Paid for by Tom Brown for Congress Treasurer George Coletti
SERVING DEKALB, FULTON, GWINNETT, HENRY AND ROCKDALE COUNTIES
VOLUME 20 NUMBER 5
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MAY 3, 2014
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DeKalb officials put wheels in motion to fill vacant District 5 seat
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By Valerie J. Morgan
eKalb County’s Interim CEO Lee May says he plans within the next 30 days to start looking for someone for the vacant District 5 Commission seat that residents have demanded be filled. District 5, which has 145,000 voters, has been without full representation on the DeKalb Board of Commissioners since July 16, 2013 when May, who held the seat, was appointed interim CEO by Gov. Nathan Deal in the wake of CEO Burrell Ellis’ indictment on corruption charges. Commissioner Stan Watson, who represents the Super District 7, which includes District 5, has served constituents in the interim. The governor signed SB 367 on April 10, paving the way for an appointment to be made. “My No. 1 goal is to get someone to represent District 5,” said May. “This will be an open and fair process.” May said he would solicit applicants through advertisements that
Commissioner Larry Johnson
Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May
will run in the county’s legal organ and community newspapers for two weeks. He said he would appoint a three-member panel comprised of citizens who live in District 5 to review the applicants and recommend two candidates for consideration. May said he would submit one nominee to the board to confirm or reject. “We will solicit applicants through the ads, but I have also asked the board to submit any names they receive to ensure that we get the best possible pool of candidates,” said May.
State Sen. Fran Millar
Commissioner Larry Johnson, the board’s presiding officer, said he plans to seek input from the other five commissioners to ensure that everyone is on one accord concerning the nominations process. “It was my understanding that the intent of the legislation passed was done so the Board of Commissioners would have a much broader role in selecting someone to fill the seat. It’s a unique situation. Nobody thought that the CEO would have the authority to nominate someone for his own seat,”
Johnson said. “We’re in this quandary because our legislators did not look more closely at the bill before it was passed to see how it would specifically impact DeKalb.” May said in a letter that he submitted this week to Johnson and the BOC that County Attorney O.V. Brantley has issued a legal opinion that SB 367 must be handled in accordance with section 13A of DeKalb’s Organizational Act. “Whenever any law of this state requires a county governing authority to appoint a person to fill a post in any public office, such posts shall be filled by a nomination by the CEO and confirmation by the BOC,” according to Brantley. May said he plans to keep the nominations process transparent. “This is not about Lee May appointing his own successor. It’s about carrying out the law and finding someone to represent District 5,” said May. State Sen. Fran Millar, who coSee District 5, page 5
Travelers Rest Baptist in limbo as Scottdale development gets under way
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By Joshua Smith
ravelers Rest Baptist Church, founded 75 years ago, was once the pillar of the Tobie Grant Manor community in Scottdale. Now, the 5,984-square-foot church at 554 George Howell Way sits in the middle of a boarded-up housing project, waiting for the wrecking ball to come crashing all around the church any day now. The DeKalb Housing Authority is partnering with NorSouth Development to demolish the aging housing project that surrounds the church. Through the public-private partnership, the Housing Authority and NorSouth are building a $34 million upscale, mixed-use development that will include rent-assisted and market-rate apartments, as well as single-family homes for families and seniors. Demolition is set to begin by the end of May and construction by the end of August, officials say. Church officials say they the development has put them in a bind. Travelers Rest is the only privatelyowned property in Tobie Grant and it would like to move to make way for the development. “Can you imagine worshipping the Lord on Sunday morning and as soon as you walk out of the church, all you see is demolition and destroyed units?” said Pastor Barrett Johnson, who has served as pastor of Travelers Rest for nine years. Johnson said the DeKalb Housing Authority has offered the church $140,000 for the property, which includes the 5,948-square-foot church building and .62 acres. The price, Johnson said, is far below the church’s asking price of $900,000. The church is still settling mortgage obligations to pay for renovations that were completed about five years ago and the property as part of Scottdale is considered prime real estate offering an attractive central location to downtown Atlanta, Decatur and Stone Mountain. “What they are offering is not enough. We just want a fair deal,” said Johnson, who met with the Housing Authority officials in March but reached no agreement. The Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights activist who is serving as an advisor to Johnson, agrees the offer is too low for the church to move and start over
Photo by Joshua Smith/OCG News
Travelers Rest Baptist Church Pastor Barrett Johnson stands on the steps of the historic church hoping he can soon reach an agreement with the DeKalb County Housing Authority and developer NorSouth.
somewhere else. “The offer they made is not acceptable. The most reasonable thing for the Housing Authority to do is to partner with NorSouth to pay the difference to the church,” Hutchins said. “They can’t seriously expect people to drive through a warzone to worship.” A spokesman for the Housing Authority said everything possible would be done to ensure that the church is able to function during the construction. “We know that Travelers Rest Baptist Church has been a pillar in the community for generations and we want them to continue to be a great neighbor to us,”
said Paula Gwynn Grant, director of Communications and Community Development at the Housing Authority of DeKalb County. Officials say the development will be built with a mix of conventional financing, low-income tax credits and $15 million in tax-exempt bonds. The Tobie Grant site, the last housing project in DeKalb, will be similar to the Brookleigh mixeduse development that the Housing Authority and See Scottdale, page 5