Don Buie is, if nothing else, always good for a story. Today, the Albany Herald reports that ADICA is behind on rent by three months for the property that apparently houses the Dollar Square. The amount owed allegedly totals $6,000 dollars for those three months.
Buie claims that it was merely an oversight, caused by the employee who normally took care of this leaving ADICA and it will be corrected. Unfortunately, this is just the latest event in an eventful month for Buie.
On Wednesday, the Albany Journal reported that ADICA grant money had been spent inappropriately. Before that we had allegations of receiving a kickback. Today, we have this. And there’s a few things that need to be looked at.
First, there was no oversight in Buie’s spending for smaller amounts with ADICA. Only now is an audit being conducted. Second, we find a difficulty in finding documents that should be easily found such as lease agreements. Now, we find that Buie can’t even ensure that the rent is paid.
While there are some very serious allegations being leveled against Buie, and they should be vigorously investigated, Buie’s explainations are actually painting a picture that should be grounds for termination as well. At worst, Buie is guilty of criminal acts. But the best we can see, based on Buie’s own words, is incompetence.
Tim Coley asked for a copy of the lease agreement between the Dollar Square and ADICA on July 8 of this year. So far, he’s still waiting. The lease is “missing” at the moment. A lease shouldn’t be that hard to find. What if there was a legal issue where Tim Washington claimed ADICA was responsible for something? Where is ADICA’s lease to show that the taxpayers weren’t liable? Hmmm?
If administrative oversights are this common, something is wrong in that office. As Buie is the CEO of ADICA, the blame rests solely on him. While he may actually be innocent of some of the accusations leveled against him, his own worded indict him. If this is the best he can manage, then it’s well past time for him to be shown the door.
Don, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
On another note – how did three months of unpaid rent escape the attention of Dougherty County?
A fair question, though I doubt we’ll get an answer.
Is ADICA still a good idea, Phil Cannon?
Please, for the love of God, put ADICA out of its misery and shut it down.
“As Buie is the CEO of ADICA, the blame rests solely on him.”
Again, I take a different view. No question, Buie should already be terminated, but if he goes, I strongly suspect the angle the ADICA pumpers will take is “Hey, we fixed it–now back to business as usual.”
The problem with this that nobody wants to touch is that you could have a saint running ADICA and it would still be a bad idea. Langstaff, Marietta, Phil Cannon and all of the ADICA pumpers are to blame for this mess, not simply Buie.
ADICA/ATI/etc. was a bad idea before Buie and it will be a bad idea after he goes as well.
Jack: While I don’t disagree that downtown is a waste of money and resources, the responsibility to pay the rent rests solely on Don Buie, hence he’s at fault. ADICA is at fault for other things in my opinion, but this particular infraction is all Buie.
Frankly, I have a serious issue with the County owning rental property in downtown in the first place. Not only does it put them in a position of competing with other landlords in the area, but any repairs required come out of our taxes ultimately. Theoretically, we could say that the rent is kept in a fund that helps with repairs, but since rent isn’t getting paid in a timely manner…
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Actually it also puts them in a position of competing with themselves. Note that Brown Bean Coffee will now be a tenant of the Dougherty County Library.
http://www.albanyherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=4580
I have no problem with that…because they shouldn’t be in the business of competing with private enterprise in the first place. If they didn’t own rental property, then that wouldn’t even be remotely an issue.
County officials want to compete with private property owners trying to rent property. The Federal government wants to “compete” with private health insurers, and who gets screwed no matter what? Us.
“…and who gets screwed no matter what? Us”
Tom:
That’s exactly right. That’s precisely why this discussion (the bigger downtown discussion–not just this thread) NEEDS to move beyond simply Don Buie alone.
I think Buie is basically incompetent at best or a small-time crook at worst. Who is far worse than Buie are his enablers.
These are the “pie in the sky” bureaucrats and boobs (Lott, Langstaff, Marietta and Phil Cannon) who spout platitudes such as “we can’t let downtown die” and “if we just spend a few million more….everything will be okay” (forgetting the millions already wasted).
Well, it won’t. It won’t be okay and downtown is already dead. The fact that retailers HAVE TO BE PAID to move downtown illustrates what is already economic reality to anyone working in the real world. That economic reality has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Don Buie and if Buie is used as a scapegoat so that the ADICA pumpers can “move on” and waste millions more, then the parties who get screwed, as you put it, are us.
There is no one competent in ADICA or outside it who is capable or honest enough to manage this mess. I am not at all impressed with Phil Cannon (who was apparently willing to refrain from going public about ADICA’s lack of financial transparency until the check issue arose) and I view Bob Langstaff as beneath contempt, somewhere around the level of con artist in light of his recent editorial claiming our property taxes haven’t really increased. If you want a good laugh, go back and read some of Langstaff’s comments about downtown on this blog from early June, just before the Buie mess arose where he disclaimed all responsibility for the more recent downtown boondoggles, but was still certain more should be spent (basically saying “we can’t stop now”).
Someone needs to have the courage to demand that ADICA be totally shut down. I am not hearing that from anyone except maybe you and Cartman here, because, apparently, self-delusion about downtown’s prospects seems to be easier to digest than reality. That’s sad, but the results for Albany will be even worse if the ADICA pumpers get their way.
Richard Thomas and Tim Coley have my support and I hope they can get every incumbent dumped.
Jack, I second that post. I would like to bring out one new point, because it is important to realize that stopping the $6m bond and neutering ADICA is something that requires serious consideration NOW.
Look beyond downtown for a moment. Presently, shops and business are closing all over Albany. Business traffic is noticeably lower. God Bless the Cooper Tire families as they reach the end of their severance pay packages. To a lesser degree, we will also suffer with them. Overall unemployment continues to rise. Those still working are doing so at lower average hours. Count P&G contract workers compared to one year ago. Add the early retirement offers to P&G employees. Is this expansion or contraction? And face it – small businesses are struggling for their very lives.
Clearly, the entire Albany MSA is suffering job and revenue losses. So why are we focused on floating a bond on only the downtown area? That area couldn’t attract businesses even when economic times were good. The waste of money is blatant. The mismanagement is astounding. It’s time to at least take a breather and put the irresponsible spending on hold.
The tax base is shrinking. Yet we are living with a higher county assessment. Taxes per taxpayer is high. Taxpayers are leaving. All of which means that the tax situation will get worse not better. Nothing is being done to address these root problems.
It’s like the city is obsessed with increasing patronage of the main ballroom of the Titanic, when the entire ship is slipping beneath the waves.
You’re right Jack. Buie is the least of our problems.