Staff Write r

With time running out for

municipalities to give status reports to the state on

House Bill 489 plans, Peachtree City is planning to do as

many other cities and counties are doing - ask for

more time.

HB 489 is a state law

requiring all governments in a county to evaluate all

services and find ways to cooperate so that services are

not duplicated and all are delivered timely and

efficiently. This law also requires a status report

containing the results of the evaluation to be delivered

to the Department of Community Affairs by July 1 of this

year.

The county's FUTURE

Committee has been in charge of developing Fayette's

plans for HB 489 compliance.

"There have been many,

many hours expended by various subcommittees in an effort

to evaluate all the services provided by the entities in

Fayette County," said Peachtree City manager Jim

Basinger at Thursday's City Council meeting. "The

cooperation of staff members at all levels has been

excellent, and I feel the accomplishments to date attest

to this productive working relationship."

A summary of services was

submitted to the council, with no changes expected in

most areas. However, the staffs have not been able to

reach a consensus in four departments - fire,

police, public works and recreation.

Fayette County, Peachtree

City and Fayetteville fire departments have been working

on a joint service delivery service plan for a year,

according to the summary. While Fayette County and

Fayetteville have implemented an automatic aid agreement

for certain aspects of the plan - meaning an

emergency is automatically handled by the closest unit

able to provide service - Peachtree City is unable

to commit personnel and equipment to implement the plan

at the present time, the summary stated, adding that

discussions between Fayette County and Peachtree City

concerning automatic aid will continue.

Research has begun on the

feasibility of establishing a Fayette County library

system to enhance service and add cost effectiveness.

Fayette County, Peachtree City and Tyrone provide library

service through the Flint River Regional Library System,

while Brooks has a separate system of its own. Formal

agreements between the group could address such issues as

an interlibrary book program, interlibrary delivery,

adult literacy and computer training, according to the

summary.

The Fayette County

Sheriff's Department provides jail service for all

agencies in the county as well as police service for the

Brooks, Woolsey and the unincorporated county. Peachtree

City, Tyrone and Fayetteville provide police service for

their respective jurisdictions.

Those four agencies have

been unable to reach a consensus on how Sheriff's

Department resources and funding should be allocated

throughout the county, the summary said, and discussions

are continuing.

Also still under discussion

is how to reach an agreement by which Fayette County

would assist the cities of Fayetteville, Peachtree City

and Tyrone in road resurfacing and maintenance, including

how county road maintenance funding should be allocated

throughout the county. County recreation funding

allocations are under similar study.

Among the services studied

and needing no major changes, according to the summary,

were the airport, animal control, building permits and

inspections, cable television, code enforcement, courts,

911 communications, elections, engineering, extension

service, planning and zoning, purchasing, sewer, solid

waste, and water.

Evaluations of services

resulted in minor changes to four agreements previously

approved by the council - fleet maintenance

agreement, collaborative purchasing program agreement,

public works project contracting program agreement, and

annexation dispute resolution agreement.

Basinger recommended that

the council rescind the initial approval of those

agreements and readopt them, adding that the other

municipalities would do the same.

Basinger also reported that

there are no land use plan conflicts with any adjoining

entities, as is required by HB 489. He recommended that

the council authorize Mayor Bob Lenox to officially

attest to that fact.

A 120-day extension request

for obtaining state DCA approval is allowed by HB 489.

Basinger said that Fayette County and the city of

Fayetteville have already made such a request, and he

recommend that Peachtree City do so.

The council voted

unanimously to approve all of the above

recommendations.veurls

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