A recent

practice of the City Council in Peachtree City to ensure

majority votes on various issues is now law.

The council

voted Feb. 3 to adopt an amendment to its ethics

ordinance requiring an affirmative vote of three members

to pass any motion.

City

manager Jim Basinger said that Councilwoman Carol Fritz

sponsored the amendment, after she looked at the revised

ethics ordinance and became concerned about the

possibility of two council members making policy if the

entire five-member body were not present at a meeting.

The recent

traffic impact ordinance passed 3-0, as councilman Robert

Brooks was absent and former Councilman Jim Pace

abstained. That vote was cited as an example of what

could have happened.

"Fortunately,

the three council members who voted on the issue were in

agreement," said city clerk Nancy Faulkner in a memo

to the council. "However, if the vote had been 2-1,

there is some question as to whether the action would

have passed with the majority of those voting on the

issue, or if the vote would have required a majority of

council."

"That's

why you have five in the first place," said Fritz,

emphasizing the need for a true majority of three.

The

procedure of requiring three votes for passage has been

followed as a general policy in the past, but Fritz

wanted it set in stone. Her peers agreed, and her motion

passed 4-0 (Brooks was absent).

In other

business, an amendment to the city's ordinance governing

paving standards was presented. It had been requested by

the council after a variance request concerning Line

Creek Parkway.

Based on

standards in other jurisdictions as well as the state,

and with help from an outside consultant, some slight

changes were suggested. The final recommendation

increased the binder for major collector roads and

residential streets, eliminated an asphalt base

requirement while adding an aggregate base requirement

for major collectors, and increased the aggregate base

for minor collectors and residential streets.

Mayor Bob

Lenox said the changes increased the requirements for

minor collector roads and residential streets, and

provide a good standard.

Mayor Pro

Tempore Annie McMenamin agreed, saying that the changes

would extend the life of the streets. She moved to adopt

the amendment, and it passed 4-0.