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News and Updates from
DeKalb Citizens Advocacy Council

September 14, 2021 Volume 2: Issue 17

DeKalb County Citizen Boards – Review and Update

Since February, we’ve been following several citizen boards to understand their work and their level of public transparency. Based on our observation of board meetings and the ease with which the public has access to board information and operations, we have designated the following boards as Excellent, Fair, or Poor.

Excellent: Audit Oversight Committee, Board of Ethics, and Board of Registration and Elections

These three boards are holding monthly meetings and having robust and civil discussions. For the most part, meetings are well advertised in advance and available to the public via a zoom link published with their agenda. All three include public comments during their meetings.

Updates from their most recent meetings include the following:

Audit Oversight Committee: The Board has agreed to conduct a national search process to identify candidates for the Chief Audit Executive position. (DCAC advocated for and supports this decision.). Tanja Christine Boyd-Witherspoon is the newest board member, appointed by the Chair of the DeKalb Senate Delegation. She is a UGA graduate and has a master’s in finance from Kennesaw State University.

Board of Ethics: Authorized the Ethics Officer to engage a third-party vendor to conduct a new “ethics survey” among county employees. This will be the second such survey undertaken, and the first since 2017, to measure nationally recognized indicators of the existence of an ethical culture within an organization. The board also approved personnel rules and standards of conduct for employees of the Board of Ethics.

Board of Registration & Elections: Reviewed and discussed expanding advanced in-person times and voting locations for the November 2021 elections. Discussed providing an orientation for new board members with the Director, establishing a way to improve the budgeting process, and potential amendments to the board’s bylaws.

Fair: Watershed Customer Service and Billing Advisory Group

Good discussion between group members and staff is occurring, but finding any information about the meetings of the Watershed Customer Service and Billing Advisory Group is very difficult. The meeting dates, times, and virtual access links are not consistently provided to the public. DCAC provided public comment at the August 26th meeting asking that the board publicize their meetings through the DeKalb Relay, BOC e-newsletters, and postings on the Department of Watershed Management’s home page, as well as the Water Billing pages. We also asked that the County create a website page specifically for this Advisory Group. We further requested that the group continue in existence through implementation of the new billing software.

Poor: SPLOST Citizen Oversight Group

The SPLOST Citizen Oversight Group was created by the Board of Commissioners (BOC) to provide transparency and accountability to DeKalb citizens regarding expenditures from SPLOST. The legislation creating the group included a requirement that they produce at a minimum an annual report beginning January 31, 2019, and a final report completed at or near the conclusion of the 2018-2024 SPLOST. The Annual and Final reports are to include the group’s findings, evaluations and recommendations.

As far as we can tell, there are no published public reports from this group and there is little or no effort being made to publicize the group’s current meetings. While meeting dates are posted on the County’s SPLOST website, no time, agenda, or access link via Zoom or DeKalb TV is provided. Furthermore, no bylaws, minutes or reports are posted. Also, while group members are identified on the site, there is no contact information where citizens can ask questions of these members.

With further hunting, you can find videos of the group’s past meetings on the DCTV home page and view the report being made by the ATLAS program manager to the group. ATLAS, formerly Moreland Altobelli, is a nationally recognized firm providing comprehensive support to the County to help manage the large-scale improvement programs being funded by the DeKalb SPLOST.

Watching the last meeting in June was frustrating. Many members, including the two co-chairs, spoke without using their video and without identifying themselves to any outside viewers. Several members did ask pertinent questions following the update report from the ATLAS program manager, but it’s not clear how these questions and answers are being communicated to the public. And, with no idea how to access the meeting, there were of course no comments from the public. The bulk of the meeting was spent arguing over the election process for new co-chairs. That election was essentially postponed until the County’s legal office could rule on the process.

To find the latest SPLOST updates, you must hunt under the History & Overview tab of the SPLOST website to find a power point presentation made by the ATLAS program manager at the Board of Commissioners’ Committee of the Whole on August 26, 2021.

After viewing the last three meetings (October 1, 2020/January 27, 2021/June 28, 2021) here’s what we have pieced together:

This group is still questioning its purpose and trying to understand “how” it is to provide transparency and accountability to citizens. In 2020, an outside consultant was brought in to help the group review and define its purpose, identify standard questions to be used with the ATLAS SPLOST program manager and County department heads, structure a standard meeting agenda, and adopt descriptions for the positions of co-chairs and secretary. So far there is no indication that the group has agreed to or is implementing these recommendations. Admittedly, the pandemic may have hindered the implementation timetable of SPLOST projects and the work of this board, but this group is not communicating effectively as a board, either among themselves or with the public.

In our opinion, communicating with the public should be the key purpose behind the establishment of this board. Public communications should go beyond a host of press releases, which seem to end September 2019. With that being said, we would recommend this board consider the following recommendations:

  • Identify who is responsible for updating the SPLOST website and work to ensure the website is providing more real-time information to the public.

  • Post the reports made to the Oversight Group by the ATLAS program manager on the SPLOST website along with any follow-up Q&A discussion.

  • Publicize the Oversight Group meetings in advance to the public through the DeKalb Relay, Board of Commissioners’ e-newsletters, and other media.

  • Adopt public comment procedures like those being used by other boards at their meetings.

  • Post meeting agendas and minutes

  • Add DeKalb County email addresses to your names on the SPLOST website and encourage residents of your districts to contact you with any questions or concerns about the projects being implemented with SPLOST funding.

  • Stay focused on obtaining status updates for the projects being funded by SPLOST dollars and sharing that information with the public.

  • Invite the Interim Chief Audit Executive to a meeting to discuss a recently released final report issued by the Office of Independent Internal Audit regarding vehicle purchases made using SPLOST Funds without Board of Commissioners approval (see specifics below). Understand how this matter came to the attention of the Independent Internal Auditor and how future SPLOST expenditures will follow these procedures to ensure public funds are being spent as intended.

    • $71,380.10 out of $1,989,670.10 was spent without appropriate approval. The Finance Department has agreed to update the accounts payable standard operating procedures to require staff processing invoices to verify BOC authorization prior to processing payments. The Fleet Management Division will implement in their procedures that any request falling outside of the normal purchasing process will be confirmed with the Purchasing & Finance Departments to ensure compliance with SPLOST BOC directives.

DCAC will continue reviewing citizen boards and commissions with the goal of ensuring Open Meetings Act compliance, improving transparency, and encouraging broader citizen participation as board members.

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