Friday, Dec. 3, 2004

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Olens tabbed to head ARC board

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn was passed over in his bid to be named the new head of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Board of Directors on Wednesday.

Meeting at ARC headquarters in downtown Atlanta, the 39-member board instead elected Cobb Commission Chair Sam Olens.

Dunn and Olens were the only candidates who put their names in consideration for the leadership post of the powerful regional planning agency. Olens replaces Crandle Bray, the outgoing chairman of the Clayton County Commission, who headed the ARC for three years.

An ARC spokeswoman said the vote was made in secret, so the support each man received was unknown.

“Apparently, it was a close vote, though they didn’t announce the numbers,” Dunn said Wednesday afternoon.

“I offered myself up,” Dunn added with a degree of disappointment. “I’ll support Sam; he’s a good man.”

Had Dunn won the post, he would have found himself in one of the most influencial leadership positions in all metro Atlanta, with the potential to direct billions in state and federal growth funds to projects in the 10-county ARC region.

It also would have raised Fayette County’s profile in the metro area considerably, and at a time when the county is trying to win millions in matching grants to fund its long-range transportation improvement package.

Dunn said Fayette, which is one of the smallest of the 10 ARC counties that include Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett, has always fought to maintain a profile at the agency.

That’s likely not going to change anytime soon, he said.

“The ARC is really about the five or six counties with big populations, and then there’s the rest of us little guys,” Dunn said.

Dunn will remain on the ARC Board as long as he continues to serve as chairman of the county commission, a post he has held for four years. But he said Wednesday that he’s not sure if he’ll be in a position to seek the ARC’s top seat again.

Dunn has two years remaining in his current term, but he hasn’t said for sure that he’ll seek reelection in 2006. Even so, there’s no guarantee that he’d continue as commission chair, which earns an automatic seat at the ARC.