Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Brown, Weed best choices to retake PTC

The citizens of Peachtree City now have a great opportunity to change our government from developer-oriented to a government responsive to the desires and needs of the average citizen. The candidates now remaining in the runoff could not be more different in their approach to running this great city.

Mr. Rower and Ms. Fritz are definitely the candidates of the development community. Both favor annexation which means higher density and more traffic as well as overloading the school system. Mr. Brown and Mr. Weed do not favor this approach to increase the size of Peachtree City.

First, let me discuss Mr. Rower's approach. He does not believe in citizen input on such important issues as the recent bond referendum. Mr. Rower stated at the recent Rotary forum he thought if elected he would be better qualified to make those decisions rather than be bothered by a city-wide referendum.

As reported in The Citizen Review of Nov. 9, Mr. Rower did not respond to a question on his position as whether or not he would support any of the failed bond issues. Mr. Rower continues to reinforce my belief that he would be another elected official who immediately upon election becomes much smarter than "us average citizens." This was evident in his letter published in The Citizen Newspaper of Oct. 17, where he makes an elementary attempt to clear up impact fees for "us confused citizens." This was followed by a letter of Oct. 24 with a short history lesson on the current traffic problem but with no real solution for solving them.

I would urge every citizen to visit the web site of Steve Brown for a real discussion of the issues and solutions for the future of Peachtree City, www.stevebrownptc.com. I know that Steve has a real interest in the betterment of Peachtree City as has been evidenced by his active participation in many citizen groups as well as working on many task forces appointed by the city. He attends most Planning Commission and Council meetings with well-articulated and thoughtful positions. I have recently heard many vicious rumors and attacks on Steve which I believe shows the depth of concern and fears from the development community over his candidacy.

I urge everyone to review the candidates' positions and vote to change the status quo by electing Steve Brown as the citizen's mayor of Peachtree City.

In the race for City Council Post 4, I urge all citizens to review the platforms of Ms. Fritz and Mr. Weed. Again you will see that Ms. Fritz is for annexation, which means higher density. Ms. Fritz also must run on her complete record, not just the areas she chooses. This record includes higher taxes, "Big Boxes," traffic congestion and lack of cooperation with other Fayette County governments.

Ms. Fritz in her letter to The Citizen of Oct. 17 talked about a conspiracy at City Hall. She saw only one side of the issue. I would like to discuss the "possibility" of a different conspiracy. In October of this year, at Ms. Fritz's instigation, the city charter was revised to "update and revise the charter to make it current with existing state and federal law." While I think this is a productive and admirable effort, I was frankly confused by the results.

I will briefly mention several changes and let the readers make their own judgement. I would also urge every citizen to review for themselves the referenced section.

"Article II. Governing body; departments; appointive officers Sec. 2.1b. The chief administrative and operational officer of the city shall be the city manager." So far, so good?

"Sec 2.12. Council interference with Administration. The city council and its members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city manager SOLELY through the city manager except for purposes of gathering of needed information which is of routine matters or is the type of information which such officers and employees can easily and quickly assemble. Except as provided above, the city council and its members shall not give orders directly to such officers and employees either publicly or privately, but shall coordinate all orders and instructions through the city manager."

Step 1: Enhance the power of city manager; dilute power of mayor and council.

"Sec. 2.13. Appointment of officers by council; removal. The city council shall at its organizational meeting and thereafter at the discretion of city council appoint a clerk, a city attorney, a city auditor, a city judge, a city manager and any other city positions as required by ordinance. Such appointed individuals, after their initial appointment, need not be reappointed on an annual basis but shall serve subject to the pleasure of the mayor and council and may be removed from office by the council and may be removed from office by the council at any time; provided, further that the mayor may suspend any such individual pending a meeting of the council to make a formal decision on the appropriate action to take."

Step 2: Avoid the annual appointment of said individuals in a public meeting. This avoids embarrassing episodes for the city manager who, when explaining his recommendation of the current city attorney appointment, could only rationalize his recommendation by stating, "We work well together." This in spite of the fact that his bid was twice that of another well-qualified candidate. Well, it's only taxpayer money.

Finally, "Sec. 2.18. City Manager. The mayor and council shall appoint and contract with a city manager who shall serve subject to the pleasure of the mayor and council for a term as set forth in the contract and according to state law." I believe the current contract is for one year, automatically renewed for an additional year. This gives the current manager job protection in case of council and mayoral changes.

Were these changes in the best interest of the city? You decide.

In summary, I believe Mr. Weed's experience, education, community involvement and ability to work with governments at all levels, without question, makes him the superior candidate for Council seat Post 4.

Please vote on Nov. 27 for Mr. Brown and Mr. Weed and let's take back Peachtree City for the citizens. I would urge all voters to cast a ballot in this runoff to show support for our troops, who are now in harm's way to insure your right to vote. Don't let them think that only one-third of you care.

Willis J. Granger

Peachtree City

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