Tuesday, May 24, 2011

While We Were Being Furloughed, The Commissioners Were Eating High On The Hog

During 2010, while we were being furloughed and forced to work holidays without pay, the commissioners were eating breakfast and lunch to the tune of nearly $24,000 per year.

They still have their heads in the the taxpayer trough, resting their double chins on the backs of the police department.

Only two commissioners, Rader and Gannon have said the thievery needs to stop, as they belch out of the corner of their mouth, contemplating voting Yea on increasing our pension contributions and decreasing our pension payout.

For desert? Property revenue down even more in DeKalb; could lead to 4-mil tax hike.

Click here for more.

28 comments:

Nicky the Stink Eye said...

Why am I not surprised

Anonymous said...

Were they eating Higgys pizza?

Anonymous said...

Wow - every job I ever had we had to buy our own lunch, etc. except on very rare occasions. What's wrong with these people paying for their own food? Or eating before they leave home? Or bringing something from home?

Anonymous said...

Does lil Vernon have any friends or family that own this bidness?

Anonymous said...

Funny how special they are. When I patrol and get busy, I have a Snikers bar and keep going. No time for lunch but they are more important.

Anonymous said...

lol That cracks me up. I work all night and have to bring my lunch to work with me.. paid for out of my own pocket. Why can't the commissioners and their flunkies pay for their own food. I doubt the commissioners are going to start paying for it out of their own pockets... if they do the jail will probably be their next caterer unless they are getting paid A LOT more than I think they do.

Anonymous said...

No the pizzas were freebies from his brother. But what do I care they were tasty, and best of all free for me.

Anonymous said...

All ya'll quit your whining you all know where to get free food while on duty and don't act like you've never been to QT to get coffee and drinks....The exception is its free. These commissioners are paying out of county funds for their food, while we get furloughed, and insurance premium go up. As I have said all along, get outta that place, its a bunch of crooks runninn that place, and go 10-42 for the remainder, I did and it was the best thing I ever did. Oh and don't give me that crap about, "if its so good where u work quit posting on here" B.S. because we are all brothers and sisters in blue we all took the same oath, we are all in it together. GET OUTTA DEKALB....

Anonymous said...

DeKalb Government is a fungus.

Anonymous said...

Eat more chicken!

Anonymous said...

Love to get out of Dekalb, where are they hiring?

Anonymous said...

This is what we do, the next county meeting everybody go 10-60 at there. What can they say? It's not theirs. Its just as much theirs as it is ours. Can it get any worst? Yes we will still not get a raise and not get paid for the rest of our holidays.

Anonymous said...

Why does this suprise anyone? This isn't just a DeKalb County problem. You really want to be disgusted, go see the perks a US congress person gets. I'm not saying this to minimize the DeKalb story. I'm only saying this is rampant in all forms of government. You don't think people get elected for the common good or salary do you??? It's all in the perks!!!

Anonymous said...

Can you say Higgys Pizza.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm...The commissioners food expenses went up 150% after Sharon Barnes Sutton was in office. I wonder if Big Butt ran for office just to get her eat on.

Hell, today Richard Belcher reported she's even been staying at $400 a night hotels in DC.

Next time Big Butt breaks the law (which seems bound to happen) please put her in jail.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 12:43,

If you work in North Prct on day watch sure it's easy to get food, and I'm sure it's free a lot of times. In South you don't dare eat food at the resturants. The guy making your sandwich was probably being arrested by you or your territory partner a few days prior. Your running a huge risk... so yes the every so often coffee is all I have ever gotten. That's a far cry from "The Montana Grill" and a $200.00 lunch bill. I bring my food to work and I pay out of my pocket for it.

Anonymous said...

I guess they are to good to get up early enough in the morning to make their own breakfast and brown bag it for lunch. As far as dinner they can order from a business and pay it out of their own pockets, just like everyone else does. I know in pd the only food we received was from the citizens making the food and bringing it the precinct. I also know recorders court, court money, has had a business come and serve lunch.
The only reason the commissioners are now saying it needs to cut back is because it has been brought to the peoples attention. Watching the video looks like the commissioners arent happy about have their hands in the cookie jar.

Anonymous said...

I answer on average 20 calls a day. I hardly ever get a chance to stop for anything more than going to the bathroom on the way to a call. I usually eat a sandwich that I make before work and eat it while I'm leaving one call and going to another. No I do not go out and try to get free food because 1. I never have time to, 2. it's really not right to do so, and 3. it's already been mentioned that it's foolish to trust many of the people working in restaurants in this county.
These idiots sit in an office all day, and are able to siphon taxpayer money to pay for extravagant meals and notel stays for conventions that are supposedly extremely important. Then, they want to point the finger at us and tell us to write more citations when revenue is down.
Why are we putting ourselves on the BOC's altar? We keep working harder and harder and getting repaid in the form of no raises, furlough days, crappier and more expensive insurance, and a 100% increase in our pension payments that may go up again in the near future.

Anonymous said...

A couple of thoughts on the issue.
In my department IS, it was traditional that when we had a project being implemented on off hours or a weekend, the managers or senior employees would bring in donuts or order pizza for the crew as we worked through the project.
The managers would generally pay for the meals if they weren't broke, and the senior employees either paid for it or everyone chipped in for the bill.
To my knowledge, the only meals I obtained on the county dime was at the Katrina disaster recovery center when the Vernon and the county thought FEMA was going to pay for it all. (That site got shut down fast after the commissioners found that FEMA was not going to pay for it) At Brookrun for the Dunwoody tornado recovery the Red Cross provided the munchies.
The fact that the county paid 60 grand in 2009-10 for the commissioners and staffs breakfast and lunch while simultaneously initiating the implementing the illegal but innovative "unpaid holiday" for the employees resulting in cops working holidays for no pay cannot escape anyone's attention.
Note to the commissioners, the employees beef with the commissioners is the sense of entitlement and unshared benefits of the political staff whilst the average employee has substandard pay, diminishing benefits for higher costs. There is the widespread belief by the employees that the commissioners live and work like royalty at the expense of the employees. There is no feeling of shared responsibility or the sense that the employees and the political staff are equally sharing the required financial cutbacks by DeKalb County government.

Anonymous said...

Free lunch..... personally, I don't go into the fast food establishments because they won't charge me...... when I have time and didn't pack a sandwich, I use the drive -thru. I prefer to not put myself in a position where there is a conflict of interest. As a supervisor, I have little time for stopping..... I'm busy backing officers, doing J2 that the higher ups keep coming up with, and jumping calls.

This attitude of entitlement will be the downfall of our great country.

Anonymous said...

LoFLyer; Aren't these Commissioner Jobs considered Part Time positions? If they are, I'm very curious if they are currently on the benefits package for Health, Dental, Pension Plan, etc. Do you know?

Anonymous said...

This amount of money does not even come close to the amount if free food the BOC/CEO and their staff take advantage of and suck from local businesses.

Example: Check all the senior centers and look who provides the catering for them. Then check to see how many elected officials and staff consistently drop by the senior centers around lunch and dinner time. They always eat for free and are stupidly proud of it. I have seen it with my own eyes many, many times. So Commissioner May and staff, how many times do you still visit the Panola Senior Center to eat crab legs for free?

I have several times sat directly across the table from Morris Williams at meetings requested by private individuals (likely trying to gain special favors) that oddly turned into catered events paid for by the private individual. Let me just say this without going into the obscene details of the whole spectacle: Morris you should get your heart checked because shrimp is high in cholesterol and you ate about 6 lbs of them.

He then excused himself early from the meeting to play a round of golf. Par for the course so to speak with Morris....

Seriously, it is not hard to see that these jokers are in it 100% for themselves and anything they do otherwise is simply to placate the public, stay out of jail and/or buy votes. The concepts of civic duty and responsibly are non-existant at DeKalb County in the BOC and CEO offices. If someone can prove me wrong on this and I will apologize. Good luck.

If I am wrong, explain why one of the first requests by Lil' Vernon for his new 6th floor offices would be for a professional level dishwasher machine, ice machine and refrigerator? Seems like they planned on chowing down on the taxpayers dime from the get-go. The next requests by the CEO were for security locks to keep everyone out and big screen TVs with comcast cable. I mean you need entertainment when eating right? Does that sound like furnishings for a government office or a private clubhouse?

And speaking of private clubhouses funded by the County tax payers, someone should check out Flat Shoals Park and the Community Achievement Center (CAC) located there. The county has spent well over $200k to provide a private venue for Lil' Vernon's college fraternity and associated sorority to meet. Thousands have been spent on exercise equipment, computers and various improvements to the building. The County provides the internet connections and most everything else for free, yet the public must pay $120 annually to be a member of this "club"?

Notice the paint colors used to renovate the CAC facility... well they are strangely the same colors of the CEO's college fraternity. Imagine that, must be yet another coincidence for DeKalb.

I was in that mess for too long (10 yrs) and should have left sooner. I guess I am a slow learner and not so bright but I did finally figure it out.... I do feel sorry for folks still trapped and wish you the best of luck.

FYI- I left voluntarily for "cleaner" work and do sincerely still like and trust many of the people I worked with at DeKalb. It was just the decrepit and derelict leadership that drove me away.

Anonymous said...

I WONDER HOW THE CROOKMISSIONERS WOULD FEEL IF I CAME TO ONE OF THEIR MEETINGS JUST FOR THE FREEBIES. HOWS SA BOUT I BRING THE WHOLE FREAKING PRECINCT WITH ME. CROOKS CROOKS CROOKS. WHO CHECKS THESE GHETTO DUMMIES???? YUP I SAID IT!!! YA GHETTO CROOKS. CITIZENS OF DEKALB SHOULD BE ANGRY. YOU MORTGAGE WILL INCREASE WHIILE THEIR BELLIES WILL TOO. WHAT CAN WE DO ASIDE FROM VENTING ON THE BLOG??????

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:51, my understanding is that the commissioners would be considered merit-exempt, part-time employees. Perhaps some of our anonymous friends in HR can provide a definitive answer on your question, the employee manual will provide you with their benefits. I do not think you will find any major issues with their benefits, but I have also found you find some surprising information when you start digging into the county policies and practices.
Best of luck!
KenC

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:52,

Just a suggestion, but you could professionally explain to any complaining citizen regarding service that when next they have an opportunity to vote to vote very carefully for the best qualified candidate. And further explain that they should communicate with their community to determine and encourage qualified people to run in the first place. Other than that, I can't think of anything else. I welcome any other person's thoughts on your concern for remedies.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU ANON 11:31AM. HOPEFULLY WE GET SOME QUALIFIED CANDIDATES THIS TIME AROUND.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to tell Belcher that the vendor for lunch is Morris Williams' wife. That's how he is able to get costs down-- Morris rolls over and says, "honey, need you to lower the bill."

Anonymous said...

Ticket quota express is in full swing. Look at how many have fallen for it once again. Sure doesn't look like it is gonna help us any.