DeKalb County Board of Commissioners Committee of the Whole Meeting – March 17, 2026
DeKalb County Board of Commissioners Committee of the Whole Meeting – March 17, 2026
The Board of Commissioners Committee of the Whole convened at approximately 9:09 a.m. on March 17, 2026, with Presiding Officer Shakira Johnson (District 4) apologizing for the nine-minute delay. Commissioners received committee reports, reviewed the proposed executive agenda for the upcoming business meeting, assigned items to committees, discussed an ordinance amendment, and later recessed for an executive session on litigation. After returning, the board unanimously approved a $55,000 settlement of a lawsuit.
Committee Reports
- PECS Committee (Commissioner Patrick, for Commissioner Messiah): At the March 10 regular meeting, 15 items were considered. Six were recommended for approval, six were deferred (due back March 24, 2026), and two had already been approved by the BOC. Tiffany Wells, Vice President of Decide to Cab, provided an update on TAD financials. The next PECS meeting is March 24 at 3:30 p.m.
- Public Works & Infrastructure Committee (Commissioner Patrick): The committee reviewed 12 items. Four were deferred (exceeding the $3 million threshold), and eight were approved, including a contract extension for billing and mail services. Several larger items were noted for later discussion.
- County Operations Committee (Commissioner Davis Johnson): The committee met on March 3. Minutes from Feb. 12 and Feb. 17 were approved. Of 13 agenda items, three were held: 260286, 260243, and 260388. The next meeting was scheduled for today, March 17, at 1 p.m., with 17 items including a status update on the operational assessment and standing procedure rules.
- Finance, Audit & Budget Committee (Commissioner Tetari/Terry): The March 10 meeting focused on strategic goals for 2026. Plans include resuming quarterly financial reports (starting with the prior quarter at the next FAB meeting), expediting the FY2027 budget process, and continuing discussions on the diversion center, eviction assistance, and the water assistance program (with an update from the Urban League). CIP coordination was also mentioned.
- ERPS Committee (Commissioner Johnson, for Commissioner Bolton): At the March 3 meeting, minutes were approved. Items approved out of committee included animal shelter operations, integrated security services ($146,741.40), SPLASH funds for a public safety training facility, SPLOST funding for repairs to East Precinct and the police training facility, and a statewide contract for weapons trade-in. The committee also discussed the 2025 Decatur Peachtree Airport annual report.
- Women’s Commission (Commissioner Long Spears): Thirteen appointees have been named; a kickoff meeting is planned for this spring. Commissioner Long Spears also announced the third annual State of DeKalb Animals address on April 1, 2026, at the new Brookhaven City Center.
Review of Proposed Executive Agenda
Chief of Staff Zachary May led the review of items for the March 24 business meeting. Key actions and discussions:
- Many items were designated as consent (routine approvals) or assigned to committees for further review.
- Item 0478 (up to $300,000 for research on water and sewer system management) was initially proposed for both PWI and FAB committees, but after discussion it was sent to PWI only, with the understanding that financial analysis would be considered there.
- Item 0504 (issuance of tax anticipation notes up to ~$150 million) was assigned to FAB; the winning bidder will be determined the morning of the vote.
- Item 0550 (ordinance to amend the county code regarding public safety, vagrancy, unauthorized camping, and nuisance behaviors) was sent as a preliminary item to PECS, not consent.
- Several appointments to boards and commissions were recorded or forwarded, including corrections to the title of Arts Council appointees (to be clarified before the business meeting).
- Multiple district allocations were listed as consent items, e.g., $5,000 to Paul’s Atlanta for a pet food bank, $10,000 to How Big Is Your Dream, $59,263 to 100 Black Men of DeKalb, and other smaller amounts for educational and cultural programs.
- The March 17 committee of the whole minutes were approved on consent.
- A calendar adjustment (adding night COW meetings and potentially a July schedule with no committee meetings) was discussed; the item remained on consent pending further confirmation on the July change.
Executive Session and Action
- The board recessed for an executive session to discuss litigation.
- After returning, Commissioner Davis Johnson moved to approve payment of $55,000 to settle the lawsuit HVH Mechanical Partners, LLC v. DeKalb County. The settlement includes a dismissal with prejudice and mutual release. The motion passed unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning and welcome to the Board of Commissioners Committee of the Whole. Today is March 17th. I am your presiding officer, Shakira Johnson and your district four commissioner. I do apologize for the lateness of the meeting. Our meeting should have started nine minutes ago. A reminder to our commissioners that the public expects our meetings to start at 9. So if we could please be in our seats so we can start our meetings on time. We will have no presentations today, but we will recess for executive session. We have two topics to discuss, so that may be a lengthy discussion. Is my understanding Commissioner Masaya is out. Commissioner Patrick, are you ready to go? Uh yes, Madam Presiding Officer. Um as uh Commissioner Messiah is out of the office this morning. Um I'm gonna go ahead and start with uh the pecs. Uh good morning, all, and thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I am Commissioner Robert Patrick, and we'll provide the update in the absence of the PECS chair, Commissioner Messiah. Along with Commissioner Messiah, is the committee members um are myself, uh, Commissioner Long Spears of District 2. Uh our last meeting at the regularly scheduled meeting on March 10th. Uh those in attendance were the PECS Chair, Commissioner Messiah, Commissioner Spears, and of course myself, Commissioner Patrick, and Commissioner Terry. There were 15 items printed on the agenda, and six items were recommended for approval, set of an items for deferral, all due back to the Board of Commissioners for March 24, 2026. And two items were approved in that morning's BOC, so no action was necessary. We also received an update on TAD financials uh from Vice President of Decide to Cab Tiffany Wells. The next PECS meeting will be held Tuesday, March 24 at 3 30 p.m. Uh, thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Um now speaking on behalf of the greatest committee of all. Um the public works and infrastructure committee, of course. Uh our presiding officer, Commissioner Shakira Johnson was there. Commissioner Terry is also a returning, new and returning board member or committee member, so thank you for being there. Uh at our last uh meeting, we had a total of 12 items. Uh four of those were deferred primarily because they were over our three million dollar threshold, uh, and we're waiting on Mr. Lavois Campbell, who I believe has gotten a few of those taken care of, and we'll hear about those later on this afternoon. Uh, there were additional uh eight items that were approved. Some of the things that we got into were smaller items but still critical. Uh billing and mail services. Uh that was a contract term extension. Um, and as I said, we had several large item tickets uh that'll be coming up for discussion this afternoon. With that, Madam Presiding Officer, thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner Patrick, for the double duty. Commissioner Davis Johnson. Good morning, Madam Presiding Officer. I am Marita Davis Johnson and I chair the county operations committee, known as OPS. My colleagues who sat on that committee with me, uh Commissioner Robert Patrick and Commissioner Ladina Bolton. The ops committee met on Tuesday, March the third. The committee approved the minutes for the February the 12th and the February the 17th meeting. We heard 13 agenda items with the following items being held in committee. 260286, 2602 43, and 2603 88. The committee will meet again today at 1 o'clock p.m. where we will hear the following items. 17 agenda items, status update on our county operations assess operational assessment, child of review, standing procedure rules. You can join us at 1 o'clock p.m.
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