New Schools Plan Sent Back to Board of Education

January 28, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The Board of Education will have to make the next move on going forward with a plan for new schools.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission voted unanimously to send a letter to the Board asking for more details on their latest proposal before granting a request for funding.

Earlier this month Director of Schools Patrick Cripps delivered a letter on behalf of the school board to County Mayor Tim Stribling and the County Commission making a request for funding of at least a minimum of $48,685,000 to build 2 Pre K-8 schools and to make renovations to Northside Elementary converting it a Pre K-8. “ We are seeking your approval of funding to proceed with land purchase and the school building project,” said Cripps in the letter.

County Mayor Stribling placed the board’s request on the agenda for Monday night’s commission meeting for discussion.

First district commissioner and chairman of the budget committee Dennis Slager moved to deny the request until the school board provides a detailed project description, total project cost, and other costs that will directly affect the overall school board budget. Fifth district commissioner Jerry Adcock offered a second to Slager’s motion.

The exact wording of Slager’s motion, which he had in writing, is as follows:

“I move that the DeKalb County Commission acknowledge the request for funding from the DeKalb County Board of Education for a minimum of $48 million for a new proposed school project, that a letter be sent to the Board of Education and Director of Schools, stating that this request is denied. This request is inadequate and only a detailed project description, total project cost, and other costs that will directly affect the overall school board budget will be considered. The DeKalb County Commission stands ready to consider and fund a school building project that meets the current needs of the county’s school system that is financially feasible and reasonable for the taxpayers of DeKalb County”.

Concerned that the word “denied” might be too strong, seventh district commissioner Beth Pafford offered an amendment to Slager’s motion to replace the word “denied” with the phrase “will not be considered until” (the board provides more details). Pafford’s motion was approved on a 12-2 vote with Slager and third district commissioner Bobby Johnson voting against it. Slager’s motion as amended was then approved 14-0.

Prior to the vote, fourth district commissioner Janice Fish-Stewart cautioned against the commission sending the wrong signal to constituents. “I just want to say I want to be certain that we are not known as the commission that does not want to fund schools. I want the school board to know that this commission more than any commission before in my opinion believes that we need schools. We need a lot of things in this county. A lot of things have gone undone for a good number of years. We stand ready, willing, and able to find adequate funding for schools and anything else this county needs. I want it to be understood we want to help build schools but we can’t build schools until such time as we know the who, the where, the when, the how, and how much. We are going to make sound decisions for the people of DeKalb County and we are going to get the schools and education our children need,” she said.

Pafford added that a request by the commission for more details does not mean it won’t support new schools.

“We appreciate what the school board has done to this point and we stand prepared to work with them but as the funding body for new schools we (county commission) do need to see some more solid information before we move forward on funding,” she said.

Although the board’s request is for a minimum of $48 million the actual cost could be exceedingly more.

Commissioner Jerry Adcock said he thought the board’s costs estimates for the plan were “way out of line” with a similar proposal two years ago and that a minimum cost of $48 million would require at least a 50 cent property tax increase, “That is a lot of money for a lot of people. The board should get in line with what we can afford,” said Adcock.

“I think the school board should meet with the budget committee because this is premature. We don’t know how much it is going to cost or what they are asking for. They should go to the budget committee, meet with them, and let the budget committee decide whether or not we can fund it. I think that is the proper way to go about this,” said third district commissioner Jenny Trapp.

“As a member of the budget committee I think it is an area we need to start pursuing to see where we are at in DeKalb County as to what we can afford financially,” added second district commissioner Sabrina Farler.

“I am in favor of working with the Board of Education. As chairperson of the education committee I would love to set up a meeting with them and inquire more. We have several questions that we need further information on,” said fifth district commissioner Anita Puckett.

Last Thursday night during a work session, County Mayor Stribling gave the commission an idea of what a bond issue for a school building project of the size being proposed would look like.

“Our (county commission) only role is to decide whether we want to issue a bond. If we were to issue a bond of $52, 750,000 on 25 years our debt payment would be a minimum of about $3 million a year depending upon the interest rate at the time of issuance,” said County Mayor Stribling.

Available money or new revenue needed to pay off that debt is also something the county commission must consider.

The county is already paying debt on other bond issues including for expansion of DeKalb West School and for school energy conservation work done by Johnson Controls several years ago and for the purchase of the county complex and post closure of the landfill. Those debts are expected to be paid off by 2025 and 2029.

January 27, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A 37 year old Loganville, Georgia fugitive is facing a host of charges after leading the White County Sheriff’s Department on a pursuit Saturday into DeKalb County and through Smithville to Hurricane Bridge on Cookeville Highway where he was stopped in a Dodge Ram pickup truck and taken into custody after a brief armed standoff with the officers.

Although the White County Sheriff’s Department has not confirmed it, WJLE has learned that the suspect, Kyle Fuller, is facing charges including fugitive from justice, aggravated assault, possession of drug paraphernalia, evading arrest, possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell, possession of a weapon during a felony, possession without a prescription, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and unlawful carry or possession of a weapon.

A motorist on North Congress Boulevard near the intersection at East Broad Street caught the pursuit on video from her phone and posted it to facebook. (View Below).

The truck, hauling a trailer, cut through the property of the former Gill Automotive at Highway 70 and 56 and turned north onto Cookeville Highway to avoid the intersection where Smithville Police and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department had held up traffic. Several White County officers continued to pursue the truck. Spike strips were put down to stop it and the truck later went off the road near Hurricane Bridge. After a brief standoff with officers, Fuller was placed in custody. Although the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department gave backup support, local deputies were not involved in the pursuit.

In a statement posted on the White County Sheriff’s Department facebook page, more details have been provided as to how the Saturday pursuit started.

“On Saturday, January 25, an anonymous tip was provided to a deputy with the White County Sheriff’s Office regarding the whereabouts of a wanted individual with possession of a firearm. The White County Deputy called an agency in Georgia to verify the warrant information. The subject had a “nationwide pick up” if found. The deputy researched the Georgia case, and he states the subject was wanted for a string of burglaries. After identifying the vehicle description in White County, the deputy visualized the subject commit a traffic violation. The deputy initiated a traffic stop. The subject provided false identification and proceeded to be non- compliant with the deputy’s request. After asking the subject to step out of the vehicle, the subject became combative. After refusing to leave his vehicle, he accelerated the vehicle forward. The responding deputies initiated a pursuit,” according to the statement.

“The pursuit crossed into DeKalb County. The deputy who received the tip was able to obtain the phone number of the subject. During a phone call, the subject confirmed there was a firearm in the vehicle. The subject continued to the Hurricane Bridge area where standoff negotiations occurred. Sheriff Steve Page and the White County Deputies talked the subject down from using the weapon in his possession. The subject surrendered and is currently in custody. After searching the subject’s vehicle, a handgun, a crystalline substance believed to be methamphetamine, green leafy substance believed to be marijuana, unmarked pills, drug paraphernalia, and multiple credit cards and identifications in various names were located. The subject also has active felony warrants out of Georgia for theft and burglary.

“The White County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Tennessee Highway Patrol and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for assisting,” the statement concluded.

In November, Fuller and a woman got in trouble with the law in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

According to media reports there, an alert officer was able to solve multiple burglaries after noticing a suspicious vehicle while on his way home from work on Nov. 29, 2019.

The officer observed a pickup truck pull out of a subdivision that was still under construction and noticed that it had no license plate and that there were two large pillars protruding out of the back of the bed.
He pulled the vehicle over and quickly discovered that the two occupants of the vehicle, Fuller, and 41 year old Karey Byrd, both of Loganville, Georgia had two different stories about where they had been that morning.

GCPD said both of the occupants of the vehicle were arrested and initially charged with Loitering and Prowling and Burglary 1st Degree.

The case was handed over to detectives, who searched the vehicle and allegedly found Fuller and Byrd had multiple items that had been taken from the property that morning as well as other items allegedly from two other burglaries in Gwinnett County. The items included tools and building material taken from other properties.

Fuller and Byrd,  both released on bond the same day they were arrested, were charged with three additional counts of second-degree burglary and one count of first-degree burglary but they did not turn themselves in for booking on these charges.

January 27, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Candidates interested in certain positions that will be on the ballot in August can pick up petitions beginning next week.

Dennis Stanley, Administrator of Elections, said petitions will be available February 3 for school board seats in Districts 5 and 6 along with the following city races: three aldermen seats in Smithville; five aldermen seats in Alexandria; and a mayor and two aldermen seats in Dowelltown. In addition, any local voter interested in running for State House 40 and 46 can also get a petition at the local election office.

“All the local offices will be for four-year terms, except two of the five aldermen seats in Alexandria will be for two-years to fill unexpired terms,” Stanley said. “The state house seats are also two-year terms.”

The qualifying deadline for the August election is Noon April 2.

Meanwhile, early voting begins February 12 for the March 3 Presidential Preference Primaries; the Republican and Democratic Primaries for Criminal Court Judge Part II; and the DeKalb County Democratic Primary for Assessor of Property and six of the seven Constable seats.

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