Peachtree

City Mayor Bob Lenox takes a seat for the first time on

the Atlanta Regional Commission board next week.

Lenox

replaces Mike Wheat, whose term as mayor of Fayetteville

expired within the past month.

The ARC is the regional

planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for

the 10-county area including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb,

DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and

Rockdale counties, as well as the city of Atlanta.

The

39-member board of the ARC traditionally includes the

county commission chairman and the mayor of the largest

city from each county in the region. In Fayette County,

that city is Peachtree City, but Lenox's predecessor,

Frederick Brown, did not want the position so Wheat

assumed it.

After Lenox

was elected mayor in 1992, he told Wheat to go ahead and

stay on the board. When Wheat decided not to run for

re-election last fall, he called Lenox and said the seat

was his.

Wheat was

most recently chairman of the Budget and Audit Review

Committee, treasurer of the Executive Committee and a

member of the Communications Committee.

Lenox said

earlier this week that he did not know yet what, if any,

committee involvement he would have.

The top

item on the upcoming agenda is the preliminary approval

of the ARC's transportation plan, Lenox said. Preliminary

approval is needed so the plan can go into the public

hearing process, then back for final approval.

The Jan. 26

board meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at 40 Courtland

St., Atlanta.