Peachtree City attorneys have rendered an opinion concerning conflict of interest that could affect whoever is elected to the City Council in the upcoming runoff.

Two of the candidates in this week's election, Melvin Ewing in Post 1 and Bruce Perlman in Post 2, have been working for the city for some time, according to records obtained at City Hall. While this is no problem for them as private citizens, it could be a big problem if it were done by a sitting councilman.

Upon review of the city's ethics code, city attorneys have specifically cited Section 62-80 of the municipal code, which says:

“No official or employee who, in his capacity as such official or employee, participates in the making of a contract in which he has a private pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, or performs in regard to that contract some function requiring the exercise of discretion on his part, shall enter into any contract with the city unless:

(1) the contract is awarded through a process of public notice and competitive bidding; or

(2) the city attorney waives the requirement of this section after determining it is in the best interest of the city to do so.”

The written statement to the city from attorney Stephen Ott of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey went on to state: “This section makes it clear that no official or employee of Peachtree City can participate in the making of a contract with the city in which he will gain monetarily unless one of the two conditions are met. If a contract is to be awarded through a process of public notice and competitive bidding, the city official or employee should not participate in the process of awarding the contract nor should the official vote on the awarding of the contract.”

Ott also cited state law from the Code of Ethics for Government Service, which states: “Any person in government service should... engage in no business with the government, either directly or indirectly, which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of his governmental duties...” Ott said that the state standard, in his opinion, is lower than the city standard, and the city should follow its own ordinance.

Ewing is an engineer whose company has done or is now under contract for consulting work on various public works projects since 1996, including Holly Grove Church Road, the Wynnmeade connector, the Hip Pocket cart path, and sports field maintenance buildings.

According to city financial records, Ewing's company has received about $33,500 for his work during that time.

Ewing told The Citizen recently that he did not see a conflict of interest while campaigning, but if had won, he would certainly have severed any business ties with the city.

Perlman is a physician with offices in Peachtree City and has been the regular provider of physicals and drug tests for city employees for several years.

His office, Peachtree Internal Medical Associates, also handles workers' compensation claims involving city employees.

According to records provided by the city, Peachtree Internal Medical Associates has done $10,855 worth of workman's compensation cases for city employees during the past ten years, dating back to Jan. 1, 1990.

Other records for drug screening and physicals involving city employees show payments to Peachtree Internal Medical Associates totalling $69,744.06 since 1992.

The other two Post 2 candidates, Dan Tennant and Chuck Lehman, both said that they have never done any business with the city.

Annie McMenamin, the incumbent in Post 1, is not involved in city business personally, but she has pointed out that she has family connections through Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey and the police department that she watches carefully to make sure she does not enter into a conflict-of-interest situation.

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