Displeasure over refusal to allow Brown to speak sparks proposed amendment

By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

On the heels of what he considered unfair treatment of a citizen at the last City Council meeting, Councilman Dan Tennant is introducing a measure this week that he hopes will prevent it from happening again.

After city attorney Rick Lindsey of the Peachtree City firm of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey spoke at length concerning charges raised by Steve Brown in this newspaper against senior partner Jim Webb and Webb's plans to file suit against Brown, Tennant was noticeably displeased with Mayor Bob Lenox's refusal to allow Brown to respond in the same forum.

Tennant said that Brown should be allowed to speak, to which Lenox responded that he was running the meeting and Brown would not speak unless a majority vote of the council authorized him to, and Tennant's motion to allow that failed 3-1, with Annie McMenamin abstaining.

Tennant is presenting a proposed amendment to the city's Code of Ordinances that addresses the opportunity for local citizens to speak at council meetings. The current code allows people other than council members to speak only when addressing specific agenda items.

Tennant's amendment would allow “any citizen that is publicly referenced by name during the meeting by a city employee, elected official or appointed official” to “upon request, be granted an equal opportunity to address council and respond to the remarks that were made.”

Tennant spoke at length about Brown's inability to speak at the last meeting in a letter to the Citizen that appeared last Wednesday.

“Then there is the matter of Mayor Lenox, the same mayor who told us last fall that if you don't vote, you don't count,” Tennant wrote. “Now it seems that if he doesn't want to hear what you have to say, whether you voted or not, you still don't count.”

Tennant went on to say that he found the mayor's actions “disgraceful and unfair,” and he told him that.

“I have to work with Mayor Lenox to insure that all citizens' rights are protected and that we do everything we can to keep Peachtree City the special place it is. So, believe me, I get no satisfaction or glory in having to make these remarks,” Tennant wrote.

“But I cannot and will not stand by idly when I believe fundamental injustices occur. I simply will not allow these matters to go forward unchallenged.”