DeKalb County Commissioner Steve Cantrell urged commissioners to consider creating a dedicated maintenance team to perform preventive work on county-owned buildings.
Cantrell raised the idea following an update on repairs and improvements at several community centers and other county facilities. He pointed to the DeKalb County Board of Education, which already operates a maintenance team for school facilities.
“We don’t wait till the last minute when a car breaks down, we do periodic maintenance,” Cantrell said. “And the thing is, there are a lot of things that this county and the taxpayers have been saddled with, not to do preventive maintenance, so to speak, but after it’s broken.”
Cantrell said some county maintenance responsibilities currently fall to the solid waste director, creating work outside the position’s primary duties.
“We really need someone that can focus on this that can ensure that we’re not paying exorbitant prices for something that’s actually broken down when a minor fix would take care of it,” Cantrell said.
Cantrell said he wants commissioners to examine the idea during upcoming committee meetings rather than take immediate action.
Cantrell credited Commissioner Greg Matthews with previously advocating for a county maintenance team.
“I want to make sure, although I strongly support this, it wasn’t my idea,” Cantrell said. “It was Mr. Matthews’ idea, and he had no idea I was gonna raise this tonight, so I want to highlight that too.”