The ongoing saga involving our current and former mayors can best be described as nothing more than blight upon the reputation of our fair city. For a sitting mayor to accuse anyone of conducting city business while intoxicated (or partly) literally years after the fact and not surfacing the issue when it allegedly occurred demonstrates a character flaw I call cowardice. If it did not occur, then the man has proven himself a purveyor of prevarication. Again.
Could it be that our mayor sees any such opportunity to defame or belittle individuals as a means of bolstering his insecure persona? I’m no psychiatrist, but to do such and with nothing meaningful to gain from it can only be fostered by a delusional mind, in my opinion.
Exacerbating the issue is the three other members of our City Council who have it within their purview to censure, but refuse to act (a fourth member has long since established his affiliation and unwavering loyalty to His Honor). We residents are now doomed to be the laughing stock of metro Atlanta for the next two and one-half years.
I’ve said before that potential employers and entrepreneurs do their homework prior to investing in a new locale, and anyone with just a tidbit of common sense would agree that what has transpired over the previous 18 months would certainly give pause then look elsewhere.
An individual who finds him or herself in a position to which they are under qualified or incapable of meeting the demands and rigors of that position might think of the betterment of the city and step down, but to do so would require an honest assessment of themselves. They might look at what defines their character and determine if they have been totally honest with their constituency, as was the case involving remarks toward the city’s development coordinator.
They also might look at their stubbornness involving a correction in council minutes even after being proven wrong by the actual recording, or personal remarks that poisoned the decision pertaining to a zoning requirement involving a multi-unit project. To do this requires a sense of honor and the humbleness of character to realize one’s mere presence is a disservice to the city.
Most would be honored to represent the county on the ARC, but having been chosen to do so our mayor trashes the organization in a public forum to the point his own council reverses their recommendation and he is ultimately replaced by the mayor of Fayetteville.
Can anyone really describe this as the best way to represent the citizens of Peachtree City? This city deserves better and except for his ardent and perhaps blindly loyal but waning number of supporters sees him as an egotistical buffoon dragging what is good and decent about our town into the gutter of his self-aggrandizement.
It is for these reasons that I call upon the City Council to take up a resolution of censure at the earliest possible date so as to prevent further embarrassment to the remaining 34,000 citizens. To do otherwise not only violates your oath of office, but is the right thing for our town.
Michael L. King
Peachtree City, Ga.
[King was a candidate for the Post 2 slot on the Peachtree City Council in the fall of 2007. Current Councilman Doug Sturbaum was the winner of that race.]
