Charter, ordinances to get one last tweaking before vote by City Council

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A slate of new ordinances proposed to coincide with adoption of Peachtree City's new charter have been sent back to the drawing board.

One of those ordinances allows the mayor to eject a person from council chambers if that person disrupts the meeting. The mayor can declare such a person "in contempt of council" but the latest version of the ordinance didn't specifically define contempt.

At its regular meeting Thursday night, council decided such a definition was necessary and asked City Attorney Rick Lindsey to add such language to the ordinance.

Mayor Bob Lenox said there have been only two times in his nearly 10 years as mayor that he has asked members of the public to calm down during a meeting.

"I can understand getting emotional," he said, later adding that he is proud of how the community represents itself when appearing before council.

Lindsey said he suggested the ordinance because one rowdy audience member could keep council from conducting its business by screaming or shouting during the meeting.

Council also asked Lindsey to change an ordinance that details the organizational structure of the city. Councilwoman Annie McMenamin said she opposed including the city's clerk's position under the administrative services division, which is responsible for human resources, municipal court, public information and the operations of City Hall.

McMenamin pointed out that the revised charter calls for the city clerk to be supervised by the city manager, and she felt that was council's original intention when the matter was discussed earlier in the year.

"That was not what I intended," McMenamin said.

Council also decided it wouldn't adopt another ordinance Lindsey suggested, which would allow for a council member or mayor to be censured for not attending council meetings two or more meetings a year without a valid reason such as family, business or health reasons.

Lindsey said the original idea was to create a way to deal with council members who might possibly sit out meetings for political or other reasons that could disrupt city business.

A provision in the revised charter, however, allows for council to declare a council seat vacant if the mayor or any council member "fail or refuse to perform the duties of his office" for three consecutive months.

Council discussed shrinking that length of time, particularly since more stringent attendance requirements are placed on volunteers who serve on the city's authorities and commissions. Any authority or commission member must meet with the mayor if he or she has missed more than 10 percent of meetings in a given year, Lenox said.

The mayor can decide to dismiss that person, Lenox added.

And the commission and authority members can't use family, health or business meetings as an excuse, Lenox said.

Council agreed to submit suggestions to Lindsey so he could prepare several different options by the Aug. 16 council meeting, when it is anticipated the charter and new ordinances will be adopted.

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