The bad economy may mean cutbacks for many DeKalb County services, but not in the marshal’s office, where business is booming.
The DeKalb commission voted Tuesday to add four additional deputy marshals to the 27-employee department, which is tasked with serving civil papers for the county’s state and magistrate courts.
The marshal’s office is the only DeKalb department currently hiring, Commissioner Larry Johnson said. Other departments are facing threats of layoffs as the county outsources some services and trims others.
A spike in eviction notices, wage garnishments and civil lawsuits has caused their workload to grow, Chief Marshal Steve Mann said.
“Our work is tied directly to the economy,” Mann told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The new staff will cost the county $320,354 yearly, but the majority of that will be made up from fees the marshals collect for serving papers, Johnson said.
Mann said he will begin interviewing a pool of candidates who are already certified and hopes to have the new marshals hit the street this summer.
The commission was initially planning to slash staff at the marshal’s office to help meet a $100-million shortfall in this year’s budget. However after hearing pleas from Mann, the commission decided to increase staffing.
“They’ve been neglected for years,” said Johnson, the commission’s presiding officer. “I rode with them for eight hours and saw that there is a workload increase and a safety concern.”
While some of the calls mean just a knock on the door, others require the marshals to use force or make arrests.
“We handle a lot of apartment evictions and not everyone is happy to see us when they open the door,” Mann said.
While the police and sheriff’s departments have gained staff over the past few years, the marshal’s staff has seen virtually no growth. In the last 15 years, the department has only added one employee, despite the county’s residential population growing by 25 percent, Mann said.
Last year, the department’s 20 field deputies served about 100,000 papers, Mann said.
Part of the increase in staffing is to keep the county in compliance with Georgia law, which requires marshals to attempt serving papers within five days of filing. With a backlog of papers, the county has been struggling to consistently meet that requirement.
Johnson said he hopes to meet the state mandate and use the additional officers on the street as a crime deterrent.
In addition to serving papers, the marshals, who are state-certified and have full arrest powers, often assist on police calls, Mann said.
“There certainly isn’t any shortage of crime in DeKalb County,” he said. “We drive around in the same cars, wear the same uniforms and carry the same guns as the police department.”
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