Friday, December 5, 2003
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Friday, December 5, 2003 |
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DAPC ponders future of venues By J. FRANK LYNCH What’s next for the Development Authority of Peachtree City? That’s a question being asked by everyone familiar with the organization, and especially the five remaining members of its seven-person board. There are no immediate answers. Ten years after being given the responsiblity by the City Council to build, improve, manage and maintain the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater and Peachtree City Tennis Center, the authority officially returned that duty at the stroke of midnight Sunday. On Monday, the DAPC no longer had any employees or source of income, but it did have an estimated $1.5 million in debt owed to local banks and a federal equal pay lawsuit still winding its way through the justice system. The agency was so focused on managinig the amphitheater and tennis center in recent years, and battling Mayor Steve Brown’s endless calls for reform, that very little economic development has taken place in recent months, those closest to the DAPC agree. They also agree the city needs the Development Authority. In the recent city council election, both of the winners — Judi-ann Rutherford for Post 1, and Stuart Kourajian for Post 2 — repeatedly called for increased efforts to lure clean, attractive industry to the city’s industrial park, which hasn’t had a major new tenant in at least three years. But the Fayette County Development Authority, which operates out of the old county courthouse on the square in Fayetteville, has precedent over such recruitment efforts. The city’s industrial park is practically the only place in the county with sizeable tracts of land set aside to lure industry, officials say, and so the county authority would likely play lead to any significant negotiations to bring new buisnesses to Peachtree City. That’s the main reason why the DAPC had the time to focus so aggressively on the venues, which by a revision in state code were identified as both “tourism” and “recruitment” tools in order to receive a take of the city’s hotel-motel tax revenue. That source of cash is gone now as well. “Regardless of who is on it, it’s something the city needs to have,” said Attorney Mark Oldenburg, who represents the DAPC in legal matters. Two of the seven seats are vacant. Former treasurer Brian Palmitessa died unexpectedly in August, and former Vice Chairman Scott Bradshaw resigned abruptly in September, setting off the chain of events that eventually led to the DAPC relinquishing control Dec. 1. The newest member of the board, Bill Bexley, is heading up the selection committee for the two vacancies, which must be approved by the City Council. Oldenburg said Bexley intends to wait until after January, when the two new councilmen are seated, to start that process. The remaining members of the board are Chairman Tate Godfrey, Bob Brooks, Scott Formel and Belinda Seward. The next DAPC meeting is scheduled Dec. 15, when some final transfer items related to the venues will be decided on. “We’ve got a couple of cleanup items left to consider for the City Council,” said Oldenburg of the light agenda, adding that the board members “need to start discussing their options and come up with a plan of action and focus on economic development.” That will be hard to do with no obvious source of income. With no hotel-motel tax revenue coming its way, and no amphitheater or tennis center to generate cash on their own, the DAPC still has to figure out a way to pay down its debt and fight the equal pay discrimination lawsuit brought by former amphitheater director Kristi Rapson. Records have shown that this year, the DAPC paid out more than $90,000 in fees to an outside lawyer to fight the suit brought by Rapson, wife of City Councilman Steve Rapson. Oldenburg, who does not represent the DAPC in the case, said the board hopes for a summary judgment in its favor. It is assigned to a magistrate but there is no word on status, he said. “We’re asking him to agree there are no issues that need to be described to a jury, and that magistrate will recommend to the judge that it be dismissed,” said Oldenburg. “But we’re not expecting anything until sometime in 2004.” Oldenburg said the DAPC can only hope the case ends in its favor. “There is no insurance for intentional discrimination,” he said. And there is no strong precedent to predict how a judge or jury might show sympathy on a defendant that’s flat broke. “From a practical standpoint, a lawyer would have to say, ‘even if we win, what do we get?’” said Oldenburg. City Manager Bernard McMullen and Finance Director Paul Salvatore both are firm on their positions that the DAPC debt stay with the authority and not get swallowed up by the new Peachtree City Tourism Association. Both McMullen and Salvatore are officers on the PCTA’s first board of directors. While the City Council had indicated a willingness to help the DAPC find solutions to the debt burden prior to this fall’s events, there’s been little discussion lately along those lines. “I think the authority is going to have to go to the city for help,” said Oldenburg. “We incurred these bills at City Council’s request, and the authority is going to have the burden of showing what all the money was spent on.” Sean Ferreira, senior pro at the Tennis Center, has been instrumental in straightening out the financial mess, said Oldenburg, matching check stubs to invoices and cross-checking contracts, payment requests and receipts. At the Nov. 19 meeting of the Tourism Association, Ferreira said most of the expenses had been accounted for. And just last week, in response to a criminal probe sought by Brown, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation cleared the DAPC board of any intentional wrongdoing, citing poor accounting practices. “It did all start to dovetail,” admits Oldenburg of the way the DAPC approached the mountain of debt, and how it reacted to inquiries of that debt. “Did they do it perfectly? No, absolutely not,” said the attorney. “But was everybody doing it for the right reasons? Yes. They were always doing what they thought the city wanted them to do.”
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