Wednesday, September 12, 2001
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Wednesday, September 12, 2001 |
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Changes to PTC charter approved
By JOHN
MUNFORD
Peachtree City's months-long updating of its city charter is finally complete. The City Council unanimously approved the charter revisions, which will be forwarded to Fayette's state legislative delegation for adoption at the next legislative session in January, said City Attorney Rick Lindsey. The charter revisions hadn't changed since the last time council discussed the matter, Lindsey noted. Council also adopted a set of ordinances related to the charter changes. The charter is a document that sets the framework for how the city operates. The charter revision process began late last year at the request of councilwoman Carol Fritz, who felt parts of the document were outdated. "I think we have beaten this to death," said Councilman Steve Rapson. The main change in the charter shifts the majority of the responsibility of the city's day-to-day operations from the mayor to the city manager. The mayor, however, will retain "general supervision and jurisdiction over the affairs" of Peachtree City. The mayor's power to veto has been taken away, although for technical purposes since that provision was likely written before the mayor was required to have a vote on all council matters. The charter revisions also clarify the role of the city clerk, one of the more contentious subjects council has discussed during the process. The clerk will now report to the city manager, but can only be terminated or removed from the position by council. Council is also given the option of appointing the city manager as city clerk. The revised charter also eliminates the need to appoint officers such as the city clerk, city attorney and city auditor on an annual basis. Instead, such persons will serve at the pleasure of the mayor and council and can be removed at any time. The charter revisions also address the possibility that more than one vacancy could occur on council. In such a case, the remaining members of council would be allowed to meet to appoint persons to those vacancies and, if the vacated term is longer than 12 months, set the date for a special election to permanently fill those vacancies. The mayor or mayor pro tem would chose the process council will use to make its selection and must notify each council member of that process in writing at least 10 days prior to that meeting, the revised charter states. One portion of the charter is designed to prevent council members from interfering with the work of city employees with unreasonable requests. Council members are forbidden from directly ordering city officers or employees; instead, such requests must be handled through the city manager. The revised charter would allow council members to gather routine information which city officers and employees could easily and quickly assemble, however.
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