OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

DeKalb County Operations Committee Meeting - March 26, 2026

Board of Commissioners & Committees — Thursday, March 26, 2026
BodyDekalb County, Georgia
SessionBoard of Commissioners & Committees
DateThursday, March 26, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:26:14

Transcript — Verbatim
0:07

Good afternoon.

0:09

I am Marita Davis Johnson, and I am the chair of the um I am the chair of the ops committee, county operations committee.

0:23

My uh the members that serve on that committee with me are Commissioner Robert Patrick and Commissioner Ladina Bolt that's walking in right now.

0:38

And um with that, um, and we have a commissioner here with us, Commissioner Terry, uh Ted Terry, appreciate you joining us today.

0:55

And um with that, uh, have you all had an opportunity to read the minutes?

1:03

Uh yes, motion to approve uh 0369 uh 65.

1:07

And that's the March to 17th.

1:10

Second meeting.

1:12

Okay, all in favor?

1:13

Aye.

1:14

Okay, those minutes are approved.

1:20

Uh we're going to sort of um skip over just a little bit.

1:29

And um, so that we can get some priorities in first.

1:34

We're gonna go to page four twenty-six oh four nine cents.

1:53

And that is a statewide contract, all commissioned districts, contract number, it's long number, you can read software and accelerary services for use by the department of innovation and technology to pay outstanding uh Microsoft Azure license uh over for June for June through December of 2025.

2:21

Awarded today on marketing LP amount not to exceed 47,500 and 71 cents.

2:30

Good afternoon.

2:31

Good afternoon, madam chair, good afternoon, commissioners.

2:33

I'm gonna let my deputy director over infrastructure, uh, the new Barry Puckett take this item.

2:39

His name is Alex Bedencourt.

2:42

Good afternoon, everyone.

2:43

Thank you.

2:44

Uh so this uh uh item is for our Microsoft Azure platform, which as you know is where we host most of our servers and applications.

2:51

Um this specific uh ask is for the uh fees and over and and costs from the month of June to December of 2025 for for that service.

3:08

Okay, so that means that the invoice is for they haven't gotten paid through June through December of 25.

3:20

Yes.

3:23

So what we do is we typically prepay for Azure, which is Microsoft's cloud platform.

3:31

We we prepay for a year.

3:33

So what we didn't do in August or September was was make that prepayment because we were all brand new and we we weren't aware of that payment that needed to be paid.

3:43

Uh uh.

3:43

So we've spoken to previous deputy directors, and we now have an understanding of what needs to be done moving forward.

3:50

So what we're asking for now is just the overage for those previous notes to be paid.

3:55

I got you.

3:56

Okay, I got you.

3:57

That's understood.

3:59

But now you know.

4:01

It won't happen again.

4:02

We won't have to do that again.

4:03

Okay.

4:04

Yes, ma'am.

4:04

Are there any questions or concern?

4:07

Okay.

4:10

Just to clarify, I know you're referring to this as an overage.

4:14

Are you saying this is an amount over what you would pay as a standard?

4:20

Or you just didn't pay it in advance.

4:23

So it's running about 200,000 per month.

4:27

So that 400, I think it's 79 was for the months of actually for the months of November, December, and January.

4:36

Okay.

4:38

So what do you mean overage?

4:41

Okay.

4:42

Could you explain what you just explained?

4:45

And that is that he's new.

4:47

They usually pay for the year.

4:49

But he came, he just started.

4:53

And he's not going to be able to do that.

4:57

Yeah for the cloud environment.

5:00

And I'm the first part, I'm sorry.

5:01

It's the amount of storage that we're using.

5:03

As we bring on more cameras throughout the county, those cameras are taking up storage.

5:08

And it's it's very hard to predict how much storage we need to pre-pay for.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural███████████████████████23%
Transportation Safety██████████████14%
Technology and Innovation███████████11%
Public Works Maintenance██████████10%
Community Engagement██████████10%
Public Safety█████████9%
Environmental Protection███████7%
Election Administration███████7%
Airport Operations████4%
Summary of Proceedings

DeKalb County Operations Committee Meeting - March 26, 2026

The County Operations Committee, chaired by Marita Davis Johnson, met on March 26, 2026, at 6:00 PM. The committee approved several procurement and contract items, including cloud services, network security, airport signage, and fleet vehicles. A discussion on electric and hybrid vehicle adoption occurred, and the committee deferred a charter review item on eligibility and precinct listings to a future meeting.

Consent Calendar

  • No consent calendar items were noted; all items were discussed individually.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made.

Discussion Items

  • Microsoft Azure License Overage (Item 2604 0496): Approved $47,500.71 to cover unpaid overage from June to December 2025 for Microsoft Azure licenses. Staff explained that prepayment was missed due to new personnel, and they will change video retention policies to reduce future storage costs.
  • Palo Alto Network Security Renewal (Item 2604 0410): Approved $699,316 for annual maintenance and support of Palo Alto firewalls, a key cybersecurity component.
  • Juniper Network Maintenance (Item 2604 0411): Approved $567,129.93 for annual maintenance of Juniper switches.
  • PDK Airport Digital Displays (Item 2605 0526): Approved $215,467 for replacement and additional digital signs at PDK Airport, including ratification of a prior purchase order due to lead times for the World Cup.
  • Police Pursuit Vehicles (Item 2604 0402): A substitute reduced the amount from $16,223,265 to $10,468,355.50 due to fewer approved fleet additions. Confusion arose about the number of additional law enforcement units (16 vs. 116). Commissioner Ted Terry advocated for cost-benefit analysis of electric and hybrid vehicles. The item was moved forward with no recommendation to the full board.
  • Administrative Vehicles (Item 2604 0405): Approved substitute of $5,625,762.53 for administrative vehicles. Commissioner Terry again pushed for hybrid/electric options, citing the board's clean energy resolution. Staff noted challenges with battery life and charging infrastructure but agreed to provide a cost-benefit analysis.
  • Wheel Loaders for Watershed (Item 2604 0339): Approved $489,396.80 for two replacement wheel loaders.
  • Excavator and Track Loaders (Item 2604 0340): Approved $268,143 for a compact excavator and two track loaders.
  • John Deere Track Loader for Sanitation (Item 2604 0401): Approved $192,515 for one replacement compact track loader.
  • GPS Devices Change Order (Item 2604 0481): Approved a change order for vehicle-mounted GPS devices, amount not read but approved.
  • Charter Review Discussion: Sections 2 and 9 were discussed. For Section 2, the committee considered lowering commissioner eligibility age from 25 to 21 and whether to keep a list of voting precincts in the charter. Deferred to next meeting to hear from the elections director. For Section 9, the committee discussed proposed subpoena power and community engagement programs (including NPU-style systems). The CEO opposes both. Commissioner Terry requested more information on NPUs. The committee will revisit with additional details.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved minutes from March 17, 2025, meeting.
  • Approved Items 2604 0496, 2604 0410, 2604 0411, 2605 0526, 2604 0402 (with no recommendation), 2604 0405, 2604 0339, 2604 0340, 2604 0401, and 2604 0481.
  • Moved Item 2604 0402 (police pursuit vehicles) to the full board with no recommendation due to inconsistencies in backup documentation.
  • Deferred charter review discussion on Section 2 (eligibility and precinct listing) to the next operations meeting, pending input from the elections director.
  • Requested staff to provide more information on NPU systems and a cost-benefit analysis for electric/hybrid vehicles.
  • Adjourned at approximately 4:00 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. I am Marita Davis Johnson, and I am the chair of the um I am the chair of the ops committee, county operations committee. My uh the members that serve on that committee with me are Commissioner Robert Patrick and Commissioner Ladina Bolt that's walking in right now. And um with that, um, and we have a commissioner here with us, Commissioner Terry, uh Ted Terry, appreciate you joining us today. And um with that, uh, have you all had an opportunity to read the minutes? Uh yes, motion to approve uh 0369 uh 65. And that's the March to 17th. Second meeting. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Okay, those minutes are approved. Uh we're going to sort of um skip over just a little bit. And um, so that we can get some priorities in first. We're gonna go to page four twenty-six oh four nine cents. And that is a statewide contract, all commissioned districts, contract number, it's long number, you can read software and accelerary services for use by the department of innovation and technology to pay outstanding uh Microsoft Azure license uh over for June for June through December of 2025. Awarded today on marketing LP amount not to exceed 47,500 and 71 cents. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, madam chair, good afternoon, commissioners. I'm gonna let my deputy director over infrastructure, uh, the new Barry Puckett take this item. His name is Alex Bedencourt. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. Uh so this uh uh item is for our Microsoft Azure platform, which as you know is where we host most of our servers and applications. Um this specific uh ask is for the uh fees and over and and costs from the month of June to December of 2025 for for that service. Okay, so that means that the invoice is for they haven't gotten paid through June through December of 25. Yes. So what we do is we typically prepay for Azure, which is Microsoft's cloud platform. We we prepay for a year. So what we didn't do in August or September was was make that prepayment because we were all brand new and we we weren't aware of that payment that needed to be paid. Uh uh. So we've spoken to previous deputy directors, and we now have an understanding of what needs to be done moving forward. So what we're asking for now is just the overage for those previous notes to be paid. I got you. Okay, I got you. That's understood. But now you know. It won't happen again. We won't have to do that again. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Are there any questions or concern? Okay. Just to clarify, I know you're referring to this as an overage. Are you saying this is an amount over what you would pay as a standard? Or you just didn't pay it in advance. So it's running about 200,000 per month. So that 400, I think it's 79 was for the months of actually for the months of November, December, and January. Okay. So what do you mean overage? Okay.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com