The $70,000 employment contracts signed by the two new directors of the Athens Downtown Development Authority leave the authority with a couple of options if the authority’s expanded managerial structure doesn’t work out.

First, according to Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson, a member of the ADDA board, the contracts include a 90-day review period, and second, the contracts run for just one year — a change from recent practice, in which the ADDA’s single executive director signed a two-year contract.

In a surprise move Tuesday, the ADDA board voted unanimously to hire David Lynn and Linda Ford, both former Athens-Clarke County commissioners, to head the authority, which works to revitalize the downtown area and to boost economic development.

ADDA board members interviewed this week would not comment in detail when asked if the decision to hire both Lynn and Ford reflected an inability to decide on a single person for the executive director post. Board members asked that question said uniformly that addressing the issue would venture into the closed-door discussions that preceded the hiring decision. State law allows governmental entities to discuss personnel decisions behind closed doors, but requires votes on those decisions be held in public session.

The combined $140,000 in salary that will go to Lynn and Ford is far above the $75,000-$90,000 salary range advertised in the search for a new ADDA director. The ADDA is funded with proceeds of a special 1-mill property tax levied on downtown business properties, and with a share of downtown parking proceeds.

Ford is a former Five Points small business owner who has been working with an information technology company, and Lynn is a University of Georgia police officer with previous experience in planning and market research. In their new roles, Ford becomes the ADDA’s director of business services and outreach, and Lynn becomes the authority’s director of planning and outreach.

Ford said she was initially taken aback after learning the ADDA board was planning to hire two people to replace former ADDA executive director Pamela Thompson, who resigned in December to accept a position with the government of coastal Georgia’s Glynn County.

"I didn’t really expect that," Ford said. But, she added, "I think it’s a good strategy."

Ford and Lynn assume their new roles on March 1, but before then, will meet, together, with the ADDA board to more specifically define their duties.

"I have a lot of things running through my head" in terms of what she would like to do in here new position, Ford said Wednesday. She didn’t elaborate much beyond saying that one of the first things she wants to do is to talk with downtown business owners.

Ford said Wednesday she hadn’t had a chance to talk with Lynn, but would be doing so within the next couple of days.

Lynn, in comments Tuesday evening, said, "I’m very excited about the trust the board has placed in me. I think Linda and I will work well together."

At least one downtown business owner was reserving judgment on the ADDA’s decision to hire two directors at combined salaries far above the former director’s compensation.

"I hope that there’s enough money in the budget to pay two people," joked Anne Shepherd, owner of Chick Music, which has been part of the downtown business scene since 1965.

"I hope it works," Shepherd said of the ADDA’s move to put two directors in place. The influx of college students into downtown Athens as student-oriented apartment buildings have been built along its edges may mean the ADDA needs two people in management roles, Shepherd suggested.

Going forward, Shepherd said, she’d like to see the ADDA focus more on the needs of daytime retail and commercial businesses in the downtown area than on the bars, clubs and other elements of downtown’s largely student-oriented nightlife.

The mayor also has some reservations about the ADDA’s new approach, particularly with regard to the additional money that will be spent on salaries.

"I have some concerns about it," Denson said, but she went on to say that an effort to expand the downtown boundaries within the ADDA’s jurisdiction, and a recognition that downtown "isn’t an 8 to 5 downtown, it’s an 18-hour downtown" are arguments for having two people in directorial roles.

"It’s an experiment," the mayor said.

Commenting on the ADDA board’s upcoming meetings with Ford and Lynn, Denson said one thing that likely will be stressed is the board’s desire to get more serious about seeking grants, particularly funding that could help with beautification efforts and that might serve as incentives to get and keep businesses in the downtown area.

If other people are reserving judgment on the new arrangement at the ADDA, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link, whose district includes much of the ADDA’s jurisdiction, is already raising questions about the decision.

"I’m really confounded," Link said Wednesday. "I’m pretty shocked."

Link is wondering openly why the third finalist for the post — William Herbig, whose most recent work was with the Washington, D.C.-based Congress for the New Urbanism, wasn’t chosen for the post.

Herbig, who holds a master’s degree in city planning from Georgia Tech and whose career included work to revitalize midtown Atlanta, would have been "a breath of fresh air" at the ADDA, Link said.

"Mr. Herbig just seemed like a supremely qualified candidate," Link said. "He just seemed like he was supremely qualified on every front."

Link was particularly concerned about the salaries that will be paid out to Lynn and Ford. The $50,000 differential from the posted salary for the job could have been used to fund a downtown event like last year’s Independence Day weekend festival and fireworks show, she said.