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Dunn to head ARC committee

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

On the same day last week that Greg Dunn was reelected to an unprecedented fifth term as chairman of the Fayette County Commission, the Atlanta Regional Commission announced he would be appointed to head the agency’s most powerful committee in 2005.

Elevating Dunn from vice-chairman of the ARC’s Transportation and Air Quality Committee was among the first actions taken by Sam Olens, the new ARC chairman. Olens, of Cobb County, and Dunn were the only two in the running in December’s ARC elections for the top slot.

As transportation chair, Dunn will oversee the massive $53 billion Mobility 2030 plan adopted by the ARC, and play an active role in the development of the ARC’s 25-year transportation program for the entire region.

Dunn will also become a member of the steering committee for the ARC’s Transit Institutional Study, and will lead a transportation needs assessment for the South Metro region starting sometime this year.

“Greg has shown great interest and ability in understanding and effectively communicating the challenges related to our region’s mobility,” said Olens. “He has my full support and I believe he will be a strong leader in taking our region forward in this critical area.”

But Dunn wouldn’t be representing Fayette County on the ARC Board at all this week, if fellow County Commissioners Herb Frady and A.G. VanLandingham had their way last week.

In a meeting Jan. 5, the pair voted against making Dunn chairman for a record fifth year, while commissioners Peter Pfeifer and Linda Wells voted to keep him. Had Dunn lost, he would have been forced to step down from his automatic ARC appointment.

As it turned out, the deciding vote was cast by Dunn himself.

That makes Dunn the longest-serving commission chairman in Fayette County history, said Executive Assistant Carol Chandler, a fact made more remarkable when history is considered: Until 1984, the county went 26 straight years without reelecting any commissioners, Chandler said.

Frady later said his vote against reappointing Dunn was “nothing personal,” but he did think the chairman had overstepped the boundaries of the job.

“We’ve got a person here who I think exhibits a lot more authority than the job has given him,” said Frady.

“The chairman believes he has the authority to run the place, and he doesn’t,” said Frady. “I’ve talked to him about it, but he didn’t listen to me. The chairman is supposed to go to ribbon cuttings and ARC meetings, those kinds of things.”