The Peachtree

City Council will likely retain its power to appoint a city clerk, who

would report to the city manager under an agreement reached by council

at its regular meeting last week.

The compromise

came forth during discussion on possible changes to the city's charter,

which partially lists some of the clerk's duties. Under the proposal,

council would retain the power to hire and fire the clerk.

Mayor Bob Lenox,

however, had wanted City Manager Jim Basinger to be named clerk and have

the city employ a certified city clerk. It makes little sense, he argued,

for Basinger to have an employee he can't discipline or fire.

Councilwoman

Annie McMenamin said that, under the compromise, Basinger could approach

council if he felt the clerk needed to be dismissed.

Council took

no immediate vote on the matter and Basinger remains the acting clerk

for now. At the first meeting in January, he was appointed as clerk for

three months while council considered how the clerk's role might be changed

in the charter.

During Thursday's

meeting, Councilwoman Carol Fritz argued that the clerk should be appointed

"The clerk

insures the legislative process, policies and procedures are followed

along with ethics," Fritz said. "... The clerk can be rendered

ineffective if the clerk is hired and fired by the city manager."

The city clerk

should serve as a link between the separate legislative and administrative

components of government, Fritz said. But if the clerk is controlled by

administration, it damages the integrity of the city government, she added.

Lenox said

he wanted to keep the clerk's job from becoming politicized. He said other

cities appoint their chief executives as clerks but also employ certified

city clerks, which he saw as an ideal solution.

Brooks said

a policy could be written to specifically outline the clerk's responsibilities.

That could include a provision that the city manager conducts the clerk's

job evaluation, he said.

"That

way, the city manager isn't undermined," Brooks said, addressing

one of Lenox's specific concerns.

City Attorney

Rick Lindsey said he would take council's ideas about the charter changes

and put them on paper. He said he would do so as quickly as possible so

the charter stands a chance of being approved by the General Assembly

this session.

In bringing

up the topic, Councilwoman Annie McMenamin said council should have appointed

Nancy Faulkner, the previous clerk, as acting clerk at its last meeting.

She said Lindsey, who wasn't present at the meeting, would have approved

that because Faulkner agreed not to hold council liable if it eventually

decided not to hire her after having the discussions on the charter.

"We have

always accepted the word of a developer or attorney of consent in development

in a public meeting we've taken that on their word," McMenamin said.

"I think to do otherwise for a city employee would be contradictory

to the way we have held public meetings."

McMenamin also

said the appointment could have been postponed until the next meeting,

according to Lindsey. She originally asked council to reconsider its action

and give the title back to Faulkner with her role being supervised directly

of gender bias, she said.

Lenox said

he didn't think council needed to reconsider the action and his motion

to table the matter until the city charter discussion was approved 3-2,

with councilmen Robert Brooks and Dan Tennant in favor.

The compromise

was reached later in the meeting during the discussion of changes to the

city charter.