DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Dekalb County’s CEO will deliver her first state of the county address Thursday night.
Lorraine Cochran-Johnson has been on the job just shy of 120 days and is already making history.
“We are breaking the model, or shall I say, we’re going beyond that ceiling,” Cochran-Johnson said.
Her first State of the County address is already sold out.
“It makes me feel good and it also motivates me because I just feel there’s so many people I can’t let down, and I owe so much to so many,” Cochran-Johnson said.
The former commissioner sat down with Channel 2’s Lori Wilson on Wednesday to talk to her about the transition to CEO and if her priorities have changed since taking office.
Her answer: an emphatic no.
“I often say I have a PhD. in people and problems,” Cochran-Johnson said. “The first obligation that we owe to people is a safe environment. Also, at the top of my list has been and remains economic development.”
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Another priority for Cochran-Johnson is affordable housing in DeKalb County.
“The American dream has become a dream deferred for a lot of people. Affordable housing isn’t affordable, so we have a responsibility to create an environment that allows people to have ownership,” Cochran-Johnson said.
During Thursday night’s speech, Cochran-Johnson will talk about some of the successes her administration has already had, including hiring a county development director, focusing resources on infrastructure improvements, setting the groundwork to create a DeKalb Police Foundation, getting a bill passed to require surveillance cameras at gas stations and making a multimillion-dollar investment in the recruitment of law enforcement.
The CEO told Wilson that this is just the beginning.
“There are so many new things that are on the horizon, right down to a salary and pay grade study. Quality of life. I want DeKalb County and its residents to have the best possible quality of life,” she said.
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