ADICA OKs use of consultant, student services

ALBANY — The Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority board will be getting lots of help — some of it at no charge, some with a hefty price tag — as its members continue to work with city officials on the redevelopment of downtown Albany.

The board voted at its monthly meeting Wednesday to work with consultant Dan McRae of the Atlanta-based Seyfarth Shaw law firm on development and training and to secure the firm’s services in completing details necessary to move Dr. Tripp Morgan’s downtown microbrewery project forward. The board also learned graduate and undergraduate students from both Georgia Tech and Valdosta State University are expected to work on projects that will supply data for potential downtown business tenants.

“A number of Georgia Tech students will compile data to determine best-use practices, to determine the best types of businesses to locate downtown and to design build-outs for the Pine Avenue and Front Street properties purchased by ADICA (through the city of Albany),” ADICA President/Downtown Manager Latoya Cutts told the board. “Valdosta State students will complete a vacant building inventory for the downtown, will help create a redevelopment plan for the Harlem district and will do a housing survey in neighborhoods near downtown.

“These students’ work will help us develop market data that will help us paint a clearer picture for potential businesses looking to locate downtown. I thought it was significant, too, that these (university representatives) approached us with the ideas for these projects. I hope to talk with officials at Albany State to see if we can involve some of their students in these projects as well.”

The ADICA board voted 6-1 to secure the consulting services of Seyfarth Shaw’s McRae at a cost expected to be between $2,000 and $4,000 for training and between $7,500 and $10,000 for work on establishing revolving loan guidelines for the microbrewery and other downtown projects.

Funds for McRae’s services would come from the authority’s yearly operating budget.

Board member Phil Cannon, himself an attorney, objected to the use of the Atlanta consultant and cast the lone vote against hiring him.

“I have an issue with consultants,” Cannon said. “The city has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to have these people come in and tell us the same things. Also, since a lot of the work involves crunching numbers with a computer, I can’t imagine that a local firm couldn’t do the same thing, only much cheaper. I thought that was why we moved our legal responsibilities under the city attorney, to save the cost of outside representation.”

Cannon asked to see the billing rate of the consulting firm. He noted that the rates of the three persons listed on documents submitted by Seyfarth Shaw were $665, $450 and $220 an hour.

“I want those rates on the record,” Cannon said.

Asked his opinion of McRae’s services, City Attorney Nathan Davis said, “My experience working with him was excellent. That’s an excellent law firm.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the ADICA board voted to use the $3,500 in skate park maintenance funds in its FY 2016 budget and an additional $1,410 from funds that had been budgeted for maintenance of the former Art Park property, which was sold to Morgan, for repairs at the former skate park property now being utilized by Rabbitman Footwear.

Rabbitman co-owner Tony Williams had asked that fencing, sun screens and a bench at the skate park be repaired. The fencing, he said, would help cut down on vandalism in the actual skate park. ADICA will contract with the city’s facilities department to do the work.

The board also named its officers for the new year at Wednesday’s meeting, returning Thelma Johnson to the chairmanship and Cannon to the secretary position. Jimmy Lindsey was elected vice chair.