Friday, July 26, 2002
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Friday, July 26, 2002 |
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Rapson, Lenox agree: no need to waste more money on ethics debate By JOHN
MUNFORD
Peachtree City Councilman Steve Rapson and former mayor Bob Lenox can agree on something: neither man wants to "waste" city funds to continue their debate over whether Rapson violated the city's ethics code. The city is footing the bill for the two attorneys who defended Rapson in the ethics allegation brought by Lenox. The lead attorney charged $150 an hour, but the city has not yet received a final bill for the service. Lenox guessed the bill will costs "tens of thousands of dollars." Two weeks ago, a city ethics board ruled that Rapson violated the ethics ordinance by voting to investigate hotel-motel contracts executed with the Development Authority last year by Lenox. Rapson's wife, Kristi, has filed an unequal pay suit against the authority and thus City Attorney Rick Lindsey has ruled that Councilman Rapson can't vote on any matter affecting the development authority. Lenox, who brought forth the ethics complaint, said he is waiting for one more thing from Rapson. "Mr. Rapson, when are you going to apologize to us?" Lenox said Wednesday afternoon. Rapson contends the ethics hearing "was a slap in my wife's face through me" and he alleged that Lenox was responsible for "wating taxpayers' money" on the attorneys to represent the councilman. Rapson said he originally wanted to dispense with the formality of having an attorney defend him, but he was later convinced otherwise. Lenox, who represented himself in the ethics hearing, said he pushed the issue "because I ran those meetings for 10 years" and he was disappointed Mayor Steve Brown allowed the matter to unfold as it did. "Our reputation for integrity in Peachtree City government has been thoroughly compromised," Lenox said, noting that no council member in the city's 44-year history has ever had to appear before an ethics board to answer accusations of unethical behavior. Rapson, however, said Lenox brought forth the ethics complaint to "take care of his friends," apparently referring to the members of the Development Authority. "If I find something illegal, I have no choice but to bring it forward," Rapson said. If Rapson appeals the matter to council, Lenox contends he will fight the issue. Council may not be able to hear the appeal since Mayor Steve Brown and councilman Dan Tennant both testified on Rapson's behalf during the original ethics hearing, Lenox pointed out. Rapson said Wednesday that he wants to evaluate the matter further once he returns from vacation before deciding whether to appeal the ethics board ruling. "I'm not going to do it unless it represents the best interest of the citizens," Rapson said. Rapson said he will ask Lindsey to modify his previous legal opinion that ruled Rapson couldn't vote on issues pertaining to the Development Authority because of his wife's lawsuit. Lenox filed the ethics complaint against Rapson earlier this year alleging Rapson violated that ruling when he voted to have the hotel-motel contracts investigated. Rapson and others contend Lenox significantly changed the hotel-motel tax contracts with the development and airport authorities from the versions of the documents that were before council when it approved a motion allowing him to enter the agreements. Lenox contends all council members were made aware of the changes in an e-mail from the city manager and a copy of the amended document provided to each council member at the meeting. Rapson has said the changes were so significant that if they were made just before the meeting, someone should have pointed them out to council. The most significant change requires council and the authority to agree before the hotel-motel tax payments to the authority can be reduced for any reason. An earlier version of the contract stated that the council had the sole power to change the funding amount as it wished. The contracts are set up to help the authority pay for and operate the city's tennis center and amphitheater as well as enhance economic development in the city. Mayor Brown attacked the authority in January saying they needed to concentrate solely on economic development; he tried unsuccessfully to have the tennis center and amphitheater operations moved to a new "sports and entertainment authority".
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