July 22, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Will the county commission now call for a public referendum on the bond resolution?
During a special called meeting today (Monday) the DeKalb County Election Commission certified a petition, signed by more than 10% of registered voters protesting and seeking a public referendum on the issuance of General Obligation Bonds in DeKalb County to borrow up to $65 million for a jail/ judicial center.
Administrator of Elections Dustin Estes said of the 2,500 signatures on the petition, 1,500 were checked and verified which exceeded the 1,361 needed to trigger a referendum subject to action by the county commission calling for a public vote. The notice of certification now goes to the county clerk, as required by law, who is to notify the county mayor and commission and it will be up to them whether or not to honor the petitioners’ wishes and request a public referendum in time for the November General Election.
“The letter of official certification from the county election commission has been turned over to County Clerk Jimmy Poss who will then give it to the county mayor and the county commissioners and anyone else required to have it,” explained Estes. “Then it is up to the county commission to decide if they want this referendum pertaining to the petition to be on the election ballot. If they decide not to push forward with an election resolution, then essentially the bond dies. It is to no effect. If they (county commission) pass an election resolution instructing the election commission to place the referendum on the ballot, they have up through the August monthly (county commission) meeting to put that on the November ballot. Anything after August would take some clarification to determine whether it could be on the November ballot or if it would have to be on a special election ballot later which would cost the county around $20,000,” said Estes.
Last month a successful grassroots petition drive was launched seeking to file a protest and request a public referendum after the county commission and county mayor approved an initial resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds to borrow up to $65 million for the development and construction of a judicial center/jail and a 51-cent property tax increase to pay for it through the county’s debt service fund putting the overall tax levy at $2.51 per $100 of assessed value. While a referendum would gauge the public’s approval or disapproval of the issuance of bonds, it would not force a repeal of the 51-cent tax increase. The petition bearing over 2,500 names was submitted to County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss as required by law who then turned the signatures over to the election commission last week for the 15-day signature verification process, which was completed in four days
The notice as adopted by the election commission states as follows:
“In accordance with TCA 9-21-207, on July 15, 2024, the DeKalb County Election Commission received from the county clerk, as required by law, a petition protesting the issuance of General Obligation Bonds in the county”.
“To call for a referendum on the issuance of general obligation bonds, TCA 9-21-207 requires a petition to be signed by ten percent (10%) or more of the registered voters of DeKalb County on the date DeKalb County published in the newspaper of general circulation the notice of the initial resolution adopted by the DeKalb County Commission. On June 26, 2024, the initial resolution appeared in the newspaper, and on that date, there were 13,607 registered voters in DeKalb County ten percent (10%) of such number is 1,361”.
“Upon examination of the petition, the election commission staff has verified 1,500 valid signatures, a number which exceeds the minimum number of signatures needed to call for a county referendum on the question of whether general obligation bonds may be issued in DeKalb County”.
“Therefore, on the 22nd day of July 2024, we the undersigned members of the DeKalb County Election Commission (Chairman Brandon Gay and Commissioners Kim Luton, Yvette Carver, Loree Hall, and Ron Sifford) certify to the DeKalb County Commission that the petition filed on July 15, 2024 contains a sufficient number of valid signatures of registered voters to authorize the DeKalb County Commission to call for referendum on the question of whether the general obligation bonds may be issued in DeKalb County”.
“Before calling and setting an election date on the question of approving the issuance of the general obligations bond, the DeKalb County Election Commission will await the adoption of an election resolution under TCA 9-21-209 by the DeKalb County Commission,” the letter concluded.
Taking questions from WJLE after the election commission meeting today (Monday), Administrator of Elections Estes explained how the petition process was handled.
“We certified the petition today (Monday) protesting the issuance of general obligation bonds for DeKalb County”
“On June 26 the initial bond resolution (adopted by the county commission) appeared in the newspaper and on that date, there were 13,607 registered voters in DeKalb County and 10% of that number was required to validate the petition. That’s what we did today (Monday). We received the petition last Monday, July 15 from County Clerk Jimmy Poss. Basically from that date we had 15 calendar days to certify the petition which is what we did today (Monday) and we did it in half the time,” explained Estes.
“As of Thursday, last week, we reached the required number of 1,361 signatures verified”.
“I would like to explain our verification process. First, we checked to make sure that the person who signed the petition was a registered voter. Secondly, we made sure that their address matched or if it was different that they remained (resided) within the same precinct. Thirdly was the signature verification. Being able to match the signature we have on file and the signature that was placed on the petition itself. Lastly, we also recognized if there were any duplicates so anyone who signed the petition multiple times, those were caught and not counted”.
“We had roughly 2,500 signatures and we checked 1,500 which was well more than what was required. There were plenty more signatures and honestly at the rate we were going we could probably have passed 2,000. We just didn’t find it necessary. We have other things to tend to and we had what was required of us,” said Estes.
“I want to give special thanks to my deputy administrator Tina Gee and election worker Gloria Pinegar for helping support this activity in verifying signatures. It was an enormous task to do especially during early voting. The time allotted was 15 days for us to verify the signatures on the petition and we were able to do it in four days minus the certification process,” added Estes.