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Chief has yet to
rule on DAPC activities
By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com
Peachtree City’s police chief has yet to issue an opinion on whether
the business practices and activities of the city’s development authority
warrant a full-scale criminal investigation.
But Mayor Steve Brown said Thursday that Police Chief James Murray could
issue a ruling as early as today as to whether the Development Authority
of Peachtree City’s management approach violated any laws.
Brown requested the chief look into the legalities of the DAPC situation
in a letter dated Monday, accompanied by various authority records obtained
by Brown.
Murray said Monday he had a “large pile of documents” to sort
through and hoped to issue an opinion in three to four days.
The chief refused to comment any further on what he termed an open investigation.
Brown had little more to offer on Thursday afternoon.
“Being an open investigation, we have to be careful about what we
say,” said Brown, who was attending a training conference in Douglas
in south Georgia the first of the week, when the request was first submitted.
“The direction the thing was heading I felt like we had no other
choice,” Brown said, claiming that he’s gotten no criticism
yet for suggesting criminal activity be investigated.
“I’ve gotten no negative reaction, only positive reaction,”
he said Thursday. “I think we’re finllay going to get an independent
anayslys of what was going on.”
The DAPC, which operates the city’s tennis center and amphitheater
in addition to conducting economic development activities, has been under
fire in recent weeks over allegations of financial mismanagement.
For example, in financial statements requested by the city and made public
Oct. 2, it was shown that the DAPC was not depositing designated receipts
from the city’s motel-hotel tax into the appropriate accounts.
After the resignation of its vice chairman on Sept. 23, the DAPC abruptly
resigned itself from its contract with the city to manage the venues,
then six days later reneged on the offer, ostensibly to buy time to work
through other options.
Since Oct. 1, a private investment group headed by Fayetteville computer
dealer Tommy Turner has come forward with preliminary plan for taking
over management from the DAPC. That proposal is now in the “financial
analysis” stage, Turner said, but he hopes firm up some of the details
within the next week or so.
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