The

selection of Peachtree City's legal counsel and municipal

judge for the upcoming year will be made about a month

later than usual, as the City Council voted to start the

bid process over again and resolicit applicants.

Councilman

Robert Brooks asked to put the matter on the City

Council's Dec. 16 agenda for discussion due to confusion

over the positions of city attorney and solicitor.

Appointments for city

attorney, solicitor and municipal judge are traditionally

made during the council's first meeting in January.

Requests for proposals were

sent out in November for city attorney and municipal

judge, with a Nov. 19 deadline to apply, according to a

city staff report. In addition to several responses for

each position, the city received one application for

court solicitor, a service which in the past has always

been handled by the city attorney.

Since the solicitor duties

were not specified in the RFP for city attorneys, staff

elected not to open any of the bids for either position

and instead prepared a separate RFP for solicitor with a

Dec. 3 deadline.

According to a Dec. 6

written statement by the city's purchasing agent, six

applicants submitted proposals for municipal judge, four

applied for the dual role of city attorney/solicitor, and

one each applied for the city attorney and solicitor

positions alone.

Brooks offered that with

the specifics being rather unclear about the different

positions, the bid process could be compromised. He added

that he would prefer having one firm handle bother the

city attorney and solicitor duties.

Councilwoman Annie

McMenamin, who agreed with Brooks that a "level

playing field" is a must during this process,

pointed out that her daughter is an attorney with the

firm of Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey, the city's current

legal counsel and among those bidding for those services

in 2000. She will abstain from voting if necessary, she

said.

Brooks

moved to rebid the positions, combining city attorney and

solicitor, so that applications can be received after the

holidays and a decision made at the first council meeting

in February. The motion passed 5-0.