Wednesday, October 11, 2000

PTC to study term limits for volunteers By JOHN MUNFORD jmunford@thecitizennews.com The Peachtree City Council has agreed to study the possibility of enacting term limits for members of its volunteer boards, committees and authorities. Creating such term limits was one of several suggestions from Councilman Dan Tennant to enhance the way council chooses residents to serve on those boards. Despite all the animosity that was exchanged at Thursday night's council meeting, council members Robert Brooks and Annie McMenamin said they would both be interested in studying term limits since they had supported that idea in the past. Tennant was criticized by fellow council members for making an issue over the appointment process, particularly as it related to council's recent appointment to the Planning Commission. Tennant's motion focused on publishing the list of applicants in the city's legal organ and the city's Update newsletter, which is sent to all residents. He also wanted council members to rotate their service on the selection committee and for each council member to be provided a copy of each candidate's application prior to voting on that appointment. Councilwoman Carol Fritz said she has been studying council's selection process and several attorneys have advised her that the city is acting properly. She criticized Tennant for not seeking her opinion, but he claimed he didn't know she was looking into the matter. "What I'm proposing is to make things far more public, far more even-handed, such that there's no surprises, so the mayor doesn't say, 'Hey, by the way, I'm not going to be serving on that one.' It's not right," Tennant said. Councilwoman Annie McMenamin said although the city's guidelines require the mayor to appoint the three-person selection committee, some council members have had to fill in on occasions where someone isn't available. "Dan, I assure you anytime you want to volunteer to serve on one of these committees, all you have to do is say it first and nobody's going to rebut it," McMenamin said. What do you think of this story? Click here to send a message to the editor. Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page