Rare ADD History Document Found

Ivan C. Potter

Rare ADD History Document Found | Area Development Districts, PADD, economic development, economy, Kentucky

The Purchase Area Development District is headquartered in Mayfield. The author helped set up the ADDs.

(Clinton, KY- February 14, 2018) - Recently I found buried deep in my personal archives of Kentucky state planning documents, an important document on the early formation of the Kentucky Area Development Districts. It was a 1972 memo on "ADDs: Issues of Current Concern."

I have probably the only major collection of important state and Area Development District (ADD) planning documents in Kentucky. My focus through the years has been the collecting of regional planning, state planning, governor election transition documents, and federalism research.

Many of my records dwelt with the formation, organization of, and eventually the death of Kentucky Program Development Office. During 1972 I was a young regional planner for the state and oversaw specialized sections of the Kentucky Area Development Districts (ADDs) formation.

The document I found concerned the administration and day to day operational concerns of the new ADDs.

MEMO: ADDs: Issues of Current Concern

Date: June 12, 1972

To: Joe Grey, Director KPDO

From: Ivan Potter, Regional Planner

Subject: Rules and Concerns for Administrative Oversight of the ADDs

  1. Basic Staff Compliance: Establishment of basic standards of professional compliance. Provide ADD Boards with means for evaluating and directing staff performance.
  1. Staff direction versus ADD Board control: Develop multi operations strategy for raising ADD Board of Directors awareness as well as do more formally assessing Board accountably for ADD property.
  1. Fiscal accountability: Develop specific statewide standards and procures for fiscal accountability of ADD programs.
  1. Political Activity: Evaluate specific standards for maintaining the apolitical integrity of the ADDs.
  1. Staff Performance: vis a vis state contracts and. Establish principals of strict compliance with guidelines.
  1. State agency perspective on ADDs: Need to better articulate and communicate concept of ADDs as instruments of Kentucky State program objectives.
  1. Program Substance versus ADD Turf building
  1. Failure of ADDs in Kentucky metro areas.
  1. Beware of and constantly review state local Conflicts with ADDs operations.