President Jelena Crawford opened the meeting and greeted the masses.
Matt Underwood, Principal of Atlanta Charter Middle School, located in Ormewood Park spoke. ACMS has grades 6 – 8 and is in its fourth year of operation. It is currently enrolling students for the 2009-2010 school year and is having an information session at the school on March 7th at 10:00 AM. East Atlanta is located in the primary enrollment zone for this school, which means we get first shot at any slots.
Commissioner Larry Johnson of the DeKalb County Commission District Three, who serves East Atlanta, came to discuss the 2009 DeKalb County Budget which was currently in the process of being assembled. Commissioner Johnson can be contacted at (404) 371-2425 or larryjohnsonco.dekalb.ga.us.
Also in attendance was Kathie Gannon, who is the Commissioner for Super District 6. DeKalb County is divided in half so that each resident is represented by both a regular Commissioner and a Super Commissioner.
The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners (“BOC”) website is: http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/boc/
The Commissioner mentioned that the DC Commission had recently modified its operating structure so that the DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer would no longer chair the meetings of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, but rather, the Board would Chair its own meetings. DeKalb County has an elected CEO who is responsible for all of the executive branch functions AND a Board of Commissioners who make up the legislative branch of DeKalb County Government.
Commissioner Johnson then introduced various members of the BOC staff who were in attendance to discuss the Budget in more detail.
Presenting the Budget was Jay Vinicki, who serves as the Director of Policy Research for the BOC. He can be reached at 404-371-6207. Also present was Joe Gottlieb, the Assistant Director of the Department of Finance of DeKalb County.
The DeKalb County Budget is approximately $1,000,000,000. The CEO submits a Budget on January 15th and the BOC has to approve a Budget, in some form, no later than March 1st.
The DeKalb County revenues were greatly affected by the incorporation of the City of Dunwoody, because this means that all of the property tax revenue from the Perimeter Mall complex is no longer flowing into DeKalb County coffers.
There will be no merit pay increases this year in DeKalb County due to Budget Shortages.
Every department, with the exception of the Sherriff’s Department, is getting less funding than last year.
There is a bill in the Georgia State Legislature which would have the effect of transferring all DeKalb County assets in what is now the City of Dunwoody to that city for a nominal fee. Commissioner Johnson opposes this bill as DeKalb County has recently spent millions of dollars to acquire and improve the assets to be transferred and believes that their should be transferred at their actual value.
Captain Dove the “B” Shift Commander of Fire Station 13 spoke. He informed EACA that the City of Atlanta does not furnish fire stations with furniture or kitchen utensils and asked for whatever help the community could offer. Callie Nix of Origins real estate is coordinating the joint EACA/EABA effort to move in this direction.
Marc Takacs, President of EABA spoke about the great things EABA is doing. First Friday will be March 6th and will benefit the East Lake YMCA this month..
Jennifer Murray did her regular Crime show – crime was down 19% over December and down 18% as compared to January 2008. There were 17 burglaries in January (as compared to 19 in December) and 14 larcenies (as compared to the same number in December).
Major Renee Propes, Zone Six Commander, addressed EACA regarding what the APD was doing. She mentioned the arrest of Nathaniel Thompson who had engaged in approximately 21 burglaries to which he admitted. Anthony Davis, aka, Big Man, was incarcerated as was his entire burglary crew. A fourteen year old was released by a judge despite the fact that he had been stealing Flat Screen TVs. Arrests were made in the aggravated assault and burglary which occurred in January in Candler Park on Seminole Avenue.
Principal Robin Robbins of Burgess Peterson Academy presented information on the school’s activities this year. Burgess Peterson is partnering with the East Atlanta Farmers’ Market and Georgia Organics to build a garden on February 21st. Volunteers are also needed for tutoring on a regular basis. If anyone would like to volunteer, please contact Community Liaison Azia Alexander at aalexan8yahoo.com
LEAP (Linking Education and the Public) has their monthly meeting on February 17th at 7:00 p.m. at Burgess Peterson Academy.
Matt Hott, representing the Beautification Committee, spoke. He announced the next clean-up date (March 9th) and encouraged volunteers to sign-up to help out.
Andrew Walter, Land Use & Zoning Co-Chair spoke. He presented Z08-48 – Supporting Housing Ordinance, Z08-78 – Conservation Subdivision Ordinance and gave a brief overview of the Beltline Area 3 Master Plan.
Loyal Berger, EACA Treasurer, presented the treasurer’s report – comprised of January 2009 figures, 2008’s final accounting, and the proposed 2009 EACA budget. The budget to be voted upon at the March 2009 EACA meeting.
