WELLNESS
SCENE
SCENE
As children take to the outdoors for summer fun, up goes the risk of injuries from trampolines, playgrounds, bicycles and more. 7
Metro Atlanta residents have a smorgasbord of opportunities to celebrate the 4th of July, including parades and fireworks displays. 8
Colorful, creative quilts from the turn of the 20th century join scenes from DeKalb’s dairy past in two exhibits now showing at the DeKalb History Center. 8
Summer breaks to avoid
Copyright © 2010 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Patriotic splendor
June 26, 2010
Artistry in quilting
www.crossroadsnews.com
Volume 16, Number 9
Early retirees depart county with hefty payouts By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
DeKalb County’s early retirement program is providing a big cash bonanza to 839 long-serving employees. The penalty-free retirement program, which was offered through April to entice 400 employees to leave, was so attractive, more than twice the number of employees the county wanted to leave, jumped at it. Among them, 58 department heads and their assistants and deputies. The large-scale exodus of talent has left the county scrambling to find leadership for many key departments, including its Finance Department, which prepares its annual budget. Wile the county is losing hundreds of years of institutional knowledge, its former managers and directors – armed with hefty monthly pensions benefits, funded in part by DeKalb taxpayers – are fanning out across to state to take leadership positions in other counties and cities. For example, on June 1, former DeKalb Sheriff Maj. Jeffery Cato, who left with a lump sum cash payout of $92,801 and monthly benefits of $6,125, became police chief in West Point, Ga. And county finance director Michael Bell, who helped shepherd the early retirement program into being, was a finalist for the city of Atlanta’s top finance job, a position he held before coming to DeKalb County in January 1996. When he leaves in August, Bell’s lumpsum payout will be at least $74,504 plus monthly lifetime benefits of $5,422. Bell said Thursday that he is no longer a candidate for the Atlanta job and will probably take a job
Early Retirement By the Numbers
44
$9.7 million
839
421
employees leaving with lump sum payments of $100,000 or more
amount the county owes the pension fund for the Early Retirement Program
number of employees who have taken the early retirement buyout
early retirees who opted for monthly benefits only
$8,794
58
highest monthly benefit of the early retirees
number of department heads and deputies who took early retirement
$22.6 million $202,000 total lump sum payouts to early retirees
the county with $22.6 million in lump-sum cash payouts and $2.1 million in monthly lifetime benefits. The early reFinance Director Michael Bell (from), Sheriff’s Maj. Jeffery Cato, Judge Edward tirement packCarriere and Joe Stone are among employees who took DeKalb County’s early ages include an two extra years retirement offer. of service for at a university. employees who are at least 50 years old and Most of the early retirees left the county within two years of retirement. To further on June 1, but 76 people, who were desig- sweeten the offer, the county also gave them nated as “key” employees have been asked by an additional 50 percent increment on anCEO Burrell Ellis’ administration to stay un- nual accrued leave of up to 480 hours, for a til the end of August. Based on their benefits, total of 720 hours of paid leave. calculated through June 1, they are leaving The Board of Commissioners offered
highest lump sum payment to single employee
the extra incentives to ensure the program would be successful. At the time of the offer, they thought workers with jobs in a bleak economy, would be reluctant to part with steady paychecks. To dangle those carrots, the Board of Commissioners is borrowing $9.7 million from the county’s Pension Board. That loan will be paid back over 30 years at an interest rate of 7.75 percent starting with the 2011 budget. Ed Wall, the Pension Board’s chairman said Wednesday that the board is not worried that the cash-strapped county won’t be able to pay. “We look at it as a pretty good investment, equal to what we would get from Please see BUYOUT, page 4
Construction under way on long-delayed park on Flat Shoals By Carla Parker
The long awaited Flat Shoals Park is finally under way. DeKalb County officials, community advocates and residents broke ground on the 20-acre park off Flat Shoals Parkway in Decatur on Thursday. The eight-year plan to build the park, across from Cherry Ridge subdivision, dates back to the late Commissioner Lou Walker, who bought the land with District 7’s share of Park Bond funds approved by voters in 2001. Rochelle Callender, a resident who has advocated for the construction of the park ever since it was proposed, said the project came to a halt after Walker’s death in an automobile accident in 2004. But residents never gave up. Callender said they stayed on DeKalb Commissioners and the Parks and Recreation Department to come up with a design for the park, which will include the existing the Dottie Bridges Tennis Courts that were recently renovated. Callender said there is more work to be done on the tennis courts.
DeKalb County officials, community advocates and residents break ground on the 20acre Flat Shoals Park across from Cherry Ridge subdivision in Decatur.
Carla Parker / CrossRoadsNews
“The lights around the tennis courts need to be replaced,” she said. “Our children can’t walk to Shoal Creek to play at a tennis court with no lights, so we need to remain active and get the lights fixed.” Before they shoveled the dirt to mark the official ground breaking, District 3 Com-
missioner Larry Johnson paid homage to Walker, who had the vision for the park as a community gathering place. Parks and Recreation director Roy Wilson said the total cost for the tennis court upgrades and the construction of the new park is $1 million. The park will include walking
trail, fitness trail, playgrounds, gazebos, picnic pavilion, grills, and restrooms. He said the park should take 210 days to build and should be open by next spring. Connie Stokes, who succeeded Walker on the Board of Commissioners, said she is excited the project is coming to fruition.