Mayoral Candidates on Hiring Police, the Mosque Issue and More

Mayoral candidates Diana Preston (incumbent) and Johnny Crist responded to questions submitted by Patch readers. Here's what they said.

Question: There were at least two open positions in the Lilburn police that were authorized to be filled. A two-month process was initiated that entailed buying an ad in the paper, offering signed offer sheets, and qualifying finalists through a series of evaluations - all of which costs the city money. The day after the last city council meeting (where $40,000 was authorized to assist in the purchase of real estate) the open police billets were frozen and the written offers rescinded. If elected, would you lift the hiring freeze in the police department? When?

Diana Preston: The two positions referred to in the question have to do with Communications Officer positions, not sworn officer positions. The decision to rescind (not freeze) these positions had nothing to do with the $40,000 authorized to assist in the purchase of the former Blue Rooster property. The budget that the council adopted in June, 2011 represented a fully funded police department including some funds for police overtime. Since then staff decided to rescind the offers. Staff s decision is a operational decision and not a Council matter. It should be noted that the $40,000 loan to the Downtown Development Authority came from the Capital Projects fund which is a separate fund from the adopted operating budget.

Johnny Crist: Before any decision can be made in life, it is important that one knows the facts. In this case, the "facts" are not accurate. The implication here is that the city council or the HR department "froze" the hiring process and that the police department is functioning under staffed. That is not the case. The Chief, at his own discretion, temporarily suspended the hiring process until he has determined the timing of bringing these new office positions on board. There is no hiring freeze in the police department that needs any executive order to remove. 

Question: According to news reports, the city has been billed for legal fees in excess of $100,000 in a futile attempt to block a mosque/prayer center on Highway 29. Two part question:

A) If elected would you continue to fight this or other religious facilities that want to build or expand within the city?

Diana Preston: As far as the litigation with Dar-E-Abbas, the matter is settled.  As far as future religious facilities that seek to build or expand, each case has to be considered on its own merit. As a point of clarification, some of the $100,000 in fees this past year were spent on Service Delivery Strategy, some on a personnel issue, and some on miscellaneous items. $38,175 was spent on responding to the Department of Justice and $25,800 was spent over a two year period litigating the suit by Dar-E-Abbas. The city’s insurance company spent an unspecified amount on the suit. While we felt that the city could prevail in the Department of Justice suit, we decided not to proceed because of the anticipated expense and length of time to resolve the issue. Our insurance company would not pay legal expenses on the Department of Justice suit.

Johnny Crist: At the final hearing this past summer, the city council passed the Mosque application. This case is closed. There is no reason to review or contest it. Every application that is presented to the city council is different and is accepted or rejected based on it's own merit. We will continue to assess every application that is presented.

B) How do you expect to pay the legal and other bills from this legal battle, and what city services do you see being impacted (police or planning staffing, for example)?

Diana Preston: Our budget for 2011-12 allows for $60,000 in attorney fees for the Administration Department and $15,000 for attorney fees in the Police Department. This should be sufficient for this fiscal year.

Johnny Crist: Again it is important that we have the correct facts. The figures that I have seen reported by the media have included legal fees for other city actions not associated with the mosque case. The City of Lilburn budgets $75,000 in our annual budget to cover costs associated with any legal action taken against the city. When we exceed that cost (which occurred in the mosque case) the budget short fall is taken from other budget line items (small equipment, travel, training and the like). There was no impact to personnel, staffing or police budgets as a result of this budget overage. Our insurance policy has covered the major portion of the legal fees.

to see excerpts from the Oct. 17 forum with the candidates. to see a Patch Q&A with the candidates.