Nathan Deal endorses plan to abolish DeKalb CEO position (2015, law)

[LynnHarris]

Nathan Deal endorses plan to abolish DeKalb CEO position | Political Insider blog

[whodean]

Long overdue

[earthlyfather]

Deal has always been a wise and crafty politician. Remember how he dispatched young Carter with the Zell Miller ads? Classic. Completely removed the Carter campaign's main thrust.

Visually; cut him off at the knees. Jason remained standing for just a moment, then momentum took over, and he toppled over.

[Gulch]

Good start, but without fixing the problems with the county commission, this is window dressing.

[Tryska]

So what's the difference between a CEO and a "County manager" model?

[AnsleyPark]

I don't think it is the position, it is the person holding the position that is generally the problem.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Tryska

So what's the difference between a CEO and a "County manager" model?

Under the current model:

The CEO is elected in a county-wide election (there are no district borders). The Council does not elect them. The Council has LESS power, than most counties. Their primary role is to set a budget among a few other minor responsibilities. The CEO really holds most of the power and day-to-day responsibilities.

With a county manager, you move away from the person with day-to-day responsibilities being a politician, rather they are a professional manager the county council hires.

This means means a few things: to get hired for such a large county they would have a working track record, they don't succumb to politicial pressure on day to day things, they are educated specifically for such a position vs. being a politician with any random poli sci or law degree, and they succomb to political pressure from the council. They must keep their job and answer to the council members.


Basically stated, the power switches to the council and a professional handles the day-to-day matters and must answer to the council. Whereas now the council has very limited power and are next to useless to fix anything or investigate and the CEO, a single individual, has most of the power.


Now counties with a chairman, The chairman is just the elected head of the commissioners from a county-wide election. They still share the same balance of power and can hire a county administrator/manager, but they are the figurative head and have a few additional, limited power.


Now what is interesting about Dekalb's Council is there are 7 members. There are 5 districts. There are two more 'super' districts that serve half the county. Everyone is served by two commissioners, 1 from a smaller district (1/5 of the county) and 1 from a larger district (1/2 of the county). It is almost as if the split the chairman into 2 from 2 parts of the county. Part of this discussion should revolve around whether or not to restructure this.

[Tryska]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Under the current model:

The CEO is elected in a county-wide election (there are no district borders). The Council does not elect them. The Council has LESS power, than most counties. Their primary role is to set a budget among a few other minor responsibilities. The CEO really holds most of the power and day-to-day responsibilities.

With a county manager, you move away from the person with day-to-day responsibilities being a politician, rather they are a professional manager the county council hires.

This means means a few things: to get hired for such a large county they would have a working track record, they don't succumb to politicial pressure on day to day things, they are educated specifically for such a position vs. being a politician with any random poli sci or law degree, and they succomb to political pressure from the council. They must keep their job and answer to the council members.


Basically stated, the power switches to the council and a professional handles the day-to-day matters and must answer to the council. Whereas now the council has very limited power and are next to useless to fix anything or investigate and the CEO, a single individual, has most of the power.


Now counties with a chairman, The chairman is just the elected head of the commissioners from a county-wide election. They still share the same balance of power and can hire a county administrator/manager, but they are the figurative head and have a few additional, limited power.


Now what is interesting about Dekalb's Council is there are 7 members. There are 5 districts. There are two more 'super' districts that serve half the county. Everyone is served by two commissioners, 1 from a smaller district (1/5 of the county) and 1 from a larger district (1/2 of the county). It is almost as if the split the chairman into 2 from 2 parts of the county. Part of this discussion should revolve around whether or not to restructure this.

Ah ok - thank you. So sort of like Strong Mayor vs Council-Manager forms on the City level.

[jero23]

Can we all recall Nathan Deal as governor too? He's likely the most corrupt governor ever for the State of Georgia...

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by jero23

Can we all recall Nathan Deal as governor too? He's likely the most corrupt governor ever for the State of Georgia...

Eugene Talmadge would like a word.