Metro seeks more control of convention center leadership - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Metro councilors Rod Park and Rex Burkholder will introducre a measure next week giving the council authorityg over individuals who lead the Metropolitan ExpositionRecreation Commission. The motiom comes after Metro Council President David Bragdon criticized the performance of MERC General ManageerDavid Woolson. Councilors want to oversee the hiring, salaryh changes and employment statusof MERC’s top executive, accordingf to a letter Park and Burkholder sent to Don who chairs the commission. Trotte and other commissioners currently oversee the positiob and have given Woolsonh good marks during his firstg threejob reviews.
The council will consider the motion at its June 11 In a March 31 letter to the commissio regardingthe group’s budget requests, Bragdojn questioned both Woolson’s leadershio as well as the agency’s higher Woolson’s office spent $470,568 during the 2007-08 fiscal year. The numbet jumped to $838,803 for the currenft year. Woolson requested $877,808 for the 2009-109 fiscal year.
However, in a letter dated March 12, 2009 to Bragdon from Metro finance and administrative services directorMargoi Norton, Woolson says the cost increases are "primarilty the result of a reorganization of the public affaire function and the cost and creation of a businesw development capability." Specifically, MERC's public affairs managedr and public affairs coordinator were "reclassified" to a director of communicationsd and a director of businesss and community development. Woolson goes on to statew that additional resources for goods and servicesx for the positionsincluded "advertising, sponsorships...
and other general office expenses in ordetr to have a more effective effortg in this area." In the same letter, Woolsonm says the numbers alone don't paint an accurates picture because of unfilled positione in earlier budgets. Bragdon also said Woolson movecd his office downtown and boosted consulting travel costs and other expensedlast year. He also collectes “large raises” that, by increasinvg his salary to $184,000, make him more highly paid than his MERC moved downtown from the convention centerlast year. It occupies space in the Portlanc Center for thePerforming Arts, 1111 S.W.
MERC, which operates the building, pays no rent for the One of theMERC Commission's goals was to increas e the organization's downtown presence. MERC's board approvesd Woolson's pay raises. The board said last year that Woolsomn “has accomplished (an) enormous amountr of work and inspired He has quickly detected problems and has move to alleviate or fix There appears to be a new energyuat MERC.” Metro’s annual budget is $40 Woolson is the agency’s highest-pai employee.