Dougherty County bids farewell to retiring Larry Cook
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
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ALBANY — If there were any bodies buried at any Dougherty County construction sites, it’s a safe bet Larry Cook would know where they were.
On Thursday, friends and colleagues bid adieu to the retiring Public Works director, who is leaving public service after 54 years, 29 of which were with the county and 25 with the city of Albany.
“It’s a lifestyle change,” Cook, who handed over the reins to longtime county employee Chuck Mathis on July 23, said. “I’ve been trying to prepare myself for it, and I am looking forward to the next chapter.”
Blake Raney, a retired county employee who worked with Cook both with the city and county, remembered his former boss as a friend and mentor.
“He’s a hands-on person from day one,” Raney said during an interview following the ceremony. “He’s always there to help anybody in need. We’ve been out in the middle of the night so many times in storms and floods. He’s the first one out there and the last one to leave.”
During his tenure, Cook oversaw the completion of new structures to protect county equipment and a new shop building, Raney said, but one of his biggest contributions has been his dedication in bringing Radium Springs back from the brink.
The historic casino, now demolished, at Radium Springs was damaged by two floods and a fire, and Cook was the driving force behind revitalizing the area, Raney said.
In recent years the county has renovated the former ticket booth and gazebo at the site, added a memorial to the victims of a 2017 tornado that struck the area and embarked on a trail project that includes renovation of the Spring Run bridge. More recently the county has funded cleaning up the spring area and cleaning Skywater Creek of hydrilla.
“Radium Springs could have been scrapped altogether very easily,” Raney said. “Larry wouldn’t let it go. He was out there tirelessly.
“That’s the kind of person he is, with every project he took on. He just found it in his heart to do that with every job. There will never be another one like him.”
During Thursday’s ceremony, Cook’s family presented him with a portrait of the spring.
Cook and Raney, along with former Assistant Albany City Manager Phil Roberson, who retired in January 2020, were part of a new generation of leadership that took over from an older group of predecessors, Raney said.
One change during Cook’s tenure was the hiring of a more diverse workforce, Mathis told the audience.
“When Larry came, there were no people of color in our department,” he said. “There were no women except a few in the office. Larry took a look at that and said that’s not right.”
During an interview after the ceremony Mathis said the department will operate much as it has under Cook’s leadership.
“We’ve got the vision that he and I used,” he said. “We’re going to keep moving forward with this vision. We’ll look at other things to do to make the community better.”
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