Due to a late change in the

agenda, the City Council of Peachtree City was scheduled

to discuss its various judicial appointments at Thursday

night's meeting.

Appointments for the

positions of city attorney, solicitor and municipal judge

are traditionally made during the council's first meeting

in January. City clerk Nancy Faulkner said Wednesday that

there could simply be a discussion during Thursday's

meeting, but the council could also elect to go ahead

with the appointments at that time.

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.

City manager Jim Basinger

forwarded comments and recommendations to the mayor and

council in a Dec. 10 memo. He noted that Eric Maxwell of

Fayetteville had submitted the lowest bid for the judge's

position at $70 per hour, while the firm of Glover and

Davis, of which current judge A. Mitchell Powell is a

member, bid $120 per hour.

Powell, whose current

hourly fee is $95, has been municipal judge for nine

years and has done an "outstanding job,"

according to Basinger.

Glover and Davis also

submitted a bid for city attorney services, consisting of

a $600 monthly retainer, $120 per hour for attorney fees

and $65 per hour for paralegals and clerks. Powell served

as the city's attorney from 1980-1986 and 1988-1991.

The city's current

attorneys, the firm of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey, was the

only other local firm to bid. Their proposed fee was $750

per month, $130 per hour for attorneys and $70 per hour

for paralegals and clerks. The firm has "in staff's

opinion provided excellent service both as city attorney

and as solicitor," Basinger said. John Mrosek, the

current solicitor for Tyrone and substitute solicitor for

Fayetteville, submitted a proposal to provide only

solicitor service for Peachtree City at $85 per hour.

Basinger recommended that

council appoint Glover and Davis to provide the services

of municipal judge. "While there is a $50 hourly fee

difference between the proposals submitted by Eric

Maxwell and Glover and Davis, I feel that it is worth the

investment to retain the services of Judge Powell in this

very critical position," he said.

Glover and Davis also was

recommended to fill the city attorney's position.

Basinger pointed out that, should the council elect to

follow his suggestion concerning the judgeship, it would

be inappropriate for that firm to serve as solicitor, so

he recommended Mrosek do the job in that case.

Basinger stressed that this

was "not a reflection on the city attorney and

solicitor services provided by the firm of Webb, Stuckey

and Lindsey for the past eight years. In fact, quite the

contrary is true. Their firm has provided an outstanding

level of service... because of the capabilities of both

firms to deliver top-notch legal services, the decision

got down to the bottom line, which was the fee."