Newspaper Page Text
£) RoUM O TOuJ^
SH6<*T£r
Denson, Commission
Square Off Over EDF
A battle of wills is brewing between Mayor
Nancy Denson and Athens-Clarke County com
missioners who—in Denson's view—have held
"illegal" meetings out of public view in an
effort to get three commissioners appointed
to the board of the Economic Development
Foundation.
The EDF (initially set up by former Mayor
Doc Eldridge to take politics out of local eco
nomic development efforts) works to draw
new businesses and jobs to ACC, and to retain
existing ones. Several commissioners have
voiced unspecified dissatisfaction with EDF's
efforts, and earlier this month voted 7-1 (with
Doug Lowry dissenting, Jared Bailey absent
and Mayor Pro Tern Andy Herod sitting out the
vote while filling in for the injured Denson)
to withhold funds from EDF beyond July "for
later discussion."
They offered little explanation at the
time, but Herod told Flagpole last week the
group wants three commission seats on the
EDF board (in addition to the mayor, who is
already on it): the two superdistrict commis
sioners (each representing half the county)
and the mayor pro tern. Presently those posi
tions are filled by Kelly Girtz, Mike Hamby
and Herod—all of whom apparently met with
the EDF's director and chair before the budget
vote, asking to be put onto the board. But EDF
board members say they are awaiting a written
request from the ACC Commission before act
ing, and did not discuss the proposal at last
Monday's board meeting. No commissioners
attended that meeting.
Local economic development efforts have
been criticized for years. A 2008 task force
study by local industrialists said the Athens
area's "fragmented" marketing effort "creates
confusion among prospects" and "a negative
perception among some key state government
and business leaders and the statewide devel
opers network." Athens failed to draw a couple
of prominent biotech prospects, and the lJF's
last director was asked to resign. Judging from
last week's EDF board meeting—and perhaps
spurred by the threat of funding cuts—the
organization is getting better organized, at
least on paper. Board members (with some
pushback from Eldridge, now the Chamber of
Commerce president) are more closely specify
ing the duties of director Matt Forshee and
of the Chamber, which is one of the EDF's
partners and funders, along with UGA and ACC
government. A "community assessment" due
in July should provide "a snapshot of our local
economy," Forshee told the board; a study
of the proposed "Blue Heron" river district is
expected soon.
"It's about time" the EDF got organized,
Hamby told Flagpole. "You can worry about the
process all you want to, but at the end of the
day this organization hasn't shown results."
Hamby wants to see the EDF seek donations
of private funds and communicate better with
the elected commissioners. Herod said in a
comment on the Athens Banner-Herald web
site that "a number of commissioners have
been approached independently by several
EDF board members with concerns about the
EDF's seeming lack of direction. Additionally,
when we inquired directly with EDF about its
strategic plan and overall direction related to
economic development, we were given a vague
and overly general response."
Denson is the ACC government's official
rep on the EDF board, but "never once" has a
commissioner brought up any issues with her,
she told Flagpole. (Both Herod and Hamby
dispute that.) Nor does Denson approve of the
"strong-arm tactic" of withholding funds to
get additional seats on the board: "It's wrong
in so many ways," and wouldn't necessarily
improve EDF, she said. Besides, EDF is chang
ing: "There's some self-examination going
on," she said. "It's going to come out a much
stronger and better organization... I don't
think packing the board with commissioners is
the right answer."
Nor does the mayor plan to put such a
request on the commission's agenda, which
she sets. "I see no impetus to do anything
with it," she told Flagpole.
John Huie
Prioritized T-SPLOST
List Agreed to by M&C
Attending her first public meeting since her
car parked itself on her leg last month, Mayor
Nancy Denson sat to one side with her foot
raised but participated attentively. Denson
AT TH6 AMW/K $H£cTeQ'iX>oCA
VOLUNTEER T& £ Do&S
On ft/E 6jAv (Foonq An Ocr>
CevvieTeRY J3V the AfROOR. 7"
^—W—• 1 -^l. ~~ ■ W ,mmm m — I.fc M I —
DAviO W)Acl<
So ROD£ OUR BiKE-SOOl
TH£R6 LA<,r UJEO/OES DAV
SOT UJHEV fcjf 6oT To TH^
SHC-CfEP. IT UM5 SEO
.wer
said she expects to recover full use of the leg,
and has been "so frustrated" to be sidelined
from a job she loves. "I was doing 10 to 12
hours a day before this happened," she told
Flagpole. "Saturdays and Sundays were just
another weekday." Although she remains
hobbled by the injury, she is recovering well
and expects she'll be back up to speed in five
weeks.
At that work session, commissioners agreed
to a prioritized list of 18 local transportation
projects, some of which will be submitted to
voters next year. The top pick: a new Loop
10 exit to Mitchell Bridge Road (between the
Tallassee Road and Atlanta Highway exits)
intended to provide better access to Atlanta
Highway.
The priorities were recommended by ACC
Transportation Director David Clark, based
largely on their relevance to regional transpor
tation needs; other, more local projects can
still be built with local-option money that will
also be available if the 1 percent T-SPLOST
passes in 2012. ACC's prioritized list now goes
to a multi-county committee that will pick
which projects actually are submitted to the
voters.
Commissioners approved the list despite
concerns about some projects—especially
those that didn't make the list. Three-laning
Mitchell Bridge Road (with bike lanes and
sidewalks) wasn't included, Kelly Girtz pointed
out. "We still want to move that project for
ward," Clark said, but meanwhile, the new
overpass should reduce cut-through traffic
that now uses Mitchell Bridge. How about
building sidewalks along Lexington Road,
Doug Lowry asked. "We have been reluctant to
fund projects along state highways when we
have so many local road needs," Clark said.
Still, the state transportation depart
ment's veto power over projects to be funded
by the local tax will enable it to build some
projects of its own choosing, said Clark and
Commissioner Alice Kinman, who (along
with Denson) represents ACC on the regional
T-SPLOST "roundtable." "We are going to be
spending a lot of this money on the state
roads system," Kinman said.
The complete prioritized projects list—
from which local projects will be chosen—is
available in the online edition of this article.
John Huie
Republic
salon
• ENTRANCE ON JACKSON ST. * WWW.REPUBLtCSALON.COM
JUNE 22,2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 5
