Guided by a

request from Peachtree City Councilman Dan Tennant, the city's rising

legal bills will be discussed at Thursday night's council meeting.

Tennant has

suggested one way to save money might be to hire an in-house attorney

rather than contracting with an outside firm.

In a letter

to council, City Attorney Rick Lindsey said while the city's legal bills

were up 45 percent in 2000 compared to 1999, he expected the costs to

be reduced significantly once several legal matters are concluded in the

near future.

Lindsey, a

member of the law firm Webb, Lindsey, Collins, Jones and Wade LLC, serves

as city attorney and also the prosecutor in city court. Steps have been

taken recently to try and reduce the city's legal bills, Lindsey noted,

including the use of a second attorney from the firm during city court

at no cost to the city which helps dispose of cases quicker.

According to

information provided to council, one option is for council to hire its

own in-house attorney. Of 21 metro area governments surveyed by the city,

only Roswell had in-house legal representation.

Lindsey currently

works at a rate of $130 per hour, which is less than 2/3 of his normal

hourly rate, he noted. He has recommended against creating an in-house

city attorney's position at this time, but he suggested keeping an eye

on the situation for the future if such a move is financially beneficial

to the city.

Lindsey estimated

it would cost at least $100,000 a year to hire an attorney with experience

representing cities which face growth pressures in affluent areas. Also,

the city would have to hire a paralegal to assist the attorney, he added.

In explaining

this year's legal bills, Lindsey said the Home Depot/Wal-Mart development

issues have taken up much of his time, along with a doubling in the amount

of city court matters he has handled.

Much time and

money has also been spent on a federal lawsuit filed against the city

and three police officers, Lindsey said. So far this year, $38,000 has

been spent on that litigation, filed by the O'Keefe family, which claims

police illegally entered their home and arrested them. The matter is pending

in federal court in Newnan.

Lindsey also

noted other legal matters he has been involved with this year, including

the revision of the city charter, the ethics ordinance, negotiating the

county jail impact fee and work on the tax inequity issue between the

cities and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.

"In short,

the city has placed a lot on my plate this year," Lindsey said.

Lindsey also

said he would not speak to council on the matter at the meeting since

he is forbidden from doing so by the city's ethics ordinance. He noted

that he could speak to council members before the meeting in an "unofficial"

capacity.

Lindsey added

that to make "every effort to adhere to the ethics ordinance,"

he would not bill the city for reviewing the bills or writing his letter

to council.

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