Granger surprised

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Willis Granger

was caught off guard when he found out he wasn't reappointed to a second

term on the Peachtree City Planning Commission.

Last Thursday,

the Peachtree City Council unanimously voted to appoint Dennis Payton

to the commission. It was mentioned that Payton's selection was recommended

No one pointed

out, however, that Payton was taking Granger's spot.

Granger announced

at Monday's planning commission meeting that it would be his last and

he appreciated working with each member during his three-year term.

Granger, who

is retired and has lived in Peachtree City for 10 years with another combined

20 years in Fayette County and Fayetteville, thinks he knows why he was

ousted.

"It was

sort of a shock, but I sort of figured politics would get in the way,"

Granger said Wednesday afternoon in an interview.

Granger pointed

out that he was the one who criticized Mayor Bob Lenox's handling of the

West Village Task Force. He opposed the location of "big box"

stores in Peachtree City.

But councilwoman

Annie McMenamin, who served on the search committee for the next commission

member, said there was never any talk of "replacing" Granger.

She was mostly impressed by Payton's interview and the fact that he is

a 15-year resident of Peachtree City.

"We didn't

go out and decide not to reappoint Willis. Absolutely not," McMenamin

said.

Payton's appointment

was recommended by a three-person committee of Lenox, City Manger Jim

Basinger and McMenamin. The committee interviewed all 11 applicants, including

Granger, before making their recommendation to council which was unanimously

approved.

Payton indicated

on his application that he wanted to "preserve the high quality of

life and the amenities we enjoy in Peachtree City and to ensure that the

proper mix of residential and commercial growth exists to maintain a sufficient

tax base to support our growing city services without requiring a tax

increase."

Payton is a

graduate of West Georgia College who was in the airline business for a

while and currently co-owns All Safe, Inc., a security services company.

During his stint in the airline industry, he worked with government agencies

from the local level to the national level on the design, funding, construction

and land use for airport facilities and extended businesses, according

to his application.

Lenox was unavailable

for comment on the selection committee's decision. But McMenamin said

if he had a reason to get rid of Granger, he didn't share such a reason

with her.

McMenamin said

as many as nine of the applicants hadn't lived in Peachtree City very

long and that was one reason they went for someone with more experience

living here.

Granger said

someone told him his attendance record at the commission meetings wasn't

good. But he attended all of the task force meetings on the West Village

annexation and Lexington Park development issues, he pointed out.

Granger said

council's decision surprised his fellow commission members more. He pointed

out that Planning Commission Chairman Wes Saunders sat in on the interview

process.

McMenamin said

all three members of the selection committee agreed on the top three candidates

for the position.

"Those

three were so close, we didn't want to lose their expertise, so we decided

to appoint an alternate also," McMenamin said.

Robert Buckley

was appointed as the alternate. A one-year resident of Peachtree City,

Buckley is the director of the state and local tax division of Delta Air

Lines.

McMenamin suggested

that council might look into making the selection process more public

in the future. She also said she was surprised how many people applied

for the position.

"That's

a tough, tough job," she said, adding that she appreciated Granger's

service.