Peachtree

City's newest councilman is gearing up for his first

official meeting next week.

Dan

Tennant, who won a November election to fill the seat

being vacated by Jim Pace, will be sworn in just before

Thursday's regular City Council meeting.

He has been

spending much of the past two months preparing for his

new post, with more training, both on and off the job, to

come.

Tennant

will attend a state-mandated two-day course for elected

officials at the University of Georgia in Athens in

March.

He said

this week that he has been fortunate in the help he has

gotten locally, especially from city manager Jim

Basinger, who orchestrated orientation sessions with all

city department heads and others in key positions so he

could meet them face to face before taking office.

City staff

also have done an exceptional job of keeping him updated

with faxes and e-mails, he said.

"Hopefully

I'll hit the ground running," he said. "I'm

really excited about it."

Tennant has

invited a number of friends who have helped him in past

months to see him sworn in. He has asked his pastor, the

Rev. Chuck Hodges of Peachtree City United Methodist

Church, to actually swear him in.

A couple of

issues on Tennant's front burner are set for discussion

at the Jan. 6 meeting, he said. One of them is salaries

for police officers, which he made a prominent issue of

his campaign.

There are

currently six vacancies in the Police Department, which

suggests a supply-and-demand problem, Tennant said.

"We're just not supplying the right salaries to

attract the best people."

He is

hoping that some significant progress can be made before

the next budget discussions in the summer.

Tennant

also wants to take a look at the city's open meetings

guidelines, and the Jan. 20 agenda could have some

discussion about enhancing the city's ethics ordinance.

The Georgia Municipal Association has some standards on

ethics he would like to see the city incorporate.

"Anything

we can do to make that a better, stronger document, we

should do," he said.

After

having spoken out during the campaign against annexation

and increased density in Peachtree City, as well as in

favor of the traffic ordinance, Tennant says he is

looking closely at the proposed Home Depot and Wal-mart

developments on the west side of town to make certain

that public safety is not compromised.

"I

just want to do what's in the best interest of Peachtree

City families," he said