The position of county CEO has for years been on shaky ground in DeKalb County.
Sitting CEO Burrell Ellis has faced questions about the position's necessity in the past and successfully fended them off.
But after the district attorney raided Ellis' home as part of an investigation into the county's watershed operations last month, local media and elected officials have questioned whether it might be worth pushing to eliminate the position once and for all.
DeKalb County District 1 Commissioner Elaine Boyer, a long-time critic of the CEO position, said she still supported its elimination Tuesday.
"This form of government doesn't work," she said. "I'm in my 21st year [as a commissioner], it does not work. We're not the federal government. We're local."
Among many defenses of the position, Ellis has said the CEO position is an effective part of a system of checks and balances to local governance, not unlike the federal government's executive branch. Critics of the position have said the county would be better run with a county manager answerable to the board of commissioners.
State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver has also said the elimination has to brought up for discussion.
“The discussion about DeKalb County’s government organization is accelerating because of the increasing unrest among citizens,” Oliver told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution late last month. “At this point, it has to be on the table.”
Ellis defended himself in that same AJC story:
He cited the system for his first-term success in cutting $130 million from the county’s budget, in partnership with the commission.
“This is the hallmark of a healthy government that is acting in the best interest of the people,” Ellis said. “As this idea continues to come up, I will continue to remind our state elected officials and others that we are proud of the work we have accomplished in DeKalb County.”
Any change to the form of government would need to be handled through the legislature and voted on.
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