CEO Ellis Retrial Scheduled for June 1; Interim CEO May Still at Helm

Written by Valerie J. Morgan
On Common Ground

Photo Credit: On Common Ground

Suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis will get a retrial on June 1, according to an order by Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson.

The order, signed on Dec. 9, follows Ellis’ first case, which ended in a mistrial in October after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on any of the 13 counts against him.

Ellis is accused of pressuring county vendors to give to his election campaign and threatening to take county contracts from those who didn't. Ellis, who has maintained his innocence, is charged with bribery, theft, extortion and perjury.

(...)

Meanwhile, Lee May continues to oversee the county as its interim CEO. May, who was appointed last year by Gov. Nathan Deal as the trial got under way, has said he plans to continue moving the county forward. He will hold the CEO seat until a verdict is reached in the Ellis case.

Read more: On Common Ground

What will DeKalb County be like after the Interim CEO finishes

the work the Governor of Georgia appointed him to do?

And, from Crossroads News...

17 months later, District 5 still waiting for representation

Jennifer Ffrench-Parker | , Ken Watts | 12/12/2014, 8:47 p.m

Seventeen months after DeKalb District 5 Commissioner Lee May was tapped by Gov. Nathan Deal to be interim CEO, the 140,000 residents of his district are still without representation on the Board of Commissioners.

George Turner

For the seventh time, members of the BOC were deadlocked on the vote to seat George Turner, who was picked from a field of 19 applicants to fill the interim District 5 seat created by Georgia legislators in March.

Even though there were five commissioners voting, and three – District 7 Commissioner Stan Watson, District 3 commissioner and Presiding Officer Larry Johnson, and District 4 Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton – have voted consistently to seat Turner, the county’s Organization Act requires four votes, not just a majority of those voting, to seat the interim commissioner.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board was once again deadlocked on the vote to seat Turner, a retired MARTA rail supervisor. Watson, Johnson and Barnes Sutton voted yes and Jeff Rader, the District 2 commissioner, and Kathie Gannon, the Super District 6 commissioner, voted no

Newly elected District 1 Commissioner Nancy Jester abstained.

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