In all honesty I am actually glad that CEO Burrell Ellis is enforcing a bit of discipline upon the county, even if it comes at the risk of yet another political drama among Democrats.
At the end of the day, with this party totally dominating the core counties of Metro Atlanta - there is little chance that those constituents that are fearing that another "Clayton County drama" is about to brew in Dekalb will turn against the PARTY to which all of the operatives belong to.
Hell if rising crime rates in the county can't dislodge them - why would this increasingly public battle do it.
Ellis says chief was insubordinate and misused county property
DeKalb’s CEO gave the county police chief a “pre-termination notice” Friday and ordered him to reply by Monday.
Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis said he will make a final decision on whether police Chief Terrell Bolton is fired after receiving Bolton’s response, due by Monday.
The CEO said Bolton had been insubordinate, misused county property and engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer — all actionable under the county’s merit system rules. The alleged offenses involve countermanding Ellis’ own orders, misuse of county vehicles and abuse of compensatory time, among other things.
Bolton denied doing anything wrong. He said Ellis was “grasping for straws” to get rid of him, using actions by Bolton under the former CEO, whom Ellis replaced Jan. 1.
“Everything he’s talking about were policies we had under Vernon Jones, and he didn’t ask me to change them,” Bolton said in a telephone interview Friday. Instead, he said, Ellis rebuffed his attempts to meet with him.
Ellis placed Bolton on a two-week administrative leave Feb. 9, pending an investigation. Bolton had been on medical leave the previous week and on Thursday had requested another two weeks of medical leave. He was diagnosed with diabetes recently.
In support of his “preliminary” decision to fire Bolton, Ellis alleged offenses in three categories.
• Insubordination:
On Feb. 2, while Bolton was on medical leave, Ellis told his acting chief, Karen Anderson, to fire Bolton’s top civilian aide, Keisha Williams. But Ellis said Bolton tried to “intimidate” and “coerce” Anderson, telling her that she could be sued, “that she should think about it … and that she should also pray about it.”
Bolton said Williams called him while he was home sick and said she had heard rumors of her firing. He said he called Anderson, whom he described as upset over Ellis’ order. He said he advised Anderson to ask Ellis’ chief operations officer to call him.
• Misuse of property:
Bolton assigned seven police cruisers and SUVs to himself and to drivers who didn’t actually drive him. Ellis said the chief also ordered a major to give him two luxury vehicles that had been seized under drug forfeiture laws — a 2004 Range Rover valued at $32,000 and a 2006 Mercedes Benz worth $55,000. Ellis said Bolton ordered an officer to remove them from his home late last year, after rumors about them began circulating on an Internet police blog.
Bolton said three officers on his security detail each had a police car, and an additional car was designated as their backup vehicle. He said then-CEO Jones knew that he moved the two seized vehicles to his home because he was concerned another agency would claim them. He said he drove them on some weekends to keep their batteries and tires in condition. He also unsuccessfully sought the county attorney’s permission to sell the cars for the police department, he said, and finally had them moved to a motor pool after he was told of “a rumor that I had 13 cars.”
Jones’ personal attorney, Dwight Thomas, confirmed Bolton’s account about the seized cars. “I know the CEO was aware of that issue and to my knowledge he had no objection to it,” Thomas said.
• Conduct unbecoming an officer and breach of public trust:
Ellis alleged a variety of misconduct by Bolton, such as giving a badge and squad car to Williams though she was a civilian employee and taking comp time without approval.
Bolton said Williams and other civilians, such as chaplains, were given badges that showed their job titles but lacked a badge number. Bolton said he assigned a squad car to Williams so she and other public information officers would have access to a police radio en route to crime scenes and so he could use the radio if he rode with her.
As for the comp time, Bolton said he informed Ellis’ office of his requests for time off this year, but Ellis and his staff never replied or indicated there was any change in comp time policy. He said he was following procedures Jones established.
Ellis said Bolton has until 10 a.m. Monday to respond.
“I believe that we have cause for termination,” Ellis said. “And we’re giving the chief an opportunity to respond.”
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