The panel charged with evaluating how DeKalb County’s local government serves residents — and potentially recommending significant changes to its structure — held its first meeting in two years Monday night.
The hourlong Zoom gathering was largely introductory, with county officials explaining the history of the government’s organizational act and laying out what, exactly, the Charter Review Commission is tasked with doing.
But it ended with the announcement of a new chairman..
DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, who created the commission by executive order and has three appointments among its 17 members, recently appointed State Court Judge Ronald B. Ramsey Sr. to chair the panel. But Thurmond said Monday that Ramsey had subsequently sought the opinion of the state’s Judicial Qualifications Council, which expressed some concerns about him serving on the commission.
Ed Williams, chairman of the local watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Effective Government, had also raised questions about the potential conflicts of interest at play with a local judge leading a panel that could quickly turn political.
Ramsey decided last week not to accept the nomination after all, Thurmond said.
The CEO then announced that former state Sen. Steve Henson, who had already been appointed as the commission’s vice chair, would move forward as chairman.
Henson did not seek reelection in 2020 after nearly three decades in the General Assembly, including a lengthy stint as Senate majority leader. He and Thurmond, a former state legislator himself, overlapped at the Gold Dome in the early 1990s.
“I haven’t had a lot of time to prepare,” Henson said during Monday’s meeting, “but I’m excited about the charge and very pleased and thankful to try to be an asset to you all.”
Thurmond formed the charter review commission in 2019 amid discussions between his office, the county Board of Commissioners and state legislative leaders. The commission held its inaugural meeting in early 2020, but the first chairman appointed by Thurmond — also a local judge — stepped down afterward.
With the pandemic arriving shortly thereafter, Thurmond declined to appoint a new chairman until he selected Ramsey earlier this year.
The charter review commission is, among other things, charged with evaluating the county government and its organizational act to “ensure that it is representative of all citizens” and “responsive to the needs and demands of citizens.”
What approach the commission takes is yet to be seen, but that could include evaluating the CEO position as well as the structure of the county’s Board of Commissioners.
Though Thurmond and county attorney Viviane Ernstes both argued Monday that there are more similarities than differences with other local governments, DeKalb is the only county in Georgia with a CEO. And the Board of Commissioners is the only one in the state that has “super district” commissioners who each represent about half of the county.
A recent addition to Thurmond’s executive order also tasks the charter review commission with considering the COVID-19 pandemic and identifying changes that could help the government better serve the public during “future emergency conditions.”
The order currently instructs the commission to deliver its recommendations by the end of the year, but Thurmond said the deadline could, and likely would, be extended.
“I’d much rather you get it right than to get it quick,” he said. “Take your time, be deliberative, be thoughtful and do the hard work.”
Only eight members of the charter review commission attended Monday’s meeting. Henson tentatively scheduled its next gathering for June 6.
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