DeKalb CEO outlines $4.27 billion infrastructure plan, housing and enforcement wins in employee address

Chief Executive Officer Lorraine Cochran Johnson told county employees at the 2026 Employee State of the County that DeKalb is at a "critical moment in history" and outlined a slate of investments and enforcement changes intended to modernize services and address blight and housing instability.

"DeKalb County is at a critical moment in history," Johnson said, opening her address and thanking frontline staff across police, fire, watershed, public works and other departments for their work. She framed the administration's vision as "reimagine DeKalb" and said the county will execute large capital plans and targeted programs to improve residents' quality of life.

Johnson credited the Board of Commissioners with passage of a "10 by 10" plan that she said delivers the largest infrastructure investment in DeKalb history: "$4,270,000,000" to modernize water and other capital systems. She framed the funding as necessary to address decades of underinvestment and to prepare a crumbling system that she said will have large shares of assets reaching 70 years of age by 2030.

On housing, Chief Housing Officer Dr. Allen Ferguson described the county's comprehensive approach and milestones. "Housing is one of the most urgent challenges facing our country and facing our county today," Ferguson said, citing projects that include DeKalb's first 400‑bed emergency housing shelter, a 60‑home rapid housing facility for single mothers moved from extended‑stay hotels, and transitional supportive housing partnerships.

Johnson also highlighted stepped‑up enforcement and property‑management actions. She said code compliance hours were expanded beyond traditional 8 a.m.‑5 p.m. coverage to run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and that citations have risen from about 60 per month to roughly 260 per month since early 2025. To handle increased caseloads, the county has expanded municipal court from two days per week to four.

The CEO described anti‑blight operations that removed more than 30,000 illegally dumped tires and formed a tire‑dumping task force that the administration says led to arrests; she also said the county has demolished 246 homes since 2019 to address unsafe housing stock. Johnson used the examples to underscore a tougher stance toward substandard landlords.

Administrative modernization and sustainability were additional priorities. Johnson said the county invested $3,000,000 to update procurement policies (the first such review in 14 years) and $7,000,000 to upfit planning and sustainability functions. She also announced the hiring of DeKalb's first chief of sustainability and said the county will rename the sanitation division to "Solid Waste Management" to shift toward sustainability goals.

Parks and redevelopment projects were singled out as visible investments: Johnson cited a $10,000,000 reimagining of Cedar Park, a 78‑acre vision for Entrenchment Creek Park with a pavilion, courts and trails, and plans to expand Lucia Sanders Recreation Center with a roughly 24,000‑square‑foot multi‑court facility and technology lab. Economic development examples included acquisition and redevelopment plans for 4380 Memorial Drive, Candler Crossing, and a proposed 50,000‑square‑foot Publix at Taylor Crossing.

Johnson framed these moves as part of a broader effort to make government more responsive and people‑centered. "This is not about me," she said. "This is about the employee state of the county — the people in this room determine the state of the county." She closed by urging unity across departments and recommitting the administration to deliver services for DeKalb's roughly 780,000 residents.

Next steps and timing for specific projects were not detailed in the address; several announcements described investments already approved or underway, while others (park designs, redevelopment proposals) were presented as planned initiatives to be executed in coming months.