Investigators: DeKalb Gov't "Rotten to the Core"

DeKalb County Interim CEO Lee May received a sobering report Wendesday from a team he tasked with investigating allegations of corruption in the county government.

In a letter, the team reported that it had found the government was “rotten to the core,” with adjectives including ‘’astounding,” “stunning,” and “absurd” mentioned alongside alleged misdeeds from county workers and departments.

“We are products of the DeKalb County School System,” the investigators wrote. “It pains us to have the duty to report to you and the Commission the extent of the misconduct we have found.”

Investigators will not name names until the $450,000-plus investigation is final, but the letter states the costs are a drop in the bucket compared to the savings the county could accrue by cleaning out corruption.

After examining some 40,000 purchase card (P-card) transactions, investigators claim that abuse of the cards is rampant. Employees have allegedly spent taxpayer money on improper expenditures such as cruises, live entertainment, liquor, a Christmas tree, and flower arrangements.

Investigators allege that some department heads have refused to cooperate with them, even ignoring orders from May and his office to provide documentation on their P-card usage. The department heads have also allegedly refused Open Records Requests and are ”in violation of state law” as of Wednesday.

The alleged corruption goes beyond P-cards, with investigators claiming “misconduct...has infected nearly every department we have looked at.” Some of the allegations included in the Wednesday letter include:

• Departments overspending their budgets on a regular basis without consequences,
• Awarding sole-source county contracts despite other qualified vendors submitting much less costly bids,
• Taxpayers footing the bill for the impound fee of a county-owned vehicle whose driver was arrested for DUI; the driver allegedly resigned following the incident but was re-hired without penalty after entering a guilty plea,
• A county employee who has allegedly stolen county property continues to draw a county paycheck, and
• A recently-uncovered bribery scheme allegedly involving a major county department

The letter states that investigators still have ”a good way to go” before completing their investigation and issuing their final report.

May suspended the use of around 90 percent of the county’s P-cards in early June.

You can read the letter below: