Here is our agenda:

EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT.

Your county government is responsible for services you depend on, ranging from trash and recycling collection to enforcement of property maintenance codes. You've told me how you expect quality services and deserve greater responsiveness from your county government, no less than what you would expect from any other business. County employees should be professionally-trained with the freedom to serve our citizens without political interference. You expect leadership at the top, to set the right tone.  After all, the speed of the captain is the speed of the crew.

A change in administration offers us a golden opportunity: just like any business in need of a turn-around, we need to redefine the county's corporate culture. To enhance efficiency and promote customer-oriented attitudes, your county government must be open, transparent and embracing of diverse points of view. A Burrell Ellis administration would never be afraid to take a critical look at itself.

We can raise our expectations. Phone calls should be answered promptly. Services must be delivered on time, on budget, and with a smile. We must prioritize code enforcement. With my commitment, energy, experience, and focus on the basics, I know that as your new CEO I will lead a new administration that provides the everyday services you expect and deserve, while spending wisely. Leadership counts.

STRONG NEIGHBORHOODS.

Green and quiet neighborhoods with nearby attractive amenities and shopping are the foundation of the DeKalb we chose to live in. Your county government can partner with you, acquiring greenspaces, placing sidewalks, traffic signals, and traffic calming devices where needed and wanted, building water and sewer lines, and relying on your input.

We must prioritize you , ensuring that planning, zoning, and property maintenance codes work for you, your home, your quality of life, and your very real investment of time, energy, and money in DeKalb County.

Our comprehensive development planning should channel investment into underserved or declining areas, with higher density projects focused on commercial corridors with appropriate infrastructure, always keeping in mind the need to factor in neighborhood concerns and the goal of strengthening existing neighborhoods. Developers should pay impact fees for the effect of their projects on our streets, our schools, our water, and our sewers. Every part of DeKalb must have a stake in our success.

We've got to do something about traffic. It shouldn't take 30 minutes at rush hour to drive to the nearest grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk. Along with smart transportation alternatives, we need innovative high-tech solutions to the traffic mess, high-tech solutions that manage the flow of the ever-growing number of cars and trucks on our streets. Using better technology to manage our traffic, we can avoid simply pouring more concrete and asphalt. Something as simple as computer-programmed traffic lights would make an enormous difference, and this is a common-sense initiative we can take without waiting years for an alphabet soup of agencies and other jurisdictions to give us “the green light.”

You've told me how hard it can be, with your full-time jobs and family responsibilities, to participate in the on-going task of watching out for your neighborhood. As a husband and father, I live and understand the daily joys and pressures of raising a family, holding down multiple jobs, trying to make ends meet in what often feels like uncertain times, and, on top of all of that, wanting to give back to our community. As your new CEO I will set up an Office of Neighborhood Advocacy to ensure that you have the tools and resources you and your neighbors need to keep our community strong. You will have a voice.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

You have the right to expect that the money you pay in taxes is used well. You have the right to know exactly how your money is spent. You've told me about your concerns. I hear them from every part of DeKalb.

We must have fair and absolutely transparent procurement policies. No one will need to curry favor to be considered for a county contract under a Burrell Ellis administration. The news media and citizen activists won't have to file Open Records requests to learn who is paid for what. Call me. I'll tell you myself.

While Presiding Officer of your County Commission, I created an Audit and Contracts Review Committee to oversee spending on multi-million dollar county contracts. I pressed for exercise of our independent auditing powers so that the Commission could be your financial watchdog. As your new CEO, I will embrace efforts by the Commission to exercise the independent oversight functions our County Organizational Act provides. In a democracy, checks and balances are essential. Public trust matters.

PUBLIC SAFETY.

Nothing your county government does is more important than keeping you safe in your homes and on our streets. Coming in a close second is protection of our neighborhoods from nuisances like un-maintained property, late-night noise, and businesses operating without permits or in violation of them. Our young folks and our elders call out for special protection from exploitation and predators.

As a father of young children, I share your anxieties. I want a police precinct close by our home, and so do all of you, in every part of DeKalb. We've talked about the need for a stronger police presence in our neighborhoods, fully staffed, well trained, and on the street and not behind a desk. At the same time, in the conversations you and I have had we've recognized the need to enhance our public safety resources in well-planned and cost-effective ways.

“As a father of young children, I share your anxieties. I want a police precinct close by our home, and so do all of you, in every part of DeKalb.”

The Ellis Family

Management skills matter. We want a genuinely pro-active police department, one that takes initiative against the criminal element and the code violators, never tolerating gang activity or neighborhood nuisances. Our police officers should have the resources necessary to be out ahead of the problem, not merely to respond when a crisis is reached. As a County Commissioner, I introduced legislation to strengthen our property maintenance codes, to protect our children from sexual exploitation, and to level the playing field so that DeKalb County would not become the target for late night illicit activity. As your new CEO, I will work in an honest and straight-forward manner with our public safety professionals to combat crime and the public nuisances that trouble the community. You shouldn't have to live in fear.

A UNITED DEKALB.

Let me be clear about this: The new consensus for a better DeKalb embraces us all. We can no longer afford to allow divisiveness – racial or otherwise – to polarize us for anyone's political advantage. United we stand, or divided we will fall. We are one county, made of many beautiful and significant parts. We are racially diverse and ethnically diverse. We are traditional families, non-traditional families, blended families, and adopted families. We are cities, and we are neighborhoods. We are North DeKalb and South DeKalb, yes; but we are also East Atlanta, Central DeKalb, and East DeKalb, and hundreds of neighborhoods within. We are individual and we are corporate; the establishment, and the disenfranchised. We sometimes agree, and other times we do not, but at all times we respect one another and value each one's right to have a seat at the table and respectfully express him or herself. We are Georgia's jewel county, a microcosm of the diversity of America. We are each unique, yet, collectively, we are one.  We are DeKalb County.

As your new CEO, I will put a premium on working by consensus. My administration will value cooperation and collaboration.  We will expand the table of community partnership, so that anyone willing to do the hard work of empowering him or herself and improving the quality of life for others will be welcomed.

I want to be your next CEO because I envision a DeKalb County where a broad range of ideas, creative solutions and collaboration are encouraged.  As a former law professor, I've taught courses in negotiation and collaborative problem solving and can make that happen.

I want to be your next CEO because I envision a county government that represents all of its people and, in doing so, embraces the highest levels of integrity and ethical standards.  As a lawyer and elected official, I live by tenets of representative government and professional responsibility and can make that happen.

I want to be your next CEO because I understand DeKalb County government, having served two terms as a DeKalb County Commissioner, five consecutive terms as the Commission's Presiding Officer, as Chairman of our Nation's Large Urban County Caucus, and as a Board Member of the National Association of Counties and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. I've seen what works and what doesn't in county government. I've lived it and seen it “up close and personal.” I have the experience to do the job.

I want to be your next CEO because I believe that public service, when done for the right reasons, is a high and noble calling; because I believe there is no public service without personal sacrifice; and because I believe that our democracy depends upon those who are willing, called and capable to make that sacrifice.

I'm running for CEO for the right reasons. I'm not running because I need a job; I'm fortunate to have a successful career. And, as a leader, I draw upon extensive experience in both local government and the private sector.

Finally, I'm running to be your next CEO to join you in embracing a collective vision where we come together to build a new consensus for a better DeKalb. We can make that happen.

To build a new consensus for a better DeKalb, countywide and put our agenda into practice, I need your help. Tell your neighbors about the values we share. Keep in touch. Call me. My home phone number is 770-469-5948. Go to www.BurrellEllis.com to sign up. Join us. And please vote for me, Burrell Ellis, for DeKalb County CEO in the Democratic Primary on July 15. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Burrell Ellis

DeKalb County Commissioner