to....

Anonymous said...

It never ends around here...I'm catching flak for coming in with 20 back to back dispatched calls on my stick and getting yelled at for not writing enough tickets. Now I know why...this is the same thing that happened last year...we get cuts and losses and no raises to look forward to while people at the top get astronomical raises that are almost 2-3x what we make in a YEAR! And they want to talk about "entitlement"...we are "entitled" to these raises...even if they were promised when they signed up for the positions, where are the basic things that we were "entitled" to when we signed up? Background and recruiting assured me of merit and cost of living raises along with promotional raises....granted none of them were ever going to double my salary, but hey a little help to keep floating never hurts right? Now the things that police and fire were "entitled" to don't seem to be "entitled" to them any longer...why is that? So some political fatcat can force them to go out and write more citations to citizens that will help them pad their own pockets while the very officers being charged with doing so are supposed to take cut after cut? I'm usually not one to speak up for unions, but if there was ever a place that needed one this is certainly it. We go out and risk our lives daily and deal with people's problems, issues, and nonsense all for what? To keep getting screwed?
I for one find it extremely messed up that I sometimes find myself on the scene of armed robberies with crying women who have just been victimized, yet I find myself thinking "This is a waste of time because I can't get tickets out of it." How screwed up is that? It's because this department is not about justice and service. It's about using the police force as a tax collection agent for the elites.
The citizens are to blame too...if the condition of public safety really weighs so heavily on their minds, then they need to stop re-relecting the same people over and over to make the same mistakes over and over. Our voices were heard once, but our voices alone will not be enough because we alone can not threaten their jobs. They can threaten ours all day, but the ballot box is where they are really threatened. The county employees and citizens need to work together here. Citizens need to raise their voices as well.

Anonymous said...

Most the raises are promotions. If you do the job you should be paid for it.

Anonymous said...

The BOC want to cut positions and funding with the Police Department. The CEO gives a 49k raise to the Director of Communications, while South rolled with eight officers on evening watch yesterday. If something had of happened to the three working s2(minus one sitting at Grady and one transporting a 52 pt which has now left "1") or the five working s1 then what would you have done Mr. Ellis. Stood in front of the cameras during the press conference with the director of public safety and said what to the families? Can you answer that?

Anonymous said...

Grab some ticket books boys and girls, And lets hit as hard as we can....I encourage you to write all members of the BOC for traffic infractions including speeding on I-285 the speed limit is 55 mph correct? Lets enforce it, Lets make it a point to hit I-285 at 55 m.p.h. Zero Tolerance, that will make national news, people will go the other way around Atlanta rather than coming through Dekalb spending money at gas stations, fast food places etc.....That will hit the County hard as well, People will be picketting Decatur and Recorders Court....It will be a system overhaul they won't even be able to process all the tickets...it'll be overload the line for recorders court will stretch down Memorial dr. They want tickets let give them to em' yeah they may get a lil bit of money but soon they will get overthrown for pissing off the county employees. 10-42 for the remainder out.

Anonymous said...

That crazy document that Yarbrough (also crazy) put out as a crime fighting operation guide does NOT need to be seen by the media. I’m pretty hard core and love busting thugs but referring to the enemy and Marine Corp in a civilian setting? Geezzeeeee. We have enough problems in our department as it is.

Maybe we should just stick to the more pressing problem now and that is the crazy CEO and the crazy BOC.

To Anon 10:04…..If you do not understand why it is wrong for one person in a county government to receive a $50,000 raise while the rest of the county government is being asked to make cuts then you just don’t get it. I don’t know if there is anything I can say to someone with such a total lack of understanding concerning this situation.

Anonymous said...

Mates, I know this is not going to be popular, but my opinion is that targeting the neighborhoods of the CEO and Commissioners for intensive enforcement will only backfire upon you guys.
Besides that, it's just flat-out wrong to target neighbors of the CEO or BOC whose only crime is to live in the same neighborhood.
This sux mates! KenC

Anonymous said...

Can someone post Yarbrough's operation plan so the public can see exactly what kind of looney tunes we have running this place? I would love to hear his explanation as to why he refers to the public as the 'enemy.'

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have a large short sleeve uniform shirt I can have, supply is out, and all mine are faded. Where are the new ones? I guess ill cut the sleeves off my long sleeve.

Anonymous said...

yikes!

Anonymous said...

Holy mother of GOD!!!! I've been a professional in the private sector for ten years. College educated. Productive. Get glowing performance reviews... In those ten years I've received two raises. Both were about 3% of my annual salary. I've been laid off twice. The county is closing my kid's school, cutting back on services, looking to raise my taxes and f'ing my police and fire protection.

Looks like I need to work for the county central offices... of course that would require that I befriend some slime ball, perhaps attend his/her church, or be his/her mistress in order to get the job.

Let me ask, you this: Were these people going anywhere? Were the raises necessary to keep these "TALENTED" "PROFESSIONALS" in place? HELL NO! They certainly weren't going to the private sector. We're all looking for jobs. F#$(*kers!

Thanks DeKalb leadership, you suck.

Anonymous said...

Before anyone gets all worked up about some police officers getting raises, those increases in pay were for two reasons. Pay increases and hazardous duty pay you get when you join SWAT or Bomb Squad.

Anonymous said...

A lot of police officers got raises, I don't see what the fuss is about. They got more of a raise than I did.

Anonymous said...

This is pretty funny It says I was receiving an amount in October....But I never saw an increase in pay until December....Did they pocket a free month?

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when you work in a county where liberal theives are elected to local govt.
For years Dekalb has had HORRIBLE county managment and total crooks at the helm.
Some saw the writing on the wall years ago and left for greener grass. I know veteran Dekalb officers who now work in other metro cities like Lawrenceville, Cobb, Alpharetta, Doraville, Sandy Springs, etc and who are much happier.
There are a lot of police chiefs in Atlanta who would be more than happy to have experianced Dekalb officers apply and many of these places will pay for experiance like Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Roswell, Lawrenceville.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:11

This represents about 10% of the police officers in the department. The other 90% didn’t get a damn thing. Do you call that a lot of the police officers? The majority of these were promotions.

It looks like the new SWAT officers receive about $160.00 a month. On call 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. That’s $5.50 a day for being on call. WOW guys, you can buy two cups of coffee at Duncan Donuts with that! Of course I suppose it’s better than nothing.

Anonymous said...

Let CRIME soar in Dekalb, another teenager shot dead, but we don't need more Officers in Dekalb, maybe somene sitting in an Office with a new $50,000.00 raise can handle the crime. Probably a local Dekalb School gang member. At least we are keeping the cast of "The First 48" busy. Remember we are fighting against the enemy. Now go issue some citations before you get wrote up "Soldiers".

Anonymous said...

Due to a severe unbearable raw sewage stench at Tucker Precinct several Officers complain of headache and sickness. Hopefully it doesnt cause health issues.

Anonymous said...

The truth about the county movers and shakers....The reason you as a county employee are being so disregarded is they, the BOC, ellis and stogner all think you are over paid to begin with.If you had another avenue to make money you would have left a long time ago. They know you have marginal skills in the private sector and that you are not going anywhere anyway. If you do leave, thats ok too, they will replace you with another and start them off at the new retirement package and so on and so forth at a lower pay grade, a win win situation for them. You can continue to bitch and whine about what you should do and what you think of them but remember this, they think they are above and beyound you and you are nothing more than their slaves and servants to them. Sorry but that is just an thought.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:04, I thought much the same, the BOC prefers the employees "Bare-foot and pregnant" to avoid paying market wages and maintain control of the employees.
However many employees have elected to go to technical school or other higher education on their own time.
The BOC and CEO maintains discipline within the employee ranks with the threat of firing employees for any objection to policy and the employees losing their cushy pensions.
Thanks for bringing up the subject.
KenC

Anonymous said...

The crooks at Dekalb County will have money for bonuses for those it loves the best, namely the buddies and friends.

The peasants, will have to to suffer because of broken promises, lies, general bullshit, and the like. Forget about making this county your career, because it will wind up of being a career of under paid failure. Forget about making a decent wage to support your family just on one job or even two. You certainly do not want to live in a county that has lackluster services. The lackluster services isn't the fault of those workers in this county, but the lack of workers in this county.

The CEO is making sure of all of this is happening.

All of us can hope for one thing that BURRELLL ELLIS is a one termer, and he can join his buddy, Vernon Jones somewhere else. After all, they are two peas in the same pod

Anonymous said...

LoFlyer,
Why not run safety checks in the CEO's neighborhood? Didn't he request the extra patrol? No one is advocating writing his neighbors tickets they dont deserve. If they have their stuff together, they won't have to worry about getting cited. Every time we conduct safety checks they are always done in the same areas. So is it only ok for certain citizens, not the thugs, to be subjected to safety checks? Since the county is so high on writing tickets, let's see how the CEO's family feels about going through a safety check three times a week.

Anonymous said...

LOFLYER...THE STOCK MARKET WENT GANGBUSTERS UP AGAIN TODAY. DO YOU THINK OUR PENSION MADE ANY MONEY? ARE WE STILL IN THE HOLE? WILL WE EVER KNOW? I DON'T THINK WE WILL EVER KNOW ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GET ON THE BOARD AS OUR REPRESENTATIVE.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Burke did not get a RAISE. Just as your Chief, O'Brien was an AOIC for several months, so was Mr. Burke. And when Chief O'Brien got put in his place permenantly, he was put in Terrell Boltons place, and assumed his salary. Mr. Burke moved into Sheila Edwards place and has now assumed her salary. That is not a RAISE. That is filling a position that the county would have been paying regardless is Sheila Edwards was there.

You all don't rationale some things all the way out sometimes. Stop bitchin for two seconds and think about what you say sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:32, I talked with Janalli, the DeKalb pension manager on Tuesday about the lack of a November pension Board minutes. Janalli reported that the Board minutes were sent to IT about two weeks ago for publishing so we should be seeing that on the Risk Mgmt. web page soon.
Janalli reports that Robbie Robertson was at both the November and January board meetings so it looks like someone got his attention about attending the damn meetings.

Some good news from Janalli! In September I requested to the Pension Board that we create a web site dedicated to the Pension Board for news and information to be distributed. (such as the financial records and documents, along with a pension calculator) Janalli reports that the pension board approved the web site and allocated 25 grand to build the thing. Janalli is writing the specifications and would value any input any employees or retirees have for the site. My only suggestion for Janalli was to make sure the site included a section for the employees and retirees to comment or ask questions to the board members and Janalli said he would include that in the specs. So progress is being made in that area at least.
If any of you guys wish to contact Janalli with suggestions for the pension web site the risk mgmt telephone number is 404-371-4991, then 3 and 3 again to get to Janalli. (I personally like Janalli, he has the employees best interests at heart and has to walk a fine line between management and employees. That's not an easy task for anyone.)

I saw a comment a week ago about Mr. Wall's scandal with being caught at the airport with his pants down and subsequent resignation from the Marta board and his appt to the pension board. From going through the Board minutes I see no sign that Mr. Wall is anything less than honorable and has the employees best interests at heart. I am sure that most of the employees and retirees could care less about Mr. Walls sexual orientation, although being caught in an airport bathroom having sex would indicate an extremely poor choice from Mr. Walls I see no sign of it affecting his performance on the pension board. My experience with gays in the workplace is that they are professional, intelligent and hardworking.
As far as the suggestion for me to run for the Pension Board as retiree rep I am against it. Face it mates, I am poorly qualified for the position. I have no financial skills and loath long meetings, especially financial meetings. After about six hours of pension board meetings (and some of them are all day affairs) I would probably be more inclined towards suicide than stepping back into the board room again.
What the retirees really need is someone local who is a financial wiz and an administrative type who is dedicated to the employees and retirees.
There is a growing consensus among those dealing with Pension and the board that any representative should be a resident of Georgia and there is move to place that requirement as a candidate for the pension board.
Sorry about the long post, but I just wanted to let everyone know about my thoughts on the issue.
Best of luck mates!
KenC

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:03.
I understand where you are coming from, pressure needs to be exerted upon the CEO and BOC about the police salary and personnel issues.
Hassling the CEO or BOC's neighbors with "safety checks" is just going to piss citizens off for good reason.
If you lived in the same neighborhood with the CEO and got pulled over every time you drove in or out of the neighborhood, how would you feel about DKPD?

Anonymous said...

Six years is enough its sad at the sheer audacity this place has. Things use to be nice here. Real soon there will be 21 to 23 year old rookies with zero experience patrolling the streets trained by rookie officers. All going up against veteran perps. I hope I never have to call 911 here.

Anonymous said...

Safety checks in front of the commissioners' subdivisions? Wow! Now that sounds like a winner.Let's be fair to all and don't leave out the neighborhood where our CEO resides. After all, we certainly want to keep them, their families and their neighbors as safe as we possibly can, don't we? Isn't that what it's all about? To serve and to protect? Great idea! And who knows? You just might luck up on getting a drunk driver or two off our streets.

Anonymous said...

To LoFlyer 10:16 pm: I only WISH we could be so lucky to have a "safety check" everyday at the entrance to my subdivision (behind 34). Seems like that's the only way my neighbors and I will ever get rid of the criminal element in a particular house conducting illegal activities. County never seems to be interested although we've complained to the right departments for years.

Anonymous said...

read the report
there are three or four pages that have pay adjustments going to Police , Fire and Rescue.
Burke did not get a raise he got a NEW job.
And the BOC does not hire or fire or give give raises to anybody
When all you do is scream at every turn, you lose your effectiveness.
This whole blog gets dismissed as a bunch of crazies, not mainstream
A ticket slow sown does NOTHING but cost the county money.
less money = more cuts. It is simple math. The slow down got you now where last year except more cuts.
You want to mess up the system, ZERO tolerance.
People spit on the street give them a ticket. drivng too slow, give them a ticket.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:10

Maybe I have something to scream about at every turn. I think most DKPD feel the same way.

I did read the report. But since you obviously feel you can read better than us please help us out. What job did Burke have before and what new job did he move into?

Anonymous said...

The suggestions on here to cite indiscriminately and punish citizens to push your political agenda is disgusting not to mention illegal. I hope one of the citizens you cite for a turn signal is sitting on your wrongful death jury one day and treats you in the same manner. Grow up and be able to look yourself in the mirror as a compassionate human being or leave this line of work. I PROMISE it will catch up to you. Incidentally the ticket slowdown brought an end to furloughs for our officers and you IDIOT.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:16;
Crap! Sometimes issues or problems fall between the cracks because DK govenrment is so busy putting out "fires" that requires immediate attention.
From my interaction with Chief O'Brien, it was clear he meant business. I suggest you contact the Chief's staff for help on the issue.
Best of luck, mate!

Anonymous said...

I also love the safety check idea. Let's do it! Let's protect Napoleon (Ellis) and his family. This should be interesting. Let's see if Obrien or Yarbrough will call off the dogs when we do so. Let's see what watch commander has the balls to conduct the safety check. Great great idea!

Anonymous said...

What does Lee May mean by 'Looking into it".. and why in the hell does he or the other BOC need tv news to do their jobs.

10-67 Whiskey tango anyone??

Anonymous said...

It would be very interesting to see a comparison of Salaries for the "Director of Communications" for the metro area. Not the E911 salaries for the agencies, but those positions that are the same as Brennon. I bet you would be shocked.

Anonymous said...

Loflyer - that poster is lying about no response to her endless complaints.

Anonymous said...

ANOM 10:55
Burke was a midlevel guy at the Department of Economic development I think.
He was named interem Comm Director when that twit Edwards left.
When confirmed at Director, he got Directors pay. I believe 20K less then what Edwards was getting each year.
I did not say I could read better, I just took the time to read it period

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:07, Burke was previously employed by DeKalb Government as Director of Communications for Vernon Jones.
As much as I detest good ole' Vern, Burke has been competent and professional in his job. My research indicates that he is a good person who has DeKalb governments best interests at heart. His job description kinda sux but I cannot hold that against him. It takes all kind of people to run DeKalb government. Burke is a professional, does his job effectively, and generally well thought of by those who interact with him.
KenC

Anonymous said...

I don't think Burke is doing a very good job. As some people have pointed out, most of the raises in that report were due to promotions. Burke did a horrible job explaining that.

Anonymous said...

$25,000 for the pension board to have someone build a website? No wonder this place is in debt.

Anonymous said...

OMG ! Brilliant, Brilliant Homer! No raises, pay reductions in the form of double pension contributions and health care benefits, no morale left, inflation up, gas going to 4 dollars a gallon. In addition, a lack of critical personnel,resources, and a viable realistic vision. Where did these commissioners go to school Moscow? Absolutely brilliant! Any one for a gardening class?, glad we have parks and recreation. Good going Richard!!!! Unfortunately the poor and the old in this county will pay the price for all of this stupidity.

Anonymous said...

What can the citizens of Dekalb County do because everytime we look up we are paying another traffic ticket? We are hard working folks just like you are. What is the best course of action?