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Director leaving ADDA
Kathryn Lookofsky will be out in June
after seven years as executive director of the
Athens Downtown Development Authority.
During an ADDA board meeting last week,
Lookofsky opted to leave at the end of her
contract, which expires June 30, according to
Chairwoman Erica Cascio. "The outcome was,
she isn't going to seek to extend her con
tract," said Cascio, the owner of Square One
Fish Co.
Cascio nor Lookofsky would say why she is
leaving. "I truly love Downtown Athens and
the Athens community," Lookofsky said. "I am
very happy to have had a chance to serve this
great community and am very excited about
the future of Downtown Athens. I currently
have no plans, but I would love to stay in the
area."
Other board members either didn't respond
to requests for comment or referred questions
to Cascio, who said she couldn't discuss most
of what happened during the approximately
two-hour meeting. All but a few minutes were
closed to the public, as Georgia law allows for
personnel discussions. "The rest of it was all
privileged, personnel," Cascio said. "I can't
discuss it."
The vote to accept Lookofsky's resignation
was unanimous. Following the meeting, ADDA
parking director Laura Miller also submitted
her resignation. Lookofsky was scheduled for
a performance review Dec. 11, but the board
postponed it until Dec. 18 because two mem
bers had to go to another
meeting, leaving the group
without a quorum.
An entirely different
ADDA board???all seven
members have since turned
over???hired Lookofsky
away from a similar posi
tion in Jonesboro in 2006
to replace Art Jackson. At the time, board
members praised her enthusiasm and people
skills. Since then, she has relentlessly cham
pioned a downtown master plan, downtown
merchants and downtown activities like the
Athens Farmers Market. Development down
town is booming, with the new Washington
Street parking deck opening and several major
projects planned.
"She's awesome," said Jane Scott, a former
ADDA board member who owns Native America
Gallery. "She's smart, she's sassy, she gets
stuff done, and most importantly, she cares
about Athens. She loves Athens. It's hard to
find people with that kind of passion.
"I have a problem with anything, I call her,
she gets results," Scott said. "She understands
how downtown works. If she leaves, it's a
huge loss for Athens."
But keeping diverse constituents like
retailers and bar owners or college students
and older visitors happy is no easy task. And
downtown has continued to struggle with
familiar problems, notably cleanliness and
parking. Some board members have accused
Lookofsky of not being active enough in
addressing those problems. Commissioner
Mike Hamby, in particular, has been pushing
Lookofsky to come up with solutions.
Lookofsky also disagreed with some of
the board's recent decisions, such as moving
the ADDA's office from the Fred Building on
College Avenue to the Athens Area Chamber of
Commerce.
The ADDA board will discuss hiring a new
executive director at its January meeting,
Cascio said. "We're pretty sure it's going to be
a lengthy process," she said. "We have six-
and-a-half months to get it done."
Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
ACC Rebids Jail
Construction
After questions were raised about the
bidding process for a $47 million contract
to renovate and expand the Clarke County
Jail, Athens-Clarke officials are rebidding the
project.
The ACC Commission voted to reject all
bids earlier this month after an executive with
the second-lowest bidder, Hunt Construction
Group, said the low bidder, McKnight
Construction, wasn't qualified to build the jail.
Another firm also complained when county
officials declared it unqualified and wouldn't
allow it to bid, according to documents
Fiagpole obtained through an open records
request.
"It is my opinion your County is barring us
from bidding the [project] and the county is
limiting the competition to a few firms," Bob
Legg wrote to ACC officials in October.
Seven firms were deemed qualified and bid
on the contract. Although McKnight didn't
meet all of the criteria???mostly related to
experience building jails and projects of a
similar scope as the Clarke
County Jail???officials
used their discretion to
determine that the com
pany could do the work,
according to Manager Alan
Reddish. "The purpose
of pre-qualification is to
identify as many contrac
tors as possible who you think can do the job,
because you're trying to enhance competi
tion," he said.
The scope of the projects McKnight has
done come nowhere near Hunt's, when judged
by the companies' bid documents. Hunt
expanded the massive, 5,000-bed jail in
Maricopa County, AZ, a $515 million project,
and built the Miami Marlins' $400 million
new stadium. McKnight's largest project was
the $34 million Webster Detention Center
in Augusta, and the company's experience
with LEED certification is not as extensive as
Hunt's.
However, once the bids came in, under
state law ACC had no choice but to accept
the "lowest responsive and responsible bid,"
Reddish said, even though Hunt's bid was
within $2,000 of McKnight's when two minor
add-ons to the project are taken into account.
But only the base bid matters, Reddish said.
"You can't shop it that way," he said. "Hunt
could have been taking a loss on their alter
nates and put that in the base bid. We don't
know that."
ACC officials handled the first bidding pro
cess properly, Reddish said, but opted to rebid
to avoid a potential lawsuit. The new request
for qualifications includes clearer language
about the criteria to qualify to bid, he said.
The commission is scheduled to award the
contract at its April voting meeting.
Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
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