DeKalb Parks - $200,000 wasted and lawsuit with EDAW possible over payment.

A while back I started asking questions regarding the updated DeKalb County Parks, Master Plan and when the county officials refused to answer my questions on its status, I filed an open records request to see if this quarter million dollar investment of our tax dollars was being well spent. I have since discovered that the money put forward towards this project was completely wasted and the master plan will not be completed.

The urban design firm EDAW, considered one of the top firms in the WORLD for parks & recreation planning was awarded the contract. EDAW did the initial master plan in 2000, and by all accounts, it was an excellent document. They worked closely with then Director Becky Kelly, who now is in charge of Georgia State Parks.

The documentation provided by the county indicates that EDAW needed more feedback from the county then the county was willing to provide in order to complete the master plan. It appears that EDAW was asking some very tough questions that this administration didn't want made public since they were refusing to answer the questions. It was after numerous delays and canceled meetings that EDAW put these questions into writing and it was at that point that the contract was canceled. The county states that the contract for the new master plan was terminated under the accusation that EDAW was just cutting and pasting information from the previous master plan. The county has refused to pay the balance of the submitted invoices and EDAW is on the verge of suing for wrongful termination of the contract.

I have uploaded just a small fraction of the documentation provided by the County on this fiasco so that you can get a flavor of the ineptitude of the parties involved. I'm sure if EDAW was asked, they too would have fine things to say regarding this matter. Just look at the attached photo.

E-mails leading up to the cancellation
&
E-mails discussing the cancellation

Unfortunately this type of incident isn't isolated, the DeKalb County Parks Department has a history of wasteful spending and organized deception of its citizens. Here are just a few examples...

• Director Drew and CEO Jones promised regular updates on the 2005 bond projects for parks & recreation yet there has never been a full update nor accounting of the money.
  
• Brook Run Park was promised $11.5 million in the 2005 park bond referendum and the county refuses to account for the money spent, nor the amount still available.
  
• A $500,000 extension on a $1.3 Million dollar contract at Brook Run was hidden from my last open public records request and the county was caught in a bold face lie.
  
• Though the contract on the back 30 acres of Brook Run Park is completed, DeKalb refuses to discuss opening the back of the park to the public.
• Additional benches have been promised for the playground at Brook Run yet the County never delivers on its promises.

I expect our government to be responsible stewards of our taxpayer dollars, but with the current CEO form of government in DeKalb whereby one man runs the various county departments as per his political whims; it seems that I will always be disappointed.

City or not here in Dunwoody, who is going to change this much bigger problem of County governance?