CBS Atlanta 46Evaluation panel members announced, airport concession contracts

For the first time in the City of Atlanta's history, Mayor Kasim Reed's administration released the names of the city employees who served on the airport concessions evaluation committees.

Evaluation Panel Members are:
Patricia Armes – Concessions Accounting Manager
Paul Brown - Concessions Director 
Shelley Lamar - Planning Manager 
Paul Michael Leaf Jr. -  Principal Architect
Robert Lewis III -  Concessions Compliance Manager
William Murphy – Land & Property Utilization Manager
Robert Palmer - Director of Maintenance
Willie Self – Senior Audit Manager
David Sellers - Director of Properties
Douglas Strachan - Creative Innovations Manager
Hugh Jason Terreri – Airport Contract Administrator 
David Vogt - Art Program Manager
Harland Chris Warner –  Operations Manager
Chiquetta West - Management Analyst
Demetria Wideman - Concession Marketing Manager

The Atlanta City Council approved new airport concession contracts Tuesday night after hours of discussion and an impassioned defense of the contracts by Mayor Kasim Reed.

The council voted 12-3 to approve the contracts for 126 food and beverage locations and 24 retail locations at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the new Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal.

The vote came after Mayor Reed blasted Common Cause Georgia which criticized him after major campaign donors won some of the contracts.

Council members got an ear-full Tuesday from people and groups upset with the way concession contracts for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were awarded.

"There was never any divulgence of who were members of the selection committee. The meetings were secretly held, and the minutes of each meeting were never made public," said John Sherman, the president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation.

The contracts are worth more than $3 billion over the next decade. The city and its supporters say the bidding process was fair and aboveboard, but critics say the big winners in the bidding process were major campaign donors to Mayor Reed. The mayor said he had nothing to do with the bidding process and said he returned the money he received, but some say the mayor's math doesn't add up.

"There was $22,000 accepted from one of the big winners in this process four days before the procurement process started, so if one set of contributions is bad, how can the other not be?" said William Perry, with Common Cause Georgia.

Nick Caliendo, who owns a seafood restaurant, said he's a little guy who spent more than $50,000 on a bid to get a spot for his restaurant at the airport. He said city council owes it to tax payers and small businesses to reopen the bidding process.

"It was all the big guys that won. Not one small guy got his name out there, and that don't seem right," said Caliendo.

According to the news release, the recommendations include a large number of new food and retail locations that will be located throughout the airport and the new Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal, scheduled to open in spring 2012. 

The release states many of the new restaurants are among Atlanta's most famous eateries, including The Varsity, Shane's Rib Shack, Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint and The Pecan. Some of the recommended retail locations include familiar and new high-end shops such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Omega, Bvlgari, Swarovski, and Tommy Hilfiger.

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