DeKalb County finally agrees to handle intersection, School Board is off the hook.

I believe the four month saga of the Peachtree Charter Middle School intersection is finally coming to a close and with this my now eighth blog entry on the subject. I am happy to announce that the County will be paying for the road improvement and the County School System is now off the hook for funding the project.

In my last e-mail on Friday March 7th to the County Attorney, Mr. Bill Linkous, I asked questions regarding a DeKalb County legal interpretation from 2002 which stated that the County Government and not the school system should be funding road projects adjacent to schools. Later that same day, I received a reply from the Public Works Director stating that the County will be scheduling the work as soon as the contractors are available and a message from Mr. Linkous who gave me an acceptable legal version of "No Comment" due to the document being considered confidential attorney client privileged materials.

In my reply, I thanked both offices and informed Mr. Linkous that I no longer needed his reinterpretation of the subject matter since the Georgia Supreme Court had just reaffirmed the County position from 2002. The full e-mail documentation from Friday is posted below and I look forward to the intersection being completed in the very near future.

From: Dunwoody North Civic Association
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 11:26 PM
To: 'Linkous, William J'; 'Rhinehart, William E. (Ted)'

Subject: Thank you for clearing up questions on the PCMS intersection.

Thank you Mr. Rhinehart & Mr. Linkous for responding to my inquiry so quickly, it is very much appreciated. In order to put some closure to this matter, I have copied your messages to me into this message so to inform the other interested parties of the community.

Mr. Rhinehart, I am very happy to hear that the County will be moving forward with this intersection improvement as soon as the contractors are available.

Mr. Linkous, I fully understand and respect the concept of attorney client privilege and with Commissioners Gannon & Boyer both copied onto the message from yesterday, I believe they could ask you for an updated legal opinion if they were so inclined. In this case, with the County now taking on full responsibility for the intersection improvement as well as a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision that reaffirms the Counties 2002 opinion outlined previously, I see no reason that they would need to do so. In case it was needed for reference, I have attached a copy of the court decision on this message.

My community will be looking forward to this project being completed in the very near future and I would like to thank you again for your time and professionalism in handling this situation.

Sincerely,

John Heneghan

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From: Rhinehart, William E. (Ted)
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 8:05 AM
To: Dunwoody North Civic Association; Allen, Peggy; Linkous, William J
Cc: Greene, Willie; Gurbal, John

Subject: RE: PCMS - Legal opinion sought to verify 2002 DeKalb County memo on traffic improvements near schools

Ms. Allen is working with the traffic and construction crews and/or contractors to do whatever striping or curb ramps are needed at the location below; as you saw from her previous note below, she understood from Mr. Young that the school had contracted for that scope of work, but now finding out that this was not the case, she’s proceeding in getting the work done as soon as the crews and/or contractors can fit it in.

Best regards, Ted R.

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From: Linkous, William J
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 11:21 AM
To: Dunwoody North Civic Association
Cc: Ernstes, Viviane
Subject: RE: PCMS - Legal opinion sought to verify 2002 DeKalb County memo on traffic improvements near schools

Mr. Heneghan--

Thank you for your correspondence.

The materials you attached to your e-mail were, and are, confidential attorney client privileged materials. I cannot waive that privilege. The privilege can only be waived by express action of DeKalb County and the permission of the former Commissioner who apparently requested the opinion. Therefore, I cannot comment on it in any fashion, because any such comment could violate my duty to maintain the privilege.

Nor can I render a legal opinion to you. The only clients of my office that we are authorized to represent are DeKalb County and its officials, boards, and employees. Therefore, I must respectfully decline to respond to your request.

I hope you understand my position. Let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,
Bill Linkous