DALTON, Ga. — Downtown Dalton Development Authority Chairman T.J. Kaikobad says the board will be taking its time looking for a new director and has not set a deadline for its search.

“We don’t want to just find the right person,” he said. “We want the perfect person.”

As part of the process of selecting a new director, board members will be talking to downtown business owners and property owners about what they are looking for in the agency and where they would like the DDDA to focus its efforts.

Former director Garrett Teems left the DDDA on April 7 for a position with Tandus Centiva. Teems had served as director since June 2016 and was paid $39,000. Marketing and communications manager Tanner Jaco, the only other staff person, had left a few days before that. But Kaikobad says the agency isn’t without a staff. Former Dalton Chamber of Commerce President George Woodward is serving as interim director until the board chooses a new director.

Woodward joined the chamber in 1996 as vice president of business services and became its president in June 1999, serving until March 2008 when he resigned for personal reasons.

“He’s very experienced. The DDDA is in good hands,” Kaikobad said.

Woodward said he’d talked to the board about staying as interim director for three to six months.

“I see my role as continuing the programs that are underway and not let anything fall through the cracks,” he said. “But also to help the board evaluate the director’s position and to work with a personnel committee to facilitate the search process. And, I’m sure, after a new director is chosen, I would stay for a short period to help smooth the transition.”

Before joining the Dalton-Whitfield chamber, Woodward had a background in economic development, serving as an economic development project manager and director of tourism development for the state of Kentucky. Woodward also served on the Region I Advisory Council for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism and as a two-term chairman of the Regional Advisory Council. He also served as chairman of the Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.

The DDDA has an annual budget of $155,000 and is funded primarily from a tax on downtown property. In addition to promoting downtown, the DDDA helps downtown businesses qualify for various state and federal business incentives, operates a program that compensates business and property owners for part of the costs of improving the facades of their buildings and helps them with any of the forms or paperwork needed to open a business downtown.

But it may be best known for the various events it hosts downtown, particularly in the summer. The DDDA was created by the Georgia Legislature in 1981. It is governed by a six-person board whose members are elected by downtown business and property owners.