During his tenure as DeKalb County CEO, many different things have kept Michael Thurmond up at night.
There was the water billing fiasco he inherited. The long-neglected sewer system and a federal consent decree that threatened to effectively stop development in DeKalb altogether. The pandemic, of course.
Right now? It’s crime. Homicides in particular.
“Thank God we haven’t had the sharp increase that some other jurisdictions have had,” Thurmond said. ”But it’s still continuing unabated, no matter what we do.”
Thurmond tackled all of those topics, and more, in a wide ranging, 90-minute interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board on Thursday.
Now in the second year of his second term as DeKalb’s chief executive, he touted property tax relief being offered to residents through the county’s EHOST program; the success of the separate SPLOST infrastructure program; and the transformation of the county’s overall financial situation.
“DeKalb is rising,” he said, thanks to his administration’s approach to identifying and tackling the root causes of many of the big-picture problems that have long held the county back.
But there’s still work to be done.
Thurmond said Thursday that DeKalb had seen 73 homicides thus far in 2022. For each one, he’s gotten a text message or email from police chief Mirtha Ramos or public safety director Jack Lumpkin.
The CEO said previous salary increases, COVID-related hazard pay and other benefits for police officers have paid some dividends. He plans to introduce soon a mid-year budget that would make DeKalb’s police some of highest-paid in Georgia, at least among large departments.
But the county has to continue to take a more holistic approach to public safety as well, Thurmond said.
That involves more staffing and better compensation for employees in all parts of public safety, from probation officers to court personnel and mental health professionals. It involves things like the county’s popular summer jobs program for youths.
And it involves tackling blight.
Thurmond said that the AJC’s series “Dangerous Dwellings” caught his eye, but he cautioned that finding solutions to the problem of substandard, crime-ridden apartments may be difficult.
The year-long investigation found that more than 250 apartment complexes in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties were persistently dangerous, beset by violent crime and often horrific living conditions, such as roaches, mold, rats and raw sewage spills.
Many complexes are owned by private equity firms and other investment groups headquartered out of state, the AJC found. Often, they have been sold multiple times in recent years, moving from one investment group to another as property values climb.
Thurmond said DeKalb officials have worked under his tenure to improve housing code compliance, but the scarcity of affordable housing complicates solving the overall problem. Many residents of substandard apartments have nowhere else to go.
Identifying problem complexes can be difficult because some tenants are afraid of complaining about poor conditions if they are behind on their rent.
“It’s just not as simple as it might sound,” Thurmond said.
The county has previously attempted to focus on troublesome condominium complexes like the infamous Brannon Hills, which present their own complications. Thurmond said he plans to “revisit” how the county addresses other multifamily developments.
He also expects legislation to be introduced in the General Assembly to address the issue.
— Staff writer Willoughby Mariano contributed to this story.
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