Next step awaited on county ethics board

A group that successfully urged DeKalb County voters to reject a proposed revamp of the county's ethics board says it will soon announce its next step.

The DeKalb Citizens Advocacy Council urged people to vote against the measure that was on the Nov. 5 ballot, saying it would have gutted the board's independence. "The Ethics Board would be under the control of the same politicians whose conduct is subject to oversight by the ethics board," the group said.

About 60 percent of voters in unincorporated DeKalb County voted against the proposal to reconstitute the ethics board, according to analysis by blogger Jonathan Grant. Voters in Stonecrest overwhelmingly supported the proposal for a weakened board. Other municipalities voting in favor of the referendum were Stone Mountain, Clarkston, Doraville and Lithonia.

"The heaviest opposition was in Pine Lake, south of Memorial Drive, where 88% percent voted NO," Grant writes. "Even though the tiny town had no contested municipal elections, Pine Lake had a relatively high turnout: 28% compared to 11% countywide."

Grant notes State Representatives Viola Davis (D-Stone Mountain) and Matthew Wilson (D-Brookhaven) have said they have plans to move forward on the issue. "There is optimism that a bill can be passed and put on the ballot for the Presidential Primary on March 24, 2020," Grant writes.