Jesse Spikes of City Hall: ‘When I get somebody on the phone, they’re not very nice’

Bureaucracy – in particular, the city’s malfunctioning police department and an irresponsive water department – was also a hot topic in tonight’s Atlanta mayoral debate sponsored by the AJC and WSB.

“I know when I get somebody on the phone, they’re not very nice to me,” said Jesse Spikes, the Atlanta attorney.

Norwood promised zero-based budgeting . Borders promised a “Commissioner Fix-It” who would track complaints. She modified an old Newt Gingrich line. “If UPS can track a package, we can track a concern,” she said.

Borders admitted there are some city employees who aren’t doing their jobs, and said unions would help her identify the miscreants.

Borders said that, when it came to customer service, the grade that the city’s water department should receive “is probably an ‘F’. We’ve got to take that division apart.”

Said Reed: “The number of misbillings that we have…is simply too high, and it’s been confirmed by our own audits.”

Reed also called for a “return to the day where we have more live phones” at City Hall. He declared that he wanted to “end the culture of voice mail.”

But the topic of furloughs separated the candidates. Borders and Reed promised no furloughs to police and firefighters. Only Spikes and Norwood expanded that to include all city employees.

Norwood and Reed agreed on the issue of panhandlers in downtown Atlanta. Both said beggars and the homeless aren’t the same thing, and each needs to be handled separately. Spikes said ditto.

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