DeKalb Advisory Committee Meeting with Mayor John Ernst, City of Brookhaven

Join the Council for Quality Growth's DeKalb Advisory Committee Meeting on November 3, 2022 at 8:30 AM in-person at the Druid Hills Country Club with Mayor John Ernst, City of Brookhaven.

John Ernst
Mayor
City of Brookhaven

John Ernst was elected Brookhaven's Mayor on Nov. 3, 2015 and re-elected in 2019 for another four-year term. 

Mayor Ernst grew up in the bucolic community known as Brookhaven long before Brookhaven officially incorporated in December 2012. He graduated from Emory University with a degree in history, and later from the University of Georgia with a degree in law. He lives in Lynwood Park with his wife and two sons.

Mayor Ernst's goals as mayor are to get back to the basics by delivering better parks, more greenspace and a transparent government.
To that end, Mayor Ernst:

• Spearheaded a successful Parks Bond referendum to invest $40 million in parks and greenspace.
• Completed Phase 1 of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, which will ultimately connect into the Atlanta Beltline, Path400 and the Silver Comet Trail.
• Collaborated with the mayors of seven cities, and four Community Improvement Districts along Interstate 285 to form the Top End Transit Executive Committee to bring Express Lane Transit to the chronically congested outer perimeter encircling Atlanta.

Under the Ernst administration Brookhaven has been awarded $16.5 million in federal funds to advance transportation projects, restore both the Nancy Creek and Peachtree Creek watersheds, enhance our parks, and support critical Public Safety initiatives. This does not include $14.7 million in federal funds for Coronavirus relief.  In addition, Brookhaven’s advocacy and partnerships with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, and the Georgia Department of Transportation have advanced $46 million in federal and state funds to the I-85/ North Druid Hills Road interchange project to ensure our community, and importantly the patients at both Children’s Healthcare and Emory, arrive easily and safely at their destination.

Mayor Ernst and the City Council empaneled the Brookhaven Social Justice, Race, and Equity Commission (SJREC) in response to the civil unrest and demonstrations in the summer of 2020 to take an intensive review about where Brookhaven stood in terms of justice, equity and inclusion in several key areas.  The 37-member SJREC reviewed the City’s Vision and Mission Statement and Charter, policies and procedures, public engagement and communication outreach, and the Brookhaven Police Department’s continuum use of force policy, oversight, and accountability.  The SJREC's final report was delivered to the Brookhaven City Council on December 14, 2021, and following additional forums of community input, the implementation plan was published.

Prior to his service as Mayor, Ernst opened a law practice in 2005, and served on the DeKalb County Board of Ethics from 2013 to 2015, where he filled lingering vacancies, increased the department's budget to handle increasing ethics complaints and led the board to convict a public official of an ethics violation for the first time in 15 years.