When the Peachtree

City Council sought mayoral opinions on what should be changed in the

city's charter, it got plenty of help.

Former mayors

Fred Brown, Chip Conner, Herb Frady, Howard Morgan and Ralph Jones all

gave their input on the charter to City Attorney Rick Lindsey. Morgan

was the only one who indicated he would likely leave the charter alone

except for the housekeeping items.

Frady, who's

now on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, said he opposed changing

the relationship between council and the mayor unless they were intended

to reflect the true operations of the city.

Brown had several

extensive comments, including a suggestion to better define the role of

council members, since the mayor's duties are so clearly spelled out.

Brown also suggested that the city manager's role is better addressed

in the ordinances instead of the charter, and that the clerk should be

written out of the charter also.

Councilman

Dan Tennant said his "gut feeling" was to leave the city clerk

references in the charter.

Frady suggested

that the council be allowed to give instructions publicly, but not privately.

A new section proposed for the charter would prevent council members from

issuing orders to employees entirely, instead having council members deal

with the city manager only.

That language

was supposed to prevent council members from interfering with the day-to-day

operations of the city. Lindsey said he would study the matter further.

Annie McMenamin,

who had originally suggested that the former mayors' input be sought,

said she appreciated the time they spent on the matter.

Lindsey said

he would work more on the draft but the time is coming to start scheduling

public hearings on the proposed changes. One of Lindsey's goals is to

make the ordinance more readable and understandable, he said.