Dear Neighbors,

Thank you and thanks to all our neighbors for the vote of confidence you gave me at the polls to serve you as your next DeKalb County CEO. I am humbled by and grateful for the mandate you have bestowed. I will wake up every day and ask, "How can I work for our constituents today?"

I thank you for your votes. I also want to thank you for being an essential part of this campaign to build a New Consensus for a Better DeKalb. That's because so many of you, folks from every part of the county and from every walk of life, did more than vote. As part of the New Politics we see emerging across this country, you, voters who care about your neighborhoods and your kids' schools and the quality of life we all share, have been an active participant in this project. The New Consensus for a Better DeKalb is your work. Here's why I say that.

I am a candidate of the New Politics, and that means that the way I ask for your vote is in fact the way I will work for you in office. And so almost two years ago we began a dialogue. I asked you, by mail, over the internet, and in your neighbors' homes, what are your priorities? I said I needed to hear from you about your priorities so that TOGETHER we can make your priorities DeKalb County's priority.

And you told me. Together we wrote the platform that you just approved with your votes. Your priorities ... your platform ... your vote ... your county government. This is how we build the new consensus. One shared priority at a time. And then another. And another.

So together we have forged a covenant, that together we will make you safe in your homes, protect your neighborhoods from code violations, strengthen your local community with an Office of Neighborhood Empowerment, protect our greenspace and tame the traffic mess, demand the highest standards of financial accountability and governmental responsiveness and efficiency, and make the vision of a United DeKalb a reality. This is the New Politics, and it must work for you, and it must rise above the politics and the games-playing and the divisiveness that is all too familiar. Thank you for sharing this vision and making it all possible.

The way I have asked for your vote is the way I will work for you as your next CEO. That is not just a slogan. It is in fact the way I will lead. Let me be quite specific. I asked for your vote by asking you to tell me your priorities. I did that by placing surveys on my website, and as CEO we'll continue to do that. I also came into homes in your neighborhood or a neighborhood right nearby, and as your CEO I will continue to meet face-to-face with you at in-home get-togethers so that you can voice your opinions, register your complaints, and make your priorities DeKalb County's priority every day, unfiltered.

I make you this pledge: your voice will always be heard, election time or not. We'll have our gatherings in homes, not just in government offices, because we want to make your county government 'user friendly' for you.

I won't wait until 2009 to continue this important work. The first of our post-election in-home get-togethers will be on Tuesday, September 30, from 6:30 to 8 PM, at the District 5 home of Tom Coleman, 5361 Rock Springs Road, near where Rock Springs crosses Panola Road between Thompson Mill and Salem Road.

This is the New Politics, a New Covenant to work together, a New Consensus for a Better DeKalb, and every day we will start anew and strive to make your priorities DeKalb County's priority.

Thank you. I could not have done this without you. Knowing that we need one another is the bedrock of our New Politics.

As always, you can phone me at home to discuss any issue concerning DeKalb County. My home phone number is 770-469-5948. I listen. Or email me through this website or at http://www.burrellellis.com.

Sincerely,

Burrell Ellis
Your DeKalb County CEO-Elect