Several Peachtree City Council

members defended the handling of a recent appointment to the Planning

Commission in a heated exchange at Thursday's council meeting.

Councilman Dan Tennant's allegations

of improprieties in the selection process for that appointment were denied

They told Tennant they didn't appreciate his allegations that Planning

Commission member Willis Granger wasn't reappointed for political reasons.

"I am very offended at

the insinuation that this was a conspiracy to oust Mr. Granger,"

Fritz said, adding that she requested the information on applicants from

city staff and she received them.

Tennant's efforts to get council

to reconsider its recent appointment to the Planning Commission stalled.

His motion to that effect died for lack of a second.

"What a shock!" Tennant

exclaimed after the motion failed just before council moved to the next

item on the agenda.

Tennant claimed that facts

were withheld from him and "at times unless you ask all the right

questions in City Hall, you don't get the vital information you need to

make an informed decision."

Tennant admitted he hadn't

studied the various candidates for the commission seat.

"You were asleep at the

wheel," Brooks told Tennant. "You have been through this process

before."

Each applicant was interviewed

City Manager Jim Basinger. That committee then made the recommendation

to council at its previous meeting that Dennis Payton be appointed to

the Planning Commission, in effect replacing Granger.

Tennant singled out Lenox and

McMenamin, alleging that they "saw to it" that Granger wasn't

reappointed because of his opposition to annexing the West Village property

and his stances against high density developments. He asked that council

reconsider the matter at its next meeting, but that request was never

acted on.

McMenamin said she wasn't even

aware of Granger's voting record on any particular issue.

"I had no prejudice against

Willis," McMenamin said. "I will assure the public that there

was absolutely no discussion of any particular candidate."

McMenamin said although Tennant

doesn't have confidence in the board that interviewed each candidate,

she is satisfied with the process.

"I have absolutely no

problems with the selection process," McMenamin said. "It works.

The fact that you don't trust me and Bob Lenox and Jim Basinger... I'm

sorry."

Tennant shot back that he trusted

Basinger.

Brooks pointed out that there

were many qualified candidates who applied for the post and many times

council has to turn down excellent candidates because there's only one

seat available. He said council faced a similar situation recently when

two authors of children's books and one person with a doctoral degree

applied for a post on the Library Commission.

"We had to pick one of

those people," Brooks said.

McMenamin also pointed out

that some candidates may interview well while others don't.

Automatically reappointing

someone to a committee would send the message to local residents that

no one else need apply, Brooks added.