Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox

contends that he had the permission of City Council members to spend $7,500

from the council's contingency fund toward a compensation package for

former city clerk Nancy Faulkner.

At Thursday's council meeting,

Lenox said he sent a memo to each council member five days before he signed

the agreement with Faulkner March 5. Lenox also said he instructed City

Attorney Rick Lindsey to contact each council member to explain the settlement

and answer any questions they might have before it was signed.

"I took great pains to

make sure that everyone on council was fully informed and had adequate

time," Lenox said, adding that he knew Lindsey had spoken to each

council member before he signed the agreement.

Tennant has accused Lenox of

spending $7,500 for the settlement from the City Council's contingency

fund without council's permission. The funds were set aside to pay for

Faulkner's tuition at a paralegal school of her choice, according to the

settlement.

"Your premise is that

I alone decided this settlement agreement was acceptable and that I grossly

exceeded my authority by spending this money," Lenox said. "The

facts do not support that premise."

Faulkner resigned in March

after signing a separation agreement with the city which provided her

with the $7,500 as tuition for paralegal school, six months severance

pay and health insurance coverage. The entire package cost approximately

$30,000.

Two weeks ago, Tennant sought

a legal opinion from Lindsey questioning if Lenox had the authority to

spend the $7,500 from the council contingency fund.

In his written opinion, Lindsey

said there were no restrictions either in the city's charter or ordinances

on how the contingency fund can be spent. Council unanimously adopted

a new ordinance restricting the use of those at Thursday's council meeting

(See related story) .

That action came after an acrimonious

exchange between Lenox and Tennant. (Tennant's remarks are in a letter

to the editor on Page 6A.)

Lenox said the matter should

have been discussed by council at the meeting after the agreement was

signed.

"If it had been an emergency

item, the normal procedure would be to put that on the agenda at the next

public meeting and ratify a decision," Lenox told Tennant. "Well,

guess what? No one, not one soul including you asked that item be put

on the March 15 agenda, and in fact that March 15 date was probably academic

because the ink wasn't dry on that agreement before ... the agreement

had literally been printed in the newspaper."

In February, Faulkner suggested

to Lindsey over lunch that she would resign if she and the city could

come to a separation agreement, Lenox explained.

Lindsey communicated that to

council at its Feb. 15 meeting, and Lenox said he then asked if he could

work on the matter and "see what I could come up with."

Lenox said he later asked Lindsey

to negotiate the settlement with Faulkner and Feb. 27, Lindsey presented

him with an agreement that Faulkner had already signed.

"Had I wished to act on

my own, which I think I could have done despite your diatribe to the contrary,

I would have signed the agreement right then," Lenox said.

The entire city clerk issue

was "a contentious and divisive subject for this council, the staff

and the city for several months," Lenox said. After council denied

her pay plan request in February, Lenox said the matter was "still

divisive still a problem for everyone."

"She (Faulkner) in fact

felt the whole situation had deteriorated to the point that this was the

only way to end the contention and acrimony and was actually best for

her and the city," Lenox said.

Tennant accused Lenox of signing

the settlement because "you were sick of 10-plus years of dealing

with Nancy. I've got that in writing."

"... Mayor Lenox abused

his privileges and betrayed the public's trust by unilaterally authorizing

expenditures from the council contingency fund without the express approval

of council," Tennant said.

Lenox asked Tennant why he

waited to question the matter, since the agreement was signed March 5.

"It's been weighing on

my mind heavily for quite some time and I didn't want to do anything rash

or stupid," Tennant replied.

Lenox also said Tennant had

not talked to him about the Faulkner settlement since it was executed.

"It might have been worth

discussing it with me," Lenox replied.

Since he has been mayor, Lenox

said he has spent council contingency funds only two other times: for

emergency repairs to a washed-out bridge in the Smokerise subdivision

and $7,500 for the design charrette for the multiuse development planned

for the corner of Ga. Highway 54 east and Walt Banks Road.

"I would have placed the

agreement with Ms. Faulkner on the agenda for the (March 1) council meeting,

but that meeting had been cancelled, and I did not feel this matter could

wait," Lenox said.

That's when Lenox decided to

send the memo to his fellow council members.

Fritz said she did not reply

to the mayor's memo because she "felt like that was what needed to

happen" and she didn't have any better suggestions for how to do

it.

"I would like to have

seen her stay, but I finally came to the realization that it just wasn't

going to work," Fritz said.

Back

to News Home Page |