Two of the

five candidates for City Council in Peachtree City are

currently working for the city in their respective fields

of expertise, records obtained at City Hall show.

The city is

in the process of trying to obtain a legal opinion from

its attorneys concerning how these relationships would be

affected should one or both of the contractors win the

election, according to city spokesperson Betsy Tyler.

Melvin

Ewing, a candidate for the Post 1 City Council seat, 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 Wednesday that he does not see a conflict of

interest while campaigning, but if he wins, he would

certainly sever any business ties with the city.

Bruce

Perlman, running for the Post 2 seat, 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.

That is far

from the majority of such cases, as evidenced by city

records that indicate payments to Peachstate Orthopedics

of $49,343 during the same time period.

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 a family connection that she watches carefully to

make sure she does enter into a conflict-of-interest

situation.

Her

daughter is an attorney with Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey,

the Peachtree City firm that handles legal work on behalf

of the city. McMenamin said that when the City Council

votes to reappoint the firm, usually every January, she

abstains.

McMenamin

also has a son-in-law who is with the Peachtree City

Police Department, the result of a marriage earlier this

year. She said that she would weigh heavily any specific

salary issues or other things that could be construed as

conflict, although she believes that participating in

across-the-board decisions is appropriate. She plans to

consult with city attorneys whenever necessary to make

certain of that.