Wednesday, April 28, 2004

PTC amphitheater, tennis center questions remain unanswered, debts remain unpaid

What should be done with the improvements made to the amphitheater and tennis center?

Mayor Brown claims the loans signed by the executive director are illegal because the Development Authority of Peachtree City did not approve them. He also claims the city did not approve all the work done on those facilities. He therefore concludes that the city is not responsible for those loans, but that DAPC or the executive director is.

If the city is not going to accept responsibility for the loans, then what legal right does the city have to those facility improvements?

Essentially the DAPC or the executive director built on city property when they had no authority to do so. The city therefore must force the removal of those unauthorized structures as they have in the past.

Just a few short months into Brown’s term, council heard an issue where a homeowner built a retaining wall a couple of feet onto city property. The council’s decision, which Brown and Murray Weed both adamantly supported, was to have the homeowner remove the wall.

And then there are the banks and the contractors. How can the city prevent them from recovering those items used for collateral or reclaiming the items they installed if the city doesn’t have a legal right to those items?

If the council fails to force the removal of the unauthorized items, then at what point does the city assume responsibility because of their failure to act? The city has benefited and profited from the use of those improvements over the past year. And what precedent will this set if they fail to act?

John Dufresne

Peachtree City, Ga.

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