The Fayette Citizen-News Page

Wednesday, January 1, 2003

In other news in Fayetteville during 2002:

The city got a $75,000 grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission's Livable Centers Initiative and undertook a study of possible improvements to the downtown area.

City officials have organized a series of workshops to determine how that money, along with an $18,500 city match, should be spent. The city was required to guarantee a 20 percent match to be eligible for the grant.

The area being studied includes the entire Main Street District, in addition to the Ga. Highway 85 north corridor to Ga. Highway 314. City officials formed a steering committee, consisting of people who live and/or work in the downtown area, but participation in the meetings was more widespread.

The entire amount of the grant was for planning and studies, and a construction grant will be applied for after a concept is approved.

Fayetteville officials in February filed for voluntary dismissal "without prejudice" of the city's petition for mediation concerning the tax equity debate between Fayette County and its cities.

The city "believed when it joined in the tax equity process that there existed substantial tax inequity in favor of Fayette County, supported by city taxpayers," Mayor Kenneth Steele said. "Unfortunately, after two and one-half months of unavailing court-ordered mediation ... those substantial tax inequities still exist."

At the same time, the council also approved a jail inmate agreement with the county under which Fayetteville will initially pay $43.70 per day to have inmates housed at the county jail. The same agreement was approved at that time by Peachtree City. Although the agreement was approved, it "fails to recognize the Fayetteville taxpayer's substantial contribution to the county's budget," Steele said, adding that the geographic location of a law breaker's apprehension, whether within a city or the unincorporated county, "has no rational bearing on which taxpayers should be responsible for the cost of the resulting incarceration. That cost should be borne equally by every citizen in Fayette County because every citizen in Fayette County benefits equally."

A former Fayetteville city employee's legal action against the city in a two-year-old sexual harassment case ended at the federal level after a U.S. magistrate judge's order in May and a U.S. District Court's summary judgment in September.

U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Christopher Hagy issued an order granting summary judgment in favor of the city on all counts of former Main Street director Sherri Anderson's complaint. Anderson filed a formal complaint in January of 2000 against then city manager Michael Bryant, alleging that Bryant had sexually harassed her and created a hostile working environment. Accounting clerk Amanda Jones filed a similar letter with the city at the same time.

Among the allegations are charges that Bryant frequently invited Anderson and Jones to go out socially after work hours and, in Anderson's case, retaliated by humiliating her and attempting to get her to resign when she declined his invitations. The women also accused Bryant of making sexually loaded comments.

Bryant was later suspended and ultimately left his position after reaching a separation agreement with the City Council. Anderson publicly expressed her displeasure with the city's decision and offered to forego litigation against the city for a $125,000 out-of-court settlement. The city declined her request for a settlement. Anderson filed her claims in U.S. Magistrate Court Oct. 6, 2000, according to the city's statement.

Anderson's complaint contained several counts relating to workplace harassment, and a mediation process took place in the spring of 2000, as required by federal law before any lawsuit could be filed. The city never paid Anderson any kind of settlement relating to her case.

A few months after Hagy's decision, U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp "issued an order granting summary judgment in favor of the city on all counts of former city employee Sherri Anderson's complaint. The order for Summary Judgment was pursuant to various claims filed by Ms. Anderson on October 6, 2000."

Fayetteville built a new amphitheater and hosted its inaugural event at the facility late in the summer.

The Villages Amphitheater is located next to Fayette County High School and is part of a multiuse development now under construction on that side of town.

Dennis Edwards and the Temptation Review opened the facility with a show in August, and a 2003 concert schedule has already been released to the public. That schedule will not be as extensive as the summer concert series at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City, and the Villages Amphitheater will be used more for community events, including theatrical productions and school functions for Fayette County High School and several middle schools.

The City Council approved plans in July to rework the intersection of Ga. Highway 85 and Pine Trail Road, and that work was completed a couple of months ago.

Some residents of Pine Trail Road, which runs between Office Depot and the Uptown Square shopping center, where Ruby Tuesday and Barnes & Noble are located, expressed concerns that the proposed changes could make Pine Trail Road the main entrance into Uptown Square and the road would continue to be a cut-through to Banks Road.

Access to Uptown Square from Pine Trail Road was originally right-in, right-out only, but the city changed that and made it a typical intersection.

With the previous design, two signs warned approaching traffic about the configuration, with instructions to enter Uptown Square directly from Ga. Highway 85, even if that means making a U-turn at the stop light when coming from the north. But many motorists ignored those signs and, when finding themselves on Pine Trail, simply turn around in residents' driveways just beyond the shopping center, city officials concluded.

Additional signage was considered to take care of the problem, but city officials said that the state's Department of Transportation would not allow that, since that agency also thought the redesign of the intersection was the best way to go.

An undercover police operation during the summer resulted in nine businesses being cited by the City Council for selling alcohol to minors.

The Police Department set out in early July to see that the city's alcohol license ordinance was being followed by the 46 businesses in the city that operate under it. Officers found that 29 of those establishments did not have employees properly displaying their alcohol permits, and nine businesses sold alcohol to an undercover operative under the age of 21.

Five of those nine Cobblestone Amoco, Eckerd on North Glynn Street, Pizza Hut, Pit Stop on North Glynn Street, and Kwickie/Flash Foods were cited during a similar operation in 1999, although Eckerd, Pizza Hut and Cobblestone Amoco were under different licensees at that time. The other establishments cited for this operation were Applebee's, Publix, Ruby Tuesday and Texaco Food Mart on North Glynn Street.

All nine were issued $1,000 fines by the City Council, with all but two receiving a warning. The Eckerd location's license was suspended for 90 days, and Pizza Hut received a 15-day suspension, with a requirement that the restaurant show proof of stronger measures to educate employees about serving alcohol to keep the suspension from being extended to 30 days.