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Page 8A LOCAL The Champion, Thursday, May 21 - 27, 2015
Pedestrians walk along an area of Glenwood Road that has no sidewalk. DeKalb commissioners just approved $600,000 for sidewalks in the area. Photos by Andrew Cauthen
Millions approved for parks, libraries and sidewalks
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
After weeks of politics,
a heated debate among
county commissioners and
a tie vote cast by the interim
CEO, on May 12 county
leaders approved $39.4 mil
lion in reallocated bond
funding for sidewalks, li
brary, greenspace and parks
projects.
At its May 12 meeting,
the Board of Commissioners
was considering allocating
$6.5 million in 2006 county
parks bonds funding to a
new Tobie Grant Recreation
Center. The board had been
considering the project
since March 24, but Com
missioner Sharon Barnes
Sutton has been holding up
approval of it in favor of re
leasing funds for a library in
her district.
In a substitute measure,
Sutton proposed an alternate
expenditure of the remain
ing 2001 and 2006 bond
funding.
“The 2006 bond money
allows for all [of] us to move
forward with projects in
[our] districts,” Sutton told
commissioners. “All of these
are really important to our
constituents.
“Pulling the projects
out one at a time signals to
me that there is an intent to
try to get certain projects
funded that commissioners
support and leave the rest
behind and leaving those
citizens without the proper
resources and attention that
they deserve,” she said.
“It is unconscionable
that the people of District 4
did not receive funding for
a new public library,” Sutton
said. “How is it that every
other district received a li
brary and they did not? How
is it that all of these years
Tobie Grant has been fight
ing and working to receive
money for that recreation
center?
“They have been denied
for years and years,” she said.
“This money was available.
This money could have been
appropriated back in 2006.
We can’t continue to play
politics with these peoples
lives.”
Commissioner Jeff
Rader said the projects need
more consideration.
Sutton “is frequently
outraged by all manner of
things,” Rader said. “One of
the things she is frequently
outraged about is the cir
cumvention of her commit
tee in issues under its juris
diction.
“The proposal that she
advances is basically to
empty the District 4 parks
acquisition fund in favor of
transferring that money to
an account that would sup
port the library,” Rader said.
“The committee of jurisdic
tion, the [employee relations
and community services
committee], is working at
all deliberate speed to ac
complish that and there’s
no reason to act as though
people are being cheated by
that process.”
In the end, commission
ers were tied on the vote
for release all of the fund
ing. Commissioners Larry
Johnson, Sutton and Stan
Watson voted in favor of it,
while Commissioners Ka-
thie Gannon, Nancy Jester
and Rader were against it.
Interim DeKalb CEO Lee
May broke the tie in favor of
the measure.
“With this vote we can
utilize the dedicated funding
that is already in place and
get these important projects
completed for the people of
DeKalb County,” May said
in a statement.
In addition to funding
for a new Tobie Grant rec
reation center, the funding
includes:
• $3.5 million for deferred
maintenance of existing
recreation and parks build
ings
• $2.8 million toward the
$10 million total acquisi
tion cost of the property
near Briar Lake Park
• $800,000 for development
of Ellenwood Park
• $4.3 million for the
Brookhaven Community
Library
$4.2 million for the Ellen-
wood Community Library
$3.3 million for a new
Stone Mountain Library
$850,000 to complete the
central annex library facil
ity
$4 million for road resur
facing throughout DeKalb
County
$600,000 for a sidewalk
on Glenwood Road from
Candler Road to Columbia
Road
$150,000 for a sidewalk
on Rockbridge Road from
Ridge Road to Wade Walk
er Park
$150,000 for a traffic signal
and sidewalk on Shell Bark
Road
• $100,000 for a sidewalk
on Idlewood Road from
Tucker Middle School to
Lawrenceville Highway
• $100,000 for a sidewalk on
Briarcliff Road from Clif
ton Road to LaVista Road
“With this action we are
serving the needs of citizens
all over DeKalb County, but
I am especially proud of the
new Tobie Grant Recreation
Center in Scottdale and the
brand new public library
in Stone Mountain, which
has been a need for a long
while,” Sutton said.
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