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LEISURE SERVICES PROBLEMS
On many occasions over the past several
years I have written the mayor and commis
sion and asked why no one seems interested
in the slow, deliberate dismembering of the
Department of Leisure Services. I have asked
why the mayor and commissioners allowed the
department to be reorganized, especially when
it was done with a deliberate decision by the
manager's office to not tell you what was
being done until after the fact. I have asked
why the commission paid $150,000 for a mas
ter plan no one read and that was not used
when reorganizing the department. I have
asked why a finance administrator was hired
to help justify the position and pay of another
employee who was supposed to be handling
finances for years.
I also have asked about the propriety of
the director of leisure services working with
her husband, also an Athens-Clarke County
employee, to make decisions about how
Leisure Services is operated, and about pull
ing something over on mayor, commissioners
and managers by having all the work Leisure
Services didn't want to do transferred to
Central Services.
I have also written to Manager Alan
Reddish expressing my concern that Leisure
Services Director Pam Reidy was thinking of
moving her office into the Lyndon House,
which violated all the reasons citizens of ACC
worked so hard to fund the expansion of the
facility and the service it provides to the com
munity. The people of Clarke County worked
hard to plan a new wing for the Lyndon House,
to acquire SPLOST funding and to see that the
Lyndon House became a comprehensive cen
ter for the arts. Tearing that apart under the
misguided leadership now in charge would be
a travesty.
In my letter to Mr. Reddish, I asked why
Reidy and Kent Kilpatrick have been allowed
to remain in their positions and to steadily
undermine the morale and ability of the
employees for whom they are responsible. As
seems to be normal procedure, Alan did not
deem the inquiry of a mere citizen to be wor
thy of a reply.
I have not asked these questions lightly,
and I have expected substantive answers from
elected officials. Unfortunately, none have
ever been offered.
Meanwhile, I hear people who volunteer
their time, their talent, and their money to
make Athens-Clarke County one of the best
places to live in the U.S. saying our local
government is not listening. I learn of people
asking honest questions about why programs
are being cut, why educational classes are
considered not useful, why experienced pro
fessional staff are
not allowed input
into the programs
for which they
are responsible,
why the Natural
Resources Division
was eliminated and
why the Oconee River
Greenway Commission
has been quietly
undermined. When
they ask these ques
tions, all they learn is that the employees
in the Department of Leisure Services are
being accused of talking to the public they
are supposed to serve and encouraging the
public to find out why such poor manage
ment is allowed. Personally, I cannot blame
them, because if there is this much trouble in
Leisure Services, what must be happening in
other departments?
I spent my career in recreation and lei
sure services, part of it as superintendent of
parks for the City of Athens, part as director
of leisure services for the City of Charleston,
SC, and part as head of the UGA Recreation
Technical Assistance Office helping agen
cies throughout Georgia. I wrote the chapter
on recreation and parks in the Handbook
for Georgia County Commissioners and in the
Handbook for Georgia Mayors and Council
Members. In over 30 years in the field of parks
and recreation, I have never felt the need to
question management knowledge, skills or
ability of my fellow professionals. I feel that
need now and have for several years, because
it is difficult to watch what is happening to
one of the departments that always made
Athens-Clarke County such a great place to
live. It is especially hard to watch employees
who have worked hard to do their best to
serve the public become demoralized because
of the way they have been treated. I hope
each of you will begin to ask questions of
the manager and of any and all employees of
the county. Yes, I have heard that employees
are not allowed to talk to elected officials or
the public, but that seems a bit absurd. What
person doesn't feel he or she has the right to
expect certain things from the people they
hire and the right
to talk with them?
Maybe it is time
to review how the
manager's office and
its employees are
evaluated before all
the good government
services and depart
ments that have been
built over the years
are totally destroyed.
Please don't allow
a few poor managers to destroy a department
that has been one of the most envied in the
state for many years.
Daniel Hope III, Ed.D.
Athens
WHAT TO DO WITH A&D
Here are some thoughts about usage of
Armstrong & Dobbs tract. I support some calls
for an outdoor amphitheater, not only for the
musical tradition of the town, but also for the
budding film industry of Athens. Who could
resist sitting under the stars and moon and
watching Casablanca or some new romantic
comedy made in Athens?
My second dream is a little more futuris
tic. With a climate change, I am certain that
senior citizens will spend more and more time
inside. Because of that, and a need to learn
more about interaction between people and
plants, I would suggest that a small complex
be built to study the effects of a closed envi
ronment on humans and plants. For instance, a
glass pavilion with places for sport activities,
walking tracks, dancing, coffee shops, a small
eating area and plants.
I am certain that the scientists of the
University of Georgia, the National Institute of
Health, the Smithsonian institutions and the
New York and Missouri botanical gardens can
develop this idea further.
Zvezdana Ukropina-Crawford
Athens
ATHENS NEEDS LEADERSHIP
Here's my response to Pete McCommons'
dead-on Dec. 4 Pub Notes: I care.
I care about building an Athens that is a
bastion of equality, prosperity and sustain
ability. I care to see us foster a community
that is safe and welcoming to all individu
als, one that addresses the issues of poverty,
sexual assault and discrimination. I care about
developing an Athens economy that is focused
on small businesses, entrepreneurship and our
workers' best interests. I'm running for mayor
of Athens-Clarke County because I believe, I
know, that Athens has the ability to be a city
that all others aspire to.
Our unified government has been led into
a "business as usual" stupor by uninspired
leadership and tired ideas, not unlike the
stagnation in Washington. We need a govern
ment that is passionate about improving our
county and takes on issues with ingenuity and
efficiency. A community with as much promise
as Athens deserves that.
Sometimes taking action seems risky, and
that it's easier to play it safe, but it is time
for Athens to have a mayor who will inspire,
innovate and move Athens forward. I want
to be that mayor for Athens; I care, and we
deserve better than more of the same.
Tim Denson
Athens
WHERE???S ORT?
Just askin'.
J. Fluster Philpot
Lower Oglethorpe County
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM ??? JANUARY 8, 2014