Wednesday, November 26, 2003
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Wednesday, November 26, 2003 |
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Settlement reached in PTC impasse? By J. FRANK LYNCH A bitter display of political brinksmanship exhibited by the two factions of the Peachtree City Council forced the cancellation of last week’s scheduled council meeting and threatens to handicap city business through the end of the year. But the standoff by outgoing councilmen Annie McMenamin and Dan Tennant against Steve Rapson and Murray Weed, who both sit on the board of directors of the new Peachtree City Tourism Association, could find resolution before the holiday weekend is through. The unlikely peacemaker in the standoff is Mayor Steve Brown. “It’s funny how these things work out,” acknowledged Brown Tuesday afternoon, after confirming that a copy of his proposed “Stopgap Measure to Stabilize the Tennis Center and Amphitheater Transition” was on the desk of City Manager Bernard McMullen for review. “It’s the ultimate irony,” Brown said. Brown is recommending that the city temporarily take on the 16 full-time employees of the venues as contract workers starting Dec. 1, paying base salaries only. The contract would end on Jan. 16, 2004, at which time an independent management concern — likely a better established Tourism Association — would assume responsibility for the employees again. The management group would reimburse the city for the salaries paid out during the seven weeks of transition, Brown said. McMenamin and Tennant, who leave office after Jan. 1, say Rapson and Weed have locked them out of any voice or vote on matters concerning the tourism group. Rapson fired back last week by declaring the Post 1 and Post 2 council reps were committing “political blackmail.” Tuesday afternoon, Tennant said he would support Brown’s proposal and agreed to attend a special called meeting of the council to address the matter. The earliest such a meeting could be held is Sunday night at 9, when Tennant returns from visiting family in Kansas City. Brown confirmed that’s when the meeting would likely take place. McMenamin — reached at her family’s vacation home in the Florida Panhandle — said she was in favor of it as long as McMullen and City Attorney Ted Meeker could assure her that Brown’s plan was legitimate and would work. “I’m a little suspicious of anything Steve Brown proposes,” said McMenamin, who like Tennant leaves office at the end of the year. “I’ve never been opposed to attending any meeting to keep the city’s business going. I think it’s silly. We need to continue.” Neither Rapson nor Weed could be reached for comment Tuesday, but both said late last week they felt an obligation to the employees to maintain the venues at any cost. Rapson is chairman of the tourism board, while Weed is vice-chairman. McMullen also sits on the panel, as does City Finance Director Paul Salvatore and Recreation Commission Chairman David Ring. That mix of appointees, McMullen’s suggestion, “presents an ethical dilemma” wrote McMenamin and Tennant in a letter they hand-delivered to the city manager on Thursday afternoon, just three hours before the scheduled start of the meeting. On the agenda Thursday were two items necessary to get the tourism association off the ground and running: A contract with the city to manage the venues, required in the association’s bylaws, and 2004 budgets for the amphitheater and tennis center that proposed making both venues self-supporting within a year. By not showing up, McMenamin and Tennant assured there would be no quorum, intentionally derailing any hopes that the tourism association could be operational by Dec. 1. Neither councilman regrets the position. “I felt I had no voice in the meeting by being there, but by not being there I had a very loud voice,” said McMenamin. Said Tennant, “This has absolutely nothing to do with my relationship with Steve Brown or the others on council. It has everything to do with not being a part of a process that is not fair. ... What you’re seeing now is a direct result of the majority of council being willing to rush in to something without having adequate planning for it.” McMullen was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but city spokesperson Betsy Tyler said he was working on a proposal of his own when Brown’s arrived.
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