The

ethics complaint filed against Peachtree City

Councilman Dan Tennant has been withdrawn.

Meanwhile, the attorney advising the city's

ethics board said Tennant had not violated the

state's open meetings laws.

Councilwoman

Annie McMenamin, who filed the complaint, said

she withdrew it so the controversy could be

discussed in a more "open and hopefully

productive forum."

As

a result of her withdrawal request, the committee

investigating the complaint against Tennant will

no longer function. Tennant Monday afternoon

forwarded to The Citizen a message from City

Manager Jim Basinger which said that the process

would stop due to McMenamin's withdrawal, on a

recommendation from attorney Andrew Whalen III of

Griffin, the ethics committee's city-appointed

advisor.

The

group met for the first time last week and set

April 12 as the date for a public hearing, but

that has been cancelled.

An

unrelated ethics complaint against City Attorney

James Webb is still active.

Whalen

sent a letter to McMenamin Monday saying that he

could not find in the ordinance any reason that

her withdrawal might be prohibited.

He

added that, while he considered McMenamin's

original complaint to be in good faith, he

planned to advise the committee that he did not

feel Tennant's e-mail transmissions constituted a

meeting according to Georgia law.

"The

term `meeting' means the gathering of a quorum of

the members of the governing body, pursuant to

call, at a designated time and place at which

public matters will be presented or

considered," Whalen wrote. "By

definition, this excludes chance discussions

which may result whenever two or more members

discuss public matters."

"Why in the

world did Mrs. McMenamin not ask this fundamental

question before she put me, my family, and our

community through this turmoil?" Tennant

wrote in a letter to be published Friday.

"Amazingly,

even though the ethics complaint had been pending

for two weeks, with one ethics board meeting

convened, it took just five hours after being

notified of [my] intention to compel testimony at

my hearing that Ms. McMenamin coincidentally

decided to dismiss her complaint," Tennant

wrote. "Is it possible the mayor and

McMenamin were reluctant to answer questions

under oath that might arise on the subject of

open meetings? As my good friend Steve Brown

would say, draw your own conclusions."

The

Citizen Monday afternoon received a faxed copy of

a letter by McMenamin. Her letter, along with a

letter from Tennant, will appear in its entirety

in Friday's Peachtree Citizen Review.

In

her Monday statement, McMenamin said she wished

to make certain that "the public has full

knowledge that the complaint was neither

frivolous nor political in nature." Tennant

said in a statement last week that he was

"defending myself against a frivolous,

politically motivated ethics complaint."

McMenamin

said in her letter that Tennant told her after he

was sworn in that he wanted to get along with

everyone and be included in the "inner

circle," where council members discuss in

advance what happens at the next meeting. She

said she told him that does not take place,

because it would violate the open meetings law.

Tennant scoffed at

McMenamin's charge. "I got elected because I

wasn't a part of the `inner circle,'"

Tennant said.

She

also charged that Tennant attempted to solicit

the vote of another council member, whom she did

not name, to "orchestrate the decision

concerning the selection of the city attorney in

February." Councilman Robert Brooks missed

both February meetings and, with McMenamin on the

record as abstaining from any vote concerning

present city attorneys Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey

because of her daughter's employment there,

McMenamin said only two votes would have

constituted a majority on that issue.

"This

prompted Councilman [Carol] Fritz to recommend an

ordinance where it would require three votes (a

majority of council) to pass any motion,"

McMenamin wrote.

This

episode, combined with the ensuing e-mail that

led to the ethics complaint, led McMenamin to

wonder about Tennant's motives compared with his

campaign promises, she added.

"While

I may have philosophically disagreed with the

mayor and fellow councilmen from time to time,

prior to Jan. 1, I never doubted their personal

integrity or desire to serve in the best interest

of Peachtree City," she wrote.

"Unfortunately, this is no longer the

case."

McMenamin

said that she has always intended to discuss the

city's ethics ordinance at the City Council's

retreat this weekend, regardless of how the

committee ruled on this issue.

Tennant

had his own view of McMenamin's motives.

"One can reasonably conclude her reaction is

attributed to political retribution for

criticizing the city attorney and/or mayor's

actions on the Steve Brown libel case,"

Tennant said. "Or for not going along to get

along with regard to appointing the highest

bidder for city judge. Or for not going along to

lift the annexation moratorium. Or for having the

audacity to write a free speech ordinance. Again,

draw your own conclusions."

McMenamin

and Tennant have both expressed interest in

running for mayor next year when Lenox steps

down.

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