A comment to a new city employee by the wife of Peachtree City Mayor Don Haddix has created a bit of a stir.
Cathy Haddix made the comment as she met the city’s new economic development coordinator, Joey Grisham, for the first time last week at the grand opening of The Fresh Market grocery store.
According to Grisham, Mrs. Haddix told him in part: “I hope your tenure is short here.”
Mrs. Haddix declined to comment for this article. The mayor said his wife told him that she qualified to Grisham that her comments were her opinion and not that of her husband’s.
“Cathy made it quite clear to him that she was not speaking for me, and that she was speaking solely for herself,” Haddix said.
But that is not how Grisham remembers the conversation.
Grisham said Monday that he will continue to focus on economic development for the city, but he was stunned to hear Mrs. Haddix’s assessment since he had never even met her before.
“It’s not going to bother me,” Grisham said. “I will do my job regardless of what other people say. I just felt like it was uncalled for.”
Grisham might have drawn the ire of Mayor Haddix with a recent recommendation against the implementation of size caps for new retail development. Haddix supported the caps, but was voted down 4-1 on the matter at the March 3 council meeting.
That means the city will continue to use its special use permit procedure, which requires developers to get special permission from council for any new retail development that has a store of more than 32,000 square feet or a total shopping area of more than 150,000 square feet.
Mayor Haddix admitted that he and Grisham have “a difference of opinion” on the retail cap issue.
“But since when did every member of council and every member of staff always agree on everything? That’s nothing new,” Haddix said.
Haddix said his wife has a right to her own personal opinion, and if anyone on council has a problem with the matter they should call and talk to her.
As for his opinion of Grisham, Haddix said he wants him to be successful, and notes that he voted with council to unanimously adopt Grisham’s proposed budget.
Councilman Eric Imker said he was “disappointed” to hear of Mrs. Haddix’s remarks.
“Given the fact that if this is true, he essentially has been told that he’s done for,” Imker said.
Imker said his preference was for Grisham to stay on board.
“He’s just a professional who knows his stuff,” Imker said. “He’s impressed me already with his proposed budget and I can see positive results coming from this.”
